Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Reforms Contributed to Upgrade of Armenia’s International Ratings

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. The upgrade of Armenia’s ratings is connected
with reforms being implemented by the country’s Government, Director
General of Armenian Development Agency Robert Harutyunyan said in an
interview with ARKA News Agency on Friday.

Fitch Ratings agency has upgraded Armenia’s long-term foreign and local
Issuer Default ratings (IDRs) to `BB’ from `BB-‘ (BB minus). The
Outlooks have been changed from Positive to Stable. The agency has also
upgraded the Country Ceiling to `BB+’ from `BB’ and affirmed the
Short-term IDR at `B’, says the Fitch report on Armenia.

Speaking about the risks Fitch agency pointed out in its report,
Harutyunyan said that they should be viewed properly. He said that
certain steps should be taken.

`It is obvious that Armenian authorities are gauging risks and trying
to minimize them to avoid risk development’, he said.

Fitch specialists say the risk of economy overheating runs high as
economy and incomes grow and macroeconomic policy tightens.

They say political risk that loomed large after presidential election,
post-election developments and brutal quelling of civil unrest hurt the
country’s solvency.

Now tension eased and the Government promises to implement some
structural reforms for solving social problems. Armenia’s political
risk doesn’t exceed rating category `BB’.-0—

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria

Armenian president invites his Turkish counterpart to soccer match
2008-07-05 17:58:08 –

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia’s president has invited Turkey’s
leader to Armenia to attend a soccer match between the countries’
national teams.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and the border between
their countries has been closed for years. That’s because of Turkey’s
objections to Armenian forces’ occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan. Also Armenia has insisted that the deaths of an
estimated 1.5 million ethnic Armenians under Ottoman rule in the early
20th century should be recognized as genocide.

But Turkey will play Armenia in a World Cup qualifier in the Armenia’s
capital on Sept. 6.

The invitation by Armenian President Serge Sarkisian to Turkey’s
Abdulla Gul was announced Saturday. Gul’s office had no immediate
comment.

BRITISH ORIENTALIST PAINTING AT THE TATE GALLERY THE LURE OF THE EAST

Yemen Times
July 03, 2008
Yemen

According to John Ruskin "amongst the most wonderful pictures in the
world": John Frederick Lewis’s A Frank Encampment in the Desert of
Mount Sinai

The Tate Gallery’s exhibition on British Orientalist Painting explores
the responses of British artists to the cultures and landscapes of
the Near and Middle East between 1780 and 1930. Susannah Tarbush
found out that the exhibits are more than just representations of an
"imperialist gaze"

The cover of the catalogue for the exhibition "The Lure of the East:
British Orientalist Painting" shows the 1881 oil painting An Arab
Interior by Scottish artist Arthur Melville. This captivating work
portrays a white-bearded man, long tobacco pipe in hand, seated
before a mashrabiyya, or latticed wooden screen. Exhibition curator
Nicholas Tromans notes: "The patterns of strong sunlight falling
through these screens into an interior became a favourite motif of
British painters." The subdued interior is gently brightened by the
rosy hues of the furnishings and the man’s dress. An Arab Interior
has an intimacy and warmth, and is an enticing introduction to the
exhibition of some 115 works by 46 artists which runs at the Tate
Britain gallery in London until the end of August.

Going East

The exhibition is organised in association with the Yale Center
of British Art, in Connecticut, where it was first displayed in
February-April this year. Following its run at Tate Britain the
exhibition will move, in partnership with the British Council, to
the Pera Museum in Istanbul (October-January) and Sharjah Art Museum
(February-April).

Most of the pictures date from the 19th century, when the arrival of
steam travel made parts of the Middle East and North Africa much more
accessible. Many British artists visited the Eastern Mediterranean
and its great cities. Some travelled directly by steamship. Others
went via Spain and Morocco, or through Greece and the Balkans.

Among the artists who brought back images of the Orient were Edward
Lear, William Holman Hunt, Thomas Seddon, David Roberts, Frank Dillon,
Lord Frederic Leighton and William James Muller (son of a Prussian
émigré).

New heights of achievement

The dominant presence in the exhibition is John Frederick Lewis,
represented by 32 works. Lewis lived in Cairo for a decade from 1841,
wearing local dress and living in a grand house. He executed nearly
600 watercolours and drawings during that time. Lewis is particularly
known for his beautifully detailed interiors and harem scenes, of
which the exhibition has fine examples including The Reception and
Hhareem Life, Constantinople.

In his masterpiece A Frank Encampment in the Desert of Mount Sinai,
1842, painted in 1856 Lewis’s watercolour technique reaches new
heights of achievement. Commissioned by Viscount Castlereagh, the
picture shows the aristocrat languidly resting in his tent during
a Artistic master of his subject: John Frederick Lewis painted An
Armenian Lady in Cairo in 1855

hunting expedition. Lewis’s close friend, the critic John Ruskin,
declared it "amongst the most wonderful pictures in the world".

There was exciting news for the organisers of the Tate Britain
exhibition when, a few weeks before it opened, three works they had
hoped to include but had been unable to locate were found in the Qatar
Orientalist Museum. The pictures, among them Lewis’s exquisite 1855 oil
An Armenian Lady in Cairo – The Love Missive, have been incorporated
into the exhibition.

The eyes of the young Armenian woman are lowered as if she is in
a reverie and she holds a posy. The picture resonates with certain
other works on show, by Lewis and others, in which the language of
flowers is an essential element.

Debates on Orientalism in art

Inevitably, especially in a year that marks the 30th anniversary
of publication of the late Edward Said’s hugely influential but
increasingly challenged book Orientalism, the exhibition is surrounded
by debates on Orientalism in art. The exhibition organisers have tried
to ensure that the issues are explored from both Western and Middle
Eastern perspectives. Thirty prominent people, including Arab, Turkish
and Jewish scholars and writers, have contributed their thoughts on
particular works which are displayed alongside the exhibits.

Two of the four introductory essays in the handsome 224-page catalogue
are by Arab women writers: Syrian Rana Kabbani and Moroccan Fatema
Mernissi. Kabbani’s essay, which is angry in tone, sees a link between
pictures painted at a time when Britain enjoyed military and economic
mastery over the peoples and places depicted, and the modern era
"in which Britain has again participated in the occupation of an
Arab country". She admits, though, that "many of these paintings have
managed to preserve a poignant visual record of places that are now
altered beyond recognition, or have vanished forever."

The West’s attitude towards the dark – and the nude

Mernissi adopts a more forgiving approach in her essay Seduced by
‘Samar’, or: how British Orientalist painters learned to stop worrying
and love the darkness. In her view the exhibition is "a wonderful
opportunity to probe the link between the West’s attitude towards the
dark and its fear of Islam". She concludes that the painters’ encounter
with a different world "led not to conflict but to creativity, and
we have much to learn from them."

Anyone coming to the exhibition in the hope of seeing lurid
and titillating examples of Orientalist art will be largely
disappointed. One point made by the organisers i John Frederick
Lewis lived in Cairo between 1841 and 1850. "Interior of a Mosque,
Afternoon Prayer (The ‘Asr)", was finished 1857, six years after his
return to England

s that there were marked differences between British Oriental artists
and those of certain other countries, in particular France. For all
his numerous paintings of harem scenes, John Frederick Lewis, unlike
some of his French counterparts, never painted a nude.

Tromans points out: "The iconography of the odalisque – the Turkish
sex slave whose image is offered up to the viewer as freely as
she herself supposedly was to her master – is almost entirely
French in origin." The odalisque is particularly associated with
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, in paintings such as The Turkish Bath
crowded with voluptuous nudes.

Combination of cruelty and eroticism

By way of drawing contrasts between the British and French Orientalist
painters’ approach, French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme’s For sale:
Slaves at Cairo is hung near the Scottish artist William Allan’s The
Slave Market, Constantinople. As typifies Gérôme’s slave market
paintings, For sale: Slaves at Cairo combines cruelty and eroticism –
one of the slaves is naked, long dark hair cascading down between her
breasts, others are revealingly clad. Allan’s painting, showing Turkish
slavers on horseback splitting up the women of a captured Greek family,
is melodramatic but has none of the prurience of Gérôme.

It would be a pity if the mass of debate over Orientalist art
acted as an invisible screen between visitors and the paintings on
display. One visitor whose preconceptions were turned upside down was
the British Asian Muslim columnist Yasmin Ablihai-Brown. She wrote
in the Independent newspaper that she had gone to the exhibition
prepared to detest the artists for presuming that through beauty
they could deny the unforgivable truth, that they were upholders of
illegitimate imperial privilege.

Instead: "All expectations fell away as I gazed upon painting after
painting, many of which seemed, to my eye, expressions of undeclared
love of the Middle East by white, Christian, upper-class gents,
their secret pain and longings, the conflict between head and heart,
between Antony and Cleopatra."

–Boundary_(ID_dnk0U0bLO50wpXG52 6Bd0Q)–

THE UNESCO PROCESS

Bangkok Post Wednesday July 02, 2008 Thailand

Montreal – The annual scramble for world heritage status opens
on Wednesday evening in Quebec City, where Cambodia and 40 other
countries are seeking the high-profile designation from Unesco for
cultural or natural sites.

The Cambodian application is perhaps the most political. But among
applicants are five countries seeking their first sites on the Unesco
list – Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino and
Vanuatu.

Among Eastern European countries, Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Bulgaria, the Russian Federation and Slovakia are applying for
recognition of special sites, and Hungary and Slovakia have a joint
application for designation of a network of fortifications where the
Danube and Vah rivers converge in Komarno.

In the Middle East, applicants include Yemen for its Socotra
Archipelago; Saudi Arabia for archaeological site al-Hijr; Iran for
the Armenian monastic ensembles in its Azerbaijan province; and Israel
for the triple-arch gate at Dan and the Bahai holy places in Haifa
and western Galilee.

The World Heritage Committee is chaired this year by Canada, which
planned the meetings. They conclude on July 10, and coincide with
the kickoff of Quebec City’s 400th anniversary celebrations as one of
North America’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. Those festivities
begin Thursday.

Unesco’s World Heritage list currently includes 851 properties of
"outstanding universal value," including 660 cultural, 166 natural
and 25 mixed properties in 141 countries.

At least 30 are on an endangered list, meaning they either need
special attention to preserve them or have risked being delisted
because conservators have failed either to take proper care of the
sites or to comply with Unesco rules.

Among those on the endangered list is one of Germany’s most historic
and scenic areas of 18th and 19th century significance, the Dresden
Elbe Valley.

German authorities had decided to build a bridge in the heart of
the well-known landscape against the advice of Unesco, which urged
a tunnel. Warnings were issued about the site’s status in 2006 after
the decision to build the bridge was taken.

No site has ever been delisted from the programme, but the issue is
on the agenda for this year, Unesco said in a press release.

Cambodia is seeking designation for its millennium-old temple, Preah
Vihear, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

In a compromise in May, Cambodia agreed to redraw the inscription
map, including only the temple, but the move would limit Unesco’s
say over how Preah Vihear would be preserved, officials in Cambodia
and Thailand said.

And Thailand has been enjoined by a court decision on Monday that it
must refrain from direct support for the Cambodian application. (dpa)

A WALK AROUND OLD Ä°STANBUL: ZEYREK, FATIH, FENER AND BALAT

Today’s Zaman
Turkey
26.06.08

It is impossible to walk around the narrow, cobbled streets of the
walled city of old Ä°stanbul without thinking of those who have
preceded you over the centuries.

The feet of pious Byzantine Greek clergyman, loutish Crusaders from
the less-civilized parts of Europe, proud Ottoman paÅ~_as with their
retinues of servants, Armenian merchants, Jewish shopkeepers and gypsy
fortunetellers, amongst countless others, have tramped these streets.

But for anyone attempting to write about walking around the old city
two much more contemporary figures immediately spring to mind: Hilary
Sumner-Boyd and John Freely. Their "Strolling through Ä°stanbul,"
an erudite labor of love first published in 1972, describes 23 walks
through one of the world’s greatest cities — and if you really want
to get to know this venerable metropolis, get a hold of a copy and
walk their walks. Here, in the meantime, is a description of a meander
on foot through one of the most fascinating and little-visited areas
of the old city: the northwest quarter. Bounded by the land walls of
Theodosius to the north, the Golden Horn to the east, busy Ataturk
Buvarı to the south and Fevzi PaÅ~_a Caddesi to the west, it, unlike
most of this rapidly expanding city, has changed little over the last
50 or so years. Allow a full day for the outing though you could,
of course, abandon the route at several points or join it beyond the
suggested start-point.

Begin on Ataturk Bulvarı, just north of where restoration work is
under way on a Byzantine cistern. Head steeply uphill on Ä°ftaiye
Caddesi, then take a sharp right, up onto İbedethane Sokagı, then
again right onto Adalet Sokagı where you’ll find the entrance to
Zeyrek Camii, shaded by an enormous plane tree and once the important
Byzantine monastery-church of Christ Pantacrator. To have a look
inside you’ll need to track down the caretaker, but be warned, the
interior is quite shabby and the plans to restore this church/mosque
to its original glory are slow in materializing. Retrace your steps
to İbedethane Sokagı. Heading west, this soon becomes Cırcır
Caddesi. Continue north and west, crossing NevÅ~_ehirli Caddesi. If
it’s a Wednesday, you’ll soon find yourself surrounded by the sights,
sounds and smells of the city’s biggest daily bazaar. Artichoke
hearts float invitingly in buckets of water and white mulberries,
plump red cherries, delicate orange-pink apricots and deep purple-red
plums adorn the stalls in the fruit and vegetable section of this busy
street market. Turn left up Yeserizade Sokagı and enter the grounds
of imposing Fatih Camii — an oasis of peace after the bustle of the
market. After exploring this fine mosque, exit its grounds from the
northwest and follow DaruÅ~_Å~_afaka Caddesi. Turn right and head
south, down on broad Yavuz Selim Caddesi to the dramatically situated
mosque complex of the Yavuz Selim (Selimiye) Camii — a most austere
yet successful design often — wrongly — assigned to the great
architect Sinan. The sunken recreation/park area on your left as you
approach the mosque was once the Byzantine-era Aspar Cistern. On a
side street to the right is the Sultan Sarnıc, a recently restored
covered Byzantine cistern with a lovely vaulted brick ceiling and
rows of reused Roman columns and Corinthian capitals supporting it —
but note that it is now a function room rather than a museum.

Having explored Selimiye Camii and its tombs, head northwest onto
Sultan Selim Caddesi and turn left. Bear right in front of a quaint
19th century neo-classical building — now a police station — and
follow Manyasızade Sokagı, which soon becomes Fethiye Caddesi. Reach
the former Byzantine church of Theotokos Pammakaristos by taking
a sharp right onto Fethiye Sokagı. Two-thirds of this attractive
building, formerly the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos, still
function as a mosque, though again it may well be locked outside
prayer times. The other third, however, was once a side-chapel or
paracclesion of the main church. This has been turned into a museum
and has some wonderful late-Byzantine mosaics. Now return to Fethiye
Caddesi and continue west, down on Draman Caddesi. The Kefeli Camii,
above you on the left, was once a Byzantine church — the apse is
clearly visible on the eastern wall. At the bottom of the hill turn
left, then immediately right, up Nester Sokagı, before taking a
sharp right to the stunning Kariye Camii, once the Byzantine Church
of St. Savior in the Chora. This has some of the most impressive
Byzantine mosaics in the world and is one of Ä°stanbul’s most important
historical sites. Having basked in the glories of Byzantine religious
art, if you’re hungry the food and ambience of the Asithane restaurant,
right next to the museum/mosque/church, are unbeatable — though pricy.

It’s pretty much downhill/level from now on. Head down Kariye Turbesi
Sokagı, admiring the fortitude of the vendors pushing handcarts
of potatoes and onions or pogaca (savory breads) up and down these
steep cobbled streets. Turn left onto Sultan CeÅ~_mesi Sokagı,
passing the unusual wood-built Meydancık Camii, then down onto
Mektebi Sokagı. You are now in the neighborhood of Balat. Here, on
KanıÅ~_ Sokagı, is the Armenian church of Surp HreÅ~_dagabet. Both
Christians and Muslims come to take the supposedly miraculous waters
of the ayazma (sacred spring) and every Sept. 14 sheep and other
animals are sacrificed here in the hope of miraculous cures for the
sick — with Muslims and Christians taking part side by side. Next
to it is an Armenian school, dating to 1866, more recently used
as a warehouse. Unless you have arranged permission from the Chief
Rabbinate earlier, the Ahrida Synagogue just down from the church will
be closed. Many Jews once lived in this area, along with their Muslim
and Christian neighbors. Head southeast down Vodina Caddesi, then
cut through towards the Golden Horn, down Cicekli Sokagı. There’s
a welcome traditional cayhane (teashop) here, with an interesting
antique shop opposite.

Great places to eat

If you didn’t splurge at the Asithane, an altogether different
culinary experience is to be had at the small restaurant at the
corner of Cicekli Sokagı and Mursel PaÅ~_a Caddesi. The Arnavutköy
Köftecisi has been trading for over 60 years, dispensing iÅ~_kembe
corbası (tripe-soup) and delicious köfte to all comers. This eating
place doesn’t have a sign outside and there are only six 1950s tables,
each covered in a different pastel-colored Formica top, but for local
atmosphere and tasty food it’s hard to beat (closed Sundays). Take
care crossing busy Ayvansaray Caddesi to the prominent neo-Gothic
St. Stephens of the Bulgars, a late 19th century cast-iron church
set in a strip of park edging the Golden Horn. Follow the park for a
short while, passing the Women’s Library (Kadın Kutuphanesi) housed
in an old stone-built Greek house. Where the strip of park runs out,
re-cross the road and turn more or less immediately right, then left,
to reach the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. This is the spiritual heart
of the world’s Orthodox Christian population and the attached Church
of St. George is usually very busy on summer Sunday mornings and at
Easter. Just beyond the patriarchate, the Kozz restaurant, attached to
the Daphnis Hotel, does decent meals, cake and coffee. The 19th century
neo-classical building opposite is now a Greek school, but has only six
pupils. Rejoin Ayvansaray Caddesi and head southeast for around 400
meters. Turn right on Ayak Kapı Sokagı, then take the second left
to reach Gul Camii, formerly the Church of St. Theodosia. It is said
to get its name, the Rose Mosque, because when the Ottoman soldiers
entered it following the capture of the city on May 29, 1453, it was
still decorated with the roses put there by the Christian Byzantine
defenders of the city to mark the feast day of St. Theodosia — also
on May 29. Retrace your steps onto Ayvansaray Caddesi, turn right and
ring the bell on the compound door of the Aya Nikola Greek Orthodox
church, dating from the mid 19th century. A little further down on
the right is the Cıbali Gate, piercing a surviving section of the
sea walls. These mighty fortifications once ran from the eastern
terminus of the land walls, right along the Golden Horn, round the
promontory of Saray Burnu and then all along the Sea of Marmara to
link up with the western end of the land walls. You can now relax a
little, cross the main road and walk along the water’s edge to the
Ataturk Bridge. From here either take a bus or walk along the banks

–Boundary_(ID_sbsAJvyv0ud5XbTZyPxztg)–

‘INTERIM DECISION’ ON KARABAKH FOUND?

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.06.2008 13:19 GMT+04:00

Yerevan and Baku have a golden opportunity to resolve the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, according to OSCE President.

"We have been working to find a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict for several years. There is an interim decision which will
have a positive impact on the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The
sides have a golden opportunity to resolve the conflict," Mr Goran
Lennmarker said in his address to 17th session of the OSCE PA in
Astana, Interfax reports.

Meanwhile, he mentioned, the Karabakh issue will not be discussed. "The
agenda includes issues referring to Georgia," he said. "OSCE member
states support Georgia’s territorial integrity. Abkhazia is a part
of Georgia and a peaceful solution should be found in this vein."

It’s the first-ever OSCE PA session held in Astana, the capital of
Kazakhstan, which will assume presidency in the OSCE in 2010.

GulfNews, United Arab Emirates
June 29 2008

Dubai court sentences ‘abusive’ jail wardens

By Bassam Za’za’, Senior Reporter
Published: June 29, 2008, 11:12

Dubai: Seven of the 25 jail wardens, including a former prison
director, who were charged with abusing authority and beating inmates
during a surprise inspection for substances prohibited in the cells,
have been sentenced to six months in jail.

The rest of the jail wardens have been sentenced to three months in
prison.

The Public Prosecution has charged the wardens with abusing their
authority. They allegedly beat an Armenian inmate, leaving him with a
permanent 10 per cent spinal disability, besides injuring others.

Seven lawyers defended the wardens, stating that they were searching
for banned substances, such as drugs and sharp tools in the cells and
they relied on the surprise factor and scared the prisoners while
taking them out of their cells "to prevent them from disposing of any
forbidden stuff".

AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT APPROVES CONTINUATION OF NEGOTIATION PROCESS WITHIN OSCE (VIDEO)

Trend News Agency
June 27 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 June /corr. Trend News M.Aliyev / The President
of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, approved continuation of the negotiation
process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement within the
framework of the OSCE and expressed hope that this process will
continue and strengthen, the U.S. Co-chairman of the OSCE, Matthew
Bryza, briefed the media in Baku on 27 June.

The French Co-chairman, Bernard Fassier, said that currently there are
not new proposals for peaceful solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. According to him, currently the sides work within Madrid
agreement.

"I noticed that there is a possibility for normal constructive
dialogue. We will visit Khankendi, meet with representatives and know
their opinion. However, firstly we should know opinion in Yerevan,"
Fassier said.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

COMMISSION MEETS TO ADDRESS HOMELESS FAMILIES PROBLEMS

ARMENPRESS
June 25

An inter-agency commission set up to address the problems of homeless
families who lost their homes in the 1988 earthquake met today to
discuss a set of related questions.

The commission was set up by Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian
on June 23. The commission that comprises deputy prime minister
Armen Gevorkian, finance, urban, economy, labor and social affairs
ministers, chairmen of the Central Bank and cadastre committee,
as well as governors of Shirak and Lori provinces and Gyumri mayor,
is chaired by Prime Minister Sarkisian.

By the same decision Prime Minister Sarkisian assigned chairman of the
Central Bank to propose before September 1 suggestions on how to make
mortgage credits available for homeless families living in the area.

Urban minister and governors were told to prepare proposals on
allocating land plots for house construction.

The government press office told Armenpress that the commission
discussed today three issues- mechanisms for launching construction
of houses in Gyumri, the principle of land allocation in Gyumri and
the pace of construction of homes for homeless in Stepanavan and
Spitak towns.

The commission discussed also ways to provide 1,800 lonely senior
citrines in the disaster zone with permanent housing.

THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN THE CIS COUNTRIES
Aleksey Mitrofanov, Konstantin Simonov

Eurasian Home Analytical Resource
xml?lang=en&nic=expert&pid=1612&qmonth =0&qyear=0
June 24 2008
Russia

Aleksey MITROFANOV, member of the Central Council of the Fair Russia
party Recently, the World Strategy Center has been established
within the framework of the Fair Russia party. One of its tasks is
to popularize the Russian language abroad. The reasons for learning
Russian have changed. The new generation needs to study it because
today people, living in the CIS countries, use the Russian language at
work, talk with each other in Russian, read the academic literature in
Russian and surf the Russian segment of the Internet. Of course, those
reasons will dominate in future, and Russia should reckon on that.

I believe that Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka has the
most pragmatic attitude to the Russian language in the CIS. Without
minimizing the importance of the Belarus statehood, with the strong
army and law enforcement agencies, he didn’t encroach upon the
Russian language as it was done in other former Soviet republics
except Russia itself. Most of the CIS governments did their best to
weaken the Russian language and to make their population speak only
the national language. They spent their forces, time and much money
to develop and to promote the new national languages. In many cases
it was a stalemate.

Pragmatically, the efforts to promote the new national languages
have produced no results, since in terms of business translating the
physics and chemistry textbooks and other literature into the national
languages is not lucrative. I am thinking in terms of pragmatism not
of nationalism.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka did not close down the Russian TV channels,
though they had troubled and annoyed him greatly. As a result,
he derived a benefit from that. Today Belarus is more independent
than those post-Soviet states which give their national languages
a push. The majority of the Belarusians speak Russian even at
work. Russian is the main language in the country.

The same pragmatic reasons make us learn English. It lets us read the
English-language literature, surf the English-language segment of the
Internet as well as study and work abroad. I believe that the Russians
who live in Russia’s Far East should learn the Chinese language to
cooperate with the Chinese in the frontier cities and towns.

To build the Ukrainian nationhood doesn’t only mean that Ukraine should
have its own national identity, its own history and its own hetmans. If
you are going to build a strong nation, there is a need to do that
pragmatically, maintaining good relations with Russia and making it
possible for people to speak the language that would allow them to work
and to have access to the country’s cultural heritages. In Ukraine
there are young policy-makers coming out for recognizing Russian as
the only official language. Those include Secretary of the Donetsk
City Council, Deputy Head of the Party of Regions Nikolay Levchenko,
who supports Russian becoming the only national language, and one of
the former Socialist leaders Vasily Volga. The young pragmatic people
believe that if the Ukrainian people know Russian and a part of the
Ukrainian population speak only Russian, then why, Vasily Volga asks,
his sixty-year-old relatives must learn Ukrainian. Only those who
want to learn Ukrainian should do it.

It seems to me that the policy-makers in the CIS countries will be more
pragmatic. Russia can help them in that. We keep talking about the CIS,
but we forget that population of the Eastern European countries are
getting more and more interested in the Russian language. Russian is
widespread in Mongolia. 25 out of 70 Mongolian MPs graduated from the
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University)
and speak Russian fluently. Mongolia is a large country with many
resources and many advantages. We should have a broader view of things:
in China and Korea people would like to learn Russian. I consider that
we should promote the Russian language beyond the bounds of the CIS.

If oil prices soar to a peak of just over $140 a barrel,
everybody will study Russian. And the rise in the price of oil will
continue. Platinum, gold and water – all the Russian natural resources
will rise in price too.

And finally, I would like to say that Russian is also one of the two
languages used in the outer space. There is some mysticism here. For
more than 40 years astronauts have been speaking only two languages
on a spaceship – Russian and English.

Konstantin SIMONOV, president of the Centre for Current Politics
in Russia I often deal with the Chinese students. Unfortunately,
they know Russian much worse than the older generations do. We have
neglected the Russian language issue far too long, and this is a
serious problem of Russia.

We say that the current economic development of Russia motivates
foreigners to learn Russian, which is right. But what have we done
to make people abroad learn Russian? Here, unfortunately, extremely
little has been done and new problems keep arising.

I would like to mention three "agents" that can improve the situation
with the Russian language in the post-Soviet space. Those include
our government, NGOs and Russian companies.

The modern democracy implies protection of the minorities’ rights. The
Russian government must strive for the Russian people living in the
former Soviet Republics to have the opportunity to speak Russian
and to study in this language at schools. The Russian language is
recognized as an official language only in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. In
other CIS countries the situation with schools and with teaching the
people in Russian is dramatic. The Eurasia Heritage Foundation has
held the investigation on the Russian language in the New Independent
States. The data show that in the countries which Russia regards as its
political allies there are mush more problems with the school teaching
than in other CIS countries. In particular, the investigation marked
out three countries where the problems with teaching Russian are quite
severe. Those are Armenia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. At least, Armenia
and Uzbekistan are the countries that have always been considered our
partners in the Caucasus region and Central Asia. The situation in
Kazakhstan has worsened sharply. Unfortunately, the Russian government
winks at that and problems continue to occur. In many schools in the
CIS countries the Russian language is not taught any more.

Now about the activities of the Russian NGOs in that field. All of
us know the term "soft power", but little is being done to return
Russian to the former Soviet Republics.

These days the Centre for Current Politics in Russia, of which I am
the President, is holding the forum of the CIS young elites with
the support of the Russian government. Our task is to allow young
talented people, who have a good command of Russian, to understand
what goes on in Russia. In many instances, a lot of young people,
who live in the post-Soviet countries and hold high posts there,
visit Russia very rarely. We must not lose the new promising young
generation in the CIS countries. In this sense, the attempts of some
NGOs to promote Russian are welcome.

Finally, I would like to say that the Russian companies should
be interested in promotion of Russian in the New Independent
States. Russian businessmen buy a lot of property and assets
abroad. Those who will work for joint ventures should speak Russian. As
is known, for example, all the employees of a transnational company
(wherever the office is located, in Moscow or in Bangkok) speak English
very well. Otherwise, the people will not be hired. But in Russia the
Russian language exams are not conducted among migrants. Many people,
who do not speak Russian, come to Russia to work.

I believe that we should put more effort into the work with those
three "agents" in order to breathe life into the Russian language,
since it is an important communication tool in the post-Soviet space.

The material is based on the experts’ addresses to the round table
"Situation with the Russian language in the CIS countries" organized
by the Russian Agency of International Information RIA Novosti on
June 17, 2008.