Author: Kalashian Nyrie

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
July 17 2004

Schiff genocide resolution faces GOP resistance
House leaders fear offending ally Turkey one day after House passes
bill affirming Armenian Genocide.

By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press

WASHINGTON – A day after getting the House of Representatives to
recognize the Armenian Genocide for the first time, Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-Glendale) was already feeling pressure Friday from the House’s
Republican leadership to drop the issue.

The House of Representatives accepted an amendment to the foreign
operations appropriation bill Thursday sponsored by Schiff that would
prohibit Turkey from using U.S. foreign aid funds to lobby against
recognition of the genocide.

“It puts the House on record as saying that the genocide took place,
we know it took place, and we won’t allow our money to be used to
deny it,” Schiff said.

>From 1915 to 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Turks, but the United States has never acknowledged it as genocide.
Schiff’s amendment is the first time the House voted on a measure
related to the genocide.

But a joint House-Senate committee must approve the amendment, and
Republican leaders in the House are already starting to fight it. In
a joint statement, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.),
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and House Majority Whip Roy
Blunt (R-Mo.) insisted the committee drop the amendment and said the
House would not consider officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide
this year.

Republicans fear that recognizing the genocide will hurt the United
States’ relationship with Turkey, a strategic military ally. The
United States and Turkey jointly operate an air force base in
Incirlik, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

“Turkey has been a reliable ally of the United States for decades,
and the deep foundation upon which our mutual economic and security
relationship rests should not be disrupted by this amendment,”
Hastert, DeLay and Blunt said in a written statement. Efforts to
reach them Friday were unsuccessful.

Schiff dismissed the notion, saying that Turkish leaders might be
angered for a month and then get over it.

He pledged to work hard to make sure the amendment remains part of
the bill, and he expects help from Armenian-American leaders
throughout the country.

“Up until now, [the Republicans] have been killing this resolution
behind the scenes; killing it with silence,” Schiff said. “This is
the first time they’ve been fleshed out and forced into the open.”

In Glendale, the Armenian-American community rejoiced that Schiff’s
amendment passed.

Ardashes Kassakhian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee’s Western Region, which serves Glendale and Burbank, heard
the news while serving as a counselor at an Armenian youth camp. He
immediately shared it with the campers.

“I told them, boys and girls, we’ve been working hard for a very long
time to have a success such as this,” Kassakhian said. “It’s been a
while since we’ve had a success such as this one, and we achieved it.
The kids all started cheering and singing Armenian patriotic songs.”

The Washington Post
July 16, 2004 Friday
Final Edition

House Votes Down Cut In Military Aid to Egypt;
Administration Officials Pressed Hill on Issue

Dan Morgan, Washington Post Staff Writer

The House yesterday rejected a $570 million cut in U.S. military aid
to Egypt after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell issued a
last-minute warning to lawmakers that the action would damage
relations with a close Middle East ally “at a very sensitive moment
in the region.”

Although the 287 to 131 vote was lopsided, the administration and
military contractors who sell U.S.-financed weaponry to Egypt took
seriously the threat of a cut and worked behind the scenes to head it
off.

Before the vote, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice made
calls to some lawmakers, who were also on notice from arms companies
that the shift could result in job losses in home districts. “It was
a full-court press,” said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who offered the
amendment to the $19.4 billion foreign aid bill for 2005.

His bill would have shifted the military aid to economic assistance,
which he said is “desperately needed” in Egypt. “The last thing this
society [Egypt] needs is the ultimate in high-tech weaponry,” Lantos
said.

The debate brought out highly ambivalent feelings about Egypt. The
House’s pro-Israel forces used the opportunity to vent frustration
with the Egyptian government’s role during hostilities between Israel
and the Palestinians. Among those supporting the cut was House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), one of the strongest supporters
of Israeli interests in Congress.

Lawmakers took the floor to rebuke the Egyptian government for
tolerating anti-Semitism, limiting its cooperation with the United
States in the war on terrorism and failing to prevent gun-smuggling
to militant Palestinian groups.

But Powell and senior lawmakers in both parties warned that the
action would send the wrong signal at a time when Egypt has begun
working closely with Israel to assure a smooth transition as Israel
plans to withdraw from Gaza.

In a letter to Congress, Powell noted that a unilateral reduction
would weaken the balanced military aid to Egypt and Israel that is a
“cornerstone” of the 1979 Camp David peace accords. In 2005, Israel
and Egypt are set to receive $2.2 billion and $1.3 billion in grants,
respectively, under the formula.

“Our credibility in this relationship depends to a great degree upon
being a reliable provider of assistance to the Egyptian military,”
Powell wrote.

“This puts a finger in the eye of our friends in Egypt,” said Rep.
John D. Dingell (D-Mich.)

Jewish House members were divided on the issue. Rep. Nita M. Lowey
(D-N.Y.) questioned why the United States was providing lavish
military assistance to Egypt even though “it has no real enemies” and
its government tolerates “TV shows that perpetuate anti-Semitism.”

But she said she was reluctantly opposing the aid cut because of its
timing, noting that Egypt has lately signaled its intention to play a
more constructive Middle East role.

However, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), in backing Lantos’s proposal,
said years of U.S. aid to Egypt have done little to curb anti-Israel
rhetoric in the country’s media.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the principal
pro-Israel lobby in the United States, took no official position on
the issue. Earlier in the day, AIPAC won at least a symbolic victory
when it helped push through the House a resolution that was critical
of a July 9 advisory judgment from the International Court of Justice
holding Israel’s security wall to be illegal. The resolution
indicated that the ruling was a result of improper political pressure
from members of the U.N. General Assembly. The vote was 361 to 45.

Later yesterday, Republican leaders helped the underlying foreign aid
bill get passed by a 365 to 41 vote. Tight budget restrictions forced
the House to cut $2 billion from President Bush’s request, but the
measure still provides a record $2.2 billion to fight HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis — nearly $60 million more than last year.

The president got only half the $2.5 billion he requested for his
signature foreign aid initiative, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. The corporation establishes a new way to dispense
foreign aid to countries that qualify by meeting a list of criteria
such as commitment to free-market economies and democratic
institutions.

The bill provides $900 million in aid to Afghanistan, and continues a
waiver that allows continued bilateral economic assistance to
Azerbaijan despite that country’s economic blockage of Armenia.

ARMENIAN PM MEETS WITH MOSCOW MAYOR

YEREVAN, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS: Before wrapping up an official
visitto Moscow, Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian met today
with Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who said that the trade between the
two countries was not satisfactory, despite some progress in that
area. The Russian mayor briefedthe Armenian prime minister on Moscow
government plans concerning Armenia, which he said would mark a
significant progress if implemented.
Luzhkov, particulalry, expounded about construction of Yerevan
Trade Center in Moscow, which is set to be built by Armenian companies
and is expected to be over in 2005. His other proposal was about
building a center for wholesale of Armenia-made products. Luzhkov also
proposed that a joint commission, made of Armenian government and
Moscow officials be formed to promote mutually beneficial ideas. The
Moscow mayor also promised to assist Armenia to secure reasonable and
fixed fee for hiring a pavilion at all-Russian exhibition center.
Armenian prime minister asked Luzhkov to consider the issue of
providing quotas for Armenian builders in Moscow so that they face no
problems when working there.

Armen Press
July 12 2004

PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARYAN TO VISIT RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON JUNE
12

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS: On July 12 Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan left for the Russian Federation on a two-day
official visit at the invitation of Mikhail Fradkov, the chairman of
the Government of the Russian Federation. The Armenian delegation,
headed by the Prime Minister, includes Vardan Khachatrian, the
minister of finance and economy, Karen Chshmaritian, the minister of
trade and economic development, Sergo Yeritsian, the minister of
science and education, Armen Avetisian, the chairman of the
government affiliated state customs committee, Tatul Margaryan, the
deputy minister of foreign affairs and also senior officials of the
staff of the government and the ministry of foreign affairs.
On July 13 Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan will have a meeting
with his Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. This
will be followed by enlarged Russian- Armenian talks with
participation of all members of Russian and Armenian delegations. The
prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia will also meet with
representatives of mass media.
Within the frameworks of the visit Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian is expected to have also bilateral meetings with some
high-ranking Russian official. During his stay in Moscow the Prime
Minister will visit the “Armenia” pavilion of the Pan-Russian
Exhibition Center and will meet with its director M. Musayev.

Faces of Globalization: Armenian students
By Christine Heath
UPI Correspondent
Published 7/9/2004 6:40 PM

WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) — Walking along the sidewalk surrounding the
Capitol building in Washington, Nune Hovhannisyan and Lusine Tadevosyan want
to complete what they lightheartedly call their picture show.

The two women, born and raised in Armenia, are spending their summer here as
part of an academmic program.

On their way back to work for the Armenian International Policy Research
Group, Lusine, 25, and Nune, 22, strategically position themselves on the
front steps of the symbolic Capitol building, preparing to be photographed.

As the picture is snapped, their faces are proud with an underlying sense of
accomplishment. Both stand ridged and tall, with a sense of how far they
have come from their homeland of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Armenia, located in Southwestern Asia, just east of Turkey, is a landlocked
country with a population of about 3 million.

After gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country’s
centralized economic structure dilapidated and forced Armenian leaders to
privatize all industries.

Under the old Soviet central planning system, Armenia was able to maintain a
modern industrial manufacturing sector, supplying such things as machine
tools and textiles, to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and
energy.

The break up of the Soviet central planning system and the long conflict
with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the predominantly
Armenian-populated region assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan, contributed to the
severe economic decline in the early 1990s.

Between 1991 and 1993, the gross domestic product dropped by 60 percent.

Factories, with an inadequate fuel supply and an inability sell products,
were forced to close.

“All the plants just closed down and some re-opened, but they needed new
professionals,” Nune explained, now seated at her desk located in the
Armenian Assembly of America.

Nune’s father, who has a formal education in engineering, lost his job in
1993.

After loosing his job at the engineering plant, Nune’s father worked as the
councilor to the head of a trade group.

“It sounds great, but just on the paper … it is a huge complex (group),
but only 1 percent is functioning,” Nune said in accented English.

Nune explains, “a successful businessman privatizes the company. When new
people come, they bring their own team. The complex closed and ever since he
is trying to get a job.”

Nune’s father is financially dependent on family living outside Armenia to
send him money.

Sitting directly to Nune’s left at her own desk, Lusine relates a similar
story.

Her father, also formally educated as an engineer, now drives a taxi.

“Being an engineer you many not have steady work, so they have other jobs.”

In 2001, the unemployment rate topped 20 percent for Armenians.

Lusine also talked about the effect of the war with Azerbaijan, “Blockages
and no energy sources during war make it really hard.”

Armenia suffered chronic energy shortages in the early and mid-1990s.

Even before the war started the only nuclear power plant closed because of
environmental concerns, Lusine explained with a map of Armenia posted
prominently on the wall behind her.

“With no energy supply, how can factory produce?”

The country producing only hydropower at the time, Lusine recalled having
power for a limited two hours a day.

“People got really used to it because they needed to survive. Those were
difficult years, but we survived.”

Lusine added, “My sister was trying to get into medical school; she studied
with a candle. It is an Armenian characteristic, they never suffered the
education for anything.”

The literacy rate for the total population of Armenia is 98.6 percent.

Education has always been important to both Lusine and Nune.

“It was really difficult to get into my institute,” Nune shyly admitted that
600 students applied for 25 places in the economic department at Yerevan
State University.

Upon a successful completion of their undergraduate work, both women decided
to continue their education in the United States.

“When you have an American education it is much easier to find a job. You
have more opportunity in Armenia and elsewhere,” said Lusine.

Nune jumped in, “U.S. education is a passport.”

Lusine and Nune both are in the United States as part of the highly
competitive, merit-based Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program.

Nune, one of the youngest fellows, felt fortunate to be a part of the
prestigious program, “I know people who applied five years.”

The program attempts to ameliorate democracy and economy in Eurasia by
sending young professionals to the United States for a master’s degree level
of education and requires that fellows return home for two years upon
completion of their education.

After the program’s completion, Lusine intends to take full advantage of the
opportunities she has been afforded.

“I got the education not just for fun. I want to use it and get paid, that’s
all I want.”

Lusine and Nune represent a new future for Armenia. The young, educated
professionals will continue to stimulate the economic growth in upcoming
industries like electronics, high technology, agriculture, and
diamond-processing.

The UN estimates that between 1998 and 2000 annual technology-related
exports rose by 25 percent.

Armenia’s gross domestic product was $11.79 billion in 2003. Its per capita
was $3,900 last year.

Armenia is seeing change in its increasing globalization. In January 2003
the country joined the WTO and has recently managed to qualify for
state-to-state funding from the United States through World Bank’s
Millennium Challenge Account.

Over the past ten years, the U.S. government has allocated over $1.4 billion
in U.S. humanitarian, technical, and economic development assistance to
Armenia.

>From under a stack of papers, Lusine pulled out a photocopied March 2004
National Geographic article that featured Armenia.

“I don’t like this article because they make you feel pity on Armenia. You
have to feel pride.”

While in the United States, Lusine takes every opportunity she can to
educate people on the little known Republic of Armenia.

“I am trying to educate people on my country. I learned my history much
better when I came here, which is really long and rich.”

“When they ask, I don’t just say Armenia, I try to give them idea what means
Armenian.”

Faces of Globalization — The above piece by UPI Correspondent Christine
Heath is part 17 of a half-year series by United Press International which
focuses each week on the human face of globalization in locales ranging from
India to the heartland of the United States. The series looks at the complex
array of social and economic issues facing workers, managers, students and
others, who have been affected by the growing worldwide investment, trade
and technological interconnections that have come to be known as
globalization.

Ha’aretz, Israel
July 11 2004

Wall annexes Rachel’s Tomb, imprisons Palestinian families

By Lily Galili

Behlehem resident Fuad Ahmad Jado, surrounded by a wall, hasn’t even
a way out to buy food.

Last Wednesday morning, 10 ultra-Orthodox men sat near Rachel’s Tomb
compound heatedly discussing halakhic (Jewish legal) issues. They
were sitting in a long corridor linking the tomb to a new house,
which until recently was owned by a Palestinian resident of
Bethlehem, who used to rent it to small business owners.

A few months ago the Palestinian sold the building, on Bethlehem’s
main road, to private Israeli buyers. In a short time it was
significantly altered. Its facade, which looked onto the Palestinian
street, was completely sealed and its rear was hastily joined to the
tomb compound. The result is a weird architectural product. The rim
of the pavement adjacent to the original structure is now part of the
interior of the joined building.

The soldiers in charge of security in Rachel’s Tomb live on the
basement floor, which was turned into a barracks. The entrance hall
is an improvised yeshiva. The rooms on the other floors are locked
up, pending renovation. The buyers’ “big plan” is to build a sort of
little settlement in the expanding compound of Rachel’s Tomb.

Former MK Hanan Porat knows a lot about it. “With the help of God we
are progressing toward maintaining a permanent Jewish presence and a
fixed yeshiva in Rachel’s Tomb, as Rabbi Kook urged, and bringing
Israelis back to where they belong.”

The house annexed to the tomb is not the last. In the adjacent
building, on the Palestinian side, a small humus diner is located –
but diners are few, due to the situation. “Blessed is God, we’re
taking care of the humus joint too,” says Porat. “The buyers have
received a good price for it, voluntarily. It’s a private purchase,
without the government’s intervention. All the official bodies in
Israel know about it, but they also know it’s all legal. There are
other lands owned by Jews in the area, on the other side of the
road.”

Asked if the goal is creating a Jewish settlement in this part of
Bethlehem resembling the Jewish settlement in Hebron, Porat says with
a sigh: “Alas, at a later stage and smaller, but yes. It’s time to
renew the meaning of the verse `your children will return to their
own land'”(Jeremiah 31:17).

This verse has been engraved on a wall slate in a little ceremony
inaugurating the new building in the tomb compound. However, the main
road’s official name, once Derech Efrata – the road to Efrat – which
until the intifada was also the main Jerusalem-Hebron road, is now
Yasser Arafat Street. This name is still on the road sign near
Rachel’s Tomb – so the future residents can say their address is
Rachel’s Tomb, corner of Arafat.

Jerusalem’s tomb

Many are waiting in line to move into the house. It will be inhabited
only after the separation wall south of Jerusalem is completed. The
creeping wall has been diverted from its course and will close in on
the expanded tomb compound, turning it into a walled enclave. The
wall bites into about half a kilometer of Bethlehem land, annexing it
to Jerusalem.

“It has never been decided that Rachel’s Tomb will be in C area
(Israeli security and political control),” says Shaul Arieli, a
Geneva Initiative activist. “The interim agreement of September `95
has a clause promising Israel free access to Rachel’s Tomb, but
without giving it the authorities deriving from a C area status. When
they set the borders of Jerusalem, they refrained from annexing
Rachel’s Tomb, because it is located in heart of Bethlehem. Now the
wall is in fact annexing the tomb. The wall in this area was built
during the trauma of the big events in Bethlehem and Beit Jallah. In
the insanity that ensued, the tractors arrived and created faits
accomplis.”

Huge concrete fortifications around Rachel’s Tomb are severing the
main road and writing a new history. The direct road from Jerusalem
to Hebron is no more. Near Rachel’s Tomb the road was blocked with a
high concrete wall built across it. The Palestinians wishing to enter
Bethlehem are directed to a small bypass. The Israelis are led into
the closed tomb enclave in dozens of buses daily (mostly organized
Egged trips accompanied by soldiers). Barrier 300 between Jerusalem
and Bethlehem was diverted toward Bethlehem and in the future it will
become a terminal like the Erez barricade.

The Palestinian businesses on this part of the road, once a bustling
shopping center, closed down because their clients couldn’t get to
them. A handsome sign with the word “Memories” testifies to the
existence of a once popular pub in the city that was once the
Palestinians’ big urban hope. Only a distant memory of that hope
remains. The history of the main road and Bethlehem’s geopolitics are
changing with the help of “contractor Effie Magal,” who is hanging up
his company’s advertisement posters on the wall with professional
pride.

The Palestinian partner to the Geneva Initiative, Yasser Abed Rabu,
cites Rachel’s Tomb to demonstrate that the Israelis are cheating.

Last Tuesday Fuad Ahmad Jado sat at the entrance to his house, near
the Al-Aida refugee camp. His address is hard to define. In the days
before the wall, his power supply came from Jerusalem and his water
from Bethlehem. He didn’t really belong to either, and the high
concrete wall creeping toward his entrance is complicating things.

Middle of nowhere

Jado’s story is a test of the High Court of Justice’s ruling on the
separation fence. His tale demonstrates that the “proportionality”
the court spoke of is like an “enlightened occupation.” Three
families live in the compound with Jado. The wall will make their
life impossible. Are three families, in the middle of nowhere, enough
to weigh against the security needs? Is the fact that Jado recently
had a heart attack, after a clash with the border police, and is now
facing open heart surgery, a matter to be considered? Jado, 47, who
speaks fluent Hebrew, believes it is.

In the relentless 36-degree heat, Jado pulls all the documents of his
history from orderly files. Order is second nature to the man who
worked for years in Israel’s licensing office in Jerusalem. One of
the permits, given his grandfather Ayub Hassan Jado in July 1978,
states explicitly: “this man was registered in the population
registry in 1967 and registered in form 049556. The place is within
Jerusalem’s jurisdiction.”

As proof Jado pulls out arnona (city rate) payment forms he received
from Jerusalem’s municipality and never paid. Does this prove he is a
true Jerusalemite?

Not really. On April 27, 2003, another permit was issued for Jado, on
which he was informed in red print that he belongs to Bethlehem. “An
officer who wasn’t born yet when my grandfather was a citizen of
Jerusalem came and informed me that I wasn’t a Jerusalemite,” Jado
says cynically.

The story does not end here. In recent months senior border police
officers came to Jado’s house, examined it and left. Then came an
officer from the military authorities and informed him, “you belong
to Jerusalem again.” They did not come again. As a Jerusalem citizen,
Jado is prohibited from entering Bethlehem, but also from entering
Jerusalem, because nobody issued him a permit to do so. Jado is
sitting on the land his family has lived on for 60 years and does not
belong anywhere. He has to sneak illegally to his medical tests in
East Jerusalem’s Al-Makassed Hospital.

The wall being built on his doorstep will imprison him within it,
with no way out in any direction. In the original plan, the wall was
supposed to pass west of his house, leaving it in Bethlehem. But as
his luck would have it, the house is near an Armenian monastery and
the monks did not want the wall to separate them from their real
estate property in the area. Unlike Jado, they have power and
connections and the fence route was diverted accordingly.

Now Jado is imprisoned within the wall. Once it is completed, it is
not even clear how he will be able to buy his family food. “Maybe
they’ll put up a supermarket here just for me,” he quips. “But what
if I need an ambulance, or fire fighters? How will they get here?”

Two months ago fire broke out in the Armenian monastery, which was
empty at the time. Jado called a monk who called the fire fighters.
It took the fire trucks two hours to reach the monastery from
Bethlehem, from a distance of two minutes away, because it had to go
through the road block instead of directly. Since then Jado is
worried about needing emergency treatment.

The big plan is clear to him. Israel intends to make his life
intolerable, in order to drive him from his land. About six months
ago a senior border police officer ordered him to move out. Jado
replied that in a state of law a resident cannot just be ordered out.

“Bring a document,” he told the officer, who did not return. Someone
suggested he petition the High Court of Justice. “Stop talking
nonsense,” he says. “I live in this country. The Shin Bet and police
run it. I would only lose money.”

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
03 juillet 2004

Compétition internationale de vitesse à Payré

La commune de Payré s’apprête à recevoir du 3 au 11 juillet le
championnat d’Europe de modélisme, et plus précisément la discipline
de « racer au pylône ». Sur un plan d’eau, de petits bolides reliés
par un cble de 16 m à un pylône glissent à la surface autour de
celui-ci le plus vite possible. Pour un petit moteur de 1,5 cm3,
compter des vitesses d’environ 100 km/heure. A 5 cm3, les
hydroglisseurs filent déjà à 210 km/heure. Le record de vitesse se
situe aujourd’hui à 283,4 km/heure. Les modèles réduits sont équipés
de moteurs deux temps et utilisent un carburant spécial. Les
appareils se répartissent en deux catégories : ceux à hélice aérienne
et ceux à hélice semi-immergée.

Le « racer au pylône » est apparu en France en 1936. Le pylône du
plan d’eau de Payré a été construit en 1997, en même temps que se
mettait en place le club du Modèle circulaire marin, présidé par
Pierre Barbotin. Un très bon niveau a vite été atteint, avec des
records de vitesse de niveau international : 216 km/h pour les
juniors et 246 pour les seniors. Les modèles sont réalisés par les
compétiteurs eux-mêmes, ce qui nécessite à la fois des compétences
techniques poussées et un savoir-faire spécifique. De ce fait, les
pilotes sont souvent des ingénieurs ou des techniciens.

Une activité formatrice

Parmi les 16 pays qui seront représentés au championnat du monde, on
trouve, en plus de la France, la Bulgarie, la Russie, la
Grande-Bretagne ou l’Italie. L’Arménie sera aussi présente et
particulièrement bien représentée, puisque c’est Hratchia Shahazizian
qui défendra ses couleurs.

Professeur de mécanique de l’université de Yerevan en Arménie et
ingénieur à la cité des étoiles de Moscou, celui-ci est plusieurs
fois champion du monde toutes catégories et détient le record mondial
de vitesse. Une passion qu’il a su transmettre à ses enfants, puisque
son fils est deux fois champion du monde et sa fille trois fois. Même
son petit-fils s’y est mis et est déjà parvenu à la 3e place d’un
championnat du monde.

Hratchia Shahazizian souligne le « climat d’amitié entre les
différents modélistes » et rappelle que les meilleurs concepteurs
d’avions et de bateaux ont débuté par le modélisme, qui permet de
s’initier à moindre coût à l’aérodynamique. Une valeur pédagogique
que ne manque pas de souligner Pierre Barbotin.

– Le championnat d’Europe de modélisme aura lieu du 3 au 11 juillet
aux Iles de Payré. Les épreuves sont prévues lundi 5, mardi 6, jeudi
8 et vendredi 9 de 9 h à 12 h et de 14 h à 20 heures. La remise des
prix aura lieu le samedi 10 au matin. La journée de mercredi sera
consacrée à l’entretien et aux réparations des modèles. L’entrée est
gratuite pour tous.

GRAPHIQUE: Image: Les modèles réduits d’hydroglisseurs de « racer au
pylône ».

Moscow Times
July 6 2004

>From Cow Tails to Top Farmer

By Jennifer Davis
Special to The Moscow Times

The farm has a barn with 10 cows and several pigs, an adjoining dairy
to process milk and cheese, a garden, and grain fields.

CAMPHILL-SVETLANA, Leningrad Region — When Minka arrived at
Camphill-Svetlana, his first job was to hold cows’ tails. Now he
proudly calls himself the village’s farmer-in-chief.

Minka, who has Down syndrome, is something of a celebrity in the tiny
village, Russia’s only fully integrated community for people with
special needs.

Thanks to a flamboyant, charming personality, Minka regularly takes
part in local cultural events and is an active participant in the
village meetings held every Monday evening.

But that wasn’t always the case. One volunteer recalls Minka’s move
in 1997 to this village nestled in the fertile, river-crossed lands
surrounding Lake Ladoga and about 160 kilometers east of St.
Petersburg.

“He was assigned to help milk the cows each morning. At first, Minka
was very frightened of them — he was just supposed to hold the cows’
tails, while I milked them,” the volunteer said. “Within a couple of
months, he started milking the cows himself and later he was the one
waking me up at 6 a.m., pails in hand, ready to get to work.”

Svetlana, as residents call the village for short, is home to an
international group of nearly 40 people who are helping transform the
landscape for Russians with disabilities.

Founded in 1992 by a group of Russians and the Camphill Village Trust
of Norway, the community is designed to allow each person to
contribute to the best of his ability. Svetlana is one of almost 100
communities in Europe, North America, Africa and India run by
Camphill, which was founded in 1939 by Austrian pediatrician Karl
Konig.

“The idea behind Svetlana village is to recreate social life,” said
Svetlana’s British director, Mark Barber. “In modern society, people
are increasingly lonely and living ever more antisocial lives. The
wonderful thing about Svetlana is that it’s such a positive attempt
to recreate the world. Many people, both those with special needs and
volunteers, have found their salvation here.”

Traditional village life revolves around the farm, and Svetlana is no
exception. Its farm has a barn housing 10 cows and several pigs, an
adjoining dairy to process milk, cheese and other products, a garden,
grain fields, an herb workshop and an earth cellar. A bakery and doll
workshop are also on site.

People with special needs, who are referred to here as “villagers,”
live together with volunteers, or “co-workers,” in three houses,
where they share meals and various household duties like preparing
food and cleaning.

Lena, who uses a wheelchair, came to Svetlana from Tashkent,
Uzbekistan, in 1999 and works in the bakery. There she actively
engages others in lengthy conversations about philosophy and
politics.

“When I got here for the first time, it was hard to get used to
living without my family,” she said. “At home, my family helped me do
everything and here I had to learn how to take care of myself. This
is especially hard for someone in a wheelchair.”

The volunteers come from all over Russia as well as Germany,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Britain and the United States. Barber
is one of several volunteers who have lived in Svetlana for years and
have started families here. Others come for six months to a year.

Gamlet Saakyan, a volunteer from Armenia, has lived and worked on the
farm with his wife, Yelena, and his 5-year-old son, Ilya, since 2000,
and he said the experience has been priceless. “The great thing is my
son doesn’t notice the difference between villagers and co-workers,”
he said. “He treats everyone the same. It’s wonderful to see.”

The cheese workshop is run by Sven Dietsche from Freiburg, Germany,
who is fulfilling his year of compulsory alternative service to the
German military at Svetlana. Dietsche, who makes hard cheese, brinza
and softer, sweet tvorog with villager Yulia, acknowledged that he
was by no means an accomplished cheese maker when he arrived last
summer.

“I was introduced to the cheese-making process in one day, and the
next day I was on my own,” he said. “After a few months, Yulia came
to work with me. At first, she didn’t understand what was going on
and couldn’t remember the steps. Now she tells me what to do.”

Dietsche and several villagers have been going to a nearby market in
Volkhov on Sundays to sell their wares. “We weren’t very welcome
there at first,” Dietsche said. “We’d get a lot of stares and few
people stopped at our stand. Now we’ve become quite famous.”

Jennifer Davis / For MT

A bakery also operates in Camphill-Svetlana, a village designed to
allow each person to contribute to the best of his ability.

Russia’s disabled, who were reasonably well looked after in Soviet
times, have little support these days. Children with special needs
can be a huge burden for already financially strapped families, and
doctors often encourage parents to leave their children in the care
of understaffed and overcrowded internaty, the state-run institutions
where they receive little, if any, personal attention.

Svetlana does not advertise, so information about the village travels
by word of mouth. Interested families may approach Svetlana, but the
village is not able to accept any applicants from institutions.
“We’ve tried to take people from internats, but legally we have no
way to keep them,” Barber said. “Unfortunately, we’re in this
position where we can only take people from parents or guardians.”

Although volunteers usually come to Svetlana to work with people with
special needs or simply to experience life in a rural community, many
are also here to study biodynamic farming, which is practiced in all
Camphill villages. Biodynamics, a form of organic farming developed
by German philosopher Rudolf Steiner in 1924, views the farm as a
self-sustaining organism within the surrounding ecosystem.

“In traditional agriculture, the goal is to extract from the earth,”
Barber said. “In biodynamic farming, the goal is to heal the earth.
One of the great tragedies of our age is that we’ve lost a spiritual
connection to the land. Biodynamic farming re-establishes that
connection.

“In fact,” he added, “this is the same concept in our work with the
disabled. We hope that by helping these people with special needs we
will also heal ourselves.”

Although Svetlana got the land it occupies free of charge from
regional authorities, it mainly relies on donations from the Camphill
organization to keep going.

“We don’t currently pay rent, but this could end at any time,” Barber
said. “We don’t receive any money or subsidies from the government,
except for the villagers’ state payments of about 1,000 rubles [$34]
each per month.

“Foreign sponsors are increasingly asking why the Russian business
community cannot begin supporting such a project on their home soil,”
he said.

At the end of the day, the glue that holds Svetlana together is the
hardworking community itself, which treats each villager with respect
and kindness, Barber said. “One of the great secrets of Camphill is
that at the center of the community there are these people with
special needs, who have amazing social skills,” he said. “And that is
what somehow makes it possible for us all to live together.”

Hucknall Today, UK
July 2, 2004

Tourists arrive for Byron Festival but stars are missing

AN INFLUX of tourists is expected in Hucknall this weekend when the
seventh International Byron Festival gets under way.

The ten-day festival, which continues to rise in stature and prestige,
officially starts today when a town crier strolls through the streets
of the town centre.
And its 33 events, ranging from dances to dinners, films to flowers and
talks to tours, are expected to attract a host of Byron enthusiasts
from across the world.
But sadly, a freak accident has robbed the festival of three of its
crowd-pulling highlights. and two of its perennial stars.
Playwright Bill Studdiford, who was due to premiere one of his latest
works today, was injured when taking part in a rehearsal for a play
entitled ‘Shelley Rebel Heart’ at the Dawlish Festival in Devon on
Tuesday night.
The American slipped down a set of steps and was rushed to hospital
where it was discovered he had done serious damage to his knee and will
be in plaster for at least six weeks.
By his side is partner and actor Ian Frost, who is the main performer
in the three Byron Festival events.
It was hoped that Ian would be able to go it alone but the shows take
two people and no-one can fill Bill’s shoes.
And that means the cancellation of ‘Extraordinary Friends Byron And
Shelley’, which was scheduled for the Lovelace Theatre at Hucknall
Community Centre this evening.
Also axed is ‘Beppo’, a Venetian love story, written by Bill and
featuring Ian, that was scheduled for Newstead Abbey on Sunday
afternoon.
And the third event to get the chop is next Thursday’s second
performance of ‘Extraordinary Friends Byron and Shelley’, which was due
to be staged at Southwell Minster.
Ian has performed at all six previous festivals and has sent his and
Bill’s apologies. But he has promised to return to next year’s event.
Maureen Crisp, of the Newstead Abbey Byron Society, said: “Bill and Ian
have been wonderful supporters of the festival. It is such a pity but
these things happen.”
The festival has also lost its open-air rock concert, which was
scheduled for Hucknall Market Place tomorrow (12 midday until 6 pm).
Problems with an entertainment licence have forced co-ordinator John
Wilkinson to cancel the concert.
Said Mr Wilkinson: “We’ve had our setbacks but it is now a case of
turning the focus to all the other excellent events we have going on.”
A former Hucknall councillor, Mr Wilkinson claims the festival is the
most ambitious the town has staged.
Among the events scheduled for next Wednesday are poetry-writing
sessions that tempt locals to emulate Byron himself.
The free sessions, to be held at Hucknall Community Centre on Ogle
Street and the Watnall Road Community Centre, invite people to create
poems or short stories.
The Ogle Street session (2 pm to 4 pm) is also making easy-to-use
computers available, so that you can illustrate your poem with computer
design.
Says a spokeswoman: “You might want to write a verse for your child or
grandchild, using their name and making it personal to them, or you
might just want to illustrate your favourite verse.
“Here is one I wrote earlier: My name is Lynne; I work at college; But
this doesn’t mean I am full of knowledge; If, like me, you want to
rhyme; Mark in your diary this date and time”.
The Watnall Road session (1 pm to 4 pm), which is specifically aimed at
the over-50s, features local author Derek Fox, who has written two
books on Byron and who will be available to discuss poetry and help
anyone wanting to try writing something themselves.
The session also includes glass-painting and card-making, plus other
exhbitions, demonstrations and refreshments.

THE FULL PROGRAMME
TODAY
9.30 am – Traditional opening of the festival as a town crier strolls
through Hucknall town centre, including the Market Place.
7.30 pm – ‘Nothing To Wear’, fashion show and sale of quality clothing
at crazy prices (in aid of Hope Lea Project), Central Methodist Church,
£3. Tickets from 150 Watnall Road or the committee.
SATURDAY JULY 3
12 midday – Bellringers of Hucknall Parish Church will ring a peal.
12 midday – Poached salmon and real ale lunch, including a glass of a
selection of festival ales, Hucknall Community Centre, £4. Bookings in
advance only by ringing 0115 9529303.
7.30 pm – International concert. An evening of culture for all the
family, Hucknall Parish Church. Free of charge.
SUNDAY JULY 4
Annual open golf tournament for the Byron Cup, presented by Maureen
Crisp, at Leen Valley Golf Centre. For entry details, contact the
centre on 0115 9642037.
2.30 pm – ‘Chance To Dance’, a spectacular showcase from the students
of Hucknall-based Sarah Adamson School Of Dance, Lovelace Theatre, £3.
6 pm – ‘Robin Hood And The Sherwood Experience’. Return of the Common
Players to Hucknall Titchfield Park after their first open-air show
last year. Take a picnic. Free of charge.
MONDAY JULY 5
1.30 pm – ‘The Bad Lord Byron’, a rare chance to see the 1949 film,
starring Dennis Price, Byron Cineplex Cinema, £3.
2 pm – ‘With Great Pleasure’, music and poetry presented by Gwenda
Watkins and Gillian Berry, Gallery Restaurant and Millennium Garden,
Nottingham University, £6.50 (including afternoon tea). For tickets and
further information, contact Maureen Crisp on 0115 9664367.
6 pm – ‘Newstead And Its Owners’, a talk by Denis Hill that traces the
history of Newstead Abbey and its owners from its foundation to the
20th century, Hucknall Community Centre, £3.
7.30 pm – ‘Italian Night’, an evening of Italian food, wine and music,
Hucknall Community Centre, £4. Bookings in advance only by ringing 0115
9529303.
TUESDAY JULY 6
2.30 pm – ‘Strawberry Fayre’. The fruits of summer to be enjoyed in a
delicious afternoon of pleasure, Hucknall Community Centre, £3.
Bookings in advance only by ringing 0115 9529303.
2 pm to 4 pm – Heritage Bus Tour, taking a look at the heritage of
Hucknall and surrounding villages, starting from Hucknall Community
Centre. No charge but booking essential by ringing 0115 9529303.
7.15 pm – The Byron Dinner, including a talk by Edward Enfield,
entitled ‘Byron And The Elgin Marbles’, Hucknall Community Centre,
£10.50. For tickets and further information, contact Maureen Crisp on
0115 9664367.
WEDNESDAY JULY 7
10 am – Festival Health Walk, part of Hucknall’s Taking Steps project.
Meet at Hucknall Community Centre. Free of charge.
11 am – Evergreen Arts Group. Creative and visual performances by young
adults with learning difficulties, Watnall Road Baptist Church. Free of
charge.
2 pm to 4 pm – Arts And Crafts, exhibitions, demonstrations and
have-a-go, Watnall Road Community Centre. Free of charge.
2 pm to 4 pm – Poetry session, complete with use of computers, Hucknall
Community Centre, Ogle Street. Free of charge
7.30 pm – ‘Fawlty Towers Murder Mystery Night,’ including two-course
supper, presented by Ken Purslow, Hucknall Community Centre. Advance
bookings only. Tickets and further information from Maureen Crisp on
0115 9664367.
THURSDAY JULY 8
Visit to Southwell Minster. Contact Hucknall Community Centre on 0115
9529303 for further details.
10 am – Heritage Walk, a chance to look at Hucknall’s town-centre
heritage, including some well-known places and others not quite so well
known. Meet outside Hucknall Library. Free of charge.
FRIDAY JULY 9
6.30 pm to 8.30 pm – Heritage Bus Tour. A repeat of this popular tour,
starting from Hucknall Community Centre. Free of charge but booking
essential by ringing 0115 9529303.
12 midday – ‘A Tram Trip And A Thai’, a trip by tram to a location in
Basford providing wonderful Thai food. From Hucknall tram stop, £7.50
including tram fare. Bookings in advance only by ringing 0115 9529303.
7.30 pm – ‘A Poem And A Pint’, traditional Friday night festival event.
Go along and listen to or recite your favourite poems. Themes this year
include friendship, family and, of course, love, Hucknall Community
Centre, £3.
SATURDAY JULY 10
>From 10 am – Flower Festival, Seymour Road Baptist Church. A welcome
return after the success of last year’s festival, includes stalls.
Lunches available.
7.30 pm – Concert For Armenia, Hucknall Parish Church. Tribute to the
friendship agreement between the Lord Byron School in Armenia and
Hucknall’s Holgate Comprehensive School, including performances by
Armenian dancer Shake, Newstead Welfare Brass Band, Holgate and Lord
Byron School pupils, supported by Hucknall Rotary Club. At Hucknall
Parish Church, £5.
SUNDAY JULY 11
10 am – Boatswain Walk, a pleasant Sunday stroll for yourself and your
dog in memory of Byron’s dog, starting from Hucknall Community Centre.
Free of charge.
>From 10 am – Flower Festival, Seymour Road Baptist Church. Final day.
Free of charge.
11.30 am – Byron Festival Open Darts Championship, competing for the
Byron Trophy, donated by Coun John Wilmott (Lab), of Hucknall, at Royal
British Legion Social Club, Beardall Street. To enter and for further
details, contact Les Berridge on 0115 9528658.
3 pm – Dedication, Service And Concert. Dedication of a khatchkhar in
memory of the late Canon Fred Green, followed by a service and concert
of music and poetry from members of the Byron Society and students from
Holgate Comprehensive School and the Lord Byron School in Armenia. Free
of charge.
4 pm – Naming Ceremony. The official renaming of Hucknall Community
Centre in Ogle Street. Free of charge.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS
Festivals Past, exhibition at Hucknall Library throughout the festival.
Exhibitions at Newstead Abbey. Ring 01623 455900 for further details.
Tours of Hucknall Parish Church, Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 12 midday
and 2 pm to 4 pm.
Festival lunches at Red Lion pub in Hucknall High Street.
Byron Festival Radio on air from June 28 to July 11. Frequency 97.5 FM.
Coverage in the Dispatch every Friday.

LRAPER Church Bulletin 27/06/2004
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Ýstanbul
Licensee: The Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan
Editors: The Revd.Dr.Krikor Damatyan, Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Press Spokesperson: Attorney Luiz Bakar
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: [email protected]

Armenian Patriarch Meets U.S. President

On 27 June 2004, Sunday afternoon, President George W. Bush of the United
States of America had a meeting with the religious leaders of Turkey.

His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey,
accompanied by the Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan, attended the meeting held at the
Hilton Hotel in Istanbul at the U.S. Embassy’s invitation.

Also present were His Excellency Ali Bardakoglu, Director of the Office of
Islamic Religious Affairs in Ankara; His Holiness Bartholomew I, Greek
Orthodox (Ecumenical) Patriarch of Istanbul; His Excellency Rav Itshak
Haleva, Chief Rabbi of Turkey; His Grace Philixinos, Metropolitan of the
Syriac Orthodox Church in Istanbul; His Excellency Mustafa Cagrici, Grand
Mufti of Istanbul; Mr. Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State; Mr. Eric
Edelman, U.S. Ambassador to Ankara; Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the President’s
National Security Advisor, and others.

The meeting was cordial and began with President Bush welcoming each guest
personally. The President, in his opening remarks, spoke of his appreciation
of Turkey’s being a mosaic of faiths and cultures, and how she presents a
good model for a country which is a secular democracy, though predominantly
Muslim.

In his exchange with the Armenian Patriarch, the President indicated his
awareness that His Beatitude had studied in the United States. In response,
Patriarch Mesrob said that he considers the United States his second home
after Istanbul, and therefore the visit of the President of the U.S. gave
him great pleasure.

The Patriarch also referred to America’s hospitality over the years since
the second half of the 19th century to hundreds of thousands of Armenians,
who had settled on the friendly shores of the New World. The President
fondly said that he thinks highly of the American Armenian community and
made a special reference to Mr. George Deukmejian, the 35th Governor of
California.

Speaking of the minority situation in Turkey, Patriarch Mesrob said that any
of the non-Muslim minorities in Turkey, or for that matter, for any ethnic
or national minority to exist anywhere, three types of institutions are
essential: First, places of worship to preserve religious heritage and to
nourish the spiritual life of the community, secondly, schools to teach
language and culture, and thirdly, foundations to fund religious and
educational activities and the personnel who enliven them. The minorities
in Turkey are attempting to maintain those institutions for the future and
well-being of their communities.

Patriarch Mesrob expressed his satisfaction that there was an on-going
inter-faith dialogue between the different religious establishments in
Turkey, and also a neighbourly dialogue of life among peoples of various
confessional communities.

Another subject Patriarch Mesrob touched on was the intermediary roles of
the minorities. He said that the communities have sometimes been in the
past, are ready today and will be so in the future to act as catalysts in
any peace undertaking in the region between Turkey and neighbouring
countries.

And finally the Patriarch said that being ministers of religion engaged in
spiritual edification, religious leaders try not to interfere or engage in
politics. However, certain occurences call for, if not political
involvement, at least a moral response to particular situations. Fully
supporting the initiative of the World Council of Churches called “the
Decade to Overcome Violence,” Patriarch Mesrob voiced the sadness and
disquiet of many believers of various faiths in Turkey who are daily
bombarded with terrible scenes of violence via the media. Such images come
daily from Palestine, the Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq and other places in
the world. The Patriarch said he was deeply concerned with this because he
is worried that such occurrences may cause lasting differences between
various faiths and cultures.

President Bush thanked the Patriarch for his remarks, but on the issue of
violent images from Iraq, he emphatically iterated that he himself “felt
sick” by certain images from the prison in Baghdad. “That is not America or
Americans. That is not us. Believe me our feelings are mutual on this
matter. We will deal with those responsible under the rule of law. Those
kinds of actions are not permissible, because we are in Iraq for peace. We
mean peace.”

Other subjects touched on during the meeting of the President of the United
States with the religious leaders in Turkey were the following: the
hoped-for accommodation of the Turkish government to institutions of higher
learning that would train clergy for non-Muslim religions; the role of
religion in peace efforts in the region; that religions are essentially
peaceful and that they should be taught properly and not subjected to
politicization; the accession of Turkey to EU membership fully supported by
the religious communities in Turkey and their appreciation of the U.S.
President’s encouragement of that process.

Patriarch Mesrob presented the President with an album of the Armenian
churches in Turkey. The President gave the Patriarch a Steuben crystal bowl
with his insignia engraved on it.

The meeting ended with an opportunity given to the Turkish and international
press to photograph the company.

Patriarch Mesrob, before taking leave of the President, handed him a letter,
which said:

“Dear Mr. President,

It is with great pleasure that we welcome your visit to our country on the
occasion of the NATO summit here in Istanbul.

The Armenians of Turkey, constituting by far the largest Christian community
in this country, have long cherished, with affection and amity, the United
States of America, which, besides having a historic friendship and alliance
with Turkey, also has welcomed to its shores many of our kinsmen since the
second half of the 19th century.

It is because of these warm sentiments, that I feel able to express the
uneasiness we feel at the escalating level of violence which has been
spreading across the globe and which is especially pressing in the Middle
East region, where we also live.

I personally believe that you, Mr. Bush, as the president of a great country
that leads the world, have the authority to affect the course of events, and
this is why I would like to voice my anxiety to you.

War, terror, torture, embargo, marginalisation, defamation or
condescension…. Whatever form violence takes, it always leads to
consequences which are not in accord with human dignity. Instead it leaves
indellible scars in memories and generates lasting enmities between peoples.
Throughout history, there has never been an act of violence or retaliation
which has not harmed the innocent. Sadly, the consequence is usually that
violence begets more violence.

This is why, even when seeking to serve legitimate, higher ideals such as
establishing peace, upholding democracy or preventing terror, the resort to
violence, merely culminates in more pain and suffering to the innocent,
especially children.

Throughout history, when governments have resorted to force when challenged
by violence or even civil unrest, it often effectively became collective
punishments of whole nations or peoples. What has happened recently in
Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Sudan are clear examples. This cannot
be a portrayal of sublime sentiments and indeed, to many it is viewed as
revenge, a sentiment which cannot coexist with civilisation.

I believe that the United States of America and her President, have the
ability to preserve the values they struggle for without resorting to
violence in all its terrible diversity. It is sufficient to maintain their
trust in God, in their sense of vocation and ultimate potential for good.
Whenever we embrace violence we are already diminished and the high moral
and religious ideals to which we aspire are betrayed.

Mr. President, I can imagine to a certain extent the pressures that you must
be undergoing at present and therefore please be assured of my prayerful
support. May God be in all visions for world peace and may He protect us all
from losing our faith.

With my sincere good wishes,

MESROB II
Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul & All Turkey”