Author: Kanayan Tamar

Who Edited My Cheese?
Five subjects that get Wiki-maniacs fighting mad
GQ, USA
July 31, 2006
July 31, 2006-In the contentious alternate universe of Wikipedia,
the back-and-forth over even the most obscure of topics can get pretty
vitriolic. As the online encyclopedia’s most avid contributors prepare
to descend upon Boston for the second annual “Wikimania” get-together
later this week, we asked the company’s spokesperson Wayne Saewyc to
name a few topics likely to start a Wiki-brawl.
MySpace: “People are advertising their MySpace accounts in the MySpace
article. It gets removed but it happens a lot. The most common form of
vandalism is to say, ‘So-and-so is gay.’ People go through and put in
‘gay’ after any construction that includes ‘MySpace is.’ ”
2006 World Cup: “Zidane’s head butt caused a big flurry of activity.
The French supporters were very disappointed and upset but they
supported their man, and the opposite is true as well. People were
watching the match and live editing on Wikipedia at the same time.”
Scientology: “This has been a hot war in the past. There are arguments
over word choices, like quiet birth versus silent birth. Right now
it’s fairly neutral, so Wikipedia is winning. We want things to
be neutral!”
Cheese: “This one gets vandalized regularly. One anonymous IP said
that cheese was made out of the ‘pubic hair of migratory elephants.’ ”
Nagorno-Karabakh: “It’s a portion of the South Caucasus which
should be part of Azerbaijan but is effectively unruled or de facto
independent. The arguments are about stuff like whether the Azerbaijani
coat of arms should be included on the page or not. They’re trying
to work towards a compromise.”
– Staff

Agence France Presse
28 juillet 2006 vendredi 2:01 PM GMT
Un nouvel écrivain turc poursuivi pour des écrits sur la question arménienne
ISTANBUL 28 juil 2006
Un procureur d’Istanbul a requis jusqu’à trois ans de prison contre
la romancière turque Elif Shafak pour avoir “insulté l’identité
nationale” dans un de ses livres, consacré aux massacres d’Arméniens
sous l’empire ottoman, a rapporté vendredi l’agence de presse
Anatolie.
Les propos incriminés sont ceux de personnages Arméniens du roman
“Baba ve Pic” (“Le Père et le Btard”), initialement écrit en anglais
-Mme Shafak poursuit une carrière universitaire aux Etats-Unis- puis
traduit en turc en mars 2006, a précisé Anatolie.
Le roman suit les pérégrinations de quatre générations de femmes
entre les Etats-Unis et la Turquie pour raconter l’histoire d’une
famille arménienne et des descendants d’un de ses enfants, abandonné
en Turquie lors des massacres d’Arméniens de 1915-1917, qui s’est
converti à l’islam et a vécu comme un Turc.
Elif Shafak, 35 ans, est poursuivie au titre de l’article 301 du code
pénal, qui a déjà servi de base à plusieurs autres procès contre des
journalistes et des intellectuels et dont l’Union européenne, avec
laquelle la Turquie a entamé des négociations d’adhésion en octobre,
réclame l’abrogation.
Parmi eux figurent le directeur de la rédaction du quotidien bilingue
turc-arménien Hrant Dink, condamné à six mois de prison avec sursis,
et l’un des écrivains les plus connus de Turquie, Orhan Pamuk, contre
qui les charges ont été abandonnées.
Comme dans ces deux affaires, la procédure contre Mme Shafak a été
engagée sur la base d’une plainte de Kemal Kerinçsiz, un avocat
nationaliste qui s’est acquis une certaine notoriété pour sa “traque”
infatigable des intellectuels questionnant la position officielle sur
les massacres d’Arméniens.
La question des massacres d’Arméniens commis à la fin de l’empire
ottoman est très sensible en Turquie, qui juge inapproprié le terme
-adopté par plusieurs pays dans le monde- de génocide pour les
qualifier.
Les Arméniens estiment que jusqu’à 1,5 million des leurs ont péri
dans un génocide, Ankara affirme que des massacres ont été commis de
part et d’autre.
Une première demande d’enquête contre Mme Shafak avait été rejetée,
mais cette décision a été cassée en appel. La date du procès n’était
pas immédiatement connue.
su-nc/jlb

“TRIPS IN ARMENIA” YOUTH PROGRAM TO LAUNCH ON JULY 29
Yerevan, July 28. ArmInfo. “Trips in Armenia” youth program initiated
by the youth branch of ARF ‘Dashnaktsiutiun” will launch on July 5.
Hasmik Sargsian, one of the program’s initiators, informed that 115
young people from South and North America, Europe, Near East, Artsakh,
Javakhk and Armenia will participate in the expeditions. She stated
that their initiative is aimed to represent the historical
sigthseenings of Armenia to the young people from Diaspora. She added
that the program includes trips to Echmiadzin, Tsakhkadzor, Sevan,
Sardarapat, Vayots Dzor and Aghavnadzor. She emphasized that this
program will be held annually.

Robert Kocharyan meets OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza

ArmRadio.am
29.07.2006 15:40
RA President Robert Kocharyan received today US Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group Matthew Bryza.
The interlocutors discussed the latest developments in the Karabakh
conflict settlement process, President’s Press Office informs.

ARKADY GHUKASIAN AND HASMIK POGHOSIAN DISCUSS ISSUES OF EXTENSION OF
RA-NKR COOPERATION IN SPHERE OF CULTURE

STEPANAKERT, JULY 28, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Issues relating
to cooperation in the sphere of culture between two Armenian republics
were discussed at the July 26 meeting of RA Minister of Culture and
Youth Affairs Hasmik Poghosian and NKR President Arkady Ghukasian.
During the conversation with participation of NKR Minister of
Education, Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan, Hasmik Poghosian said that
closely cooperating with Artsakh partners, the ministry headed by her
studies issues of founding branches of Armenian higher education
institutions of cultural sphere in NKR and supporting libraries and
music schools, as well as a number of large programs regarding Artsakh
youth.
As NT was informed by NKR President’s Acting Spokesperson, among the
problems of the sphere Arkady Ghukasian singled out those regarding
improvement of the building conditions of Stepanakert theater and
issues of restoration of Shoushi centers having historic-cultural
values. The President also attached importance to the role of culture
in NKR and expressed gratitude to the guests for their readiness to
support Artsakh.

NATO Turkish Representative Complained of Armenian Speaker Again
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 16:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly (PA), Chairman of NATO Group of the Grand National Assembly
of Turkey, MP representing Justice and Development ruling party Vahid
Erdem has send a second letter to the Assembly, complaining of Armenian
NA Speaker Tirgran Torosyan.
As Tirgran Torosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, he did not receive
the second complaint. “I consider the accusations of the Turkish
deputy unfounded. Turks complain of Armenians, Azeri media reprint it,
everyone is content. I can reaffirm that I did not say that V. Erdem
does not have the right to speak as a Turkish MP. I only underscored
that the NATO floor should not be used for propaganda,” Torosyan said.
We noted that in mid-June a 20-member NATO PA delegation, led by
V. Erdem, was in Yerevan on a visit. At a meeting at the Parliament
of Armenia Erdem denied statements on the Armenian Genocide.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN MEETS WITH UNDP COORDINATOR
AZG Armenian Daily #141, 28/07/2006
Meeting
Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Tigran Torosian today met with the
UNDP Coordinator Consuela Vidal. RA National Assembly’s Press Service
informed that that Ms. Vidal expressed readiness to conduce the UNDP
programs towards preparing fair and democratic elections. Mr. Torosian
answered that the reforms of the Electoral Code are aiming to
provide transparent and legitimate elections and are assisting the
establishment of tolerance among the political powers of Armenia.
The Speaker also represented the elaboration process of a legislation
bill on lobbyism. In which the UN Armenian office also takes
part. Issues of international assistance to legislation reforms in
Armenia were discussed.

RA GOVERNMENT TO RENDER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO LEBANON
Yerevan, July 26. ArmInfo. RA Government has made a decision at today’s
special session on rendering a humanitarian assistance to Lebanon,
suffered from military actions.
As ArmInfo was told in the Government’s press-office, it was
resolved to send medicaments, tents and preparations to Lebanon as a
humanitarian assistance. It was also decided to send a humanitarian
cargo on July 27 evening by Yerevan- Allelo charter route.
As Gagik Yeganyan, the Head of the Migration Agency, informed, 550
people from Lebanon and 54 people from Israel have arrived to Armenia
during these days. He also said that 120 people more will arrive to
Armenia from Allelo July 27 by a charter route. The majority of the
evacuated people, as to Yeganyan, are citizens of Armenia. However,
he noted, there are citizens of other countries among them: 49 Lebanese
and 2 Israeli. It was noted at the session that the number of evacuated
people is growing day by day. Meanwhile, many of them have no relatives
in Armenia. In view of this, the Government has discussed the issue
of rendering a necessary assistance to these persons.

ARARAT GOLD RECOVERY COMPANY MAY LOSE LICENSE
Lragir.am
26 July 06
The minister of trade and economic development Karen Chshmarityan
told July 26 that Ararat Gold Recovery Company is looking for a
site to build a new factory outside the basin of Lake Sevan. The
government of Armenia had turned down the offer of the company to
build a factory 30 km from Lake Sevan for environmental reasons.
Afterwards the company had suggested that the government offer a site
to avoid more expenses on bills of quantities.
Besides, Karen Chshmarityan informed that the company is facing
problems with the Armenian legislation, it extended its problems to
the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and “as far as I know,
AGRC admitted they are having problems.” Karen Chshmarityan says
it is possible that the company will end up losing their license,
“Never say never.”

Week of Armenian films to be held in Sao Paolo
ArmRadio.am
26.07.2006 12:00
In the framework of celebration of the 15th anniversary of the
independence of the Republic of Armenia September 19-24 a week of
Armenian films will be held in the largest cultural complex of Brazil –
the Sao Paolo Cultural Center.
Press and Information Department of RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs told
” ArmInfo” that 11 films of Sergey Parajanov, Harutyun Khachatryan,
Vigen Chaldranyan, Albert Lazarian Ruben Kochar, Hnri Vernoy and
Robert Keshishyan will be screened.
At the suggestion of the Brazilians, “My Sardarapat” musical film
will be shown as well. The event is being organized by joint efforts
of the Chief Consulate of Armenia in Brazil, RA Ministry of Culture
and Youth Affairs and the San Paolo Secretariat of Culture.