Author: Karagyozian Lena

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SPORT DIGEST: WRESTLING, WEIGHTLIFTING ABROAD; CHESS, FOOTBALL AT HOME
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
FOOTBALL
FOUR OUT OF FOUR: Ashtarak’s Mika has won its fourth Independence Cup
in the last five years by beating Yerevan’s Kilikia, who appeared in
their first Cup final, on Monday.
Two second-half goals allowed Mika to lift the trophy for the fourth
time in as many played finals, matching the achievement of FC Ararat.
Thus, the Ashtarak club has secured a place in the UEFA Cup next
season.
(According to an FFA report)
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 5:
Thursday, May 12
Pyunik v Shirak: 3-1
Kilikia v Banants: 0-1
Dynamo-Zenit v Lernayin Artsakh and Mika v Esteghlal-Kotayk will take
place on Friday night.
(Ararat are not playing in this round).
Pyunik continue to top the table with 13 points after five matches,
followed by Banats who have 12 points after four matches played.
CHESS
CHAMPION CROWNED: Armenia’s 2005 championships, in which 12
chess-players participated, ended this week, with grandmaster Ashot
Anastasyan winning the title. According to an A1 Plus report,
Anastasyan gathered 7.5 out of 11 possible points.
It is the 8th time that the experienced grandmaster wins Armenia’s
champion title and by the number of titles he yields only to Henrik
Gasparyan, who became the nation’s champion ten times.
The second place in the championships was clinched by Karen Asryan
(with 7 points) and third place was won by Gabriel Sargsyan (again
with 7 points).
Artur Chibukhchyan finished in the bottom place earning only 2.5
points in 11 games.
WRESTLING
FOUR MEDALS FROM JUNIOR WRESTLERS: In an international junior
Greco-Roman wrestling tournament that recently ended in Rostov-on-Don
(Russia) Armenian junior wrestlers won four medals.
Tigran Gevorgyan (46 kg) from Gyumri won the first place, and Norair
Khachatryan (56 kg), Hovhannes Varderesyan (58 kg) and Sargis Tonoyan
(64 kg) – all from Yerevan – earned bronze medals.
About 180 athletes from 11 countries participated in the
tournament. Armenia was represented by 13 wrestlers. (Source: A1 Plus)
WEIGHTLIFTING
Armenian junior weightlifters will leave for the South Korean city of
Busan on Saturday to participate in the world weightlifting
championships among juniors to be held there on May 16-24, Armenpress
reports.
The Armenian delegation is led by RA Weightlifting Federation
Secretary General Pashik Alaverdyan. The team’s head coach is Ashot
Mkhitaryan, coach is Artashes Nersisyan. There are four male
weightlifters and one female in the national team. They are: David
Muradyan (56 kg) from Ararat, Gevorg Kakoyan (62 kg) from Vedi, Tigran
Martirosyan (69 kg) from Gyumri and Armen Hakobyan (105 kg and more)
from Vanadzor. The only female weightlifter representing Armenia is
Hripsime Khurshudyan (69 kg) from Kasakh.

A1plus
11-05-2005 | Regions |
THE RESIDENT OF GYUMRI WILL TAKE PART IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
The Gyumri journalists club «Asparez» has concluded the social survey
carried out in Gyumri and Vanadzor about the interest of the population
towards the constitutional referendum. Our colleagues from the Gyumri TV
Company «Tsayg» inform us about it. All in all 2000 people have participated
in the survey.
About 70% of those asked intends to take part in the referendum, but 55.5%
is not interested in the process of amending the constitution. 66% of the
asked does not know how many draft constitutions there are in the Parliament
now. 74.5% does not know the names of the authors of the drafts.
52% of the asked believes that the best constitution can secure development
for our country. About 46% thinks that the President and the National
Assembly together must have the right to take decisive steps. 59.7% of the
participants of the survey intend to investigate the draft constitutions or
one of them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Paper says US envoy not to help Armenian opposition stage revolution
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
12 May 05

Excerpt from unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkarh
on 12 May headlined “Ambassador Evans’s mistake”
It is funny to see that the press of the Armenian Pan-National
Movement has recently started a jihad against US ambassador to Armenia
John Evans.
Remarkably, they do not mean the policy of the USA, but they
especially criticize the ambassador who has not lived up to the hopes
of the radical opposition. For this reason, they are trying to
convince the public that the Department of State does not have trust
in the ambassador: he is “pro-government”, he does not have contacts
with the opposition, has established dictatorship in the embassy and
so on.
Let us try to understand why they have kicked up all the fuss? What is
ambassador Evan’s business in general? Instead of preparing
revolutions he maintains equal relations with the authorities and the
opposition and does not interfere in the domestic affairs of the
country. But can such an ambassador exist? It does not matter that
Clause 41 of the Vienna Convention advises all diplomats “to respect
the laws of the country where they reside and not to interfere in its
domestic affairs”. It does not matter that relations between the USA
and Armenia are on a good level.
[Passage omitted: our opposition leaders have quickly changed their
strategy and started to be more pro-Western]
But does ambassador Evans not see their [opposition’s] love? Why does
he not help the guys to stage a revolution? Perhaps, he sees that our
opposition resembles a kaleidoscope that changes as you turn it
round. It was the picture of Russia recently, and now it is the USA,
and in a second it may show China, Iran or something else. But the
pieces of coloured glass, of which the pictures are made, remain the
same, and this is the tragedy.
In brief, John Evans did not turn the US embassy into a revolution
headquarters, he does not want to help our opposition and this is his
main mistake. Evans understands nothing in real liberty and democracy,
absolutely nothing.

Pan Armenian News
TURKEY CANNOT BECOME DEMOCRATIC WITHOUT ESTABLISHMENT OF RELATIONS WITH
ARMENIA
12.05.2005 05:26
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Assembly of America called the House
International Relations Subcommittee to hold additional hearings on the
state of U.S.-Turkey relations to take into account several key
Armenian-American concerns. Assembly leaders said the hearing included
presenters who expressed only pro-Turkish views and that such an imbalance
could not provide for an honest assessment. `While we hoped today’s hearing
would provide a critical review of needed changes in Turkish policy with
respect to human rights, treatment of its minority populations, denial of
the Armenian Genocide and its future aspirations to the European Union, we
are deeply concerned that these issues were overlooked,’ said Assembly
Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. In a letter to a Subcommittee Member, the
Assembly outlined several fundamental issues of concern, namely Turkey’s
failure to lift its twelve-year blockade of Armenia and its continued denial
of the Armenian Genocide. `Turkey cannot become the plural, democratic and
European Union-integrated state it aspires to be without opening the last
closed border of Europe, establishing full relations with Armenia without
preconditions and dealing with its genocidal Ottoman legacy,’ added Ardouny.

Assa-Irada. Azerbaijan
May 11 2005
3 Armenians killed in ceasefire breach

Baku, May 10, AssA-Irada
Armenian military units, from their positions in the occupied
Yusifjanly, Shikhlar and Bash Garvand villages of Aghdam District,
fired at the positions of Azerbaijani troops located in Chiragly,
Mirashelli and Orta Gishlag villages of the same district with
machine guns and submachine guns from 22.30 on Monday till dawn on
Tuesday.
An armored vehicle exploded on the Armenian side of the frontline,
reportedly after running into a landmine, TV reports said.
Besides, three Armenian servicemen were killed while the Azerbaijani
military units were preventing Armenia’s attack on Chiragly village,
the reports said.
Armenian military units, from their positions in the occupied
Seysulan, Javahirli and Sarijaly villages of Aghdam, fired at
Garadaghly village of the district from 22.35 till 23.35 on Monday,
the Ministry of Defense said.*

Moldova foreign min announces Uzbekistan withdrawal from GUUAM
11.05.2005, 21.59
CHISINAU, May 11 (Itar-Tass) – After sending a statement about its
quitting the GUUAM Group (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia and
Moldova), Uzbekistan has automatically discontinued its membership in
that organization. Tass learned this from the Moldovan Ministry for
Foreign Affairs and European Integration. After the GUUAM summit in
Chisinau, Moldova assumed the chairmanship of the organization.
`Under the GUUAM regulations, Moldova, chairing the organization, must
inform the leaders of Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan of Uzbekistan’s
decision,’ the ministry noted.
Uzbekistan’s President lslam Karimov sent the message about the
withdrawal of his country from GUUAM to Moldova’s president Vladimir
Voronin on May 3. In the letter this decision is explained by the fact
that `because of its geographic position Uzbekistan sees no ways for the
realization of its interests in the areas of economy and security in the
framework of the new initiatives and projects announced by GUUAM.’
Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova formed GUAM on October 10, 1997
at the summit of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In April 1999, at
the meeting of GUAM states in Washington, during the celebration of the
50th anniversary of NATO, Uzbekistan was admitted into the organization,
and it was named GUUAM. In June 2002 Uzbekistan stated that it remains
within GUUAM as an observer and reserves the right not to participate in
some functions.
The Uzbek leaders have stayed away from the GUUAM summit in Chisinau in
connection with the fact that, in Tashkent’s opinion, GUUAM has turned
into a `political organization.’ Thus, Georgian president Mikhail
Saakashvili made a call at the Chisinau summit for `a third wave of
revolutions’ in the post-Soviet space.

Bush surveys ex-Soviet terrain
FT.com site
May 10, 2005

The trip to Moscow by George W. Bush, the US president, will be
portrayed in Russia as an expression of support for his host,
president Vladimir Putin, write Stefan Wagstyl and Guy Dinmore. But
his itinerary may be seen as something of an insult.
Before arriving in Moscow, Mr Bush will visit Latvia and, after
attending Mr Putin’s second world war commemorations, will fly to
Georgia. Washington sees both countries as fighters, both in the
global war for democracy and in the regional battle against Russian
reassertion in the former Soviet Union.
Latvia, along with neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania, led the way in
the revolts that precipitated the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. In
Georgia, the 2003 Rose Revolution, which brought president Mikheil
Saakashvili to power, has launched a new wave of democratic protest in
the region. In particular, the Georgian demonstrators helped inspire
the crowds that this year brought president Viktor Yushchenko to
office in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian precedent, in
turn, influenced protestors in Kyrgyzstan, who in March drove
president Askar Akayev from power.
Stephen Hadley, Mr Bush’s national security adviser, has said the trip
was not intended to send any message to Moscow. Others see it
differently. “This visit is a clear message . . . for the Russians
that the cold war is over,” says Gocha Tskitishvili, a Georgian
political analyst.
For Mr Bush, promoting the new order in the former Soviet Union
includes encouraging further democratic change. As Condoleezza Rice,
his secretary of state, made clear on her recent visit to eastern
Europe, top of Washington’s list is Belarus. US officials see an
opportunity for the ousting of dictatorial president Alexander
Lukashenko in elections next year. The Kremlin has warned Washington
against interfering in Minsk but the US seems undeterred.
American officials see the democratic changes in the former Soviet
Union as the fruits, to some extent, of US labours to promote civil
society. A former senior official, saying one reason the military
refused to fire on demonstrators in Ukraine was US training, adds:
“The more you can develop a very firm foundation of responsibility and
right s of the individual in civil society, the more you can push
through the argument that free elections count.”
However, the US administration balances the drive for democracy with
other priorities, notably its need for oil supplies and the fight
against Islamic terrorism. Criticis m of the authoritarian rulers of
oil-rich Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, where western companies are making
big investments, is muted. In the poor states of Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and, to some extent, Kyrgyzstan, concerns exist that
political unrest could open the way for Islamic fundamentalism. Also,
with Afghanistan lying close to the south, there are fears of
promoting regional instability and violence.
Robert Barry of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington says the US is not putting special emphasis on
democratising central Asia. “We have emphasised the geopolitical side
of this area more than democratisation.”
For Moscow that is a crumb of comfort because it, too, worries about
Islamism and instability. But the Kremlin will be angered by Mr Bush’s
efforts to promote democracy elsewhere. The US president may have
agreed to stand on the podium in Red Square on Monday but that will
not stop him marching about the former Soviet Union pretty much as he
wishes.

‘Musa Dagh: Betrayed Heroes’ presented in Rome
10.05.2005 17:13
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Ruben Shugarian, Armenian Ambassador to Italy,
participated on May 6 in the presentation of the book “Musa Dagh:
Betrayed Heroes” by Italian journalists Marco Tosatti and Flavia
Amabile.
The event, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
was held at the Levonian school in Rome and was attended by
journalists, Italian foreign ministry officials, histortians and
representatives of the Armenian community.
Historian Marco Impaliazio, the authors of the book, and Ambassador
Shugarian addressed the audience.

uecker_land/10947358.html
Osnabrücker Land 10.05.2005
Die Türkei und die Chancen als EU-Mitgliedsland
Belm (sfe)
“Die Türkei – ein künftiges Mitgliedsland der Europäischen Union?” Der
CDU-Kreisvorsitzende Prof. Dr. Hans-Gert Pöttering sprach sich bei seinemVortrag
vor der Senioren-Union Osnabrücker Land in Belm deutlich dagegen aus.
“Die Türkei ist Deutschland gegenüber sehr aufgeschlossen und ein wichtiger
Partner im nordatlantischen Bündnis”, hob Pöttering hervor. Eine Mitgliedschaft
in der EU lehnte der Fraktionsvorsitzende der Christdemokraten im
Europäischen Parlament aber derzeit ab: Sie berge zu viele Risiken.Die Europäische Union
befinde sich aktuell in einer Phase der Konsolidierung. Zwar hätten gerade die
kürzlich aufgenommenen mitteleuropäischen Länder einen “deutlichen Zugewinn
an Kultur und Meinung” in die EU gebracht, doch nun müsse das um zehn Staaten
gewachsene Gebilde erst zusammengebracht werden, betonte Pöttering. Nur auf
Basis eines “klar definierten Wertefundaments und einheitlicher Verfahren” sei
dies möglich, bekräftigte er. Verwirklicht würden diese Forderungen in der
Europäischen Verfassung, die demnächst verabschiedet werden solle. Sie beruhe auf
den seit der Antike gewachsenen Werten Humanismus, Aufklärung und Christentum.
Die Türkei könne daher nicht zu den Aspiranten gezählt werden. Zu
unterschiedlich seien vielfach die Wertvorstellungen. Pöttering merkte an, dass Folter,
Ehrenmorde und Zwangsheirat, wie sie in der Türkei immer noch auf der
Tagesordnung stünden, nicht toleriert werden dürften. Solange sich die Türkei zudem
nicht mit ihrer Vergangenheit auseinander setze und etwa den Völkermord an den
Armeniern anerkenne, sehe er keine Möglichkeit, sie in ein von Frieden, Freiheit
und Demokratie geprägtes Gebilde aufzunehmen. “Es darf in der EU keine
Tabuthemen geben”, mahnte Pöttering an.
Ein weiteres Problem sehe er in der “Überdehnung der EU”. Wenn man die Türkei
aufnehme, deren Staatsgebiet nur zu drei Prozent auf europäischem Boden liege
– Wie solle man dann nordafrikanische Staaten wie Marokko ablehnen? “Nur wenn
wir uns als Einheit präsentieren, bleiben wir handlungsfähig”, bekräftigte
Pöttering.

Pan Armenian News
KAROLOS PAPOULIAS INVITED ROBERT KOCHARIAN TO GREECE
10.05.2005 02:46
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within the framework of the visit to Moscow Armenian
President Robert Kocharian met with President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin,
reported the Press service of the Armenian leader. In the course of the
conversation the parties discussed a wide range of issues, referring to
bilateral cooperation. Besides the two leaders discussed the process and the
prospects of the CIS reform. Robert Kocharian also met with Greek President
Karolos Papoulias. The parties said they were satisfied with the bilateral
relations of friendship and expressed readiness to intensify these. Karolos
Papoulias invited Robert Kocharian to pay a visit to Greece.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress