Author: Karakhanian Suren

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Levitin to co-chair Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission
SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian investments in the Armenal
Armenian Company will total $36 million within 12-14 months,
President Vladimir Putin said after Friday negotiations with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.
`I have spoken to some of the Russian participants in the project. It
is the matter of not so much financing as technical decisions. The
work has been on for four months, and it will be done on time,’ Putin
said.
The president also said he expected bilateral trade and economic
cooperation to intensify with the help of the Russian-Armenian
intergovernmental commission. He said he had appointed Transport
Minister Igor Levitin as the Russian cochairman of the commission.

Athens 2004 Official website
Aug 18 2004
Men’s Light Fly (48kg) : Bouts 110 to 115
ATHENS, 18 August – Iraqi Light Flyweight (48kg) boxer Najah ALI, who
is competing in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games by special invitation,
was the first contestant in the ring for the evening session of
competition at the Peristeri Boxing Hall.
Trained in New York by Maurice `Termite’ Watkins, ALI came via the
USA from war torn Baghdad to take part in the Olympic Games, and was
given a warm welcome by spectators at the venue.
Equal shortest boxer in the tournament at just 1.5m, ALI’s opponent
KWAK Hyok Ju (PRK) had a distinct reach advantage, but from the
opening bell the young Iraqi put together some blistering
combinations to the head and body and made a dream Olympic debut,
winning the bout 21-7.
Redouane ASLOUM (FRA) took two standing eight counts in round two of
his clash with Aleksan NALBANDYAN (ARM), but fought back bravely, the
two trading punches toe to toe for most of the four rounds before the
Armenian was declared the winner, 27-20.
HONG Moo Won (KOR) was too experienced for Lalaina RABENARIVO (MAD)
in the next bout, the referee stopping the contest in round three
under the 20 point rule.
Sherali DOSTIEV (TJK) lost a tight contest, 17-12, to Harry TANAMOR
(PHI), twice a World Championship bronze medallist.
The quick hands of former World Champion, Yan BHARTELEMY VARELA (CUB)
made short work of Miguel Angel MIRANDA GUERRA (VEN), the referee
stopping the contest in the third round with the Cuban ahead 24-4.
In the final Light Flyweight bout of the evening session, Suban
PANNON (THA) looked untidy at times, but did enough to make it
through to the round of 16 over Salim SALIMOV (BUL), the judges
scoring the contest 26-14.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 14 2004
About 20,000 Armenians live in Azerbaijan
The State Statistics Committee (SSC) will hold the next census in
2009, the committee chairman Arif Valiyev told a news conference on
Friday.
Valiyev said that as of July 1, 2004, the population in Azerbaijan
made up 8.300 million people. Noting that 657 officially registered
Armenians live in Azerbaijan according to the census of 1999, the SSC
chairman said that the figure is about 20,000.
Valiyev underlined that Armenians were not requested to produce
documents indicating their nationalities during the 1999 census in
accordance with the UN recommendations.

“WE LOSE THE NATIONAL SCHOOL BOTH IN THE DIASPORA AND H OMELAND,”
PH.D. DANIELIAN SAYS
YEREVAN, August 13 (Noyan Tapan). Though the Armenian schools of the
Diaspora are in crisis now, nevertheless teachers, being soldiers of
Mashtots, keep the Armenian spirit in children’s hearts and
souls. Levon Ananian, the Chairman of the Armenian Writers’ Union,
said about it during the August 12 meeting with 50 teachers of the
Armenian Diaspora, participating in the training on the raising of the
level of skill in Yerevan. Mentioning that the carrying out of such a
mission in the foreign country is really difficult,Levon Ananian,
turning to them, said: “We appreciate your work, your devotion, as
without you the Armenian language and literature can’t exist in the
Diaspora.” Ph. D. Suren Danielian, Director of the “Spyurk”
(“Diaspora”) Scientific-Educational Center, emphasized that the
Diasporan Communities are worried about the continuing reduction of
the number of the Armenian schools and students. Armenian writers also
share this anxiety, and this problem was arisen once more during the
II Pan-Armenian Conference of Writers held in June. According to Suren
Danielian, “we lose the national school both in the Homeland and
Diaspora”. At the same time, he expressed hope that the conference to
be held in Tsakhkadzor in late August will elaborate concrete programs
in this direction. S. Danielian also reported that for the first time
seven teachers from Iraq also participate in the training on the
raising of the level of skill. After surmounting numerous obstacles,
they were able to come to Armenia with faith that the Armenian schools
will be opened in Iraq in September again and they will continue their
cause.

London Free Press, Canada
Aug 13 2004
Schools join anti-hate campaign
HAILEY EISEN AND CLIFF VANDERLINDEN, Special to the Free Press

Local high school teachers are preparing to turn their students into
anti-hate activists. More than 40 teachers are taking part in a
week-long London conference, the first Gen. Romeo Dallaire Summer
Institute on Teaching Genocide and the Holocaust. The institute, one
of the first of its kind in Canada, provides educational tools to
promote tolerance and uphold human rights.
Sponsored by the Association for the Elimination of Hate, the
week-long seminar will arm teachers with ways to educate their
students in the lessons of the Holocaust and genocide.
“We don’t want the teachers to shock students, because shock wears
off,” program co-ordinator Rich Hitchens said. “What they really have
to do is provide their students with lasting moral lessons.”
Here, teachers get insight into how to teach some of the most
horrific genocides of the 20th century: from Armenia to the current
crisis in Sudan. They hope to convey to students a sense of moral
justice the youngsters can use in their neighbourhood schoolyards and
in global activism.
They will be shown how best to incorporate literature and film
resources into their lessons.
The sessions are led by university professors, community members and
military officials.
“To play Schindler’s List for 3 1/2 hours is going to take most of
the time teachers have dedicated to the unit, whereas they could show
a 28-minute documentary film that will generate three hours of
discussion,” said Amanda Grzyb.
Grzyb is a professor of genocide and Holocaust studies at the
University of Western Ontario and is giving a seminar on teaching the
Holocaust through film.
The institute’s namesake, retired Gen. Romeo Dallaire, was in London
this week to offer his support to teachers who volunteered to take
part in the program.
Dallaire led the UN coalition during the 1994 Rwanda operation, where
he defied direct orders to evacuate his troops from the troubled
region when violence escalated into full-scale genocide.
It’s estimated one million Tutsi and Hutu moderates were killed
within 100 days.
For the past three years Dallaire has been working with Canadian high
school and university students to promote awareness and action in
areas of international crises and genocide.
“My aim in this whole education process is to gel Canadian youth into
getting into an activist mentality,” Dallaire said.
“So far I’m getting a lot of positive vibes.”
The institute is the result of a co-operative effort between various
religious and ethnic communities, along with London’s Association for
the Elimination of Hate.
Organizers expect to run the conference every other year.

RUSSIAN AND AZERBAIJANI FMs INTEND TO DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICT’S
RESOLUTION
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12. ARMINFO. The issue of the Karabakh conflict’s
settlement is planned for discussion in the course of Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov’s forthcoming visit to Moscow,
Assistant Offical Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry
B.Malakhov told the Russian Mass Media, the press-service of the
Russian FM reports.
Malakhov said that Russia welcomes continuation of the
Azerbaijani-Armenian dialogue at various levels, and, first of all,
the dialogue of the presidents.
“We think that it is the conflicting parties that should reach a
mutually acceptable resolution to the conflict. As regards Russia, it
is ready exert active contribution to them both on the bilateral basis
and as an OSCE MG co-chair, as well as to become a guarantor of the
agreement reached,” Malakhov said. The visit of the Azerbaijani
minister to Moscow is fixed for Aug 17-19.

Messenger.com.ge, Georgia
Aug 12 2004
Frequent flier pilots Georgia’s diplomacy
Nine months have passed since the Rose Revolution and its
leader-turn-president has conducted twenty-one visits abroad both on
the state level and unofficial level. Averaging over two visits a
month, President Mikheil Saakashvili has redefined Georgia’s foreign
policy as proactive, engaging and ambitious.
A geographical survey of his visits shows the variety of interests of
the Georgian leader in his strive to establish economic progress and
achieve territorial security of the country.
The opposition prefers to criticize his frequent travels and suggests
that he should stop traveling abroad and instead concentrate on
Georgia’s internal affairs of the country. However, in the case of
Georgia it is often difficult to distinguish between the country’s
foreign and internal affairs as they are very closely linked with
each other.
The first country visited by Saakashvili after the Rose Revolution
was Ukraine in December 2003. At the time the Georgian leader met
with Ukrainian opposition leaders who were planing to perform a
Ukrainian version of Rose Revolution against President Leonid Kuchma.
This meeting created a noticeably cold climate between official
Tbilisi and Kiev.
However, later the strategic interests of the two countries prevailed
over personal sympathies/antipathies. In April 2004 while on an
official visit to Kiev, President Saakashvili repeatedly confirmed
the strategic-partner relationship between Georgia and Ukraine and
outlined the prospects of strengthening those relations.
In January 2004, during his visits to Switzerland, France and
Germany, newly elected President Saakashvili firmly asserted
Georgia’s intention to integrate into European structures thus
underscoring Georgia’s strategic path for the future.
In April-May 2004 President Saakashvili visited Poland and Rumania.
The attitude of the Georgian government is that deepening
relationships with these countries and sharing their experience for
integration into the European commonwealth and NATO would very much
assist Georgia in doing the same.
Saakashvili twice visited Moscow, in February and recently in June.
Immediately after the Rose Revolution, the Georgia administration
tired to establish a completely different relationship with Russia.
It suggested forgetting past misunderstandings and starting a new
phase of relations from a blank slate.
However, in doing so Georgia is combating the legacy of its past
questionable policies and Russia’s deeply entrenched imperialists who
became only further secured in Russia’s Parliamentary elections this
year. While the war of words has ricocheted back and forth between
parliamentarians, ministries and officials, it is notable that
President Saakashvili has never uttered a single word of criticism
against President Vladimir Putin. Correspondingly, Putin has ever
criticized Saakashvili.
This coming fall Putin is expected to visit Tbilisi. It is envisaged
that a new framework agreement between the two countries should be
signed. There is significant hope in Tbilisi that this tete-a-tete
meeting will let the two leaders to overcome the antagonism shared by
their underlings and Georgian-Russian relations will be clarified and
developed in a better direction.
President Saakashvili has also visited countries of the Mid East –
Turkey, Iran and Israel. With Turkey, Georgia maintains one of its
closest partner relationships. The president of Georgia has invited
Turkish businessmen to participate in the privatization process now
underway in Georgia. Wednesday’s visit of Prime Minster Erdogan
accompanied by 115 businessmen is a clear evidence of the deepening
neighbor relationships.
Strengthening of relationships with Iran is also planned. With Israel
Georgia’s relationship is more unique and Saakashvili tried to
interest Israeli citizens who had left Georgia many years in reviving
their ties with their former homeland by accepting dual citizenship.
Reviving lost ties was also a theme of President Saakashvili in other
countries though the potential for Israeli-Georgian relationships
appear the greatest.
During Saakashvili’s visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia he encouraged
the neighbors to establish a common Caucasus market and suggested
Georgia could play a role of locomotive in integrating the region
into Europe. However, in this particular case the Kharabakh conflict
creates serious problems for Azerbaijan and Armenia to cooperate.
It was very important for Georgia to participate in the NATO Istanbul
Summit this June. There he once and forever attached the Georgia’s
development to western interests. It was also very significant that
the summit participants urged Russia once again to fulfill its
commitment and withdraw military bases from Georgia.
Saakashvili visited the United States twice, and his most recent
visit was very timely as it coincided with the deterioration of
relations with Russia and controversy over the BTC pipeline in the
Borjomi Gorge.
Judging by Saakashvili’s relentless personality, it is safe to assume
that his intense travels will continue. Compared to former President
Shevardnadze’s foreign policy of balancing interests, Saakashvili has
chosen a very goal oriented and clear-cut strategy of pointing
Georgia’s orientation towards the west and defining the country’s
interests before others do that for him.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Aug 10 2004
AZERBAIJAN, EGYPT: COOPERATION EXPANDING
[August 10, 2004, 20:11:42]
Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Azerbaijan Cihan Amin
Mohammad Ali on 10 August met the foreign minister of Azerbaijan
Republic Elmar Mammadyarov on the occasion of ending of her
diplomatic mission.
Ambassador Cihan Amin Mohammad Ali expressed gratitude for rendered
assistance during her activity in the Republic and for efficient
cooperation, noting that the friendly and brotherly relations between
Azerbaijan and Egypt would further expand, the foreign ministry said.
Ms. Cihan Amin Mohammad Ali stated that she is eyewitness of
development of the people of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani statehood
during her four years of activity here.
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated that he adheres strengthening and
expansion of the friendly and business relations, effective
cooperation between the two countries. Noting that the Arab Republic
of Egypt is an influential country in the Islamic world, the Minister
expressed gratitude that Egypt supports fair position of Azerbaijan
in the international organizations, in particular, in the
Organization of Islamic Conference, in fair settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov wished to ambassador Cihan Amin Mohammad
Ali success in her future diplomatic activity.

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
10 Aug 04
ARMENIA, USA DISCUSS MILITARY COOPERATION
YEREVAN
Armenia and the USA held the third round of bilateral consultations on
cooperation in defence on 2-7 August in Kansas.
The consultations considered the present condition and prospects for
further development of military and military-political cooperation
between Armenia and the USA, Mediamax news agency has learnt.
The Armenian delegation at the consultations was headed by the deputy
minister of defence, Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan, the American delegation
by the US deputy assistant secretary of defence, James MacDougall.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMINFO NEWS AGENCY
August 10, 2004
MEASURES ARE TAKEN TO RELEASE SOLDIER TAKEN PRISONER BY ARMENIANS
BAKU, AUGUST 9. ARMINFOI-TURAN. The State Commission for prisoners of
war, hostages and missed persons is making efforts to release soldier
Anar Misha oglu Samedov. He was taken prisoner by Armenians on Terter
section of frontline last Saturday.
The state commission’s press release reads that Armenia informed the
International Committee of the Red Cross about capture of Samedov.
Measures are taken to release Azeri soldier.
Anar Samedov, born 1983, was drafted to the Army in January of this
year.–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress