Author: Khondkarian Raffi

RigZone
July 23 2004

Iran Begins Building Gas Pipeline to Armenia

Iran has begun building a 140 km long gas pipeline to Armenia, said
the Itar-Tass news agency monitored here Thursday.

The two countries signed an agreement on the project worth around
120m

US dollars in May, when Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar- Zanganeh
visited Yerevan.

Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36bn cubic meters of
natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through to 2027.

Itar-Tass, citing OPEC sources in Vienna, said that the pipeline
might be used to ship Iranian gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on
to Europe in the future.

The news agency said the sources had got the news from Armenian
ambassador to Tehran, Gegam Garibdzhanyan

To make the whole scheme possible, a 550-kilometre-long section of
the pipeline will be laid at the floor of the Black Sea, stretching
from the Georgian port of Supsa to Feodosiya in the Crimean, it said.

According to the same sources, the project is estimated to cost about
five billion US dollars.

Forecasts suggest that once the project is implemented, the Iranian
gas supplies to Europe may reach 60bn cubic meters a year, of which
Ukrainian imports will likely account for 10bn cubic meters.

Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighbouring
Turkey to supply gas for 25 years.

The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a 2,577 km pipeline,
running from the northeastern city of Tabriz to Ankara, which
supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf.

The contract has been a boon to Iran’s bid to become a sustainable
gas supplier to Turkey and Europe.

Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has also held talks with the
Persian Gulf littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the
sale of gas.

The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the
world after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting
into, what is feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.
Iran has begun building a 140 km long gas pipeline to Armenia, said
the Itar-Tass news agency monitored here Thursday.

The two countries signed an agreement on the project worth around
120m

US dollars in May, when Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar- Zanganeh
visited Yerevan.

Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36bn cubic meters of
natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through to 2027.

Itar-Tass, citing OPEC sources in Vienna, said that the pipeline
might be used to ship Iranian gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on
to Europe in the future.

The news agency said the sources had got the news from Armenian
ambassador to Tehran, Gegam Garibdzhanyan

To make the whole scheme possible, a 550-kilometre-long section of
the pipeline will be laid at the floor of the Black Sea, stretching
from the Georgian port of Supsa to Feodosiya in the Crimean, it said.

According to the same sources, the project is estimated to cost about
five billion US dollars.

Forecasts suggest that once the project is implemented, the Iranian
gas supplies to Europe may reach 60bn cubic meters a year, of which
Ukrainian imports will likely account for 10bn cubic meters.

Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighbouring
Turkey to supply gas for 25 years.

The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a 2,577 km pipeline,
running from the northeastern city of Tabriz to Ankara, which
supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf.

The contract has been a boon to Iran’s bid to become a sustainable
gas supplier to Turkey and Europe.

Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has also held talks with the
Persian Gulf littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the
sale of gas.

The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the
world after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting
into, what is feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.
Iran has begun building a 140 km long gas pipeline to Armenia, said
the Itar-Tass news agency monitored here Thursday.

The two countries signed an agreement on the project worth around
120m

US dollars in May, when Iranian Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar- Zanganeh
visited Yerevan.

Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36bn cubic meters of
natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through to 2027.

Itar-Tass, citing OPEC sources in Vienna, said that the pipeline
might be used to ship Iranian gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on
to Europe in the future.

The news agency said the sources had got the news from Armenian
ambassador to Tehran, Gegam Garibdzhanyan

To make the whole scheme possible, a 550-kilometre-long section of
the pipeline will be laid at the floor of the Black Sea, stretching
from the Georgian port of Supsa to Feodosiya in the Crimean, it said.

According to the same sources, the project is estimated to cost about
five billion US dollars.

Forecasts suggest that once the project is implemented, the Iranian
gas supplies to Europe may reach 60bn cubic meters a year, of which
Ukrainian imports will likely account for 10bn cubic meters.

Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighbouring
Turkey to supply gas for 25 years.

The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a 2,577 km pipeline,
running from the northeastern city of Tabriz to Ankara, which
supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf.

The contract has been a boon to Iran’s bid to become a sustainable
gas supplier to Turkey and Europe.

Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has also held talks with the
Persian Gulf littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the
sale of gas.

The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the
world after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting
into, what is feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.

Les Echos
20 juillet 2004

Les partis français réticents face à la candidature d’Ankara

Le Premier ministre turc se retrouve face à la droite et à la gauche
françaises. En visite officielle en France, Recep Tayyip Erdogan a
fort à faire pour tenter de convaincre des élus français très
réticents à une entrée rapide de son pays dans l’Union européenne.
Espérant rallier plusieurs responsables à sa cause, il doit
s’entretenir avec Jacques Chirac et Jean-Pierre Raffarin, mais aussi
avec les responsables du PS, de l’UMP et de l’UDF.

Les échanges s’annoncent particulièrement nourris avec les leaders de
droite car si le chef de l’Etat français a, à plusieurs reprises,
apporté son soutien à la candidature d’Ankara en insistant sur sa «
vocation européenne », les autres élus se montrent, eux, beaucoup
plus hostiles. « La Turquie n’a pas vocation à entrer dans l’Union
européenne », avait tranché Alain Juppé juste avant les élections
européennes. En prenant l’exact contre-pied de Jacques Chirac, il
espérait alors enlever aux souverainistes et aux centristes un des
thèmes majeurs de leur campagne. « La Turquie n’est européenne ni par
la géographie ni par l’histoire », martèle régulièrement Philippe de
Villiers, le président du Mouvement pour la France. « 90 % de la
Turquie n’est pas en Europe, elle est en Asie »,renchérit le
président du Rassemblement pour la France (RPF), Charles Pasqua, qui
pour justifier son opposition met également en avant la confession
musulmane de la majorité des Turcs. Moins virulent mais tout aussi
opposé à la candidature d’Ankara, François Bayrou, le président de
l’UDF, dit pour sa part redouter la « trop grande hétérogénéité »
d’une Europe élargie à la Turquie. « La frontière de l’Union
européenne, c’est la frontière nord de la Turquie. Si nous acceptons
ce pays, l’Union deviendrait une simple organisation internationale
», argumente le député européen Jean-Louis Bourlanges (UDF).

Face à ces oppositions, le Premier ministre turc pourrait trouver un
peu de réconfort auprès des élus de gauche. Le PS semble en effet
résolu à afficher un soutien timide à la candidature turque.

« La parole donnée »

Si Laurent Fabius ne se montre pas très « pressé », arguant du poids
démographique de ce candidat, Michel Rocard apparaît beaucoup plus
motivé. L’ancien Premier ministre estime que « pour des raisons de
paix dans la région, l’Union a vivement intérêt à ce que la Turquie
adhère ». Pierre Moscovici, chargé des questions internationales au
PS, a lui souvent rappelé « la parole donnée par l’Europe depuis
quarante ans » et dénoncé les arguments religieux. « L’Union
européenne n’est pas un club chrétien », explique-t-il. La
porte-parole du PS, Annick Lepetit, a toutefois rappelé, hier, que
les socialistes conditionnaient l’ouverture de négociations
d’adhésion à plusieurs critères exigeants, notamment la question des
droits de l’homme et la reconnaissance par Ankara du génocide
arménien de 1915, pendant l’Empire ottoman.

Sierra Sun, CA
July 20 2004

Azad McIver leaves town a lasting legacy

Renée Shadforth

Azad McIver was a small, seemingly shy woman who lived in a tiny
Gateway cottage, but her longtime friends say she had a huge giving
spirit that had a large impact on the Truckee of today.

McIver died July 13 at the age of 95. She and her siblings – Roxie
Archie and Richard Joseph, who preceded her in death – emigrated from
Turkish Armenia in the early 1900s and left a strong legacy in the
Truckee community.

McIver, considered the most soft-spoken and easygoing of her
siblings, was one of the last in a generation that formed Truckee
into what it is today.

“Azad was this remarkable spirit. She always had a giggle or a
laugh,” said Embree “Breeze” Cross, a longtime Truckee resident and
former town council member. “She always found delight in things. She
was the most delightful girl.”

Namesakes of McIver’s generation are splattered all over Truckee.
There are McIver Arena and McIver Hill, named after Azad McIver’s
late husband, Jim. And then there is the Joseph Government Center,
named after the Joseph family.

In 1949, McIver’s brother donated the land for Tahoe Forest Hospital
and the money for many of its facilities. Decades later, after her
siblings died, McIver provided more land for the hospital’s current
expansion project.

“They wanted to build more, I said ‘OK,'” McIver told the Sierra Sun
in March 2003, her words colored with the remnants of her Old Country
accent. “My brother’s wish was to build a hospital. I’d rather take
care of our people here than give it to Uncle [Sam].”

McIver saw most of her friends die in the same hospital. Others moved
from Truckee to more temperate climates.

Azad McIver outlasted most of them.

“I’ve had a lot of good friends,” she told the Sierra Sun. “Most of
them just aren’t around anymore. I come from good stock.”

From Armenia to Truckee

The imprint the Joseph (formerly Hovsepian) family left on Truckee
came after many life struggles and a lot of old-fashioned hard work.
Until her death, McIver was able to tell the stories from her youth
in the Old Country and Truckee in astonishing detail.

McIver was born in Harpoot, in Turkish Armenia, on Oct. 12, 1908 – 18
years after her brother, Dick, and four years after her sister,
Roxie.

At age 6, McIver fled her homeland under her 10-year-old sister’s
wing during the Armenian massacre. They left Turkey on foot, walking
through the Syrian desert to Aleppo, Syria. The girls were placed in
an orphanage staffed by British and French missionaries who kept them
from starving to death.

After contacting their Uncle Mgurdich in Andover, Mass., the sisters
purchased third-class boat tickets and came to the United States on
July 4, 1920.

“I cried – what a beautiful place with beautiful people,” Azad
recalled about her experience coming to America. “It was strange. All
I knew before was Turks, and they wanted to kill us.”

At 16, Azad’s sister, Roxie, married and moved to Worchester, Mass.
Soon after, the newlyweds and Azad moved to Chicago.

In 1922, Dick Joseph – who moved to the States in 1906 and to Truckee
in 1917 – advertised for his sisters in an Armenian newspaper
published in Fresno, Calif. Someone in Chicago brought the ad to the
sisters’ attention, and McIver and Archie met their brother in
Truckee later that year.

A legacy of her own

Although McIver always maintained she donated money to fulfill the
wishes of her brother, who passed away in 1986, McIver created quite
a legacy of her own, said Bob Tilton, who started the Tahoe Forest
Hospital Foundation in 1987.

“Dick did a lot for the community, but Azad carried the banner after
his death,” Tilton said. “Every single expansion the hospital has
ever done, Azad either took part in fund-raising or donated money.”

Tilton, 58, grew up in the Truckee-North Tahoe area and knew the
Joseph family well. He went to Azad once a year to seek a donation
for the hospital, even when her older sister was the one handling the
family’s business.

“[McIver] definitely felt compelled to help the hospital. She always
told me the hospital was vital to building a strong community,”
Tilton said.

In addition to what she gave to Tahoe Forest Hospital, McIver became
a founding member of the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation in 1999.

The Joseph family also donated to the University of Nevada, Reno
Foundation and Shriners Hospital, among other causes.

Modest living

A photographer and barber by trade, Dick Joseph made his money as a
businessman. He owned Manstyle Barbers, a cigar store and the Pastime
Club in downtown Truckee.

As a young adult, Azad worked at the Pastime, which was a popular
local hangout and speakeasy at the time. Azad met many interesting
people while working at the restaurant, including her late husband,
Jim McIver, a local blacksmith, dairyman and car salesman who
delivered mail to Tahoe City. Azad and Jim McIver were married in
Reno on Aug. 10, 1944.

In 1935, Richard Joseph purchased the land between Gateway and Donner
Lake from the Union Ice Company. The family built the Gateway Motel
in 1939, near the present site of Safeway,

McIver lived modestly in one of the former rental cottages in Gateway
for decades. The walls of her home were plastered with photos
depicting Truckee at a different time.

“They had a lot of money, but you’d never know it,” Tilton said of
the Joseph family. “They traveled a lot, but they didn’t dress fancy.
Dick would be dressed in his old coat. Azad would be dressed in her
old coat.”

Responsibility for community

When Truckee became a town in 1993, Archie and McIver asked
then-Mayor Kathleen Eagan and council member Breeze Cross to come to
their Gateway home. Cross had no idea why at the time.

“They called us over, and they’d heard the town didn’t have any
money, since it was new,” Cross recalls. “They said ‘It’s terrible
that the town doesn’t have any money, so here’s a check for $25,000.’
We were amazed. It was so touching.”

Archie and McIver were known to pop into a public meeting every now
and then when an important decision was going to be made. They wanted
to know about the decisions made in their community, Tilton said.

“That’s the way our community used to be – we helped each other. We
had to,” Tilton said. “Any decision you made affected someone you
know personally.”

In 1997, Archie – McIver’s sister and lifelong companion – passed
away in the Tahoe Forest Hospital long-term care center. Since Archie
handled most of the family’s business, there was some concern about
McIver, the shy sister, carrying the family torch.

But friends say she blossomed and continued to give in the Joseph
family spirit.

“Truckee was their family and they always made us part of their
family,” Tilton said of the Josephs. “The whole family just took it
on as their responsibility, and Azad carried that legacy.”

The Scotsman, UK
July 20 2004

Living with the legacy of rape and genocide

JAMES SMITH

THEIR faces told the story. Three women with covered heads sitting on
a straw mat, eyes conveying a truth that words cannot express.

Nineteen days earlier, they had arrived in the tiny border village
riding donkeys, one with a two-year-old child.

I sat with the women and we looked across the border to the mountains
of Sudan, the country they had been forced to flee.

“They killed my husband when they raided the village,” 26-year-old
Fatima told me. “We could not count but it seemed like a thousand of
them came, riding horses and camels. They had guns and swords. The
government also came. They rode in cars and fired Dushka guns.”

Fatima fled to El Geneina, a large town in western Sudan.

“I went out of the town to find wood and was stopped by three Arabs
on horseback,” she said.

She was repeatedly raped before finding her way back to the shack
where she stayed with her two children – a girl, Najat, 7, and a boy,
Mohammed, 2.

Now five months pregnant as a result of the rape, she could no longer
bear the uncertain future: “It was risky travelling here to Chad, but
what would happen if I stayed in Sudan?”

She decided to leave.

The other women – a 48-year-old, also called Fatima, and Zenaib
Suleiman, 30, told similar stories. Fatima had eight children, all of
whom were killed with her husband as they ran during the raid.

“There is nothing left anymore. They burned the village to the
ground,” she said.

She, too, was gang-raped by the Janjaweed Arab militia on the
outskirts of El Geneina, having been bound and badly beaten.

Zenaib, like her younger companion, is also pregnant from rape.

The three women waited in El Geneina, fearing what would happen next.
Five months after arriving they found donkeys and rode west. Far from
the reach of international aid workers, they found hospitality in
their Chadian neighbours.

Further into Chad, people from western Sudan are gathering in
makeshift camps. Each has their own sad story. Many are widows and
fatherless children. During the past six months, a million people
have been forced to move to conditions that defy survival. Thousands
have been killed.

Aid agencies are battling appalling conditions to save hundreds of
thousands of lives. The World Food Programme is stepping up food
delivery before the roads are cut off by the rainy season that has
already started. I witnessed a food truck stranded in water on one
road.

“This river eats vehicles,” an Oxfam worker told me. Three others
broke down at the same spot during the past week.

Breidjing camp, in the centre of eastern Chad, has swollen from 5,000
to 30,000 people in the past six weeks. Saidi Kagaba of CARE
International, managing the camp, says that if they do not install
clean water and sanitation soon, epidemics are a high possibility. At
least 60 per cent of the refugees are children. They laugh, despite
their ordeals. It is hard to imagine them in a few months time on the
edge of death.

The immediate plight of the refugees overshadows the underlying
problem – a crime of huge proportions. Despite conflict between the
Sudanese government army and the rebel groups, black Darfurians are
not fleeing war or natural disaster. The refugees I met are victims
of plans to rid the region of its black population altogether.
Militias, trained and armed for the crime, had Sudanese government
support all the way. “The government and militia are the same,” every
refugee said when I tried to define the relationship between the two.

One question is asked in the West as if everything hinges on it: “Is
this ethnic cleansing or genocide?” The assumption is that if it is
genocide, international law obliges nations to intervene.

The term “genocide” was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish refugee
from Poland who lost his family in the Holocaust. He understood that
different methods are used to destroy groups of people. The Nazis
used guns, gas and even lethal injections to destroy the Jews. They
also used the environment, through starvation in ghettos and camps,
and through exposure and exhaustion during death marches.

Lemkin was also aware that the Turks had destroyed a million
Armenians a generation earlier by driving them into a wilderness to
die in what they called a famine. So he made it clear that intent to
destroy a group “in whole or in part” constitutes genocide, even if
cunning methods are employed.

This includes “deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction”.

The definition was enshrined in international law when the United
Nations’ Convention to Punish and Prevent Genocide entered into force
in 1951. The difficulty of proving a government’s intent to commit
genocide is used as a reason to refrain from significant action.
However, the UN’s genocide convention was adopted both to punish and
prevent genocide. If nations are obliged to prevent genocide they
must act when the signs are present, not after it has happened. By
the time we know for sure, it will always be too late.

The convention is vague about the point at which nations should act.
However, if the legal obligation is ambiguous, the convention
reinforces the moral and political obligation – action must take
place when the indicators of genocide are present.

I have seen and heard first-hand reports of systematically burned
villages, expulsions and summary killings in Darfur. That is evidence
enough for referral to the Security Council and action.

Preventing genocide is no longer about international law, but about
political will.

An invasion of Sudan is not necessary at this stage. The UK
government is prudent to pursue a political solution, but the
perpetrators must know the international community has the resolve to
follow through. They may think twice if they know they will be
pursued through the International Criminal Court. Sadly, the nations
who sit on the council have historically dithered at times like this,
putting national interests above the security of the vulnerable they
are supposed to protect.

Meanwhile, Fatima sits with her friends on the border. Two things are
on her mind. What will she do with her unborn baby? “It is not easy,
but the child has not committed a crime and my community know I did
not do this to bring shame,” she says.

She looks out to the hills and plains of Sudan, wondering if they
will ever go back. “How can I go home? Masseleit and other [black
tribal groups] are not wanted anymore. We cannot go back until there
is justice and security.”

So far there is little sign of either. International effort is
focused on keeping the refugees alive, no referral has been made to
the ICC and the government responsible for these crimes is the one
asked to restore security. The architects of this genocidal crime are
content to know that, so far, they have got away with murder.

– James Smith is executive director of the UK-based genocide
prevention organisation, the Aegis Trust.

TALES OF HORROR

AMNESTY International yesterday accused Arab militias in Darfur of
gang-raping and abducting girls as young as eight and women as old as
80, systematically killing, torturing, or using them as sex slaves.

Cases of women and girls having their legs broken to stop them
running away have also been reported to the group.

In a report called Rape as a Weapon of War, Amnesty outlines the
sexual violence against women it says is happening on a massive
scale. It says Khartoum is actively violating its legal obligations
to protect civilians.

“Soldiers of the Sudan government army are present during attacks by
the Janjaweed and when rapes are committed, but the Sudan government
has done nothing so far to stop them,” Amnesty researcher Benedicte
Goderiaux said.

Darfur’s rebels accuse the government of arming the Arab Janjaweed to
loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Khartoum denies the charge.

The Amnesty report, launched in Beirut and Nairobi, details gang
rapes, public rapes, killings of those who resist rape and abductions
for sexual slavery.

It is based on hundreds of testimonies collected from refugees in
camps in Chad. Although the sample of victims was limited, Amnesty
said it pointed to widespread abuse.

The London-based group said rebels fighting the Janjaweed may also
have raped civilians, but facts were limited.

Efforts to end the crisis through negotiations are in tatters after
rebels stormed out of peace talks last week.

Amnesty called for an end to the conflict, better protection of
civilians, Janjaweed disarmament, trials for those carrying out the
attacks and an international commission of inquiry to examine war
crimes in Darfur.

– A Sudanese court sentenced ten Arab militiamen to amputation and
six years in jail yesterday in the first conviction of Janjaweed
fighters for looting and killing in the Darfur region, it was
reported yesterday.

The court in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, also said
proceedings would begin to try other Janjaweed militia accused of
burning a village.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
July 16, 2004
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]

ASSEMBLY, ACTIVISTS DISCUSS COMMUNITY ISSUES AT ANNUAL PICNIC
Detroit Area Event Welcomes More Than 100 Supporters

Farmington Hills, MI – The Armenian Assembly’s annual summer picnic in
Michigan July 11 brought together more than 100 area supporters, eager to
address the critical issues facing the community through increasing their
political activism at state and federal levels.

Assembly Congressional Relations Director Rob Mosher, in a Washington
update, addressed several pending issues including the recent vote by the
House Appropriations Committee to reinstate U.S. policy to maintain security
parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mosher said activists were
particularly pleased to learn that legislators agreed to allocate $5 million
in military financing to both countries, thereby breaking from the Bush
Administration request to seek a $6 million increase for Baku over Yerevan.

Fellow Trustee Edgar Hagopian, who as Regional Director of the Great Lakes
Council helped organize the event in Farmington Hills, added that
Congressman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) was instrumental in reinstating balance
which is fundamental to the Nagorno Karabakh peace process.

Mosher also discussed a crucial trade bill that would strengthen the
U.S.-Armenia trade relationship. Known as “permanent normal trade
relations” (PNTR), the legislation would remove a provision governing
Armenia’s continued access to low tariffs. Some activists inquired about
the additional benefits attached to PNTR status. Mosher said that the bill,
if enacted, would signal an upgrade to Armenia’s status as a trading partner
and could open the door to additional bilateral trade agreements.

Event participants also embraced the recent decision by Congressmen
Knollenberg and Frank Pallone Jr., (D-NJ), as Co-Chairs of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues, to head a series of pan-Armenian events to
commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide next year in
Washington. The Assembly, Mosher said, has already pledged its full
cooperation and is welcoming the opportunity to join with the
Armenian-American community to honor this occasion.

Hagopian closed the event by thanking supporters for their participation and
interest in the Assembly and commended fellow Council members, including
Board of Directors Member and Associate Trustee Daniel Ajamian, Fellow
Trustees Bob and Margaret Benian, Affiliate Member Paul Kulhanjian,
Affiliate Member Shirley Sarkissian, Fellow Trustees Bob and Madeline
Thomasian and Affiliate Member David Terzibashian for contributing to the
success of the yearly picnic.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
NR#2004-068

Photographs available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following link:

Caption: Left to Right: Armenian Assembly Great Lakes Regional Council
Members Bob and Madeline Thomasian, David Terzibashian, Shirley Sarkissian,
Edgar Hagopian and Paul Kulhanjian during the annual picnic at Heritage
Park. Not pictured: Daniel Ajamian and Bob and Margaret Benian.

Caption: More than 100 Detroit-area supporters attended a briefing by
Armenian Assembly Congressional Relations Director Rob Mosher at Heritage
Park on July 11.

PEACE BROKERS SAY PEACE MUST BE REACHED BY ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, JULY 15, ARMENPRESS: Back from Nagorno Karabagh the
international peace brokers of the OSCE Minsk group told journalists
in Yerevan on July 14 that they were not going to bring any new
proposals for the conflicting sides, saying it is up to Armenia and
Azerbaijan to decide what kind of a final deal to strike to end the
long-running dispute.
The French, Russian and U.S. co-chairs reiterated that all the
details of the peace deal are to be achieved by Armenia and
Azerbaijan. They also said that the participation of Nagorno-Karabagh
in the peace negotiations shouldbe decided by both sides.
Henry Jacolin, the French co-chair said that the OSCE and its Minsk
Group didn’t exhaust all resources to resolve the conflict, and
defended the current format of the talks.
Steven Mann, the U.S envoy to Minsk Group, downplayed allegations
that Nagorno-Karabagh conflict could pose a risk for the construction
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The French co-chair said also
that the next meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers will
take place in late August.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
July 13 2004

EU Wants To Prevent Drug trafficking from Armenia

By Ruzanna Stepanian 13/07/2004 15:51

The EU and UN will provide Armenia with special equipment worth
140,000 euros ($173,661) for the Bavra, Bagratashen and Meghri border
checkpoints and Zvartnots International Airport to stop the possible
smuggling of drugs from Armenia to Western Europe.

Since 2001 the EU has allocated the three South Caucasus states 5
million Euros within the special program designed to fight illegal
drug trafficking. Armenia alone has received over 1.5 mln euros from
EU funds.

“Though Armenian officials do their best to prevent Armenia from
becoming a transit country for drug trafficking, this doesn’t mean
that those involved in drug trafficking will not use Armenia for this
purpose,” said the Paris Customs Service deputy chief Joel Mencue,
who met journalists today in Yerevan. Mencue is visiting Armenia to
help organize training courses for Armenian customs officers.

An official from the Armenian Police Drug Fighting Department, Artyom
Azoyan, told RFE/RL heroin and opium are being smuggled to Armenia
mostly from Turkey, Iran, Russia, and Central Asian countries such as
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

There has been only one case of heroin seizure in Armenia this year.
Armenian custom officials recently seized at least one kilogram of
Iranian heroin. Armenian cannabis and hashish, which are the most
popular drugs among Armenian drug addicts, are not in demand on the
foreign drug market because of their poor quality. “The quality of
Armenian cannabis is too poor for buyers abroad,” Azoyan told
RFE/RL.” Up to 100 kilograms of hashish and tens of tons of cannabis
are seized annually in Armenia. According to Armenian officials,
these drugs are mostly produced in the Armavir, Gegharkunik and
Ararat regions.

According to the police officials, a matchbox of cannabis is worth 5
thousand drams (about $10) in Armenia, while a gram of heroin can be
purchased for no less than $150. According to official data, there
are about 20,000 drug users in Armenia, though police officials
believe that real number of drug addicts is 10 times higher than the
official statistics. On the other hand, Armenian officials insist
that the figure of 200,000 is too high and unrealistic.

ArmenPress
July 13 2004

KOCHARIAN RECEIVES CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
received today the CIS executive secretary Vladimir Rushailo, who has
arrived in Armenia within the frameworks of his visits to CIS member
countries.
Kocharian’s press office said Vladimir Rushailo discussed with the
Armenian president a range of issues concerning the agenda of the
summit of CIS leaders in Kazakhstan’s Astana next September. The two
men also exchanged views on the work of the CIS executive committee.

ARMENIA TO RETHINK MEMBERSHIP IF OSCE ABANDONS CONSENSUS RULE

Arminfo
12 Jul 04

YEREVAN

If the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) abandons the consensus
decision-making rule, this may result in the dictate of super powers
in the organization, which will not be in Armenia’s national
interests, the deputy speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (and
member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun), Vaan
Ovanesyan, told a press conference today.

The OSCE PA’s role in global processes is gradually diminishing, he
said. “The OSCE’s main mission – to ensure security – is now playing
a secondary role in the activities of this organization. The
organization has started to deal with issues which are, in principle,
outside its remit,” Ovanesyan said.

Organizations such as the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of
Europe and NATO are already making claims to the OSCE PA’s role, he
said. “It is natural that high-ranking officials in the OSCE PA, who
have high wages, are doing their best to intensify the organization’s
role in international processes. This is the reason behind the
proposal in the OSCE PA to abandon the principle of consensus
decision-making,” Ovanesyan said.

If the OSCE PA’s new rules are unacceptable to Armenia, the country
will be entitled to suspend its membership of the organization, he
said.

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Content-typ e: message/rfc822

From: Ara Dabandjian <[email protected]>
Subject: Burbank: Artist Anahid Boghosian works at Wax Poetic Salon

Artist Anahid Boghosian works at Wax Poetic Salon

July 12, 2004
Contact: Teni Melidonian
626.644.7247
[email protected]

Wax Poetic Salon hosts:
PASSAGES

Featuring original works by Anahid Boghosian

Exhibition Dates – June 25 through August 20, 2004
Wax Poetic Salon – 3208 West Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, Ca

Los Angeles, CA (June 18) – Wax Poetic Salon and art gallery is proud
to present Passages, an exhibit featuring original works by a Los
Angeles artist who has recently been asked to shoe at the L.A county
municipal Gallery on july 18, 2004

Passages highlights the path of life through its movements from one
place to another, making transitions, taking journeys, are all
passages. `There are many paths to take, doors to walk through, and
windows to open. It is our choices that dictate our destiny and our
decision not to that keeps us still,’ says Boghosian.

Passages marks Boghosian’s fourth successful exhibit of 2004. Boghosian
continues to discover and push the boundaries of art by exploring
varying concepts, materials, and views thus, creating a truly unique
vision.

Passages will be on display from Friday, June 25 through Friday,
August 20, 2004. Wax Poetic is a New York style salon, spa and art
gallery. For general information about the exhibit, please call Wax
Poetic Salon at 818.843.9496 or visit

For more information, please contact Teni Melidonian.
–Boundary_(ID_RGWF8MdqbMPbvTwEHeN1+g)–