Author: Nahapetian Samvel

NEW POLYCLINIC COMPLEX BUILT IN NKR UNDER THE AEGIS OF "HAYASTAN" ALL ARMENIAN FOUNDATION

ARMINFO News Agency
September 25, 2006 Monday

A new three-storied polyclinic complex has opened in the capital of
the Nagorny Karabakh Republic, Stepanakert. The complex was built
under the aegis of "Hayastan" All Armenian Foundation on the funds of
American philanthropists, George Pagumyan and Hrayr Hovhanyan family,
Arminfo’s special correspondent to Stepanakert reports.

Participating in the opening ceremony were NKR President Arkady
Ghoukassyan, Parliamentary Speaker Ashot Ghulyan, Prime Minister
Anishavan Danielyan, members of Parliament and Government,
representative of "Hayastan" All Armenian Foundation. Leader
of Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop
Pargev Martirosyan blessed the new building. "The opening of the
new policlinic can be considered a foundation for development of our
system," said Zoya Lazaryan, NKR Health Minister. The new building
consists of a polyclinic and a diagnostic center. The project cost
2 mln US dollars. In his turn, NKR President Arkady Ghoukassyan
stressed the necessity of sooner reconstruction of the republican
hospital. "The problem of the reconstruction can be called already
settled. We have already found a philanthropist, who will finance
the project," he said. "Similar programs will be implemented in the
country also in future. Everyone is aware that the fate of all the
Armenians is decided in Artsakh. Everyone is aware of the necessity
of keeping Artsakhis in Artsakh," NKR president said.

"WE MUST NOT DISCUSS ALL THE ISSUES ON THE SAME LEVEL"

A1+
[03:30 pm] 25 September, 2006

Participant of the third conference "Armenia-Diaspora" Oshin
Qeshishyan who is the editor of "Armenian Observer" weekly which
has been published in Los Angeles for the last 36 years, thinks that
"the same copied materials were represented during the conference,
whereas we needed specialists more than speeches".

"It is impossible to hold a conference with 1000 participants. There
were Armenians from different countries and continents, with different
problems. For example, an Armenian from France is interested
in completely different problems from those of an Armenian from
Iran. That’s why we must not discuss all the issues on the same
level. It is noteworthy that no reference was made to the problems
of the Diaspora with the exception of the problem of preserving the
self-consciousness", Oshin Qeshishyan said.

As for the issue of preservation of originality of the Armenians, Oshin
Qeshishyan mentioned that in California, besides "Armenian Observer", a
number of other periodicals are published; there are Armenian schools,
three Armenians private round-the-clock TV Channels, etc. Nevertheless,
he did not deny the fact that if there weren’t immigrants from Armenia,
the Armenian community of California would soon be "exhausted". For
example, in one of the state Universities of Glendale where he works
as lecturer, eight thousand of the 20 thousand students are Armenians,
of which six thousand have migrated from Armenia and study excellently.

As for "Armenian Observer", the editor said, "Although it is published
in English, it is still an Armenian newspaper as it refers to the
national problems of the local Armenians. It is published in English
as in Armenian it would not be so popular. And now, it is read by
many senators, congressmen and even common Americans. Thus we tell
them about us".

OhmyNews International, South Korea
Sept 23 2006

Turkey Drops Charges Against Novelist
Elif Shafak was on trial for insulting national Identity

Amin George Forji (amingeorge)

On Thursday a court in Istanbul acquitted Elif Shafak, age 35 and one
of the country’s best selling novelists, from charges of insulting
Turkishness.

The insults in question appeared in her novel The Bastard Of
Istanbul. The characters in the story condemned Turkey’s mass killings
of ethnic Armenians at the close of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The Armenians believe that those killings in fact constituted a
genocide, and demand that Turkey apologizes, and redresses its past
wrongs. Turkey has traditionally rejected such claims of genocide
as baseless.

Under Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code it is a crime to insult
Turkish national identity. The crime is punished with up to three
years in prison.

The trial was closely watched by the European Commission, who earlier
indicated that it will serve as a veritable test of freedom in Turkey.

The European Union says the controversial Turkish law seriously
violates the right to freedom of speech.

The commission, while qualifying the Istanbul acquittal decision as
"good news," requested that Turkey use this opportunity to scrap off
the "bad law" under which the artist was prosecuted.

Krisztina Nagy, an E.U. spokeswoman, expressed caution and skepticism
about the decision.

"The fact remains that (Turkey’s courts) established a restrictive
interpretation of article 301 of the penal code which is not in line
with the European Court of Human Rights and European standards of
freedom of expression."

Turkey is seeking admission into the European Union, and is presently
already undergoing membership talks. The law against insulting
Turkishness is seen as one of the major obstacles against Turkey
joining the union.

The Istanbul court, after 40 minutes deliberation, decided that
there was lack of ample evidence to prove that Ms Shafak in fact
"denigrated Turkish national identity" in her novel.

While welcoming the decision, the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, announced that the government will consider amending that
section of the law in future.

"The ruling party and the opposition can sit down together again to
discuss this issue as laws are not eternal," Erdogan declared.

Shafak was exempted from attending the court hearing because she gave
birth to her first daughter just five days ago. Speaking after the
court decision, she said she was very delighted with the decision.

"I’m very happy with the outcome but only on a personal basis. As
long as 301 is out there and interpreted or misinterpreted like that
there’ll be many other cases like this … This is not the last one,"
Reuters quoted her as saying.

SILVER COMMEMORATIVE COIN DEDICATED TO 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE PUT IN CIRCULATION IN SEP 2006

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 18 2006

YEREVAN, September 18. /ARKA/. A silver commemorative coin,
dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence, is put in
circulation on September 2006. The press service of the Central Bank
of Armenia reported that this coin is the seventh from the series of
commemorative coins titled "Armenian Statehood".

The nominal value of the coin is AMD 5000. It is made from pure
silver. It’s weight amounts to five troy ounces, the diameter being
63 mm. The image of the Armenian president’s residence is stamped on
the coin. There are a total of 300 coins.

In 2001, the CBA issued another commemorative coin, dedicated to the
10th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

NAGORNO KARABAKH DEPUTY: "AZERBAIJAN THOROUGHLY AVOIDS DIRECT COMMUNICATIONS WITH NKR"

REGNUM
September 20, 2006

Chairman of Nagorno Karabakh parliamentary commission on foreign
relations Vagram Atanesyan received on Sep 18 with PACE rapporteur
on missing persons Leo Platvoet. The sides discussed issues of
locating persons missing since the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani armed
confrontation, REGNUM correspondent reports referring to the Nagorno
Karabakh parliament press office.

Leo Platvoet noted that he had already visited Yerevan, Tbilisi, and
Baku as a part of implementing the missing persons program. Answering
the guest’s request, Vagram Atanesyan articulated NKR parliament
position on the issue of missing military and civil persons. He
said that regretfully, the Azerbaijani side thoroughly avoids direct
communications with NKR on all issues, including humanitarian ones.

According to Atanesyan, this impairs efforts taken to locate the
missing people. The sides expressed hope that the international
community, including European structures concerned, will soon
facilitate a perceptible progress in this field.

CSTO HOLDS WORKSHOP FOR JOURNALISTS

Kazinform, Kazakhstan
19.09.2006 / 11:19

MOSCOW. September 19, 2006. KAZINFORM /Valentina Yelizarova/ – In
Moscow on the basis of the Russian employee training and education
institute of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry is being conducted a
seminar for mass media of the member states of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Representatives of the leading mass media from Armenia, Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Byelorussia and Russia are taking part in it.

Kazinform Agency and Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper have received
invitations.

Such a seminar for mass media under the aegis of CSTO has been held
for the fourth time. It is aimed at giving a deep information course
for journalists who cover issues on antiterrorism protection, illegal
drug trade and illegal migration.

The program consists of theoretical and practical studies. CSTO Deputy
Secretary General Valery Semerikov and EurAsEC Deputy Secretary General
Bakhtiyar Urdashev participated in the opening ceremony of the seminar.

FRENCH PRESIDENT TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA ON SEPTEMBER 29 FOR 3-DAY VISIT

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 18 2006

YEREVAN, September 18. /ARKA – Novosti-Armenia/. French President
Jacques Chirac is to arrive in Armenia on September 29 for a tree-day
visit, Armenian Ambassador to France Edward Nalbandyan said Saturday
in an interview with state-run Public Television of Armenia.

Nalbandyan stressed the importance of the visit saying Chirac will
travel to the region for the first time and will visit only Armenia.

In his words, the French delegation will include ministers, lawmakers,
politicians and businessmen.

The ambassador said in his interview that French ministers would meet
their Armenian counterparts.

Nalbandyan also said the program will be saturated with interesting
events such as opening Square of France in Yerevan and Charles
Aznavur’s concert at the Square of Republic in Yerevan on September
30.

CRU WILL REMAIN EITHER WITHOUT KHACHATRYAN OR WITHOUT BABOUKHANYAN

A1+
[07:09 pm] 18 September, 2006

The situation created in Constitutional Right Union was not cleared
even after the conference. Moreover, although the conference
reconfirmed Hrant Khachatryan in the post of the president of the
party, and Hayk Baboukhanyan in the post of the vice president,
the passions have not cooled down, and today Hrant Khachatryan made
an ultimatum.

"In order to heal the party Hayk Baboukhanyan has to resign from
the post of the vice president of the party for three months", Hrant
Khachatryan told a news conference rendered today. Let us remind you
that according to the results of the Saturday voting Hrant Khachatryan
was elected president of the party with 184 votes. Hayk Baboukhanyan
was elected vice president with 203 votes; on the day of the elections
he withdrew his candidacy for the post of the president.

We asked Hrant Khachatryan is he is convinced that Hayk Baboukhanyan
would not gather more votes if he did not withdraw his candidacy. He
answered that it was the plan of the overturn – that he would remain
president, and Baboukhanyan would remain vice president.

According to Hrant Khachatryan, the party is facing the danger
of losing its independence and the only way out is to bring Hayk
Baboukhanyan back from the wrong path. And the "wrong path" is the
financial abuse of about 1.6 million AMD, and "the debt of 3 or 6
million AMD" where Hrant Khachatryan sees no criminality.

Hrant Khachatryan informed that if Hayk Baboukhanyan does not resign
until Wednesday, he will leave the political field and will take the
name "Constitutional Right Union" with him.

By the way, Hayk Baboukhanyan informed that he is not going to resign
as he was elected by the conference in order to regulate the activity
of the party.

According to Khachatryan, newspaper "Iravounq" will continue
its activity despite anything, and Baboukhanyan will remain its
editor-in-chief.

WB: 2 TRILLION USD COST OF BIRD FLU THREAT TO WORLD ECONOMY

Xinhua, China
2006-09-18 09:03:37

BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) — The outbreak of a severe avian
influenza pandemic could cost the world economy up to 2 trillion
U.S. dollars, the World Bank warned Sunday.

"We estimate this could cost, in fact, certainly over 1 trillion
dollars and perhaps as high as 2 trillion dollars, in the worst case
scenario, so I think the threat, the economic threat, remains real
and remains substantial," said Jim Adams, vice president for East
Asia and the Pacific and head of the bank’s avian flu task force.

Earlier estimates last year of about 800 billion dollars in economic
costs were basically written on the back of an envelope, he said at
a press conference during the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank annual meetings in Singapore.

"But more recent financial modelling had revealed a sharper threat
should the virus mutate and pass easily among people," he also said,
adding a severe pandemic could cost more than 3 percent of the global
economy’s gross national product.

The World Bank has provided advice and financing totaling 150 million
dollars to projects to tackle bird flu in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Moldavia, Nigeria, Tajikistan,
Turkey and Vietnam.

The international community has pledged to donate 2 billion dollars
to developing countries, and of this, 1.2 billion dollars has been
committed so far.

Asia has been hardest hit, with 127 out the 144 human deaths arising
from bird flu since 2003 occurring in East Asian countries, other
officials of the bank said.

ARKADY I. VOLSKY, 74, FOUNDER OF RUSSIAN BUSINESS LOBBY, DIES
By Andrew E. Kramer

The New York Times
Published: September 13, 2006

MOSCOW, Sept. 12 – Arkady I. Volsky, a confidant of the Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and founder of Russia’s most prominent business
lobby, died here on Saturday. He was 74.

The cause was complications of leukemia, according to the Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the business lobby he founded in
1991 and directed until last year; it became known as a club for the
Russian oligarchs.

Mr. Volsky belonged to a generation of officials whose careers
straddled the breakup of the Soviet Union. He worked under four Soviet
general secretaries and three Russian presidents and served as a
peace negotiator in two wars. His successor at the business lobby,
Aleksandr N. Shokhin, described him as "a man of the Soviet system
who was accepted by the capitalists."

Mr. Volsky grew up an orphan in Dobrush, Belarus, in the 1930’s and
worked on the floor of the Zil truck and limousine plant in Moscow,
eventually becoming the factory’s party boss.

Then, Mr. Volsky had his biggest career break without even interviewing
for the job. It came under Yuri V. Andropov, the former K.G.B. chief
who became general secretary, Mr. Volsky recalled in a recent interview
with the newspaper Kommersant, republished on Tuesday.

Mr. Andropov called Mr. Volsky to his Kremlin office; the two had
never met. "My legs felt like cotton," Mr. Volsky said. Mr. Andropov
said simply he would appoint the younger man as his top economic
adviser. Mr. Volsky said he replied, "Maybe I should tell you about
myself first." To which, Mr. Volsky recalled, the former spy chief
replied: "Do you really think you know more about yourself than I
know about you?" He started work the next day.

Mr. Volsky rode out the choppy Soviet leadership struggles of the
early 1980’s to become a close aide to Mr. Gorbachev, serving as
a peace negotiator during the Nagorno-Karabakh war between ethnic
Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

Earning his democratic credentials, Mr. Volsky was a supporter of
the dissident Andrei D. Sakharov. His ties with Communist factory
bosses, meanwhile, led him to found the business lobby in 1991, which
paradoxically was seen as a group opposed to capitalist reforms
because of the party background of its members. But soon enough
Russian industry was privatized, and Mr. Volsky began representing the
interests of the new owners, the rich businessmen known as oligarchs.

The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs now represents the big
mining and energy businesses.

"He was always very flexible; he was friendly with any regime,
Gorbachev, Yeltsin or Putin," Irina M. Khakamada, a political reformer,
said in a telephone interview.

In his political work, under President Boris N. Yeltsin, Mr. Volsky
opened a negotiating channel with the Chechen rebels. It made headway,
though a separate Russian team reached a cease-fire deal before
Mr. Volsky’s group.

Mr. Volsky is survived by his wife, Lyudmila; one son; one daughter
and six grandchildren.