Author: Nahapetian Samvel

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 26 2004
Mending discord between students
Community leaders and pupils say relations have improved, but more
can be done
By Gary Moskowitz, News-Press
GLENDALE – Differences among local youth – be it racial,
socioeconomic or just simple misunderstand- ings – have led to
tragedy in Glendale.
On May 5, 2000, Hoover High School student Raul Aguirre was stabbed
to death across the street from his school in what police believe was
a gang-related incident. Aguirre was not a gang member. The man
accused of stabbing Aguirre is Armenian American.
A group called We Care for Youth, which formed in 1992 to work toward
stopping youth violence in the community, offered Hoover High
students grief support after the incident.
Group co-founder Jose Quintanar said representatives from the local
schools, city, Glendale Community College and the community held
forums in the late 1980s and early ’90s, during which people would
meet in each other’s homes to discuss ways to improve relations. He
would like to bring the forums back.
“I think what [co-founder Linda Maxwell] and I face much too often is
whatever is going on at the home gets brought to school,” Quintanar
said. “The community needs to really start looking at their own
issues. We see how kids’ ideas of the community are formed at the
dinner table or in front of the TV when the family is together.
“I don’t think there are many students around who have the personal
experience of [the Aguirre incident]. But many remember, and it comes
up from time to time from kids who were in middle school at the time.
And they were deeply affected by it. Something like that has got to
scar you.
“I think [Aguirre’s death] brought people together, but it wasn’t
sustaining. Soon after, the emotion of it wore off, and we became
complacent,” Quintanar said.
“Could it happen again? I hope not. But are the conditions present?
Yes. Ignorance and fear of other people, and not knowing people,
exists. This is a large city now, and it’s harder to know people.”
In recent years, Hoover students created a Unity Garden and a
Friendship Garden on campus as a way of promoting peace and unity in
the Glendale community. Events like Aguirre’s death and the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11 prompted students to create the gardens.
Hoover High senior Jessica Luevano said it is usually teachers who
bring up the Aguirre incident, not students. Teachers might mention
it in class when something new happens in the Aguirre case, Jessica
said. The case is awaiting a second trial after a Nov. 7 mistrial.
“If anything, I think it kind of brought us all closer together,”
said Jessica, 17. “There are bad people in every culture. I think
most of the fights we see here are among kids within the same race.”
Daily High School Principal Gail Rosental said that although some
parents tell her they perceive Daily – the district’s continuation
high school for students who are at risk of not graduating on
schedule – as the school for “bad kids,” she has few issues with race
and culture among students on campus. Students come to Daily from all
of the district’s comprehensive high schools.
“Because we are so small, nobody is invisible here, and we don’t have
the same kinds of problems the huge schools have,” Rosental said. “We
tend not to have intercultural tensions. When we do have tensions,
it’s rare, and it’s usually not rooted in ethnic problems.
“It’s usually more of a ‘You were talking to my girlfriend’ or ‘You
said something about me to somebody’ kind of thing. If anything, it’s
two people who used to be friends, and it’s social and personal.”

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 19, 2004, Friday
KANT WANTS TO BE FRIENDS WITH MANAS
SOURCE: Russky Kurier, March 16, 2004, p. 2
by Vitaly Strugovets
Operational conference of the United Headquarters of the Organization
of the CIS Collective Security Treaty begins in Moscow. Lieutenant
General Vasily Zavgorodny, Senior Deputy Chief-of-Staff, says that
the conference will be attended by chiefs-of-staff of national
armies, General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha, and Major General Sergei
Chernomordin, Commander of the Central Asian Fast Response Collective
Forces.
The decision to establish the United Headquarters as “a permanent
working body of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security
Treaty and its Council of Defense Ministers” was made almost a year
ago, in April 2003. Fifty-five staff officers represent members of
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty in accordance
with their financial contributions. Russia accounts for 50% of the
budget and other countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Tajikistan) 10% each.
Chief-of-staff always represents the country whose defense minister
is currently chairman of the Council of Defense Ministers. Nowadays,
it is Tajikistan. Needless to say, chief-of-staff is quartered in his
native country and not in Moscow. Daily activities of the United
Headquarters are supervised by senior deputy chief-of-staff. The
United Headquarters commands army groups – West, Caucasus, and
Central Asia.
Military experts call the Organization of the CIS Collective Security
Treaty a mini-NATO. There truly are some aspects similar to both
alliances. For example, whenever a country of one of the bloc finds
itself under attack, all of the alliance regards it as an attack on
all. This is a major difference between the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty and the 1992 Treaty. “There are but two
organizations in the world nowadays that view security matters as the
first priority. They are NATO and the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty,” General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha
(formerly Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian
Federation, head of the presidential administration, and Ambassador
to Denmark) said not long ago. He believes therefore that the two
alliances must interact. “The Organization of the CIS Collective
Security Treaty already has a plan of cooperation and interaction
with NATO,” he said. “Distance between military bases of the
Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty and forces of the
counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan (that means NATO) is under
three dozen clicks.” Needless to say, Bordyuzha meant airfields in
Kyrgyzstan, Kant and Manas. According to what information this
newspaper has compiled, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the
Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty has already
drafted a document which will suggest military cooperation between
bases in Kant and Manas.
Unlike NATO, however, its CIS analog is financially unstable. That is
what generates friction among its members. It is clear nowadays that
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty owes its
existence mostly to the Russian budget. All its structures are
financed by Russia by at least 50%. Actually, Russian contribution is
even larger than that. Consider for example the Kremlin’s decision to
sell military hardware to countries of the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty at the prices demanded from Russian
buyers. Not even NATO has come up with that. This lenient terms
regime only applies to the units involved in international
contingents these days, but official Moscow contemplates its
application to all armed forces of all members of the Organization of
the CIS Collective Security Treaty. This assistance may even be made
mandatory.
Russia is also prepared to face the bill of training officers for CIS
national armies. 2,700 men from armies of the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty are being trained in Russia. Members of
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty pay $1,000 for
every trainee annually. The subject of training them without charge
is being considered now. Russia pays for maintenance of the forces
comprising the nucleus of all army groups of the Organization of the
CIS Collective Security Treaty. First and foremost, the matter
concerns AF bases in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
Aircraft based in Kant, for example, are officially recognized as a
part of the Fast Response Collective Forces. Still, Russia alone
finances the base. It will cost $10 million to outfit the base only,
and annual maintenance is estimated at $4 million more. It is not
exactly a “grant” as some politicians present it.
As a matter of fact, the anti-Taliban coalition pays Kyrgyzstan
$7,000 for every takeoff or landing in Manas. It is this easy money
that spoils the relations between Moscow and Dushanbe, Bishkek,
Astana. The United States alone intends to transact over $6 million
to Kyrgyzstan by way of military assistance (discounting what this
country is paid for the use of the Manas facility, that is). The sum
is double what Kyrgyzstan received in 2003. Kazakhstan is promised
helicopters, military transport planes, and ships under 1,000 tons
water displacement. Considerable technical aid is promised Tajikistan
too. Forget Central Asia for a minute. Even official Minsk in the
course of the recent “gas crisis” began talking of the necessity to
take money from Russia for “the military objects located on the
territory of Belarus.”
It does not take a genius to see that Russia cannot hope to satisfy
all of the demands its “allies” come up with. Financially, that is.
It follows that weapons and military hardware should be offered.
Sources in the United Headquarters say that these deliveries exactly
will be in the focus of attention of the operational conference of
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty in Moscow.
Defense ministers will even visit Granit, the foremost provider of
antiaircraft means for the Russian Armed Forces. It is common
knowledge that antiaircraft defense is our allies’ major headache.
Official commentary
Major General Sergei Chernomordin, Commander of the Fast Response
Collective Forces: The Taliban has never been abolished
Chernomordin: Headquarters of the Fast Response Collective Forces is
located in Bishkek. The operational group comprising officers from
all countries is quartered there too. National armies of participants
of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty are
represented in the Fast Response Collective Forces by a reinforced
battalion each. These are units of permanent combat readiness that do
not need a lot of time to up their readiness status. These units are
fully staffed and equipment. Whenever the order is received, the
units are ready for combat in the plains or in the mountains in
virtually no time. These are not ordinary units. I mean, infantry.
The Kazakh Armed Forces for example are represented by a battalion of
paratroops. Hence the weapons – light weapons and portable grenade
launchers. The battalion is quite mobile, up to missions in all
conditions. The national army of Tajikistan is represented by a
similar unit. Kyrgyzstan is represented by a battalion of
mountaineers. All Kyrgyz servicemen are seasoned fighters. The
nucleus of the Kyrgyz battalion is comprised of the veterans who
fought in the Batken region in 1999.
The battalion tactical group of the Russian 201st Motorized Infantry
Division is equipped and trained for mountainous warfare. It has
tanks, armored personnel carriers, mobile artillery systems. All
these units will be promptly airlifted to the endangered area and
deploy there. I do not doubt their efficiency.
Question: Do the Fast Response Collective Forces have an action plan?
Sergei Chernomordin: We have the deployment plan for potential
actions on the territory of any of the four countries. Usually, all
officers and units of the Fast Response Collective Forces remain at
their permanent quarters, working in line with their own curricula.
They come together only in the special period. they have to be
drilled constantly, taught to operate in the designated area. That is
why our units are deployed in Tajikistan today, and tomorrow
exercises may be run in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. This is how we
train our units the year round. Along with everything else, we remain
in close contact with the CIS Counter-Terrorism Center and national
armies. Whenever necessary, the Fast Response Collective Forces may
operate under the command of a national defense minister. Together
with armed forces and other security structures, of course. If the
appropriate decision is made, I will submit to the defense minister
of the country where our involvement is needed. Or else, I may
operate independently.
Question: What do you think of the situation in Central Asia?
Sergei Chernomordin: The counter-terrorism operation has hurt the
Taliban but never abolished it altogether. Moreover, Taliban
detachments mount more and more resolute attacks on forces of the
counter-terrorism coalition and the government of Khamid Karzai.
Tribal strife continues as well. Instability has not been routed out,
nor weapons have been laid down. Trafficking via Central Asia to
Europe and America increases in scope. This is what worries the
governments of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan first
and foremost. Traffic means inevitable infiltration of the
territories of Central Asian countries by armed gangs.
Specialist’s opinion
The Fast Response Collective Forces is the Central Asian army group
of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty. It
comprises Kazbat paratroops battalion, battalion of Kyrgyz
mountaineers, Tajik paratroops battalion, Russian motorized infantry
battalion (of the 201st Motorized Infantry Division quartered in
Tajikistan), and communications units. Numerical strength approaches
1,500 men. Aviation of the Fast Response Collective Forces based in
Kant includes ten SU-25 and SU-27 aircraft, nine military transport
planes, four training planes, and two helicopters (all of them
Russian). Meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers in December
2003 found it necessary to up numerical strength of the Fast Response
Collective Forces 2.5 times this year. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and
Russia are expected to provide another battalion each, Tajikistan two
battalions.
The Caucasus group comprises units of the Russian and Armenian
armies. Russia is represented by the 102nd Military Base in Gyumri.
There is also a considerable antiaircraft group – a wing of eighteen
MIG-29 aircraft and a battery of complexes with radars.
The West group was first mentioned during President Vladimir Putin’s
visit to Belarus in May 2002. A group 3,000 men strong was mentioned
then. The Defense Ministry of Russia explained afterwards that the
group would comprise some units of the Moscow and Leningrad military
districts, Baltic Fleet, and the Belarusian army. Whenever necessary,
they would follow common operational plans. United headquarters were
established for the duration of command exercises on two occasions.

The Toronto Star
March 18, 2004 Thursday Ontario Edition
Very dramatic tale of overcoming
by Robert Crew, Toronto Star
Rogues Of Urfa a personal and ancestral battle Araxi Arslanian
triumphs over vascular ills
Araxi Arslanian and her family know all about survival.
Arslanian, 32, has successfully fended off a life-threatening,
neurological disorder known as AVM; her Armenian grandfather survived
the massacres in Turkey in the early part of the 20th century.
And exploring and learning from both these experiences is the purpose
of Arslanian’s new play, The Rogues Of Urfa, which opens at Artword
Theatre next Wednesday. It was when Arslanian was at Montreal’s
National Theatre School that the symptoms of her condition began to
affect her seriously.
AVM – Arteriovenous Malformations – is caused by the malformation of
blood vessels (arteries and veins) and can lead to seizures and
strokes
Arslanian was having difficulty speaking, talking and walking and
attempted to cover up her behaviour with “crazy stories.”
She was asked to leave and, “I have so successfully creeped out
everyone in my class that nobody wanted me there and I don’t blame
them.”
She was in the University of Alberta’s drama program when the grand
mal seizures began. Her doctors initially accused her of faking it,
but finally diagnosed AVM.
“The misshapen vein is so deep inside my head that they can’t do
anything about it. They would have to cut through a lot of healthy
brain tissue to get at it and that would mean paralysis at best,
death at worst.”
She was put on medication and was seizure-free for eight years. Then
she and her husband moved to Toronto. The medication suddenly became
ineffective and the seizures returned with a vengeance.
“My life to all intents and purposes was over. I couldn’t get an
agent, I couldn’t go to auditions. I was bedridden for two months and
housebound for another two. I had 11 grand mal seizures a day, on
average.
“I went through seven months of hell before the doctors at Toronto
Western found the right cocktail for me.”
She is 6 feet tall, weighs 200-plus pounds – “I am a big, big girl” –
and is a forceful and outspoken character. But she was deeply hurt
and torn with self-doubt by her experiences during the second show
she did after her return to acting.
The production of Our Country’s Good “was one of the most horrific
experiences of my professional life because, for whatever reason,
four or five people in the show decided that I was an outcast and
treated me horribly.
“They had decided that I was the most incredible loser in the world
and were spreading rumours about me. I was treated as a piece of
garbage every day by people that I respected and adored.”
But she was the one who got a Dora Award nomination for her work in
the show and that affirmation was a turning point. “This is when I
thought there is no way anything is going to stop me,” Arslanian
says.
It was also when she began wondering why she was able to survive when
others fell by the wayside. What was different about her? Was
survival in her genes?
It was then that she began to ask her father (who is Armenian) and
her mother (who is Irish) about family history.
She learned that her grandfather, a determined young soldier named
Hovannes, was one of a handful of Armenians from the city of Urfa to
survive the tumult during and after World War I.
Arslanian recounts details of the dramatic story of his escape in the
course of the play, along with her own story.
“Although I would not in a million years, wish such difficulties on
anyone, I wouldn’t trade my life experience, mostly because I feel
there isn’t anything I cannot do or handle,” she says.
“That’s a gift. I am extremely proud of who I am and what I have
overcome and where I come from. That’s the point of this piece.”
And she is eloquent about the blessings she has received.
“When all guarantees are removed and all the trappings of who you are
supposed to be are gone, that is when you become your truest and
purest self.
“I know who I am, not who I am supposed to be. Every tragedy is an
opportunity to know yourself and to know the majesty and miracle that
is life.”
She hopes The Rogues Of Urfa, an earlier version of which was
presented at SummerWorks last year, will attract a decent audience.
“It is always a challenge for a solo female performer to attract a
large audience unless you take off your top and are really stacked,
which I don’t intend to do, at least not in this show.”
“But it doesn’t matter to me at this point if the show sells out
every night. The people who see it are meant to see it.”
Her job as an artist is to create for the audience, she says, in
typically forthright fashion. “I am there for them, they are not
there for me.
“My greatest rage as an artist is expressed towards people who are
too busy waiting for what the audience can do for them: ‘How are you
going to make me feel good about myself by applauding me, what tricks
do I have that are going to make you applaud?’ I think there is a lot
of that in Toronto.” What: The Rogues Of Urfa by Araxi Aslanian
Where: Artword Theatre, 75 Portland St.
When: Previews March 23, opens March 24, runs until April 4
Tickets: $10 – $20 @ 416-504-7529
GRAPHIC: Araxi Arslanian’s new play opens at the Artword Theatre
Wednesday.

INTERNATIONAL WORKING GROUP DISBANDED
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
15-03-2004
>From now on together with the state committee the Center of Civil
Undertakings will deal with the search for missing soldiers and
hostages, as well as work with their families in Karabakh. In the
current year the center organized computer courses for the children of
the missing soldiers and former hostages. The Karabakh
non-governmental organization Center of Civil Undertakings conducts
monitoring of prisons of the republic. According to the director of
the center Albert Voskanian, certain novelties were introduced in this
sphere of the republic. For example, according to the international
standards the wooden blinds of the windows of the dormitories of the
Department of Administration of Criminal Punishment (the former prison
of Shoushi) attached to the NKR Police were dismantled since February
1 of the current year. In autumn of 2003 the parliament of Karabakh
adopted the law about elimination of the capital punishment.
According to the DACP staff, at the beginning of the current year the
sentence of the last of the 15 convicts sentenced to capital
punishment was changed by 15 years imprisonment. According to
A. Voskanian, the Center of Civil Undertakings continues to support
the undertaking of passing the NKR prisons from the Police under the
authority of the Ministry of Justice.
NAIRA HAYRUMIAN.
15-03-2004

NEW DIRECTOR OF ICRC OFFICE
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
15-03-2004
On March 11 NKR president Arkady Ghukassian met with the director of
the office of the Red Cross in Stepanakert Charlotte Hardford whose
term of duties in Nagorni Karabakh has completed. Ms. Hardford
introduced to the president the new director of the ICRC office in
Stepanakert Mireille Benard. She thankedthe government of the republic
for assistance to the humanitarian activities of the ICRC in
NKR. Speaking about the main directions of activity of the Karabakh
office of ICRC in 2003 Ms. Hardford told that the office will pursue
implementation of humanitarian programs in Nagorni Karabakh. In the
future they will deal with the problem of the missing soldiers, will
visit prisoners, find out their state of health, the conditions they
are kept in. Touching upon programs in the sphere of health care the
ICRC representative mentioned that the mission assists to the
reconstruction of 68 surgeries in different regions of Nagorni
Karabakh and helps to provide them with necessary equipment. According
to her, the ICRC mission also deals with providing them with
medication. In his turn, Arkady Ghukassian highly appreciated the
importance of the activitiesof the ICRC in Nagorni Karabakh, which was
the first among the international organizations to aid NKR. At the
same time the president emphasized the importance of further
activities of the ICRC mission in Nagorni Karabakh.
AA.
15-03-2004

A1+ web site in Russian
9 Mar 04
Armenian leader hopes Hungary to punish officer’s murderer
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received the new Hungarian
ambassador to Armenia, Ferenc Kontra (residency in Moscow).
On behalf of the Hungarian government, the ambassador expressed his
deep condolences on the killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan
in Hungary.
In turn, Robert Kocharyan expressed his confidence that the Hungarian
law-enforcement agencies would be consistent and the murderer would
be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Hungary will become a member of the European Union next month.
Ambassador Kontra said that his country was ready to do everything
possible to facilitate the strengthening of ties between Armenia and
the European Union.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 9, 2004 Tuesday
Yerevan, Tbilisi to discuss cargo transit through Georgia
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili will visit Armenia, to discuss
with its leadership arrangements for cargo transportation through
Georgia and terms of payment for it. Saakashvili will make a two-day
visit to Armenia on Friday, the press service of the Armenian
president told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Under conditions of the transport blockade of Armenia, Georgia is the
only state through which cargoes are delivered to Armenian towns,
including fuel and food from Russia.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan praised the level of relations
with Georgia. “Good personal ties between the heads of state give
impulses for a better development of good neighborly relations,”
Kocharyan said.
The program of the visit envisions a one-on-one meeting between the
two presidents, Saakashvili’s talks with the parliament speaker and
Armenia’s prime minister, and his meeting with representatives of the
Georgian community in the republic.
The Georgian president will visit Echmiadzin, where he will be
received by Catholicos of all the Armenians Garegin II.