Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

Alternatives: Is Armenia’s energy future blowing in the wind?
ArmeniaNow.com
10 June 2004
Special from Caucasus Media Institute
If Armenia’s nuclear power plant at Metsamor should shut down, the
Solaren company is ready to let the wind take over.
“According to the map of wind energy industry of Armenia, today
there is a great wind energy potential in the republic,” says head
of Solaren’s wind energy programs Artur Lalayan.
Reserves surveys show a potential of 400-450 megawatts of wind
energy in Armenia, about one-third of the total energy produced by
the nuclear power station.
For the present moment there are no wind power stations in Armenia,
however, two projects will be implemented within next three years.
According to Lalayan, in the end of 2005 the first two-megawatt wind
power station with capacity of annual 5 million kilowatt-hour capacity
will start functioning in the Pushkin mountain pass. It is constructed
with money from an Iranian-funded grant. Another wind power station
will be ready in three years. This 20-megawatt station is constructed
on the Sotki mountain pass (Vardenis) and will be annually producing
60 million kilowatts per hour.
Solaren believes Armenian winds are sufficient for developing wind
energy industry; only the seasonal nature of getting energy is one
of the program’s negative sides. Winds are stronger in Syunik and
Zangezor, Northern Regions of Sevan Lake, at the foot of Mt. Aragats,
and Karakhach.
Gas resources offer another energy alternative.
The governments of Armenia and Iran have recently signed Iran-Armenia
gas-transmission pipeline construction agreement. Fuel will be supplied
to a thermal power plant (under construction) with a capacity of 250
megawatts through that pipeline. In addition, programs of the European
Union foresee running small hydroelectric power stations of Armenia,
with a total capacity of 140 megawatts.
Small hydroelectric power stations are another source of alternative
electric energy. There are several dozens of them in Armenia. They
are mainly privatized. According to calculations, one kilowatt of
hydroelectric energy will cost seven cents. The potential of small
hydroelectric power stations is valued at approximately 300 megawatts
and production is equal to one billion kilowatts per hour of energy.
Today solar energy is also included in the energy budget of Armenia.
Executive director of Solaren, Victor Afyan says: “If we place solar
water heaters on the territory of 16 square kilometers then we will
satisfy demand for the energy of the whole county.”
The first solar water heaters have already been created here. They
correspond to all international standards and have necessary
documentation. The device costs about $300 and costs $400-600 to
install. But after installation, energy is self-created.
Solaren also tries to get energy from household gas. According to
Afyan, they installed a device with carrying capacity of 25 cubic
meters in Agrospasarkum livestock farm. By means of burning liquid
dung that device produces 20-30 cubic meters of gas. Dung is fermented
and as a result it produces gas. In its turn it burns out producing
electric energy. After burning, the waste is sold to villagers as
fertilizer material.
“If household gas devices are installed in such organizations
functioning in Armenia then it will become possible to get 900
megawatts of energy per hour,” explains Afyan.
According to the director, they are also working on introducing
legislative reforms which will lead to development of restorative
energy.
Solaren is sure it is not possible to shut down the nuclear power
station without having alternative energy sources. It is necessary to
have serious financial assets both for deactivation and detoxification
as well as for conducting construction works of devices producing
alternative energy sources. And even if there are such assets it can
take tens of years for getting and gaining energy using alternative
methods.

Platform souls
New plans for King’s Cross in London show the massive scale of the venture.
And the smart money – including that of New York art tycoon Larry Gagosian –
is already moving in. By Jonathan Glancey
Monday June 7, 2004
The Guardian
,11710,1232857,00.html
The hype surrounding the opening of the Gagosian Gallery in King’s Cross,
London, has been so great and the plaudits have been so glittering that I
expected to find something very special indeed. Not, perhaps, a riposte to
the Bilbao Guggenheim by Frank Gehry but a landmark building; an artistic
adventure.
The Gagosian Gallery proves to be a modest creation, housed in a former
garage in Britannia Street, a rats’ alley smelling of diesel and urine,
scuttling across the Metropolitan and Circle underground lines as they
rattle between Farringdon and King’s Cross-St Pancras. Behind the gaunt
facade, Larry Gagosian’s architects, Caruso St John, best known for their
New Art Gallery, in Walsall, which opened in 2000, have opened up bright,
cavernous, concrete-floored, top-lit white spaces. These are particularly
refined white spaces; they have something of a religious air about them, not
least because on a weekday afternoon this private gallery is as quiet as an
abandoned city church. A security guard sits like a piece of isolated
artwork by the locked door, while bright young things potter about at a vast
reception desk faced with important catalogues. A solitary, studious looking
fellow surveys the brown and white Cy Twombly abstracts, which hang from the
spotless white walls with a degree of respect owed to icons and statues
elsewhere.
None of this is a criticism of this new London art space, which is one of
the best of its kind since Charles Saatchi’s original gallery in St John’s
Wood, designed by the late Max Gordon. Caruso St John are among our most
thoughtful architects, as careful with the process of building as they are
with design. And, yet, for all its graceful substance, the gallery has
something of a temporary air about it. Should the top end of the art market
take a tumble between now and the completion of the Eurostar terminal at St
Pancras in 2007, it would make a particularly fine restaurant, office or
nightclub.
The area will certainly want these as its redevelopment gathers pace over
the next five years. Seedy for decades, King’s Cross is fast-becoming a
blue-chip investment for property developers. Quite how the promethean
building works promised here will pan out is anyone’s guess. For every
impressive new civil engineering achievement, there will be routine chain
stores; for every art gallery, a fast-food joint. Expect, in time-honoured
English tradition, a mix of the sublime and the banal: the Gormenghast glory
of St Pancras raised to fresh, pinnacled heights as Eurostar trains snake in
and out on their three-mile-a-minute race to and from Paris with its cafes,
restaurants, shops and art galleries. Penny-plain King’s Cross station
stripped of 1970s tat. Both stations are attended by millions of square feet
of gleaming new offices, some 1,800 flats, dozens of shops, washed and
brushed public spaces, three new footbridges over the Regent’s Canal,
restored historic buildings and, so the developers say, more art galleries.
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This leviathan plan, announced last week, for the 67-acre area north of the
Gagosian Gallery, has been prepared by a property consortium comprising
Argent St George, Exel, London and Continental Railways. Allies and
Morrison, immaculate Moderns, and Demetri Porphyrios, the most convincing of
the Prince of Wales’s school of classicists, have been appointed architects
in charge of a development that, in scale at least, matches the heroic urban
projects that shaped Victorian London. The £2bn project will take at least
15 years to complete. It may yet be rejected by the mayor of London, who
will surely find its tallest 19-storey towers too modest and its plan not
sufficiently dedicated to the concerns of big business. It may yet be called
in for public inquiry by the government, and either held up, heavily edited
or abandoned while lawyers rack up prodigious fees.
Whatever the process – the rise and fall of commercial and professional
reputations, the jaw-dropping fees, the performance bonuses, pension
top-ups, the gongs awarded and brown envelopes exchanged – King’s Cross will
surely be redeveloped on a titanic scale within the next 10 and 20 years.
The dodgy young men, working-class street-walkers and middle-class
kerb-crawlers will move on, along with the purveyors of kebabs, tattoos and
grubby mags. Spick and span corporate offices, big-brand shops, chain cafes
and relentless street furniture interspersed with well-meant public art will
take their place.
Architects of the calibre of Allies and Morrison and Demetri Porphyrios will
do their best to raise the standards of St Pancras but they cannot hope to
control the quality of the tenants who will flock here in coming years.
There will be something like 30,000 new jobs here, while millions of
passengers travelling to and from London and the Continent, and looking for
diversion, will mill around King’s Cross. A committed few might waft down
New Britannia Street to pick up a canvas by Cy Twombly or a pickled lamb by
Damien Hirst.
Gagosian, however, ought to know what most people will want. This sharp,
silver-haired Armenian-American, nicknamed “Go-Go”, began making money in
Santa Monica in the 1970s. “I would buy prints for $2-$3, put them in
aluminium frames and sell them for $15,” says the Donald Trump of the art
world. If Gagosian likes art, he likes nothing better than closing deals. He
opened a small gallery behind Regent Street a few years ago, also a
conversion by Caruso St John, before homing in on King’s Cross, which offers
an optimum deal: a place to show big, headline-stealing artworks – tens of
tons of Serra – in a handsome setting in the sort of grubby street that
makes the art world trill with excitement, while making a quiet future
killing on the property market.
Gagosian likes art, and knows that this, with all its high society
connections, brings kudos, glamour and outlandishly big bucks. Should you
happen to be a wheeler-dealer who builds a fashionable gallery showing
fashionable artists in one of the most fashionable up-and-coming parts of
London, how can you possibly go wrong?
Gagosian’s gung-ho, yet outwardly, highly refined, venture into the London
art world and King’s Cross is, perhaps, to be preferred to the
run-of-the-mill development that could take place here if we fail to keep a
sharp eye on the area and the hugely ambitious “masterplans” dreamed up by
one developer after the other over the past 15 years. No one should doubt
that the real artwork here is the arrival of the high-speed Eurostar line.
This, like the Midland Railway’s grand Gothic entry into St Pancras some 140
years ago, will change the face of the surrounding area, including Britannia
Street, for ever.

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
May 28, 2004 Friday
THE QUIZ
1. Which US president once opened a nationally televised address
with: ‘Mah fellow Armenians’?
2. What nationality is the owner of the Paris Ritz?
3. Who played Dr Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park?
4. Where is the pituitary gland?
5. Which river forms the border between Mexico and Texas?
6. In 1966, which country did The Beatles vow never to return to?
7. Name the hit from Rocky ll.
8. Who was the last England captain to regain the Ashes?
9. What is a narwhal?
10. Why was chocolate so named?
DID YOU KNOW?
Australians throw out 5.7 million plastic bags every day!
ANSWERS
1. Ronald Reagan; 2. Egyptian; 3. Laura Dern; 4. Under the brain; 5.
The Rio Grande; 6. The United States; 7. Eye of the Tiger by
Survivor; 8. David Gower 1985; 9. An Arctic whale; 10. Aztec
Tchocolatl

Mayor Joe the Turk
By RYAN HEINZ, Eagle Staff Writer
Macomb Eagle, IL
May 28 2004
Here at the Macomb Eagle, we get no shortage from week to week of
proclamations from the mayor’s office. At any given time, our fax
machine could be clogged with notifications that this is in fact
“Administrative Professionals Day,” “Humming Bird Appreciation Week” or
“Wear a Hawaiian Shirt to Work Month.” Now don’t get us wrong, we could
hardly get by without our administrative professional, we think humming
birds are neat and we would love to wear a Hawaiian-style uniform
for a month, but some of these proclamations can get a little unusual.
Then there was last week in which we received notification that it was
Salvation Army Week. That didn’t seem too out of the ordinary, but a
release from the Salvation Army titled “The Saga of ‘Joe the Turk'”
did get our attention. Essentially, the release was a mini-biography on
one of the Salvation Army’s most colorful, real-life characters, Joe
the Turk – a mustachioed man with a penchant for “flaming red, baggy
zouave trousers,” fezzes and Jesus. Throughout the one-page report
on Joe it chronicled his life, including his rise up in the ranks of
the Salvation Army and his many run-ins with the law for disturbing
the peace. And then there was Joe’s stint in our very own Macomb.
The release read: “After rescuing a local Salvation Army officer from
a lynch mob in Green Bay, Wis., Joe the Turk made his way to Macomb,
Ill. in September 1892 where he succeeded in driving out the mayor
of the town, said to be a desperado from Texas who had taken over
the town, and himself became the acting mayor. He then appointed the
Salvation Army Corps officer as chief of police and for six weeks
Macomb was the only town in the world run by the Salvation Army.”
It sounded like a “Spaghetti Western” or at the very least a good
premise for a silent film (just imagine Charlie Chaplin as Joe the Turk
running around Macomb in a shoddy black and white film with a tinkering
piano as the accompanying soundtrack). But while the plot would appear
to be a bit outlandish, was there actually a little bit of truth to it?
“Zero,” said noted local historian John Hallwas. “We must understand
that folklore – that is things that never really took place – are
still common today. But they were even more common a century ago.”
And then there is Maj. Florence Moffitt’s take on the story of Joe
the Turk’s encounter with Macomb. As director of the Salvation Army’s
Midwest Regional Museum in Des Plaines, she agreed that there were
some holes in the story. Still, she believed the bulk of it to be true.
“The story is true that (Joe the Turk) was the mayor of Macomb,”
Moffitt said. “It’s disputed how long. Some people say three weeks,
some people say six weeks, but he did used to carry a sign around
with him that said ‘Ex-mayor of Macomb, Ill.'”
Since there is little evidence in the way of what actually did happen
when Joe the Turk was in Macomb, the only thing to do is give both
sides the whole saga and let the reader decide for themselves. Here
today we’ll give the Salvation Army’s angle with the second scenario
in the next issue of the Macomb Eagle.
Joe the Turk takes down a desperado mayor
Much of the great Joe the Turk epic was collected in March 3 and
24 (1934) issues of The War Cry – an official publication of the
Salvation Army. In an article by Adjutant William G. Harris, Joe
the Turk’s Macomb saga is thoroughly explored, as are several other
classic stories about this eccentric man’s life. In fact, he was such
a unique individual that Harris almost immediately pointed out in his
article that, “Joe has the color of the East, the showmanship of the
West, the passion of the Latins, the fervency of the colored folk,
the determination of the Scot, the pertinacity of the Norseman and
the enthusiasm of the Irish.”
Or as Moffitt put it, Joe was simply “a very colorful personality.”
“He made up his own uniforms; he didn’t always follow the regulations
as far as the military uniform is concerned,” she said. “I mean,
he used to wear pantaloons, bright-colored stuff and he wore a fez
on his head. Well, now that’s not exactly Salvation Army attire.”
Joe the Turk was born Nishan Der Garabedian in Tallas, Turkey in
1860. However, he was actually not Turkish, but instead Armenian. He
later went by the name Joseph Garabed, although he was widely known
simply as Joe the Turk.
Joe was a spiritual boy growing up, but he was not always a Salvation
Army devotee. Instead, he went on to become a noteworthy shoemaker,
practicing his trade out of Turkey’s capital of Constantinople.
Unfortunately, his great success as a shoemaker was short-lived thanks
to the Russo-Turkish War, during which time he lost everything. Joe
then went on to Russia for a brief time to start all over again,
but soon decided to move to America after receiving word from his
brother that there was a great deal of opportunity there.
It was on his trip to America that Joe first encountered the Salvation
Army during a stopoff in Liverpool, England. Despite not knowing any
English, Harris wrote that Joe was greatly awed by their meetings. But
upon joining his brother’s side in Worcester, Mass., he delved deeply
into drink and smoke during his 13-month stay. He would later again
feel the calling of the Salvation Army when he relocated to San
Francisco. From there he became a full-fledged member, eventually
gave up his bad habits (including his indulgence in some occasional
fisticuffs) and gave his heart over to God. Moffitt said at this
point in his life, Joe learned to channel his rugged, thuggish ways
into becoming “a very aggressive evangelist.”
“He used to have a stamp that he carried that said ‘Jesus Saves,’ and
when he was put in jail he used to stamp the walls, ‘Jesus Saves,’
‘Jesus Saves,'” she added. “When he went into peoples’ houses, he
even stamped it on the bed linens and stuff like that. That didn’t
always go over well.”
Prior to making his way to Macomb, Joe was often arrested and sometimes
jailed for disturbing the peace. This had less to do with him throwing
his hefty six-foot, 250-pound frame around than it did for him playing
music instruments in the streets as he preached the word of God.
According to Harris’ article, Joe received no warm welcoming when
showing up in Macomb. As a result, the Salvationist asked to see the
mayor, who is not favorably described by Harris.
“The mayor proved to be a desperado who years before in the days of
local option, when the town had declared itself dry, invaded it with
a band of his Texas henchmen. The invaders were all heavily armed,
easily captured control of the place and soon had the town under their
thumb,” he wrote. “The mayor opened a big saloon and ran it himself
and managed to retain power by the simple expedient of not allowing
elections and resisting by brute force every attempt to oust him.”
Enter Joe the Turk, who apparently was able to successfully overthrow
the corrupt mayor. Harris’ article stated that Joe ordered a band of
“local Salvationist forces” to the local jail one night “to cheer
up their commanding officers (who had been jailed earlier) with song
and testimony.” The crowd was then met with by the mayor who was so
furious that he assaulted the sergeant-major and then attempted to
shoot him with a firearm, although the gun did not go off.
Joe, upon hearing this, quickly moved to confront the mayor and soon
made every effort to oust him from his post. This included going to
the three local papers and writing a daily column “denouncing the
conditions of the day.” Eventually, the people of Macomb came together
for “a great parade and rally” that was so intimidating to the mayor
that he and his thugs “cleared out of town.”
Joe then declared himself mayor and appointed as police chief one of
the Salvation Army officers, which essentially meant the Salvation
Army was in charge of the town. This went on for a matter of about
five to six weeks before Joe endorsed an editor of one of the town
papers as a suitable replacement. Of the replacement, Harris wrote,
“(Joe’s) suggestion was received with great cheering, the motion
being carried unanimously.”
;DO=display&ID=1085697092_24419

EBRD to double financing for Armenia in 2005
Interfax
May 20 2004
Yerevan. (Interfax) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development plans to allocate loans of 20 million euros to Armenia
in 2005, compared to expected loans of 10 million – 12 million euros
in 2004, EBRD President Jean Lemierre said at a press conference
in Yerevan.
Three years ago, the EBRD was not allocating loans to Armenia and
in 2003 it disbursed just 6 million euros. The money disbursed in
2003 was spent on developing the private sector and expanding export
opportunities.
The EBRD loans allocated in 2004 will go to buying shares and into
long-term financing (5-7 years at commercial interest rates).
Priority areas for financing in 2005 will be the mining industry,
energy, agriculture product processing, trade, tourism, hi-technology
and services, especially mortgage financing.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
May 18 2004
PARLIAMENT SPEAKERS OF SOUTH CAUCASUS: FURTHER EUROPEAN INTEGRATION A
STIMULATING FACTOR FOR THE REGION
[May 18, 2004, 15:58:00]
“Further European integration is a stimulating factor for the South
Caucasus,” the Speakers of the Parliaments of Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Georgia said at the end of a meeting organised by Assembly President
Peter Schieder on the margins of a Parliamentary Summit bringing
together more than 60 Speakers of Parliament from 17 to 19 May in
Strasbourg.
They stressed that “parliamentarians have an important role to play
in developing regional cooperation and creating an atmosphere of
confidence in the South Caucasus”.
The Speakers welcomed the readiness of the Parliamentary Assembly to
develop concrete cooperation programmes with different groups of
society with a view to promoting contacts in the region and assisting
the implementation of democratic reforms.
The Assembly President and the Speakers will pursue contacts in order
to work on concrete proposals for cooperation to be discussed by the
parliamentary delegations of the three countries during the
Assembly’s October session. In this framework, the Secretary General
of the Assembly will visit Baku, Tbilisi, and Yerevan at the
beginning of July.

CENN – MAY 14, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. We Welcome You to Become a Member of the “Caucasus Environment Society”
2. Bolnisi Public Environmental Information Centre
3. Kazakhstan Oil To Be Transported Through BTC MEP
4. 5 Armenian NGO To Receive $40,000 in Grants from World Band and SOROS
Foundation
5. ATDA Launches New, State-of-the-Art Website
6. Covering Environmental Issues
7. An Israeli Expert in the Remote Village of Aygut
8. UNDP Launches the Community Week Advocacy Initiative with Events in
Remote Areas of Armenia
9. 23 Million Euros Needed for Upgrading Abovian Gas Storehouse
10. Armenian premier says Ukraine may join gas pipeline project
11. Yerevan invites Kyiv to Iran-Armenia pipeline tender
12. Romania and Armenia Foster Cooperation in Education and Science
13. Conference on Armenian Architecture in Brussels
14. Russia, Armenia and South Africa to Set up Diamond Venture
15. Russia and Armenia Consider Opportunities to Boost Cooperation
16. World Bank Corruption May Top $100 Bln
1. WE WELCOME YOU TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE “CAUCASUS
ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY”
Became a member of the “Caucasus Environment Society” and you will enjoy the
full range of our
services. You will receive free of charge our magazine “Caucasus
Environment”, get free legal and
environmental consultancy, free access to CENN databases, maps, resources,
etc.
All membership fees support the CENN magazine’s mission of expanding
environmental knowledge
on the Caucasus and are considered as charitable contribution to the
production of the regional
magazine.
We welcome you to become a Member of the “Caucasus Environment Society” by
registering
online:
Annual membership fee for Caucasus citizens/organizations $19, for
international members – $39.
Shipment cost included.
For the more detailed information please contact CENN.
2. BOLNISI PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CENTRE
On May 12, 2004 was held the meeting in the Public Environmental Information
Centre of Bolnisi in
the framework of the DAI — Development Alternatives, Inc. project Water
Resources Management
in the South Caucasus.
The final seminar was organized for the local activists from the different
NGOs about River Basin
Management. The River Ktsia Basin Counsil Statement project and the Training
Plan for the River
Ktsia Basin Counsil members were considered with the active support of DIA
officers. According to
the most optimistic evaluations the River Ktsia Basin Counsil will be
created before the end of this
month.
Prepared By Malkhaz Inadze, CENN
3. KAZAKHSTAN OIL TO BE TRANSPORTED THROUGH BTC MEP
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag, May
12, 2004
Transportation of Kazakh oil will be realized via main export
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Jurists
and experts have already prepared relevant documents.
Final meeting with Kazakhstan side will be held in May 2004 and prepared
inter-governmental
agreement, stated the President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Natig
Aliyev.
Signing of bilateral agreement is due in Baku.
4. 5 ARMENIAN NGO TO RECEIVE $40,000 IN GRANTS FROM WORLD BANK AND
SOROS FOUNDATION
Source: ArmenPress, May 12 2004
Five Armenian non-governmental organizations will receive a total of $40,000
in grants from the
World Bank and the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) in 2004 as part
of World Bank’s
Small Grants Program. The relevant agreements were signed today. The program
was started six
years ago and two years ago the Soros Foundation joined it.
Naira Melkumian, a senior official of the World Bank Yerevan office, said
the main goal of the
program is to help resolve the most pressing problems of the vulnerable
segment of the population
“or at least to outline ways for their resolution.”
Larisa Alaverdian from the Armenian branch of the Soros Foundation said the
five organizations
were selected from a pool of 115 applicants. She said the Bank and the
Foundation would continue
to support the implementation of the program.
One of the organizations, Atur, of Assyrians, living in Armenia, will use
the grant for publication of
2,000 copies of a book in their mother tongue. The other organization,
called Millennium, will publish
a book of seven successful stories of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan who
settled in Armenia’s
rural regions. The stories then will be used for shooting a documentary.
5. ATDA LAUNCHES NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART WEBSITE
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Armenian Tourism Development Agency /ATDA/
3 Nalbandian St., Yerevan 3675010, RA
Tel.: (+3741) 54 23 03, 54 23 06
Fax: (+3741) 54 47 92
Email: [email protected]
Date: May 12, 2004
Armenian Tourism Development Agency (ATDA) Launches New, State-of-the-Art
Website
The Armenian Tourism Development Agency (ATDA) launched an impressive new
website
showcasing Armenia’s tourist attractions, cultural
treasures, national parks, art
galleries and all the resources necessary to make any trip to Armenia a
comfortable, pleasant and
memorable time for all.
ATDA’s and TIB’s /Technology into Business/ staff of professionals – with
indispensable funding
from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and
unparalleled technical
support from the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) – has created
a site that has merged
“high tech” interface with “high art” aesthetics, utilizing both ancient and
modern Armenian motifs.
>>From interactive maps of cultural landmarks to a comprehensive and easily
accessible database of
tour agents, hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and so much more, the ATDA
site has become the
web’s one- stop, on-line, Armenian tourism venue.
Much like ATDA’s now famous ARMENIAInformation Visitor Information Center,
at 3
Nalbandyan Street in the heart of Yerevan, the new ATDA website is a
virtual, full service concierge
facility and an expansive compendium of useful information and resources –
whether that be for
travelers and tourists or history lovers and the arts literati.
Sections are thoughtfully organized with easy access navigation bars;
graphics and photos are vibrant
and compelling; maps are easy to read and truly interactive, providing
details on any given point in
Armenia with the click of the mouse.
Background information and helpful travel hints are available at every turn;
shopping and recreation
sites are explored side by side with cultural centers, museums, concert
halls and art galleries;
Armenia’s vast array of architectural monuments and sacred sites are finally
presented in such a way
that travel planning is almost as fun as the actual visit.
The site is also exceptional in that it provides a constantly updated
calendar of weekly events, which
is available online and can be e-mailed to you every week once you
subscribe.
The ATDA has really provided interested travelers and tourism industry
professionals – no matter
their point of origin – a place on the web to fulfill, as well as provide
for every type of Armenian
tourism and travel need.
Do not hesitate, go to now.
For more information on ATDA and its activities, please visit us at 3
Nalbandyan Street or contact at
(+3741) 542303/6.
6. COVERING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Source: International Journalist’s Network, May 11, 2004
Covering Environmental Issues
May 17, 2004 – May 21, 2004
The Caucasus Media Institute (CMI) with support of the U.S. Embassy and the
UN Environmental
Program organizes workshop in Yerevan, Armenia. The workshop is aimed at
improving journalists’
coverage of environmental news. British and local specialists will conduct
the training in Armenian
and English for 12 journalists.
The CMI Web site:
7. AN ISRAELI EXPERT IN THE REMOTE VILLAGE OF AYGUT
Armenia Tree Project
Yerevan 375025, Aygestan 9th Str., #6
Tel./Fax (374 1) 569910
Internet:
E-mail: [email protected]
Press Release
May 11, 2004
May 9, 2004 – Armenia Tree Project (ATP) and Satsil NGO organized a seminar
on potato growing
in Aygut Village, Gegharkounik Marz. The seminar was conducted by Mr. Gadi
Moses, an Israeli
expert in potato growing technologies representing ECOTEX Ltd. Mr. Moses
visited Armenia as a
guest of Satsil NGO in framework of an agricultural consulting assistance
project in the South
Caucasus conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture.
Since 2002 ATP has been implementing a Village Economic Development program
in the Getik
River valley where Aygut is situated. In this program of sustainable
mountainous development, ATP
partners with the villagers and with other international and local
organizations to combat the linked
problems of poverty and natural resource degradation. Among the contributors
to date are
USDA/MAP, World Food Program, Heifer International, Project Harmony, ORRAN,
Boghosian
Education Center, and Satsil.
The seminar started with an overview of potato growing techniques employed
by Aygut farmers,
most of who fled from Azerbaijan as refugees fifteen years ago. After
learning about the problems
villagers are currently facing in potato growing, Mr. Moses presented
practical solutions to them and
shared the Israeli farmers’ experience. The presentation lasted for over
three hours. “You have the
best soil in the world: with a bit of learning you could multiply your
yield”, Mr. Moses encouraged the
listeners. With consulting experience in almost 40 countries around the
world, Mr. Moses managed
to enter into a dialogue with the villagers and assess their problems in a
very practical way. The
topics covered at the seminar included fertilizers used in potato growing,
planting techniques (optimal
distance between seed nests, planting depth, density, etc.). The community
members were active in
asking questions, particularly addressing maximizing yield and problems
connected with different
species of potatoes.
For further information, please contact Karen Sarkavagyan at the Armenia
Tree Project
Phone: 569910, 553069
E-mail [email protected]
The Armenia Tree Project was founded in 1994 during Armenia’s darkest and
coldest years with the
vision of securing Armenia’s future by protecting Armenia’s environment.
Funded by contributions
from Diasporan Armenians, ATP has planted and rejuvenated over 500,000 trees
at more than 450
sites ranging from Gumri to Goris.
8. UNDP LAUNCHES THE COMMUNITY WEEK ADVOCACY INITIATIVE WITH
EVENTS IN REMOTE AREAS OF ARMENIA
Source: ArmenPress, May 11, 2004
Today, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the United Nations
Development Programme
(UNDP) officially started the Community Week advocacy initiative with two
major events in
Tavoush, one of the most remote regions of Armenia. The events were attended
by the Governor of
Tavoush, four deputy ministers from the Ministries of Territorial
Administration, Agriculture, Nature
Protection, Trade and Economic Development and the UN Resident
Coordinator/UNDP Resident
Representative. The events included the inauguration of the fully
rehabilitated secondary school in
Voskepar village and the creation of a Village Development Foundation in
Koty community.
In the framework of UNDP’s Community Development Project, the secondary
school in Voskepar
has been fully renovated, including installation of a new heating system.
The Armenian Social
Investment Fund (ASIF) and the Governor’s office have provided the school
with new furniture and
materials and the local community has provided a seven percent in-kind
contribution to the project.
In Koty village, UNDP’s Agricultural and Rural Development Coordination
Unit, together with the
Ministry of Agriculture, have facilitated the development of a Koty
Community Strategy
Development Plan for 2004-2008. A working group representing all main social
groups in the local
population has worked to develop a comprehensive plan aimed at addressing
various problems in the
community. To ensure the successful implementation of the Plan, Koty is
establishing a Community
Development Foundation. The Foundation will be formed by donations from
community members,
former Koty villagers and international organizations.
According to Ms. Grande: “UNDP is committed to supporting communities
throughout the country.
We recognize that the country’s strength is its communities and that through
partnerships we can and
should help communities help themselves. The inauguration of Voskepar school
and the launching of
the Koty Village Development Foundation are wonderful events to mark the
beginning of Community
Week, an advocacy initiative of UNDP Armenia and the Ministry of Territorial
Administration aimed
at raising public awareness about ongoing legislative and other reforms
affecting communities and
contributing to discussions on community-related issues.”
Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr. Vache Terteryan, noted:
“The Government of
Armenia has adopted an approach to delegate more authority to our
communities in order to make
them more viable in the long run. Currently, most of the communities are in
need of considerable
assistance especially in terms of quality and accessibility of social and
health services and education.
In this respect, we are grateful for UNDP’s attention and ongoing support to
our efforts aimed at
community development, and we are confident that our successful cooperation
will continue in
future.”
Background: UNDP cooperation to date in the area of community and rural
development in Tavoush
region amounts around USD 750,000. Three schools and eight primary
healthcare facilities have
been rehabilitated by UNDP. In addition, UNDP supports the Tavoush Farmers
Association, which
provides technical support and various services to approximately 1,000 rural
households in seven
communities.
9. 23 MILLION EUROS NEEDED FOR UPGRADING ABOVIAN GAS STOREHOUSE
Source: ArmenPress, May 13, 2004
A 23 million euros worth project for upgrading an underground natural gas
storehouse in the town of
Abovian, some 20 off the capital Yerevan, developed by HayRusGazArd company,
the sole supplier
of Russian gas to Armenia, was praised highly by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) and participants of a round table, held on the sidelines
of a ministerial meeting
of INOGATE program.
Edward Nersisian, head of HayRusGazArd’s department for external relations,
told Armenpress the
underground storehouse is of key importance for Armenia in terms of its safe
gas supply and energy
independence and “is no less important than the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
the construction of which
is supposed to start later this year.
The upgraded storehouse will be able to store some 200 million cubic meters
of gas, while today it
can contain only 80 million. In case of securing the necessary funds the
upgrading will be over in 2-3
years. Nersisian said a mobile station for quick repair of breaks on the
pipeline is expected to come
to Armenia as part of INOGATE’s 2004 program.
10. ARMENIAN PREMIER SAYS UKRAINE MAY JOIN GAS PIPELINE PROJECT
Source: Era, Kiev, May 11,2004
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan is paying a visit to Ukraine. He
met his Ukrainian
counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, today. In particular, the parties noted that
both countries had
tremendous potential for developing bilateral trade.
The Armenian prime minister also stated that Ukraine could take part in
bidding for the construction
of a gas pipeline to Iran. He noted, however, that a technical and economic
feasibility study of the
project was still being prepared, so details of the possible participation
of Ukrainian companies in
building the pipeline had not been discussed yet.
11. YEREVAN INVITES KYIV TO IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE TENDER
Source: Interfax, May 12, 2004
Armenia is inviting Ukraine to bid in a tender for the building of an
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline,
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan announced at a joint press
conference with his
Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday in the Ukrainian capital.
Margaryan said this was one of the main topics discussed by the
Armenian-Ukrainian commission for
trade and economic relations on Tuesday.
He noted that his country and Iran are engaged in technical consultations,
after which will be
discussions of financial details and then the announcement of the
construction tender.
“We are confident Ukraine will take part in it,” Margaryan said.
As reported earlier, a final agreement on building the gas pipeline is
expected to be signed in late
May during a visit to Yerevan by Irani Oil and Gas Minister Bijan Zanganeh.
The actual construction is slated to begin late this year and be completed
sometime in 2006.
According to documents signed earlier, the Iran-Armenia pipeline will run
141 kilometers, 100 km in
Iran and 41 km in Armenia. The project price tag is estimated at $120
million. Plans are for Armenia
to receive 700 million cubic meters of gas per year via the pipeline
initially, up to 1.5 billion cubic
meters later on. Armenia will pay for the Irani gas with electricity at 3
kilowatt/hours per cubic meter
of gas.
Building this pipeline has been a discussion subject since 1992. Aside from
the main project players,
Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, China and some European Union countries have
shown interest. The
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced its
readiness to be part
of the project financing.
12. ROMANIA AND ARMENIA FOSTER COOPERATION IN EDUCATION AND
SCIENCE
Source: ArmenPress, May 11, 2004
An Armenian delegation headed by minister of education and science was in
Romania recently.
Education and science ministry press services reported that the visit aimed
to discuss cooperation
projects with Romanian education and scientific research ministry to ensure
implementation of a 1999
agreement between Armenian and Romanian governments.
During the working meetings the sides discussed ways of fostering
cooperation. Particularly it was
proposed to open a department of Armenian Studies at Bucharest State
University and a department
of Rumanian studies at the Yerevan Linguistic University.
Further it was arranged to foster student and research exchange program.
Romanian government
took the responsibility to support the Armenian school in Bucharest. The
sides signed a
memorandum that they will later develop into an agreement.
13. CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN ARCHITECTURE IN BRUSSELS
PRESS RELEASE
REF: PR/04/05/011
Assembly of Armenians of Europe
Rue de Treves 10, 1050 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 647 08 01
Fax: +32 2 647 02 00
Brussels, 13/05/04 – On May 7th 2004 at the CIVA (Centre International pour
la Ville,
l’Architecture et le paysage) in Brussels, the Assembly of Armenians of
Europe organized a
conference dedicated to Armenian Medieval Architecture. Mr. Bernard Coulie
(orientalist, rector of
the Catholic University of Louvain,), Mr. Sarkis Shahinian (co-chairman of
the Swiss Armenian
Association, researcher at the EFP, Zuirch) and Mr. Patrick Donabedian (PhD
in the history of fine
arts and fellow worker at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France)
contributed to the conference, to
which architects, members of the cultural units of the European Commission
as well as students and
professors were invited. The idea behind inviting the latter group was to
introduce European
specialists and academics to Armenian cultural heritage, emphasize its role
in world heritage and
reveal the unknown traditions of Armenian Architecture.
At the opening of the conference Mr. Bernard Coulie expressed his
condolences to the Belgian
Armenian Community on the occasion
of the decease of Arbak Mkhitarian, famous Egyptologist,
armenologist-orientalist and active
member of the Armenian community.
Mr. Bernard Coulie gave the audience insights into Armenian history, culture
and Christianity, which
became the integral part of the Armenian identity, while Mr. Sarkis
Shahinian presented in detail the
architecture of Armenian Churches in the Middle Ages and revealed the
connection between the
Armenian pagan and Medial Christian cultures, as well as presented a glance
to Modern Armenian
architecture, in particular the urbanism of Yerevan, capital of the Republic
of Armenia.
Mr. Patrick Donabedian elaborated on the subject of ‘khatchkars’, cross
stones, in which the
Armenian valley is abundant. This conference came to highlight the fact that
the majority of those
Armenian monuments concerned are in the territory of Turkey and are in
danger of disappearance.
Moreover, none of the mentioned monuments are under the protection of
UNESCO.
The conference was followed by the photo exhibition on Armenia by the French
photographer
Wojtek Buss. It was in Armenia that Wojtek Buss discovered his vocation of
photographer and
some years later he returned there in order to realize his dream. His book
publish in Paris in 1998
was entitled “Armenia, Splendour of a secret country”. His wonderful photos
of Armenian
monasteries, churches and landscapes bear witness to the love, mysticism and
courage of Armenians.
14. RUSSIA, ARMENIA AND SOUTH AFRICA TO SET UP DIAMOND VENTURE
Source: RusData Dialine – BizEkon News, May 12, 2004
Russia, Armenia and South Africa are negotiating to set up a joint venture
to mine and polish
diamonds.
Russia, Armenia and South Africa are negotiating to set up a joint venture
to mine and cut diamonds.
The venture will offer the full range of services – from mining proper
through to the marketing of
finished jewelry articles. Armenia is sixth in the world in terms of diamond
polishing. In 2003, its
cutting factories turned out about USD 250 million worth of polished stones.
Experts have recently
been forecasting increased demand for and rising prices of diamonds. In
Russia, the first auction this
year to sell diamonds weighing from 10.8 carats up on the domestic market,
to be held May 18, has
already received bids from 50 Russian processing plants. Novye Izvestia
recalls that Botswana tops
the world’s diamond production league – 32% of all diamonds valued at USD
2.3 billion. It is
followed by Russia, with 22% of world output worth USD 1.6 billion. Third is
Canada, followed by
South Africa and Angola. Russia and South Africa are the main suppliers of
gem-quality diamonds.
15. RUSSIA AND ARMENIA CONSIDER OPPORTUNITIES TO BOOST COOPERATION
Source: ITAR-TASS News Agency, May 11, 2004
Russia and Armenia consider opportunities to boost cooperation, Russian
Foreign Ministry
spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on Tuesday.
Two-way trade increased by almost 35 percent last year. At the present time,
Moscow and Yerevan
exchange views regarding the prospects for implementing the property-
against-debt agreement, as
well as interaction in the sphere of energy and investments, Yakovenko said.
The parties attach an important significance to the solution of transport
problems, in particular by
resuming the railroad service between Russia and Armenia through Georgia.
Special attention is paid to the coordination of efforts aimed at
normalizing the situation in the
Caucasus, and the opening of the potential of multi-lateral cooperation,
including within the
framework of the Caucasian Four.”
This includes the prevention of new conflicts and the settlement of old ones
such as in Nagrony
Karabakh, Yakovenko said.
He said interaction within the frameworks of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS), the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Eurasian Economic
Community where
Armenia received the status of observer, was an important sphere of
cooperation between the two
countries.
“Russia and Armenia are resolved to make task-oriented moves in the fight
against terrorism,” the
diplomat said, adding that “the political interaction in the sphere of
anti-terrorist fight is strengthened
by effective practical cooperation between secret services.”
16. WORLD BANK CORRUPTION MAY TOP $100 BLN
Corrupt use of World Bank (news – web sites) funds may exceed $100 billion
and while the
institution has moved to combat the problem, more
Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record), an Indiana Republican,
charged “in its starkest terms,
corruption has cost the lives of uncounted individuals contending with
poverty and disease.”
He commended World Bank President James Wolfensohn for bringing greater
attention to the issue,
but said, “Corruption remains a serious problem.”
Lugar opened a hearing on corruption at the multilateral development banks,
the first public
examination in an ongoing Senate investigation.
He cited experts who calculated that between $26 billion and $130 billion of
the money lent by the
World Bank for development projects since 1946 has been misused. In 2003,
the bank distributed
$18.5 billion in developing countries.
Jeffrey Winters, an associate professor at Northwestern University, said his
research suggested
corruption wasted about $100 billion of World Bank funds, and when other
multilateral development
banks are included, the total rises to about $200 billion.
Damian Milverton, a bank spokesman, later disputed the $100 billion
estimate, insisting it had “no
basis in fact.”
“We completely reject the figure offered by one of the panelists as an
estimate of funding from the
World Bank that might have been misused,” Milverton told Reuters.
Winters testified that the World Bank’s anti-corruption effort was having
“minimal effects” and the
banks should all focus on supervising and auditing their lending.
“The lion’s share of the theft of development funds occurs in the
implementation of projects and the
use of loan funds by client governments,” he said.
Like other United Nations (news – web sites) agencies, World Bank rules
prevent staff from
testifying in public so Wolfensohn was not at the hearing. But senior bank
officials on Monday
privately briefed lawmakers on its anti-corruption efforts, a bank spokesman
said.
Carole Brookins, the U.S. executive director on the World Bank board,
defended the bank saying it
was leading efforts to fight corruption, but acknowledged, “there is more
that could be done to
strengthen the system.”
More than 180 companies and individuals have been blacklisted from doing
business with the World
Bank and their names and penalties posted on the bank’s public Web site.
Between July 2003 and March 2004, it said it referred 18 cases of fraud or
corruption to national
justice authorities based on investigations by its anti-corruption unit.
Specific bank projects under review by the committee include the Yacyreta
dam on the
Argentina-Paraguay border, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and projects
in Cambodia.
Hector Morales, acting U.S. executive director to the Inter-American
Development Bank, testified
that his institution recently accelerated anti-corruption efforts “but still
has much work to do.”
The More you Know, The Less Gold Glows
Visit for more information
Payal Sampat
International Campaign Director
Earthworks (formerly Mineral Policy Center)
Phone: 202-887-1872 x.210
Email: [email protected]
Website:

Ilkham Aliyev is determinate to return Karabakh
Bby Maksim Yusin
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
May 14, 2004 Friday
SOURCE: Izvestia, No 83, p.1
Azeri president threatens Armenia with war
The Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev speaking Wednesday at the
opening ceremony of a military garrison said that his country is
determinate to reclaim the province of Nagorny Karabakh, a disputed
territory now controlled by Armenia.
Aliyev said that “the Azeri people and its army can at any moment
take steps to restore the territorial integrity of the country.
International law gives us right to do it. Azerbaijan will strive to
resolve the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh through negotiations. But
if we see that any further dialogue brings no results, we will liberate
the occupied territories at all costs.”
The Azeri president made his harsh statement on May 12 – the tenth
anniversary of the ceasefire between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in
Nagorny Karabakh, therefore his words are to be taken most seriously.
Yet, Izvestia writes that neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia need a new
war, and the peace negotiations, however difficult they might be,
will probably continue.

FM STRESSES CONFLICT AFTERMATH
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 13, 2004
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is visiting Strasbourg to attend the
114th session of the Council of Europe (CE) Ministerial Committee. In a
meeting with the CE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer on Wednesday,
Mammadyarov elaborated on the work underway towards solving the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Garabagh.
The Foreign Ministry told AssA-Irada that in a meeting with the CE
Ministerial Committee’s Ago monitoring group, Mammadyarov spoke of
the efforts Azerbaijan has taken to fulfill its commitments to the
CE as well as of prospects for settling the Upper Garabagh conflict.
Addressing the session, Mammadyarov spoke of the outstanding political
issues and the reformation of the European Court for Human Rights
(ECHR). He said that the CE plays a crucial role in promoting the
undivided Europe and stated Azerbaijan’s position on the issue.
Mammadyarov noted that the Upper Garabagh conflict had caused serious
hurdles in the development of the South Caucasus region and emphasized
the initiatives taken by Azerbaijan to solve these problems. On the
first day of the session, a statement on long-term productivity of the
ECHR and the 14th protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights
were adopted. Later in the day, foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and
Armenia met at the CE Office in France. The meeting was also attended
by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Nakhchivan Airport Is Due To Open
Baku Today
11/05/2004
Azerbaijan State Airlines Concern will hold opening ceremony for
Nakhchivan airport tomorrow. The airport has been under reconstruction
for almost year and half. The reconstruction was scheduled to end
by the end of 2003. The construction work has covered about 350,000
square meters.
Nakhchivan airport stands solely for transport communication
of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan with the rest
of Azerbaijan. Nakhchivan has been in blockade following Karabakh
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Airlines Concern was to announce about the opening of the airport
earlier. Yet the concern’s officials said, they had to postpone a
ceremony because of bad weather conditions.
President Ilham Aliyev is expected to attend the opening ceremony
in Nakhchivan.