Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Lynn News, UK
Oct 15 2005
Murder victim was murder suspect
A man who was shot and stabbed at a Lynn factory before his body was
doused with petrol and set alight belonged to the mafia and was
suspected of a murder in Belgium, a court heard this week.
Hovanhannes Amirian had been butchered in the medical room at Cooper
Roller Bearings factory in Wisbech Road, South Lynn.
His burning body was found dumped in a field in Upton, near
Peterborough, and it took detectives almost a year to identify him.
A former security officer at the factory, Nishan Bakunts (28), and
his father-in-law, Misha Chatsjatrjan (44) allegedly killed the
42-year-old Armenian over a “family quarrel”.
Mr Amirian, who was Bakunts’ godfather, had been staying at Bakunts’
Yarmouth home with his partner Arpine Karapetian (24) and their two
children for several months.
The murder is alleged to have happened between December 19 and 20,
2002, while the factory was closing down for Christmas.
Bakunts and Chatsjatrjan then sought to destroy evidence linking them
to the crime, Norwich Crown Court has heard.
A statement read to the jury by the prosecution on Wednesday revealed
that Mr Amirian was wanted for questioning about the murder of
Pogosian Ernait, who was killed on November 30, 2000, at Ostend in
Belgium.
Belgium police suspected Mr Amirian and he was described as “a
self-confessed mafia man”.
Clare Matthews, junior barrister to David Farrell QC, prosecuting,
said: “It was known that he was involved in organised crime”.
The jury also heard from Bakunts’ sister Lucinne Karepetian who said
Chatsjatrjan had confessed to her that he put eight bullets into Mr
Amirian’s head.
She said he told how Mr Amirian had fallen to his knees and pleaded
“don’t kill me, I have children”.
On Tuesday, the court heard from Vanessa Armstrong, who is a
secretary at Coopers. She had recognised a scorched piece of memo
found next to Mr Amirian’s burning body.
The memo, containing the names Armstrong and Talbot, turned out to be
a health check appointment addressed to factory employee, Paul
Talbot, which had been left in the medical room at Coopers three days
before the body was found.
Detectives had targeted 2,099 people with those name in a mailshot
between August and September, 2003, and it was a “major breakthrough
in the investigation” when Miss Armstrong contacted police – linking
the murder to Coopers.
She told the court: “I recognised the memo immediately, because it is
something I do fortnightly. It was quite clearly my writing and my
memo.”
She said Mr Talbot had attended the medical room on December 18, and
the factory closed for Christmas on December 20 and didn’t re-open
until the New Year.
The jury heard Bakunts was in charge of security on the night of the
murder, and Miss Armstrong said he would have had keys to the medical
room and showers. Forensic officers discovered traces of Mr Amirian’s
blood on the couch and walls.
Bakunts, of Litchfield Road, Yarmouth, and Chatsjatrjan, of The
Straat, The Netherlands, deny murder.
The trial continues.
14 October 2005
;ArticleID=1222827

YEREVAN TO HOST RCC GATHERING
Armenpress
Oct 14 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS: Top officials from 12 CIS member
countries dealing with communication issues will gather in Yerevan
for a two-day 34-th meeting of the Regional Communication Cooperation
(RCC), slated for October 19-20 and also for the 8-th meeting of the
RCC coordinating committee.
Armenian transport and communication ministry said the gathering
will be attended also by representatives of a dozen of influential
international communications organizations. The RCC was founded
in 1991 to help CIS member countries’ cooperation in the areas of
communications and postal services.
It has 12 full members and 6 observers

PRIME MINISTER MEETS EBRD DIRECTORS
Armenpress
Oct 14 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Andranik Margarian
met today directors from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, who are in Armenia, after visiting Georgia, to learn
more about the state of reforms and transition in the region as the
Bank prepares its new two-year strategy for Armenia, due before the
end of 2005.
Both Georgia and Armenia participate in the Bank’s 2004 Early
Transition Countries (ETC) initiative, which aims to stimulate
market activity in the Bank’s seven lowest-income countries of
operations by using a streamlined approach to financing more and
smaller projects. Armenian government press office said EBRD directors
praised the government for its persisting efforts as a result of which
the economy continues to perform encouragingly in 2005, recording a
growth rate of 11.7 per cent in the first eight months of the year,
in line with the average of the past four years.
They also said the EBRD is considering a variety of new equity
investments and cooperation with Armenia’s strengthening banking sector
to bring more financing to smaller businesses and stressed the key
importance of establishment of a friendly business environment. Total
EBRD investment in Armenia was Euro 32.1 million in May 2005

ERDB TO DEVELOP COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA
Pan Armenian
14.10.2005 20:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan met today
directors from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
who are in Armenia, after visiting Georgia, to learn more about the
state of reforms and transition in the region as the Bank prepares its
new two-year strategy for Armenia, due before the end of 2005. To
note, Armenia participates in the Bank’s 2004 Early Transition
Countries (ETC) initiative, which aims to stimulate market activity
in the Bank’s seven lowest-income countries of operations by using a
streamlined approach to financing more and smaller projects. Armenian
government press office said EBRD directors praised the government for
its persisting efforts as a result of which the economy continues to
perform encouragingly in 2005, recording a growth rate of 11.7% in the
first eight months of the year, in line with the average of the past
four years. They also said the EBRD is considering a variety of new
equity investments and cooperation with Armenia’s strengthening banking
sector to bring more financing to smaller businesses and stressed
the key importance of establishment of a friendly business environment.

EVENT TO BENEFIT EVACUEES
By Alyssa Fry The Shorthorn staff
The Shorthorn, TX
Oct 14 2005
The Music Department will hold free concert, but donations will be
taken for Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity.
In an effort to raise more money for hurricane evacuees, the Music
Department will present a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in
Irons Recital Hall.
The event is free, but donations will be accepted. Half the proceeds
will be given to the Red Cross and half will go to Habitat for
Humanity.
Jeffrey Howard, visiting violin assistant professor, initiated the idea
of the performance to the department. He said he wanted to do something
to help because the impact of the recent hurricanes was so great.
“It’s important for the Music Department to have a response and to
do our best to support the people who have lost everything,” he said.
Another reason for wanting to help evacuees was his wife, he said.
Anna Soukiassian, who will perform at the benefit, survived a severe
earthquake in 1998 in her hometown of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
The earthquake hit while she was practicing the piano in the apartment
where she lived with her mother. After seeing the reflection of her
closet door open up behind her, she stood up, but fell to the floor.
“I sat in the window, and people were running out [of the apartment
building],” she said. “It lasted a good two minutes.”
The town of Spitlak, about two hours from where she lived, was where
the earthquake’s epicenter was located.
“The whole town was underground,” Soukiassian said. “There was nobody
to rescue. It was very tragic, I’m sure thousands died.”
This experience is the driving force behind her participation in this
concert, aside from supporting her husband, she said.
“I’ve been through and seen a lot of damages from natural disasters,”
she said. “And I know hurricanes are another kind of natural disaster,
but I have heard stories that remind me of the earthquake.
I am doing this without hesitation.”
Associate professor Elizabeth Morrow will also perform in the
concert. The last part of the performance, the “Adagio for Strings,”
was chosen because it’s very expressive, she said.
“We had to look for a piece that looked at the contemplative side
when we’re confronted with things that humble us,” she said.
Music, she said, is something the department can share with the public
while helping evacuees.
“It’s an opportunity to share our relationship with music which is
a personal thing,” she said. “And with this concert we share this
relationship on a public level.”

USAID TO HELP HEALTH MINISTRY TO DEVELOP EFFICIENT MEDICINES MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE
Armenpress
Oct 13 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS: The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) will help Armenian health ministry
to implement an efficient medicines management project.
As part of the project an extensive study will be carried out to learn
the real extent of medication demand, which, according to deputy health
minister Tatoul Hakobian, may differ substantially from the amount of
medicines imported by local companies. The study will be carried out
based on a range of peculiarities, such as life expectancy, death
rate and other indices and only then a new procedure of efficient
medicines management will be developed. The project will be launched
in 2005 and run into 2007.

HEBREW UNIVERSITY ARMENIAN FACULTY ATTEND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
AZG Armenian Daily #184
13/10/2005
Jerusalem – From 7-9 September, over 60 scholars of Armenian Studies
gathered in Vitoria, Spain for the Tenth General Conference of the
Association Internationale des Etudes Armeniennes (AIEA). AIEA, which
was founded in 1980 by Professor Michael Stone of the Hebrew University
and Professor J.J.S. Weitenberg of Leiden University in Holland, is
an organization of scholars of Armenian Studies, with its centre in
Europe. The suggestion to found the organization was made by Dr. Nira
Stone. Professor Michael Stone is Honourary Life President of AIEA.
The meeting was attended by scholars from all over Europe, America,
Armenia and the Middle East. From the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Dr. Sergio La Porta, Professor Michael Stone and doctoral student
Mikayel Arakelian all presented lectures, while Dr. Nira Stone also
participated. They met there Hebrew University Armenian Studies PhD
graduate, Professor Peter Cowe of UCLA, and former Armenian Studies
student Pablo Trojiano who teaches at the Compultensian University
in Madrid. Former visiting researcher Prof. Theo van Lint, Gulbenkian
Professor of Armenian at Oxford University also joined in the Hebrew
University reunion.
All the Armenian Studies faculty from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem’s Armenian Studies program were there and they all brought
home new and stimulating ideas. They were able to discuss matters
with colleagues, and as a result new directions of cooperative work
are emerging and will soon be announced. The lectures of the Hebrew
University team were enthusiastically received and garnered very
positive reactions.
Professor Stone devoted his lecture to his recently completed
translation of the medieval Armenian epic poem about Adam and
Eve, written by Arakel of Siunik at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. The poem, a complex composition of quite startling beauty,
contains over 5,500 lines of poetry, which Professor Stone translated
into English poetry. It is presently being considered for publication.
Quite different, but equally stimulating, Dr. Sergio La Porta presented
a paper on “The Earliest Armenian Scholia on the Works Attributed to
Dionysius the Areopagite.” Dr. La Porta reported on his most recent
progress in the preparation of an edition and translation of the
Armenian commentary on this highly influential work. He proposed a new
date for the composition of the comments as well as challenging their
modern attributions. In addition to providing a linguistic analysis
of the scholia, Dr. La Porta posited the locus of their production
and the context in which they were composed.
Mikayel Arakelian described in detail the catalogue he has prepared of
illuminated late medieval Armenian manuscripts in Germany. This very
thorough work will make known several hundred unknown or little known
manuscripts, describing their character, context and particularly
their artistic character. Mikayel is writing his doctoral thesis on
the Armenian art of New Julfa.
The Armenian Studies program at the Hebrew University was established
in 1966. It offers BA, MA and PhD degrees. For further information
contact Prof. Michael E. Stone ([email protected]) or Dr. Sergio
La Porta ([email protected]). The Jerusalem Armenian StudiesWeb
Site is:

RA PRESIDENT NOTED ROLE OF GREECE IN ARMENIA-NATO AND ARMENIA-EU RELATIONS
Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 13:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian met today with
newly appointed Geek Ambassador to RA Panayota Mavromichali, who handed
him her credenials, RA leader’s press service reported. Congratulating
the diplomat on the appointment the RA President noted the role of
Greece in the development of bilateral relations and in cooperation
with the NATO and EU.
As for the Armenia-EU relations the parties emphasized the importance
of elaborating the action plan within the New Neighborhood Policy. They
also marked upcoming Robert Kocharian’s visit to Greece as a stimulus
for the Armenian-Greek development.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS PREFER EUROPE
A1+
| 12:05:40 | 10-10-2005 | Social |
Last week the poll question of the internet site “A1+” was “In your
opinion, what line should be a priority of the Armenian foreign
policy?”. 392 citizens participated in the poll. The final results
are as follows: {BR
Relations with the EU – 34.2%
Relations with the U.S. – 32.9%
RA should pursue complementary policy – 20.4%
Relations with Russia – 10.7
Undecided – 1.8%
This week the poll question will be “What do you think the result of
the Constitutional Referendum will be?”. As always, we expect your
active participation in the poll.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

San Gabriel Valley Tribune, CA
Whittier Daily News, CA
Oct 8 2005
Armenian pontiff to visit memorial
By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer

MONTEBELLO — Area Armenians were anxiously awaiting the arrival
today of the spiritual leader of one of the Armenian Apostolic
Church’s two branches, who will visit the city’s memorial to Armenian
genocide victims.
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, will
conduct a brief religious ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Monument,
which commemorates the estimated 1.5 million Armenians believed to
have been massacred by the Turkish government in 1915.
“This is an occasion that does not come often, the tremendous
opportunity to see him and meet him,” said Zanku Armenian, spokesman
for the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America,
the church’s administrative body for the Western United States, which
is hosting today’s event.
The local visit at 10 a.m. in Bicknell Park is one of many stops in
the pontiff’s 15-day visit to California to mark the 90th anniversary
of the mass killings.
“It will be such an important event for me,” said Knar Kortoshian, a
member of the Western Prelacy. “It is our Catholicos paying his
respect to our martyrs’ monument and speaking on our rights as human
beings.”
The pontiff’s historic trip is focused on the theme of “Toward the
Light of Knowledge.” Aram I serves as the moderator for the World
Council of Churches, an organization representing more than 400
million Christians worldwide.
After visiting Montebello, he is scheduled to participate in a number
of religious ceremonies, education programs and youth forums in Los
Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco.
His holiness was elected in 1995 as head of the Great House of
Cilicia, the diaspora branch of the church, based in Lebanon.
During his many years of service, he has assumed important
responsibilities in the Armenian Catholiscosate of Cilicia, as well
as the worldwide ecumenical movement.