Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Ukraine signs WTO protocol with El Salvador
Interfax-Ukraine news agency
25 May 05
KIEV
Ukraine and El Salvador have signed a bilateral protocol on access to
the markets of commodities and services in the framework of the
negotiations on Ukrainian entry to the World Trade Organization.
The protocol was signed in Geneva on 24 May by Ukrainian Deputy
Economics and European Integration Minister Andriy Bereznyy and El
Salvador’s permanent representative at the WTO, the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry’s press service said. This completed the bilateral talks on
Ukraine’s entry to the WTO.
The Foreign Ministry said that El Salvador was the 31st WTO member
country from the working group looking into Ukraine’s application to
join the WTO, with which Ukraine signed a protocol completing
bilateral talks on access to the markets of commodities and services.
Currently the Ukrainian delegation actively continues bilateral talks
with 17 WTO member countries, the Foreign Ministry said. These are the
USA, Australia, Japan, China, Armenia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia,
Colombia, Croatia, Peru, Panama, Norway, El Salvador, Egypt, Island
and Taiwan. Ukraine’s bilateral talks on WTO entry with the
delegations of China, Japan, Norway, Peru, Colombia and Island are at
the final stages.
As is known, it is planned to complete the talks on Ukrainian
accession to the WTO by the end of this year, according to the
government’s action plan.

Pan Armenian News
JAVAKHETIA RESIDENTS SHOULD NOT TAKE WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE AS
TRAGEDY
24.05.2005 07:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the course of its today’s sitting the Council of
Armenian NGOs of Samtskhe-Javakhetia touched upon the issue of withdrawal of
the Russian military bases from Akhalkalaki, reported A-Info news agency.
The Council arrived at a conclusion that `the Javakhetia population has to
take the fact that has taken place with understanding, as the decision over
the issue depends on the positions of the Russian and Georgian authorities.
Though the military base in Akhalkalaki facilitated the solution of some
economic problems and was a guarantee of physical security in the
psychological respect, Javakhetia residents should not take the withdrawal
of the bases as a tragedy. Even if the Georgian state cannot secure the
Javakhetia population, one can rely on the international community and
international laws in this issue.’ It should be reminded that talks over the
specification of the time of withdrawal of Russian military bases are close
to completion in Tbilisi. Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Merab Antadze
represents the Georgian party at the talks, while the Russian one is
presented by Igor Savolsky, an Ambassador for Special Commissions. The
Russian party plans to withdraw the bases within 2008, while the Georgian
party – before January 1, 2008.

Azeri, Turkish leaders discuss ties, regional situation
Turan news agency
24 May 05
Baku, 24 May: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today met his Turkish
counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer who has come to Baku to attend the
opening ceremony of the Azerbaijani section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
(BTC) oil pipeline on 25 May.
During their meeting, the sides discussed bilateral relations and the
situation in the region.
Sezer reaffirmed Ankara’s support for Azerbaijan in the issue of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

ALL MONUMENT-BUILDINGS WILL BE PRESERVED WHEN DEVELOPING MAIN AVENUE
IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, MAY 23. ARMINFO. Within the coming month, Yerevan
Municipality intends to finally determine the plan of development of
the buildings in Yerevan streets Amiryan, Byuzand and Zakyan. Head of
the Department for Town Planning and Architecture of Yerevan
Municipality, Chief Architect of Yerevan Samvel Danielyan informed
journalists at a briefing today. He said that the above street were
included in the Main Avenue. Except land development, underground
development is planned there, and a relevant model has already been
agreed on with construction companies. Danielyan said that the
Department intends to develop the quarter Kond, wherein 2-5 floor
buildings will be constructed. Denielyan said that the main avenue
also embraces the 30th quarter (Firdusi street) and the territory
nearing Yerevan Cathedral of St. Grigor Lusavorich. In the center of
the 30th quarter leisure and public facilities will be built, and
dwelling houses on the perimeter. Underground urbanization will be
there and exits to Oval Park.
As regards the buildings included in the list of monuments, Danielyan
said they will be preserved. Besides, the Municipality intends to
place all the mobile historical monuments in a single territory. The
place is not specified.
To note, under the project developed by Chief Architect of Yerevan
Alexander Tamanyan in the 1930s, the Main Avenue starts from the
section of Khanjyan street near the Monument for Vardan Mamikonyan to
the street leading to the old quarters of Kond and Children Railway.

Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
May 23 2005
Economy of scale
By Helen Greenwood
May 24, 2005
Fish shops may come and go but one fresh thinker, Fisherman’s Fresh,
keeps minting ideas.
Fisherman’s Fresh
SHOP 144, WESTFIELD BURWOOD. TEL: 97456606.
Open Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm (Thu 9pm), Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm.
Best buys: Atlantic salmon steaks, above, $20.99/kg; green large
prawns $24.99/kg; small snapper $14.99/kg.
Mourad Arotin, known as Mac, extols the virtues of fish as he stands
in front of the long, brightly lit counter of his shop.
“You can eat as much as you like and it’s good for you – as long as
it’s not polluted,” he begins.
“How many things can you say that about? And look at the variety. How
many varieties of beef or chicken can you get at the butcher? I’d
need a month to eat each one here in my shop. And there are so many
ways to cook it.”
He stops to take breath and it occurs to me that Arotin, an Armenian
who came to Australia in 1976, is a novelty. In Sydney, there aren’t
many fish retailers from Armenia – it’s a landlocked country, after
all.
Arotin, however, is as passionate about seafood as only a late convert
can be. He started in 1999 with a shop in Bankstown, then bought this
one in Burwood in 2000.
He began his working life as an electronics engineer who went into IT
and ended up managing a subsidiary of a US company in Dubai for six
years. When he returned to Australia, he could not rustle up a
similar, high-level job despite nearly 20 years’ experience. “My age
was against me and I was only in my early 40s,” he says.
So he looked around for a business he could franchise and came up
with the idea of fish. “Nobody at that time was franchising seafood,”
he says.
He has since learnt why: it’s hard to find franchisees who can handle
such a perishable product. He persisted for four years, then sold the
Bankstown shop in 2003 to the Di Costi chain.
He kept this shop because he loves fish. He no longer does the
filleting himself or goes to the markets but he prowls around the
display like a tiger.
At one end of the counter are the whole specimens – snapper, rainbow
trout and silver bream – favoured by Asian customers, who make up
about 50 per cent of his clientele.
There is barbounia, fancied by the Greeks and Italians; red spot
whiting, sought by the Lebanese; and the universal leatherjacket.
Prawns sell well here, both green and cooked. So do salmon steaks and
salmon sushi, as do the fillets from sea perch to ling.
He has slimy and spanish mackerel, mullet and redfish, local mussels
and blue swimmer crabs, nanato and local calamari. An old bloke gets
some squid then asks for more.
Arotin serves shoppers of habit but he likes to try new things
himself. “When I get something new, I act as though I know nothing
about fish. I throw it on the barbecue and if it comes up well, I
know it’s fail-safe and will sell.”
His next idea is to rev up the deep-fryer and cook gourmet fish and
chips. Gourmet seafood could be his new franchise venture.

The Jamestown Foundation
Thursday, May 12, 2005 — Volume 2, Issue 93
Eurasia Daily Monitor
CIS SUMMIT: DECORATIVE, YET ACRIMONIOUS
by Vladimir Socor
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the presidents of nine other CIS member
countries attended an informal CIS summit on May 8 in Moscow, as part of
Russia’s anniversary celebrations of victory in the Second World War.
Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan
stayed away from the summit: Saakashvili did so because of Russian
stonewalling on an agreement (or presidential joint declaration) on the
withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia. Aliev stayed away because the CIS
summit’s date coincided with that of the 1993 capture of the Azeri-inhabited
town of Shusha in Karabakh by Armenian forces.
In an inauspicious curtain-raiser for the summit, Russian Security Council
Secretary Igor Ivanov publicly described the recent political changes in
Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan as “coups” (perevoroty), whereby power
changed hands in “unconstitutional” ways, with “violations of basic
democratic principles” (Strategiya Rossii, May 2005, cited by Interfax, May
5). Belarusan president Alexander Lukashenka, who is on record as sharing
that assessment, remarked sarcastically that this CIS summit, “the first
since those notorious events, will acquaint us with somebody or other ” —
i.e., the new presidents of Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. As regards the absent
Georgian president, Lukashenka termed him “too immature to understand the
essence” of the Moscow anniversary (Interfax, May 8).
Responding to Ivanov, a statement by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
pointed out that Ukraine’s Constitutional Court and Parliament had
invalidated the fraudulent returns of the presidential election runoff and
ordered a repeat runoff, the conduct and result of which was validated by
democratic countries and international organizations (Interfax-Ukraine, May
7). Kyiv’s statement stopped short of mentioning that the Russian-led CIS
election monitoring mission had blessed the fraudulent returns and disputed
the internationally-validated ones.
Commenting on this CIS summit — the first he attended as president of
Ukraine — Viktor Yushchenko pointed out that the organization was “of
little use” to anyone (AP, May 9) and that the “CIS is history.” The
organization, he observed, lacked a project that could become the basis for
economic cooperation. Summing up Ukraine’s familiar position, Yushchenko
noted that only a Free Trade Zone, devoid of political connotations, can
begin to lay the foundation for cooperation within the CIS (Ukrainian TV
Channel Five, May 8).
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin termed the CIS in its present form a
mere “discussion club.” Moldova, he told Russian state radio, has
irreversibly chosen the European orientation as its top priority. The
country values its “historically constituted” relations with Russia, but the
relations are adversely affected by Russia’s support for the Tiraspol
secessionist regime, Voronin pointed out. He referred to the GUAM summit,
recently held in Chisinau, as an indicator of the common European
orientation of that group’s participant countries (Radio Mayak, May 8, cited
by Moldpres, May 9).
Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia, Armen Smbatian, described the CIS in the
run-up to the summit as “a transitional organization, gradually descending
into history, making room for direct bilateral relations among member
states” (PanArmenian News, April 30). His statement reflects Armenia’s
traditional policy (predating the CIS’ eclipse) of shunning multilateral CIS
undertakings and emphasizing instead its purely bilateral ties with Russia.
Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov, who very rarely attends CIS summits,
made an exception in this case to honor the memory of his father, who was
killed in the Second World War. While in Moscow, Niyazov joined Yushchenko
to finalize a Ukrainian-Turkmen proposal regarding a tripartite consortium
with Russia on the transport of Turkmen natural gas. Putin took delivery of
the document during the summit for early consideration (Interfax, May 8).
Kyrgyz Acting President Kurmanbek Bakyiev used the occasion to solicit
Russian assistance in overhauling Soviet-era industrial enterprises, idle
for more than a decade in Kyrgyzstan. Bakyiev proposed transferring such
enterprises to Russian ownership in lieu of repayment of Kyrgyz debts to
Russia. Putin seemed open to the proposal, citing the 2002 Russia-Armenia
agreements on debt-for-property swaps as a model for to be followed in
Kyrgyzstan’s case (Interfax, May 8).
It was Uzbek President Islam Karimov who publicly offered the most scathing
assessment, both retrospective and current, of the CIS: “cooperation in name
only,” “shallow ideas,” “all sorts of cooperation organizations that have
been set up during more than 10 years, these ill-thought games that have
today brought a major crisis to the CIS. … This time, too, the [Moscow]
meeting is likely to fail to resolve any serious issues” (Uzbek Television
Channel One, May 8).
Indeed the only result of this summit turned out to be a declaration of
intent to “consider the possibility” of adopting an agreement on
humanitarian cooperation at a follow-up CIS summit (Interfax, May 8).
–Vladimir Socor

AZG Armenian Daily #092, 21/05/2005
Armenian Genocide
BELGIAN SOCIALISTS HAVE ANTI-ARMENIAN POSITION
Soon, the Senate of Belgium is going to discuss the bill that envisages
criminal punishment for denying genocides. The point is that the bill
concerns only de jure recognized genocides. We have already mentioned
that the bill can be applied against the deniers of the Armenian
Genocide only when certain amendments are made to the document.
It is envisaged to discuss the amendments that envisage criminal
punishment for other instances, particularly, for the Belgian
federal legal bodies and the legal instances of Europe that denied
the recognized genocides.
According to the information sent to the Justice and Democracy
Federation of European Armenians, the socialist party of Belgium
has occupied an openly negative position. Trying to approve their
anti-Armenian position, the socialists state that they are against
the submitted amendments, as “one shouldn’t include such an important
idea as genocide into a criminal text.”
The socialists cynically conclude that it will be possible to apply
the current bill for “the Armenian Genocide too, when it will be
recognized by a relevant instance.”
The Justice and Democracy Federation of European Armenians believes
that this position of the Socialistic party is directly dictated by the
Turkish state, that continues the policy of denying and disregarding
the Armenian Genocide.
“In fact, the socialists are mocking at the Belgian instances and,
in particular, the Senate, equaling to zero the bills that they adopt
there,” the Federation of the European Armenians emphasized, condemning
the position of the Socialist Party that denies its own past.
The current position of the Socialists is conditioned by only
pre-electoral factors and is aimed to please thousands of Turks that
live in Brussels. The Federation calls for the legal enforcement
organizations, the Center for Equal Rights, the activists of Socialist
movement, the genocide victims’ organizations, in particular, the
Jewish, Armenian and other unions to demand from the Socialist Party
to apologize and occupy a position that keeps in line with European
values.
By Petros Keshishian

Blogcritics.org (satire)
May 20 2005
Hotel Rwanda
Posted by Richard Williams on May 20, 2005 12:35 PM (See all posts by
Richard Williams)
Hotel Rwanda
DVD from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date: 12 April, 2005
Movies like this leave my mind reeling with questions. Not just
the usual ones brought on by the horror of mankind’s actions, those
questions made pointedly by bodies on the road as far as he can see,
speedbumps on a ‘cleared road’ (cleared of the living). How could
anyone do this, to be so consumed by hatred or anger that the normal
restraints are completely absent.
Or the big questions like what makes people so different in their
response to horror that some risk their lives repeatedly to help while
others give in to what looks like mass hysteria and hack up their
neighbors? And of course the personalization of that question in:
given the same situation how would i react?
We have seen the main pieces over and over again since the British
concentration camps for the Boer women and children in 1899, the
Armenia genocide with its thousands perishing in the desert or lost in
harem sexual exploitation for a lifetime. The destruction of Yugoslavia
in an orgasm of violence, rape hotels and the eventual partitioning of
history and geography back 50 years. It has happened so many times,
in so many places that we get emotional callouses over our hearts to
protect us from the immediate horror of it all. But the survivors,
they will never heal, will never have the luxury of developing a
hard heart to the evils of mankind. They will never close their eyes
without reliving the nightmare.
But after all these questions have settled down to a dull aching roar,
i am left with the idea that to honor, to remember these dead is to
strive to keep it from happening again. To understand how such things
erupt in our midst, to think about the warning signs and to struggle
to push the powers that rule to build strike forces or international
police forces or what ever it takes so that this evil leaves our midst
forever. The radio in the background, urging violence, dehumanizing
“The Other” into cockroaches, making great divisions where there were
little to none before (nose width???) certainly is significant. Mob
violence, herd mentality explains part, but what about that man on the
radio, or more importantly the few leaders behind the masks of evil,
who are they and how did society create them. And more importantly,
how do we keep trash thought from rising to the surface of society
and causing this? I see the same kind of racism, the same kind of
demonization of others, of the cockroachizition in the decline of
dialogue into nothing more than utter polarization and namecalling
around me.
As a Christian i worry that the Church which is to be the warning
voice against hidden evil, to be that prophetic voice that is
heard over the screams of victims and the shouted commands of the
evildoers does not seem to be awake and watching over the walls
of our civilization as it ought to be. I am glad to see churches
looked upon as places of refuge and doubly horrified when that refuge
turns into a cemetary when no one cares from outside, and God Himself
doesn’t seem to intervene to protect the innocent within the walls of
His house of worship. The glib answer that they are in heaven today
waiting their confrontation with their killers seems little comfort,
i wonder how the survivors handle what looks like betrayal not just
by their countrymen but from their God to whom they prayed in their
last hours of absolute madness. Can we who only have read books or
seen movies understand this? No, their stories of faith after the
storm are hidden, at least from my view. The stories of faith need
to be heard and motivate other Christians to help. but it seems that
the rich American church is not just silent but deaf and blind as well.
That brings up the complicity of the West, not just in the remnants
of a colonization that drew national boundaries that divided tribal
loyalities, that created Hutu and Tutsi, that left an economy based
more on exploitation of natural resources for the use of the west and
the personal wealth of a few indigenous military and/or political
rulers in control, then any democratic sharing for the use of all
citizens. More than a failure of nerve, of a long lasting deeply
embedded racism that divides black from white nuns and saves only the
european from the horror. But of a legacy of mentality, or a worldview
of exploitation, of the use of others for your own personal gain. For
this is the great intellectual evil leftover from colonization, now
the colonizers are black and speak the same language and act just
like the British or Belgium or French or ? that left, for when the
West left Africa it left behind ideas and a nucleus of people that
pursued policies that created the conditions ripe for exploitation
by demogues intent on becoming the next wave of internal colonizers,
the wolves feeding upon the fatten calf for themselves.
i am sorry. but even if i were to speak out for the unnumbered dead,
there appears to be no one listening to their cries at the moment
of their deaths, why should my voice matter, when compared to their
sacrifice? besides it appears that only God hears their cries.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation;

Crimea rallies on deportation anniversary
SYMFEROPIL. May 18 (Interfax) – An all-Crimean rally commemorating
the 61st anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Tatars, Armenians,
Bulgarians, Greeks and Germans was held in the central square of
Symferopil on Wednesday.
According to some estimates, up to 20,000 people took part in the
rally. Many of them carried posters demanding the observation of the
rights of Crimean Tatars and the adoption of a law on the status of
the Crimean Tatar people.
Speaker of the Crimean parliament Boris Deich, Crimean Prime Minister
Anatoly Matviyenko and members of the Ukrainian national parliament
attended the rally.

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
May 14 2005
World leader of Armenian meets with President Khatami
Tehran, May 15, IRNA
The Leader of world Armenians Jasliq Aram I met with President
Mohammad Khatami here on Saturday.
Presidential press affairs office reported that President Khatami
referred to current world situation and the needs of mankind for
prosperity and security.
Today, the world needs men of peace, pioneers of unity, solidarity
and religious co-existence as well as supporters of morality and
spirituality, he said.
Khatami said the followers of different religions in Iran have always
lived together peacefully and expressed satisfaction on presence of
Armenian youths in the field of culture, sport and social affairs of
the country.
Referring to hidden hands to stir disturbances in Lebanon, the
president praised the role of religious and ethnic leaders in
preventing crisis in that country saying “Lebanese should prove to
the world that are able to safeguard stability and security in their
country.”
Concerning the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh region, Khatami
said Iran’s stance is to rely on negotiation, and urging of peaceful
means between the parties to the conflict.
He further emphasized that the issue must not be considered as a
conflict between Muslim and Christians adding “territorial problem
can be solved through discussions and logic.”
The leader of world Armenian, for his part, expressed satisfaction of
revisiting the president and representatives of Iranian Armenians in
the Majlis.
He expressed happiness on peaceful co-existence of different
followers of religions in Iran and describing it as being among the
cherished values of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Jasliq Aram I said, religions are in danger and the followers of the
faiths must emphasize dialogue to strengthen the religion’s role in
human life.