Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Turkish ambassador to France says religion behind Turkey’s trouble joining EU

AP Worldstream
Oct 11, 2004

Turkey’s ambassador to France said in an interview published Monday
that his country’s would have “no problem” joining the European Union
if it were Christian and that its Muslim heritage is the real issue
behind the current debate.

“The real motive for this reticence, especially in France, is
religion,” Uluc Ozulker told the daily Le Parisien. “If Turkey were
Christian, there would be no problem. But, voila, we are a Muslim
country.”

The ambassador noted that Turkey is a secular state and has been for
more than eight decades since the nation’s founding father, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, instituted reforms.

Ozulker spoke as debate rose in France over Turkey’s eventual
membership in the European Union, which currently counts 25 members.

President Jacques Chirac reiterated on Sunday that “it is the French
people who will have the last word,” a reference to his plan for
France to hold a referendum on the subject. That could be a potentially
fatal blow to Turkey’s aspirations since EU members must unanimously
approve any nation’s application for membership.

Chirac supports Turkey’s membership but thinks it will take up to 15
years for it to join.

The French parliament is to debate the issue before the EU summit
Dec. 17 when leaders are to finalize an initial approval of membership
talks.

Ozulker said Europe “is not a Christian enclave” and Turkey’s joining
the EU “will not denature Europe” despite its some 70 million-strong
population.

“We share the same democratic values as the 25,” he said, adding that
Turkey is already part of the customs union.

Turkey has carried out some needed reforms such as abolishing the
death penalty and cutting back the power of the military in politics.

Asked if Turkey would recognize the Armenian genocide, the ambassador
said that it has yet to be proven.

“It’s up to international and impartial historians to meet and decide,”
he said. “We will accept the results of their work.”

Exxon Abandons Flagship Azeri Well

Reuters
October 4, 2004

BAKU (Reuters) – U.S. oil major ExxonMobil’s hopes of a big oil strike
on its flagship Azeri offshore field faded on Monday after it said it
had shut down the first ultradeep well there after failing to find
commercial deposits.

“We discovered that the first well on Zafar-Mashal does not contain
commercial hydrocarbon reserves and we decided to shut it down,” Exxon’s
spokeswoman Leila Rzakuliyeva told Reuters.

“It’s premature to talk about drilling new wells on the field,” she added.

At 7,087 meters, the well was the deepest in the Caspian and Azeri
geologists have said it was the most expensive too, costing Exxon more
than $100 million.

The results of drilling on the Zafar-Mashal field had been expected to
give a big clue as to whether the Caspian country’s shelf contained more
significant reserves or whether its potential has been overestimated.

Exxon’s block is currently the only active new exploration project on
the Azeri shelf, despite the existence of over 20 production-sharing
agreements between Baku and multinationals.

The Azeri oil boom was fueled by the “contract of the century,” when a
BP-led group agreed 10 years ago to develop three mammoth offshore
fields, known as Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), set to become a major
source of crude for a pipeline to Turkey.

Oil will start flowing next year with shipments gradually rising to over
one million barrels per day.

The confirmation of ACG’s reserves prompted many experts and Azeri
officials to forecast further multi-billion barrel discoveries. But
investors have found only one big offshore gas field in the past decade,
Shakh-Deniz, while a number of projects were shut down after having
failed to strike oil.

Many investors have postponed tapping their blocks, partly due to the
scarcity of drilling equipment on the land-locked sea. Further gas
discoveries will also raise questions about the import capacity of the
only potentially attractive neighboring market, Turkey.

Exxon leads the $3 billion Zafar-Mashal (Victory Torch) project with a
30 percent interest. State Azeri firm SOCAR holds 50 percent and U.S.
ConocoPhillips owns the remaining 20 percent. The block is 100 km (62.14
miles) offshore from Baku.

Exxon is involved in four Azeri projects and has already invested around
$1.5 billion.

One of the projects is a 50/50 PSA with SOCAR on the neighboring
Nakhichevan field, where the first well discovered only gas several
years ago.

Zafar-Mashal is the only Azeri block which was supposed to produce major
exploration news this year.

After having completed drilling on Zafar-Mashal, Exxon will send a
$250-million newly-built Lider platform to Russian oil major LUKOIL,
which will operate it closer to the Russian border, with exploration
expected to last at least six months.

Two small explosions damage stores in Russian city

AP Worldstream
Oct 04, 2004

Two small explosions damaged stores overnight in the city of
Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, regional police said Monday. No
one was injured.

The explosions went off about 30 minutes apart outside two Italian
clothes shops located about two kilometers (one mile) from each other,
said the press service of Yekaterinburg’s regional Interior Ministry.

Russia’s NTV television broadcast footage of broken glass and damaged
storefronts, and said the explosive devices contained about 200 grams
(seven ounces) of TNT.

The stores were both privately owned by different people in the city,
about 1,500 kilometers (935 miles) east of Moscow, Ekho Moskvy radio
said.

Regional police said the explosions appeared to be linked to a dispute
between rival criminal gangs made up of ethnic Russians and people
from the ex-Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus
mountains. But members of the Armenian Diaspora denied any involvement
and called the explosion an attempt to whip up interethnic tension.

Russian media said investigators were on the scene and that all
possible motives were being considered.

Criminal and commercial disputes in Russia have often led to bombings,
arson attacks and even killings.

Armenia nuclear power plant re-launched

TASS
October 4, 2004 Monday

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

The Armenian nuclear power plant has been successfully re-launched
after 65 days of overhaul and replacement of fuel.

The plant’s reactor has been started overnight, the director-general
of the plant, Gagik Markosyan, told Itar-Tass on Monday. Tuning
operations and physical experiments are being carried out.

The plant will join Armenia’s energy system in the night to Tuesday,
he said.

The Armenian nuclear power plant was shut down on July 31 for the
overhaul, which was the largest during its whole history.

All spent fuel was unloaded. The steel jacket of the reactor was
examined and fresh fuel loaded.

Specialists of Russia’s Research Institute of Nuclear Power Plants and
the Czech Republic’s company Skoda carried out this work.

Russia’s holding company InterRAO EES bought and delivered to the
plant 100 cassettes with nuclear fuel worth 12 million dollars.

The Armenian nuclear power plant was opened in 1979 and stopped in
1989 after a destructive earthquake.

It was reopened in 1996 with assistance from Russian specialists who
re-launched the second reactor.

The plant’s electric output last year accounted for 38 percent of
Armenia’s total energy supply.

According to a Russian-Armenian intergovernmental accord, financial
management of the nuclear power plant was turned over to InterRAO EES,
the daughter firm of Russia’s national electricity utility RAO EES.

Meanwhile, the European Union urges for closure of the Armenian
nuclear power plant that is located 40 kilometres west of Yerevan.

Armenian authorities say such step is only possible if alternative
sources of energy become available.

SOUTH CAUCASIAN CULTURE ANALYZED IN MOSCOW

RIA Novosti
October 02, 2004

MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) – The plan of cooperation for
2004-2005 was adopted at the two-day 4th conference of culture
ministers entitled “Variety of cultures and European unity: dialogue
in the name of demographic stability”, which closed in Moscow on
Friday, Catherine Roth, Council of Europe’s director for culture,
cultural and natural heritage, told journalists in Moscow.

The conference was held within the Council of Europe’s Stage project
and was dedicated to the analysis of culture of the three South
Caucasian countries, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

Representatives of Austria, Germany, Greece, Russia, Switzerland,
Turkey and Ukraine also took part in the conference.

According to Catherine Roth, the sides agreed to help each other
develop museums and libraries and promote cultural policy of cities.

The conferees adopted a declaration saying that culture is making an
important contribution in the building of peaceful, stable and open
Europe free from conflicts and violence, the director said.

On his part, Azerbaijan’s Culture Minister Polad Byul-byul ogly said
in a RIA Novosti interview that “cultural dialogue was useful and
necessary”.

“Contacts are highly important. This is a possibility to get
acquainted with European cultural values, exchange cultural riches and
talk about each other’s problems,” the minister noted.

Speaking about the development of culture in Azerbaijan, the minister
pointed out with satisfaction that the state kept paying more and more
attention to cultural problems and increased state financing of this
sphere.

According to Polad Byul-byul ogly, in 2005 24% more money will be
allocated on culture development from Azerbaijan’s state budget than
in 2004.

Russia-Armenia regions cooperation centre opened in Yerevan

TASS
October 2, 2004 Saturday 6:02 AM Eastern Time

By Lyudmila Yermakova, Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov and Armenian
parliament head Artur Bagdasaryan opened the Russian-Armenian regional
cooperation centre in a ceremony in Yerevan on Saturday.

The objective of the centre is promoting development of cooperation
between Russian and Armenian regions.

The agreement to set up the centre was reached at the conference on
“Russian-Armenia interregional cooperation – the state and prospects”
that took place in Samara last May.

Mironov expressed the hope activities of the centre would be effective
and beneficial for contacts between Russian and Armenian regions.

The head of the Russian parliament’s upper house said that during his
visit to Yerevan he agreed with his Armenian counterpart on the format
to finance the centre.

The centre is situated in the student town territory near Armenian
French University, whose administrative board chairman is the Armenian
parliament head.

An agreement on cooperation between Russian and Armenian regions was
signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to
Yerevan in September 2001.

Seventy Russian regions maintain direct ties with Armenia at present,
and 15 agreements between regions of the two countries are in force,
Mironov noted.

Russian Speaker arrives in Armenia

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Oct 04

[Presenter] Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov arrived
in Yerevan on a three-day visit today. Sergey Mironov will meet the
country’s leadership during the visit. His meeting with the teachers
and students of Yerevan State University has also been scheduled. This
is Sergey Mironov’s third visit to Armenia. Answering journalists’
questions at the airport, Sergey Mironov spoke about the Armenian
cargo accumulated after security was stepped up on the
Georgian-Russian border.

[Sergey Mironov, captioned, at airport, in Russian with Armenian
voice-over] As long as we know that many terrorists feel free on
Georgian territory and, of course, after Beslan, we have had to take
appropriate steps. They had nothing to do with the Armenian cargo. We
are aware of Armenia’s problems in this sphere and are ready to help
Armenia. We hope that the Armenian leadership will show understanding
of the reasons that made us take the aforesaid steps.

2004 ARPA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

Arclightcinemas.com
September 28, 2004

The ARPA International Film Festival is dedicated to cultivating
cultural understanding and global empathy, creating a dynamic forum for
international cinema with a special focus on the work of filmmakers
who explore the issues of Diaspora, exile and multi-culturalism. It
also celebrates the ideals of independent thought, artistic vision,
cultural diversity and social understanding.

The film festival is produced annually by the Arpa Foundation for
Film, Music and Art (AFFMA). Founded in 1995, the non-profit AFFMA
was formed for the purpose of promoting the arts and enhancing the
cultural environment of our community, especially providing support
to filmmakers exploring subjects of social and cultural importance
through their medium.

The 2004 ARPA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL will be held between October
5-10, 2004.

This year marks the 7th festival, and once again at ArcLight
Cinemas in Hollywood. This year’s festival theme is “Films Without
Borders.” The festival will feature over 60 films from 20 different
countries, including the United States, France, Italy, India, Iran,
Germany, Croatia, Mexico and Armenia. Every film is displayed on an
illuminating pedestal and is aimed at drawing the audience to admire,
examine and challenge. Arpa echoes a truth that is ever present in
Los Angeles, that to love mankind during times of war is difficult,
but not impossible if only through the love of cinema.

For further information about AFFMA, visit
<;.

For futher information about ARPA
Int’l Film Festival Screenings, visit:
;seriesId=&eventType=series&dateText=10/5/2004&forward=/Detail2678.jsp&path=cs

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

September 27, 2004

The Life and Work of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian
Will be Memorialized on Friday, October 15

NEW YORK, NY – In just two months the first anniversary of the
passing of His Eminence Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian will be marked with
appropriate requiem services in all Prelacy churches. Here in New York,
where he served as the leader of the Eastern Prelacy for twenty years,
his life and work will be remembered in a Memorial Tribute on Friday
evening, October 15. The commemorative program will take place at
St. Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Avenue (at 54th Street), at 7:30 p.m.

Organized by the Hamazkayin of New York, the tribute is under the
auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of
the Eastern Prelacy. The gathering will hear addresses by Dr. Ashot
Melkonian, Director of the Institute of History of the Academy of
Sciences in Armenia, and the Honorable Judge Sarkis Teshoian, who
served as chairman of the Prelacy’s Executive Council during the
Archbishop’s tenure in New York.

The cultural portion of the evening will feature the well-known singer
Hasmik Mekhanedjian and Janet Marcarian on the organ. The opening
words of welcome will be delivered by Mrs. Arevig Caprielian and
Dr. Herand Markarian will serve as the evening’s master of ceremonies.

Perhaps the most poignant portion of the program will be a video
presentation of the “Life and Work of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian.” The
video presentation was prepared with the use of archival still
photographs and videos. It is narrated in the Archbishop’s own words,
in his own voice.

The late Archbishop, who died unexpectedly on December 2, 2003, during
a visit to the New York area, served the Armenian Church for decades
with passion and fervor. His service in the United States was preceded
by his service as Prelate of New Julfa/Isfahan in Iran. He assumed
the office of Prelate in the United States in January 1978 and for
twenty years he served the community in the United States and Canada,
with great distinction. His tenure was marked with a period of great
growth for the Eastern Prelacy, both in scope and numbers.

As Executive Director of the 1700th commemorative events of Christian
Armenia, he once again manifested his great talent and vision for
events that brought the faithful together and offered educational
benefits not only for Armenians, but also for everyone. He continued to
serve in Armenia after the death of Catholicos Karekin I. He worked
tirelessly to spread Christianity throughout Armenia, supported
countless ways to help the struggling population, and helped publish
dozens of books.

Archbishop Mesrob often spoke and wrote about the importance of
respecting the dead. In one essay he wrote, “Throughout history, it
has been observed that only the great nations of the world have known
how to respect their dead. In contrast, those nations who have severed
ties with their ancestors, have been doomed to extinction.” He often
quoted the late Catholicos Zareh I, who used to enjoy repeating the
words of a famous historian who upon analyzing the reasons for the fall
of Rome said, “Rome fell because Romans lost respect for their dead.”

Archbishop Mesrob will be remembered for time immemorial because of
his extraordinary life and work. New York’s Hamazkayin is honored to
present this memorial tribute in remembrance of a great humanitarian
and clergyman whose greatest joy was working for the benefit and
strength of the Armenian church and nation.

Archbishop Oshagan, a fellow member of the Cilician Brotherhood and
lifelong friend of the late Archbishop, will deliver the evening’s
concluding words and benediction.

Admission is free. Further information is available at 718-459-2757.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN WILL PAY A 5-DAY STATE VISIT TO
CHINA ON SEPT 26

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24. ARMINFO. On September 26 Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan will pay a 5-day state visit to China.

The Armenian Presidential Press Service told ARMINFO that the Armenian
delegation will consists of Minister for Territorial Administration
and Coordination of Infrastructures Hovik Abrahamyan, Minister of
Agriculture David Lokyan, Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs Hovik
Hoveyan and other officials. Robert Kocharyan will be accompanied in
China by representatives of scientific, public and business circles of
the country. In the course of the visit to Pekin, Robert Kocharyan is
expected to meet Chinese President Xu Dzintao, Chairman of the State
Council, Chairman of the All Chinese Assembly of National
Representatives. At the end of the visit, the presidents of the two
states will sign a joint declaration. Besides, intergovernmental
agreements of cooperation in the technical-and-economic and
seismological spheres will be signed, as well as a program of cultural
cooperation for 2005.

Besides, visits to the historical and cultural sights of Pekin are
planned, On Sept 29, the Armenian delegation will leave from Pekin to
Shanghai, where Robert Kocharyan will meet the Mayor, will visit an
exhibition of ocal city development, local center of tourism and will
get first hand information of the current works. On Sept 30 the
Armenian delegation headed by President Robert Kocharyan will return
to Yerevan.