Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12. ARMINFO. Armenian government approved the
amendments to the law on international agreements, Head of legal
department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Levon
Amirjanian informed during the briefing today.
According to him, the new law is designed to eliminate the defects and
omissions existing in the same law adopted as far back as July
2002. The new law aims to improve the process of concluding
international agreements and increase the efficiency of their
fulfillment.

ACCORDING TO SPOKESMAN OF RA MINISTRY OF DEFENSE, TO CONSIDER ARMENIA
AS THE TERRITORY OF HISTORIC AZERBAIJAN IS THE OPINION OF A MAN
UNCONVERSANT WITH HISTORY
YEREVAN, August 11 (Noyan Tapan). “It is certainly not harmful to
dream, and let the Spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan
dream,” said Seiran Shahsuvarian, Spokesman of the RA Ministry of
Defense, during his meeting with journalists, answering the question
of journalists about the statement made by the Spokesman of the
Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan recently. To recap, Spokesman of the
Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan Ramiz Melikov said that “today’s
Armenia has been formed on the historic lands of Azerbaijan and
expressed an opinion that there will be no state named Armenia in the
territory of the South Caucasus during upcoming 25-30 years. “I am
deeply convinced that it is the opinion of a man unconversant with
history, literature, cartography, who announces publicly that these
are Azeri lands, rather than the opinion of the Minister of Defense of
Azerbaijan, the government and moreover the President of Azerbaijan.”
During a press briefing held in the village of Teg of the Goris region
Seiran Shahsuvarian added: “The Azeris didn’t have caves, rocks of
Goris, and I think they will never have them.” He also expressed an
opinion that the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan “should think a
little of his Spokesman and come to conclusions.”

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, August 9, 2004
KARABAKH MUNICIPAL ELECTION MARKED BY CLOSE RACE FOR STEPANAKERT MAYOR
The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) last Sunday held its third nationwide,
local elections since independence. The race for the Stepanakert mayor was
one of the most tightly contested, with the incumbent mayor defeated and two
candidates advancing to the second round. In all, 381 candidates sought the
posts of town and village mayors and 1,591 ran for seats on local municipal
councils. The NKR Central Election Commission reported that over 60 percent
of those eligible voted throughout NKR.

In Stepanakert, Pavel Najarian, former manager of a local state-owned
construction company, led the poll with 43 percent of the vote. Chairman of
the Parliamentary Committee for Social Affairs Eduard Aghabekian was a
strong second with 35 percent. The incumbent Stepanakert mayor Hamik
Avanesian was a distant third with 9 percent, while two other candidates,
businessman Iosif Adamian and lawyer Vazgen Hairapetian won 8 and 6 percent
respectively. The run-off vote has been set for August 22.

Of the two top candidates, the government is said to favor 53-year-old Pavel
Najarian. Although NKR President Arkady Ghoukasian did not publicly endorse
any of the candidates, the pro-presidential Democratic Artsakh Union, which
has the largest faction in Parliament, withdrew its support from the
unpopular incumbent and is backing Najarian. Graduate of the Yerevan
Polytechnic Institute, Najarian worked in construction most of his life,
with the exception of a brief stint as the Deputy Mayor of Stepanakert
(1993) and service in the Karabakh Army (1994-7).

The other top candidate, 40-year-old parliamentarian Eduard Aghabekian, was
trained as a pharmacist at the Yerevan Medical Institute and the University
of California. He is a decorated veteran of the Karabakh war and had worked
as Deputy Minister of Health from 1997 to 1999. Last April, Aghabekian was
one of the initiators of the Movement-1988 organization, which aims to raise
civic awareness and action against corruption. Aghabekian’s candidacy was
endorsed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which has the second
largest parliamentary faction.

In a pre-election poll of 300 residents conducted by the Artsakh
Journalists’ Union, over 50 percent said they were dissatisfied with the
handling of past local elections and 46 percent said effectiveness of the
local government has not lived up to their expectations. Most respondents
blamed the faulty local self-government law, which they believe fails to
provide local officials with sufficient authority. In 1997, NKR became first
in the Caucasus to elect its local administration officials and is the only
regional entity, where the capital’s mayor is chosen through elections.
(Sources: R&I Archive; ; Noyan Tapan 7-28, 8-5, 9;
Arminfo 8-9; IWPR Caucasus Report 7-30)
ANTI-ARMENIAN RHETORICAL “COMPETITION” CONTINUES IN BAKU
Azeri officials continue their barrage of threats, demands and complaints
directed at Armenia and NKR. Just in the last week, spokesman for the Azeri
Defense Ministry Ramiz Melikov promised to do away with the Armenian state
in “25 to 30 years” and incorporate its territory into Azerbaijan. “This
people has been a nuisance for its neighbors and has no right to live in
this region,” Melikov said.

The Defense Ministry spokesman predicted that the “world Armenian cabal”
would face certain ruin. Not just yet, however, as the senior official in
the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmedov dismissed the human rights
criticism of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, alleging that it was
under Armenian influence.

Also last week, the Azeri government, which continually threatens to unleash
a new war in Karabakh, protested the holding of annual maneuvers of the
Karabakh Army. The Azeri Central Election Commission, widely chastised for
rubber-stamping the dynastic power transfer in Azerbaijan last year,
protested the holding of a competitive municipal election in Karabakh. The
state-controlled and scandal-plagued Football Federation of Azerbaijan, in
its turn complained about the plans for holding a soccer competition in
Karabakh.

With aggressive rhetoric continuing unabated, a public opinion poll
conducted in 2003 and published last month found strong public support for
peace in both Azerbaijan and Armenia. 97 percent of Armenians and 93 percent
of Azeris surveyed said they desired peace, while 74 percent of Armenians
and 46 percent of Azeris want inter-ethnic relations re-established.
Significantly, there is greater support for reconciliation among the Azeris
displaced by the war (80 percent) than the general population. The American
University in Washington, DC funded the study. (Sources: R&I Archive;
Armenian-Azerbaijani poll 7-28; AP
8-4; Arminfo 8-4, 9; Zerkalo 8-4, 5)

Visit to read Armenia This Week
issues since 1997.
A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
122 C Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 393-3434 FAX
(202) 638-4904
E-Mail [email protected] WEB

El Pais
August 6, 2004
Sones celtas en Pamplona
IGOR CUBILLO
Los Festivales de Navarra, dedicados este ano a la cultura europea,
celebran esta noche en el Baluarte de Pamplona una velada que
pretende revivir la mistica y la alegria de la musica celta. La tarea
se ha encargado a las cantareiras gallegas Leilia, el grupo sueco
Bazar Bla, el tablista hindu Ravi Naimpally, el gaitero irlandes
Jerry O’Sullivan, el guitarrista Eric Liorzou y la violinista
irlandesa Mairead Nesbitt. Ya manana, la muestra llegara a su fin con
ritmos de Armenia y Anatolia, base del avantgarde folk que interpreta
el vocalista y percusionista Arto Tuncboyaciyan junto a la Armenian
Navy Band, orquesta armenia en la que conviven instrumentos
tradicionales, como duduk, zurna, kemanche y kanun, y contemporaneos.
Las fiestas del barrio getxotarra de Romo son el marco en el que se
ha asentado el Festival Internacional de Ska-Reggae, que manana
celebra su septima edicion con un cartel encabezado por A.S.P.O.
(About Some Precious Oldies). El grupo de Burdeos sera precedido en
escena por varios valedores espanoles de ritmos jamaicanos como el
dub, el rocksteady, el roots reggae y el dancehall: el valenciano
Alberto Tarin, los 14 musicos barceloneses de The Kinky Coo Coo’s,
los bilbainos Bomb Bass Hi-Fi, que subiran al escenario junto al
valenciano Nano Bravo, y los madrilenos Pastizal Sound System, que
compartiran tablas con el cantante Sensey Shafir.
Tampoco podia faltar la musica en las fiestas de Vitoria, que estos
dias permitiran contemplar, en distintos puntos de la ciudad, la
puesta en escena de nueve artistas. Destacan las actuaciones de la
plaza de los Fueros, donde tocaran Orishas, grupo cubano cuya mezcla
de hip hop y rock ha sido nominada a los premios Grammy Latinos;
Dover, rudo cuarteto madrileno de rock, encabezado por las hermanas
Llanos, que alardea de espiritu punk y ha despachado cientos de miles
de ejemplares de sus seis discos; y Los Pecos, almibarado duo de
cancion melodica y pop que, gracias a protagonizar un fenomeno de
fans hace dos decadas, ha vendido mas de cuatro millones de discos.
Mientras, el primer concierto destacado de las fiestas de San
Sebastian lo protagonizaran el domingo en Saguees los sonidos
tradicionales, folkies, del gaitero gallego Carlos Nunez. A la misma
hora arrancara la actuacion de la cantautora donostiarra Ana Pozas en
la plaza de la Trinidad, donde repasara Sin querer (Dro), un disco de
pop rock “mucho mas guitarrero” que su estreno, y en el que colabora
su paisano Alex Ubago.
Teatro en fiestas
En lo que se refiere a la programacion teatral, la cartelera de las
capitales alavesa y guipuzcoana se presenta plagada de comedias que
ya han pasado por otros escenarios vascos: las protagonizadas por
Pepon Nieto (Excusas), Josema Yuste (Nadie es perfecto) y Silvia
Marso. La actriz interpreta junto a Jordi Rebellon y Pedro Casablanc
hasta el domingo en el Teatro Principal de San Sebastian Aqui no paga
nadie, adaptacion de una de las obras mas conocidas de Dario Fo, uno
de los renovadores de la satira dramatica en Europa. La obra cuenta
la rebelion de un grupo de mujeres por los precios imposibles de un
supermercado. “Nos gustaria sacar de la gente una carcajada
liberadora para que reflexione sobre los problemas cotidianos de
nuestra sociedad”, apunta la artista.
Asimismo, el Festival de Teatro Clasico de Olite que, dotado con
403.000 euros de presupuesto, anuncia siete espectaculos y animacion
callejera hasta el 22 de agosto, arrancara hoy con la puesta en
escena de Julio Cesar en la plaza de la Rueda. El barcelones Alex
Rigola dirige para Teatre Lliure la obra de Shakespeare, reflejo
tragico de la irresistible atraccion del poder.
Ya manana y el domingo, la iglesia de San Pedro acogera Cada loco con
su tema, titulo bajo el que la compania Teatro de Camara Chejov
agrupa tres piezas breves (El oso, La peticion de mano y El
aniversario) de Anton Chejov dirigidas por Angel Gutierrez. En ellas
el autor ruso plasmo satira social y criticas al ansia de poder.

Press-Enterprise , CA
Aug 3 2004
Blessing of grapes set for Inland church

TRADITION: The event at the Armenian Apostolic Church of Riverside
observes the Virgin Mary.

The Armenian Apostolic Church of Riverside will hold its annual
church picnic and traditional blessing of the grape service beginning
at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 15 at La Sierra Park, 5215 La Sierra, Riverside.
The blessing of grapes is part of the Orthodox Christian Feast of the
Assumption of St. Mary, an observance of the death, burial,
resurrection and transfer to heaven of the Virgin Mary, the mother of
Jesus.
“Grapes are blessed during the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary to
symbolize a number of values that are important to life and living,”
the Rev. Dr. Stepanos Dingilian, pastor of the church, said in an
e-mail.
Wine comes from grapes and symbolizes the blood shed by Christ, he
said.
“This ‘blood’ in turn signifies that no achievement that raises the
standard of human civilization is possible without wholehearted
dedication, total commitment and unselfish perseverance,” he said.
Grapes grow in clusters, illustrating that people need family and
community to grow spiritually and mentally and to live a meaningful
life, he said.
The blessing of the grapes is observed on the Feast of St. Mary,
Dingilian said.
For information, call (951) 684-1722, (951) 522-5172 or (909)
883-1066.

PRICE FOR FIREWOOD GROWS ABOUT TWICE IN JAVAKHK
AKHALKALAK, August 2 (Noyan Tapan). The heads of the Akhalkalak and
Ninotsminda regions have applied to the territorial leadership of
Samtskhe-Javakhk for getting a privilege for obtaining 30 thousand
cubic meters of firewood. Winter in these regions is colder and longer
and according to the calculations of the leadership of the regions,
firewood of about the above-mentioned amount is necessary for spending
the winter. After the collapse of the Soviet Union wood is considered
to be the main fuel for winter. If in the Soviet years coal was
considred to the more advantageous fuel, it’s rather expensive
“pleasure” now.
In the recent year the residents of Javakhk bring wood from Bakuriani
and Adigen forests. This year the new authorities of Georgia have
strictly prohibited cutting down of forests and according to the
A-Info agency, the territorial leadership will hardly satisfy the
request of th residents of Javakhk. Firewood is much cheaper by the
state licence and the price for firewood on the black market has
increased nearly twice in comparison with the previous year, at
present 1 cubic meter of firewood costs 180-200 laries ($90-100). At
least 5 cubic meters of firewood are necessary for each familiy. The
high prices for firewood create unbearable situation for residents of
Javakhk and they only hope for elimination of prohibition of cutting
down of forests.

AZERBAIJANI FM: ISSUE OF U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA AND
AZERBAIJAN EXCLUSIVELY POLITICAL
YEREVAN, JULY 28. ARMINFO. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov expressed his dissatisfaction with various issues to the
U.S. authorities in the course of his visit to the USA. The minister
made this statement in his exclusive interview to the Azerbaiuani
newspaper Zerkalo.
His dissatisfaction was connected with withdrawal of Baku from the
program Millennium Challenges, in spite of the fact that Azerbaijan is
considered the strategic partner of the USA in the region, as well as
with the military assistance size to Azerbaijan and Armenia. He said
that despite the fact that the US Administration requested $8 mln for
Azerbaijan and $2 for Armenia, the Congress voted at the level of the
Committee for equalization of the military assistance. As a result,
the two states received by $5 mln each. Mamedyarov said that he had
touched upon the issue of the assistance to Karabakh, stating that the
Azerbaijani party must be informed how these funds are used, in order
to allow the use of these funds on settlement of the “occupied
territories” of Azerbaijan, first of all.
At the same time, commenting on the statement of the US Ambassador to
Azerbaijan that the size of the assistance is not important and that
one should not focus on it, Elmar Mamedyarov said that the words of
the Ambassador are partially true. “Because our cooperation in the
sphere of security is rather wide, including on several programs. For
example, talking to Colin Powel, I said that not the sum of the
assistance is in question, the more so as one cannot form an army on
$8 mln,” the minister said. He added that the issue of military
assistance is exclusively political. If Azerbaijan is partner of the
USA on the coalition and it sends its soldiers both to Iraq and Kosovo
unlike Armenia, their equalization means a possible political
assessment of the issue, the minister said.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 28, 2004 Wednesday 12:15 PM Eastern Time
IFC, Armeconombank sign deal to develop business
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN, July 28
Armeconombank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed
a two million credit agreement on Wednesday to develop small and
medium-size business, and housing mortgage credits.
Armeconombank managing director Ashot Osipyan said the credit will be
provided in two tranches – 150,000 U.S. dollars for the development
of small and medium-size business and about 30,000 U.S. dollars for
housing mortgage for the period of five years.
The director of IFC Central and Eastern Europe Department, Mr. Edward
Nassim, said this is the first time when the IFC provides a credit to
a commercial bank in Armenia.
This proves that the situation in the banking sector improves, he
added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
July 26, 2004 Monday
Medal will just be a salvage job
Weightlifting
EVEN a gold medal at the Olympics can only be considered a minor
salvage job on the wreckage that is Australian weightlifting.
Sergo Chakhoyan will head to Greece as the world No.1-rated lifter in
the 85kg class and is expected to vie with the host nation’s triple
gold medallist Pyrros Dimas for top honours in Athens.
Ultimately, though, anything Chakhoyan achieves will be undermined by
the drug scandals and selection debacle that has battered the sport in
the lead-up to the Games.
Weightlifting has long had more than its share of doping problems –
exemplified by the 11 positive tests at the 2003 World Championships
– but Australia had remained relatively clean.
Until 2004.
It started with two peripheral squad members, Seen Lee and Anthony
Martin, both receiving two-year bans for steroid use.
Much worse was to come as it was revealed Australia’s sole women’s
representative Caroline Pileggi refused to take a drugs test while
training in Fiji.
Pileggi, too, was given a two-year ban which she unsuccessfully
appealed and was replaced in the team by Deborah Lovely.
Questions have been raised about Chakhoyan – who has already served a
two-year ban for steroid use in 2001 – after the Australian Olympic
Committee could not locate the lifter for three and a half months
while he was training in Armenia.
But a doping test he had in Armenia three months before the Games
came back negative.
Chakhoyan can’t turn things around for the sport, but he can win
gold.
Fifth at the Sydney Olympics, Chakhoyan won gold in the snatch
(non-Olympic) at last year’s world championships in Vancouver, and
bronze in the clean-and-jerk.
Australian officials said he was not 100 per cent fit at the time.
But Dimas may still have an edge with partisan support and the lure
of an unprecedented fourth Olympic weightlifting gold.

GEORGIA MAINTAINS STANCE ON ABKHAZ RAIL LINK
Georgian State Television Channel 1, Tbilisi
26 Jul 04
(Presenter) The Armenian government is asking Georgia to reopen the
rail link with Russia via Abkhazia. Aside from the railway, Armenia is
also interested in electricity. A meeting took place today in Tbilisi
of the intergovernmental Georgian-Armenian economic cooperation
commission. The Armenian prime minister held meetings today in the
State Chancellery.
(Correspondent) (Passage omitted) The opening of the railway via
Abkhazia was one of the main themes of the Georgian-Armenian
talks. Tbilisi still maintains that the question can only be
considered after the return of refugees to Abkhazia. (Passage omitted)
(Zurab Zhvania, Georgian prime minister, in Russian) The railway is
linked to the question of the return of refugees, to progress being
made in restoring territorial integrity and the first steps being
taken.
(Davit Onoprishvili, chairman of Georgian Railways) The reopening of
the Abkhaz railway depends on a lot of nuances and questions. This is
primarily to be decided by politicians. However, it is, above all,
Georgia that is interested in the reopening of the railway.
(Passage omitted)