Author: Toneyan Mark

Being Yezidi
by Onnik Krikorian
10 November 2004
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Nov 11 2004
Caught between competing ideological interests, members of Armenia’s
most numerous minority struggle to define their identity.
YEREVAN, Armenia–When Aziz Tamoyan sits behind his desk in the cramped
and dilapidated room that serves as his office in the Armenian capital,
he says that he does so as president of the country’s largest ethnic
minority, the Yezidis.
Yezidi children, Armavir region. The Yezidi here say they are not
Kurdish.
Pointing at the handmade posters stuck on the wall to one side of his
cluttered desk, Tamoyan reads aloud the slogan that also serves as
the motto for his newspaper. “My nationality is Yezidi, my language
is Yezideren, and my religion is Sharfadin,” he proclaims, opening a
copy of Yezdikhana to reveal the results of the last census conducted
in Armenia three years ago.
“There are 40,620 Yezidis and 1,519 Kurds living in Armenia,” he
continues. “These are the official figures from the census and that
should be all that you need to know. The Yezidis have no connection
with the Kurds and there are no Muslim Kurds in Armenia. According
to the census, nobody speaks Kurdish in Armenia.”
But Philip Kreyenbroek, head of Iranian studies at the University of
Goettingen in Germany and a leading specialist on the Kurds and the
Yezidis of Turkey and northern Iraq, disagrees.
“The Yezidi religious and cultural tradition is deeply rooted in
Kurdish culture and almost all Yezidi sacred texts are in Kurdish,” he
says. “The language all Yezidi communities have in common is Kurdish
and most consider themselves to be Kurds, although often with some
reservations.”
As if to illustrate how these reservations have manifested themselves
as a problem far out of proportion to the size of the community, next
door to Tamoyan’s office sits Amarik Sardar, editor of Riya Taza,
established in 1930 and still the oldest surviving Kurdish newspaper
in the world.
“Unlike some people who confuse nationality with religion, I
recognize the distinction,” he says. “I am Yezidi by religion but
also consider myself to be a Kurd. The majority of Kurds in Armenia
are also Yezidis but apart from this religious distinction there is
no other difference.”
Back next door, Tamoyan reacts angrily. “Nobody has the right to say
such things. If we are Kurds, why were 300,000 Yezidis killed along
with 1.5 million Armenians during the genocide [in Ottoman Turkey]?
Why did the Turks and Kurds deport us? The Kurds are the enemies of
both the Armenians and the Yezidis.”
Indeed, most of Armenia’s Yezidi minority fled persecution and
massacre in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century,
and it is perhaps this shared experience that makes the issue so
sensitive in Armenia today.
THE YEZIDI MOVEMENT IN ARMENIA
The Yezidi community is the largest ethnic minority in Armenia even
though it numbers just a few tens of thousands of adherents. Although
their precise number worldwide is unknown, the followers of this
ancient religion are spread throughout Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Georgia,
Armenia, and, as recent immigrants and refugees, Germany.
Widely misconceived as “devil worship,” Yezidism in fact combines
elements from Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Yet
despite the widespread belief that they are also ethnic Kurds who
resisted pressure to convert to Islam, there have been attempts in
Armenia to identify the Yezidis as a separate ethnic group since the
last years of Soviet rule.
Soviet-style demography, which determined communal identity based
on language and largely ignored religion, identified the Yezidis and
Muslim Kurds living in Armenia together as members of the same ethnic
group. But by 1988, during the period of glasnost, some of Armenia’s
Yezidi religious and political leaders began to challenge this notion
and the “Yezidi Movement” was formed.
The following year an appeal was made to the Soviet authorities
requesting that the Yezidis be considered a separate ethnic group.
The request was granted, and in the last Soviet census conducted
in 1989, out of approximately 60,000 Kurds who had been formerly
identified as living in the Soviet Republic of Armenia, 52,700 were
for the first time given a new official identity as Yezidis.
During this time of “openness” that defined the last years of the
Soviet Union, the Yezidis were not the only people striving to form
new national movements. In February 1988, Armenians took to the
streets to demand that Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Armenian-inhabited
territory within Azerbaijan, be united with Armenia. Azeris responded
with attacks on Armenians. In the tit-for-tat expulsions that
followed–marking the beginning of an ethnic conflict that remains
unresolved–350,000 Armenians fled Azerbaijan and 200,000 Azeris
and Muslim Kurds left Armenia. The Yezidi, along with smaller groups
of other non-Moslem minorities, remained. By 1991, when the tension
over Karabakh broke out in armed conflict, nearly all of the Muslims
living in Armenia had already fled the country.
Proponents of the Yezidis’ claim to be a nation separate from the
Kurds insist, however, that there was no connection between the
Karabakh conflict and the promotion of a separate Yezidi identity.
Garnik Asatrian, the director of the Caucasian Center for Iranian
Studies in Yerevan, has argued that rivalry and animosity have long
characterized relations between the two groups. It was only natural
that the resurrection of an independent Armenian state pushed the
Yezidis to try to regain their own identity and religion, he believes.
IDENTITY POLITICS
While the Yezidis practice a religion dramatically different from
that of most Kurds, it seems that political ideology is attracting
some Yezidis to the Kurdish cause.
At a recent event in a predominantly Yezidi-inhabited village, the
audience listened to pro-Kurdish speeches and songs, including some
sung by Yezidi children. One of the speakers at the event was Heydar
Ali, a Kurd from Iraq who openly identifies himself as the Caucasus
representative of Kongra-Gel, the organization formerly known as the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Engaged in a separatist conflict in the southeastern regions of
neighboring Turkey, the organization is considered a terrorist group
by the United States and the European Union. The PKK lost momentum
when Turkey arrested its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999 but is
still active in Turkey and abroad.
“Certain officials are using this artificial division in the community
for their own interests,” Ali says. “In fact, the Yezidi religion is
the original faith practiced by the Kurds before most were converted to
Islam–just as Armenians were pagan before converting to Christianity.
“Of course, when the Muslim Kurds and Azeris left Armenia at the
beginning of the Karabakh conflict, some Yezidis might have hid
their Kurdish identity because they were scared,” he continues,
“but in general, the attitude of Armenian society toward Kurdish
issues is positive. We have lived together for centuries and we also
have some common interests.”
Gohar Saroava helps a Yezidi girl get ready for a pro-Kurdish event.
Nineteen-year-old Gohar Saroava, who was also present at the event
held in September, agrees.
One of the few Muslim Kurds who remain in Armenia, she says that her
family and two Kurdish neighbors living in an Armenian village have
never experienced discrimination. As a young journalist working for
the Kurdistan Committee in Yerevan, she is very open about her views
on the Yezidis.
“I write about Kurdish life in Armenia and about our leader, Abdullah
Ocalan,” she says. “I have come to this [Yezidi] event today because
we are Kurds. Our religions may be different but we are from the
same nation.”
Saroava is one of a tiny and dwindling number of Muslim Kurds left
in Armenia. According to reliable estimates, at most a few hundred
individuals remain. Even government officials privately acknowledge
that the 1,519 Kurds recorded in the 2001 census are mainly those
Yezidis who instead identified themselves as Kurds.
“Another complicating factor seems to have been the lure of PKK
ideology, which attracts some Armenian Yezidis as it does many others,”
Kreyenbroek explains. “As the PKK stresses that Kurdish identity takes
precedence over religious affiliations, those who are influenced by
it naturally go back to calling themselves Kurds. On the other hand,
more traditional [Yezidis] feel threatened and deny the connection
between the Kurds and Yezidis all the more strongly. To a lesser
extent the same developments can be seen in Germany, where dislike
of the PKK causes some Yezidis to play down their Kurdish identity,
stressing the Yezidi aspect.”
TONGUE-TIED
“The division of the Armenian Yezidis into one smaller group
identifying themselves as Kurds and Kurmanji [Kurdish]-speakers and
one group defining themselves as Yezidis with their own language is
part of the post-Soviet search for identity,” says Robert Langer, a
scholar at the University of Heidelberg in Germany who is researching
the rituals and traditions of the Yezidis in Armenia.
Alagyaz, Aragatsotn region, a predominantly pro-Kurdish village.
And it is language that might prove to be the most vexing problem
facing the community in Armenia. According to Hranush Kharatyan, head
of the government’s department for national minorities and religious
affairs, so significant is the issue that it is now “the most actual
problem existing among national minorities in Armenia.”
When the Armenian government considered ratifying Kurmanji as the
name for the language spoken by the Yezidis and Kurds, for example,
emotions ran high and Kharatyan says she was accused and threatened
by both sides. In particular, she says, Yezidi spiritual leaders
demanded that their language instead be classified as “Yezidi” even
if in private they acknowledge that it is Kurmanji.
Unable to satisfy both sides of the community, the government ratified
both Yezidi and Kurdish under the European Charter for Regional and
Minority Languages. Although there is a sizeable but still-unknown
number of Yezidis who consider themselves Kurds, there are just as
many who do not. As a result, says Kharatyan, the government was
right not to come down on one side or the other.
“Despite the fact that I am an ethnologist and a scientist, I will
call people with the same name that they are calling themselves,”
Kharatyan says. “I understand that during the establishment of
a national identity this transformation brings with it some very
difficult and serious problems and because of this, the government
of the Republic of Armenia will not interfere.
“I don’t know what will happen to both sides of the community,” she
concludes, “but in the world, this is not the only example. Croatians
and Serbs are enemies even though genetically they are from the
same nation. However, nations are social and from time to time,
things change.”
Onnik Krikorian is a freelance journalist and photojournalist from
the United Kingdom living and working in Armenia.
Photos by Onnik Krikorian.

TURKISH PRESS TO PERSIST IN SHUFFLING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Azg/arm
11 Nov 04
Armenian budget project of 2005 became a hot subject for Turkish and
Azeri printed media that keeps on confusing the world community by
stating that Armenia is removing the Armenian genocide issue from
its foreign policy agenda.
Sticking to their methods of disorientation Turkish newspapers do
not even shrink from mentioning names of Diaspora Armenians.
November 9 issue of Aksham presents Gyuler Qyumurjuâ~@~Ys article
titled “Making Better Relations with Armeniaâ~@¦”. The author
writes about “Islam and West”, a scientific conference organized
by Israelâ~@~Ys Jewish University in Nice, France, on November
6-7. Former state minister of Turkey Kemal Dervish was also to
participate at the conference. “Starting with the former leader of
Mossad and ending with Washingtonâ~@~Ys know-all Richard Pearl were
present there”, article reads.
Dervish changed his mind about participating at the conference at
the last moment. Author goes on telling about his meeting with
Alexy Gyovdjian and Samson Ozararat at the conference. Before
mentioning of the meeting Qyumurju writes about “historic step
taken in difficult relations with Armenia” and then adds: “After the
adherent of mild policy, Ter-Petrosian, President Robert Kocharian,
though maintaining tight relations with National Revolutionary Party
and Armenian organizations and lobbies of the world, took a positive
step towards Turkey. Armeniaâ~@~Ys state budget bill of 2005 already
taken to the parliament did not assign money for promoting genocide
acknowledgement as opposed to previous years. Only few weeks back
Armenian authorities stated that genocide acknowledgement is not a
precondition for improving relations with Turkey”.
The second part of the article dwelling on Gyovdjian and Ozararat
reads: “While the Armenian government excludes genocide recognition
from priority list depriving it of money in 2005 budget, Armenian
lobbyists in France were putting on clothing of radicalism.
I talked to Alexy Gyovdjian (he was our citizen, comes from Istanbul
where he lived till 18-years-old) who led French-Armenians in their
hanker after recognition of April 24. Despite this fact, his comments
on Yerevanâ~@~Ys mild policy were approving.
Mr. Gyovdjian was also present at our talk with Samson Ozararat. In
90s he had meetings with Alparsan Tyurkesh, late president of National
Movement Party, within the frameworks of meetings directed to settle
Armenia and Turkey-related issues. The name of Mr. Samson is well-known
to those occupying high posts in State Planning Organization and
Sabaja Group. Ozararat firmly stands for Tyurkeshâ~@~Ys position
of â~@~Xovercoming genocide claims and beginning trade cooperation
between the two statesâ~@~Y and is willing that Turkey begins
diplomatic relations with Armenia. Right at that moment Gyovdjian
noted that he joins Ozararat for the sake of constructive policy and
is even ready to participate in the initiatives taken by Turkeyâ~@~Ys
organizations of civil society.
Back in Ankara the â~@~Xexpertâ~@~Y in the issue told me that we
are waiting for a positive response. Why are we slow in adjusting
Tyurkeshâ~@~Ys ideas to the present-day conditions and in modernizing
our approaches? Perhaps everything will become clear after 17 of
December”.
By Hakob Chakrian
–Boundary_(ID_UK1drQI2yDVrLkmPmossRw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Nov 10 2004
GERMANY AND FRANCE CONSIDER AZERBAIJAN PLAYS IMPORTANT ROLE IN
MAINTENANCE OF STABILITY IN SOUTHERN CAUCASUS
[November 10, 2004, 14:14:35]
On November 9, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mammadyarov has met the delegation headed by directors on political
questions of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Germany and France
Michael Scheffer and Stanislav Lefebvre de Labula.
As was informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov having noted, that Azerbaijan
is satisfied with successful development of the relations with Germany
and France, has told: “Recent official visits of the President of our
country Ilham Aliyev to France and Germany have played important role
in development of these relations. The Minister also has emphasized
that it is important to make joint efforts to raise bilateral
cooperation between these states on higher level.
Having noted that cooperation of Azerbaijan with the European Union,
the Council of Europe, the NATO, the United Nations Organization and
other international structures is at a high level, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs has told, that inclusion of our country to programs
of European Union “New Neighborhood” and NATO “Individual plan for
cooperation” are bright example of the even greater expansion of links
between the sides. He has told: “The Azerbaijan leadership giving
great value to the question of integration of our country in the
European and Euro-Atlantic structures, democracy and civil society,
making basis of these structures carries out important reforms for
strengthening in our republic of such values, as human rights. In
detail informing visitors about political, social and economic
conditions in the country, the Minister has dwelt as well on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict. Having noted, that
the country is the supporter of the peace settlement of the conflict
on the basis of norms of international law and under condition of
preservation of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Mr. Mammadyarov
has told about artificial settling of the Armenians on the Azerbaijan
lands occupied by Armenia. The Minister has expressed confidence that
inclusion in the agenda of present session of General Assembly of the
United Nations of the item “On position at the occupied territories”,
will draw attention of the international public to this question. He
has told: “Efforts of the Azerbaijan side are not directed at all
on replacing of OSCE Minsk Group engaged in definition of ways of
resolution to the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, any other organization,
and, on the contrary, it tries to assist in its activity.
Having emphasized that Azerbaijan plays important role in preservation
of stability in the region of Southern Caucasus, the visitors have
noted, that the country possesses more potential to hold one of leading
positions within the framework of the international organizations. The
sides have carried out exchange of views on the general situation
in the regional and international level, and have mentioned also
questions of definition of the status of the Caspian and role of
Azerbaijan in the international struggle against terrorism.
At the meeting, also were discussed other questions representing
mutual interest.

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
57/5 Arshakunyats Street
Yerevan, Armenia 375026
Contact: Bella Avetisyan
Telephone: (374 1) 44-74-01
Press Release For Immediate Distribution:
2004-11-09
NOUBARASHEN SCHOOL #11 RECEIVED ORCHARD FROM HSBC BANK
AND ‘ARMENIA TREE PROJECT’
YEREVAN– Sunday, November 7, 2004, the children of
the Noubarashen School #11 for the mentally disabled
yesterday beautified their school grounds with the
help of their friends from HSBC bank and the Armenia
Tree Project. The tree planting was initiated by HSBC
Bank as a part of their community outreach.
A total of one hundred trees, including 30 apricot, 30
apple, 20 peach, 15 cherry and 5 quince trees were
planted at the event, which started at 11 a.m. The
Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Science and
Education oversees the Noubarashen School #11, which
was established in 1973. Daily the school provides
education, accommodations and nutrition for 125
students, 110 of whom are permanent residents.
Over the past five years, HSBC and the Armenia Tree
Project have successfully collaborated on similar tree
planting projects. Together, they provided the
Noragyugh Rehabilitation Center with a total of four
hundred trees in 2000, 2001 and 2002 years. To date,
these seedlings are thriving, with an above average
survival rate of 72%. Since its first Armenian branch
opened in March of 1996, the HSBC group has shown
support for both education and the environment.
Sunday’s event at the Noubarashen School #11 served as
a true forum for the integration of these two ideals.
Susan Yacubian Klein, Country Director of Armenia Tree
Project, welcomed all who arrived that day and showed
their active participation by planting trees. In her
brief welcome speech Ms. Klein thanked HSBC Bank
management for their community minded spirit in
bringing their staff to plant trees with the residents
and teachers of Noubarashen School. She stressed that
both HSBC Bank and the Armenia Tree Project consider
as part of their missions active involvement with
community members in improving their environment.
The planting of the trees yesterday will not only
bring fruit for the children’s nutritional needs but
also serves as a teaching tool about care and
preservation of trees, she concluded.
Nick Gilmour, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank
Armenia, greeted guests and expressed hope for the
long lasting HSBC-ATP partnership. “I think our
collaboration in greening Yerevan’s different sites
will continue due to the already formed tradition of
our annual tree-plantings. Joining our forces we can
improve the living conditions in communities”, Mr.
Gilmour said in his later interview to reporters.
HSBC Bank Armenia is supporting Noubarashen School by
furnishing it and providing clothes and supplies to
schoolchildren.
Meroujan Yengibaryan, Noubarashen Boarding School
Director, speaking to those assembled added:
“HSBC-ATP partnership resulted in this wonderful gift
for our school. We’re all looking forward to seeing
these children collecting fruit from their own garden
in 3 – 4 years’ time. Let God give long life to
witness future generations gathering fruit from the
trees planted today”.
After a ceremonial tree planting by the initiators of
the event, the children and staffs of the school, HSBC
and ATP joined in planting the fruit tree seedlings. A
total of 100 seedlings were planted, according to the
instructions given during a demonstration from the ATP
specialists.
HSBC Bank Armenia:
The HSBC Group opened for business in March 1996 as
Midland Bank cjsc and was renamed to HSBC Bank Armenia
cjsc in 1999, as a part of global re-branding
exercise. Nowadays HSBC has two full service branches
operating in Yerevan. Now HSBC is Armenia’s leading
bank by market share and profitability. The Group also
maintains branches in other CIS countries including
Russia and Kazakhstan. The bank offers a full range of
products and services to both commercial and personal
customers resident in Armenia and overseas. Since its
establishment, HSBC has focused its community support
on areas of education and theenvironment. The Bank has
been involved in sponsoring the Noubarashen orphanage,
Vardashen special educational centre, Armenian Society
for the preservation of Historical Monuments, Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra, Isabel centre of the Talented
Children’s Concert, a Health walk in coordination with
the Armenian Mammography centre, the children’s
international play ground, as well as a tree planting
project in the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre. HSBC
staff are true community citizens and give fully, and
freely, of their time and energy in supporting the
many worthwhile causes in Armenia that need our
support in both financial and humane ways.
For information please contact:
HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc
9 V. Sarkissian Street, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel. 58 70 88
HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc
3 Komitas Avenue, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel. 22 25 96, 22 87 57
e-mail: [email protected]
web:
Armenia Tree Project (ATP):
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 by now planted and rejuvenated
538,000 trees at more than 450 sites ranging from
Gyumri to Goris.
For additional information, please, contact Bella
Avetisyan, ATP Public Outreach Coordinator Assistant
at [email protected]
Web:

RUBEN SHUGARIAN: RECONSIDERATION OF TURKEY’S BIASSED POLICY IN KARABAKH
ISSUE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO REGIONAL STABILITY
YEREVAN, September 16 (Noyan Tapan). Turkey has been refusing to
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia by now putting forward
a number of preconditions, the Nagorno Karabakh issue, refusing of
allegations about 1915 Armenian Genocide, recognition of territorial
integrity of Turkey. Ruben Shugarian, RA Deputy Foreign Minister,
declared this at the September 15 discussion entitled “Political
Preconditions of Opening of Armenian-Turkish Border, Wish and Reality”
organized by the Center for Public Dialogue and Developments.
“Recently the Turkish side has dropped some hints, according to which
though the Nagorno Karabakh issue remains as one of the preconditions
of the agenda of Armenian-Turkish relations it is no longer considered
as first and foremost,” Ruben Shugarian mentioned. In the estimation
of the Armenian side, reconsideration of Turkey’s biassed policy in
Karabakh issue will contribute to improvement of bilateral relations
and will establish stability in the region.
Shugarian emphasized that though the issue of recognition of the
Genocide remains on the agenda of Armenia’s foreign policy and its
relations with Turkey Armenia doesn’t consider this as a precondition
for establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey. Armenia considers
this issue not only in the context of restoration of historical
justice, but also in the context of future improvement of atmosphere
of mutual trust, guarantee of security in the region and prevention
of such crimes in the future.
RA Deputy Foreign Minister considered characteristic that in spite of
absence of diplomatic relations between 2 sides recently there are
some contacts at different levels between the Foreign Ministers of
Armenia and Turkey. They give the sides an opportunity of discussing
issues worrying them, a well as exchanging opinions about regional
and international developments.
Though there are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and
the borders between them are closed the amounts of foreign trade are
steadily increasing. Attempts of bilateral contacts and cooperation
are also made at inter-regional (Gyumri-Kars) level, level of NGO
representatives, businessmen and higher schools. Greeting these
contacts Armenia continues holding the opinion that the problems
existing between two countries may be solved only at the state level,
the speaker emphasized.
As for the Armenian-Turkish border, Ruben Shugarian mentioned that
this is also a border between NATO and Armenia, as well as between a
potential member of EU and Armenia, i.e. in the future this may become
a border between EU and Armenia: “In this respect the border is also
closed for the whole region and it’s clear that the Georgia-Turkey
and Azerbaijan-Turkey borders aren’t enough for an adequate reaction
to the geopolitical processes.”

NATO chief backs Armenian attendance at Baku-hosted seminar – full report
ANS Radio, Baku
5 Nov 04

[Presenter] NATO sees as normal the attendance of Armenian MPs at the
58th Rose-Roth seminar due in Baku, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer, who is visiting Baku, has said.
[Scheffer in English, with Azeri voice-over] The holding of the
Rose-Roth seminar is outside the NATO secretary-general’s sphere. I am
not responsible for this. If the issue was within the purview of the
NATO secretary-general, as previously my position would not change. My
position is that the attendance of any guests is admissible at this
kind of seminar.
[Presenter] To recap, the NATO secretary-general visited Martyrs’
Avenue and the grave of [late Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev
this morning. Then he met students and professors of Baku State
University. The NATO secretary-general will hold talks with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Defence Minister
Safar Abiyev and will be received by President Ilham Aliyev.

A1 Plus | 19:50:07 | 04-11-2004 | Economy |
WHAT IS K-TELECOM?
“Under the decision on allowing the license for rendering services of
mobile communication in Armenia, Executive Power approved the results of
the tender represented by the tender commission set up by Government
decision and recognized “K-TeleCom” CJSC as the winner of the tender.
Some instructions were set to Transport and Communication and Justice
Ministers”. It’s the extract from the release of Government sitting.
We asked both Government, Justice Ministry and Transport and
Communication Ministry what the information meant. Ara Saghatelyan,
Press Secretary of Justice Ministry didn’t answer our questions. “Ask
the one conducting the tender”, he said.
It turns the specially established commission held the tender.
Communication and Transport Minister Andranik Manukyan heads the
committee. “Phone the information service!”, Minister answered when we
tried to ask him about the information.
Nether the local nor the cell phones of the information service
answered. We managed to obtain some information from Mary Harutyunyan,
head of Government Department of Public Relations.
It turns it was decided at Government special sitting last evening to
conduct a tender for rendering mobile communication services. It was
decided yesterday that Andranik Manukyan will head the tender
commission. These mean depriving “ArmenTel” of the monopoly for
so-called “SIM” card service, the second operator will function in the
sphere. But another thing is noteworthy.
Under the Law on “Licensing”, there is a special procedure set for
conducting a tender, which takes a long time. During that time the
tender participants introduce their applications and tender packages,
and then each package is studied separately. Let’s remind that months
ago when journalists wondered when the second operator would function in
the sphere of doing mobile communication services, officials always
answered that a tender would be held after settling the problematic
issues with “ArmenTel”.
Officials keep affirming for the time being no company wished to enter
the Armenian market.
Was everything carried out by Law? How it happened that a decision on
conducting a tender was made yesterday and the tender was held the next
day by 11:00 AM? Why weren’t the journalists informed about the decision
made at the special sitting of Government during the press conference?
Why was everything performed in secret? Why don’t any of officials want
to answer the questions?
All these cause thoughts. At last, what does “K-TeleCom” mean? Is that
“Karabakh-TeleCom”? We didn’t find this, either.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 2, 2004 Tuesday
Good relations with Russia mustn’t hamper ties with NATO-Scheffer
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenia is a proof that a country can have close relations with Russia
and be an active partner of the alliance at the same time, NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the Mediamax Armenian news
agency in view of his Yerevan visit. He will come to Armenia on Friday.
NATO member countries, Russia and Caucasian republics are interested in
the regional stability, he said. All of them encounter similar threats
from terrorists, who do not recognize borders, as well as proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and rogue countries, de Hoop Scheffer
said.
He said the countries’ ability to respond to new challenges would
depend on merging of old division lines and prevention of rivalry. The
partnership between NATO and Russia is based on this understanding, de
Hoop Scheffer said.
Armenia really has good relations with Russia, but that must have no
effect on the development of relations with NATO, he said. He said NATO
and Russia had been successfully working to overcome old suspicions in
recent years, and currently they cooperate in many concrete issues
within the Russia-NATO Council.

Armenian Police Say Crime Again Falling
By Nane Atshemian 29/10/2004 08:36
Radio Free Europe, Czechia
29 Oct. 2004
The Armenian police reported on Thursday a 4.4 percent decrease in
the number of officially registered crimes committed during the first
nine months of this year.
The information contrasted with police figures for the first
half of 2004 that showed a 4.5 percent rise in crime compared
with the same period last year. “The overall rate of crime has
tended to decrease during the first nine months of the year,” Sayad
Shirinian, the spokesman for the national Police Service, told a news
conference. “Also, the percentage of solved cases is higher than it
was last year.”
It was not clear if the police found a major drop in crime during
the third quarter of the year. Presenting the first-half figures on
August 4, the deputy chief of the police, General Ararat Mahtesian,
admitted that the Armenian government’s spring crackdown on the
opposition left his officers with less time and fewer resources to
combat crime. The crackdown involved mass detentions of opposition
activists and a heavy police presence at anti-government rallies.
Mahtesian also blamed the increased delinquency on Armenia’s new,
more lenient criminal code that came into effect in August 2003. It
also led to the earlier-than-expected release from jail of more than
800 convicts.
According to Shirinian, a total of 8,098 crimes, nearly a third of
them “serious,” were reported to the police from January through the
end of September. He said despite the overall drop in the number of
offences there have been more cases of theft, robbery, fraud as well
as illegal arms and drug possession.
The official also said that 172 people, 17 of them children, have died
in 872 road accidents across Armenia this year. “The main causes of
road accidents continue to be speeding and violations of overtaking
rules,” he said.
Shirinian added that Armenia’s overall rate of delinquency remains
low by ex-Soviet standards, with an average of 25 crimes per 10,000
people committed annually. The figure is 143 and 83 in Russia and
Ukraine respectively.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JIVAN GASPARIAN WANTS TO FOUND SCHOOL TO TEACH DUDUK
ArmenPress
29 Oct. 2004
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS: A Russian-Armenian Unibank made
today a generous donation to support world famous duduk player
Jivan Gasparian’s idea to build a school where he will teach this
old Armenian wind instruments to young boys. Gasparian said also
$12,000 were donated by a London-based businessman of Armenian origin,
Vatche Manukian.
“I am not thinking about going from door to door to ask for money
for the school, instead I will advertise the school in a hope of new
donations,” Jivan Gasparian said, adding that according to preliminary
estimations he will need some $200,000 to realize his dream.
The two-storey building will have a concert school on the ground
floor and classes in the first one.
Gasparian said he will fly soon to the USA to record his music for
another film. His music was recorded for around two dozen American
and European films.