Author: Tumanian Talar

ARTIST USES SYMBOLS TO CONVEY EMOTION
By Rania Habib, Staff Reporter

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
May 30 2007

Abu Dhabi: An Armenian artist has brought his work to Abu Dhabi in
a bid to promote an exchange of dialogue between all cultures.

Aram Dovlat is exhibiting "The Encounter", a 35-piece collection, at
the Cultural Foundation, in what he describes as various encounters
between man and history, the quest for spirituality, and a language
shared between cultures. The exhibition, which began on Tuesday,
runs until June 7.

"The Encounter" comes under the patronage of the Armenian Ambassador
to the UAE, along with the French Ambassador to the UAE, as part of
France’s official year of Armenia, which kicked off last September
and runs until June.

At the core of Dovlat’s work is the history of Armenia, a country that
lies at the crossing of East and West. "It’s a dialogue between history
and the present," he explains. "I don’t like to push my perceptions
of my art onto people; I like to leave it up to people to see what
they want."

"The Encounter" is filled with symbols that Dovlat uses to convey
emotions, including flowers, which symbolise peaceful coexistence,
birds which are bearers of good news, spirals for eternity, and
squares which symbolise family. The artist’s work is contemporary,
and the exhibition hopes to expose the public to a different form of
modern art.

Characteristics of Aram Dovlat’s work

Born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1968 and grew up in a family of artists.

Has participated in several group and solo exhibitions in Armenia
and abroad.

Dovlat uses selective embroideries, ancient portraits, frescos
and limited utilisation of colours, which are his outstanding
characteristics.

Dovlat’s work lies in between the contemporary part of his craft and
the history which he attempts to trace.

Initially inspired by symbols taken from Armenian culture.

and_Culture/10128990.html

ARMENIAN SPEAKER DOWNPLAYS OSCE VOTE CRITICISM
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 30 2007

A leading member of the governing Republican Party (HHK) downplayed
on Wednesday a follow-up report by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe that contrasted with Western observers’ positive
assessment of the conduct of the Armenian parliamentary elections.

The report issued by the OSCE’s election observation mission late
last week stopped short of describing the May 12 vote as largely
democratic and stressed instead that counting of ballots in a large
number of polling stations was deeply flawed. It said OSCE monitors
found "discrepancies, some of them significant" between vote results
reported by various-level election commissions.

The mission’s preliminary findings, endorsed by observers from the
Council of Europe and the European Union, were more positive. Their
joint May 13 report concluded that the polls were "conducted largely
in accordance with international standards for democratic elections."

That gave a massive boost to the international legitimacy of the
official vote results that showed the HHK sweeping to a landslide
victory.

"It’s natural that [the two reports] are very different," Tigran
Torosian, the HHK’s deputy chairman and Armenia’s outgoing parliament
speaker, told RFE/RL. "It is natural that the overall tone [of the
post-election report] is less positive than that of the previous one
because they were supposed to talk only about shortcomings witnessed
during counting and tabulation of ballots."

Torosian insisted that the observers remain of the opinion that "on
the whole, the elections were a success and had nothing in common
with the previous elections" that were strongly criticized by the West.

Still, there are indications that the Armenian authorities are
worried about the latest report’s implications for the OSCE’s final
election verdict due to be announced by the end of next month. The
chairman of the Central Election Commission, Garegin Azarian, and
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian promptly sent letters to the
head of the OSCE mission, Boris Frlec. Hovsepian asked the latter to
provide "concrete information about those electoral precincts where
the mentioned violations were recorded."

Hovsepian’s spokeswoman, Sona Truzian, said Frlec has still not
responded to the letter. Nonetheless, she said, the chief prosecutor
has instructed his subordinates to investigate violations reported
by the OSCE.

Meanwhile, the Armenian opposition, which is contesting the election
results in several lawsuits filed to the Constitutional Court, is
clearly buoyed by the criticism. "We thought that [the authorities]
managed to blindfold the observers who seemed to have not seen any
fraud," said Aram Sarkisian of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party.

"But as it turned out, people are quite informed."

"The scope of the struggle is widening, and the opposition is
having more hopes," Sarkisian told RFE/RL. "What the observers
stated substantiated the documents which we have submitted to the
Constitutional Court. I find that very positive."

TEENAGER ADMITS TO OVER 30 MURDERS
By David Nowak
Staff Writer

The Moscow Times, Russia
May 29 2007

A teenager studying to paint icons has claimed involvement in more
than 30 murders in Moscow, law enforcement sources said.

There were conflicting reports, however, on the number of victims
and the motives for the crimes.

Suspect Artur Ryno, 18, has claimed responsibility for 37 racially
motivated murders that he said he committed to "clean up the city,"
Vremya Novostei reported Monday.

Ryno, a student at an icon painting school, has told investigators
that he began his murder spree on Aug. 21, the same day a bomb killed
13 people at Moscow’s Cherkizovsky market, the report said.

On that day, Ryno said, he and a group of skinheads provoked a fight
with a group of people from Central Asia, during which he stabbed
one of the migrants to death, the report said.

But a law enforcement source told Regnum.ru that Ryno had admitted his
involvement in 32 murders — not 37 — and that the presumed motive
was robbery. The victims were robbed of money and mobile phones,
the source said.

City prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said she
could not immediately comment on the reports and that details on the
investigation would be available "sometime next week."

Ryno and fellow student Pavel Skachayevsky, 18, were arrested last
month on suspicion of killing Armenian businessman Karen Abramyan.

Abramyan, 46, was stabbed 20 times on the evening of April 16 in
southwest Moscow and died in the hospital.

Ryno and Skachayevsky were detained on a tram with their clothes
covered in blood and in possession of a bloody knife, and the crime
was captured on a surveillance camera.

Ryno confessed to a string of racially motivated murders after being
shown the surveillance footage, while Skachayevsky had denied any
wrongdoing, Vremya Novostei reported.

The night before Abramyan’s murder, Khairullo Sadykov, 26, a street
sweeper from Tajikistan, was stabbed 35 times outside an apartment
building in eastern Moscow. Ryno confessed to Sadykov’s murder too,
the report said.

Most, if not all of Ryno’s and Sadykov’s victims were foreigners
and were stabbed at least 20 times to delay the body identification
process, it said.

Last year, 53 people were killed and 460 others were injured in
apparent hate crimes, according to the Sova center.

Azeri minister says peacekeepers to be deployed in Karabakh

Day.az website, Baku
26 May 07

26 May: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on Friday [25
May] spoke about plans for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh.

"The sooner Armenian leadership understands that there is no
alternative to a peaceful solution to the conflict within territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, the sooner an agreement will be reached. The
sooner the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is settled, the better it will
be for Armenia, Azerbaijan and the region as a whole," Mammadyarov
stressed.

"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan cannot be called into
question. The withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and possibilities for displaced persons’
return to their homes are being discussed at the current stage of the
negotiations," he said.

He added that all the seven districts around Nagornyy Karabakh that
are currently under [Armenian] occupation should be returned to
Azerbaijan and no-one can doubt it.

According to the minister, the parties have reached an agreement on
the deployment of a peacekeeping force in a security zone. At the same
time, it is not known yet what countries will take part in maintaining
peace in the region. "An opinion exists that the countries of the
region and the countries that co-chair the [OSCE] Minsk Group
[mediating in the talks] should not be represented in the peacekeeping
contingent," Mammadyarov said.

He went on to add that a "reasonable width" of the Lacin [district
connecting Nagornyy Karabakh with Armenia] corridor should be ensured
for the security of Azerbaijani citizens.

He said: "A reasonable width means the security guarantee issue. The
Lacin road goes through mountains and in this case security of the
population and cargo transportation should be guaranteed. Why did we
agree to [the presence of] the peacekeeping force? Because that is the
issue of security for Azerbaijani population which will return
there. In this case, when we are speaking about the implementation of
this process, military experts should calculate from what places the
road can be and cannot be subject to shooting."

The main thing is to escape a risk of the resumption of hostilities,
he said. Mammadyarov added that he would to the end keep to
diplomatic efforts in the Karabakh settlement. "However, everything
depends on these or other points," he said.

MEDIATORS SAY REFUGEES CANNOT RETURN TO KARABAKH PRIOR TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Arminfo
24 May 07

Yerevan, 24 May: "In our work we do not divide refugees and displaced
persons on the basis of their ethnicity," the Russian co-chairman
of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, Yuriy Merzlyakov, told a news conference in Yerevan today. He
was answering a question whether the rights of Armenian refugees from
Azerbaijan are being taken into account during the negotiations.

Merzlyakov said that in line with the co-chairmen’s proposal, it
is planned to grant the refugees and displaced persons the right to
return to their former places of residence.

French co-chairman Bernard Fassier said in his turn that the return of
refugees must be thoroughly prepared together with other programmes,
such as the reconstruction of the infrastructure and clearances
of mines.

He repeated his earlier remark that to return the refugees prior
to solving these issue is like to build a house starting from the
roof. "We are now trying to create the foundation of the house,"
Fassier said.

We have to say the issue in question is the return of Azerbaijani
refugees to Karabakh and districts around it. It is not about the
return of hundreds of thousands Armenians to Baku, or about the return
of Azerbaijanis who used to live in Armenia’s rural areas.

ARIF YUNUSOV: MOST AZERIS PREFER THE MILITARY RESOLUTION OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT

ArmRadio.am
24.05.2007 18:05

"Azerbaijan’s foreign policy is oriented towards the West, while the
society prefers the Islamic way of development," Director of Peace
and War Institute of Baku Arif Yunusov stated at the "Caucasus 2007"
conference in Yerevan organized by the Caucasus Media Institute. He
said that beginning from 2004 Islam is not used in negative context
in the Azeri press. "I must notice that West for Azerbaijan is not
only the US, but also Turkey, Israel and other states. We prefer to
move towards the Turkish direction. There also exists a danger of
involving Azerbaijan in the war against Iran, if such a thing happens.

It’s true that Azerbaijan will not be in the foreground, it may
be used by the United States as a subsidiary bridgehead. In this
case a humanitarian catastrophe awaits us. Some 40-50 thousands of
refugees from Iran have already flooded Baku and buy apartments. And
what will happen in case of military invasion? It is even terrible
to think about it. The border between the two countries is rather
transparent and about one million refugees may arrive in Azerbaijan
and our country just will not be able to accept them," Yunusov said.

Currently an imitation of negotiation process on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement is on the way, Arif Yunusov stated. He said
Azerbaijan and Armenia want failure in negotiations. "However it does
not satisfy the United States, and that’s why they initiated new visits
of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to the region," he underlined. Yunusov
also thinks, "the greater part of the Azeri society is for solving
the Karabakh problem in a military way". " According to poll results,
58-64 percent of the population wants a war, and generally the younger
generation expressed such opinion. They do not see any other solution
of the problem," he underscored.

FROM SMURF TO CULT HERO, ABRAHAM IS NOT BLUE NOW
Ron Lewis

Times Online, UK
May 22 2007

Some people say that boxing has become too soft, that the hard men have
been crowded out. Meet Arthur Abraham, the IBF middleweight champion,
who used to walk to the ring dressed as a Smurf but who does not need
to prove his tough credentials to anyone.

Originally from Armenia, Abraham is a folk hero in his adopted Germany,
courtesy of a night when his bravery bordered on insanity.

When he defended his title against Edison Miranda last September,
a punch broke Abraham’s jaw during the fourth round. Later in the
same bout, his jaw was broken again by a head-butt. He lost a litre
of blood and the bleeding was so bad that some feared that he had
bitten off his tongue.

However, Abraham was not about to quit and Ulli Wegner, his trainer,
was not about to make him. "He had the chance to be a national hero,"
Wegner said. "I couldn’t take that away from him."

Abraham, who on Saturday boxes for the first time in eight months,
against Sebastien Demers, of Canada, in Bamberg. is just one of
the many Eastern Europeans to have flooded into Germany to start
their professional careers. Some, such as the Klitschko brothers,
have been loved, others, such as Nikolay Valuev, the giant former
WBA heavyweight champion, have not won many hearts. To get noticed,
some have come up with a gimmick.

In Germany, the name Abraham is synonymous with Father Abraham,
leader of The Smurfs, the little blue cartoon cult. So Abraham and his
grim-faced cornermen donned large white Smurf hats as they entered the
ring to The Smurf Song. When he won the IBF middleweight title in 2005,
the hat turned gold, Pierre Kartner, who sang the song that was a No
1 hit in the 1970s, accompanied him live and Abraham was joined on
the ring walk by a group of attractive Smurfettes, who were painted
blue. The holders of The Smurfs copyright failed to see the joke,
but Abraham was soon to find fame another way.

When the injury to his jaw occured, the bout was only four rounds
old, so it was not just be a case of surviving, he had to go on and
win. Wegner, a product of the former East Germany sporting regime, is
not one for being soft. "He teaches you not to show you are in pain,"
Abraham said. "He says the only thing that hurts is in your head."

Wegner said: "From an ethical point of view, it looked quite bad. It
looked much worse on television than it did up close. I always had
the towel in my hand, ready to throw it in if he got hurt."

Instead of staying away, Abraham went on the attack, despite his
gaping open mouth and a swollen jaw that was looking increasingly
ghoulish as the rounds went by. His Colombian opponent was not shy
of fighting dirty, either, as he was deducted five points for low
blows and head-butting.

But the gamble paid off as Abraham won a unanimous decision. The day
after, his picture was on the front of most German newspapers and
the country was talking about him.

However, the after-effects of the bout rumble on. Police said last
week that they were going to charge Wegner and Walter Wagner, the
ringside doctor, with "bodily harm by omission". Abraham said that
he is "unbelievably grateful" Wegner and Wagner did not stop the
bout and the charge seems destined for failure. But he may need to
convince his mother that he is safe to box again after keeping her
in the dark during his week-long stay in hospital.

"I didn’t want to worry her, so I told people to tell her I was having
stitches," Abraham said. "She doesn’t speak German, so she couldn’t
read any different in the papers."

ELECTIONS DO NOT CORRESPOND TO STANDARDS OF DEMOCRACY, HELSINKI CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY VANADZOR OFFICE HEAD FINDS

Noyan Tapan
May 23 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The National Assembly elections do
not correspond to the standards of democracy. Artur Sakunts, the
head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office gave such
an estimation at the May 23 meeting with journalists at the Pastark
club. In his words, the elections proceeded with violations of the
Electoral Code and decisions of the Central Electoral Commission
which had considerable influence on the results of the elections.

The organization implemented monitoring of the pre-electoral propaganda
campaign in the cities of Vayk, Sisian and Gyumri as well as monitoring
of the vote of the elections in the marzes of Lori and Tavush. In
A. Sakunts’ words, facts of all-embracing allocation of electoral
bribes, charity assistance and services, pre-electoral meetings and
prohibition on spreading of printed materials, pressures and threats
were fixed with the results of the monitoring of the pre-electoral
propaganda implemented from April 8 to May 10.

Uncorrespondence of data in the lists of electors, periodical
gatherings of voters at the polling stations which "were a result
of taking and directing citizens in an organized way to the polling
stations for vote by microbuses and buses" were observed at 36 polling
stations of the marzes of Lori and Tavush on the day of the vote.

The lawyer connects with the elections even the criminal actions
brought against editor-in-chief of the Zhamanak Yerevan newspaper Arman
Babajanian, former RA Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanian. They as
well as head of the "In Defence of Liberated Territories" initiative
Zhirayr Sefilian and Vardan Malkhasian, in A. Sakunts’ words, are
political prisoners.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I INAUGURATES THE NEW BUILDING OF HAIGAZIAN ARMENIAN
SCHOOL

His Holiness Aram I inaugurated the new building of Haigazian School in
Aleppo on May 20 adding further popular excitement to his Pontifical visit
to the Syrian Armenian community.

The old building of Haigazian School which for decades served as an
important center for the formation of new Armenian generations, is today
being replaced by a new building thanks to the commitment and will of the
Armenians of Aleppo. On the outskirts of the historic city of Aleppo in a
relatively new neighborhood, His Holiness conducted a ceremonious
groundbreaking service.

The mayor of Aleppo, government officials and official guests attended the
ceremony, even in addition to a large crowd of community members. Among the
speakers were the mayor, the Primate of the Diocese of Aleppo and the school’s
principal, who emphasized the importance of the school for a country and a
nation particularly in the life of Armenians. The school was presented as an
irreplaceable institution for the formation of new generations as exemplary
humans, citizens and Armenians. In this respect, the important future role
of Haigazian was emphasized.

Highlighting the unique role of the Armenian school in our national life,
His Holiness called on the people to support and preserve it for the
achievement of Armenians’ national vision, goals and dreams. His Holiness
highly praised the project of building the school planned by the community’s
National Authority as a means to develop the communal life and the education
of new generations.

In this context, the Pontiff stressed that in addition to its spiritual and
religious mission the Catholicosate of Cilicia demonstrates special care
towards the Armenian school. "The Armenian School has a special place on the
agenda of the Catholicosate’s activities. In all our Dioceses, our prelacies
are active initiators and supporters of the Armenian school’s progress and
development," he said.

The Catholicos concluded by calling on the Armenian nation and its donors to
participate in all the initiatives for the development of the life of
Armenian schools and their mission as a means to support the preservation of
Armenian identity in the Diaspora.

##
View the photos here:
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the dioceses of
the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

GERMAN PROFESSOR WISHES KARABAKH PEOPLE FAIR SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICT

ArmInfo News Agency
2007-05-21 12:35:00

Director of European Academy, Head of a German delegation of
politicians, cultural workers and businessmen, Professor Ekart
Stratenschulte wished the Karabakh people fair settlement of the
conflict when visiting NKR.

ArmInfo’s special correspondent to Stepanakert reports that the German
professor believes their three-day visit insufficient for getting
full impression of the country. However, he is sure that one can say
that the city is intensively built-up just looking down on it from
the top of the new parliamentary building.

He welcomed the active state and economy development in the
country. The professor invited Parliamentary Speaker Ashot Ghulyan
to make a return visit to Germany where a seminar will take place to
inform the German public of the NKR and its problems.

To recap, the delegation was received by the top leadership of the
country as well as by ministers, businessmen, and NGOs of the country.