Category: News

MUSIC: AZNAVOUR TELLS HIS STORY IN MILAN
ANSA English Media Service
June 22, 2004
MILAN
(ANSA) – MILAN, June 22 – Popular French singer Charles Aznavour said
that he was not an Armenian from France but simply a Frenchman of
Armenian origin when talking about himself in Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme
at the opening of the fifth La Milanesiana cultural event on Monday.
“I’m not an Armenian from France, I’m simply a Frenchman of Armenian
origin and I care more about humanitarian affairs than politics,” said
Aznavour who is son of an Armenian family which fled before the Turkish
genocide against the Armenians at the beginning of 20th century.
Aznavour entered the stage with the humbleness of a lively and somewhat
shy 80-year-old. The singer was dressed in ivory colour and matching
shoes, he looked almost disoriented when the public welcomed him with
a standing ovation.
The audience that came to see Aznavour were elegant women and men of
a certain age, many with pastel-coloured jackets, white hair and a
few young people, actress Ottavia Piccolo and the member of Italian
Parliament, Giancarlo Pagliarini.
Presented by former editor of main Italian daily Corriere della Sera,
Ferruccio De Bortoli, Aznavour did not make introductions and began
reading some excerpts from his autobiography which will go on sale
from Wednesday.
Aznavour chose lively stories to tell the Milanese public and said
nothing specific on that travel from the inferno where the paradise
called emigration begins, as he wrote in his autobiography.
He preferred to recall the amusing meeting with Edith Piaf, the singer
who discovered him and of whom he remembered her lioness character
and outbursts and the tender nickname she invented for him, “little
stupid genius”.
Aznavour read in French, but slowly, while the original words from
the text in French and the Italian translation were shown on a screen
behind him.
The rest of the evening was dedicated to history and music. Former
Italian Ambassdor to Moscow and political commentator for Corriere
della Sera, Sergio Romano, made special observation on eastern
Europe and the conditions in Armenia, reminding of the Turkish laws
from 1915 for deportation of Armenians and the confiscation of the
their goods. The Armenians were massacred on their way to exile,
with 800,000 killed but there were surely more victims, Romano said.
The music was with Claude Debussy’s melancholic notes, with Michele
Campanella on the piano who chose pieces from Reverie to Estampes
especially because of the tone of Aznavour’s voice and because they
represent the quintessence of French music, Campanella said.
“When people ask me whether I feel more Armenian or more French,
there is only one possible answer – a hundred percent French and a
hundred percent Armenian,” Aznavour wrote in his autobiography.
The French singer is Armenia’s ambassador at large since 1994.
“Armenia is a dream from which my family comes,” Aznavour told the
audience while the screen behind him showed images of Charles as a
child and of when he was awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour
by French President Jacques Chirac.
“I never forgot my roots but I hid them when Armenia was a socialist
state,” Aznavour said.
Today he is aware of the problems still to face but he does not intend
to go into politics.
“I’m an ambassador of a country, I know that there are still
difficulties but politics is not my job, it is not my language,”
Aznavour said. (ANSA)

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
June 23, 2004
ARMENIA COULD BE KICKED OUT OF THE PACE. —
Confrontation Between Opposition and Government Is Becoming
Permanent.
By Viktoria Panfilova. Nezavisimaya gazeta, May 28, 2004, p. 5.
Condensed text:
In Yerevan, the coalition of three parties — the Republican Party of
Armenia, Orinats Yerkir [Country of Law] and Dashnaktsutyun [the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation] — that control a majority of the
seats in the Armenian parliament has invited the opposition (the
Justice bloc and the National Unity Party) to resume talks. It may be
recalled that the first round of talks between the parties making up
the pro-Kocharyan coalition and the united opposition was
unsuccessful. . . . A statement issued by the coalition says, in
part: “Unfortunately, the opposition forces did not take a
constructive path that would offer a real possibility of jointly
resolving the tense political situation that has come about in our
country. In choosing to hold rallies instead of pursue dialogue, they
have refused to heed the Council of Europe’s call to solve the
problem by political means and without preconditions.”
For his part, Viktor Dalakyan, secretary of the opposition Justice
faction, said that the opposition is willing to reopen dialogue with
the government only if arrested opposition activists are released. He
also urged Armenians to attend a demonstration that the opposition
plans to hold in downtown Yerevan on June 4.
It may be recalled that, late last week, the opposition resumed its
protest demonstrations in the central part of the capital city to
demand the release of the arrested opposition members. . . . There
was also a crackdown on members of the Communist Party, the
Republican Party and the National Unity Party. At the same time, all
roads leading into Yerevan were closed again, and drivers on
intercity routes were told not to report to work. The authorities put
police throughout Armenia on alert.
Meanwhile, the US State Department recently published its latest
report on human rights, and the document is highly critical of the
Armenian authorities. President Robert Kocharyan has so far declined
to comment on the report, but he did give an extensive interview on
the results of his visit to Moscow, in which he said that he had the
full and unconditional support of the Kremlin. Moreover, Armenian
officials cite with great satisfaction a recent report issued by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the political
situation in Armenia. It says that although the presidential election
was marred by many instances of fraud, they “did not have any
significant impact” on the outcome of the voting. The report thus
refutes opposition statements questioning the head of state’s
“legitimacy.”
True, everywhere else the lengthy document has extremely
unflattering things to say about the Armenian authorities, citing
regular and widespread violations of civil rights and freedoms. The
report says that the Armenian delegation’s credentials “may be
reconsidered” at the PACE’s upcoming September session.
It’s clear that, under these circumstances, the opposition is going
to step up the confrontation: It has now been announced that sit-ins
will be held in addition to the rallies in Yerevan. . . .

Emissions market attracts plant engineers
The Nikkei Weekly (Japan)
June 21, 2004
The Kyoto Protocol is inspiring plant engineering firms and general
contractors, although they emit only limited amounts of greenhouse
gases, to launch operations aimed at trading carbon dioxide emission
rights as a new source of revenue.
Japan is expected to find it difficult to achieve its CO2 reduction
target under the Kyoto pact – a 6% cut in overall emissions in fiscal
2008-2012 from 1990 levels. That will likely force companies that emit
large amounts of the greenhouse gas, such as electric power companies,
oil refiners and steelmakers, to obtain emission rights by working
on overseas projects that help to cut emissions abroad. That will
provide a business opportunity for other firms.
JGC Corp. plans to launch operations in China’s Henan Province as
early as 2006 to collect and break down dinitrogen monoxide, which
has 310 times the global warming effect of CO2. The firm has begun
studying business feasibility with the support of New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). It expects to
invest 1-2 billion yen in the operations.
By collecting N2O, a byproduct of nylon materials production, JGC
expects to obtain 2-3 million metric tons of CO2 emission rights
annually, equal to about 0.4% to 0.6% of annual CO2 emissions by
Japan’s industrial sector. The company is also studying operations
to collect CO2 emissions from natural gas fields.
Similarly, Toyo Engineering Corp. plans to launch operations in
Kazakhstan as early as 2005 to collect methane from coal mines to use
for fuel in power generation. The firm expects to secure about 120,000
tons of emission rights annually from the operations. Methane has a
global warming impact 21 times that of CO2. Toyo Engineering plans
to solicit investors for the project, which is expected to cost a
total of about 500 million yen.
General contractors are also considering operations to collect
methane from waste disposal facilities for use as fuel. Shimizu Corp.
plans to launch such operations in Armenia in 2005 and Ukraine in
2008. The company will also pursue these operations in China as soon
as it obtains permission from the government.
Kajima Corp. and Obayashi Corp. are investigating the feasibility of
such operations in Malaysia and Thailand, respectively.
The move by plant engineering firms and general contractors to enter
greenhouse gas emission rights operations underscores how these firms
see global warming as a business opportunity and not solely as an
environmental risk.
JGC and Toyo Engineering established companywide teams about a year
ago to look at potential projects that follow the Kyoto mechanism
allowing industrialized nations to obtain emission rights by helping
developing nations cut their emission volumes.
Because plant engineering firms and general contractors do not operate
factories, their carbon dioxide emission volumes are much lower than
those of electric power companies, oil firms and steelmakers. So
these firms plan to sell the emission rights obtained through overseas
projects to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, the extra
revenue will help boost the profitability of their overseas operations.
The companies are also aiming to get a head start on South Korean and
Chinese rivals by pursuing plant construction projects in developing
countries and former communist bloc nations. This is because under
the Kyoto mechanism, both South Korea and China are categorized as
developing nations, and thus are ineligible to obtain emission rights
by working on projects outside their borders.
Japanese engineering firms and general contractors will focus on
reducing emissions, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbon gas, which
have a much higher global warming impact than CO2. So even if the
firms’ investments are relatively small, they may be able to obtain
a large amount of emission rights when calculated in CO2 equivalents.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
June 22, 2004, Tuesday
English Tripoli double
By Malcolm Pein
MICHAEL Adams and Nigel Short completed routine victories in the
first round of the Fide Knockout Championships at Tripoli. England’s
finest both won 2-0, but the real work is to come. Few seeds were
eliminated as the field was reduced from 128 to 64, and the losers
returned home with $6,000, less Fide’s 20 per cent cut.
In round two, Short faces a tough match against Poland’s leading
grandmaster, Michal Krasenkow, ranked 97. Adams will face either
Karen Asrian of Armenia or Evgeny Agrest of Sweden, whose tie went to
a playoff.
The Cornishman is now the second seed in the absence of Alexander
Morozevich. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is the highest rated player.
He arrived late for the game after some travel problems but was
allowed to play later.
Twenty one of the 60 matches have gone to a playoff and none of the
favourites has yet been eliminated. The pairings were organised so
that the number one seed faced number 128, two against number 127 and
so on.
The stronger player has won nearly all the time, but Hicham Hamdouchi
of Morocco defeated former Russian champion Alexander Motylev and
Ghaem Maghami of Iran despatched the Armenian Rafael Vaganian 2-0.
Aleksandar Wojtkiewicz put out Kiril Georgiev. Thirteen-year-old
Magnus Carlsen drew twice with former world junior champion Levon
Aronian of Armenia.
SHORT’S Yemeni opponent put up spirited resistance but the knight
sacrifice was never going to work.
N Short – H Kadhi
Fide WCh KO Tripoli (1.2)
French McCutcheon
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Bb4 5 e5 h6 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 bxc3 Ne4 8
Qg4 g6 9 Bd3 Nxd2 10 Kxd2 c5 11 h4 Bd7 12 Rb1 Bc6 13 h5 g5 14 f4 Nd7
15 Nf3 cxd4 16 cxd4 gxf4 17 Qxf4 Qe7 18 Ke2 0-0-0 19 Qh4 Qf8 20 g4
Rg8 21 g5 hxg5 22 Nxg5 Nxe5 23 dxe5 Qg7 24 Rhg1 Qxe5+ 25 Kd2 d4 26
Rbe1 Qa5+ 27 Ke2 Rd5 28 Nxf7 Re8 29 h6 e5 30 Rg4 Rd7 31 Ng5 e4 32
Nxe4 Bb5 33 Kf1 Bxd3+ 34 cxd3 Kb8 35 Kg1 Rh7 36 Rf1 Reh8 37 Qg3+ 1-0
Kadhi e p p 7 o c p p p p p p n g p p p p o ‘ p * p p p b p f b p p p
p p p p * d
Short
Final position after 37.Qg3+

Russian Interior Minister postpones visit to Armenia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 22, 2004 Tuesday 6:51 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW, June 22 — Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev
has postponed his visit to Armenia because of the developments in
Ingushetia, a representative of the Russian Interior Ministry told
Itar-Tass.
A joint collegium of the Russian and Armenian interior ministries
was planned to meet in Yerevan on June 24-25. It has been decided to
postpone the meeting until early July.
Several groups of militants with a total strength of 150 to 200
attacked a number of facilities in Ingushetia on Monday night. 48
people died and about 60 were wounded in armed clashes with the
militants.

The Washington Times
June 22, 2004
United Press International
Serena wins opening match at Wimbledon
London, England, Jun. 22 (UPI) — Top seed Serena Williams opened
defense of her Wimbledon championship Tuesday with a 6-3-6-1 win over
over Jie Zheng of China
The 23-year-old American won easily despite committing more than
twice as many unforced errors than her opponent.
Rain forced officials to end play for the day with a number of matches
incomplete, including those involving highly seeded Andy Roddick and
Guillermo Coria.
Unseeded Russian Sandra Kleinova eliminated her sixth-seeded
countrywoman, Elena Dementieva, and Virginie Razzano of France knocked
out No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
On the men’s side, fifth-seeded Tim Henman of England defeated Ruben
Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 4-6 7-6 (8-6),6-4, 6-2.
Other men’s winners included ninth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain,
14th-seeded Mardy Fish of the United States, Czech Jiro Novak, Spain’s
Feliciano Lopez, Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, Jan-Michael Gambill of
the United States and Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who beat countryman
Marat Safin.
Women advancing included Russians Nadia Petrova and Elena Bovina,
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, American Meghann Shaughnessy and Marion
Bartoli of France, who ousted Chandra Rubin of the United States.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia coach Stoichita will not be back
The Associated Press
06/22/04 16:33 EDT
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia coach Mihai Stoichita, whose contract
has expired, said Tuesday he would not stay with the team due to
family reasons.
The Romanian coach told the Armenian Soccer Federation of his decision
in a letter just two months before the start of European World Cup
qualifying.
The federation said it is looking for a new coach, but did not
disclose names.
Armenia, which failed to qualify for the European Championship,
will face the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Romania, Finland,
Macedonia and Andorra in Group One of the qualifying competition for
the 2006 World Cup finals.
Armenia’s first match is at Macedonia on Aug. 18.

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate distribution
Congress of Canadian Armenians (CCA)
Taro Alepian
Montreal, CANADA
Tel: 514-336-4387
Fax: 514-336-1969
e-mail: [email protected]
UNITED FRONT ESTABLISHED BY ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN CANADA
Montréal, June 17, 2004 – The Congress of Canadian Armenians (CCA)
was launched yesterday at its inaugural meeting in Montreal. Its aim
is to create a united front in presenting Armenian issues and the
Armenian community to the Canadian public, to carry out significant
projects of general interest to the community, and to provide a forum
where member organizations can coordinate their ctivities.
The Diocese of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church of Canada, many of
the largest Armenian organizations in Montreal and several prominent
individuals are members of the Congress. In time, this will be extended
to other parts of Canada until Armenians in all regions of the country
are represented.
The Congress also intends to cooperate and work closely with other
organizations in carrying out its activities.
For more information contact:
Taro Alepian, chairman
Montreal CANADA
Tel: 514-336-4387
Fax: 514-336-1969
e-mail: [email protected]
or
Haroutiun Arzoumanian, secretary
Montreal CANADA
Tel: 514-337-7290
Fax: 514-334-1241
e-mail: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian professionals network of western diocese
3325 North Glenoaks bld.
Burbank,CA 91504
Contact:Vahe Ashjian
Tel:818-558-7474
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
APN HOSTS ITS FIRST EVENT
On Wednesday, June 16, 2004 APN, the Armenian Professionals Network,
which was established recently under the auspices of the Western
Diocese and is headed by Mr. Vahe Ashjian, held its first event at the
Diocesan Headquarters in Burbank, presided by His Eminence Archbishop
Hovnan Derderian. Present were also Former Mayor of Glendale Mr. Frank
Quintero, and Mr. Greg Martayan, who is running for LA City Council. A
short program outlining the purpose and mission of APN was followed
by an intimate reception.

Georgia should rather strivie for joining CSTO than NATO
Pravda.RU:World
19:20 2004-06-22
Chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) committee
for CIS affairs and ties with countrymen Andrei Kokoshin believes
that it would be more logical for Georgia to strive for joining the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) than NATO. The CSTO
incorporates Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan.
“It would be more logical for Georgia to strive for joining the CSTO
since the new Georgian leadership has said many times of late about
its friendly feelings towards Russia, and its recognition of Russia’s
leading role in ensuring security and stability in the region,”
Kokoshin said on Tuesday in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to him, the CSTO is more modern and flexible organization
than NATO, which was created after the cold war period and therefore
is not burdened by the past events.”
Kokoshin believes that the attempts of Georgian and some other
CIS countries’ representatives to use Russia-NATO cooperation
as an argument in favor of its entering NATO are “groundless and
illogical.” “Russia cooperates with NATO in combating terrorism, in
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and in some other
areas where this cooperation is mutually beneficial and equal. But
this is achieved not always,” Kokoshin explained.
He also pointed out that “Russian and foreign experts differently
assess the effectiveness of such cooperation inside NATO as well,
not to mention its interaction with external partners.”
“The overwhelming majority of State Duma deputies have a negative
attitude to statements made by some Georgian officials about the
plans of its joining NATO,” Kokoshin stressed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress