Category: News

World Team wins Petrosian Memorial by a point
Chessbase News, Germany
June 16 2004
16.06.2004 A heroic comeback by the Petrosian team in the final two
rounds fell a point short. Anand-Kasparov was one of several short
draws in the final round. Vaganian had the only win of the round, an
impressive bind against Adams. Gelfand, once Petrosian’s star pupil,
battled hard for the full point against Bacrot to no avail. Report
and games.
Team Petrosian comeback falls just short
Round 6 (June 15, 2004)
Petrosian Team 3-3 World Team
Kasparov (3.5/6) ½-½ Anand (3.5/6)
Leko (4) ½-½ Vallejo (3)
Gelfand (2) ½-½ Bacrot (3.5)
Akopian (2.5) ½-½ Svidler (4)
Vaganian (3.5) 1-0 Adams (3)
Lputian (2) ½-½ van Wely (1.5)
Final overall score:
World Team: 18.5 – 17.5 Petrosian Team
It was a valiant effort, but the Petrosian team fell short by the
thinnest possible margin at the end. After looking overmatched in the
first half, the ‘friends of Armenia’ squad didn’t lose a game in the
final two rounds and almost climbed back from a four-point deficit.
It was a great match, and it was fitting that the Petrosian Memorial
was a team event. Tigran Petrosian consistently put up phenomenal
scores in team events throughout his career. An incredible six times
he got the best score in the Olympiads playing for the USSR over a
20-year span.
After five draws Rafael Vaganian bared his teeth and squashed Mickey
Adams in what must have been one of the ugliest losses in the
Englishman’s career. It will also provide a lift for club players
everywhere who adore the Stonewall variation of the Colle, a rare
bird at the GM level. Vaganian got a knight on d6 that will keep
Adams up nights and then squeezed before finally administering the
coup de grace with a pawn breakthrough.
It was a good reminder that Vaganian was considered one of the
toughest players in the world for several decades and he admirably
carried the mantle of Armenian chess after Petrosian. He was playing
in the Soviet championship before Adams was born!
With Anand coming off of a loss and with his team leading by two
points we didn’t really expect a battle royal against Kasparov. The
world number one strayed from his usual Najdorf to play Kramnik’s
(and everyone else’s) favorite, the Sveshnikov. It isn’t the first
time Kasparov has ventured it, and there was no question about
preparation since the players followed the most popular line all the
way to move 20. Anand had reached this position before, last year
against Kramnik, and here tried to change the move order up, but
didn’t get anywhere. The draw was agreed on move 26.
Akopian-Svidler and Vallejo-Leko were short draws. Lputian and van
Wely sparred more seriously. The Armenian played a nice petite
combination (that’s English for petit combinaison) and got a pleasant
position with black, but allowed a repetition check. Then it was up
to Petrosian’s star pupil, Boris Gelfand. He tried his best to grind
out a win against Bacrot but the Frenchman defended well to split the
point and preserve his team’s one-point victory.
There’s no “I” in “team”, so you can’t place blame on anyone or give
particular credit, but we will anyway because we get paid by the word
around here. Standout performances by Bacrot and Vaganian cancelled
out on the scoreboard. Both team leaders were outscored by the second
boards. If you have to look for a difference-maker you find Gelfand’s
-2 performance. He played 132 points below his 2714 rating and didn’t
score a win.
Vaganian – Adams after 36…g5
This knightmare of a game came to a merciful end when Vaganian
finally played 37.d5! If Black captures with the e-pawn Nf5+ wins the
house with a triple attack. Instead Adams played 37…Bxd5 38.Nxb5
and resigned.
van Wely – Lputian after 23.Qc3
Lputian finds a clever way to keep a knight off of b5 and to activate
his rooks. 23…Bxa4 24.Nxa4 Rea8 25.Nxc4 desperado 25…Rxa4 26.Nb2
Ra2 and they played a repetition a few moves later.

RUSSIAN MAMMOTH TAKES FIRM STANDING IN ARMENIA
RIA Novosti, Russia
June 15 2004
YEREVAN, June 15 (RIA Novosti) – President Robert Kocharyan is
enthusiastic as Russia’s industrial holding Volgaburmach has appeared
in his country. “It will be a partner to rely on,” he says.
The President received Andrei Ischuk, company Directors’ Board
chairman, yesterday, reports the presidential press service. The
conferees discussed drafting progress on a final version of a contract
for the Volgaburmach to overtake the entire stock of the Armenian-based
Nairit research-cum-production amalgamation, on the world’s Top Five
list of chloroprene rubber manufacturers.
Mr. Ischuk offered to the President an investment programme, and
blueprints to improve the company and bring it back to full capacity.
A contract on which the Volgaburmach will acquire complete Nairit
stock was signed in Yerevan, April 16.
The Volgaburmach possesses 14 factories and 11 construction and
assembly offices. Its consolidated turnover exceeded US$200 million
last year.

Romancing the stones
The Guardian, UK
June 16 2004
Julian Cope may well be the only antiquarian researcher to have
appeared on Top of the Pops while stoned on acid. He talks to John
Vidal about why we venerate landscape, the politics of heritage,
shamanism, and the prehistoric nature of football worship
Julian Cope, a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap, is sitting
under a great oak at Avebury, one of Britain’s finest megalithic sites,
holding forth on what makes a place hallowed. There are, he says, tens
of thousands of stone circles, dolmans, amphitheatres and monuments,
but these are mere pointers. “The sacred landscape is everywhere,”
he says. “Britain’s ancientness shocks me. It’s all there, just below
the surface. You can peel it away like the skin of an onion.”
Cope is an expert on stone circles, but he’s not your average
antiquarian researcher. Rock star, self-styled shaman and goddess
worshipper, his conversation roams from druids (“an elite bunch
of control freaks”) to planning policy (he calls for a new era of
megalith-building in Britain).One minute he is learnedly discussing
alignments of stones with a passer-by, the next he’s leaping around
imitating a horned God. The heritage industry, environmentalism,
prehistoric culture and the goalkeeper-as-shaman are all on his
idiosyncratic agenda.
Places can be both modern and sacred, he ruminates. The best examples
are Avebury, Stonehenge, and especially Glastonbury, where people
today still go to from the city in an updated version of western
worship. But the examples are not exclusively ancient. St Paul’s
cathedral in London is sacred – though the technological age,
embodied in the modern city buildings that surround it and dominate
it, has sapped some of its power. The Twin Towers of New York, Cope
argues, represented a sacred landscape for Americans. Each culture,
he suggests, can make its own temples.
Cope is singular. He was the lead singer of post-punk indie band,
The Teardrop Explodes, who shone brilliantly for a couple of
amphetamine-fuelled years in the early 1980s. He became a cult
solo rocker, and author of two critically-acclaimed volumes of
autobiography. He may, too, be the only bona fide antiquarian
researcher to have performed on Top of the Pops while on acid,
and to have posed naked (for an album cover) beneath the shell of a
giant turtle.
More recently, he gave two talks at the British Museum about the norse
divinity Odin – an occasion noted for his appearance in five-inch
platform shoes and the fact that his hairspray forced the evacuation
of the building after setting off fire alarms.
He plays the fool, but he certainly isn’t one. Four years ago,
his eight-year study of the ancient sites of Britain, The Modern
Antiquarian, did as much as a thousand archaeologists and academics to
drag late-prehistoric megalithic cultural studies into the present. It
sold more than 40,000 copies in hardback and won the respect of many
of Britain’s leading researchers. What impressed the academics was
not just the fact that, unlike them, he had the time and money to
visit almost every one of the hundreds of sites that litter Britain,
but that the infectious enthusiasm and knowledge of this errant,
sometimes absurd, genius was filled with the kind of insights that
could never come from the mainstream.
Cope may follow a long and honourable line of 18th- and 19th-century
amateur antiquarians who meticulously recorded ancient sites and tried
to interpret pre-history, but his take is equally informed by rock
‘n’ roll, and his experience of wildness and shamanism.
The megalith builders, he says, were these islands’ first settlers,
and humanity’s first known monument builders. Their urge to mark the
environment they lived in with monuments came out of reverence for
the sun and the moon, but also, he says, from the deep and abiding
urge to make human significance from land scape – something which,
he says, still deeply informs the British, who venerate both landscape
and the past more than in any other country in Europe.
“The stones and circles of Britain are absolutely central to who we
are today,” he says. “They have defined and shaped our society. Our
understanding of them makes us who we are. It shapes us, enriches
our culture, and allows us to reflect on our own obsessions.”
A few weeks ago, he visited the small Nine Ladies stone circle in the
Peak District national park, just a few hundred yards from where a
quarry company plans to extract millions of tonnes of stone. On one
level, he says, he was shocked by the threatened disturbance and the
“fucked up” quarriers; but he was also heartened by the intuitive
defence of the stones by a group of protesters who have been camped
in the woods nearby for more than three years.
Cope, an evironmentalist, is no stranger to protest, notably at the
Newbury bypass, where he donned the white hats of the roadbuilders
and started ordering around the security guards. But the Nine Ladies
protest at Stanton Lees also made him think about how the British have,
almost uniquely, held on to their past. He has just finished a massive
book on the ancient cultures of Europe, visiting more than 400 sites –
from the temple circles of Ireland to the stone boats of Scandinavia
and the megaliths of Armenia and the Mediterranean. He found many
in a sorry state, un appreciated or even knocked down. “We dont know
how blessed we are with our monuments,” he says. “In some places in
Iberia, you have to wade through human excrement to reach rock-cut
tombs.” Moreover, there is little study being done. Even though the
earliest neolithic settlers [in Crete] were the originators of the
Greek myths, little is known about them.
The significance of the stones in Britain, he suggets, is not
dissimilar to what it was thousands of years ago. “The Peak District
national park is now a vast sanctuary for the hundreds of thousands
of people who live near it, just as in the past the megalith builders
turned the whole area into a huge limestone sanctuary reflecting the
monumental landscape.”
We should, he says, think differently about landscape today, not be
so precious about monuments, and think about using it to reflect our
own age and obsessions.
“My idea of beauty is first based on what I know about it, and then
on what it looks like,” Cope says. “Perhaps we should set windfarms
up in lines or in circles. Let’s be monumental about them.” Giant
sculptures such as the Angel of the North come, he says, from the
same urge to give meaning to place.
The heritage conservation industry is, he suggests, overprotective.
He would see nothing wrong with people today re-erecting fallen
monuments, or even re-arranging the stones, just as the megalith
builders themselves thought nothing about dismantling some structures,
carting them off to make new monuments and changing their significance
according to the needs of the times.
He deplores the kind of insensitive roadbuilding seen at Stonehenge
or Newbury, which can carelessly destroy ancient landscapes, yet
he is no lover of the government’s obsessive protectionism that
lists up to 400,000 buildings and preserves landscapes in aspic as
some kind of romanticisation. “Often, it’s for no other reason than
that something is old,” he says. “That’s got to be total bullshit.
Something is only beautiful because of what it stands for. Some of our
destroyed castles are symbolic of terrible things, and are a mess. Why
preserve the Byker estate in Newcastle? It’s a monument to suffering.”
One of the roles of the modern rock star, he suggests, is to be the
shaman in society, opening the doors of the “underground”. “It’s
as close to the shaman’s contribution in prehistoric society as you
can possibly get,” he argues. “The shaman beating on the rotten log
in Cheddar Gorge would have used the stack of speakers today. I see
myself as a shaman. We have this idea that the shaman was insane,
but I think he filtered through all society. You have always have to
have people howling at the moon.”
We are much closer to our ancient roots than we might think, he says.
“Jim Morrison was probably the first to recognise the role of the
rock ‘n’ roller as shaman,” Cope says. “It was the Doors’ epics,
such as The End and When the Music’s Over, that tipped the audience
into the magical netherworld of ritual death and resurrection. Even
a really shit band in a youth club has a barbarian eloquence. It’s
a religion substitute.”
He sees echoes of prehistory cultures in everything. “Look at
football worship,” he says. “All those people gathered in an unroofed
stadium [is] not unlike what must have gone on in pagan sanctuaries.
The goalkeeper is the ultimate shaman, guarding the gates to the
underground, wearing the No 1 jersey in a different colour and not
seeming to be part of the team. We’ve never lost it. Modern beliefs
that we are at the tail end of a culture that is killing itself is
just bollocks.”
What of today’s archaeologists, picking away at our past? “They’re
like fucking mystics,” he says. He loves and respects them, but cannot
help winding them up. “I went down to one site wearing my Archbishop
Makarios hat. ‘I’m here to declaim loudly,’ I said. ‘You spend 16
hours a day pissing around in the wind and the rain. If that’s not
mystic, what is?’
“I think it’s essential there’s someone like me, if only to wind them
up. I’m past the stage of trying to theorise about these places. I
know what I believe, but I’m more interested in getting other people
to see for themselves.”
Cope stops for breath and, as if reviewing his role in life, remarks:
“In the end, I’m not a very good rock ‘n’ roller, but I’m a very good
Julian Cope.”
· As the summer solstice approaches, historian Andy Worthington
discusses sacred landscapes, public access and the politics of heritage
at SocietyGuardian.co.uk/environment
· More about Julian Cope at

ARMENIAN OFFICER KILLED IN FIGHTING NEAR AZERI BORDER
By Gevorg Stamboltsian
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
June 16 2004
YEREVAN, 16.06.04. An Armenian army officer was shot dead last week
in a fierce cross-border firefight with Azerbaijani forces in the
northern Tavush region which heightened military tension in the area,
the Armenian military revealed on Tuesday.
It also emerged that the fighting prompted urgent intervention
from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe which
has been monitoring the decade-long regime of ceasefire along
the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier and the line of contact east of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian, chief of staff of Armenia’s Armed
Forces, said skirmishes erupted after Azerbaijani troops occupied
a hill in a no-man’s land near the regional town of Ijevan which
overlooks a local water reservoir. He said Armenian forces responded
by moving their positions forward in order to defend a nearby facility
that pumps irrigation water to five local villages.
Harutiunian said the slain Armenian officer had the rank of
lieutenant but refused to disclose his identity. He also claimed
that the Azerbaijani side suffered more casualties. “It’s hard for
me to give a number, but we do know that many died on their side,”
he told reporters.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said in a separate statement that OSCE
officials began an urgent monitoring of the situation in the area at
the weekend and are trying to defuse the tensions. Harutiunian said
his troops will not pull pack to their previous positions unless the
Azerbaijanis withdraw from the hill. “Once they leave the hill and
ensure the safe work of the pump station we will make a corresponding
decision,” he said.
The incident highlighted the shaky nature of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
ceasefire, the tenth anniversary of which was marked last month.
Although the truce has largely held, hundreds of soldiers from both
sides are believed to have died in skirmishes periodically reported
from the line of contact. The most serious of them occur on the
Karabakh frontline which has the heaviest troop concentration.
RFE/RL

Language Map Data Center Goes Public
By TED ANTHONY
The Associated Press
06/16/04 01:39 EDT
NEW YORK (AP) – News flash: There is not a single Chinese speaker
residing in Box Butte County, Neb.. Which may not sound like a
particularly useful sliver of information – unless you’re a Box
Butte-bound speaker of Chinese looking for someone to converse with
out on northwestern Nebraska’s lonely prairie.
Now consider that ZIP Code 15101 – that’s Allison Park, Pa., near
Pittsburgh, for those of you keeping score at home – has 49 speakers of
Arabic and six of Armenian. Yiddish, meanwhile, is spoken by people
in every state – including two each in Montana and South Dakota,
suggesting that Billings and Rapid City aren’t the prime places to
pick up some killer smoked whitefish.
Why are we telling you all this? Because thanks to the Modern Language
Association, one of academia’s most venerable organizations, now
we can.
The MLA’s new interactive Language Map Data Center, which goes public
Wednesday, is a truly fascinating (“hen you yisi” in Chinese, “muy
interesante” in Spanish) glimpse into the tapestry of tongues spoken by
American citizens and residents. It’s a story told by 2000 U.S. Census
data, crunched and leveraged to linguistic and geographic ends.
“So often, when we think of languages and cultures that are not
Anglophone America, we think of the world out there – foreign,” says
Rosemary G. Feal, the MLA’s executive director. “We don’t necessarily
realize how, in our own American globalized society, we’ve got all
these linguistic resources woven into the fabric.”
For anyone interested in language and culture, the site – with its
interactive maps in bright purples and blues, easily navigable by
mouse – is as addictive as a catnip-filled mouse for a kitten. It’s
hardly just a parlor game, though. In an era when study of all foreign
languages is rising in America, the possibilities are myriad.
Academics tracking languages can hone in on particular
areas and find out how immigrants from abroad are integrating
linguistically. Marketers who want to target speakers of Thai,
Persian or Navajo can find the ZIP codes where mass mailings would
be the most lucrative. Social service agencies can calibrate their
work to the ethnic breakdowns in their own communities.
“We incorporate the world in the United States,” Feal says. “We
always have.”
And on a planet of terrorism and wars where intercultural communication
grows more crucial by the year – some in the U.S. government bemoaned
the lack of Pashtu translators, for example, during the first months
of the war in Afghanistan – knowing the language resources in one’s
own community or state can be a boon to national security as well.
“There’s not enough accurate information about how language works
and how language is present in our society,” says Donna Christian,
president of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C.
“There must be a thousand ways that civic leaders could use this
information.”
MLA developers initially conceived the language map idea as “a really
big poster” before the idea ran away with them and evolved into the
interactive operation. So far, they have mapped the top 30 languages
in the country.
They are working on an even more detailed second tier that will
be made available for crunching – suggesting that before too long,
we will presumably be able to determine how many speakers of Uighur
have taken up residence in Walla Walla, Wash.
America being what it is, someone will find that fact as pivotal as,
say, how many lefthanded shortstops named Tim are batting over .300
against righthanders during twi-night doubleheaders in Fenway Park
on Sundays in May.
“For people in this country, to appreciate the range of languages
spoken here is so important,” Christian says. “There’s such a strong
feeling that English is the only language around. To get an idea of
how many languages are spoken here, that can give us all a better
sense of understanding of each other.”
On the Net:
MLA Language Map Data Center:
(underscore)main

PEACE AGREEMENT FOR BETTER FUTURE OF KARABAKH
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 6 2004
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly reporter on Karabakh settlement
Goran Lenmarker will present a report in Edinburg on July 5, which
will include suggestions in reference to the ways of parliamentary
influence of the OSCE Minsk Group on the question of the Karabakh
settlement. Goran Lenmarker stated this in Stepanakert where he
had meetings with the NKR president, parliament leadership, public
organizations and representatives of refugees. During the meeting the
speaker of the Nagorni Karabakh parliament Oleg Yessayan mentioned
that he is satisfied with the fact that along with the OSCE Minsk
Group other European organizations start to occupy with the Karabakh
problem. He emphasized that the parliament of Nagorni Karabakh is
ready to assist comprehensively to the fair and peaceful settlement
of the problem. He emphasized that in Nagorni Karabakh they are
conscious that it is possible to achieve international recognition
only through building democratic statehood in our country. Goran
Lenmarker stated that he does not have much experience in the Karabakh
problem and at the same time he mentioned that he has great experience
in the question of other conflicts, especially the Balkan conflict
regulation. Lenmarker considers the main principles of work the rapid
settlement of the problem, maintenance of the cease-fire and the
admissibility of the decision for all the conflict parties. Lenmarker
mentioned that he does not intend taking the place of the Minsk
Group but he thinks that the parliament may have an important role
in the settlement of the problem. During the meeting the members of
parliament made their observations concerning the settlement. The head
of the NA faction “Dashnaktsutyun” (Armenian Revolutionary Federation)
Vahram Balayan emphasized that not recognizing the independence of
Nagorni Karabakh by the international community is a rough violation
of the rights of the Karabakh people who intend continuing to defend
their statehood. Member of the National Assembly of Nagorni Karabakh
Edward Aghabekian stressed that if “Europe intends settling the
Karabakh conflict in the way it did in the Balkans, then we prefer
the frozen state of the conflict without victims.” In this reference
Goran Lenmarker noticed that Europe has a self-critical attitude
to its policy in the Balkans and considers the reason of failure
hastiness of actions. Edward Aghabekian called the European officials
not to connect the settlement of the conflict to the pipeline or any
means of communication because this conflict was caused by the vital
necessity of self-preservation. In this reference member of the faction
“Democratic Liberal Union” M. Danielian pointed out the necessity
of the fair settlement of the problem emphasizing that the failure
of the Balkan settlement was the unfairness of its principles. Goran
Lenmarker stated that the unfairly settled conflicts take as a rule
a regressive course. During the meeting it was mentioned that the
European Union has completed the process of expanding in the north
and is now facing south, particularly the South Caucasus. In their
turn the members of the National Assembly mentioned that Karabakh has
always been part of the European civilization and sees its development
in northern direction. During the meeting with Karabakh journalists
Goran Lenmarker said that the aim of his visit to Karabakh was to see
the country, meet with the members of parliament, representatives of
the society and to get acquainted with the position of the people of
Karabakh in reference to the Karabakh regulation. Goran Lenmarker
stated that his role is to render parliamentary assistance to the
process of negotiations. According to him, judging by the European
experience, the parliament has huge potential for peaceful settlement
of conflicts. He mentioned that negotiations are governmentâ^À^Ùs
business, and the parliamentarians are to assist to the results of
those negotiations and inform the society. He stated that a peace
agreement must provide good future for the people of Karabakh. By
the way, he emphasized the importance of rapid settlement because as
a result the societies of Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan suffer.
AA.

ROUND TABLE IN MOSCOW PRODUCED NO RESULTS
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 6 2004
Commenting on the results of the round table held in Moscow, NKR
president Arkady Ghukassian mentioned that the parties could not
achieve a mutual understanding. “Practically no agreement was made
on any question. For different reasons Nagorni Karabakh, Armenia and
Azerbaijan refused the initial offers presented by the mediators. But
I think that this is a quite normal phenomenon for this format of
work because there are no traditions of relationships. In particular,
we have been outsiders in these processes for 5 years. I think it
takes time to work out a constructive basis for the negotiations. I
also think that the conference will go on and there may be new
suggestions. In any case Karabakh is for constructive work,” said
Arkady Ghukassian. Answering the question of activation of European
organizations in reference to the Karabakh problem Arkady Ghukassian
particularly mentioned that controversial information is received
from different European organizations. “Therefore we start from
the fact that there is the OSCE Minsk Group which specializes in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. We think that taking into account
its experience and efforts in the negotiations the Minsk Group is a
more prepared organization for the negotiations and therefore there
will hardly be any meaning in looking for new formats,” mentioned
the president of NKR. He emphasized that the Karabakh authorities
welcome the efforts of all the European organizations favouring
the work of the Minsk Group. “It is a different problem that these
organizations are not prepared enough to make any suggestion in
reference to the Karabakh settlement. We think this work needs to
be coordinated because any organization will hardly achieve success
alone,” emphasized Arkady Ghukassian.
AA.

“LIGHT TO ARMENIAN EYES”
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 6 2004
>>From May 17 to June 22 the charity organization “Armenian
Ophthalmologic Project” implements the program “Light to Armenian
Eyes” in Artsakh. We met with a group of ophthalmologists in Martakert
region. The minister of health Zoya Lazarian was there too. “Several
years ago the director of the organization Roger Hovhannissian living
in Los Angeles together with professor Malian arrived in Karabakh
from Yerevan and provided medical equipment to the republic hospital,”
said the minister. “Taking into account the lack of ophthalmologists in
Armenia and especially in Artsakh the organization decided to implement
a charity program involving leading specialists in the both Armenian
republics. The program was brought into being in Armenia and a year
ago receiving Roger Hovhannissian NKR president Arkady Ghukassian
suggesting implementing the program in Artsakh not after finishing
the visits to Armenian regions but in parallel. By the suggestion of
the NKR Ministry of Health the program of medical examination visits
involved not only Stepanakert but also the regions. The group has
already been in Hadrout and Martouni towns and villages, presently it
is in Martakert region. Then they will visit the upper subdistrict of
Askeran, the region of Shoushi, Kashatagh-Berdzor.” According to the
minister, the movable clinic consisting of the equipped surgery and
the theatre will remain in Stepanakert and the patients directed by
the examination groups will be operated on in the capital. “I repeat
that this is a charity action and examination is for everyone and free
of charge. Free operation is only for socially insecure people. And
another circumstance: similar collaboration is a peculiar schooling for
the local specialists. Our young specialists actively participate in
both the examination and operations,” said Zoya Lazarian. “It should
be mentioned that the group headed by doctor Avetissian works in the
region with great work load,” mentioned the director of the Martakert
Medical Union after R. Baziyan Sergey Ohanian. “It would be nice if
such medical examination was held at least once or twice a year. In the
regions (including ours) there is almost no ophthalmologic service and
few people can afford to leave for Stepanakert and Yerevan.” Touching
upon the problems of professional qualification, the minister of
health added that in Stepanakert she had asked Roger Hovhannissian to
work out a sponsored program for young ophthalmologists in Artsakh
to be implemented in Yerevan. “At least in this way we will manage
to fill the gap of professional specialists in our republic,” said
Zoya Lazarian.
NIKOLAY BAGHDASSARIAN

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/15/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Karabagh Tops Talks between Oskanian, Powell 2) EU Includes South Caucasus Countries in Neighborhood Policy 3) Congressmen Schiff, Radanovich Seek Committee Hearing on Armenian Victims Insurance Fairness Act 4) World Bank Extends $24 Million to Support Armenia Reforms 5) Gul Presents Turkey's Vision for Karabagh at Islamic Conference 1) Karabagh Tops Talks between Oskanian, Powell YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top officials on Monday to discuss the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, during Oskanian's visit to Washington. Commenting on the meeting, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted that Oskanian and Powell "discussed progress towards settlement of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict." "They also discussed the possibilities for improving relations between Turkey and Armenia and Armenia's prospects for receiving funds under the Millennium Challenge Account," Boucher added. "We also understand that Foreign Minister Oskanian is meeting today with Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Beth Jones, to go into some of these issues in more detail." Oskanian was also due to meet with national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, and senior Pentagon officials. Armenian government officials have rarely held such high-level talks in the US capital in recent year. The meeting comes in advance of the June 21 Prague meeting between Oskanian and Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. The two men have met twice in recent weeks under the auspices of the OSCE's Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia, and France. They have both issued cautiously optimistic statements, with Mamedyarov saying late last month that the peace talks are "intensifying" after a period of stagnation. Oskanian's trip to Washington follows an unexpected visit to Yerevan on June 3 by Steven Mann, America's chief Karabagh negotiator. 2) EU Includes South Caucasus Countries in Neighborhood Policy BRUSSELS (Armenpress/EurActiv.com)--The European Union (EU) this week formally included Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in its European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The move does not open the door to EU membershipofficials studiously avoid speculation, saying simply membership is "not on the agenda." However, the new neighborhood initiative could, over the next decades, lead to free trade, substantial aid grants, and extensive political dialogue with the EU. EU foreign ministers hailed the decision--passed by EU's External Relations Council in Luxembourg on June 14--as a "significant step forward in the Union's engagement with this region." The ENP's goal is to create circumstances that will allow Europe and its neighboring countries to "share the benefits of an enlarged EU." Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia will be given equal opportunity to develop links with the EU, and be allowed to submit Action Plans aimed at bolstering reforms. The plans, which must last a minimum of three years and promote regional cooperation, will be assessed based on individual merits, and in conformity to general ENP policy. The EU also identified Russia as a key partner in the bloc's new strategy of upgrading political and economic relations with its neighbors. 3) Congressmen Schiff, Radanovich Seek Committee Hearing on Armenian Victims Insurance Fairness Act WASHINGTON, DCCalifornia Congressmen Adam Schiff and George Radanovich have formally requested a committee hearing on the Armenian Victims Insurance Fairness Act (HR 3323). The bill would allow states to require insurance companies to disclose the identity of Genocide-era insurance policy holders. Unable to access necessary documents, many victims and their families are still unable to collect benefits owed to them. The Armenian Bar Association endorsed the legislation in April. "It is important for Congress to speak clearly on this issue so that states are permitted to act if they so choose," Congressmen Schiff and Radanovich wrote in their letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley, requesting the hearing. "Private settlement negotiations between insurance companies and families have been slow with no final resolutions reached to date. Families should not have to wait any longer for disclosure of policyholder lists." Customarily, a committee hearing on a bill is the first step followed by the committee's votes on the legislation at a later date. 4) World Bank Extends $24 Million to Support Armenia Reforms WASHINGTON, DC-- More than 22 million dollars will be extended to the Armenian Water and Sewage Company to implement its Municipal Water and Wastewater Project. The allocation will come from a Development Credit Agreement between the Government of Armenia and the World Bank's International Development Association, signed on June 14 by Armenia's Ambassador to the US Dr. Arman Kirakossian, and World Bank's Resident Representative in Armenia Roger Robinson. Armenia's water utility has undergone fundamental reforms for more than four years, and the World Bank credit is expected to advance greater reforms. Also signed was a Development Credit Agreement, which will allocate a supplemental $1.75 million to Armenia's ongoing Agricultural Reforms Support Program. During the signing ceremony, Robinson praised the Armenian government for its cooperation in implementing the World Bank programs. Ambassador Kirakossian said that by way of its expertise and financing since the reestablishment of independence in Armenia, the World Bank has helped the Government in its effort to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth. 5) Gul Presents Turkey's Vision for Karabagh at Islamic Conference ISTANBUL (Anadolu Agency)--Speaking at the 31st session of Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stressed that the Azeri-Armenian conflict still stands as one of the principle obstacles to regional stability, prosperity, and cooperation in the South Caucasus. "The time has come to find a peaceful solution to this conflict [while] maintaining the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories has to be brought to an end. This is in the interest of the regional countries as well as the international community. Turkey is ready to play its role in settling this issue." Commenting on the Cyprus issue, Gul noted that it is time for the international community to give full backing to the Turkish Cypriots by engaging in direct economic, commercial, social and cultural contact. "The EU and the United States have already taken some steps with a view to putting an end to the isolation of Turkish Cypriots," Gul said, urging the Islamic World to also extend full support to Turkish Cypriot "Muslim Brothers." All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

Moscow Times
June 16 2004
Gazprom Getting Tough With Ex-Soviet Republics
Combined Reports
Dmitry Beliakov / bloomberg
Ryazanov said Gazprom will gradually raise gas prices for all three
Baltic states.
Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, said Tuesday it
plans to cut deliveries of the fuel to former Soviet republics by
almost 5 percent this year and gradually raise prices for new
European Union members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
“We shall start pushing prices up for [the Baltic states] to the
level close to the European Union,” Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander
Ryazanov told a news conference.
He said that Gazprom, which rarely discloses export prices, supplies
the Baltic states at $84 per 1,000 cubic meters. Neighboring Poland
gets gas at about $120 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Gazprom will deliver 49.9 billion cubic meters of gas to the CIS,
Georgia and the Baltics, down from 52.3 bcm last year, he said.
Deliveries to Belarus will rise by 2 percent to 18.5 bcm, and to
Lithuania by 4 percent, to 3.07 bcm.
“There are serious problems in developing cooperation between Gazprom
and the CIS countries because of debts they owe for gas,” Ryazanov
said.
Gazprom says Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova owe $3.25 billion. At the
start of June, the company stopped deliveries to Poland and Germany
through Belarus after a price dispute.
Ryazanov warned that Gazprom might limit deliveries to Georgia, which
has accumulated a $50 million to $60 million debt.
“Georgia is our main headache,” he said.
Production will rise 3.3 percent to 542 bcm, with 291 bcm going to
Russia, he said. It expects to break even on domestic sales and earn
as much as $400 million from them in 2005.
“This is a transitional period, and we’ll look at prices when we get
over this period,” Ryazanov said.
Gazprom will increase transit shipments of gas from Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Georgia and Moldova as much as sixfold to 9.35 bcm this
year, he said. A total of 44.1 bcm from Central Asia will cross
Russian territory, along with 119.2 bcm from Ukraine, 33.1 bcm from
Belarus and 22.1 bcm from Moldova.
“The main problem in delivering Central Asian gas is the lack of a
decent transport infrastructure,” Ryazanov said.
He said Moldova owes Gazprom $1.26 billion, and the company is in
talks with the government on restructuring the debt, including
schemes under which Gazprom will get shares in Moldovan firms.
(Bloomberg, Reuters)