Category: News

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
06 août 2004
Danses et musiques d’Arménie
Dans le cadre du festival de Confolens Monts-sur-Guesnes vient
d’accueillir l’ensemble folklorique arménien « Bert » d’Erevan,
groupe constitué en 1963 pour conserver et restituer de façon vivante
le folklore de son pays.
Fougueuses danses des hardis montagnards ou évolutions gracieuses des
jeunes filles, danses paysannes, danses des pêcheurs, chansons
exprimant la peine et les combats du peuple ou la nostalgie de
l’exilé, instruments de musique aux sons étonnants, superbes
costumes, sans oublier le talent des danseurs et musiciens… Une
nouvelle fois, les quelques 2000 personnes qui s’étaient rassemblées
sur la place du Chteau ont pu apprécier un spectacle d’une grande
qualité, a tel point que les quelques gouttes de pluie qui sont
venues se mêler à la fête lors du final, n’ont en rien diminué les
longs et chaleureux applaudissements qui ont salué la prestation de
cet ensemble.
Après ce spectacle, un grand feu d’artifice musical illuminait le
ciel montois de milliers d’étoiles multicolores, véritable bouquet
final à cette soirée concoctée de main de maître par toute une équipe
composée essentiellement de bénévoles.

DWELLERS OF AKHALKALAKI HAVE TO CONDUCT CHECKUP OF CARS IN AKHALTSIKH
AKHALKALAKI, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). The State Motor Licensing and
Inspection Department was liquidated as a result of the reforms
carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The Road
Patrol Service with more limited number of employees will be
established instead of it. In Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda the Office
on Cars Registration was also liquidated as a result of these
changes. As a result one should go to Akhaltsikh, the regional center
of Samtskhe-Javakheti, for conducting the checkup of cars and
receiving the driving licence. According to the “A-Info” Agency, the
order of maintenance and registration of cars wasn’t changed in other
regions of Georgia. Such a change took place only in the Akhalkalaki
and Ninotsminda regions. In addition, it is expected that the
registration office in Akhaltsikh will move in November.

LEBANESE DEPUTY PRESENTS HIS POLITICAL PROGRAM TO CATHOLICOS OF GREAT
CILICIAN HOUSE
ANTELIAS, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). Lebanese MP Rober Ganem presented
his political program in the upcoming presidential elections during
his meeting with the Catholicos of the Great Cilician House held at
Bikfaya temple on August 3. Ganem presented his approaches to
different spheres of the life of Lebanon. Catholicos Aram I stressed
the necessity of the respect of the rights of national communities
along with the observance of their obligations especially in the
political circles, as well as the importance of the strengthening of
the democratic direction. According to the press service of the Great
Cilician House, the meeting became a reason for the discussion of the
problems of the region, especially of the latest events in
Iraq. Catholicos Aram I expressed his concern on the occasion of the
terrorist acts committed at the Christian churches, mentioning them as
a phenomenon unworthy of neither Islam nor Christianity.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CATHOLICOS OF GREAT CILICIAN HOUSE INVITED TO ERITREA
ANTELIAS, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). The newly appointed Patriarch of the
Orthodox Church of Eritrea sent a message to His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicose of the Great Cilician House, to pay an official visit to
Eritrea. The head of the sister-church of Eritrea that recently joined
the family of the Eastern Churches in his letter highly estimated the
inter-church activities of Supreme Patriarch Aram I. He expressed his
gratitude to the Supreme Patriarch for his work carried out in the
direction of the membership of the Orthodox Church of Eritrea in the
World Council of Churches. According to the press divan of the
Catholicosate of the Great Cilician House, the church of Eritrea
became a member of the World Council of Churches at the sitting of the
Central Board of the World Council of Churches last August.

NKR GOVERNMENT UNDERTAKES STEPS FOR REALIZATION OF PROVISIONS OF LAW
ON NATIONAL CURRENCY
STEPANAKERT, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). The NKR government undertakes
steps for the realization of the provisions of the law “On National
Currency” approved by the NKR National Assembly in late December
2003. NKR Minister of Finances and Economy Spartak Tevosian said about
it in his interview given to the “Azat Artsakh” (“Free Artsakh”)
newspaper. The NKR Minister mentioned that the daily work with foreign
investors, corresponding international including financial structures
is important in the matter of the economic development and
independence of the NKR. According to Spartak Tevosian, the NKR
carries out the actions directed at the provision of the economic
independence of the republic.

A NUMBER OF BENEVOLENT PROGRAMS IMPLEMENTED IN VILLAGE OF ZORAKAN OF
TAVUSH MARZ
IJEVAN, August 6 (Noyan Tapan). A building of the communal center is
being built in the village of Zorakan of the Tavush marz where
refugees from the village of Chardakhlu of the Shamkhor region of
Azerbaijan live. It’s built with the resources of the RA Fund of
Social Investments amounting to $100 thousand. The building will have
an adiministration, a cultural center, a library and a first aid
post. The family of Hovnanians will donate another $10 thousand for
this program. “The Memory Fund of Jinishian” will donate $18 thousand
for the purpose of solution of the problem of potable water in
Zorakan. Besides, upon the “Provisions for Job” program the internal
irrigation network with a lengh of 13 km has already been repaired in
Zorakan. And a program of irrigation of pastures is implemented with
the financing of the JTZ German organization.

Bloomberg
Aug 4 2004
Kerry Lists Endorsements From 204 Corporate Leaders
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry
released a list of 204 executives who endorse his economic policies,
including Oracle Corp. President Charles Phillips and David
Bonderman, founder of the buyout firm Texas Pacific Group.
Kerry trailed President George W. Bush in the number of chief
executives donating to their campaigns as of last month. Fifty-two
chief executives from Russell 1000 Index companies had donated money
to Kerry’s campaign, compared with 280 who gave to Bush’s re-election
bid, according PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan group based in
Washington.
Five executives on Kerry’s list joined him in Davenport, Iowa, today
at what the campaign called an “economic summit.” They said the
Bush administration turned a budget surplus into a deficit and is
hurting U.S. standing and business interests around the world by the
way it is conducting foreign policy and the Iraq war.
“I think the deficit is just plain bad for the country and bad for
business,” Peter Chernin, chief operating officer of News Corp.,
told an audience of about 250. “I don’t think you can fight two
wars, one internationally and one domestically, and at the same time
cut taxes.” His company owns Fox News Channel.
In addition to Phillips and Chernin, those joining Kerry in Davenport
were Owsley Brown, chief executive of Brown-Forman Corp.; Charles
Gifford, chairman of Bank of America Corp.; and Penny Pritzker,
president of Pritzker Realty Group.
Kerry’s Plan
Phillips said, “Business people as well as financial markets are
really opposed to risk and uncertainty” and the “radical change in
our foreign policy in the last 12 months” has complicated decisions
about where and how to invest.
Kerry said that, as president, he would cut the deficit in half in
four years, cut corporate taxes by 5 percent while eliminating tax
breaks for companies creating jobs overseas, and relieve employers of
some costs of providing health care.
He also said he and his running mate, North Carolina Senator John
Edwards, who made a fortune as a trial lawyer, will show it’s
possible to cut back on “frivolous lawsuits” through changes to
tort and medical malpractice laws.
“There is a lot of disenchantment with Bush and his handling of the
economy,” said William Kennard, managing director at Carlyle Group
and former Federal Communications Commission chairman. He said some
people, including longtime Republicans, believe Bush “has squandered
an opportunity. He squandered the surplus in 2 1/2 years and he’s
passing on this debt to our children and grandchildren.”
Costco’s Sinegal
Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of buyout firm Silver Lake Partners, said
he tells business friends, “If George Bush was the chief executive
of a company, and we were the board of directors, we would have met
long ago and fired him.”
Also on Kerry’s list of current and former executives is Costco
Wholesale Corp. president and chief executive Jim Sinegal, a Democrat
who says Bush’s $1.7 trillion in tax cuts unfairly benefits the
wealthy. Sinegal, 68, heads the largest U.S. warehouse-club chain.
The Kerry list includes leaders of investment firms and banking
executives such as Thomas Johnson, chairman and chief executive of
Greenpoint Financial Corp., the second-biggest New York savings and
loan. Bonderman is managing partner at Texas Pacific Group, based in
Fort Worth.
“We are now mired in a struggle that is taking on some of the
aspects of a civil war” in Iraq said Johnson in an interview. “I
really question how we’ll be effective in ending that struggle.”
Bush’s Backers
Kerry, 60, a four-term U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said he and
Edwards, 51, are determined to create “a business climate that helps
companies succeed and create good paying jobs right here in
America.”
“We’ve assembled some of the best leaders in our country, who are
supporting my candidacy for president because they believe — even at
the risk of becoming involved in politics, which is not easy for CEOs
and companies — they believe we can do better,” Kerry said.
Bush has won financial backing from the CEOs of nine of the top 10
U.S. companies ranked by market capitalization, including Intel Corp.
CEO Craig Barrett, 64. Pfizer Inc. CEO Hank McKinnell and American
International Group Inc. CEO Maurice Greenberg, 79, each have raised
at least $200,000 for Bush.
“Our campaign enjoys broad support with an array of business
leaders,” said Scott Stanzel, a Bush campaign spokesman. “Small
business men and women throughout this country know that Kerry’s
plans for higher taxes, more regulation and more litigation would
derail our economy and kill jobs throughout the country.”
Giving the Maximum
At least three executives on Kerry’s list also gave the maximum
$2,000 to Bush’s re-election campaign, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group:
August A. Busch IV, president of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos.
Inc., the world’s largest brewer; Kirk Kerkorian, chief executive
officer of Las Vegas-based Tracinda Corp., an investment company; and
Jeffrey Smulyan, president of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications
Corp.
Of the 204 people on the Kerry endorsement list, 67 are now chief
executives. It includes some corporate leaders whose support for
Kerry and for Democrats was already well known, such as Lee Iacocca,
former chairman of Chrysler Corp. He endorsed Kerry in June.
Concern Over Deficit
Other executives include Tom Freston, 58, co-president and co-chief
operating officer at Viacom Inc., the third-largest U.S. media
company, and Bill Hambrecht, 68, founder, chairman and CEO of W.R.
Hambrecht, a San Francisco-based investment bank. Hambrecht in
December gave $2,000 to the presidential campaign of Kerry’s rival,
Howard Dean.
Eli Broad, 71, chairman of AIG SunAmerica Inc., is also endorsing
Kerry. Broad, 70th on this year’s Forbes magazine list of
billionaires with estimated assets of $5.8 billion, in June
criticized Bush for “running these huge deficits in recent years.”
Sarah Bianchi, Kerry’s policy director, said the executives were
drawn to the campaign because they are concerned about the federal
budget deficit, rising health-care costs and, as frequent travelers,
the U.S. reputation around the world.
Assembling Endorsements
Three Kerry supporters in the business community helped assemble the
endorsements for the Democrat, his campaign said. They are Steven
Rattner, managing principal of Quadrangle Group; Roger Altman,
co-founder of Evercore Partners, an investment and advisory firm; and
Blair Effron, vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank’s investment
banking department.
“This level of business support is unusual for a Democratic nominee
and validates the extent to which Kerry is seen as a centrist and a
reliable leader,” Altman, 58, a former U.S. deputy Treasury
secretary, said in an interview. Kerry is proposing to reinstate
federal budget controls that Bush abandoned, leading to a record
deficit of $445 billion for this fiscal year, Altman said.
Effron, in an interview, said two-thirds of those on the list had
never before taken a visible role in a political campaign and said he
hoped their support will encourage other business leaders to back the
campaign.
Key States
The meeting comes on the sixth day of Kerry’s post- convention bus
tour across the U.S., with a focus on states likely to decide the
Nov. 2 election. Bush was also visiting Davenport today, holding a
rally blocks from where Kerry held his economic meeting.
Former Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee in
2000, defeated Bush in Iowa by about 4,000 votes four years ago.
Bush says last year’s tax cuts helped the economy add 1.3 million
jobs in the past six months. Kerry says the added jobs pay, on
average, $9,000 less a year than those that have been lost.

Perpetual War or Perpetual Peace?
Published in “Panorama”, Institute of War and Peace Reporting, July 2004
Hikmet Hajizade, Vice-President of FAR Centre, Baku
Baku
13 June 2004
“And how is the Karabakh conflict?” a famous Pakistani journalist
asked me at a seminar in a small German town. “Just the same, the
conflict continues, there’s no peace, no war,” I replied. “How
interesting,” he said with a smile. “The break-up of the USSR began
with this conflict. Now the USSR no longer exists and the conflict is
still continuing?”
Yes, on the whole things are pretty much the same. But we can notice
some changes which are unfortunately changes for the worse. What I
have in mind is Azerbaijani public opinion on the Karabakh issue,
which could be described as close to despair. “It’s impossible to
fight, Russia is behind Armenia, while the West is stubbornly
demanding a peace settlement to secure it’s investments in Azerbaijani
oil. Negotiations, with all possible mediators, have been going on
for years and lead to nothing. Oil diplomacy (our oil in return for
Western support on the Karabakh issue) has brought no
results. People’s diplomacy, sponsored by the West, has also failed?”
So there is a growing feeling in society that Azerbaijan is betrayed
and besieged on all sides. Society is close to a frustration which has
begun to be expressed in uncontrolled hatred and its desperate
manifestations very similar to what is happening in the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“And we understand this despair and hatred,” well-known Armenian
journalist Mark Grigorian told me several years ago at a conference in
Tbilisi. “First it was you who were victorious for a long time (it
seems he meant the Armenian-Turkish conflicts of the last thoutsand
years) and we it was us who hated you. Now we have defeated you and
you are hating us…”
I didn’t have an answer to this piercing observation, I just felt
despair. What is the solution here? If, inshallah, we manage to
defeat them, then they will hate us again and we will carry on
destroying each other till the end of the world. Are we to have
perpetual war?
It seems that the question “who, in the end, finally won in history”
is one of the main questions, if not the prime question, in the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Of course the issues of protecting the
rights of national minorities and of individuals are important and so
is the role of the super-powers. But “who, in the end, finally
won…?” is still more important for us?
But of course there will be no final victory here, only perpetual
despair and hatred and it is time we all understood this. And
generally whichever of the opposing sides “won” a certain round in
this millenium-long dispute failed to understand this. Today Armenia
has won and it now wants to “cooperate” with us, hoping that
cooperation will heal the wounds of defeat. But it is not working:
“There can be no cooperation with the occupiers of our land,” even new
head of state Ilham Aliev said recently and his words reflect public
opinion in Azerbaijan.
As long as this problem is unsolved no road can lead us to peace. Even
if well-intentioned international powers force peace on us, our hatred
will only be driven deep inside us and could flare up again.
Our mentality, our view of the world and history, have to change. We
have to understand that all these “noble historical victories” were
nothing but the pillage and violent eviction of neighbours in the era
of a battle of all against all for limited resources — and that now
these resources over which we destroyed each other have lost whatever
value they once had.
Our confrontational mentality can’t be changed by “third forces” or
written constitutions and ratified European conventions on human
rights. It can change only as a result of honest and free discussion
conducted by citizens of a free country. So I believe that for
perpetual war to be replaced by perpetual peace our countries should
become democratic. Or as Kant wrote in his “Perpetual Peace”: “The
Civil Constitution of Every State (that wants perpetual peace) Should
Be Republican”.
Before beginning negotiations (negotiations with international
mediators, bilateral negotiations or negotiations within the framework
of people’s diplomacy), the parties ought to pay attention to
themselves! The parties ought to become republics, free and diverse
discussions have to begin in their societies about anything and
everything that is of concern to their citizens. The societies have to
find the civic courage in themselves to throw off their historical
ghosts and discuss the problem of perpetual war and perpetual
peace. And if the international community wants to help our countries
establish Perpetual Peace, it should stop spending money on senseless
“joint projects and research” and help our countries become honest and
open, help them become democratic. Democracies do not fight one
another?
As for Azerbaijan, which is sunk in its internal political despair and
internal political apathy, then I have to forecast that Karabakh,
which we have desired all this time, won’t return until we build a
democratic society. Even if Azerbaijan is three times as strong as
Armenia, the world won’t allow a government which oppresses its
citizens to extend its inhuman rule to the Armenian national minority?
I don’t intend to forget about the influence of third forces or the
role of superpowers in fanning the conflict but I believe that first
we have to get to grips with ourselves and then it will be clearer
what we should do about third forces?
Earlier this year I met Mark Grigorian again in Durban, South Africa,
at the Third Assembly of the Word Movement for Democracy. Mark had had
to leave his country and move to London because he was being
persecuted in Armenia for his journalistic work. I was also reluctant
to leave the fairytale beauty of Durban to go home to a country which,
after the presidential elections at the end of 2003, had suffered a
massive crackdown on opposition activists and protestors.
It occurred to me later that, without agreeing to do so, neither of us
uttered a word about the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. Mark showed me
the wounds left by the exploding grenade which had left 32 pieces of
shrapnel in his body which pro-government forces had thrown at him. I
told him about torture in our prisons which our citizens who protested
against mass vote-rigging in the presidential elections endured.
No desire emerged to destroy one another, even in argument. The desire
emerged to help one another?

armeniannow.com
August 6, 2004
Stop for Green: Activists call on authorities to halt ecological destruction
in Yerevan
By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A group of environmental activists is taking steps to alert the highest
authorities in Armenia to what they see as a serious and dangerous hazard
concerning “green areas” in Yerevan.
The group has prepared a letter to the Government of Armenia in which it
brings to attention the destruction of several major Yerevan parks that have
been denuded to make space for new cafes.
Trees have become props for the cafe life.
The letter calls upon the Government of Armenia and the Municipality of
Yerevan to stop all “legal” and “illegal” construction in the areas of the
Tsitsernakaberd (Genocide Monument), Circular Park, Hrazdan Canyon, Freedom
Square and some central streets in the capital.
In 1998, there were 197 cafes in the center of Yerevan, serving a population
of about 75,000. As of 2002 the number had increased to 415 and has risen
even higher in the past two years. (ArmeniaNow asks city officials for the
latest number and was told a written request must be submitted.)
Ecologists argue that the constrction of cafes robs the city of its
aesthetic value and leaves citizens with no place for solitude.
The activists are demanding that officials (many of the cafes are owned by
various ministers and government authorities) who are responsible for the
destruction of green areas be held to account. And they say they are ready
to bring a lawsuit against the President of Armenia, the Prime Minister,
present and former mayors, city architects and others, if appropriate action
is not taken.
But even the activists aren’t optimistic about Yerevan’s future ecological
situation.
“It is a hopeless situation,” says Armen Dovlatyan, president of Armenian
Ecological Benevolent Union. “If the destruction of green zones will
continue, soon Yerevan will become a desert zone” .
According to Dovlatyan, beginning from the 1990s Yerevan lost more than
1,500 hectares from 2,000 hectares of its green zone.
“Everybody tries to blame war and energyc problems in 1990-1995, when people
in order do get warmth in winter cut trees,” he says. “But according to our
investigations, the cut area was only 430 hectares in 1990-1995, and between
1995-2003, 1,000 hectares of green zone.”
Today in Yerevan, ecologists claim, there are less than 500 hectares of
green zone left, due, they say, which are also endangered due to to
political wrongdoing and ignorance.
Concrete replaces greenery.
Dovlatyan says that every official of Yerevan guarantees that there will be
no permission to build new buildings and cafes. But the promises are broken
and green zones are destroyed especially by the officials and their
relatives, in order to build personal homes or entertainment businesses.
ArmeniaNow asked Former Yerevan City Chief Architect, Narek Sargsyan (under
whose adminstration most cafes were built) if he was aware of a potential
lawsuit against the city.
“Yes, when you build something in this town, at the end you will be sued,”
Sargsyan said.
The Chief Architect would not say whether he had issued permits for the
structures which the ecologists say are illegal.
“For the last few years the summer heat became awful, which is also the
result of the green zones destruction. There is no air for breathing,” says
the leader of the Armenian Aryan Community Armen Avetisyan, who also joined
the ecologists. “This is a cultural-historical massacre, which needs to be
stopped.”
Dovlatyan says, that besides the heat, the destruction of the green zones in
the capital became the reason for strong winds as well as the rise of heart
and respiratory diseases.
“I can give you an example from Nork Forest, next to which I live,” says
National Assembly deputy Arshak Sadoyan, citing a green area scheduled to be
reduced by 80 percent for construction. “When I look at the forest it hurts
me and I start to think: ‘What are we doing to the future of our children?
Yerevan has to have lungs, but we have already lost those lungs. And by this
action (the letter) we will try to protect our citizens and give back lungs
to Yerevan.”
The coalition of ecologists is starting a signature campaign to collect
endorsements by citizens who share their concern. Since it started a week
ago, some 2,500 signatures have been collected. The group hopes to gather
10,000 signatures, and, if demands are not met, plans to sue the Government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

armenianow.com
August 6, 2004
Demonstration Art: Fourth festival hopes to bring international attention to
Gyumri
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
The fourth Gyumri International Biennial begins tomorrow
(August 7) and for the next three weeks will fill the city’s four museums
with contemporary and even avante garde art. And for the fourth time since
1998, spectators will have their chance to be surprised, engrossed, shocked
perhaps, and will no doubt exercise their rights as art “critics”.
Tadevosyan wants to bring international attention to Gyumri art
“In Armenia people are not ready for avant garde art, because of many years
of totalitarian and closed regime,” says Biennial founder Vazgen Pahlavouni
Tadevosyan. And, while Gyumri is a traditional center of art in Armenia, it
was also a center of traditional art.
Gyumri residents, however, like to “make defects in to effects,” Tadevosyan
says. “There is a thrust for art here . . .”
No other CIS country has such an art festival. And, when it was conceived
six years ago, organizers themselves were not sure how it would be received
in a place yet marked by Gyumri’s tragedy from the earthquake of 1988.
“But we were sure that especially in these ruins things will work,”
Tadevosyan says. “Advanced art is very dynamic, not petrified and
traditional. It can work in ruins, because it has many alternatives and
different methods.”
The first festival, called “Time, Territory, Research”, was a form of art
therapy for Gyumri. And it was a surprise for visitors from outside Armenia.
But the main goal, Tadevosyan says, was to give Gyumri a holiday.
The idea of course is not original. The first biennial was in Venice, 100
years ago. Armenian artist Martiros Saryan was among international artists
who participated in Venice.
“At the time when the USSR was collapsing, we already had such ideas,”
Tadevosyan says. “Gyumri was a flourishing city and there was a possibility
to make it an art center on an international level.”
But such dreams were shelved when Gyumri was destroyed by earthquake and
soon after the war in Karabakh broke out.
But the founders of the biennial were determined to take either a brave step
or a foolish one, and decided to inaugurate an international festival in the
ruins of a city.
“We have to do something according to international standards, otherwise
there is no meaning, but thanks God, the calculations were right and people
came,” Tadevosyan says.
“Critics” will get a chance to define “art”
This year the festival will include 60 to 70 artists from England, Ireland,
Russia, Iran, Austria, Italy, Germany, France and USA.
“We must make Armenia a country of international art,” Tadevosyan says.
“Through the biennial people started to know Gyumri. Our city is in a
healing process now and it is getting better with this art dialogue. ”
This year’s festival will be financed by United Nationals Developmental
Program, the British Council and “Ararat” Brandy Company. Different
embassies help participants from their countries.
Tadevosyan says:” We know that we are on the long road, and we will not see
the end, because other generations will continue our work. We also know that
we’ll not have an international reputation in soon. When you plant a tree,
you can only eat the fruit after some years. Gyumri`s biennial is very
important, because we have things to say to the world and to say them
bravely and proudly.”