Category: News

Armenian president, army chief of staff discuss improving armed forces
Arminfo
23 Jul 04

Yerevan, 22 July: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan had a working
meeting with Col-Gen Mikael Arutyunyan, deputy defence minister and
chief of the general staff of the Armenian armed forces, today.
Arutyunyan told reporters today that he discussed with the president
the current situation in the region, the conclusions of the general
staff of the Armenian armed forces drawn up on the basis of the
analysis of the current situation and operational and tactical
training in the Armenian armed forces.
Moreover, the sides discussed issues of logistical supplies to the
armed forces, their funding, discipline, law and order in the armed
forces, as well as the results of the work of the intergovernmental
Armenian-Russian commission on the activities of the 102nd Russian
military base in Armenia.
“The president set several tasks to improve operational and tactical
training in the armed forces, especially organizational issues of
conducting in the near future major events in a unit of the Armenian
armed forces operating in the eastern (Azerbaijani) sector,”
Arutyunyan said.

Armenian leader, coalition parties discuss constitutional reforms
Arminfo
23 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and the leaders of the political
parties of the government coalition today discussed issues of
implementing constitutional reforms in the country, the presidential
press service told Arminfo news agency.

Another Armenian defector turns up in Azerbaijan
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
23 Jul 04

[Presenter] Another Armenian citizen has arrived in Azerbaijan. Ispirt
Kazaryan came yesterday by a Moscow-Baku flight and said that his
visit’s objective was to express his protest against the Armenian
government from Azerbaijan.
[Correspondent over video of Kazaryan at a briefing and archive
footage of two other Armenian defectors, Roman Teryan and Artur
Apresyan] Another Armenian has joined those Armenians who arrived in
Azerbaijan two months ago to protest against the unbearable living
conditions in Armenia. This is Ispirt Kazaryan, 65. He was born in
1939 in the town of Leninakan in Armenia. He is currently living in
Armenia and working at a plant there. The reason he ran away from
Armenia seems unusual at first glance.
He said that the town authorities did not let him sell his house in
Leninakan and wanted to take it from him. When his appeals to the
Armenian president, prime minister and other bodies remained
unanswered, he decided to head for Azerbaijan which is regarded as an
enemy of his country.
[Kazaryan speaking in Russian with Azeri voice-over] I came here to
tell the entire world about the deplorable situation in Armenia. There
is no law and order there. I have no position or opportunities. I can
only tell them to leave me alone.
I treat the Azerbaijani people very well and this is why I chose to
come here to talk about my problems.
[Correspondent] It is interesting that Kazaryan who came here to talk
about his problems admits that he was once employed as a mercenary in
the Karabakh military operations. However, he said that although he
received money for going to Karabakh he did not shoot at Azerbaijanis.
[Kazaryan speaking in Russian with Azeri voice-over] I can no longer
recall how much money I was paid, but it was very little money. I was
doing some other work and did not take part in fighting. I heard there
that there were mercenaries from the Middle East and France, but I
personally did not see them.
[Correspondent] His views on the Karabakh problem are also
interesting. He once went to those lands as a mercenary, but regrets
the occupation of Karabakh now like most of the Armenians.
[Kazaryan speaking in Russian with Azeri voice-over] Many people
regret that they fought. Nowadays everyone is leaving
Armenia. Everybody knows that sooner or later, Azerbaijan’s lands will
be returned. These lands have to be returned.
[Correspondent] Kazaryan says that the Armenian people do not want
another war. He no longer thinks about his fate or the fate of his
relatives. I only want them to leave me alone, end quote.

Armenian NGOs recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
Trend news agency
23 Jul 04

Baku, 23 July: Twenty-three Armenian NGOs recognize the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and Georgia and have therefore been elected
members of the Confederation of Nongovernmental Organizations of the
Caucasus (CNGOC), the chairman of the board of the CNGOC, Sahriyar
Rasulov, said today, Trend reports.
He said that the confederation was set up two years ago and comprises
272 NGOs, of which 203 are Azerbaijani, 23 Armenian and the rest
Georgian.
Rasulov added that the confederation could be joined by organizations
which recognize and respect the territorial integrity of regional
states on the basis of international legal norms. Of many Armenian
NGOs which applied for membership of the organization, 23 accepted
these conditions and were therefore admitted to the CNGOC.
[Passage omitted: minor details about the structure of the CNGOC]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia shakes up Prosecutor’s Office
Arminfo
23 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenia replaced 70 per cent of its prosecutors in the first half of
2004.
All the prosecutors of Yerevan have been replaced, Arminfo has learnt
from the Armenian Prosecutor-General’s Office.
Moreover, five of them are new appointees. Two department chiefs of
the Prosecutor-General’s Office have also been substituted. Moreover,
27 employees of the Prosecutor’s Office were sacked for various
reasons in the first six months of the year.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 23, 2004, Friday
FEATURE: Spiridon Louis delights Greece at the first Olympics
By John Bagratuni, dpa
Hamburg
When Spiridon Louis was taken from Athens to Marathon on April 9,
1896, he was a poor shepherd from the village of Maroussi near the
Greek capital. But a day later the 23-year-old was the biggest hero
of the first Olympics of the modern era – winning the marathon race
by more than seven minutes and with it a place in sports history. The
legend has it that he drank a glass of wine en route and that Greek
King George I. and Crown Prince Constantine accompanied him on the
final metres to the finish line in the Panathinaikon stadium. Apart
from the official prizes – a silver medal, olive branch and diploma –
Louis received a goat, a donkey cart, a pension and a small piece of
land for his heroics. The marathon race had its tradition in ancient
Greece, but was in fact never part of the ancient Olympics which were
outlawed in 393 A.D. by Roman Emperor Theodosius because he
considered them pagan. The idea to revive the Games came from French
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who later become president of the
International Olympic Committee, in the early 1890s. Originally due
to take place 1900 in Paris, the first edition was brought forward to
1986 in Athens (the ancient site of Olympia was remote and
undeveloped) due to huge support from Greece. Prince Constantine’s
organising committee raised the necessary funds through the sale of
souvenir stamps and a donation from a businessman allowed the
renovation of the Panathinaikon stadium to become the first Olympic
stadium. It was there on Easter Monday, April 6, 1896, that George I.
officially declared open the first modern era Olympics which brought
together 245 athletes (all men) from 14 countries in 43 events. James
Connolly of the U.S. became the first Olympic champion by winning the
triple jump – 1,527 years after Varasdates, Prince of Armenia, was
the last recorded Olympic winner in 369. Connolly, 27, left Harvard
University to compete at the Games and was thrown out of the elite
university for this move. He was not rehabilitated until 1949.
Compatriot Thomas Burke won the 100m and 400m races and American
brothers John and Sumner Paine finished first and second in the
revolver shooting event. German Carl Schuhmann was the most
successful athlete, winning three gymnastics events, the wrestling
competition, placing third in weightlifting and fourth in the shot
put. Rowing and yachting events had to be cancelled owing to bad
weather while the swimming took place in chilly Mediterranean Sea
water in Piraeus. The first modern era Olympics lasted 10 days and
set the stage for the Games’ huge success. They now return to Greece
for the first time in 108 years and run August 13-29. The marathon
will end in the Panathinaikon stadium again, but the real centre of
the Games including the Olympic stadium are in Maroussi – Louis’
former home which has for a long time become part of Athens.

US experts on visit to Nagornyy Karabakh
Mediamax news agency
23 Jul 04
YEREVAN
A group of influential US experts arrived in the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic (NKR) today.
The experts represent the Project on Transitional Democracies and the
German Marshall Fund of the USA, Mediamax reports. These two
organizations implement the “Project on the Resolution of Europe’s
Frozen Conflicts”.
The president of the Project on Transitional Democracies, the head of
the US Committee on NATO, Bruce P. Jackson, the former deputy
assistant to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Ronald
D. Asmus, the director of the Foreign Policy of the German Marshall
Fund of the USA, Daniel C. Twining, who held the post of Senator John
McCain’s adviser earlier, Orion Strategies company president Randy
Scheunemann, who held the post of adviser on national security of the
leader of the Republican majority in the Senate Bob Dole in the 1990s,
arrived in Nagornyy Karabakh.
During a one-day visit to Stepanakert, the US experts will meet NKR
President Arkadiy Gukasyan, Foreign Minister Ashot Gulyan, Minister of
Production Infrastructures Development Boris Alaverdyan,
representatives of the Defence Ministry and the republic’s civil
sector, foreign businessmen, who invest in the NKR’s economy.
Mediamax recalls that this is the second visit of Bruce Jackson to
Nagornyy Karabakh. He first visited the NKR last October.
On 22 July, the members of the joint mission of the Project on
Transitional Democracies and the German Marshall Fund of the USA met
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan in Yerevan.

Federal News Service, Inc.
FNS DAYBOOK
July 23, 2004 Friday
EVENT: DISCUSSION – CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
(CSIS)
SUBJECT: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) holds
a discussion, “Armenia’s Opposition: The Next Steps.”
LOCATION: CSIS, B-1 Conference Level, 1800 K Street NW, Washington,
D.C. — July 23, 2004
PARTICIPANTS: Stepan Demirchian, Armenian People’s Party
CONTACT: Mark Schoeff Jr., 202-775-3242; e-mail, [email protected];
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AAP NEWSFEED
July 23, 2004, Friday 6:24 AM Eastern Time
Wgt: Gold may help red faces
By Glenn Cullen
SYDNEY, AAP – Even a gold medal at the Olympics can only be
considered a minor salvage job on the wreckage that is Australian
weightlifting.
Sergo Chakhoyan will head to Greece as the world No.1 rated lifter in
the 85kg class and is expected to vie with the host nation’s triple
gold medallist Pyrros Dimas for top honours in Athens.
Ultimately though anything Chakhoyan achieves will be undermined by
the drug scandals and selection debacle that has battered the sport
in the lead-up to the Games.
Weightlifting has long had more than its share of doping problems –
exemplified by the 11 positive tests at the 2003 World Championships
– but Australia had remained relatively clean.
Until 2004.
It started with two peripheral squad members, Seen Lee and Anthony
Martin, receiving two year bans for steroid use.
Much worse was to come as it was revealed Australia’s sole women’s
representative Caroline Pileggi refused to take a drugs test while
training in Fiji.
Pileggi too was given a two year-ban which she unsuccessfully
appealed and was replaced in the team by Deborah Lovely.
Meantime, questions had been raised about Chakhoyan – who’d already
served a two-year ban for steroid use in 2001 – after the Australian
Olympic Committee could not locate the lifter for three and a half
months while he was training in Armenia.
However, a doping test he underwent in Armenia three months before
the games came back negative.
And against the backdrop of the drugs controversy was a poor world
championship campaign and the debacle of the Oceania qualifiers where
Australian weightlifting officials sent an understrength team and
then lost a qualifying spot to the tiny island nation of Nauru.
Chakhoyan can’t turn things round for the sport but he can win gold.
Fifth at the Sydney Olympics, Chakhoyan won gold in the snatch
(non-Olympic) at last year’s world championships in Vancouver, and
bronze in the clean-and-jerk.
Australian officials said he was not 100 per cent fit at the time.
Dimas may still have an edge however, with partisan support and the
lure of an unprecedented fourth Olympic weightlifting gold for the
opening ceremony flagbearer, expected to work in his favour.
For Lovely it was a late call-up after Pileggi had edged out the
Queenslander in the selection trials.
The 21-year-old, a triple silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games
in Manchester, is unlikely to challenge for a medal but is hoping to
improve on her ninth place overall at the 2002 World Championships.
“To finish in the top six or to achieve my personal best is really
what I am aiming for,” she said.

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
July 22, 2004
FRANCIA-TURCHIA:PER ERDOGAN SI’ IN UE,CHIRAC VENDE 36 AIRBUS ;
POSITIVI PER ENTRAMBI I PAESI I 3 GIORNI DI COLLOQUI DIPLOMATICI
PARIGI
(ANSA) – PARIGI, 22 LUG – Si sono conclusi positivamente i
colloqui tra Francia e Turchia: i due paesi si stringono la mano
e portano a casa una vittoria a testa. Parigi promette il si
all’entrata turca nell’Unione europea e Ankara compra 36 Airbus
francesi.

Il primo Ministro, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dopo una visita di
tre giorni nella capitale d’oltralpe, rientra vittorioso in
patria: il presidente della Repubblica, Jacques Chirac, ha
dichiarato che “l’integrazione della Turchia nell’Ue e
auspicabile”.

L’incontro tra i due paesi si e’ rivelato positivo anche per
la Francia che guadagna una grossa vendita: la Turkish Airlines
ha comprato 36 Airbus per un valore superiore a due miliardi di
dollari.

La compagnia turca di bandiera, che verra’ presto
privatizzata, si sta preparando a una grande rinascita generale:
50 il numero di nuovi aerei in ordine per il rinnovamento della
flotta. Ma non e’ tutto, i turchi non si rivolgono solo al
costruttore europeo Airbus: presto un ordine di 15 Boeing
735/800 verra’ accordato con il rivale americano.

Erdogan, contento del suo soggiorno parigino, ringrazia la
Francia “per il suo evidente approccio costruttivo” e “il suo
atteggiamento positivo”.

In realta’ pero’ non tutti i partiti francesi si sono
dimostrati d’accordo con la disponibilita’ del presidente Chirac
ad accogliere a braccia aperte Ankara in Europa. Sia il centro
destra che il centro sinistra riconfermano la loro posizione di
diffidenza.

Francois Hollande, leader del partito socialista d’oltralpe,
in occasione dell’incontro con Erdogan, ha ribadito la
“necessita’ che la Turchia riconosca il genocidio armeno”.

“Questa richiesta non rientra nei criteri stabiliti per
l’adesione. La parola – chiude il discorso il presidente turco –
la lascio agli storici”. (ANSA).