OVER TEN HEAD OF CATTLE IN ARTIK HAVE SOMATITIS AND NOT FOOT-AND-MOUTH
DISEASE
GYUMRI, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. An alarm call was received on August
22 that 10-15 head of cattle in the pasture “Artik Woodlands” in
Shirak marz showed symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease. According to
the veterinary of the city of Artik, the symptoms were confirmed. The
infected animals were disinfected and isolated, measures were taken
to prevent the spread of the disease.
However, according to the information received on the following day,
August 23, laboratory examinations revealed that the animals had
stomatitis, which is not an infectious disease.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YEREVAN’S MAIN AVENUE PROJECT TO BE COMPLETED BY 2020
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. During the August 25 working meeting
with the Armenian President Robert Kocharian, Mayor of Yerevan Yervand
Zakharian presented the implementation of programs related to various
sectors of the city economy for 2006. Particularly, the matter
concerned urban development programs and measures on construction
work in Yerevan. The Armenian President paid special attention to the
programs of measures related to Yerevan’s Master Plan. These measures
must ensure the implementation of Main Avenue Project by 2020. Noting
that the projects on zoning of the Kentron community have already
started, the mayor said that the zoning of other communities will
be carried out by 2007, which will complete the programs of Master
Plan-related measures. Problems of house construction, street
improvement and transport regulation were also discussed at the
meeting. According to the RA President’s press service, R. Kocharian
gave instructions concerning the problems discussed.

Turkey: Police brutality intensifies along with the political crisis
By Sinan Ikinci and Kerem Kaya
25 August 2006
World Socialist Web Site, MI
Aug. 25, 2006
Last week, daily papers in Turkey reported widely the case brought by
Cigdem Nalbantoglu before a Republican Court against the conduct of
police officers, including women, in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district. She
stated in her complaint that the police assaulted, beat and threatened
her in the course of a random street search.
Cigdem Nalbantoglu is the elected head of the Gumussuyu quarter of
Beyoglu. She is also one of the founders of the Purple Roof Women’s
Refuge Foundation.
According to her complaint, two female officers stopped her on the
street and asked for ID. They searched her bag and found the names
and phone numbers of former security chiefs in her address book. She
told them she was the head of a quarter. They responded by saying
that the new security chief had said that he “would take care of all
transvestites, gays and prostitutes” in the area, indicating that
she was dressed like a prostitute.
When she asked how they could speak like that, the tone of the
conversation changed for the worse. They said, “You are coming with
us to the Public Interrogation Center.”
She was then dragged to a Legal Medical center for blood tests after
being sworn at and hit by some of the male police officers, of whom
there were some 20. All this was recorded by police cameras and some
TV crews that were on the scene.
In the past, such an incident would have prompted a cover-up of the
“heroic” police force. The fact that it has been reported by almost
all daily newspapers is itself a reflection of deep currents within the
Turkish political landscape. No newspapers alleged police wrong-doing,
but neither did they suppress the story.
The Turkish police have a long-standing reputation and proven record
of brutality, especially when it comes to political dissidents. The
force has always been dominated by Islamist and fascistic elements.
They are well trained in torture techniques, especially since their
counterparts in the CIA trained them during the years of the Cold War.
In four years after the September, 1980 military coup, 178,565 people
were detained and nearly all of them badly tortured. In addition to
official detentions, hundreds disappeared and are presumed dead.
Hundreds of officially detained people lost their lives in torture
chambers. The police organization as whole was deeply implicated in
this horrific and systematic practice.
More recently, powerful sections of the Turkish ruling elite have
pressed for Turkey to enter the European Union (EU), and as a result
the police force has been kept in check. Nevertheless, outbursts of
police brutality have regularly occurred.
For example, in the midst of negotiations between Turkey and the EU,
demonstrators on Women’s Day in 2005 were beaten, embarrassing the
Turkish government. For its part, the European press largely ignores
police brutality in Turkey, bringing it forward as an issue only when
it serves the interests of the European powers in their negotiations
with Turkey.
Recently, however, the Turkish military has made a sharp turn to the
right, from a pro-EU to an anti-EU stance, and this has been reflected
in a shift by the governing AKP (Justice and Development Party)
in the same direction. With right-wing elements once again gaining
substantial influence and the hopes of EU membership evaporating,
the Turkish police feel more emboldened.
It would be a mistake to believe that what happened to Cigdem
Nalbantoglu was the result of a few right-wing officers reacting to
a liberal woman. This type of behavior is well on its way to becoming
public policy at the highest level of the Turkish state.
For some time now, this process has not been confined to police
activity. Politics have moved in the same direction. Judicial attacks
on intellectuals are now commonplace.
Orhan Pamuk, currently the most prominent writer in Turkey, was charged
last year with “impairment of Turkish identity,” which became a major
issue in negotiations with the EU. More recently, journalist Elif
Safak, who has received international acclaim, was attacked in the
same manner. Today, dozens of journalists, writers and publishers
are being dragged before the courts.
This is a sign that Turkey is returning to the days of
systematic oppression. With the political situation in the region
deteriorating-the North Cyprus situation deteriorating, the Armenian
genocide dispute growing under pressure from the EU-and the economic
situation growing more fragile-is not difficult to understand the
turn to intensified repression.
Those sections of the ruling elite that still believe Turkey can win
membership in the EU hope to rectify this situation. The publicity
given to Cigdem Nalbantoglu’s complaint can be viewed in this light.
This is essentially an exercise in damage control.
These forces have no desire to go to the roots of the problem. And
for good reason! Under the capitalist form of democracy, in which
oppressive measures are essential to the survival of the system,
these layers require a brutal police force.
Such methods can be ended only by the working people of Turkey, but
not without the help of their counterparts in other countries-the
international working class.
turk-a25.shtml

FIVE MARZES OF ARMENIA TO GET ASSISTANCE BY 5TH STAGE OF COMMUNITY
SELF-HELP FUND PROGRAM
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Five marzes of Armenia will get
assistance by the 5th stage of the Community Self-Help Fund program
being financed by the U.S. Embassy to Armenia and the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID). The goal of the program having been
implemented by the Save the Children organizations since 2003 is to
improve social and economic conditions of communities, giving small
grants for current programs of communities. As Irina Saghoyan, the
head of the Save the Children organization Armenian Office mentioned
at the August 25 ceremony of giving the grants, the 5th stage of the
program was announced in this March. In her words, 6 of the presented
134 programs were chosen. Those are the creation of the Antenatal Care
Center at the Agarak hospital; renovation of the Community Center in
the Artavaz-Pyunik Community of the marz of Kotayk; reconstruction of
the potable water pipeline in Areg village of the marz of Aragatsotn;
improvement of the drinking water supply system in Mets Parni village
of the marz of Lori; renovation of the kindergarten No4 in Sevan,
the marz of Gegharkunik; construction of the fence in Gavar special
school, the marz of Gegharkunik. The total cost of the 5th stage of
the program is 101.817 U.S. dollars. John Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to
Armenia handed grants to representatives of the marzes. In his words,
international organizations undertand that it’s time to pay attention
to marzes of Armenia. It was also mentioned that 40 programs of vital
meaning for inhabitants of communities were financed during the 4
stages of the Community Self-Help Fund program. Communities have
contributed over 30% of the projects’ costs, providing volunteer
labor and donated materials.

Los Angeles Times, CA
Aug. 25, 2006
MOVIE REVIEW
‘Buzz’
Shining a strong light on Hollywood, American history.
By Carina Chocano, Times Staff Writer
A.I. Bezzerides, Buzz to his friends, had a long, fruitful writing
career in the 1940s and ’50s, churning out pulp novels and scripts
for film noir classics such as “On Dangerous Ground” and “Kiss Me
Deadly.” Yet, like many screenwriters, he remains mostly unknown
today. Spiro N. Taraviras’ documentary “Buzz” chronicles the life of
a tireless worker of the Hollywood “dream factory” of the middle of
the last century, weaving it together with stories about the
working-class experience, labor practices and the Hollywood
blacklist.
The son of Armenian refugees, Bezzerides grew up poor in Fresno,
where he was friendly with writer William Saroyan. After attending UC
Berkeley, he wrote a novel about long-haul truckers that would later
be adapted into the Humphrey Bogart early noir classic “They Drive by
Night.” Warner Bros. had already adapted the novel and begun
production before securing the rights from Bezzerides, which put him
in a good position to negotiate. But rather than risk his
relationship with the studio, Bezzerides’ agent accepted a tiny sum
on his behalf. Thus began a long line of bad deals that marked the
writer’s career. Despite his productivity and success, Bezzerides
never achieved any measure of financial stability, even after
creating the hit TV series “The Big Valley” in the 1960s.
Taraviras spent four years interviewing 98-year-old Bezzerides in his
tumbledown Woodland Hills home, in which he recounts anecdotes from a
remarkable life that included friendships with William Faulkner and
Marilyn Monroe.
The film also includes numerous interviews with actors and directors
who worked with him (including Jules Dassin, who decamped for Europe
to avoid being subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities
Committee and remains there to this day), as well as his children,
journalists and film historians.
The result is an insightful look at a remarkable behind-the-scenes
life and slice of American and Hollywood history. Told from an
outsider’s perspective, it sheds light on the workings of a glamorous
but often treacherous business.
‘Buzz’
MPAA rating: PG-13 for brief strong language
An Outsider Release. Writer-producer-director Spiro N. Taraviras.
Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes.
Exclusively at Laemmle’s Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Blvd. at
Fairfax Avenue, L.A. (323) 655-4010.

Iran-Armenia gas pipeline project underway
Tehran Times, Iran
Aug. 26, 2006
Tehran Times Economic Desk
TEHRAN – Armenian officials announced that preliminary operations
for the building of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline has been completed.
Preparatory operations for the building of a pipeline to transfer
Iran’s natural gas to Armenia were finished, the Persian service of
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said here on Friday.
Based on a contract concluded between the Iranian company, Arvandan and
Armenia’s Hayrussgasard Co., the Iranian side has managed to finish
the digging of a 22.5 km long trench for the project, the report
quoted Shushan Sardarian, an official with Hayrussgasard as saying.
The length of the Armenian part of the gas pipeline from the border
region Meghri to Kajaran is 42 kilometers.
Pipe laying operation, as the next phase of the project to carry Iran’s
gas to the Transcaucasian republic, is expected to be completed by
the Iranian side by the end of 2006, the report added.

Armenian high school proposed for property
Glendale News Press, CA
Aug. 26, 2006
Once the location of a speak-easy, most of the 40-acre plot would go
into Santa Monica conservancy.
By Tania Chatila
GLENDALE – Nearly 40 acres of land abutting Crescenta Valley Park
could soon be more than just open space. Granada Hills-based M.
Jorjezian Investments Inc.is proposing construction of an Armenian
high school and a condominium village on property it purchased from
Mountain Oaks, LLC, about two months ago.
“We’re trying to talk with all the neighbors to make sure everybody
is OK with the project,” said Yeznik Kazandjian, M. Jorjezian
Investments’ corporate attorney.
~U POLITICAL LANDSCAPE: Bill would change school policies
~U Armenian high school proposed for property
~U Council OKs deal for new TV service
~U Hillside house opponents win battle, lose war
The vacant land is between Crescenta Valley Park and the Verdugo
Mountains in Glendale, near the Whiting Woods neighborhood.
Kazandjian did not divulge the purchase price of the property, but
did say that company officials plan on attending the Crescenta Valley
Town Council’s September meeting to flesh out some of the plans and
get community input.
They are proposing to build the condominium village on nine acres of
the land, and the high school – which would likely serve about 500
students – on six acres of the property, he said.
“The Armenian community in Glendale doesn’t have a high school,” he
said. “The Armenian church has a junior high, they have an elementary
school and they have a number of pre-schools and kindergartens, but
no high school.” advertisement
The remaining 25 acres will likely be handed over to the Santa Monica
Conservancy, Kazandjian said.
“We want to conserve the natural environment in that area because it
is a beautiful area,” Kazandjian said, adding that the proposed condo
village and school would be built on a flat area of the land, and the
remaining hilly acreage would be given up.
The developer offered the open space to the city of Glendale, but
city officials suggested it might be better to give it to the
conservancy, Kazandjian said.
“It’s still premature to make any kind of deduction or any kind of
opinion on it,” Crescenta Valley Town Council member Richard Toyon
said. “No one has seen what their plans are, so it’s really difficult
to offer an opinion.”
The property borders unincorporated La Crescenta, which the Town
Council represents.
Toyon, president of the local conservancy group, Volunteers
Organizing and Conserving the Environment, met with Kazandjian and
Glendale Councilman Rafi Manoukian about two months ago to discuss
the preliminary plans.
“Mr. Manoukian felt it would be a good thing to meet and to help
smooth the waters,” he said.
Toyon said the developer may have some trouble building on the site,
which has several mature oak trees on it. They may also have some
trouble with surrounding neighborhoods, and with their opinions of a
high school coming in, he said.
But without any real plans, it’s hard to say how the community will
react to the proposed project, Toyon said.
“It’s very preliminary,” Kazandjian said.
“We have no target date at this point, but we’re working on it
diligently. Hopefully, in the next few months, we’ll have something
more concrete.”
Rumors concerning the land’s fate have been circulating through the
community.
“I kind of heard it through the grapevine,” said Mike Lawler,
president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. “It’s
pretty rumor-esque. That land has been conspicuously vacant for a
long, long time.”
The land was originally the site for a speak-easy in the 1920s, but
was later turned into a vacation-home site, Lawler said.
The owners of the property sold off 10-foot-by-10-foot lots to
different owners, he said.
“It was kind of a goofy plan …. You could have owners in the
hundreds, and some of them were never recorded,” he said.
While he would have rather seen the land stay undeveloped, the idea
of a school is promising, Lawler said.
“It’s better than just straight condos, in my view,” he said.
QUESTION
What do you think of plans to develop an area of Glendale between
Crescenta Valley Park and the Verdugo Mountains? E-mail
[email protected] or write to News-Press and Leader Community Forum,
111 W. Wilson Ave. Suite 200, Glendale, CA 91203. Please include your
name and tell us your hometown and phone number for verification
purposes only.

The day St. Bart lost his head
by cindy day
The Halifax Daily News (Nova Scotia)
August 23, 2006 Wednesday
Let me tell you about St Bart. Tomorrow is Aug. 24. We’ll be one
week away from the end of the month, and exactly four months away
from Christmas Eve. If you don’t like the sound of that, then let’s
focus on the fact that tomorrow is also St Bartholomew’s Day.
He certainly wasn’t one of the more popular saints, but one that
Grandma talked about every August; she never passed up an opportunity
to share his story. I used to wonder if Grandma made these things up,
but I’m constantly meeting people who confirm her lovely weather tales.
According to Grandma, St. Bartholomew was an ordinary saint, but an
extraordinary Apostle, who converted the King of Armenia. The king’s
brother had the Apostle flayed first, and then beheaded … on Aug.
24.
For days leading up to the 24th, Grandma prayed each night for good
weather on St. Bart’s Day. If anyone asked why, she was quick to
recite: “If the 24th of August be fair and clear, then hope for a
prosperous Autumn that year.”
Now that’s not the only bit of folklore surrounding the beheaded
saint. There are many people who believe that St Bart’s Day brings
in the cooler autumn weather: “At St Bartholomew, there comes a cold
dew.” According to the old pagan calendar, Autumn started August 24th
and ended November 22nd.
By the way, last year it was partly sunny and warm … and , as you
may recall, we did enjoy a lovely autumn. Tomorrow looks like a lovely
day, so we should count on another great fall in the Maritimes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Collaborator Quisling’s former Oslo home to house Holocaust museum
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
August 23, 2006 Wednesday 12:34 PM EST
DPA POLITICS Norway Wars Collaborator Quisling’s former Oslo home to
house Holocaust museum Oslo
The former Oslo home of Norwegian Nazi collaborator
Vikdun Quisling, whose name is synonymous with treachery, is set to
house a Holocaust museum, reports said Wednesday.
The Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities in
Norway is to use Villa Grande, where Quisling moved with his wife
Maria in 1941, for displays and research activities focusing on the
Holocaust.
Quisling was executed in 1945 after setting up a puppet government
to collaborate with the Nazis who invaded Norway in 1940.
Quisling and his wife Maria remained in the grandiose villa on the
Oslo fjord until his arrest in 1945.
The 3,000 square-metre villa was restored by the Norwegian
government and handed over to the Jewish community five years ago.
At least 2,100 Norwegian Jews died in the Holocaust.
The museum to be opened by Norway’s Queen Sonja and Princess
Mette-Marit on Wednesday will also feature displays on the
persecution of other ethnic and religious minorities in German South-
West Africa – now Namibia – Armenia, Cambodia, the Balkans and
Rwanda.
The building served as a college for nurses after the war. Parts
of the building which were refurbished by Quisling would not be
accessible to museum’s visitors.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 25, 2006 Friday
FIRES AS A MOOT POINT
by Sohbet Mamedov, Anatoly Gordiyenko
BAKU WANTS THE KARABAKH ISSUE DISCUSSED BY THE UN. YEREVAN THREATENS
TO QUIT PEACE TALKS; Yerevan threatens to withdraw from Karabakh
talks if Baku has the issue discussed at the UN level.
Armenian Representative to the UN, Armen Martirosjan, told RL the
other day that Yerevan might quit the peace talks if Baku initiated
discussion of the issue at the UN. According to Martirosjan, Armenia
and Azerbaijan made a pact in 2005, that the problem would be handled
exceptionally by the OSCE Minsk Group chaired by Russia, France, and
the United States together, and that official Baku would refrain from
trying to transfer the issue to the UN level.
Martirosjan told RL that Azerbaijan had recently sent a letter to the
UN urging it to “facilitate restoration of the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.” “Armenia may quit the negotiations altogether if
Azerbaijan… tries to bring the matter of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution to the UN,” Martirosjan was quoted as saying.
Armenian diplomat’s ultimatum raised eyebrows in official Baku. “The
Armenian Foreign Ministry has never responded. Why would the Armenian
Representative to the UN speak on behalf of the Armenian state?”
Metin Mirza of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Service said.
Mirza believes that it was the Armenian diplomat’s personal opinion.
As for the negotiations, “its suspension is not even discussed,”
Mirza said. Moreover, another meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers might take place in September. Chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group do insist on this meeting, Mirza added.
Official Baku in the meantime is trying to have the Karabakh issue
discussed at the UN and at the autumn session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe. The matter concerns the fires
raging on the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia. Baku
suspects that “the Armenian side caused these fires deliberately”
particularly since the prevailing winds drive them to the positions
of the Azerbaijani army. Baku wants the “fire issue” resolved by the
UN and the Parliamentary Assembly.
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 22, 2006, p. 6
Translated by A. Ignatkin