UNSEALED WARRANTS ACCUSE PRIEST OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
By: Francine Maglione
New Britain Herald, CT
Aug. 23, 2006
NEW BRITAIN – Armenian priest Krikoris Keshishian, 54, made an
appearance in court Tuesday morning in his continuing battle against
charges that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl last year.
Judge Patrick J. Clifford said the case will be continued “for
further pretrial.”
Keshishian, of 21 Garry Drive, was first arrested on May 9 on charges
of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to, or impairing the
morals of, a minor. Police reported that Keshishian had inappropriately
touched a 12-year-old parishioner of St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic
Church in May 2005.
In his defense, Keshishian claimed that the alleged touching happened
by accident while he was attempting to catch the girl as she was
falling off a table. However, once the arrest warrant was unsealed,
a number of new accusations were brought to light, some including
the friend of the 12-year-old girl.
The warrant stated that Keshishian fondled the friend of the victim,
and had once asked her what color underwear she was wearing. He had
also repeatedly invited the two girls to visit Paris with him and
gave gifts to the victim on several occasions for no apparent reason,
the warrant stated.
When questioned by police, the victim claimed that Keshishian’s story
of catching her while she was falling off a table was untrue. She
also claimed that on May 22, 2005, Keshishian touched her buttocks
while he was hugging her.
The friend of the victim accused the priest of touching her leg while
kissing her on the cheek, the warrant stated.
Keshishian’s next court date will be Sept. 20.

WILL GUAM PEACEKEEPERS REPLACE RUSSIANS?
The Messenger, Georgia
Aug. 23, 2006
With the Georgian leadership pushing to sideline Russian peacekeepers
in the conflict zones, questions have arisen as to just who could step
in as a substitution force. The US openly supports the withdrawal of
Russian peacekeepers, calling for the introduction of an international
force in their stead.
However, finding a replacement for the Russian peacekeepers, let
alone convincing Moscow to withdraw, is not a simple task. There are
500 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, and 1600 in Abkhazia.
Ukraine or the Baltic countries are widely viewed as possible
substitutions for Russia, but peacekeeping tasks require a substantial
commitment of material, logistical, and human resources.
Georgia may be hard-pressed to convince states without a strategic
national interest in the region to take on those responsibilities.
There is another, increasingly popular, option: GUAM. The organization
of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, created in 1997 to
counterbalance Russian influence in the region, met in June to
discuss the creation of a united peacekeeper battalion. The once
moribund alliance, reenergized by the ‘color revolutions’ and Western
encouragement, have strong motivation to establish a joint peacekeeping
force-three out of four of the member-states have unresolved conflicts
on their territories (including Nagarno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and
Transnistria in Moldova).
The GUAM peacekeeping battalion could function under the aegis of
UN, OSCE, NATO or EU-anything but CIS-mandates, participating in
peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. GUAM summits in 2005,
in Chisinau, and 2006, in Kiev, erected the legal framework to move
ahead with the idea.
There is support from experts and observers for replacing CIS (that
is, Russian) peacekeepers with GUAM forces. Director of the Strategic
Research Center Irakli Menagharishvili, minister of foreign affairs
at the time of GUAM’s creation, says that resolving conflicts and
creating a joint peacekeeping contingent was a priority issue for
the alliance from the get-go.
According to Menagharishvili, today GUAM is fit enough to take on
this mission; of additional helpfulness is the fact that its member
countries now have peacekeeping experience in different part of the
world. Russia’s clear failure to act as a disinterested party in the
conflicts, he says, is a violation of international norms.
Georgia is already taking some modest steps to subtract Russia from
the peacekeeping equation. Recently, on Tbilisi’s demand, Russian
peacekeepers were left out of the monitoring group assembled to
observe the situation in the Kodori Gorge.
Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has pushed forth with other
substantial demands, including an insistence that in addition to
monitoring of the Georgian-controlled upper Kodori Gorge, observers
should be placed in the Abkhaz-controlled lower part. Additionally,
Tbilisi has long made noise over the former Russian military base in
Gudauta; theoretically, it is completely dismantled by now, but the
Russians, claiming that the Abkhaz authorities won’t allow inspections,
haven’t let observers ascertain that for themselves.
And now, perhaps skittish over this increased talk of a withdrawal of
Russian peacekeeping forces from the conflict zone, Abkhaz separatist
authorities are explicitly threatening military reprisals should
the Abkhazian government-in-exile be resituated in the Kodori Gorge
as planned by Saakashvili’s administration. Far from dampening the
martial rhetoric, Moscow has added its voice to the chorus, saying it
‘shares the concern’ of the Abkhazian de facto government.
Still, Abkhaz separatist leadership is dissatisfied with Russian
conduct; they want their northern patron to bare its teeth against
Georgia. The entry of Georgian ‘police forces’ into the gorge was a
perceived blow to their security, and in their minds a preventable
one should Moscow have more forcefully intervened.
With Abkhazia feverishly convinced that a Georgian attack is imminent,
calls for Russian peacekeeper withdrawal predictably meet with howls
of protest. Finding an independent body willing to step into that
maelstrom will take some doing.

AREA RESIDENTS OPPOSE ARMENIAN HIGH SCHOOL
By Cortney Fielding Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News, CA
Aug. 23, 2006
PASADENA – Negative reaction to a new Armenian high school in Pasadena
has organizers asking “What’s so bad about a school?”
Residents in the Victory Park area have mobilized against the Armenian
General Benevolent Union High School, which they say will bring
significant noise, traffic and other disruptions to their neighborhood.
Members of the Mountain Park Villa Condominiums Homeowners
Association contend the AGBU kept them in the dark about plans to
open Sept. 12. They are now questioning the organization’s right to
operate on a site originally approved as a church elementary school.
“Teenagers are not little kids – they can cause a lot of noise and
mischief,” said former association board member Loraine Bernstein.
“I’m very hesitant.”
Fifty students in grades nine through 11 are already registered
for the private college preparatory school’s inaugural year, school
officials said. Administrators say they anticipate adding a 12th grade
and expanding to 100 students in upcoming years. The school’s permit
allows for up to 200 students.
The AGBU, a national social and educational organization that promotes
Armenian heritage, has owned the land at 2495 E. Mountain St. for more
than 10 years, but has rented much of the space to the Living Waters
Christian Fellowship, which operates an elementary school. They’ve
thus far used the building for social gatherings and group functions.
At a meeting with residents Monday night, AGBU Chairman Vahe
Imasdounian said he wanted to build excitement for the private school,
which he said will add to the quality and value of the neighborhood.
In addition to cleaning out and remodeling the building, Imasdounian
said the school will also see extensive landscaping, in addition to
being gated.
“Whatever it takes,” he said. “We want to make this neighborhood
better and better.”
But tensions mounted when neighbors peppered him and other AGBU
members with questions about where cars would park, where parents
would drop and pick up students, and how they would control teenagers
from walking through their property and causing disruption.
Residents also cited a decade-old incident that occurred on-site
during an AGBU party, when a fight resulted in reported gunfire,
and a security guard had to be hospitalized.
The incident, Imasdounian said, occurred “so long ago, and a lot has
changed since then.”
He vowed to ensure the school, which will eventually cost $12,000 in
annual tuition, runs smoothly and causes no disruptions.
“Discipline comes first at our school,” he said.
After the meeting, AGBU director Haig Messerlian asked homeowners
association president Karen Lindsey what was wrong about starting a
school in a neighborhood.
“The residents don’t want a high school here,” she replied.
But Lindsey also said the meeting was a positive step toward opening
communication, and she would continue to work with the group. “It’s
a start, definitely,” she said.

TIGRAN TOROSYAN SAYS HE DID NOT DISSOLVE
Lragir.am
23 Aug 06
Speaker Tigran Torosyan told news reporters August 23 that the changes
in the administration of the National Assembly he initiated were not
intended to dissolve what the former speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan
had created, “All was done for a single reason: as a speaker of
the National Assembly I am responsible for the quality of the
administration of the National Assembly and these steps were taken
out of this responsibility.”
Tigran Torosyan undertook these changes because unlike the post of
deputy speaker of the National Assembly in the post of the speaker
of the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan has different duties,
“responsibility before the society and the society must give
an evaluation.” Therefore, Tigran Torosyan does not evaluate the
activities of his predecessor, and since “I am neither a judge nor an
attorney”, he does not answer the statements of certain representatives
of the Orinats Yerkir Party that the victims of Tigran Torosyan’s
reforms, who lost their jobs, are mostly members of this political
party. “There were statements that republicanization has started. The
dissolution of departments which have nothing to do with the activities
of the National Assembly is not republicanization and may lead to the
departisanization of the administration of the National Assembly,”
stated the Republican speaker of the National Assembly. He says the
dissolved departments have nothing to do with the activities of the
National Assembly. In the rest of cases different departments were
joined, the publishers and the press were joined, 38 people were
made redundant. Tigran Torosyan says in most cases the existence
of one department or another was not justified, for instance, the
problem of territorial management is the problem of the government,
and a department dealing with this does not have anything to do with
the National Assembly.
As a vivid example, Tigran Torosyan gave the example of the Center
for Armenian-Russian Interregional Cooperation NGO. The NGO founded in
2005 received a 20 m drams grant from the National Assembly. This year
another 20 m drams was to be allocated, the NGO received the first 10
m drams, the second 10 million was suspended by Tigran Torosyan. The
speaker of the National Assembly found out that all the Center did was
publication of the works by Avetik Isahakyan, organized the premier of
the film-opera “Norma” and other similar things. “In fact, publication
of works by Avetik Isahakyan is important but the National Assembly
cannot act as a donor of an organization,” Tigran Torosyan says.
Before the news conference Tigran Torosyan had presented all this in
detail to the committees and factions of the National Assembly. There
were no objections. As it became clear after the question of the news
reporter, no representatives of Orinats Yerkir Party were present at
the meeting.

MUSICIAN NOT DO ENERGY?
Lragir.am
23 Aug 06
Speaker Tigran Torosyan, the deputy leader of the Republican Party,
says the opinion that over the past two or three months a criminal
contingent entered the Republican Party is absurd. “If someone
is a criminal, they must specify the names whom they mean and
their actions. Abstract statements made in the air are groundless,”
stated Tigran Torosyan August 23. According to him, the claims of the
relatives and friends of Vazgen Sargsyan that Arakel Movsisyan, the
brother of Mushegh Movsisyan, said to have been involved in the events
of October 27 should not have become a Republican are not correct.
Recently accusations were made against Tigran Torosyan. The people
of Garni informed Radio Liberty that Tigran Torosyan is building a
water power plant on the Azat River. In answer to this accusation,
Tigran Torosyan said, “I am not building a water power plant, I do
not have land, although I think building a water power plant legally
is a good idea.”

NIZAMI BAHMANOV: “ARMENIANS ARE MAINLY TRANSFERRED TO KALBAJAR AND LACHIN REGIONS”
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
Over 1,000 Armenians are living in the Azerbaijani region of Shusha
besides Armenian militants, and majority of them did not live there
before, Nizami Bahmanov, head of Azerbaijani community of Karabakh
told journalists.
He said Armenians are illegally transferred to Shusha and other
occupied Azerbaijani territories, mainly to Kalbajar and Lachin.
“The Fact-Finding Mission confirmed it too, and raised a question at
the UN. But it gave no result. No international organizations stood
against Armenians’ illegal transference to the occupied lands,”
Bahmanov said.
Commenting on Armenians’ military trainings in Karabakh, the community
head said Armenians demonstrate power and destroy the remained
buildings in the occupied lands.
International organizations do not react to this matter either,
APA reports.
URL:

MORE DIVERSITY NEEDED IN ARMENIA’S BROADCAST SECTOR: OSCE
IFEX, Canada
Aug. 23, 2006
Armenia’s broadcasting sector needs to be more diversified in order for
a wider range of different voices and views to be heard by the public,
a report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) has recommended.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti said
in a report that broadcast media outlets are still predominantly
pro-government, despite the transformation of state television into
a public-service broadcaster and the existence of a number of private
channels.
“In order for Armenia to continue the process of media democratisation,
the broadcasting sector needs to reflect diversity of opinion and
… represent the political and social diversity of the country,”
Haraszti said.
The report offers recommendations for expanding media freedom in
the country.
Haraszti noted that while Armenia’s print media sector is pluralistic
and provides diverse and critical news coverage, readership is small.
The highest daily circulation of any publication is 3-4,000 copies.
However, on media reform, Haraszti said Armenia had made significant
progress, including the adoption of a progressive Freedom of
Information Law.
He also noted that there have been very few cases of violence against
journalists since 2005, and no libel cases have been launched against
the media for several years.
Visit: .pdf
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RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN CONDOLES WITH THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT
ArmRadio.am
23.08.2006 17:45
RA President Robert Kocharyan conveyed a condolence message to the
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the occasion
of the crash of the Russian Tu-154 in Donetsk region, Ukraine.
On behalf of the Armenian nation and himself Robert Kocharyan expressed
his condolence and support for the families and friends of the victims.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACLU: DEA VIOLATED ARMENIAN COUPLE’S RIGHTS
By: Associated Press
KOB-TV, NM
Aug. 22, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico
has sued the US Drug Enforcement Administration and two law enforcement
officers.
The group contends an Armenian couple whose Amtrak train stopped in
Albuquerque last year was illegally searched and roughed up.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit Monday in US District Court in Albuquerque
on behalf of Diana Arutinova and her partner, Edgar Manukian.
The Burbank, California, residents are seeking unspecified compensatory
and punitive damages.
Special Agent Steve Robertson, a spokesman for the DEA, says the
agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation. Robertson says it’s
unfair to the parties involved.

EDUCATION MINISTER RULES OUT UNPROFESSIONAL APPROACH IN ADMISSION COMMISSION’S WORK
By Irina Hovannisian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 22, 2006
With higher school entrance examinations in Armenia over, the education
minister has praised the work of the admission commission, putting
down some complaints and dissatisfaction from applicants to its
‘strict criteria rather than unprofessional approach.’
“Perhaps they were a bit strict in their criteria, but these criteria
were universal for all applicants,” Levon Mkrtchian told reporters
on Tuesday.
Entrance examinations to higher schools ended in Armenia this week,
with many teenage applicants and their parents feeling unhappy with
the way they were handled.
In particular, people complain that at certain examinations officials
helped handpicked entrants with prompts, in other cases they put
psychological pressure and subjectively graded applicants, especially
during oral exams.
Ruzanna Hovannisian is convinced that her daughter, Mariam Ohanian,
was treated unfairly at the oral English language examination.
“She had high marks from the two previous examinations and was
subjected to psychological pressure from the admission commission at
her oral examination. Perhaps her high marks annoyed some people,”
Hovannisian told RFE/RL, adding that she had addressed a letter of
complaint to the minister.
Minister Mkrtchian admits that it is difficult to find a means of
effective struggle against subjectivity in oral examinations. “I feel
that the parent is perhaps right, but we have no solution. The degree
of subjectivity in oral examinations is very high,” he said.
As was expected, the threshold for entering an institute or university
faculty has lowered a little this year as compared to the previous
years, with the exception of competitions for the law departments at
the Yerevan State University, Armenia’s biggest and most prestigious
higher school.
To gather 57.5 points (out of 60) is likely to be enough for an
applicant to become a student at the University’s law department
studying free of charge. To be admitted to the paid section of the
department one is likely to score at least 55 points. The sufficient
points for the free sections of the University’s English language,
economics and history departments are likely to be 58, 57.5, and 55,
respectively. The highest score for the world economics department of
the University of Economics is expected to be 55. And for the Medical
University’s therapy department it is likely to be 36.5.
The minister expressed his concern over the dropping competition
for some departments of the Engineering University. Competition is
particularly low for natural sciences departments, where satisfactory
marks from two examinations are enough for admission. “Sending
their children to train as economists, lawyers or diplomats parents
in fact condemn them to future unemployment, as, for example, our
small country hardly needs more than a hundred diplomats every year,”
Mkrtchian stressed.
The final results of the entrance examinations will become available
on August 24.