930 FAMILY DOCTORS AND NURSES OF SAME NUMBER TO UNDERGO TRAINING IN ARMENIA TILL 2009
Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. 320 family doctors and 440 family
nurses work at present in offices of family medicine of Armenia,
rural out-patient’s clinics and urban polyclinics. Development
of family medicine is one of important components of the four-year
credit program of 25.5 mln U.S. dollars on modernization of the health
care system. 7.1 mln U.S. dollars were allocated for it according to
the agreement signed between the RA Government and the World Bank in
2004. As Samvel Hovhannisian, the Chairman of the Armenian Association
of Family Doctors informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, the program
envisages to train till 2009 other 930 doctors and nurses of same
number, correspondingly, according to 12-month and 6-month education
programs. In his words, family medicine chairs were created still
in 1998 at the Yerevan Mkhitar Heratsi State Medical University,
National Health Care Institute and Medical Fulcrum College. It was
also mentioned that work conditions of family doctors will be improved
by the program: 14 rural out-patient’s clinics will be restored and
5 ones will be built, and medical equipment and accessories will be
given to 150 out-patient’s clinics.

ARMENIANS MUST SHOW BALANCED APPROACH IN ISSUE OF RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS, POLITICIAN LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARIAN BELIEVES
Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTYOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian press presents
the Russian-Georgian relations only with two colours: black and
white: the published articles are of either strictly pro-Russian
and anti-Georgian or strictly pro-Georgian and anti-Russian
character. Politician Levon Melik-Shahnazarian expressed such an
opinion at the October 25 meeting with journalists. In his words,
it is necessary to show in this issue a more balanced approach as
“Georgians will always remain our neighbours and Russia will always
be our strategic ally.” In the politician’s opinion, Armenia’s moral
interference in the Russian-Georgian relations must be aimed to calm
them down as much as it is possible, and direct interference must
be limited only by protection of interests of Armenians living in
those two countries. Reminding that the Russian military refuge will
soon be moved from Javakh, L.Melik-Shahnazarian mentioned: “If NATO
member Turkey’s military units are suddenly placed there, then the
Armenian army must be in Javakhk earlier.” Otherwise, in his words,
if Armenia does not strive for protecting Armenians living there,
the meaning of its being an independent, sovereign country will be
lost. L.Melik-Shahnazarian emphasized that he does not call on war,
but is sure that as soon as the Turkish army appeares in Javakhk,
danger of war and, consequently, of displacing Armenians from Javakhk,
will arise.

SPEECH BY VARTAN OSKANIAN, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ARMENIA
Panorama.am
14:40 25/10/06
At the 15th Anniversary Celebration Of Armenia’s Independence I am
pleased, honored, and still a little awed by the fact that I can stand
before you, as foreign minister, at the official celebration of 15
years of Armenia’s independence. The fact that we are celebrating in
this important capital, with the representatives of a strong, active,
prosperous, proud and engaged Diaspora, in the presence of several
of Armenia’s ambassadors, is still the stuff of dreams.
It has been 15 years since our independence. This came at the end of
a difficult century and an even more difficult millennium. Armenians
take great pride in their millennia of history. The leitmotifs that
run through our recollections of our past are fraught with a search
for silver linings.
We have outlived the empires of the Babylonians and Assyrians, the
Hittites and Medes, the Byzantines, the Mongols and the Ottomans. We
shared the gods of the Greeks and the Romans, until St. Gregory
illuminated the path to Christianity. We translated the Bible not
just into Armenian, but also into Chinese. We recorded the history
of Armenians and of Western civilization in beautifully illuminated
manuscripts. We welcomed the Crusaders to our Kingdom in Cilicia,
and accompanied European traders to the exotic East.
Instead of fortifications, we built monasteries and centers of learning
which have withstood invaders and earthquakes. In the 18th century,
when first the American colonies, and later the people of France
were upholding liberty, equality and fraternity, our students and
merchants in Europe, were watching and learning. They knew that they
had rights and liberties as subjects of three different empires, and
used the formulations and vocabulary of the leaders of the Western
enlightenment to articulate them. It wasn’t that they wanted to
overthrow those governments which abused or usurped their rights,
but to reform them. It didn’t work.
The Sublime Porte, which ruled over the majority of Armenians, made its
Armenian minority the scapegoat for its own inability to govern. The
Genocide followed. The remnants of the Armenian people who emerged
following the Genocide had independence hoisted upon them in 1918. A
population of refugees, insufficient resources with which to govern and
protect, an elite that did not live in Armenia, and an army composed
of well-meaning patriots – that was Armenia’s first modern attempt at
independence. It was a valiant effort to first wrestle with the social
and existential dangers from within, and later to fight against the
direct physical threats from without. The First Republic of Armenia
survived independently long enough that, when it fell, it fell as a
legitimate, independent, political entity. That entity was subsumed
into the Soviet Union as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
That was the journey that brought us to today and to the improbability
of our independence – the improbability that this surviving nation
would witness the fall of yet another empire – this time Lenin’s.
And that the homeland would be born again, free and independent.
In Armenia, and in the Diaspora, too, where you are still overwhelmed
at the improbability of Armenia’s independence, you sometimes suffer
from the reverse: because we’ve never really had independence, we
sometimes believe that we don’t deserve to have it or that it will
necessarily be taken away again. I want to tell you that Armenians are
not only worthy of independence, we are also capable of independence,
aware of the demands of independence, responsive to the expectations
of independence and accepting of the burdens of independence. But we
were ready. Armenia’s Democratic Movement, the Environmental Movement,
the Karabagh Movement were not just the product of a changed Soviet
Union, but they also accelerated the transformation of the USSR.
Independence is borne of high ideals. We believed that freedom is
the secret to a prosperous nation, a healthy nation, a fair and just
nation, and a stable future. We believed that freedom isn’t just the
right to do what you want, it’s the opportunity to do what you want,
it’s the opportunity to make choices, the right choices.
We made the basic choice – we chose the way of a liberal society –
open markets and democratic institutions. That was the first choice.
And today, as we celebrate independence, we are celebrating that
choice. We are celebrating in Washington, the capital of the country
that proved that a liberal economy in a democratic republic is a
winning combination. Americans are the people who set out to design
a political system that is built around the individual, his liberties
and capacities.
In other words, the American Declaration of Independence is about
rights. It is a testament to the rights of individuals, of peoples,
of society. But no man was ever endowed with a right without being
at the same time saddled with a responsibility.
We are privileged to be the generation that is consolidating
independence. We do have wide and generous opportunities to turn a
dream into a country, a stable country with a promising future. And to
that end, I want to propose a declaration of responsibilities. Our
responsibilities. This generation’s responsibilities. The
responsibilities of Armenia and Diaspora, of all those who call
themselves Armenian.
— We have a responsibility to empower our people to confidently
participate in building their democracy.
— We have a responsibility to create an even playing field for every
Armenian citizen.
— We have the responsibility to continue on the diffcult but necessary
path of political and economic reforms.
— We have a responsibility not to take Armenia for granted, but to
work to create an Armenia that makes real the promises of democracy
and freedom.
–We have a responsibility to remember our past, without being bound
by it, because the future is ours.
— We have a responsibility to reach a just and lasting resolution
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on mutual compromise.
— We have a responsibility to make the Diaspora an extension of the
homeland – not a permanent dislocation, not a destructive dispersion.
— We have a responsibility to rally every bit of our resources –
individual and collective, private and public.
— We have a responsibility to stand united, to work united, to go
forward united in the face of new challenges, we can win together,
and not lose separately.
These responsibilities come with independence, with freedom, with
liberty. Demanding freedom means recognizing the responsibility
to ourselves, for ourselves. Freedom is also the right to make
mistakes, to learn from those mistakes. It remains for those who
have greater experience in freedom to be patient as we sort out
the options and freely choose the one that is right for us. We
believed that independence may be bestowed, but freedom must be
achieved. Independence meant rights. Liberty means responsibility.
Thank you.
Washington DC October 21, 2006
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO DISCUSS ON NOVEMBER 7 APPLICATION OF 27 DEPUTIES OF NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY CONCERNING ACCORDANCE OF A NUMBER OF PROVISIONS OF ELECTORAL CODE WITH CONSTITUTION
Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Constitutional Court will
discuss at the November 7 sitting the issue of accordance of a number
of provisions of the Electoral Code with the RA Constitution. The
demandant side is 27 deputies of the National Assembly: from the
“Ardaroutiun” (Justice), “Azgayin Miabanutiun” (National Unity),
“Orinats Yerkir” (Country of Law) factions as well as independent
members of the Parliament. The respondent side is the NA adopted
the EC. The disputed provisions relate to the order of formation
of electoral commissions, according to which one judge is involved
in each of present electoral commissions, and 2 judges will be
involved in each of them after the 2007 parliamentary elections as
the competence of the NA acting “People’s Deputy” deputies’ group to
appoint one member in each of the commissions will be given to the
judicial power. According to the demandant side, by the disputable
provisions, representatives of judicial power implement in the
collective body staff commission characteristical for the executive
power, that’s, secure implementation of the electoral right what
contradicts the provision of separating powers fixed by Article 5 of
the RA Constitution. The EC disputed provisions also contradict the
first part of Article 19 of the RA Constitution according to which
“every person has a right to re-establish his violated rights as well
as the right of public examination of his case to find out reasoning
of presented accusation in conditions of equality, with keeping all
demands of justice, by independent and impartial court and within
sober term.”
By reasoning of the demandant side, arguments started while
implementing the electoral right are subject to dispute at the court,
so the power examining the citizen’s complaint, representatives of
which participated in accepting the act being appealed, may not be
impartial. According to the demandant side, the disputed provisions
also contradict the provision on incompatibility considered a component
of a judge’s legal status fixed in the first part of Article 98 of
the RA Constitution as the central electoral commission and district
electoral commissions are state bodies functioning according to
constant principles, a commission member is a state post and is not
connected with the judge’s obligations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A NUMBER OF CHILDREN’S SPORT CLUBS HOLD PROCESSION UNDER TITLE “SPORT AGAINST SMOKING”
Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. On October 25, a number of
children’s sport clubs held a procession in Yerevan under the title
“Sport Against Smoking.”
As Ashot Levonian, editor-in-chief of the Sport.am web-site, mentioned,
the procession’s goal was to call on the youth to give up the harmful
habit of smoking. “With this action aimed at healthy way of life we
tried to show that one can be engaged in much more interesting business
instead of smoking,” he said. A.Levonian also said that it is planned
to hold another anti-smoking events by the end of November 25.

1 GRAM OF NICOTINE KILLS A HEALTHY HORSE
A1+
[04:05 pm] 25 October, 2006
Or Smoking Is Harmful For Health
The editorial staff of website sport.am together with representatives
of several sports organized a march from Abovyan – Sayat-Nova crossroad
to the Republic Square with the slogan “Sports against smoking”. Young
football players of club “Amik” who participates in the march walked
towards the Republic Square handing out posters against smoking to
passers by.
Although the organizers promised that representatives of the Ministry
of Health and Union of Greens would also participate in the march,
they never showed up.
“This is a month of events, from October 21 to November 25. We have
already gone hiking and mountain climbing; we climbed Mount Hatis
and celebrated the opening of the month there”, said editor of the
website Ashot Levonyan. “Our aim is to show the young people of
Armenia once again that there is an alternative to smoking as in
developed countries smoking is no more fashionable; smoking people
get less salary or are not hired to work at all.
Unfortunately Armenians start smoking at an early age.
We want to show them that smoking is not the right thing to do, and
there are much more interesting things to engage in which will keep
them healthy”.
By the way, on December 24, 2004 the RA NA adopted a law on
“Restrictions of sell and purchase, consumption and usage of
cigarettes”. The law regulates the sell and purchase and consumption
of cigarettes. The 11th article of the law enumerates those areas
where it is forbidden to smoke – educational institution, cultural
institutions, theaters, cinemas, circuses, concert halls, museums,
libraries, exhibitions, health institutions, etc.
The means of transportation also belong to this list – buses and route
taxis. But it is not a secret that almost all the drivers of route
taxis smoke regardless of the presence of the passengers. Even the
non-smoking posters in taxis are of no avail as the drivers simply
tear them away.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITB TO PARTICIPATE IN KfW’S CREDIT PROGRAM
Armenpress
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s ITB international Trade
Bank will participate in the KfW bank’s “Development of Stable Market
of Apartment Financing” credit program.
According to the Executive Director of the ITB international trade bank
Ara Kitbalian, “KfW program will give new impetus to the development
of mortgage market in Armenia and at the same time will promote the
improvement of credit conditions,” said he adding that the program
will give an opportunity to increase the qualitative level of credit
process.
“Development of Stable Market of Apartment Financing” credit program
costs 12 million euros. For the implementation of the first round of
the program 6 million euros will be provided.

ARMENIAN PM RECEIVES JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
Armenpress
Oct 25 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian received today newly appointed Japanese ambassador to
Armenia Yasuo Sayitoy (residence Moscow).
Governmental press service told Armenpress that the prime minister
congratulated the ambassador on his new appointment wishing him
success in his high mission.
The prime minister also expressed hope that the ambassador will
continue the effective cooperation with the Armenian government
like the other ambassadors who have exerted great efforts for the
consolidation and development of relations between the two countries.
Margarian pointed out that Armenian authorities underscore the further
development of friendly relations with Japan and said that Armenia
remembers that the Japanese government has been supporting Armenia
for about 10 years.
During the meeting the sides also underscored the cooperation within
the frameworks of international organizations.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
========================================== ======
Wednesday 25 October 2006
GEORGIA: “ORCHESTRATED REACTION” AGAINST RELIGIOUS MINORITIES’ BUILDINGS
Georgian politicians and the Georgian Orthodox Church continue to deny the
continued impossibility for religious minorities to openly build places of
worship, Forum 18 News Service has found. “The difficulties we face are
linked not to laws, but to a climate that has been artificially created
and which forces us – in order not to stir up aggression – not to
undertake construction,” Catholic Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto told Forum 18.
Amongst religious minorities facing this intolerance are Baptist churches,
Pentecostals, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the True Orthodox Church.
Elene Tevdoradze, Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights and Civic
Integration Committee, denied to Forum 18 that problems exist, as did the
Deputy Chair of the Committee, Lali Papiashvili. She told Forum 18 “No,
no, that’s not true. It’s obviously not true.” Zurab Tskhovrebadze of the
Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate also denied that religious minorities face
obstruction in building.
GEORGIA: “ORCHESTRATED REACTION” AGAINST RELIGIOUS MINORITIES’ BUILDINGS
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <; Three years after the change of regime that saw the end of most violent mob attacks on religious minorities, Georgia's political class remains in denial about the continued impossibility for religious minorities to build new places of worship openly, religious minority leaders have complained to Forum 18 News Service. "Especially in places which had Catholic churches which have been confiscated by the Orthodox, the Catholic faithful have the right - as a minimum - to have a church. But up till today this remains impossible," Georgia's Catholic bishop Giuseppe Pasotto told Forum 18 from the capital Tbilisi [T'bilisi] on 19 October. He said there has been no improvement since 2003. Forum 18 has found that while some faiths can quietly build unobtrusive places of worship under the guise of private homes or offices - as long as they do not look like places of worship - religious communities whose places of worship are distinctive and indeed almost any place of worship of a minority faith in a small village face obstruction or de facto bans. "In the major centres all construction recognised as Catholic arouses an orchestrated reaction," Bishop Pasotto complained. "The difficulties we face are linked not to laws, but to a climate that has been artificially created and which forces us - in order not to stir up aggression - not to undertake construction." This is a long standing problem facing religious minorities within Georgia (see F18News 14 November 2003 < e_id=184>). A major factor
behind it is that some Georgian Orthodox priests persistently incite mob
violence against religious minorities (see eg. F18News 25 May 2005
< e_id=569>). Intolerance of
religious minorities is widespread within Georgian society, despite some
legal improvements (see F18News 24 May 2005
< e_id=568>).
Typical of the “aggression” Bishop Pasotto complained of was a mob
invasion in September and subsequent petition campaign against the
completion of an Assyrian Catholic centre in Tbilisi. This will also
include a sanctuary for religious worship (see F18News 19 October 2006
< e_id=857>).
In 2005, a church that a Baptist community was trying to build in
Zestafoni, a town 45 km (30 miles) east of Kutaisi [K’ut’aisi], was
attacked. “We laid the foundations, but as soon they found out, the
Orthodox priest came with others and broke them down,” Pastor Levan
Akhalmosulishvili, a leading member of the independent Association of
Christian-Baptist Churches, told Forum 18 on 18 October. “The Orthodox
told us openly: ‘Society, government and parliament support us!'” Building
work has still not been able to resume, he added.
Also forced to a halt was construction of a home for a Baptist deacon, in
the village of Velistsikhe in Gurjaani district of eastern Georgia. This
was attacked by mobs in 2004 (see F18News 5 November 2004
< e_id=446>). “The district and
village authorities have told us not to use the half-finished building,”
Pastor Akhalmosulishvili reported. “Criminals threatened to destroy it if
we resume building. The authorities told us they would not defend us.”
Asked what officials say when congregations of his Association ask if they
can build places of worship, Akhalmosulishvili responded: “They look at us
as though we’re mad. It’s fantasy to even think of building.”
Giorgi Khutsishvili, head of the Tbilisi-based International Center of
Conflict Negotiations, is blunt. “Can religious minorities build places of
worship? No,” he told Forum 18 from Tbilisi on 18 October. “This becomes
such a hot topic.” He attributes this to the “mentality of the majority”
who, he says, regard the Orthodox Church as having the status of a state
Church. “The Orthodox can build any church anywhere, but all others are
alien.”
Khutsishvili says every time “fundamentalists” learn a non-Orthodox place
of worship is being built they move in. “The government is quiet and does
nothing,” he told Forum 18. “It tries to mediate, calming the
fundamentalists and the religious minorities. But it doesn’t resist the
fundamentalists, so they continue their activities.”
He added that the lack of a religion law that would allow religious
minority communities to gain legal status as religious organisations (only
the Orthodox Patriarchate has such legal status) also hinders building
minority places of worship.
Bishop Pasotto complains that in recent years all the Catholic Church has
been able to build is “tiny places of worship in out of the way villages”.
He expresses frustration that officials – who he says are not opposed to
Catholic activity – tell them they cannot change the situation. “The most
unpleasant thing is that from the political side, for all religious
problems – such as over a law on religion – there is complete inaction. Is
this from incompetence? Is this from fear?”
Bishop Pasotto’s frustration is echoed by Archbishop Malkhaz
Songulashvili, head of the Georgian Baptist Church, the largest Baptist
church in the country. “Everyone has the right to build a church, mosque
of temple, but this is impossible at the moment,” he told Forum 18 on 4
October. “Religious communities cannot build a place of worship, only an
NGO office.”
But Elene Tevdoradze, a parliamentary deputy who chairs its Human Rights
and Civic Integration Committee, denies this. “There’s no such law that
bans non-Orthodox faiths from building – if minority faiths do everything
according to the law, they can build places of worship,” she claimed to
Forum 18 from Tbilisi on 18 October. “They shouldn’t be afraid. The policy
of the government is clear: everyone has the right to carry out their
faith.” But she dismissed the experience of religious minorities of
repeated obstruction and threats of aggression when they try to build.
Her lack of concern was shared by the Deputy Chair of the Committee, Lali
Papiashvili. Asked by Forum 18 why religious minorities cannot build
places of worship she responded: “No, no, that’s not true. It’s obviously
not true.” She said no religious minorities have complained to her about
this. “The government’s doesn’t have a policy not to allow other faiths to
build. Until we get complaints that they have problems I can’t believe
this.” Asked whether she has talked to religious minorities she said “No.”
Zurab Tskhovrebadze, spokesperson for the Orthodox Patriarchate, equally
denies that religious minorities face obstruction in building. “Any
churches can be built,” he insisted to Forum 18 on 19 October. “There is
no law that says the Georgian Orthodox Church has to agree any such
building.” Asked why this happens in practice, he responded: “When we meet
people of other faiths, they don’t complain to us about this.”
One community that has not tried to build any new places of worship in the
past fifteen years but which faces absolute refusal to return its historic
places of worship confiscated during the Soviet period is the Armenian
Apostolic Church. Levon Isakhanyan, assistant to the Armenian Bishop of
Georgia, Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, said his Church is currently seeking the
return of six churches, five in Tbilisi and one in the southern town of
Akhaltsikhe [Akhalts’ikhe], which has a majority Armenian population. “All
these churches, that served the Armenian community for centuries, are today
shut and made no use of whatsoever by any denomination,” he told Forum 18
from Tbilisi on 25 October. “The condition of these churches is
appalling.”
Isakhanyan cited the diocese’s lack of status as a legal entity – a
problem shared by all non-Orthodox religious communities that refuse to
register as non-profit entities – as an excuse officials use to refuse to
consider such applications. He also complained that politicians and
nationalists who oppose the churches’ return often claim that their
ownership is “disputed”. He insists the Georgian government has
responsibility to resolve the Church’s problems.
Likewise, Bishop Pasotto complains that six Catholic churches in major
towns – the port of Batumi [Bat’umi], Kutaisi [K’ut’aisi], Gori, Ivlita,
Ude and Akhaltsikhe – were “illegally” given to the Orthodox and have not
been returned, a problem he points out is shared by the Armenian Apostolic
Church. By contrast, he says the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate has been
able to recover its property confiscated during the Soviet period.
Asked why he believes non-Orthodox cannot build places of worship, Bishop
Pasotto responded: “The idea that a church that is built would be a public
sign which could influence people and be a source of proselytism against
the Orthodox Church.”
Forum 18 could find only a handful of non-Patriarchate places of worship
now being openly built without problems. Fr Gela Aroshvili, a True
Orthodox priest under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Ephraim Spanos of
Boston, USA, reported that two of his congregations that had long been
obstructed from building can now do so.
He said the Tbilisi congregation began work on a small church in February
in the city’s Saburtalo district with permission from the local authority,
though the church is registered as a private house. He said the exterior is
now complete, but the interior is not yet ready to allow services to take
place. “It looks like an Orthodox church, but there’s no sign outside
saying it’s a True Orthodox church,” he told Forum 18 from Tbilisi on 18
October. “I don’t know if the Patriarchate complained, but we’ve faced no
problems.” Fr Aroshvili added that their congregation in Kutaisi has also
gained permission to build a house. He insisted they would build it in
traditional Orthodox church style with a cross on the top.
However, he said there has been no progress in rebuilding their burnt-out
church destroyed by a mob in the village of Shemokmedi in south western
Georgia in October 2002 (see F18News 7 April 2003
< e_id=27>). “We’re not hurrying,
but we do want to rebuild,” Fr Aroshvili told Forum 18. “But the
authorities are still not responding.”
One other minority place of worship that is being openly built is a new
church for a Russian-speaking Pentecostal congregation in Tbilisi, which
was repeatedly prevented by the police and by violent mobs from holding
services in the home of the pastor, Nikolai Kalutsky. Pastor Kalutsky won
an eventual victory in the Constitutional Court in May 2005 that such
bans, attacks and obstructions violated his religious freedom (see F18News
25 May 2005 < 569>). Following
this court victory, a Presidential Decree awarded the congregation land in
Tbilisi’s Isani district to build an alternative place of worship.
Kalutsky told Forum 18 that official registration of the land as his
property was completed at the beginning of October, and work began
immediately. “Permission was given for a private house, but the building
will look like a church from the outside,” he told Forum 18 from the
building site on 24 October. “We couldn’t do it any other way because we
have no legal status as a religious community.” He said the Prosecutor’s
Office had summoned him to tell him that, if the community faces any
obstruction, it is to notify the Prosecutor immediately. Pastor Kalutsky
was told that the Prosecutor will then take appropriate measures to allow
building to proceed.
Asked why his congregation is now able to build on land given free of
charge by the state, after so many years of harassment, Kalutsky
responded: “What happened to us reached the outside world – everyone had
heard of them. Politicians realised this.”
Bishop Oleg Khubashvili, who leads the Pentecostal Union to which
Kalutsky’s congregation belongs, told Forum 18 that the Union has been
able to buy a building in Tbilisi to turn into its offices. (The Union has
legal status as a non-profit organisation). “Later we plan to turn part of
it into a sanctuary,” he told Forum 18 on 24 October. “If we built a
church from scratch, I can’t say what the reaction would be.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses – who suffered more than a hundred violent
attacks, mostly unpunished, between 1999 and 2003 – say that they have
been able to build Kingdom Halls across Georgia in the last few years,
including about ten in Tbilisi. “It’s strange, given all the attacks,”
Jehovah’s Witness leader Genadi Gudadze told Forum 18 from Tbilisi on 24
October. “Sometimes life is surprising,” he added, laughing.
But the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been careful. “We don’t advertise that
we’re building Kingdom Halls, but everyone round about knows what they
are,” Gudadze reported. “They deliberately aren’t large or lavish, so
don’t attract attention.”
Like other faiths, the Jehovah’s Witnesses choose not to place signs
outside their places of worship. “We understand that in a normal country
there should be such signs,” Gudadze added. “But we don’t want extra
attention.” (END)
For the comments of Georgian religious leaders and human rights activists
on how the legacy of religious violence should be overcome, see
< _id=499>
For more background see Forum 18’s Georgia religious freedom survey at
< id=400>
A printer-friendly map of Georgia is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=georgi& gt; (END) © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855 You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Armenia
14, Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel: +374 10 56 60 73 + 121
Mob: +374 91 43 63 12
Fax: +374 10 54 38 11
E-mail: [email protected]
URLs:
PRESS RELEASE
October 25, 2006
CONTACT: Aramazd Ghalamkaryan
E-mail: [email protected]
UNDP AND HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND JOIN EFFORTS TO ALLEVIATE RURAL
POVERTY IN ARMENIA
/Yerevan, October 25, 2006/ – Today, in the UN House in Yerevan, United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
signed a memorandum of understanding to closely cooperate in the area of
rural poverty alleviation in Armenia.
Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UNDP resident representative in Armenia and Ms.
Naira Melkumyan, Chief Executive of the Fund signed the memorandum.
Ms. Vidal noted in her speech: “Rural poverty alleviation is a serious
concern both for the government and the United Nations’.
Rural poverty eradication was the focus of the recently held
Armenia-Diaspora Third Conference. UNDP and Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
also participated in the conference and presented their respective
programmes in the field.
As of today, village development plans for 20 communities are already
developed with direct participation of the village inhabitants and the
local self-governance bodies, with UNDP’s assistance. UNDP’s support
will not be limited only to infrastructure, but to local projects in the
villages that generate jobs.
“We are very happy with the partnership with Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
that we formally establish today. We strongly believe that through
joining our efforts we will be able to achieve much more in our fight
against poverty in the country,” – mentioned Ms. Vidal.
Ms. Melkumyan, in her answers to the journalists’ questions, mentioned:
“We and UNDP agree on the methods to be used while supporting Armenian
villages. Namely, we tend to provide means to build houses and not
ready-made houses. That is, we want to create all the necessary
conditions for villagers to become wealthy. Only in this case we will be
successful in our endeavours.”
Currently, Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s activities focus on improvement
of large-scale physical and development infrastructures. The Fund has a
proven track record: 138 miles (220 km) of roads, 81 miles (130 km) of
waterways, 36 schools, 3 electric transmission networks, 210 residential
buildings, and 14 healthcare institutions.
UNDP is the UN’s global development network. We operate in 166
countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and
national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they
draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.
* * *
/For additional information and packages of development plans for 20
border villages, please contact Mr. Aramazd Ghalamkaryan: tel.: +37410
566 073, ext. 121, +37491 436 312, e-mail: [email protected]
./
* * *
The story on UNDP website: