OSKANYAN: PROSPECTS OF DISPATCHING ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPERS TO LEBANON UNDER DISCUSSION NOW
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 14 2006
YEREVAN, September 14. /ARKA – Novosti-Armenia/. Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said Thursday that the prospects of
dispatching Armenian peacekeepers to Lebanon are under discussion now,
but the final decision depends on some factors.
In his words, Armenia has received official proposals from some
countries to take part in the peacekeeping mission. These offers are
under discussions now, he said, but there are some questions in need
to be clarified before making decision.
“Such mission shouldn’t be an end in itself. Our presence there
should pursue certain goal. When this goal is become clear, Armenia
will make a final decision”, Oskanyan said.
He said that, yet before the last Israeli strike against Lebanon,
the latter asked Armenia to send a mine-sniffing crew to the country.
The minister didn’t rule out that Armenia would take part in
mine-clearing work in Lebanon later, when the situation gets under
control.
Oskanyan also said that Armenian community in Lebanon urged Armenian
authorities to dispatch peacekeepers to the troubled country.
“We take into consideration the community’s view and maintain constant
contacts with it, but there are some other circumstances we should
take into account. I’m convinced the right decision will be eventually
made”, the minister said.

FRENCH PRESIDENT TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA ON SEPTEMBER 29 FOR 3-DAY VISIT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 18 2006
YEREVAN, September 18. /ARKA – Novosti-Armenia/. French President
Jacques Chirac is to arrive in Armenia on September 29 for a tree-day
visit, Armenian Ambassador to France Edward Nalbandyan said Saturday
in an interview with state-run Public Television of Armenia.
Nalbandyan stressed the importance of the visit saying Chirac will
travel to the region for the first time and will visit only Armenia.
In his words, the French delegation will include ministers, lawmakers,
politicians and businessmen.
The ambassador said in his interview that French ministers would meet
their Armenian counterparts.
Nalbandyan also said the program will be saturated with interesting
events such as opening Square of France in Yerevan and Charles
Aznavur’s concert at the Square of Republic in Yerevan on September
30.

HEARINGS ON CASE OF TURKISH ASSOCIATIONS AGAINST TEACHING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SUBJECT IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM TO BE HELD TODAY IN BOSTON DISTRICT COURT
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
Hearings on the suit of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations
against the charter of the Education Department of Massachusetts
state, which allows teaching of the Armenian Genocide subject in the
educational program, will be held today in Boston District Court.
As ArmInfo was told in the Armenian Assembly of America, the court
action was initiated by the Assembly of Turkish- American Associations
last year. The Turkish associations insist on the Education Department
of Massachusetts to remove the Armenian Genocide subject from the
training materials. In its turn, the Armenian Assembly had responded
without delay and forwarded an answer suit, as well as created a
command of well-known advocates to deal with the protection of the
Armenian Genocide fact in the USA territory.

AT 82, CHARLES AZNAVOUR IS SINGING A FAREWELL THAT COULD LAST FOR YEARS
By Alan Riding
The New York Times
September 18, 2006 Monday
Late Edition – Final
At 82 Charles Aznavour is on his farewell tour, but don’t let anyone
confuse this with retirement.
No, for this last practitioner of a decades-old musical tradition known
as the chanson francaise (French song), the tour better resembles
a slow lap of honor, one taking him to scores of cities around the
world and, health permitting, that may last until 2010 or beyond.
“We’re in no hurry; we’re still young,” Mr. Aznavour said
good-naturedly several weeks ago before embarking on a 10-city swing
through North America, which includes dates in New York at Radio City
Music Hall on Monday and Tuesday. “There are some people who grow
old and others who just add years. I have added years, but I am not
yet old.”
As proof he claims with no little pride that his voice is in better
shape than 30 years ago. He has just signed a three-record contract
with EMI. He is still busily writing new songs about the travails of
love and life. And, let’s face it, he doesn’t look his age: dapperly
dressed, he seems as sure on his feet as he is quick in his repartee.
Nonetheless the plan is to say goodbye to fans in each city he visits
this month. He has already been to Montreal, Ottawa, Seattle, San
Francisco, Toronto and Washington. After his New York shows, Boston,
Los Angeles and Saratoga, Calif., will complete his schedule.
“Later I’ll return to the cities I haven’t done, Philadelphia,
Dallas, Miami and so on,” he explained. “This is all part of the
English-language tour: London — that’s in the Royal Albert Hall —
and Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I’ve already done Germany:
10 cities. Japan next year, then all of Latin America.”
Still, by bunching together many of the English-speaking cities, where
half of his songs are usually performed in English, Mr. Aznavour is
finally acknowledging his age.
“In the past I could mix languages,” he said, sitting in the offices of
Editions Raoul Breton, one of several music publishers he owns, before
he began his current tour. “My memory was better. I passed easily
from language to language, Spanish, Italian, French, English. But I
can’t do that any longer.” He tapped his head and laughed. “Calma,
calma, I’m 82.”
When he began, though, he was almost the youngest of the crooners
who made the chanson francaise popular in the postwar years. And to
his good fortune, it was Edith Piaf, the legendary “little sparrow,”
who took him under her wings: in time they came to enjoy what he calls
“une amitie amoureuse” — an amorous friendship — which, he said,
“means more than friendship and less than love.”
It was a time when the smoke-filled clubs and theaters of the Paris
Left Bank were bursting with talent. Maurice Chevalier was already
an international star, but new voices were gaining a following,
among them Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Yves Montand,
Gilbert Becaud, Charles Trenet and Juliette Greco. (Of these only
Ms. Greco is still alive and, at 79, very occasionally performing.)
Mr. Aznavour had one strong card. This short, wiry son of Armenian
immigrants (his real surname is Aznavourian) had a talent for writing
lyrics that echoed the language and sentiments of ordinary people.
And long before his husky tenor became as recognizable as that of, say,
Brassens or Becaud, he won a place in their circle as a songwriter.
Even now, while best known around the world as a singer (he has
also appeared in more than 50 French movies), Mr. Aznavour considers
himself first and foremost a songwriter: he starts with the words,
and only later does he or another composer add the melody and rhythm.
For him the chanson francaise is quite simply the art of telling
stories to music.
For material he has always counted on love and its pitfalls, but
recent songs confirm that he is also ever-alert to what is topical.
“I don’t write stories like novels,” he said. “I don’t invent
anything. I bring language to existing facts and events. I read all
the newspapers. I watch all the news programs on television. I was
the first to write about social issues like homosexuality and the
deaf. In my new record I write about unrest in the suburbs, about
ecology. I find real subjects and translate them into song.”
One recent record, “Le Voyage,” includes two songs about journalists:
in “La Critique,” he snipes at critics and concludes that, “in the
end, only the public is right”; and in “Un Mort Vivant,” or “A Living
Death,” which he dedicated to Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
correspondent assassinated by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002,
Mr. Aznavour pays tribute to reporters who risk their lives while
seeking the truth.
“What really matters is that you hear the text clearly,” he noted.
Now, reflecting on his long final bow, he feels confident that he
will be best remembered by his songs. “When a singer dies, only his
records survive,” he said. “But when I die, there are at least two
songs which will continue to be played regularly in the United States:
‘Yesterday When I Was Young’ and ‘She.’ There will be no break because
the songs exist. I will remain in the business.”
And he will do so all the more if a project under discussion in the
United States and France comes to fruition: to create a stage show
built entirely around his songs and modeled after “Jacques Brel Is
Alive and Well and Living in Paris.”
So, still very much alive and well and living in Geneva, Mr. Aznavour
could easily rest on his laurels. In France he is regularly voted one
of the country’s 10 most popular personalities. In Armenia, the land
of his forebears, where an Aznavour Museum is planned, he is warmly
remembered for organizing help after a devastating earthquake that
killed 45,000 people there in 1988.
But his farewell tour is also an excuse to get back on stage and show
that he has not lost his touch as a performer extraordinaire. Then,
after North America, he is to fly to Havana to make his next record
with the Cuban musician Chucho Valdes. And he has already agreed to
appear in a movie adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novel “The Little
Man from Archangel.”
Tomorrow evidently still beckons.
“Once I have done something,” he said conclusively, “I think of
something else. I never look back.”
Except, that is, when he claims a place in the Guinness Book of
Records.
“I have been married to the same woman for 43 years,” he said with a
smile, referring to his Swedish-born wife, Ulla, “and, in my business,
that’s a record.”

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: ARMENIA TAKES INTO ACCOUNT DIASPORA’S INTERESTS IN ITS FOREIGN POLITICAL COURSE
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
Armenia takes into account the interests of Diaspora in its foreign
policy, said President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan at the plenary
session of the 3rd All Armenian Forum Armenia-Diaspora, Monday.
The president said it is very important to take into consideration
the factor of Diaspora in the sphere of political lobbying in the
international arena. Acknowledged Armenian organizations engaged in
the political sphere greatly support the native diplomacy, making
the international community hear Armenia’s voice, the president said.
Regarding the foreign political course, Armenia continues its
complementary policy. Serious and large-scale economic projects are
implemented with Russia, the Armenian-Russian military cooperation
is deepened. Infrastructure projects are implemented with Iran which
the country has rather stable and effective relations with. At the
same time, Armenia implements active steps to deepen the relations
with the European Union. Individual Partnership Action Plan with
NATO is being implemented. The Armenian army participates in the
peacemaking operations in Kosovo and Iraq. “We deepen our international
integration, at the same time strengthening the relations with
traditional partners,” the president said.

NUMBER OF DISEASED WITH INFECTIONS, TRANSFERRED IN SEXUAL WAY, INCREASED IN ARMENIA BY 48% FOR LAST 6 YEARS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
The number of diseased with infections, transferred in a sexual
way, has increased in Armenia by 48% since 2000, the Director of the
Scientific-Medical Center of Dermatology and STI (sexually transferred
infections), professor Karen Babayan told ArmInfo correspondent.
Talking of a small number of those diseased with syphilis (the
intensive indicator of the morbidity has reduced from 8.5% to 2.6%
per 100,000 of population), the professor noted the venereal diseases
have got the tendency to go in a hidden form, as a result of which
the potential carriers of syphilis or gonorrhoea do not suspect of
their disease. K. Babayan informed a growth of morbidity among the
under-age is observed in Armenia the recent years, which arouse an
anxiety concerning the fact that the infections, transferred in a
sexual way, negatively reflect the reproductive function of the young
organism.

NKR PRESIDENT ARKADY GHOUKASYAN: DECLARATION OF NKR INDEPENDENCE BY KARABAKH PEOPLE HAS BECOME TURNING STAGE IN HISTORY OF ALL ARMENIANS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
Declaration of NKR Independence September 2, 1991, by Nagorno Karabakh
people has become a turning stage in the history of all Armenians,
NKR President Arkady Ghoukassyan, said in his today’s speech at the
Third Plenary Session of All-Armenian Forum “Armenia-Diaspora”.
According to him, the main value of the acquired independence is the
belief in own forces, a belief that the tasks set can be effectively
solved by joint efforts. The Diaspora, together with Armenia, is
solving today a very serious task of the international lobbing of
Nagorno Karabakh. Effectively implementing large-scale investment
projects, the Diaspora and Armenia have increased the NKR economy to
a qualitatively new level, A. Ghoukassyan said.

AZERI PRESIDENT URGES TURKEY TO JOINTLY CRUSH ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
During the X Congress of Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation of
Turkic States and Organizations, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev urged
Turkey to jointly crush the Armenian propaganda.
He said that instead of withdrawing its troops from Azerbaijan Armenia
is laying territorial claims against Turkey. “It is time for Turkic
states to pool their political, diplomatic, legal and military efforts
to crush the Armenian propaganda. We will not allow them to create
second Armenian state in the territory of Azerbaijan. We will liberate
our occupied territories and Azerbaijan and Turkey must cooperate
to this end, first of all, on a Diaspora level. We must oppose the
Armenians’ activities not only in Azerbaijan and Turkey but all over
the world,” Aliyev said.

ARMENIAN PM: IN NEXT 5 YEARS ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT WILL FOCUS ON VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
ARMINFO News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday
In the next five years the Armenian Government’s priority will be to
develop villages, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan said
during the 3rd Armenia-Diaspora Conference while presenting the
Government’s poverty reduction program.
He said that in the last few years Armenia has shown high economic
growth but there is inequality between the capital and the regions.
So, the Government will do its best to reduce poverty in the regions
by 6% a year down from present 41%. Margaryan said that 1 mln people
live in the regions or 35% of the total population. Special attention
should be given to borderline regions. First of all, it is necessary
to prevent migration from the region.
Margaryan said that the $235.65 mln Millennium Challenge Program will
greatly contribute to the development of Armenia’s regions as a big
part of the money will be spent on repairing roads and irrigation
systems in rural areas and on crediting and advising farmers.
Margaryan urged the Diaspora to take an active part in the program.

LONDON FASHION WEEK OPENS WITH CELEBS, CATWALKS AND CONTROVERSY OVER SKINNY MODELS
By Katie Fretland, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
September 18, 2006 Monday 5:19 PM GMT
Ultrathin models walked the runways at London’s Fashion Week on Monday,
opening the weeklong event with a clear rejection of arguments that
waiflike young women should not be permitted to showcase designs.
Despite a ban on superskinny models imposed by Spanish organizers at
their fashion week in Madrid, slinky women in London were ready to
flaunt the spring and summer collections of designers such as Julien
Macdonald, John Rocha and Zandra Rhodes.
The British capital was hoping to recapture a bit of bling and ditch
its reputation as the poor cousin of more glamorous events in New York,
Paris and Milan, Italy.
“We are not a traditional capital for fashion, but we are a very
creative crucible,” said Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion
Council, which organizes London’s twice-yearly Fashion Week.
Paris-based Garen Demerdjian, a Lebanese-Armenian designer, presented
a layered look with shorts and skirts over long leggings, high cinched
belts and leather jackets.
His models, stone-faced with tangled hair, walked slowly down the
catwalk sporting hues of brown, green, apricot, black and silky white
amid flashing lights and trancelike music.
Later, John Rocha presented a collection of cropped cargo pants,
silk shirts and parkas in shades of black, ivory, stone and khaki.
On Tuesday, designer Bella Freud was set to relaunch iconic 1960s
label Biba, pioneer of caftans and flamboyant scarves.
A-list stars including Beyonce and Alicia Keys were expected to attend
the Emporio Armani catwalk show Thursday. U2’s Bono was expected to
be on hand to help launch Armani’s Red collection, which will give
a portion of its profits to help fight AIDS in Africa.
Kate Moss added star power by sitting in the front row at a pre-event
show for British retailer Topshop on Sunday, alongside its billionaire
owner Philip Green.
A debate over whether models were too thin has raised London Fashion
Week in the headlines, with a government minister’s calls to follow
Madrid’s lead and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.
“The fashion industry’s promotion of beauty as meaning stick-thin
is damaging to young girls’ self-image and to their health,” Culture
Secretary Tessa Jowell said Saturday.
Rose dismissed calls for a ban as “a knee-jerk reaction,” but said
the debate was a legitimate one and that he would discuss the issue
with colleagues. Fashion Week canceled its opening photo shoot to
avoid giving the issue more publicity.
“I think that it’s a debate that will happen all in good time, and
all opinions are welcome,” said supermodel Erin O’Connor.
The event, which runs through Friday, has long been known as a venue
for seeing cutting-edge work from creative, young British designers,
while the big fashion houses tend to showcase their wares in New York,
Paris or Milan.
This year, though, there is an air of excitement around the
spring/summer collections from designers including Jasper Conran,
Paul Smith and Betty Jackson, and new talents such as 23-year-old
Christopher Kane.
On the Net:
London Fashion Week: