AZG Armenian Daily #172, 09/09/2006
Sport
CUP OF ARMENIAN DIASPORA IN ST PETERSBURG
The first open tournament of chess amateurs for the
cup of Armenian national-cultural autonomy will be
held in St. Petersburg in October, Yerkramas newspaper
of Russian-Armenian reports. The tournament is
dedicated to the glorious victory of Armenian chess
players in 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. The event was
organized by the Armenian Association of St.
Petersburg and welcomed by the chess federation of St.
Petersburg and Armenian consulate.
The aim of the tournament is further fostering of
friendly ties between Armenian and Russian nations. It
will be open for everyone. It’s envisaged that
national minorities of St. Petersburg will also take
part in the tournament. Not only the first 3 best
players will receive prices but also the best female
player and the best young player will receive special
prizes.

A1+
“THE OPPOSITION HAS NEVER BEEN SO DISCREDITED”
[06:17 pm] 08 September, 2006
“I have been in the political field for such a long time but there
are things I don’t understand as they are beyond any logic”, sincerely
confessed head of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh Kocharyan in
“Pastark” club. What he meant as beyond any logic was the behavior
of the opposition in connection with the Electoral Code.
According to Mr. Kocharyan, for the first time there is a chance to end
anarchy at the Constitution level, but the inner political situation in
the country does not allow it. “It is very dangerous to stay where you
are. Only a few of the CoE member countries have failed to organize
fair elections. These are Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is
meaningless to speak about democracy without free and fair elections”.
Mr. Kocharyan considers the steps of the authorities simple and
natural. “In this kind of countries the authorities think about
reproduction. There are three factors with the help of which the
obstacle of free elections can be overcome – people, opposition and
international structures. During the whole period of independence
the Armenian opposition has never been so discredited”.
Mr. Kocharyan considers it illogical that the NA opposition did
not sign under the amendments to the Electoral Code which had been
reached by struggle and signed under a draft which does not represent
significant changes. “Moreover, they sign it the case when there is
another draft processed by the NDP which takes into account their
demands”.
The NDP and the NGO “Democracy” have processed a joint program of
controlling the electoral process which could be financed by the
US State Department, but it wasn’t because of the inactivity or
indifference of the opposition. According to Mr. Kocharyan, today the
opposition does not think about the results of the coming elections;
its representatives compete in announcing about revolution and
other things.
Irregardless of all the circumstances, as Mr.
Kocharyan informed, the NDP will participate in the Parliamentary
elections. “Nevertheless, we will not exclude the possibility of
cooperation with other power”.
At the end of the news conference Mr. Kocharyan referred to the murder
of Shahen Hovasapyan, “He was killed by people for whose sake Shahen
Hovasapyan was ready to give his life”, he stated without going into
further details.

DEAD BODY OF FOOTBALL FAN FOUND
A1+
[06:38 pm] 08 September, 2006
A dead body has been found in the old boiler-house near the Republic
stadium after Vazgen Sargsyan.
According to preliminary data, it was the body of Vahe Ghazaryan
(b. 1988) who went to the stadium on September 6, at about 07:00
p.m. in order to watch the match Armenia-Belgium and never returned
home.
Yesterday his body was found by rescuers and taken to police.
According to the informational service of the Emergency Administration,
the rescuers arrived at the site after the alarm of the police. No
more details are known.

“ARMENIA CARRIES OUT A PASSIVE POLICY”
A1+
[07:24 pm] 08 September, 2006
“The recent developments of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict recorded
serious loss of the US control on the upon the procedure”, announced
professor of the Yerevan State University David Hovhannisyan
during the seminar organized by the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies. Instead, Iran showed serious influence,
and now they are treated differently, he added.
Representing the 50-year history of the conflict, David Haroutyunyan
noted that nothing has been changed throughout these years, and the
recent developments only accelerated the plans of the USA. According
to him, Israel has solved its problems; nevertheless, it turned out
that the Israeli army is not what it used to be.
During the seminar titled “Armenian peace-keepers in Lebanon? Pro
et contra” ex Minister of Defense, Lieutenant-general Vagharshak
Haroutyunyan was to give strategic-political assessment of the
situation. He represented the positive and negative sides of Armenian
troupes being sent to Lebanon. According to him, before making a
decision the country ahs to clear out several issues. We must also
find out what authorities the UN mandate gives to the troupes; if it
is that of disarmament, the participation of the Armenian side may
be dangerous.
Nevertheless, the participation in the peace-keeping mission is in
itself good and important, especially in case of the Lebanese-Israeli
conflict, when the sides are for the allocation of peace-keeping
troupes, taking into account the presence of a large Armenian community
in both countries.
Answering the question why troupes were sent to Iraq immediately, and
the issue of Lebanon is not even included in the agenda, Vagharshak
Haroutyunyan answered, “An offer was made to send troupes to Iraq.
As for Lebanon, something is needed which our authorities do not have –
their own initiative. This is called passive policy”.
David Hovhannisyan’s point of view was positive too: we must send
troupes to Iraq, and there is nothing negative about it. On the whole,
all the experts participating in the discussion were for sending a
peace-keeping mission.
Secretary of the political council of the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies, economist Edward Antinyan’s speech was
radically different from that of politicians and experts. He blamed the
Armenians for defending “Hezbollah”, although there has never been an
announcement presupposing that possibility. He blamed everyone for not
defending Israel. He also blamed the Arabs for seizing 22 countries
and for their wish to destroy Israel. He justified the actions of
Israel even though it resulted in the deaths of non-combatant people.
Nevertheless, he appeared in an unenviable situation when deputy
Ambassador of Egypt Said Shafey Abdul Mohsen who also participated
in the seminar decided to answer his speech and informed Mr. Antinyan
that the 100-km territory of Lebanon called Nazare Sharif was captured
not by the Arabs but by Israel and that not the Arabs but Israeli
army is the aggressor.

Armenpress
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR UN TO AID WITH FIRES IN
KARABAKH
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian
foreign ministry said the 60-th session of the UN
General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for
the UN to help prevent environmental damage from fires
in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ministry said Armenia had negotiated the draft
resolution agreeing eventually to its content and
wording. As a result, it said, the resolution in
general is acceptable to Armenia. The resolution,
says, in particular that the UN General Assembly ‘is
seriously concerned by the fires in the affected
territories, which have inflicted widespread
environmental damage.”
The resolution stresses the necessity to urgently
conduct an environmental operation to suppress the
fires in the affected territories and to overcome
their detrimental consequences and welcomes the
readiness of the parties to cooperate to that end and
considers such an operation to be an important
confidence-building measure.
It also calls upon, in this regard, the
organizations and programs of the United Nations
system, in particular the United Nations Environmental
Program, in cooperation with the OSCE to provide all
necessary assistance and expertise, including, inter
alia, the assessment of and counteraction to the
short-term and long-term impact of the environmental
degradation of the region, as well as in its
rehabilitation.
The resolution asks the Co-Chairs of the Minsk
Group of the OSCE to provide a report to member States
of the General Assembly by April 30, 2007. The
Armenian ministry said Armenia’s permanent
representative to the UN, Armen Martirosian, delivered
a statement at the session saying that the draft
resolution at hand addresses an issue, which ‘we
thought had been brought to a close, two weeks ago,
through discussions with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
the Minsk Group Co-chairs and the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office’s Personal Representative. A
decision was taken to send a mission of experts under
the OSCE to assess the fires.”
“The authorities of Nagorno Karabakh had already
accepted this proposal, and Armenia was certainly
ready to use its good offices to facilitate such a
mission. It was our understanding that Azerbaijan had
also agreed. Given all this, it was surprising to see
a draft resolution circulating at the UN on this same
issue, especially since it called for a parallel
mission under the UN auspices.
This approach was unacceptable. We considered such
a step to be an obstacle to continuing negotiations.
And, since it was clearly intended to pursue other
political ends, Armenia opposed this motion. However,
as a result of our consultations with the Minsk Group
Co-chairs, we have come to agreement on a text that
simply reiterates support for the OSCE mission. In
this regard we would like to welcome the readiness of
all the parties to negotiate in the spirit of
compromise under the able and very effective mediation
of the Minsk Group Co-chairs.
Nevertheless, although we support the content of
the agreement, we continue to remain opposed to the
general idea of this agenda item and a UN resolution
under it. That is the reason Armenia dissociates
itself from the consensus on this resolution.

Armenpress
OPPOSITION MP SLAMS FELLOWS
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS: A prominent
opposition MP slammed today his fellows saying the
opposition has never been so discredited in 15 years
of Armenia’s post-Soviet history.
A parliament member Shavarsh Kocharian told a news
conference today that the people have to have an
alternative to the incumbent regime but the
developments of the last couple of years have
demonstrated that the opposition is not that
alternative.
Shavarsh Kocharian, who is head of a tiny party,
argued that this is due to the frustration in the
opposition ranks and among ordinary people. In this
sense he emphasized the key importance of 2007 and
2008 national elections saying they will be crucial in
terms of Armenia’s future.
Kocharian said his party in cooperation with
Democracy NGO has developed a program that will ensure
free and transparent elections, but added that $4
million are needed to materialize it. He said the
program was sent to all stakeholders, including
opposition parties, but none responded. He said
opposition leaders are preoccupied now with
competition with each other rather than with seeking
for something that will help to conduct fair
elections.
“I do not see a political will inside the
opposition, there is no definite program that will
differ from what the authorities say,” he said.
Kocharian also expressed his ‘demographic’ concerns
saying the birth rate in Armenia is lower than in many
industrialized European nations. According to him,
half of Armenian females of marriage age are single.

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 09/09/2006
Karabakh issue
NO OSKANIAN-MAMEDIAROV MEETING ENVISAGED
On September 12, Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign minister,
will meet with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs in
Paris. Vladimir Karapetian, press secretary of RA
Foreign Ministry, informed Azg that they haven’t
envisaged any meeting between Vartan Oskanian and his
Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamediarov.
It’s worth mentioning that earlier Mamediarov stated
about his arrangement to meet the OSCE Minsk group
co-chairs on September 13. The meeting of both
ministers in fact depended on the adoption of the
formula of the fires in the so-called occupied
territories of Azerbaijan at the UN.
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 09/09/2006
World press
IF 9/11 HADN’T HAPPENED
Five years since 9/11, and we are still being told that the world has
changed forever. But the terrorist attack on the United States on 11
September, 2001 was a low-probability event that could just as easily
not have happened.. The often careless and sometimes incompetent
hijackers might have been caught before boarding those planes,
and there were not ten other plots of similar magnitude stacked up
behind them.
Would the world really be all that different now if there had been
no 9/11?
There would have been no invasion of Afghanistan, and probably no
second term for President George W. Bush, whose main political asset
for the past five years has been his claim to be leading the United
States in a Global War on Terror. Deprived of the opportunity to
posture as a heroic war leader in the mould of Winston Churchill
or Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bush would have had great difficulty in
persuading the American public that his first-term achievements
merited a second kick at the can.
Would Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz & Co. have succeeded in
invading Iraq anyway? That was high on their agenda from the moment
they took office, but without the 9/11 attacks eight months later they
would have had great difficulty in persuading the American public
that invading Iraq, a country on the other side of the world that
posed no threat to the United States, was a good idea. Whereas after
9/11, it was easy to sell the project to geographically challenged
Americans: maybe no Iraqis were involved in 9/11, but they’re all
Arabs, aren’t they?
So no Afghanistan, no Iraq — and probably no Israeli attack on
Lebanon either, because that was pre-planned in concert with the
United States. Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers and the
killing of three others in a cross-border raid in late June was a major
provocation, but the Bush administration had already signed off on an
all-out Israeli air assault to destroy Hezbollah months before. All
they needed was a suitable excuse, which Hezbollah duly provided.
But assume no Bush second term, and that also doesn’t happen.
Without 9/11 there would still be a “terrorist threat,” of course,
because there is always some terrorism. It’s rarely a big enough
threat to justify expanding .police powers, let alone launching a
“global war” against it, but the fluke success of the 9/11 attacks
(which has not been duplicated once in the subsequent five years)
created the illusion that terrorism was a major problem. Various
special interests climbed aboard the band-wagon, and off we all went.
That is a pity, because without 9/11 there would have been no
governments justifying torture in the name of fighting terrorism, no
“special renditions,” no camps like Guantanamo. Tens of thousands of
people killed in the various invasions of the past five years would
still be alive, and Western countries with large Muslim minorities
would not now face a potential terrorist backlash at home from their
own disaffected young Muslims. The United States would not be seen
by most of the world as a rogue state. But that’s as far as the
damage goes.
Current US policy and the hostility it arouses elsewhere in the world
are both transient things. The Sunni Muslim extremists — they would
call themselves Salafis — who were responsible for 9/11 have not
seized power in a single country since then, despite the boost they
were given by the flailing US response to that attack. The world
is actually much the same as it would have been if 9/11 had never
happened.
Economically, 9/11 and its aftermath have had almost no discernible
long-term impact: even the soaring price of oil is mostly due to rising
demand in Asia, not to military events in the Middle East. The lack
of decisive action on climate change is largely due to Bush policies
that were already in place before 9/11.
And strategically, the relations between the great powers have not
yet been gravely damaged by the US response to 9/11. There may even
be a hidden benefit in the concept of a “war on terror.”
It is a profoundly dishonest concept, since it is actually directed
mainly against Muslim groups that have grievances against the various
great powers: Chechens against Russia, Muslim Uyghurs against China,
Kashmiri Muslims and their Pakistani cousins against India, practically
everybody in the Arab world and Iran against the US and Britain. The
terrorists’ methods are reprehensible, but their grievances are often
real. However, the determination of the great powers to oppose not
only their methods but their goals is also real. That gives them a
common enemy and a shared strategy.
The main risk at this point in history is that the great powers will
drift back into some kind of alliance confrontation. Key resources
are getting scarcer, the climate is changing, and the rise of China
and India means that the pecking order of the great powers is due
to change again in the relatively near future. Any strategic analyst
worth his salt, given those preconditions, could draw you up a dozen
different scenarios of disaster by lunchtime.
Avoiding that disaster at the expense of the world’s much abused
Muslims is not an acceptable option, but it appears to be the preferred
solution of the moment.
And that, five years on, is the principal legacy of 9/11.
By Gwynne Dyer

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 09/09/2006
Armenian Genocide
BUENOS AIRES SOVEREIGN CITY PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
AND VOTES ON CORRESPONDING LAW ABOUT ANNUAL COMMEMORATION
Armenian Genocide history will be taught in schools of Buenos Aires
every April 24.
On Thursday evening, August 17 the Legislative Assembly of Buenos
Aires Sovereign City unanimously passed a law according to which April
24th will be honored as “Commemoration day of the first genocide of
20th century where Armenian people were persecuted”. This decision
of Buenos Aires Sovereign City is based on Buenos Aires Province law
number 13.478, which as is known, was introduced for discussion last
June with the effort of director of “Sardarabad” newspaper and district
member of parliament Sergio Nahapetian. The law envisions that every
April 24th all schools of the city have classes giving an overview of
the Armenian Genocide issue. MP Gorge Sanmartino presented the draft in
the city parliament who based his report on above-mentioned provincial
law. The law was unanimously passed during a long parliamentary
session. During the August 17 session the following were present:
Republic of Armenia Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador
Vlatimir Karmirshalian, minister Mr. Khorhen Terterian and embassy
associate on cultural and media matters Mr. Ruben Mozeian, leader of
Argentine and Chile Archbishop Gisak Muradian, Rev. Eghishe Nazarian,
vice-president of Armenian Central Committee Dr. Alperto Cherechian,
AGBU vice-president Mr. Ricardo Halachian, Mr. Hayk Shahinian (ADLP),
Pedro Muradian (ARF), and Mrs. Tiana Ter-Karapetian (Tekeyan Cultural
Center).After the adoption of the law Mr. Gorge Sanmartino thanked all
the members of parliament of the Sovereign City as well as Provincial
parliamentarian Sergio Nahapetian. He also greeted the presence of
ambassador of Republic of Armenia and the embassy staff, the Armenian
Primate and representatives of Armenian organizations.

7TH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DANCE FILMS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
Yerevan, September 8. ArmInfo. The 7th International Festival of Dance
Films “Movie Dance” will take place in Armenia for the first time from
September 28 to October 1. The best dance films provided by video
archives of 30 countries will be demonstrated during the festival,
Melik Karapertyan, a member of the Association of Movie Critics and
Journalists of Armenia, Director of the Movie Department, the National
Picture Gallery, told ArmInfo. The films to be demonstrated were
short from 1980 to 2006. In addition, professional teachers and film
directors Alla Cowgan and Alisa Cordon from the USA will give master-
classes and lectures for choreographers, dancers and cameramen. The
festival has no contest program, it just aims demonstrations of retro
films. The films by Armenian directors will be demonstrated during
the festival as well.
The dance movie has become popular in Armenia at the beginning of
1980s when choreographers from New York, Boston and Saint Petersburg
expressed a desire to show the world the methods, principles and the
rules of making a high-quality dance film. Since then, festivals of
dance movie were organized in these cities, and the films by Armenian
film director Artavazd Peleshyan “Inhabitants” and “Seasons of the
Year” took a good place during the festivals. The 4th International
Festival “Movie Dance” demonstrated a film by another American Armenian
film director Michael Demirijyan “Dancers go to Bowling.”