ARSON CHARGES AGAINST ARMENIAN SIDE – TYPICAL AZERI STYLE
Yerevan, September 4. ArmInfo. Azerbaijan’s recent arson charges
against the Armenian side are typical Azeri style, Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said during a press-conference today.
He said that the Armenian side inquires into each report of fire on
the contact line.
To remind, in the last few months the Azeri side has been alleging
at various instances that the Armenian side deliberately sets on fire
the territories controlled by the Karabakh armed forces.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIRST LARGE FOREIGN UNIT ARRIVES FOR LEBANON-ISRAEL BUFFER ZONE
By John Kifner
The New York Times
Sept 4 2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 3 – Hundreds of Italian marines, and their
armored vehicles, landed in southern Lebanon on Sunday, the first
large foreign contingent of what is to become a reinforced United
Nations buffer force on the border with Israel.
A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force said that
about 1,000 Italian troops were expected to be ashore by nightfall,
including the small vanguard that arrived Saturday in choppy seas on
rubber dinghies and helicopters.
The arrival of the Italians increases the number of troops on the
ground to roughly 3,250 out of a projected goal of 15,000. A 250-member
French contingent arrived late last week, mainly engineering troops who
set to work repairing bombed-out bridges and roads. And 2,000 troops
were already in place from the previous peacekeeping contingent,
known as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
The United Nations had hoped to have at least 3,500 troops by
Saturday. The full international force is supposed to complement a
similar size deployment of the Lebanese Army in securing an uneasy
cease-fire after a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah
guerrillas.
But under a kind of “don’t flaunt, don’t search” arrangement between
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, the army apparently does not
intend to try to disarm Hezbollah.
Neither do the United Nations forces, officials have said, although
they will have a tougher mandate – enabling them to use force if
threatened – than did the generally ineffective force in place since
an Israeli incursion in 1978.
In Israel on Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he had
tried to contact Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon to raise
the possibility of peace talks.
“How natural it would be if the Lebanese prime minister replied
to the many requests I conveyed to him, through different people,
to sit down together, shake hands, make peace and end once and for
all the hostility, fanaticism and hatred that part of his country
feels toward us,” Mr. Olmert said at a school in Maalot-Tarshiha, in
northern Israel. The town was a frequent target of Hezbollah rockets
during the fighting in July and August.
“I hope this day comes soon,” he said, adding, “I’m sure all of Israel
yearns for it.”
At a news conference last week in Beirut, Mr. Siniora said that
Lebanon would be the “last Arab country that could sign a peace
agreement with Israel.”
On Sunday, Italian soldiers wearing blue berets on armored personnel
carriers newly painted with white U.N. initials drove through wrecked
Lebanese villages decked with yellow Hezbollah flags, drawing waves
and V-for-victory signs.
Italy intends to deploy 2,450 ground troops in four phases over two
months – the largest contingent – and assume command of the force
early next year.
The current commander of the peacekeeping force, Maj. Gen. Alain
Pellegrini of France, told reporters in Tyre that the new version
of the United Nations force “is strengthened with stronger rules
of engagement.”
“We have more people, more equipment, and we will have more possibility
to use force to implement our mission,” he said.
But the effort to fill the complete 15,000-troop deployment is still
troubled by the reluctance of many countries to join what could be
a dangerous mission – particularly if their troops become combatants.
Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, announced that it would
send 1,000 troops after Israel eased off its objections to Indonesia’s
participation. Turkey is weighing participation, although Lebanon’s
tiny Armenian minority has objected because of the Turkish genocide
of Armenians in 1915.
Israel has announced that its troops, still on the fringes of Lebanese
territory, have found and blown up several Hezbollah arms caches. The
United Nations has said that the Israeli forces should fully withdraw
over the border as soon as the number of soldiers in the international
force reaches 5,000.
“The cease-fire is holding for the moment,” General Pellegrini said.
“But it’s fragile. Any incident can escalate.”
Greg Myre contributed reporting from Jerusalem for this article.

LEADER OF ARMENIAN NATIONALISTIC PARTY ACCUSES WEST OF TRYING TO RESHAPE THE MIDDLE EAST
Armenpress
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS: The leader of a minor Armenian
nationalistic party accused Saturday the West of engineering a new
re-division of the Middle East. Armen Avetisian, head of a party called
‘Armenian Aryan Union’ and heads of three other small nationalistic
parties told a news conference they had come to this conclusion
after careful examination of a story and a concomitant map in a
U.S. military magazine.
They said the map shows a new independent state of Kurdistan that
is to be build in the region at the expense of parts of Iran, Syria,
Iraq and a chunk of eastern Anatolia in Turkey, which Armenians refer
to as ‘Western Armenia.”
Armen Avetisian claimed the map was a clear sign of the globalization
of the Middle East, a process designed and carried out by the West. He
said the map shows Armenia without Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan
(an enclave in Azerbaijan) but is given a small portion of eastern
Turkey with Mount Ararat.
He said this is an attempt to build a Kurdistan state on historical
Armenian lands, saying also Armenians must be able to intervene to
foil these plans. He went as far as to say that Armenia and Turkey,
two historical rivals, could even join to fight back this scheme
together with Iran, Syria and some Arab countries.
Avetisian, known for his controversial views, was arrested in
January 2005 and after two months in custody was given a suspended
three-year prison sentence by a Yerevan court for inciting inter-ethnic
enmity. The court said in a series of newspaper interviews Avetisian
branded Jews as enemies of Armenia and called for their expulsion
from the country.
Avetisian also never made good on his repeated pledges to publicize
a list of Armenian government officials who he claims are homosexuals.

FESTIVAL OF ARMENIAN CULTURE HELD IN BARNAUL
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 04 2006
BARNAUL, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenians’
Union of the region of Altai held in Barnaul a festival of the Armenian
culture entitled “Pomegranate Flower,” within the framework of the Year
of Armenia in Russia. According to the “Yerkramas” (country) newspaper
of Armenians of Russia, in the festival, one could see well-known
Armenian masters’ and gifted beginners’ paintings and sculptures,
listen to Armenian music performed by folk groups. For Armenians of the
Altai region, the festival became one of ways of keeping traditions
of the native land, telling about them to representatives of other
peoples. The festival had many guests: interest towards the Armenian
people’s history, traditions, culture is rather big. In the opinion of
Vladimir Farashian, the Armenians’ Union Board Chairman of the Altai
region, similar holidays assist strengthening mutual understanding
among peoples living in the Altai region.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TO LOVE AND HONOUR … THE LEAFS
Toronto Star, Canada
Sept 4 2006
ACC employees, hockey fans have dream wedding
Everything was blue and white, even the ring
NASREEN GULAMHUSEIN STAFF REPORTER
Years before she met her husband, Sandi Joseph knew her wedding would
be blue and white. Blue and white for the Toronto Maple Leafs, that is.
Yesterday at centre ice (without the ice, although Joseph would have
preferred it to be there), her dream came true. She married Kevin
Kandaharian at the Air Canada Centre, where the couple met five years
ago and still work part-time.
“I worked as an usher of a section and he worked the ice-cream stand
outside my section,” Joseph, 31, said.
“We are both diehard Maple Leaf fans, so we hit it off right away.”
One year later, Kandaharian went on a hockey road trip through western
Canada, following the Maple Leafs from Calgary to Edmonton, and on
to Vancouver.
“Sandi was the only one crazy enough to do it with me,” Kandaharian,
25, said.
“We went as friends and came back as more.”
The wedding ceremony was simple: Blue-and-white bows adorned the
fold-out chairs, and a blue carpet stood in for the church aisle.
The priest, Kandaharian’s grandfather, married the happy couple as
they stood on a large carpet bearing the Maple Leafs logo, flanked
by a wedding party decked out in blue and white.
“There has never been a wedding of this magnitude held at the ACC
before,” Joseph said of the 250 people in attendance.
Poetic vows were exchanged in English and a prayer read in Armenian,
Kandaharian’s first language.
Family members – some wearing Leaf jerseys, others in blue-and-white
evening gowns and ties – held hands and wiped tear-filled eyes.
“The groom may kiss the bride,” the priest announced at the end of
the ceremony, and the crowd erupted into applause.
More than half the guests raised Maple Leaf flags and towels into
the air and waved them, as though they were at a hockey game. A lone
voice yelled “Go Leafs Go!” as a young boy loudly sounded a horn.
As the grinning couple walked down the aisle, the blue-and-white
crystals in Joseph’s dress shimmered, as did the blue-and-white
wedding ring on her hand.
“I told Kevin I had to have sapphires,” she said, laughing. “The
sapphires were more important to me than the diamonds.”
Kandaharian proposed to Joseph at the Hockey Hall of Fame last year
and surprised her with a ring tucked in one of the display cases
among hockey memorabilia.
“I saw the ring…. It didn’t click, so I walked away. Only when he
dropped onto one knee did I clue in – that was my ring.”
The newly married couple’s blue-and-white wedding reception included
a Maple Leaf-shaped cake topped with a bride and groom wearing Leaf
jerseys, and blue-and-white centrepieces and place cards.
“By getting married at the ACC,” the bride said, “hopefully we brought
the team some luck this year.”

“NAREKATSI” ART CENTER DEPARTMENT OPENS IN SHOUSHI
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 04 2006
SHOUSHI, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Shoushi
cultural complex of the “Narekatsi” art union opened on August 31. The
“Yerkir” (country) Union of Public Organizations for Repatriation
and Resettlement assisted its creation. The “Narekatsi” art union,
which was founded in Yerevan by American Armenian Narek Haroutiunian,
has a goal to assist development of the Armenian modern art. Narek
Haroutiunian made the opening speech of the event. NKR Minister of
Culture Kamo Atayan participated in the ceremony. The Karabakh state
choir, Shoushi “Varanda” choir, “Meghedi” dance group, “Berdzor”
children’s ensemble, “Shoushi” national musical instrumental ensemble,
singers presented music performances, unique instrumental performances
were also presented.
The complex consists of a central building which has an exhibition
hall, classrooms, a music classroom, a library, guest rooms envisaged
for artists.
Conditions are created for invalids’ free movement. The Shoushi complex
of the “Narekatsi” art union will in future have a theater building,
center for exhibitions, children’s camp as well.

JIHAD MEANS LIFE, AND NOT WAR OR MURDER, THE MUFTI OF SYRIA CLARIFIES
ArmRadio.am
04.09.2006 17:58
NA Chairman Tigran Torosyan received today the delegation headed
by Mufti of the Arab Republic of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Badr Al-Din
Hasun. The Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II and Ambassadors of
two countries were present at the meeting.
Tigran Torosyan noted that he is closely observing the events that
keep the region in chaos. He is concerned not only with the fate of
his compatriots, but with the one of the friendly nations. NA Chairman
attached particular importance to the Mufti’s visit in a period when
the religious leader of the neighboring country is threatening with
Jihad. Turning to the Jihad declared by religious leaders of the
Muslims of the Caucasus, the Mufti noted that Jihad means life, and
not war or murder. He noted also that the task of religious leaders
should be supporting the political leadership to establish peace
and well-being.

NA PARLIEMENT SPEAKER ASHOT GULYAN RECEIVED THE SOUTH OSSETIAN DELEGATION
ArmRadio.am
04.09.2006 18:07
Issues related to the expansion of cooperation were discussed today
during NKR Parliament Spealer Ashot Gulyan’s meeting with Deputy
Foreign and Defense Ministers of South Ossetia Alan Pliev and Ibrahim
Hasiev.
NA Press Service informs that members of the South Ossetian delegation
emphasized the increase of contacts between the two countries, which
provide great opportunities to the sides for further cooperation.
Ashot Gulyan expressed readiness to Deepen the cooperation between
Nagorno Karabakh and South Ossetia on the level of Parliaments.

ARMENIAN MINISTER SPEAKS ABOUT “OBSTACLES” FOR MEETING AZERI COUNTERPART
Arminfo
4 Sep 06
Yerevan, 4 September: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has
shied away from naming specific dates of his next meeting with the
Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov.
At a today’s meeting with journalists, he noted that he was aware of
statements by the Azerbaijani side, according to which the meeting will
allegedly be held on 13 September in Paris or on 15-17 September in
London. However, the minister said, the Azerbaijani side had recently
tried to transform the settlement process to the UN format. However
“some other processes” are under way in the UN at the moment.
It is difficult to make predictions on the meeting, if there are
obstacles for holding it, the Armenian foreign minister said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI LEADER SAYS ISLAM SHOULD NOT BE LINKED TO TERRORISM
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
4 Sep 06
Presenter] Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity. As we
noted earlier, President Ilham Aliyev said this at the Youth Forum of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference [OIC] held in the Turkish
city of Istanbul. The president said that today Islam is identified
with terrorism, which is a completely wrong policy.
[Passage omitted: Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s speech at the forum]
In his speech, President Ilham Aliyev focused on boosting ties and
contacts between the young generation of the [OIC] member states. The
president stressed the importance of building dialogue and cooperation
and added that this was being done successfully.
[Ilham Aliyev, shown addressing the forum] The Youth Forum has already
started working actively. Enough has been said here today about the
forum’s work and its future plans. There are very nice plans and
programmes. I am sure that all these plans will be implemented.
[Correspondent] Ilham Aliyev drew the attention of the participants
in the forum to the dangerous trend of forming a negative opinion
of Islam. The president noted that cooperation between young Muslims
could contribute to Muslim unity all over the world.
[Aliyev] We should demonstrate to the world that Islam is a religion
of peace. Islam must never be identified with terrorism.
[Correspondent] In his speech, the president particularly spoke
about the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. Over 3,000 innocent people
were killed in over 30 bloody crimes committed by Armenian terrorist
organizations in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia’s occupying
policy, Azerbaijan has been subjected to economic, political and
cultural terrorism.
[Aliyev] We have always been the side subjected to terror. We want to
restore justice, we want to restore our territorial integrity and we
will achieve this because international law is on our side, justice
is on our side. We should be more active. We should take advantage
of all opportunities – political, economic, diplomatic and others –
to restore justice.
[Correspondent] The president rated highly the publication of a book
about the Karabakh conflict in the Arab language by the Youth Forum
of the organization. Ilham Aliyev also drew the attention of the
participants in the forum to education, health and sport issues.
Today’s youth should be educated, healthy and spiritually pure. Ilham
Aliyev said that this policy had been successfully pursued in
Azerbaijan and spoke about prospects for young people and tasks facing
them. The president also demonstrated the Azerbaijani government’s
support in this regard with a specific step.
[Aliyev] It is very important that our youth are both educated,
skilled, modern and at the same time observe all national and religious
traditions and are brought up in the spirit of patriotism so that
our countries can develop. To that end, the Azerbaijani government
has allocated 100,000 dollars to the forum’s budget. I am confident
that this small contribution will help in your work.
[Azartac news agency, Baku, in Azeri 0730 gmt 4 Sep 06 reported that
on 3 September, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a meeting
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. They
discussed issues of mutual interest, the report said.]