The Times, UK
May 20 2006

Required reading

Last letters from a traveller

As Jan Morris reaches 80, she has returned to Hav, the mythical
destination of her first novel. Salley Vickers celebrates a lifetime
of journeying

HAV
by Jan Morris
Faber (June 1), £16.99; 301pp

WHEN MY YOUNGER SON turned 16, we went to open his bank account. The
bank manager looked dubiously at my son’s passport, which bore a name
that differed from the one on the account forms. My son had tried,
but failed, to have his given name changed legally: at that time you
could change your surname by law, but your forename was apparently
carved in stone.

By way of explanation, my son announced: `I have the same problem as
Jan Morris,’ at which the bank manager became first flustered and
then propitiating. Afterwards, I said admiringly: `You realise what
he . . .?’ `Sure,’ my son said. `I said it to disarm him.’

This sums up some of the cultural impact of Morris, whose most
famous, if not her greatest contribution to our age was publicly and
courageously to cross – besides many geographical ones – the gender
boundary and who insouciantly remarks in Pleasures of a Tangled Life:
`I cannot recommend too highly the pleasures of androgyny.’ Jan
Morris’s writing has been as catholic and genial as James Morris’s
was. Venice, published when she was still James, a book which
eloquently discloses a city close to my own heart, is rightly
considered a classic.

Her later, and in some ways even better book The Venetian Empire,
written as Jan, explores that remarkable state’s maritime expansion
through the eastern Mediterranean. The book is written through the
vista of a voyage, and the draw of the ocean is discernible in
another of Morris’s later works, the strange but somehow typical
Fisher’s Face, a biography of Lord `Jacky’ Fisher, Admiral of the
Fleet, a man of mighty contradictions.

Fisher’s transformation of the Royal Navy was truly prodigious. His
inspirations and miscalculations were equally so, and only a writer
as naturally sympathetic to eccentricity as Morris could capture such
idiosyncratic genius and lunacy.

Morris has always been proud of her Welsh origins and that is the
country where she has felt finally at home. She said in a BBC
interview that of all her many achievements her proudest was being
elected a member of the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards. From her book on
Wales, `the damp, demanding and obsessively interesting country’, I
learnt why it is home to so many ancient yews and that beavers still
lived and built dams there until well into the 18th century.

If her father secured her attachment to Wales, it was probably from
her mother, educated in Germany, that Morris acquired her acute
feeling for the complexities of Europe. Yet, paradoxically, the
strongest element of that sense is precisely its non-existence, or
rather its ideational existence, a concept exemplified in what was
announced as her `final’ book, Trieste and The Meaning of Nowhere.

Morris has movingly said that Trieste is her ideal city because for
her it is the capital of `that great empire, which is nowhere’, `a
fourth world, beyond the Third World, where the people all feel the
same, where, whatever their colour or sex or religion or, or anything
at all, they really at heart feel a certain way about important
things . . . wherever you go in the world you’ll find somebody with
whom you immediately feel at home. And you know that they feel at
home with you.’

That Trieste turns out not to be her last book is a matter for
celebration. For, in her 80th year, we have a new creation from her
intrepid inner traveller.

Hav is the sequel, or second half, of her only novel, Last Letters
from Hav, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1985. The country of
Hav is a mythic place, whose non-existence in the physical world
exemplifies Morris’s deeper affinity with the reality of that `fourth
world’.

In Hav `nobody knows what native is. Now as then, you can take your
choice! Chopin, for example, when he came here with George Sand in
1839 after their unhappy holiday in Majorca . . . rented a house in
the Armenian quarter of the Old City and briefly took Armenian
lessons with the city trumpeter of the day. On the other hand James
Joyce spent nearly all his time at the Cafe München, the famous
writers’ haunt on Bundstrasse, while Richard Burton the explorer, as
one might expect, went entirely Arab, strode around the city in
burnous and golden dagger, flagrantly snubbed the British Resident
and was rumoured to have got up to terrible things in the darker
corners of the Medina . . .’

By the end of the first book, the warships of an enemy power were
menacing – and in the revisited Hav we see the incursions of a
depredating world that has, in the 20 intervening years, in our
parallel one, become salient.

Hav, as observed by both the book’s narrator and its author (who are
almost one and the same), is the culmination of a life of meditation
on the philosophical and existential implications of travel and, as
such, its conclusions are intentionally ambiguous.

It is, as one might expect of this writer, a deeply civilised and
civilising book. Of all the qualities that Morris values, she places
kindness first. Kindness has the same root as kin. To be kind is to
recognise kinship, that we are all, in essence, of the same kind. We
are lucky to have Jan Morris, and her gift of transporting us to
other realms, and other, apparently foreign, sensibilities to aid us
in this lifesaving understanding.

EXTRACT FROM ‘HAV’

Inside . . . I found remainders of the past: here a decidedly
Russian-style landscape (muffled ladies in long skirts snowballing
with preternaturally rosy children), here a chipped and rusted enamel
advertisement (TAKE THE TRAIN! MEDITERRANEAN EXPRESS DIRECT TO
MOSCOW, with a fanciful representation of onion domes and Cossacks),
and standing in a dark corner cold and unpolished, a fine old samovar
surmounted by a Russian imperial eagle. But they were no more than
hints, really, rather than relics of what had once been there.

`Oh dear me no, Miss Morris, the Impériale is not what it was,’ said
Miss Yegen, when we settled down in her cosy sitting-room for, as she
put it, `a little light something before bed’.

`But what would you do? No trains, very few visitors – only Chinese
and Arab commercials, by and large – and certainly no help from the
Government. They wanted to pull the place down, actually, when they
pulled down the station ruins, and it was only because we all made a
fuss that they let it stand.’

So making a fuss did have some effect, in the new Hav? `Not often,
but sometimes. There’s not much what you might call public opinion
these days. The papers don’t spend much time on everyday matters – I
was surprised when the Mirror had that article about me and the
hotel, but that may have been the influence of Signor BIancheri,
who’s always had a soft spot for the Impériale. Still, it was
certainly people making a fuss who saved the Roof-Race.’

I’d forgotten all about the Roof-Race.

`Oh feelings ran so high about the Roof-Race that those Cathars
really couldn’t go ahead and do away with it. They meant to, you know
. . .’

Star Phoenix, Saskatoon, Canada
May 20 2006

Young protagonist required to address own social blindness

Katie Ewards, The StarPhoenix
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006

The foreword to Shattered, Eric Walters’s new book for young readers,
is written by Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire. This is appropriate,
since Shattered was inspired by Dallaire and his own book, Shake
Hands with the Devil. In the foreword, Dallaire grimly points out the
fact that war veterans with physical injuries are venerated as
heroes, but soldiers who return with psychological wounds are often
ignored and marginalized.

Shattered begins with Ian, the 15-year-old protagonist, meeting just
such a man: a former soldier, now homeless. When Ian first passes
Sarge in a park, he does not see the retired soldier at all. When
Sarge makes himself known, Ian is still subject to blindness of a
sort: the teenager writes the older man off as paranoid and
worthless. His assumptions are challenged first when Sarge rescues
him from a mugging, and then again when he begins to unearth Sarge’s
past as a UN Peacekeeper. But Sarge is dismayed to discover Ian’s
lack of education about the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Blindness is a theme in this book.

At the beginning, Ian lives in a shiny, upper-class bubble. His work
in a soup kitchen, required by his civics class, becomes an
eye-opening experience when he is taken on a tour of the alleys and
dumpsters of his city: homeless people are everywhere, unseen and
unheard. Likewise, Canada has turned a deliberate blind eye toward
Rwanda and the horrifying events which unfolded there.

As Ian explores the underbelly of the city and learns the appalling
history of the failed UN mission in Rwanda, his protective bubble
falls to pieces. He begins to obsess — not only over the Rwandan
genocide, but also those of Armenia, Cambodia, and Yugoslavia, as
well as the Holocaust of the Second World War and the “disappeared”
in Guatemala. Walters’s writing provides enough detail for these
tragedies to be memorable, but is simultaneously abstract enough to
avoid causing nightmares.

A book about homelessness and genocide inevitably threatens to become
too depressing to read. Walters avoids this trap by focusing on
individuals who affect change. He exposes a dark abyss of tragedy,
but concentrates on the light of heroism: the man who runs the soup
kitchen saves lives, just as shoemakers did in Guatemala and
Peacekeepers did in Rwanda.

But not everyone can be rescued. Will Ian save Sarge?

Shattered deals with weighty issues, but presents them in a way that
will open young readers’ eyes. It inspires readers to shatter their
own bubbles and take action.

Edwards is a freelance writer.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 18 2006

RA PRESIDENT DISCUSSES WITH GOVERNOR OF ARARAT REGION LIQUIDATION OF
CONSEQUENCES OF SPRING FLOODS

YEREVAN, May 19. /ARKA/. On May 18, the RA President Robert Kocharyan
discussed with the Governor of Ararat region Alik Sargsyan issues
referring to state support in liquidation of consequences of spring
floods.
According to the Press-Service of the RA President, Kocharyan
assigned Sargsyan to render assistance to peasants, who suffered as a
result of inundated lands and damaged gardens.
Interlocutors also discussed current work in social-economic,
cultural and educational spheres in 2006. S.P. –0–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICANEWS RELEASE
1 AMERICAN AVENUE
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
TELEPHONE (+374 10) 464700
FAX (+374 10) 464742
E-MAIL: [email protected]

May 18, 2006
On May 18, 2006, U.S. Ambassador John Evans participated in the official
opening of the Library Science Computer Laboratory at the Yerevan State
Pedagogical University. The creation of the computer lab was made possible
by the donation of six computers and the installation of library automation
software by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia. The Pedagogical University provided
the newly refurbished room for the laboratory.
Since 2000, the Information Resource Center of the U.S. Embassy has
cooperated with the School of Library Science at Yerevan State Pedagogical
University. This has included bringing in American speakers every year to
lecture on modern developments in library science, as well as an expert in
2005 to help design a new, up-to-date library science curriculum. The
Information Resource Center and staff are an open resource for all students
and researchers who want to learn more about the U.S. and about developments
there.

Robert Fisk: You’re talking nonsense, Mr Ambassador

All the while, new diplomatic archives are opening to reveal the
smell of death – Armenian death

The Independent
Published: 20 May 2006

A letter from the Turkish Ambassador to the Court of Saint James
arrived for me a few days ago, one of those missives that send a
shudder through the human soul. “You allege that an ‘Armenian
genocide’ took place in Eastern Anatolia in 1915,” His Excellency Mr
Akin Alptuna told me. “I believe you have some misconceptions about
those events …”

Oh indeedy doody, I have. I am under the totally mistaken conception
that one and a half million Armenians were cruelly and deliberately
done to death by their Turkish Ottoman masters in 1915, that the men
were shot and knifed while their womenfolk were raped and eviscerated
and cremated and starved on death marches and their children
butchered. I have met a few of the survivors – liars to a man and
woman, if the Turkish ambassador to Britain is to be believed – and I
have seen the photographs taken of the victims by a brave German
photographer called Armen Wegner whose pictures must now, I suppose,
be consigned to the waste bins. So must the archives of all those
diplomats who courageously catalogued the mass murders inflicted upon
Turkey’s Christian population on the orders of the gang of
nationalists who ran the Ottoman government in 1915.

What would have been our reaction if the ambassador of Germany had
written a note to the same effect? “You allege that a ‘Jewish
genocide’ took place in Eastern Europe between 1939 and 1945 … I
believe you have some misconceptions about those events …’ Of
course, the moment such a letter became public, the ambassador of
Germany would be condemned by the Foreign Office, our man in Berlin
would – even the pusillanimous Blair might rise to the occasion – be
withdrawn for consultations and the European Union would debate
whether sanctions should be placed upon Germany.

But Mr Alptuna need have no such worries. His country is not a member
of the European Union – it merely wishes to be – and it was Mr
Blair’s craven administration that for many months tried to prevent
Armenian participation in Britain’s Holocaust Day.

Amid this chicanery, there are a few shining bright lights and I
should say at once that Mr Alptuna’s letter is a grotesque
representation of the views of a growing number of Turkish citizens,
a few of whom I have the honour to know, who are convinced that the
story of the great evil visited upon the Armenians must be told in
their country. So why, oh why, I ask myself, are Mr Alptuna and his
colleagues in Paris and Beirut and other cities still peddling this
nonsense?

In Lebanon, for example, the Turkish embassy has sent a “communiqué”
to the local French-language L’Orient Le Jour newspaper, referring to
the “soi-disant (so-called) Armenian genocide” and asking why the
modern state of Armenia will not respond to the Turkish call for a
joint historical study to “examine the events” of 1915.

In fact, the Armenian president, Robert Kotcharian, will not respond
to such an invitation for the same reason that the world’s Jewish
community would not respond to the call for a similar examination of
the Jewish Holocaust from the Iranian president – because an
unprecedented international crime was committed, the mere questioning
of which would be an insult to the millions of victims who perished.

But the Turkish appeals are artfully concocted. In Beirut, they
recall the Allied catastrophe at Gallipoli in 1915 when British,
French, Australian and New Zealand troops suffered massive casualties
at the hands of the Turkish army. In all – including Turkish soldiers
– up to a quarter of a million men perished in the Dardanelles. The
Turkish embassy in Beirut rightly states that the belligerent nations
of Gallipoli have transformed these hostilities into gestures of
reconciliation, friendship and mutual respect. A good try. But the
bloodbath of Gallipoli did not involve the planned murder of hundreds
of thousands of British, French, Australian, New Zealand – and
Turkish – women and children.

But now for the bright lights. A group of “righteous Turks” are
challenging their government’s dishonest account of the 1915
genocide: Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran, Halil Berktay, Hrant Dink, Ragip
Zarakolu and others claim that the “democratic process” in Turkey
will “chip away at the darkness” and they seek help from Armenians in
doing so. Yet even they will refer only to the 1915 “disaster”, the
“tragedy”, and the “agony” of the Armenians. Dr Fatma Gocek of the
University of Michigan is among the bravest of those Turkish-born
academics who are fighting to confront the Ottoman Empire’s terror
against the Armenians. Yet she, too, objects to the use of the word
genocide – though she acknowledges its accuracy – on the grounds that
it has become “politicised” and thus hinders research.

I have some sympathy with this argument. Why make the job of honest
Turks more difficult when these good men and women are taking on the
might of Turkish nationalism? The problem is that other, more
disreputable folk are demanding the same deletion. Mr Alputuna writes
to me – with awesome disingenuousness – that Armenians “have failed
to submit any irrefutable evidence to support their allegations of
genocide”. And he goes on to say that “genocide, as you are well
aware, has a quite specific legal definition” in the UN’s 1948
Convention. But Mr Alputuna is himself well aware – though he does
not say so, of course – that the definition of genocide was set out
by Raphael Lemkin, a Jew, in specific reference to the wholesale mass
slaughter of the Armenians.

And all the while, new diplomatic archives are opening in the West
which reveal the smell of death – Armenian death – in their pages. I
quote here, for example, from the newly discovered account of
Denmark’s minister in Turkey during the First World War. “The Turks
are vigorously carrying through their cruel intention, to exterminate
the Armenian people,” Carl Wandel wrote on 3 July 1915. The Bishop of
Harput was ordered to leave for Aleppo within 48 hours “and it has later
been learned that this Bishop and all the clergy that accompanied him
have been … killed between Diyarbekir and Urfa at a place where
approximately 1,700 Armenian families have suffered the same fate …
In Angora … approximately 6,000 men … have been shot on the
road … even here in Constantinople (Istanbul), Armenians are being
abducted and sent to Asia …”

There is much, much more. Yet now here is Mr Alptuna in his letter to
me: “In fact, the Armenians living outside Eastern Armenia including
Istanbul … were excluded from deportation.” Somebody here is not
telling the truth. The late Mr Wandel of Copenhagen? Or the Turkish
Ambassador to the Court of St James?

Azad Hye
Abu Dhabi, Embassy of Armenia, 18 May 2006

Your Excellency, Could you please give us an idea about the progress of
diplomatic ties between the Republic of Armenia and the United Arab
Emirates?

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and the UAE were established in 1998.
Two years later Armenia opened an Embassy in Abu Dhabi. I came here first in
April 2000. The official opening of the Embassy was on 23rd September 2000,
with the presence of the Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, members of the
diplomatic missions accredited to the UAE, senior members of the UAE
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a considerable number of Armenians.

The opening of the Embassy was a significant event. Armenians from UAE,
Qatar and Kuwait have come to witness it. There was great enthusiasm in the
air.

Six years have passed since then. We can say that the initial two years were
the foundation years, the formation of the legal framework for our
activities. Generally speaking the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) are very important to us, not only for economic reasons but also due
to the geopolitical proximity. Oman was the first country with whom we
established diplomatic ties in 1992, followed by Kuwait in 1994 and the rest
of the countries followed few years later (except Saudi Arabia).

There is intensive cooperation between Armenia and the UAE within the
international organizations such as the United Nations. In economic and
commercial terms, the solid legislative base has been formed between the two
countries, favoring more economic exchange in the future. Until 2002, the
size of the exchanged goods between the two countries was not very high, but
today it has reached the level of 100 million dollars. Compared to other
counties this is not a huge sum, but having in mind our situation the figure
is encouraging.

We have a feeling that the cultural ties are even more developed between the
two sides.

In the cultural domain we had many achievements. We organized cultural days
in two separate occasions. We signed cultural agreement with Sharjah, the
cultural capital of the UAE. In September 2005 we hosted for the first time
the Sharjah Cultural Days in Armenia, an event that will be remembered for
long, as the Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi himself attended
some of the activities. These were magical days in Yerevan and several other
locations outside the capital.

Did the visit of the Ruler of Sharjah to Armenia result in any specific
agreements, besides the moral value of a visit paid by the first high
ranking Gulf personality to Armenia?

In fact it was a very successful visit. During Sheikh Sultan’s visit
educational and scientific agreements were signed between UAE and Armenian
Universities and scientific centers (including the Armenian National Academy
of Sciences and the Public University of Yerevan). Immediately after the
departure of the Sheikh his educational consultant returned to Armenia to
finalize the agreements.

We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to this great humanist
Sheikh Sultan who is really a noble Muslim. His plan to renovate historical
monastery of Haghardzin is a great expression of the historical ties between
the Arabs and the Armenians. This 10-11 centuries monastery would be
renovated with the whole surrounding infrastructure. It is a great project.
Already the project has been agreed upon and is officially ratified. Some
technical issues are remaining before the eventual start up. In fact it is a
series of projects, not a mere architectural renovation. There are plans
related to the development of the transportation routs, sewage systems,
residing locations of the monks, etc. This will bring a lot of change to the
whole area of Dilijan.

During the visit of President Kocharian to Abu Dhabi (2002), an initial
understanding was reached regarding a long term loan to be provided by the
Abu Dhabi Development Fund. I will not elaborate on this issue, but would
only say that it is being followed up by the concerned authorities.

Summarizing the status of our relations, I would like to say that UAE and
Armenia enjoy excellent relations. Since 2002 the relations have reached to
the level of exchanging Ambassadors. UAE has appointed also its
(non-resident) Ambassador to Armenia, based in Iran.

Our relations cover all domains. Generally speaking I am satisfied with what
have been done, but I would like to see further development. The Embassy has
developed multi-profile activity. Most GCC countries have their own envoys
appointed to Armenia. Kuwait also has designated a non-resident Ambassador
who happens to be in Armenia these days and would be presenting his
credentials to the officials in Yerevan.

The Speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) Arthur Baghdassarian
visited Kuwait and Bahrain in 2005 and signed agreements with the
parliaments of those countries. In March 2006 a cultural event was organized
for the first time in Kuwait directly by our Embassy. Armenian painters
participated and the local press wrote extensively about it.

What about the relations with the other GCC countries?

The excellent relations with the UAE are affecting positively on the other
GCC counties. The only country we have problems with is Saudi Arabia. I
would like to mention here with regret that there are no diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Saudi Arabia. We believe that the problem
behind this is political and related to the issue of Nagorno Karabagh. We
hope to solve this political problem, especially that our overall policy
clearly shows that we do not have any sort of disputes with the Arab World.

We know that there have been some excellent articles about Armenia in the
local press. Could you inform us about the media contacts?

There has been also some publications, including 5 books that I personally
wrote about Armenia (culture, history, politics, etc) during my tenure. I
noticed that there was big information gap and tried to prepare some handy
publications on Armenian life for general and specific reference. My aim was
to introduce Armenia to the public. All books were in Arabic language. The
Embassy has also arranged to send journalist to Armenia. They have returned
back and published their impressions in the local press. We have done all
what we could to represent our country in the most proper way. Armenia has a
long history but still it is considered as a newcomer on the world political
stage.

What about the relations with the Armenians living in the Gulf countries?

The relations with the Armenian community in the UAE (and the other Gulf
communities) were excellent from the first moment. The opening of the
Embassy was a great change in the community life. The Armenians of the
Diaspora found themselves in front of a live presence of the motherland
Armenia. This really created a kind of enthusiasm in all sectors. I would
like to thank the community for being united in supporting us.

I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the spiritual leaders of the
community and the members of the Diocesan Council. The decision of the later
during a meeting in Kuwait in 2000 to support the opening of the Embassy had
really encouraged us to go ahead with the plan.

I would like to especially thank the Chairman of the Embassy Caretaking
Committee Varujan Narguizian (Chairman of Bank of Sharjah), who was very
active supporter of the Embassy. Through his help and the commitment of the
other members we achieved our goals. The overall outcome was a very great
impetus for the diplomatic progress of Armenia in the region. We have
cooperated also with the Prelacy and the Diocesan and National Bodies. I
would like to express my thanks to all who played a role in this.

Back in 2000 the construction of an Embassy building was almost like a
dream, but it seems that soon it will be a reality.

Yes. During the visit of President Kocharian to the UAE (2002) and as a
result of the meeting with the then President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al
Nahyan, Armenia was granted a piece of land in the diplomatic quarter (some
7.000 square meters). Based on reciprocity Armenia also gave similar piece
of land to the future building of the UAE Embassy in Yerevan.

The Embassy Caretaking Committee worked diligently for 3 years (2000-2003).
Now time has come to form a new body which will support the construction of
the Embassy’s two buildings (administrative and residential premises). This
`Construction Committee’ is already headed by Varujan Narguizian. He and his
colleagues are working hard to ensure the smooth construction of the Embassy
buildings. Just few days ago we signed an agreement with a construction
company. In few days we will get the construction licence. In 15 months the
Embassy building will be ready to accept visitors. In August 2007 (or
maximum in September) we will have our own Embassy building. It is expected
that President Kocharian will pay a second visit to the UAE at the end of
next year and will officially inaugurate the Embassy.

Finally, Your Excellency, we would like to know more about your future plans
and career prospects.

I have finalized my mission in this country and I depart tomorrow with great
satisfaction. I have achieved warm contacts on all levels. I have devoted
myself to this cause. From the first moment I had great desire to fulfill
the mission of building a new Embassy. This is the gift that I can give to
our newly independent state.

I will work in the Ministry for a while. During the course of time it will
be clear where I would be heading for the next mission. As an orientalist
and expert in the Arab world, my diplomatic activity can best realize in the
Arab World.

I would like to thank the people and the leadership of the UAE headed by the
President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. I have good feelings towards
this country and its people. They supported me from the first moment.

My warmest feelings also to the Armenian community. I would like to thank
Azad-Hye for the cooperation during all these years. You have personally
arranged my first official contacts in this country from the modest room in
the Park Hotel on Khalifa Street, where I used to stay in the first few
months of my mission in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Photo by Azad-Hye: Ambassador Arshak Poladian in Abu Dhabi Embassy office.
 
Ambassador Arshak Poladian took the Armavia plane from Dubai to Yerevan in
the early hours of 20th May 2006.

New Ambassador Vahagn Melikian has been earlier this month. He is expected
to report duty soon.

=621aja41

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN NOT TO RUN FOR THIRD TERM

Yerevan, May 20. ArmInfo. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan will not
run for third term, say the national security advisor o the Armenian
president Garnik Isagulyan.

Isagulyan does not refute the possibility of Kocharyan taking up the
post of prime minister but indirectly rules it out. Concerning the
presidential candidature of Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan,
Isagulyan says that today he is the best prepared politician in
Armenia and will ensure the continuation of the present political
policy. Still Sargsyan has not officially stated yet that he is going
to run for the presidency.

“SHEN-CONCERN” CJSC INTENDS TO ATTRACT CREDIT FROM EUROBANK TO SUM OF
$5-6 MLN Yerevan, May 20. ArmInfo. The “Shen-Concern” CJSC intends to
attract credit from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development to the sum of $5-6 mln to build a plant in Armenia for
plasterboard production, the Concern’s President Samvel Beglaryan told
ArmInfo.

According to him, plasterboard is not produced in Armenia at present
and is imported mainly from Iran and partially from Russia. According
to Beglaryan’s assessments, Armenia imports about 1-1,5 mln sq.m of
plasterboard per year to the sum of $5 mln. To organize this
production, “Shen” intends to start development of a plaster deposit
in Armenia. As to Beglaryan’s estimations, the Eurobank’s credit means
will be enough to operate the quarry and to build a plant. This
project will be probably considered at the Eurobank’s general meeting
of shareholders to be held in London June 20-26, 2006. Then the
project will be discussed at the regular annual meeting of the “Shen”
shareholders in Yerevan on July 9. According to the President of
“Shen”, the year 2005 was successful for the Company in the whole, as
compared to the previous year. Thus, according to preliminary
estimations, the volumes of sales increased by 20-25% or by $300-400
thsd. as compared to 2004.

Besides, Samvel beglarian stated that “Shen-Concern” has attracted
1.250 million euros to construction of a new plant producing color
cement blocks in Yerevan. The plan will be unique in the South
Caucasus, he said.

He said the concern gained the sum invested in the construction from a
deal with the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development. Specifically, EBRD acquired 24% of the enterprise’s
shares for 850,000 euros at the end of 2004, and another 15% shares
for 400,000 euros in 2005, hereby becoming the holder of 36% stake in
“Shen-Concern.” The plant was put into operation in March 2006. The
production capacity of the plant is 13,000 standard cement blocks per
8-hour shift. The plant capacity fully satisfies the needs of the
internal market, Beglaryan says. The plant can produce 17 types of
cement products, specifically, borders for highways and streets, color
blocks etc. He assures that European special hydraulic-press
technology, which is unique in the South Caucasus, is used in the
production of the cement blocks. It secures high atmosphere resistance
and durability. The new plant has 30 employees, but the growing
production will lead to opening of new jobs. The average monthly wages
is some 100,000 AMD. At present the plant uses 40% of its capacities
because of some technical problems with adjustment, however, these
problems will be settled in a month, Beglaryan believes.

According to Beglarian, the “Shen-Concern” CJSC intends to expand its
presence in the Georgian market of building materials in 2006.

According to him, it has been two year already as the “Shen”-produced
paints, which are distinguished by high quality compared to the
now-used Turkish analogues, are supplied to the Georgian market. The
Concern is going to supply colored concrete blocks and borders to
Georgia since 2006. Beglaryan noted that the Georgia’s deputy Minister
for Economic Development, Genrikh Mouradyan, has recently visited
Yerevan and the newly-built “Shen” plant for concrete blocks
production. Mouradyan came interested in the Armenian production as
large-scale road-building is carried out in Georgia. A preliminary
agreement was reached during the visit concerning delivery of the
whole assortment of the plant’s production to the Georgian market. The
management of “Shen” will visit Georgia in the midst of July, 2006, to
sign contracts. The transport scheme of supplies and the price policy
are discussed at present. Other more distant countries are also
interested in the Armenian products. Delivery proposals came from
Rumania and the United Arab Emirates, in particular, Beglaryan said.

To be noted, the “Shen-Concern” CJSC was created in 1995. Thirty-six
percents of the Concerns’ shares belong to the EBRD, the rest part –
to the Armenia’s residents. The Concern owns a network of firm shops,
where 114 employees are engaged.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO AZERBAIJAN RESPONDS TO SEN. BOXER’S
CONCERNS ON DJULFA CEMETERY DESTRUCTION

WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Ambassador Designate to Azerbaijan Anne Derse
responded to concerns raised by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) regarding
Azerbaijan’s destruction of the over millennia old Djulfa Armenian
cemetery in Nakhichevan, this week, but refrained from pledging any
concrete commitment to investigate the matter, reports the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) Submitting a written response to
questions by Sen. Boxer relayed during her May 12th Senate Foreign
Relations Committee confirmation hearing, Derse noted that the
Department of State is “urging the relevant Azerbaijani authorities to
investigate the allegations of desecration of cultural monuments in
Nakhichevan and take appropriate measures to prevent any desecration
of cultural monuments. Armenia and Azerbaijan are both members of
UNESCO (and OSCE), and Azerbaijan has raised these issues in those
organizations. We have encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to work with
UNESCO to investigate this incident. If I am confirmed, and if such
issues arise during my tenure, I will communicate our concerns to the
Government of Azerbaijan and pursue appropriate activities in support
of U.S. interests.”

In December of 2005, approximately 200 Azerbaijani soldiers were
videotaped using sledgehammers to demolish the Armenian cemetery in
Djulfa, a sacred site of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The cemetery
dates back to the 7th Century and once was home to as many as 10,000
khatchkars (intricately carved stone-crosses). An on-line video of the
destruction can be viewed at:

_ p04.htm_
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56 COUNTRIES TO TAKE PART IN 3RD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL GOLDEN APRICOT

Yerevan, May 19. ArmInfo. The organizational committee of the 3rd
international film festival Golden Apricot, to be held in Yerevan July
10-15, has received applications from 257 film directors from 56
countries.

The honorary guest of the festival will be the world renowned
documentary film director Artavazd Peleshyan, who will get a special
award for outstanding contribution in the world
cinematography. Similar awards will be given to the well-known Italian
film director Marco Bellocchio and his Iranian colleague Mohsen
Makhmalbaf.

The leitmotif of the festival will be the Crossroads of Cultures and
Civilizations. 50 films will be shown during the festival. The
chairman of the jury of feature films will be the ex director of the
Berlin Film Festival Moritz de Hadeln, of documentary films – US film
director Godfry Reggio.

There will be one grand prix and special award in each category and
special award for Armenian documentary and feature films. This year
there will be no animation films.

Film Directors Without Borders, a new project approved by European
Cultural Parliament and comprising almost 60 film directors from
around the world, will hold its first seminar in the framework of the
festival.

The artistic director of the festival Susanna Haroutyunyan says that
the budget of the festival is the same as last year and is provided by
the Armenian Government – $300,000.