Calling Nature’s Caretakers…
By Ben Jolliffe
CEPF In Focus Features
August 2006
Vardges Gharakhanyan is a man who gets things done.
As curator of the Arpi Sanctuary in Armenia, he enlisted the help of
the local bishop to bring an end to the illegal tree felling, cattle
grazing, and smuggling of endemic plants that were devastating this
area of semi-desert and mountain steppe.
“We have been able to protect species such as the lesser kestrel, the
Armenian mouflon, and a number of remarkable bats,” Gharakhanyan said.
Born and bred here, Gharakhanyan finds inspiration in the area’s many
caves, plunging canyons, and open juniper woodlands. But sometimes,
like the many other conservationists working in remote areas across
the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot, even he needs the help of others
to continue.
Support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) has now
enabled BirdLife International, an international nongovernmental
organization (NGO), to provide that assistance by expanding its
1,500-person “caretaker network” from Western Europe to include four
countries in the Caucasus Hotspot.
Working through NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey,
BirdLife has recruited 31 local conservation heroes as caretakers
at targeted sites – known as Important Bird Areas or IBAs – critical
for the conservation of globally threatened or unique bird species.
Establishing the network forms an important part of CEPF’s strategic
direction of strengthening mechanisms to conserve the biodiversity
of the Caucasus Hotspot with emphasis on species, site, and corridor
outcomes.
Targeting Outcomes for Species, Sites, and Corridors
Some of the caretakers, like Gharakhanyan, are professionals with many
years of experience in local government, NGOs, or other civil society
organizations. Others, like Mustafa Sari, a shepherd in the uplands
of Turkey’s eastern Rize province, are new to organized conservation.
Yet all of them bring intimate knowledge of the area, and, just as
important, good relations with the people who live there. Sari’s
familiarity with the region’s local species has made him invaluable
as a guide to birders from all over Europe who are coming to the area
in growing numbers, helping to boost the local economy.
Caretakers’ responsibilities include monitoring bird populations,
identifying actual or potential threats, liaising with local
authorities and communities, promoting environmental awareness through
flagship species, and, as they gain experience, developing site action
plans and carrying out site conservation actions.
> > From October 2005 until April 2006, national coordinators at
BirdLife’s partner NGOs received comprehensive training in all these
tasks that they are now passing on to the caretakers themselves.
To encourage sustainability, the project also includes a small grants
component that will support specific conservation actions at the
sites. Once caretakers have established what their particular needs
are, the coordinators will help them apply for grants.
“It’s a very useful training exercise,” said BirdLife’s European
funding development manager, Umberto Gallo-Orsi, who is managing the
overall project. “Caretakers will be in a better position to apply
for funds themselves in the future.”
As a scientific researcher for almost 25 years at Azerbaijan’s
Gyzylagach State Reserve, Alim Talibov has already been carrying out
many of the tasks required of a caretaker in his daily activities.
But he has now developed a wider informal network of colleagues,
rangers, and schoolchildren to monitor the 80,000-hectare reserve,
a seriously threatened area of lagoons and semi-desert on the coast
of the Caspian Sea.
“Local people will now come to me if they see anything unusual,”
Talibov said.
Scaling up the Network
In other areas, such as Georgia’s mountainous Samtskhe-Javakheti
region, the network is helping to catalyze relationships between new
and existing organizations to extend its impact even further.
The Georgian Center for the Conservation of Wildlife (GCCW), a BirdLife
affiliate, selected Giorgi Janashvili as caretaker here partly because
of his many years of experience as a senior outreach officer in the
region with sustainable development NGO Cooperative Housing Foundation,
also known as CHF International.
In 2002, Janashvili set up a new conservation NGO called Orbi, named
after the Georgian word for the Eurasian vulture (Gyps fulvus). By
working through contacts and colleagues with GCCW, CHF International,
and Orbi, he is able to extend his caretaker network over as many as
10 IBAs.
“We have an extraordinary diversity of habitats here, from mountainous
volcanic regions more than 3,000 meters above sea level, to mixed
forest, subalpine meadow, wetlands, and semi-arid [areas],” Janashvili
said. “But not many people live here so we need to enlist everyone
we can.”
Janashvili’s exposure to the caretaker network is also helping him
to continue building Orbi’s local capacity and strengthen its impact.
National Cooperation
BirdLife is also helping the selected NGOs in each country to build
up their existing capacity.
In Georgia, Zurab Javakhishvili used to focus primarily on field
work. But after receiving training from BirdLife under this project,
he was appointed the IBA coordinator at GCCW. He is now managing the
caretakers at the local level as well as fundraising and liaising
with his regional counterparts.
Furthermore, BirdLife’s international expertise has enabled the
organization to leverage more than $500,000 for the network from
international sources, essential when there is so little funding
available at the national level and so many different IBAs to oversee.
“Our caretaker network is almost as diverse as the habitats we cover
– policemen, teachers, hunters, restaurant owners, shepherds. It’s
remarkable,” Gallo-Orsi said.
“But seeing how they work together and learn from each other as
they help to conserve so many globally threatened species is more
remarkable still, particularly in areas where historically there has
been so much mistrust and conflict.”
For more information, contact:
Luba Balyan, IBA Coordinator, Armenian Society for the Protection
of Birds
Onder Cŷrŷk, IBA Coordinator, Doða Derneði Turkey
Umberto Gallo-Orsi, European Funding Development Manager, BirdLife
International
Shahin Isayev, IBA Coordinator, Azerbaijan Ornithological Society
Zurab Javakhishvili, IBA Coordinator, Georgian Center for the
Conservation of Wildlife
s/2006/august_feature.xml
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Andrew Souvall
July 26, 2006
or Heather Lasher Todd
(202) 225-4671
PALLONE URGES SENATE TO BLOCK NOMINATION OF ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR
UNTIL GENOCIDE IS RECOGNIZED
Washington, D.C. — Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ,)
co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, made the
following statement yesterday on the floor of the House of
Representatives regarding the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s
consideration of the Bush Administration’s nomination of Robert
Hoagland as US Ambassador to Armenia:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concerns with the nomination
of Robert Hoagland as US Ambassador to Armenia. Many questions
regarding US policy on the Armenian Genocide remain unanswered and
key Senate Foreign Relations Committee members continue to have
serious misgivings about the nomination.
“Two weeks ago, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered Mr.
Hoagland’s nomination. During the hearing, Mr. Hoagland failed to
adequately respond to the questions asked by the Senators, including
not clarifying the US policy’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. In
many instances, he did not respond to specific Senate inquiries. He
diverted his answers by responding with what seemed like prepared
talking points, and went to extreme lengths to avoid using the term
“genocide.”
“Additionally, in a response to a written inquiry from Senator John
Kerry concerning Turkey’s criminal prosecution of journalists for
writing about the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Hoagland referred to these
writings as “allegations.”
“The US has historically taken a leadership role in preventing
genocide and human rights, but the Administration continues to play
word games by not calling evil by its proper name. Instead, they
refer to the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians as “tragic
events.” This term cannot be substituted for “genocide” — the two
words are not synonymous.
“Mr. Speaker, there are historical documents that cannot be refuted.
Yet, somehow the Administration continues to ignore the truth in fear
of offending another government.
“The Administration has not offered a meaningful explanation of its
reasons for firing the current US Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans.
In fact, the State Department’s assertion that it did not receive any
communication from the Turkish government concerning Ambassador
Evans’ February 2005 affirmation of the Armenian Genocide is simply
not credible.
“Official Department of Justice filings by the Turkish government’s
registered foreign agent, the Livingston Group, document that there
are at least four different occasions of communication with State
Department officials following Ambassador Evans’ remarks. Still, the
State Department refutes these claims.
“This lack of honesty has been all too common practice of the Bush
Administration. The American people and this Congress deserve a
full and truthful account of the role of the Turkish government in
denying the Armenian Genocide.
“Our nation’s response to genocide should not be denigrated to a
level acceptable to the Turkish government. It’s about time this
Administration started dictating a policy for Americans — not for a
foreign government.
“Mr. Speaker, I fear that sending an Ambassador to Yerevan who denies
the Armenian Genocide would represent a tragic escalation in the
Administration’s ignorance and support in Turkey’s campaign of
genocide denial.
“The State Department has reported to Senate offices that they expect
Ambassador-designate Hoagland to be confirmed during a business
meeting early next week. I urge the Senate to block his nomination
until the Administration recognizes the Armenian Genocide.”
###
ss/nj06_pallone/pr_jul26_genocide.html

“AZERBAIJAN CAN NOT START WAR IN COMING 20 YEARS,” POLITICIAN LEVON
MELIK-SHAHNAZARIAN STATES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The process of the Karabakh
settlement entered at present a new stage when the Co-Chairmen’s
“imagination run short” and the problem is put on shoulders of the
three parties: Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Politician
Levon Melik-Shahnazarian expressed such an opinion at the August
25 press conference. In his words, today “the economy of Azerbaijan
was so involved in the European economy” that the country lost its
independence and may not “make any decision.” The speaker mentioned
that till now the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen’s task was not to
allow re-start of the war as it is not advantageous for big states
having their own interests in the region. And, as the Baku-Jeihan oil
pipeline will be the property of the British Petroleum company till
2026, according to the politician’s words, Azerbajian can not start
a war in coming 20 years. In his words, Baku was simply prohibited
to make even an attempt to solve the Karabakh issue in the military
way. Touching upon return of territories being under control of
the Armenian armed forces, in the name of peace or defining the
NKR status, the speaker said: “The only reasoning based on which a
territory may be returned, is the one that no Armenians have lived
in those territories during the recent few dozens of years. If we
may lead negotiations for returning land based on that reasoning,
then it means that we give up, from the legal and moral viewpoints,
all those territories where no Armenians live, both in Western and
Eastern Armenia.” In L.Melik-Shahnazarian’s words, in the 20th century
the Armenian people three times struggled with the Caucasian Tatars:
in 1904-1905, 1918-1920 and 1988-1994, and “three times we reached
successes in the war field, but then, at the negotiations table, we
lost territories, so, our every victory ended with loss of Armenian
territories.” According to the speaker’s words, Armenia must take
lessons from all those, and now, when Azerbaijan is not ready for a
war, the Armenian side must make its demands stricter at the expected
September meeting of Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
L.Melik-Shahnazarian expressed an opinion, that Armenians, as an
eastern people, must see in the role of a strategic partner such a
country which has rich civilization. Responding the question “Can
Iran be such a country?” the politician said: “The Persian nation is
our natural ally but we have religious problems with Persians which
are artificially strained in our days in all over the world.”
He stated that besides Iran, Russia, Belarus, Syria as well as Iraq
can also be potential allies of Armenia.

18TH STAGE OF CHAMPIONSHIP DOES NOT MAKE CHANGES IN TOURNAMENT TABLE
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The 18th stage of the football highest
group championship of Armenia finished on August 24. The following
results were fixed: “Banants” – “Mika” 1:0, “Cilicia” – “Pyunik” 0:3,
“Ulis” – “Shirak” 1:0 and “Gandzasar” – “Ararat” 1:3. No change was
made in the tournament table of the championship. The Yerevan “Pyunik”
is the leader with 47 points.
“Banants” with 37 points is on the second place, “Mika” with 34 points
is on the third place. “Ararat” has 30 points and closes the leading
four. Meetings of the 19th stage are scheduled for September 9 and 10.

FM Vardan Oskanian to participate in the “Caspian prospects 2008” conference
ArmRadio.am
26.08.2006 11:16
August 27-28 in Bleduam (Slovenia) RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
will participate in the “Caspian prospects 2008” conference organized
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia and the Institute of
Strategic studies.
Discussions on the geopolitical importance of the South Caucasus
and the Caspian region for the EU as well as economic, strategic and
political prospects will be held in the framework of the conference,
dedicated to the relations between the European Union and the South
Caucasus.
Heads of states, Foreign Ministers, Special Representatives of
NATO and EU to the south Caucasus, high-rank representatives of
international organizations, celebrated international experts and
political scientists will participate in the conference.
RA Foreign Minister is expcted to deliver a speech during the “Caspian
prospects 2008” conference.

NKR applying every effort to maintain the cease-fire
ArmRadio.am
26.08.2006 14:46
NKR Military leadership is applying every effort in the direction of
maintenance and reinforcement of the cease-fire regime at the contact
line, Head of the Press Service of the NKR Defense Ministry Senor
Asratyan told ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert.
In his words, the reports of the Azeri media on the truce violation
by the Armenian side are nothing more than the propaganda. “These
steps pursue the aim of misleading the international community,”
Senor Asratyan underlined, reminding about the cease-fire violation
y the Azerbaijani side, in the result of which serviceman of the NKR
Defense Army was wounded.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NASA map misrepresents Azerbaijan’s territory
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 26, 2006
[ 26 Aug. 2006 15:57 ]
US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has
misrepresented Azerbaijan’s map.
APA’s Europe bureau reports the regional map presented by
NASA, which has created analogue of Google Earth program on
, shows Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic as territory of Armenia.
This mistake was not in the Google Earth program. Taking into account
that NASA is a state agency, this is a quite a serious mistake.
Azerbaijani youths in Belgium started protest campaign regarding
this misrepresentation. Letters of protest can be sent to

CanWest News Service, Canada
Aug. 26, 2006
Workplace worship
In office towers across Canada, workers openly exploring spirituality
Richard Foot, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 26, 2006
On Tuesday mornings, inside a corporate boardroom at BCE Place in the
heart of Toronto’s financial district, David Ekmekjian and two dozen
other Bay Street businessmen gather to talk — not about portfolios
or profits, but about God.
Amid a panorama of glittering skyscrapers, where millions of dollars
in hard currency is traded each day, a group of smart, confident
people come to pray to a mysterious spirit they cannot touch or see.
“We don’t just meet in that boardroom to talk about money,” says
Ekmekjian, an investment dealer with Blackmont Capital, the Bay Street
firm that hosts the meeting.
“We study the Bible and pray for those that are less fortunate
than ourselves, for the sick and the afflicted. We also pray for
spiritual guidance and wisdom. And somehow, everybody comes out of
there fulfilled and happy. It’s incredible.”
Most unusual about the prayer group is that many of its members,
including Ekmekjian, rarely set foot inside a church. Although their
faith is deep, few attend traditional Sunday services or belong to
a mainstream denomination.
“In our boardroom meetings, some go to church, but many don’t,” says
Ekmekjian, an Egyptian-born Armenian who immigrated to Canada in the
1950s. “I prefer to practise my faith on my own terms, because I find
it infinitely more fulfilling.”
Ekmekjian and many of his Christian colleagues are part of an emerging
cohort of Canadians who lead spiritual lives without any adherence
to an organized, institutional religion.
At the country’s main Christian denominations, attendance is shrinking
and many old church buildings that once boasted thriving congregations
are now being closed for lack of interest.
Yet many Canadians aren’t simply turning away from God, they’re
exploring their faith in unusual ways and unlikely places. One of
those new spiritual frontiers is the office.
“There is a real awakening, where people are being drawn to God in
the workplace,” says Bruce Smith, who leads the King-Bay chaplaincy,
a spiritual gathering place for office workers in downtown Toronto.
King-Bay has been running for several decades, but in recent years
it has been joined by similar downtown chaplaincies from Vancouver
to Montreal to Halifax, and by a burgeoning array of consultancies
and centres catering to spiritual needs in the workplace. All of it
is fuelled, says Smith, by “the growing desire of people who are not
interested in organized religion, but are interested in a relationship
with God.”
The rise of the “office church” cuts across business lines into
government and also the worlds of education and health care.
In Toronto the King-Bay chaplaincy welcomes more than 200 business
people, civil servants, retail clerks and health care workers through
its doors in a typical week.
Sherry Connolly, a King-Bay alumni, once earned a six-figure salary as
a senior manager at the Royal Bank’s head office in Toronto. She gave
that up to open the Centre for Spirituality at Work, which offers
programs and seminars to office workers hungry for metaphysical
meaning in their lives.
Connolly says the Anglican Church of the Redeemer, a large downtown
church, is transformed on weekdays into a noon-time sanctuary for
office workers, not all of them Christian, who use the church as a
quiet place to sit and pray or think during the lunch hour.
“I’ve started a noon-hour meditation on Thursdays at Redeemer,”
says Connolly. “Most of the people who come aren’t even congregation
members of the church.”
In some cases, companies themselves are encouraging employees to get
in touch with their spiritual sides.
At Toronto’s Caldwell Financial Ltd., a securities and investment firm,
chairman Tom Caldwell is organizing an in-house “Alpha” course —
an introduction to Christianity — for any employees or colleagues
who want to come, with lunch included.
While Caldwell is a regular member of a Roman Catholic parish, he
says many of those who’ll attend his company’s Alpha meetings won’t
be regular church-goers.
“There are tons of Bible studies in offices all over Toronto,” he says.
“For many office workers, they’re like an oasis of sanity in a
fast-moving and hard-driving world.”
In Vancouver, Telus Corp. has rooms on its office premises set aside
where workers can pray and meditate.
In Edmonton, the Capital Care Group recently put some of its nursing
home employees through a “spirit at work” program that while not
explicitly religious in nature, taught the same kind of values —
kindness and consideration for fellow human beings — that religions
espouse.
In Halifax, management consultant Martin Rutte recently established
the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace at the Sobey School of
Business at Saint Mary’s University. Since 2004 the centre has been
hosting conferences and seminars on spiritual matters at work.
“There’s a renaissance of spirituality in business, in the public
sector, and in health care,” says Rutte, a Toronto-based Jew who
decided to start talking about spirituality in business after
experiencing his own religious epiphany about two decades ago.
At first, says Rutte, his colleagues warned him not to bring spiritual
matters into the office. Talking about golf was OK, but God was
off limits.
“Everybody in those days in Toronto said, `Don’t talk about this,
you’re crazy, you’ll lose your reputation.”‘
Today, says Rutte, although some North American workplaces remain
wary of spiritual matters, the stigma is washing away. One reason is
that Baby Boomers have turned to religion as they have grown older.
Rutte also says a decade of lost innocence in the workplace — thanks
to rounds of corporate layoffs as a result of technology advances,
outsourcing and cost-cutting — has shattered employees’ faith in
job security and “driven many people into the arms of spirituality.”
Rutte now lectures on the subject at workplaces around the continent.
“I can’t tell you how many times in talks I’ve given, where working
people have come up to me and said, `I thought I was the only person
in the world having these thoughts.’ Over and over I’ve heard it.
“That hunger for spiritual meaning — to know that your life makes
a difference — is part of the human condition,” he says, “but we’ve
not thought it possible until recently to have that talked about and
nourished in the workplace.”
At Blackmont Capital, David Ekmekjian is convinced that his office
prayer group does far more than nourish only the souls around the
boardroom table. He says his group prayed for many weeks for a little
girl, known to the group, who was born with a hole in her heart.
“About a year ago the hole began to close up, and cardiologists at
the Hospital for Sick Children said they’d never seen anything like it
before,” says Ekmekjian. “Strangely enough, our prayers got answered.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Banking and Stock Exchange, Finance, Economics (Russia)
August 25, 2006 Friday
There are to-date about 20 money transfer systems in Russia. New
systems start to oust recognized leaders of the market
Reference: Tatiana Yemelyanova, “Transfer Difficulties”, Nezavisimaya
Gazeta, August 14, 2006, p.5.
“Some time ago, money transfer systems were associated with
international brands, such as Western Union, Money Gram and Travelax.
However, money transfer systems from the CIS countries, including
Anelik (Armenia) and PrivatMoney (Ukraine), have lately started to
press the market leaders,” says Andrei Pogoryansky, the deputy board
chairman of OAO Gorodskoy Klientsky Bank. At present, this bank
offers two types of money transfers – through Western Union and
Anelik and both of them are in demand. MDM-Bank offers the same two
systems to its customers. “Every system has its customers. Western
Union has the largest network and positions itself as the fastest
system. However, Western Union’s commission fees are higher compared
with other operators. Anelik charges low commission fees for a money
transfer within 24 hours,” says Ivan Artamonov, senior vice president
of MDM-Bank.
CONTACT, a Russian international system of money transfers and
payments, is gaining popularity. “The system has over 27 thousand
service points in 79 countries of the world. Over 11 thousand persons
make use of its services daily. In 2005, the amount of money
transfers through the CONTACT system came to more than $900 million.
>>From March 2005 till March 2006, the amount of transactions exceeded
$1 billion,” said Sergey Bludov, the deputy board chairman of
RusSlavBank.
The Post of Russia made up its mind to intensify competition on the
money transfer market and launched the Cyber-Money project. “About 40
thousand post offices all over Russia have taken part in the project.
However, the term of delivery of money to a remittee is still rather
long – about 48 hours,” Andrei Pogoryansky says.
Experts make mention of one more serious competitor – Sberbank. This
year, Sberbank has launched a new system of express money transfers
Blitz based on the application of modern bank technologies and
high-speed communication channels. Sberbank’s press service informed
that over 4.5 thousand branches of the bank had already been
connected to the system and their number would increase to 5 thousand
by the end of this quarter. The service is in demand, according to
Sberbank: transfers to the amount of over 7 billion rubles have been
made within six months of operation of the system.
The Fast Post system is the most well-known Russian system. It takes
a few minutes to transfer money inside Russia and to the CIS
countries with the help of this system. Migom and Unistream are aimed
at the same regions.

Local man sentenced in Armenia
25-year-old gets 10 years for murder
BY EUGENE TONG, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Aug. 26, 2006
A Glendale man who fled to Armenia in 2005 when he came under suspicion
of strangling his girlfriend was convicted by an Armenian court of
her murder, authorities said Friday.
Artur Khanzadyan, 25, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison
by an Armenian judge in the death of Odet Tsaturyan, of Glendale.
He was arrested in Armenia last November, about two months after
the body of the 23-year-old woman was found in the trunk of his car,
which was abandoned in Azusa.
The verdict was delivered Friday by Judge Mushegh Harutunyan at a
court in Vanadzor, a city about a three-hour drive from the capital
of Yerevan and Khanzadyan’s hometown, Glendale police spokesman John
Balian said.
“Based on the police report and the evidence provided, Khanzadyan was
found guilty of murder with the act of jealousy,” he said Friday,
citing a report from two Glendale police detectives who assisted
prosecutors and attended the trial.
“We’ll be monitoring to make sure he does the full 10 years.”
Khanzadyan has about two months to appeal the decision. The Tsaturyans
did not immediately return calls for comment Friday.
Glendale police and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, had hoped
to try Khanzadyan in the United States, where he could have been
sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for murder, compared to the
maximum 12 years in Armenia.
But the two nations do not have a formal extradition treaty, and the
request was denied despite previous cooperation from authorities.
“Under the circumstances that we were faced with – as far as the
challenge of bringing him back over here – this was the best we could
do to bring him to justice,” Balian said.
“There will always be a difference between the two systems. But I
think it’s important the criminal element out there know that if we
have to go to Armenia to prosecute you, we will.”
Schiff, who sent two letters over the past year to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian requesting Khanzadyan’s return, hoped for better
cooperation from authorities next time a fugitive seeks refuge there.
“We are grateful that we apprehended him and that he’s not living
free in Armenia,” he said in an interview Friday. “But we felt that
justice would’ve been best served if he had been prosecuted in the
United States.”
Judge Harutunyan reached the verdict after two days of hearings that
began Tuesday. Reports prepared by Glendale police and the county
coroner’s office were submitted as evidence, and three witnesses –
Odet’s father Shagen Tsaturyan and two of Khanzadyan’s relatives –
testified, Balian said.
As part of a local custom, Tsaturyan confronted the accused about
his daughter’s death.
“At one point, Khanzadyan made disparaging remarks that his daughter
was not the angel he thought she was,” Balian said. “The judge
jumped in and said, `Be careful how you speak in my courtroom. Don’t
disrespect the victim’s father.”‘
Khanzadyan’s attorney Karine Gasparyan said her client did not
intentionally kill Odet Tsaturyan – she had stopped breathing, and
the neck injuries that pointed to strangling came from his attempt
to revive her by CPR.
She also said Khanzadyan suffered a childhood head injury that
prevented rational thinking.
“Khanzadyan apologized to anyone who was affected by the incident,
but he denied he intentionally killed Odet Tsaturyan,” Balian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress