OSCE CONSIDERS OBJECTIVITY OF ARMENIAN MEDIA OUTLETS
Panorama.am
14:16 23/09/06
OSCE Yerevan Office decided to educate the Armenian media outlets
to objectivity and advised to develop and use self-regulating
mechanisms. Yerevan Press Club and the Public TV joined OSCE in
this initiative.
Blanka Hanchilova, democracy development program head, mentioned that
not everything is possible to regulate with laws because they do not
fully reflect the reality and often are not implemented correctly. At
the doors of elections, OSCE wants to raise the importance of
self-regulating mechanisms.
It should be mentioned that Public TV heads are going to deliver most
speeches. Thus, the leaders of those media outlets which are funded
by the state and often reflect the authorities’ dispositions are going
to speak about objectivity and freedom of speech. “A news media should
not be funded by the state to the level that it has preference against
others in the market, thus violating the principle of competition,”
Yerevan Press Club Chairman Boris Navasardyan said.
Public TV has appeared in such a situation and its heads should have
been concerned with that. But the executive director of the Public TV,
Alexander Arzumanyan, and Public TV board chairman, Alexan Harutunyan,
were more concerned with the outmoded microphones of the company.
Speaking about the necessity of such seminar, the head of Yerevan Press
Club indicated that the recent incidents of attacks on journalists,
the upcoming elections and some disputes between reporters and other
institutions have brought them to this idea.
Navasardyan pointed out to several self-regulating mechanisms and
said there should be ombudsman in the area.

BABKUKHANYAN PROHIBITS TO NAME HRANT KHACHATRYAN NEXT TO OLIGARCHIC-CRIMINAL SYSTEM
Panorama.am
16:36 23/09/06
“I do not allow to name Hrant Khachatryan next to oligarchic-criminal
system. That person with his 18 years of political record has proved
that he is the enemy of such oligarchic system,” Haik Babukhanyan,
acting Constitutional Right Union (CRU) chairman said.
He said some one and two ex-members of CRU supporting the authorities
have said that Iravunk newspaper must get rid of Haik Babukhanyan’s
presence. Among such he mentioned the name of Karen Vardanyan who
was supposedly a member of Hrant Khacahtryan’s “team” and blamed
Babukhanyan in misapropriation of funds.
Babukhanyan said Vardanyan is expeled from the party after the
Supervision Committee of the party checked the his claims.
Babukhanyan repeatedly said, “The problem was not between me and Hrant
Khachatryan. The problem was between CRU and Iravunk newspaper on one
hand and the criminal-oligarchic system, on the other hand.” He said
the authorities variously prosecuted Iravunk newspaper. “In 1996 the
office of the newspaper was closed. In 1999 I was arrested on unclear
claims. An attempt of assisnation against me was made in 2003.
After that they tried so to say “bribe” Iravunk newspaper. They also
tried to discredit and impose economic pressures on the newspaper. A
phase of terror started against me and reporters followed. And finally,
after my open letters, one and two ex-members say that Iravunk
newspaper should be freed from my presence,” Babukhanyan continues.
The CRU acting chairman also said the oligarchic-criminal system
launched when Serzh Sargsyan joined Armenian Republican Party (HHK).
Babukhanyan said his party is ready to cooperate even with Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun) on a condition that the
latter withdraws from the ruling coalition. Among possible allies,
CRU acting chairman mentioned the names of Alliance party, Orinats
Yerkir, National Unity and Justice Block.
However, he said there are problems with the “passive” disposition
of Justice Block. The only person with who Haik Babukhanyan sees not
borders of cooperation is Serzh Sargsyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UNICEF, GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA PROMOTE EDUCATION FOR MINORITY CHILDREN
Panorama.am
17:25 01/09/06
UNICEF and the Ministry of Education & Sciences of Armenia joined
their efforts Friday in promoting education for ethnic minority groups,
living in Armenia.
“The right to quality basic education is fundamental right of all
children in all communities,” UNICEF Representative, Sheldon Yett
said in a ceremony marking the start of a new academic year in a
Kurdish-populated community of Alagyaz, 50km north of Armenia’s
capital. “Investing in the education of all its citizens is one of
the best investments a country can make. It is the lever with which
children can lift themselves out of poverty and participate fully in
their communities.”
The UNICEF Representative noted that the Ministry of Education &
Sciences has promoted basic education for minority groups through
the distribution of textbooks in minority languages and through the
training of teachers in minority schools.
The event organized jointly with the Ministry of Education & Sciences
is part of the “Welcome, School!”
project under which UNICEF provided school and recreation supplies
to schools in Yezidi and Kurdish communities of Aragatsotn region.
A UNICEF-commissioned survey on the status of education among ethnic
minority groups of Armenia showed that children from vulnerable
communities, including those from ethnic minority groups, face serious
problems related to education. The school attendance rates for these
children are significantly lower than the national average with a
higher level of drop out after grade 8.
“In many instances, this situation is linked to attitudes and beliefs
that prevail in those communities,” Yett said, adding that “parents
sometimes prefer that their child works to help earn family income
rather than allow the child to stay in the classroom.” Girls are
particularly vulnerable in that situation. The survey revealed that
the majority of those children who do not continue studies after the
grade 8 are girls.
Traditional attitude held by the minority groups towards education is,
however, not the only barrier.
UNICEF and the Government of Armenia understand that for parents to
be willing to send their children to school, the latter must have
proper conditions and well-trained teaching staff, Yett said.
“Unfortunately, many schools today lack basic supplies and equipment
as well as professional teachers. Many children, particularly those
in rural areas, have to share textbooks which also are often outdated
and worn out.”
The UNICEF Representative emphasized that “getting all children into
school and giving them appropriate quality education today will pay
enormous dividends for next generation.”
Jointly with the Armenian Government UNICEF is trying to address
these problems through the provision of school supplies in vulnerable
communities, training teachers, promoting interactive teaching methods
at schools and actively participating in education and child welfare
reform.
“The Government of Armenia has always paid special attention to the
needs of ethnic minority groups. With support from international
organizations such as UNICEF the Ministry of Education & Sciences
has been trying to find solutions to education problems of minority
children. We have been able to meet some of our commitments
already this year by funding the reconstruction of schools in 3
minority-populated communities,” Deputy Minister of Education &
Sciences Bagrat Yesayan noted, adding that “the support to minority
communities will continue.”
By promoting education and encouraging every child to attend school,
UNICEF is trying to accelerate progress towards the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals, that Armenia together with the rest
of international community pledged to meet by 2015.
UNICEF established its presence in Armenia in 1994.
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate
for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic
needs and to expand their opportunities to meet their full potential.

U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDED TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS CONCLUDE AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF ACTIVITIES
Panorama.am
12:44 25/09/06
Ministry of Education and Science, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, and
IREX Armenia bid farewell to the 91 teacher trainers involved in the
US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
(ECA) sponsored teacher training programs during a reception and
certificate distribution ceremony.
According to press service of US Embassy of Armenia, keynote speeches
were delivered by Deputy Minister of Education and Science Bagrat
Yesayan, Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia Thomas
Mittnacht, and Director/Education Programs Manager of IREX Armenia
Arina Zohrabian.
Since 1998 the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has funded four programs including the
Elementary Level Teacher Training Program, the Middle Level Teacher
Training Program, Curriculum Development for Pre-Service Education,
and Curriculum Development for School Administration Leadership. These
programs strengthened the capacity of Armenia’s schools and teachers
by developing new teacher training methodologies.
The 91 teacher trainers present at the farewell reception worked
actively throughout all regions of Armenia training more than 7000
teachers in new teaching methodologies such as cooperative learning,
integrated curriculum, lesson plan development, assessment, portfolios,
and interactive teaching utilizing the eighteen books published under
the ECA funded programs. In 2006 alone, IREX distributed more than
2500 certificates of completion and participation to trained teachers
throughout Armenia co-signed by the Public Affairs Section of the
U.S. Embassy, the National Institute of Education, and IREX Armenia.

ARMENIAN RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW TEST TO DIAGNOSE PEOPLE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA
Armenpress
Sept 25 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS: A team of researchers from the
Armenian Molecular Biology Institute, an affiliation of the National
Academy of Sciences, said they have developed a test that can help
doctors and psychiatrists to diagnose people with schizophrenia.
The new test can be applied by doctors in clinics, mental houses and
psychiatrists in research centers.
Until now schizophrenics are often initially diagnosed based on display
of what doctors call ‘prodromal’ signs, which are signs preceding a
psychotic episode.
Schizophrenic prodromal signs may include social isolation, odd
behavior, lack of personal hygiene, and blunted emotions and sometimes
schizophrenia is diagnosed through the patient’s response to different
therapeutic regimens.
Armenian researchers have developed their new test after examining
200 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, tens of people suffering
from other illnesses and also 225 physically healthy people.
Schizophrenia is estimated to afflict 1% of the world’s population,
whereas schizotypal personality disorder afflicts 2-3%. The incidence
of schizophrenia among parents, children, and siblings of patients
with the disease is 15%. It occurs equally in males and females.
The disease may be seen at any age, but the average age for the
initiation of treatment is from 28-34 years. Schizophrenia is
associated with low economic status, probably due to a lack of proper
health care during fetal development.

HSBC TO OPEN FOUR NEW BRANCHES
Armenpress
Sept 25 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS: HSBC Armenia will open four new
branches this and next years, three in the capital city Yerevan and
one in Armenia’s main airport Zvartnots. In 2007 the bank will have
overall six branches.
HSBC Armenia chief executive officer Anthony Turner told a news
conference today HSBC Armenia’s assets rose from $5 million in 1996
when it opened to $ 170 million now. Seventy percent of shares are
held by HSBC and thirty percent are owned by Diaspora Armenians.
Turner said balance profit of HSBC Bank Armenia totaled AMD 4.6 billion
by June 30, 2006 and profit for Jan-June 2006 made 1.5 billion. The
bank’s statutory fund is AMD 2.4, assets are AMD 71.5 billion and
total capital is AMD 7.3 billion.
Aggregate credit portfolio of HSBC Bank Armenia was AMD 22.9 billion
by June 30, 2006. He said the bank keeps $179 million worth deposits
in Drams.
The majority of clients are economic entities who pay their personnel’s
salaries through banking system.
Armenia is one of 76 countries in which HSBC has its subsidies.

POLITICS AND THE IRAQI BOY BAND
Beth Pearson
The Herald, UK
Sept 26 2006
BUDDING pop groups are faced with many obstacles on their way to the
top. Being forced to compose a birthday song for Saddam Hussein is
not normally one of them. Yet when UTN1 (Unknown to No-One) tried to
launch a music career in Baghdad during the former dictator’s reign,
they were obliged to provide a birthday tune before their career
could progress any further.
As frontman Hassan Ali recalls, speaking down the phone from a hotel
in Jordan: “We’d been told that if we wanted to do our songs we had
to first sing about Saddam Hussein – unfortunately. Once that song
had been broadcast we’d be allowed to have other songs broadcast, so
in three days we wrote, composed and recorded a song for his birthday.”
The president was pleased with his song, and UTN1 were allowed on to
the VoY (Voice of Youth) station, which principally played Western
pop music such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and George Michael. (The
crooner Richard “Right Here Waiting” Marx was also unaccountably
popular.) Understandably, though, the band are keen to get themselves
known on the world stage – and their next single, While We Can,
is due to be released in America and Europe before the year is out.
Ali, 24, says: “We had an Iraqi friend who managed the band, but
sadly he has since passed away. He was the owner of a music shop at
the time, and I made him listen to us. He said he would pay for the
recording of an album, so we did a demo album in 2002. It sold two
or three thousand copies in Baghdad and we became a bit famous –
especially with regulars of the VoY station.”
However, more challenges were to come. The invasion and subsequent war
meant most Iraqis had rather more pressing concerns than keeping up
with a boy band – and when UTN1 tried to broaden their horizons beyond
their borders, they discovered it was difficult to get passports.
Ali and his bandmates – Nadeem Hamid, 24; Akhlad Raof, 26; Art
Haroutuanian, 29; and Shant Garabitian, 28 – were featured in reports
by western stations including the BBC and CNN during 2003, but over
the following year coverage dried up and they decided to call it quits.
Ali went to Syria and Haroutuanian to Armenia; Garabitian opted to
stay in Baghdad.
“By coincidence, he was introduced to Mr Larry [Underwood, an American
businessman] and gave him a copy of the demo CD,” says Ali.
“Mr Larry liked the idea. He used to have a construction company over
there and he works all over the world. Shant sent us e-mails saying
he’d found someone to sponsor us and be our manager, but we didn’t
believe him. But Shant was so confident that Mr Larry was serious
that we all came back to Iraq at the end of 2004.
“We met with Mr Larry, and from the first day we liked the guy. He
was straightforward with us. He said, ‘To me you’re a business. I
want you to be successful, but in the end it’s all for the sake of
the business, not because I like you guys or anything.’ Together we
decided we should leave Iraq, and so last year we all went to Jordan.”
After a six-month wait for visas, the band travelled to London, where
they took performing classes and recorded three demo songs, including
the forthcoming single. While they were inspired by Western musicians,
they are confident of their identity. “We are Easterners,” says
Ali. “We bring our own touch to our songs. We put Iraqi instruments
in our music, such as the joza. It’s a stringed instrument, similar
to the violin, but it has its own special scale of sadness. When
people hear it, they cry. We tried some ad-libbing in Arabic too,
and I think it was successful.
“Some of us play instruments, we write our own material and we have
our own style of music. We are not inspired by boy bands – but I know,
the idea of five guys …
“But we see ourselves as a rock band of five members who compose their
own music. I was influenced by people like Bon Jovi and Black Sabbath;
others in the band like Michael Jackson. And Art, who’s our oldest
member, is in love with the Spice Girls. He adores them.”
While the Spice Girls might have attempted to be political in their
time, praising Mrs Thatcher as an advocate of “girl power”, UTN1
are ambiguously so. The band do not talk about specific politics,
nor their personal experiences of war – but toy guns appear in the
video for the anti-war song While We Can, which was made in Lebanon.
“It was great,” says Hassan of making the video. “Lots of people were
working on the project, and it’s the first time we saw how many people
were working with us to try and make it successful. The song talks
about war and peace. It’s not political, it’s a message: war is not
a good thing for anywhere in the world. We’ve lived through three
wars, so we have enough experience to say that. They brought five
kids to represent us and they were playing with fake guns and stuff
like that. I’m still waiting to see how Western audiences respond to
the video. We’re eager to know. I think it will be positive.”
Larry Underwood adds: “While We Can is about stopping war. The guns
in the video are wooden guns that children are playing with. They drop
the guns, therefore stopping war. The message at UTN1’s first concert,
which was in Jordan last month, was ‘kill war’, and the proceeds went
to a Lebanese refuge fund”.
Hassan enjoyed the live experience. “The audience was great,” he
says. “They were surprised and we were surprised. People were clapping
and cheering. It was very motivating for a first show. We don’t really
dance – we’re not that flexible. I’m one of the youngest, but we have
members aged 28 and 29! So we use our personalities to entertain,
and people react positively.”
They would like to come back to the UK to promote their single, but
it’s not simple. “These are problems that will always follow us because
we have Iraqi passports,” says Hassan. “But we would love to come to
the UK to promote the song, and we would accept any invitation.”

TURKISH ARMENIAN PATRIARCH MESROB II: THIS YEAR, I AM FASTING WITH MUSLIMS
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Sept 25 2006
ISTANBUL – A variety of Turkish religious leaders yesterday gathered
for a large “iftar” meal (traditional breaking fasting meal) sponsored
by the Sisli Municipality of Istanbul.
Speaking to reporters at the “iftar tent” in Sisli, Armenian Patriarch
in Turkey, Mesrob II, noted “In Christianity, we also have fasts. This
year, I plan to join my fellow believers in the fast.”
Also present at the first “iftar” of this year’s Ramazan were the
Vatican’s representative to Turkey, Georges Marovich, as well as
the leaders of the Suryani congregations in Turkey, Yusuf Sag and
Yusuf Cetin.
Marovich for his part commented that the month of Ramazan was one which
“people all over the world prayed contributed to peace” on earth.

IRAQI KURDS: PLAYING IT SAFE IN TURKEY’S PKK WAR
Stratfor
Sept 25 2006
The militant separatist group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed
responsibility Sept. 24 for two bombings in eastern Turkey a day
earlier. In the first incident, a mine placed on railroad tracks near
the town of Elazig derailed seven cars and damaged eight others.
Later in the day, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED)
detonated outside a police compound in the town of Igdir, on the
Turkish-Armenian border, wounding 17 people.
The PKK has increased attacks on Turkish security, government and
commercial targets in the Kurdish-majority areas of the country in
recent months. Meanwhile its offshoot, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks
(TAK), has been attacking economic and tourism targets in Istanbul
and along Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. While attacks
attributed to the PKK occur frequently, they are not as devastating
as militant attacks by Sunni nationalist, jihadist and Shiite militia
groups in neighboring Iraq. One reason for this is the Iraqi Kurds’
general hands-off approach to the militant struggle of their brethren
in Turkey.
Ankara, Tehran and Damascus have often persecuted the Kurds that
make up the majority in parts of eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran
and northern Syria — an effort aimed at curtailing any ambitions
toward creating an independent Kurdistan in the region. The Kurds
in northern Iraq, however, have enjoyed increasing autonomy since
1991, when they began receiving aid and protection from the United
States at the end of the Persian Gulf War. After that war, the Kurds’
peshmerga militia was able to operate more openly, while the Kurds
themselves began conducting their affairs largely without interference
from Baghdad. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a de facto
Kurdish autonomous region has been established in the country, giving
the Iraqi Kurds their largest degree of autonomy in history.
Since 2003, Iraq has become an arms bazaar, with mountains of
explosives and other ordnance literally left lying on the ground
by the Hussein regime. As a result, militant groups operating in
Iraq have access to ample quantities of military-grade explosives,
such as 152mm artillery shells used to make IEDs, rocket-propelled
grenades and mortars. With Iraqi Kurdistan bordering Turkey, it would
seem the PKK also could obtain these explosives and deploy much more
effective IEDs against the Turkish military and security forces.
The Iraqi Kurds, however, have good reason not to supply their Turkish
kinsmen with powerful explosives, as doing so would risk alienating
their powerful U.S. patron and their quiet supporter Israel. Perhaps
most important, they risk a large-scale Turkish military response in
their territory, as occurred in 1995 and 1996.
The Iraqi Kurds have too much to lose by actively supporting the PKK.
Recently the Iraqi government announced that PKK facilities in the
country would be shut down.
Although Iraqi Kurds support the PKK in spirit, and might provide
the group limited material support, the Kurdish political parties and
provisional governments in northern Iraq are wary of giving Turkey any
reason to interfere in their affairs. Moreover, they want to avoid
sending any message to Iran or Syria that would make the countries
feel threatened by the establishment of an official Kurdish autonomous
region in Iraq.
Furthermore, there is some friction between the PKK and the Iraqi
Kurds. In the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, the PKK and Iraqi
Kurds engaged in a bitter dispute over the regions they controlled and
the sharing of revenues from the Turkish-Iraqi border. The mountainous
border was not fully controlled by either Baghdad or Ankara, so the PKK
took the opportunity to stage attacks against Turkey from there. The
Iraqi Kurds, led by Kurdish Democratic Party head Massoud Barzani,
asked the PKK in 1995 to scale down its attacks from Iraqi territory
to prevent a Turkish military response. The PKK ignored the request,
and Barzani subsequently sent the peshmerga after PKK units in Iraq
in an effort to prevent a Turkish invasion.
During the subsequent Kurdish civil war, the Turkish military also
entered Iraq to conduct operations against the PKK.
The Iraqi Kurds, fully aware that the autonomy they have gained
over the past 15 years is due largely to U.S. support, are unwilling
to jeopardize that status by supporting the PKK in its war against
Ankara. Washington is fully capable of withdrawing its support should
the Kurds in Iraq actively support a group the U.S. State Department
considers a terrorist organization.
emium/read_article.php?id=276244&selected=Anal yses

THE DEPUTY MAYOR IS POWERLESS
A1+
[03:03 pm] 25 September, 2006
Although Yerevan deputy mayor Slava Avanesyan tried to represent
the situation of transport in Yerevan enumerating how many buses
have been imported and will be imported, how many bus stops will be
reconstructed, and how much money will be allotted for the repairing
of buses, he did not manage to avoid the anxious questions which the
journalists poured on him during the usual Monday briefing.
The journalists were interested why the buses and trolley-buses with
a fare of 50 or 70 AMD are almost empty and the micro buses are always
full people.
There are even cases when bus routes have been closed down. In
particular, one of the drivers of bus N 62 said that the reason was
the owner of one of the microbus routes who threatened him not to
“take away” the passengers.
Mr. Avanesyan was well aware of the phenomenon. He said he has even
complained of it and has even named some of the owners of the routes
asking to impose sanctions on them, but all his efforts have resulted
fruitless.
With a powerless expression on his face, Slava Avanesyan asked the
journalists to help him to punish those who exceed their authorities.