ARMENIA BECAME WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD CHAMPION
Lragir.am
05 June 06
On June 4 the men’s chess team of Armenia became champion on the
World Chess Olympiad. In the final round the game with the Hungarians
ended in a draw. Before the final round the Armenian team was ahead
of China, holding the second place, by 2.5 points, and in the final
13th game 2 points were enough to break away from its opponents. It
did not take our players great efforts, and they quickly led the game
to a draw. Specialists say the Armenian team deserved championship,
for its advantages were absolute. The Armenian team won an absolute
victory, say experts and reporters.
After the 6th round of the Olympiad the Armenian team topped the
tournament chart solely. With still two or three rounds before the
end of the tournament, the victory of the Armenian team was beyond
doubt. The Armenian chess players won 10 out of 13 games, three games
ended in a draw, no defeats. With 36 points, the Armenian team became
champion on the World Chess Olympiad for the first time. Armenia was
followed by the Chinese team with 34 points on the tournament chart.
The U.S. team won the bronze with 33 points. The victory of the
Armenian team is also absolute in the sense that it played especially
confidently with the main contenders for championship. Throughout
the 80-years-long history of the World Chess Olympiad Armenia is the
seventh country to win the title of winner on the Olympiad.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STUDENTS RAISE DARFUR AWARENESS
by: Stacy Lee
New University, CA
UC, Irvine
June 5 2006
Students simulated a refugee camp on Ring Road in coordination with
“Climb for Darfur” event in Lake Forrest.
The Darfur Action Committee gave a new meaning to “on-campus housing”
last Tuesday and Wednesday when members of the club slept in a crowded
tent on Ring Road for two days to simulate the conditions of refugee
camps in Darfur, a region in eastern Sudan where, according to the
Coalition for International Justice, 400,000 people have been killed
in a genocide.
The event coincided with a “Climb for Darfur” rock-climbing fundraiser
held on Sunday at Solid Rock Gym in Lake Forest. Camp Darfur was
developed by Gabriel Stauring, a co-founder of Stop Genocide Now,
an organization dedicated to educating the public about the genocide
and finding means to stop it. Stauring and others organized the
first Camp Darfur event back in April, held for five days in Lennox,
Calif. next to LAX. Any interested parties were invited to sleep in
tents to experience the life of Darfur refugees.
Co-chairs second-year political science and history double-major
Sevana Sammis and second-year political science major Yvette Shirinian
attended the event and quickly took steps to organize another campout
at UC Irvine.
“We had to write a proposal to the dean of students to prove why it
was a worthy cause,” Sammis said. “We had to outline every single
detail. Fortunately, we were sponsored by the School of Social
Sciences and got support from the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
Manuel Gomez.”
After a month and a half of seeking permission, 10 students were
allowed to sleep in the small, drafty tent for two nights.
“It was a great experience for all the DAC members to get to know each
other while making a statement at the same time to the rest of the
students that there’s a genocide going on, [which is] important enough
for us to spend two nights on Ring Road despite the uncomfortable
conditions,” Shirinian said.
On Tuesday night, guest speaker Vazken Movsesian, who had returned from
a trip to Rwanda a decade after its own genocide, presented a slide
show to a crowd of approximately 30 students during a candlelight
vigil. In several frames, he explained that the concrete slab he was
standing under was a mass grave of more than 2,600 bodies, with four
to 60 victims per casket. Another picture showed a woman with a scar
across her right cheek, a survivor of the Rwanda genocide.
“She showed me that ‘machete,’ is not a noun. It’s a verb,” Movsesian
said. “You can’t cut through with a single blow. You have to machete
a person over and over to cut off a head, to kill.”
Students saw images of the Ntarama Church where over 5,000 died after
a priest betrayed a whole community to the rebels. The church was
left as a shrine with shelves of skulls and separate rows reserved
for those of babies.
“Why did they kill the children? Because they knew that one day they
would grow up to become the enemy,” Movsesian said.
But Movsesian also showed images of hope, children playing soccer
with a ball made from scraps, orphans of the genocide building homes
for families and widows working to make a future for themselves and
their children.
“When I saw these women, I saw my grandmother [surviving through the
Armenian genocide]. For a moment I saw beyond color. It didn’t matter,”
Movsesian said. “We need to remember that we are all people.
We are all together.”
On the following night, DAC presented a screening of “Invisible
Children,” a documentary about children in Uganda who were abducted
and forced to become soldiers. About 60 to 70 students attended and
also saw a clip from former Marine Brian Steidle, who witnessed the
Darfur genocide firsthand.
With both Camp Darfur and the fundraising event over, the DAC plans
to continue to work to end the genocide, even as the school year
comes to a close.
“Camp Darfur has definitely been a success. Now a lot more people know
about the genocide,” Sammis said. “Obviously there’s a lot more we can
do, but at least our first agenda [the UC divestment of UC funds from
the region] was passed. Now we’re waiting on statewide divestment.”
The club also plans to organize activist kits for students interested
in becoming involved over the summer. For more information, contact
[email protected].

DANIEL FRIED: THIS TIME WE ARE CLOSE TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 15:42
“The Nagorno-Karabakh issue must and can be resolved. The only way
is peaceful settlement,” declared Daniel Fried, US Deputy Secretary
of State on Europe and Eurasia in an interview with AzerTag State
Information Agency.
Turning to the role of the mediators in the resolution of the issue,
Daniel Fried reminded that the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan
themselves took the decision to apply the international community
for establishing dialogue between them.
“We did it. In Key West we approached the settlement, but we
failed. This time we are also close to it. Maybe we’ll succeed
this time,” US Deputy Secretary of State noted, adding that the
Co-Chairs will not exert pressure for having this or that way of
resolution accepted. In his words, coming to an agreement depends
on the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. On their part the
Co-Chairs have suggested some ideas, which can serve as a good basis
for resolving the conflict.
“We suggested these in a neutral way. However, as US representative,
I said that we wish to see the rapid return of as many territories
to Azerbaijan as possible. Here we come across the interests of two
countries. We have suggested the most effective way. Now everything
depends on the Presidents,” Fried noted.
“Until the Minsk Group works, we want to see the poles of interest
here.
However, I say once again that everything depends on the
Presidents. President Aliev is a very serious and watchful person. I
held a lot of discussions with him. President Kocharyan has his
own position and interests. But he is also a very serious man, and
takes the details with caution. Thus, everything depends on them”
Fried underlined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARYAN AND ILHAM ALIEV MET IN ROMANIA
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 10:56
Last evening Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Robert Kocharyan
and Ilham Aliev met at the Polish Embassy in Romania. Leaders of the
two countries arrived in Bucharest to participate in the Summit of
the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership.
Kocharyan-Aliev meeting featured the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel
de Gucht, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk and Foreign Ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Later the Presidents met tête-a-tête, following which the talks
continued in an enlarged format. The negotiations lasted for over
four hours, following which the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
dined with the President of Romania Traian BÄ~Csescu. After the talks
the Presidents did not meet reporters. The latter expect to receive
comments during today’s summit.
Preceding the meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliev, Robert
Kocharyan had a meeting with the President of Romania Traian
BÄ~Csescu. The parties discussed bilateral relations, as well as
issues related to today’s summit and further cooperation.
It was noted that the Romanian President is expected to visit Armenia
in October 2006.
Before the start of the summit today RA president Robert Kocharyan
will have bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Belgium,
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel de Gucht, Deputy Assistant to US
President on Security Issues J.
Crauch and EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter
Semneby.
–Boundary_(ID_uvctS5JmJLZjtXeWzyB f0Q)–

ARMENIAN NGOS AGAINST THE RACIST EXPRESSIONS IN RUSSIA
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 16:00
A number of Armenian NGOs held today an act of protest in front of
the Russian Embassy in Armenia. They submitted a statement to the
Ambassador, expressing their concern with the recent racist expressions
in Russia. Yevgeni Baghdasaryan, Hayk Dolukhanyan, Harutyun Galstyan,
Robert Feroyan, Vigen Abrahamyants and Arthur Sardaryan – these are
the names of our compatriots killed in Moscow in 2006 by nationalist
groupings.
“Impermissible things occur in Russia,” said Arsen Kharatyan,
members of the initiative group of the “For the sake of scientific
development” NGO.
Head of the Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan is confident that
the events would not go this way if Armenian authorities demonstrated
a strict position.
Participants of the action rallied from the Russian Embassy to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They urged the Russian and local
authorities to address the phenomenon, which is getting more and
more threatening.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARYAN HAS NO EXPECTATIONS FROM BUCHAREST MEETING
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 16:11
RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan does not have great expectations
from the meeting of Armenian and Azeri Presidents in Bucharest. The
Prime Minister said today at the National Assembly that the statements
of the Azeri side do not inspire hope for progress.
Andranik Margaryan noted that the optimistic trends in the settlement
of the conflict this year still exist, but this time the break is
hardly possible.
Nevertheless, according to Andranik Margaryan, there will be no
regress, the prospects for progress will be clear after the meeting
of Presidents.

MEN’S CHESS TEAM OF ARMENIA WILL ARRIVE IN YEREVAN TONIGHT
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 16:20
Winner of the 37th World Chess Olympiad in Turin – men’s chess team of
Armenia will arrive in Yerevan at 22:00 tonight. RA Prime Minister told
the journalists today that the Government will organize a reception
for the champions and will award diplomas.
To remind, in the last 13th round of the Olympiad the men’s chess
team of Armenia played a draw with the team of HUngary, thus gaining
36 points and achieving gold medals.

AZERI-TURKISH ORGANIZATIONS OF WORLD COUNTRIES TO MEET IN ANTALIA
Author: R.Abdullayev
TREND, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
A meeting of the Azerbaijani-Turkish organization functioning in
different world countries will start its work in Antalia, Turkey, on
Tuesday (6 June), Trend reports. Over 200 delegates from 30 countries
will participate in the forum.
The participants in the event will discuss joint measures targeting
the prevention of the spread of policy on the so-called ‘Armenian
genocide’ in Osman Empire. “The event is a next evidence testifying
for the expansion of the relationships between Azerbaijan and Turkey,”
the Turkish television channel TRT reported.
A world forum of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia started in the Turkish
report city Antalia on 5 June.

AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Author: A.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 5 2006
Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian
met in Bucharest on 4 June to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Trend reports citing Radio Liberty.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs involved in the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict also were in attendance.
The details of the meeting are still kept secret. Aliyev and Kocharian
are probable to continue talks on 5 June, local television channel
ATV announced.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: TADEUSZ ISAKOWICZ-ZALESKI
by Micha³Pakulniewicz
Warsaw Business Journal , Poland
June 5 2006
Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, a Polish-Armenian, has in the last
months sparked a row on vetting in the Catholic Church.
The church, which played a significant role in battling communism and
preserving traditional and national values both during the partitions
of Poland and in the communist era, has so far been untouchable when
it came to vetting and disclosing former collaborators with the secret
police, the SB.
Isakowicz-Zaleski was a member of student movements in Krakow in the
late 1970s and a Solidarity priest in Krakow’s Nowa Huta district in
the 1980s. He was harassed by the communist state for his activities.
He initiated the current debate on the church’s past in February this
year when he received his SB file from the Institute of National
Remembrance (IPN) and revealed the names of some of those who had
informed on him.
Since February, Isakowicz-Zaleski has been researching the church’s
role in communism and tried to get church officials to help him take
a stand on the issue of priests collaborating with the SB. Receiving
no answer from the church, he decided to reveal the results of his
research independently. However, last week the Archbishop of Krakow,
Cardinal Stanis³aw Dziwisz forbade him to go public, and instead
established the church’s own commission to deal with the issue.
–Boundary_(ID_pF4M4jeSPq0TjvNuhUNUTw)–