EU rep for southern Caucasus to hold talks in Yerevan
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
July 23, 2006 Sunday 07:04 PM EST
By Tigran Liloyan
Peter Semneby, the EU representative for southern Caucasus, will
discuss issues of European integration and political and economic
reforms in Armenia at the meetings here on Monday and Tuesday.
Semneby will be received by the republic’s leaders, the press office
of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass. He will also visit the
office of the country’s ombudsman and the Central Electoral Commission.
On Monday, the EU representative will hold a joint news conference
with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Middle East is a puzzle – and no two pieces fit together
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
July 19, 2006 Wednesday
Final Edition; All Editions
By Dick Feagler, Special to the Plain Dealer
We were sitting around in the coffee shop, trying to figure out the
Middle East. But it was beyond us.
“I’ve been watching it all on TV,” said Frank. “And what I get is
that some of the missiles they’re shooting at Israel were made in
Iran and shipped in through Syria.”
“That’s what they say,” John said.
“So my question is this,” said Frank. “What the hell are we doing
in Iraq?”
“Nobody knows,” I said. “By now, we’ve forgotten why we went there.
If we ever knew.”
“I mean our archenemy now is Iran, right?” said Frank. “And Saddam
went to war against Iran, right? So when we stomped out Saddam,
the Iranians should have liked us, right?”
“You might think so,” I said.
“Not over there,” said Joe. “There’s no logic to what goes on over
there. They’ve all been fighting each other for more than 50 years.
It makes no sense.”
“Sure it does,” said Dan. “They all hate Israel. They don’t want Israel
there. You think 50 years means anything to these people? Their version
of God tells them that the land of Israel is their land. But Israel’s
God says that Israel has reclaimed the land promised by God.”
“Well, man, those two Gods were really slugging it out over the
weekend,” said John.
“Not really,” I said. “Israel could have done far more than it did.”
“What are you talking about?” said Dan. “Israel is bombing the hell
out of Beirut. You saw that picture on Page One of that poor Lebanese
woman bleeding.”
“They’re bleeding in Haifa, too,” I said. “But that’s not the point.
Suppose somebody launched a bunch of missiles at Cleveland. And
suppose we knew where they were made, how they got there and who
fired them. What would we do?”
“I don’t know,” said Frank.
“Whaddaya mean, you don’t know?” said John. “We’d bomb the hell out
of them and take them down.”
“Like we did after 9/11,” said Frank. “Except after 9/11, we invaded
a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. We might as well have
invaded Indiana.”
“I knew a woman, she’s dead now,” I said. “She used to go to Lebanon
every year. She was Armenian, and she had her own history to tell
about the slaughter of the Armenians.
“But she always brought back such pretty things. Brass coffee tables
with inlaid wood on the legs. The brass was so wonderfully etched,
you could have hung it on the wall.
“Her family had suffered terrible atrocities in that part of the
world – things we didn’t hear about in history class. But she always
told me, ‘Richard, you have to go to Lebanon. Richard, you have to
go there. It’s better than Paris.’ ”
“Did you ever go?” said Joe.
“No,” I said. “All I know about Lebanon is what I saw on TV this
weekend. I don’t think my friend would have liked to have seen it.”
“My mother wouldn’t have liked to see Haifa,” said Joe. “It’s a
beautiful resort town, you know.”
So we sat around trying to figure out the Middle East. Men have tried
for centuries and have always failed. Lines have been drawn in the
sand and been covered over and lost as meaningless.
Laureen came over to pour us a round of coffee.
“I heard you talking about Lebanon,” she said. “My boyfriend’s parents
are from there.”
“What does he think about what’s going on?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” she said. “He’s an American. He don’t think at all.”

Alleged Smuggler Says Confession Was Coerced
The New York Sun
July 20, 2006 Thursday
By BENJAMIN WEINTRAUB, Special to the Sun
A lawyer for one of the 20 defendants indicted in an international
arms smuggling ring argued in federal court yesterday that his client
deserves a separate, pre-trial hearing to strike a confession the
lawyer says was forced by Armenian authorities who tortured his client.
George Goltzer said that after the Armenian police tortured Armen
Barseghyan, they told him to confess to the American officials or
face further abuse. Armenian police then sat in the same room with
FBI officials as they questioned Mr. Barseghyan, Mr. Goltzer said.
“The Armenian agents repeatedly beat him with, among other things,
rubber pipes” and “administered electric shock,” Mr. Goltzer wrote
in the motion. As Mr. Barseghyan “was questioned by Americans, an
Armenian agent was in the room staring at him.”
Mr. Goltzer said that by allowing the Armenian officials who tortured
Mr. Barseghyan to be in the same room as the American officials, the
Americans did not sufficiently separate themselves from the Armenian
police. As a result, Mr. Goltzer said, the Armenians’ torture of Mr.
Barseghyan can be linked to the Americans, thus allowing the confession
to be thrown out in an American court.
In earlier cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that a confession can
only be deemed coerced and stricken if an American official was the
abusive party; independent coercion by another country’s official is
not enough.
Mr. Barseghyan was extradited from Armenia in April 2005, a month
after the FBI simultaneously arrested the other defendants in New York,
Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The defendants are alleged to have imported surface-to-air missiles,
grenade launchers, anti-tank missiles, mortar launchers, and machine
guns from Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The FBI used wiretaps and a
confidential informer who posed as an arms buyer with links to Al Qaeda
to compile hundreds of hours of conversation among the defendants,
who were indicted in March 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN MEMORIAL PLANS OUTLINED
The Boston Globe
July 16, 2006 Sunday
THIRD EDITION
July 7. I’d like to make sure Globe readers understand some facts
about our plans for this important space.
The park is a gift from the Armenian-American community to the people
of Greater Boston, the Commonwealth, and all who visit here. We have
not and will not seek public funds for the design, construction,
or upkeep of the park.
Parcel 13 is roughly a half acre. The vast majority of this space
will be open lawn, trees, benches, and a labyrinth of inlaid stones.
The design includes a geometric sculpture on a 225-square-foot
reflecting ng pool. The sculpture would represent all immigrant groups
who have left their countries of origin and reestablished here in
new and different configurations.
We have also established a $500,000 endowment for an annual lecture
series at Faneuil Hall on human rights, in cooperation with the
Bostonian Society.
We loook forward to being a small part of the renaissance of Boston’s
waterfront and downtown made possible by the Central Artery Project.
JAMES M. KALUSTIAN PRESIDENT ARMENIAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION Arlington

Albuquerque’s Anna Kostanian, 18, is only 4-foot-11 but has high hopes in pro billiards
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
July 21, 2006 Friday
When Anna Kostanian first started playing billiard tournaments at
age 13, she heard all the requisite “short” jokes.
“You can’t play unless you’re 5 feet tall” seemed to be a favorite.
Fortunately, Kostanian didn’t treat the admonition like it was a
warning sign for youngsters at an amusement park ride.
No, she went ahead and played the game; played well enough that many
of the adult jokesters, men and women alike, were soundly beaten.
Soon, the detractors changed their tune. “They were telling me I had
a natural talent, so I stuck with it,” Kostanian says.
Today, at age 18, Kostanian is still playing and – at 4-foot-11 –
she remains short.
In the world of billiards, however, Kostanian stands tall.
Last week she won the 19-and-under national billiards championship
in Tucson and a few days ago turned professional. Kostanian soon will
join the Women’s Professional Billiards Association tour.
Kostanian’s progress in the game has been remarkable.
The second daughter of Hrair Kostanian, owner of The Billiard Palace
at Wyoming and Menaul, didn’t start playing until age 10 after she
had moved to Albuquerque. At that time, her dad owned Pro Billiards
at the corner of Candelaria and Juan Tabo – currently the site of a
Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse.
Anna was born in Armenia, but moved to the United States when she
was 1. The family lived in Los Angeles until she was about 8, before
making the move to the Duke City. Kostanian says she’s not sure why
her family moved here – “I honestly don’t know, I never asked them”
– but she can’t quibble with the results.
It would be reasonable to guess that older sister Izolda was
responsible for luring Anna into picking up a cue. But, Izolda, 19,
disproves the theory that proximity of age in siblings keeps them
close through similar interests. “She doesn’t like bars,” Anna says,
completely relaxed while sitting at the Palace. “I like it here.
Everything is free for me.”
Kostanian, who graduated from Eldorado High School in the spring,
says she has not considered an advanced education. She plans to put
all her energies into the WPBA tour, where the top players, she says,
can make a million dollars a year through prize money, sponsors and
endorsements.
Currently, she says, Arroyo del Oso director of golf Tony Hidalgo
is her only sponsor, taking care of Kostanian’s airline flights to
places like San Diego, North Carolina, Illinois and Miami.
The tour has 10 major competitions. To remain a professional, she
has to enter at least eight events and finish in the upper half
of the standings in four. One of the competitions has been held at
Albuquerque’s Sandia Casino the past few years. Kostanian, obviously,
is looking forward to entering that event and playing before hometown
fans. This year’s tour stop is scheduled for Oct. 18-22.
Kostanian says each event begins with 64 players, half of those
automatic bids for fulltime participants. The other 32 go to qualifiers
and those who receive invitations or sponsors’ exemptions.
Kostanian says from what she’s seen, most of the women on the tour
get along well and have a lot of respect for each another. She says
they all tend to stay at the same motels.
Also, she says, there do not seem to be head games with one player
attempting to psych out another. But, if that were to come about,
Kostanian has an advantage. It has to do with being vertically
challenged.
All she has to do is tell them what she already believes:
“I think being short in pool is an advantage. You are closer to the
table and you can see the lines better.”

Letter to the New Republic
The New Republic
July 31, 2006
Golden Dole
Too bad we don’t have a Bob Dole handy right about now to push for
the Darfur intervention the editors demand (“Again, Part II,” June
19). As much as I disliked the former Republican senator, he deserves
credit for forcing Bill Clinton to react to the genocide in the former
Yugoslavia. Dole was a World War II veteran who was wounded in Italy
trying to save his radioman. His heroism and battle injury earned the
interest of Chicago surgeon and Armenian genocide survivor Hampar
Kelikian, who operated on Dole for free. Kelikian told Dole of the
genocide and Dole became aware of that awful crime. Although he lost
the 1996 election, by pushing the issue of genocide in the Balkans,
Dole forced Clinton to act or risk defeat. We need another Dole in
the 2008 election.
Amanda Pollak Kensington, Maryland

A refugee, and a survivor of crime and tragedy who thought God would
keep him safe in the lions’ den
Maclean’s, Canada
July 24, 2006
OHTAJ HUMBAT OHLI MAKHMUDOV;
1961-2006
By BY VASYL PAWLOWSKY
Ohtaj Humbat ohli Makhmudov was born in 1961 in the Azerbaijan Soviet
Socialist Republic’s Kyudamyrsky region. His father, Humbat, was head
of the regional party council of the Communist party. While the large
family was quite well off, it experienced many tragedies. Of the eight
children, two died while Ohtaj was in his teens: a sister, Aubeniz,
in a 1976 gas explosion at the local bathhouse, and a brother, Alih,
the following year in a knife fight.
For Ohtaj, though, the future appeared bright. “He was a very good
student in high school,” says his classmate Azer Husanov, currently
living in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. “He finished in 1979 and
was immediately accepted to the National Economics Institute.” Ohtaj
graduated from the institute with a degree in economics in 1984,
and then opened a store in Baku, which he ran for five years. “This
happened during the perestroika movement, a time in which people had
the opportunity to become successful,” Azer says. “And he jumped on
this chance.”
But the new openness of the Mikhail Gorbachev era in the Soviet
Union unleashed other forces as well. Demands by Nagorno-Karabakh,
a primarily Armenian enclave of the Azerbaijan S.S.R., to unite with
the neighbouring Armenian S.S.R., resulted in prolonged bloodshed
between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Ohtaj, whose family had some years
before unfortunately relocated to the Tertersky region of Karabakh,
decided to move to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. There, “he married
a local woman, who subsequently bore him a son,” recalls Ali Damirov,
Ukraine representative of the Turan Information Agency, an independent
Azerbaijani news service. “Overall, he was quite a simple and quiet
person,” adds Damirov, who knew Ohtaj since 1989. “I used to see him
at the Azerbaijani Centre in Kyiv, which he would occasionally attend
on national holidays.”
In Kyiv, Ohtaj also tried his hand at the retail business. In the
early 1990s, he began trading at the Bessarabskiy Market in the
city’s downtown, and also got involved in wholesale. Ohtaj, Ali says,
was doing quite well, expanding his business and opening kiosks in
some of Kyiv’s other outdoor markets as well. But while friends and
acquaintances are reluctant to speak of details, Ohtaj ran into
problems with criminal elements in the mid-1990s. “At the time,”
Ali explains, “racketeering had become a regular modus operandi in
this part of the world.” That brought further sadness into Ohtaj’s
family: in 1995 his brother Yaver, who had joined him in Kyiv along
with Avuz, another brother, was murdered. Back home, upon hearing
the news of Yaver’s death, Ohtaj’s mother suffered a heart attack,
Azer Husanov says.
Shortly after, Ohtaj went bankrupt. His wife subsequently left him,
departing with their son for Italy in search of better opportunities
— and sending Ohtaj spiralling into depression. “At the end of
the 1990s he spent two years in the Pavlov psychiatric hospital in
Kyiv and was released in 2000,” says Khahani Murmat ohli Huseynov,
an Azeri acquaintance of Ohtaj who has been living in Kyiv since the
early 1990s. Then tragedy struck again: in 2002, Ohtaj’s brother Avuz
died in the same psychiatric hospital where he had undergone treatment.
Ohtaj left Kyiv. Aquaintances say that, as far as they know, he went
to Tertersky. “What he could have possibly been doing there is not
clear,” Ali says. “After all, this place is a completely war-torn
region.” But Ohtaj returned to Kyiv this year, at the end of May. Ali
says he took Ohtaj around town, “to show him how things had changed
since he left. Although he seemed very indifferent to what he saw,
he looked like somebody who had been put through the wringer.”
On Saturday, June 3, Ohtaj visited the Kyiv Zoo. According to
eyewitnesses, he asked many questions regarding the behaviour of
lions and tigers. He returned the next day. At 6:45 p.m., when there
weren’t many people by the lion exhibit, Ohtaj removed his socks and
shoes. He carefully placed them on a cellophane packet, and removed
his jacket and hung it on the back of a chair belonging to one of
the vendors at the zoo. Ohtaj then tied a piece of rope to a metal
handrail and climbed down into the lions’ pit.
The lions may not have taken notice of him. But Ohtaj approached
the animals, waving his arms and, according to witnesses, shouting,
“Because God loves me, the lions will not harm me!” Other visitors
screamed at him to get out. But by that time, Ohtaj had drawn the
attention of Veronica, one of the zoo’s three lionesses. She pounced
on Ohtaj. Andriy Bakaj, an investigator from Kyiv’s Pechersk district
prosecutor’s office who examined his body at the scene, said, “The
deceased had 10 puncture wounds in his neck, two of which were in
the area of his windpipe. He died instantly.”

Russian Experts Have Completed Decoding Data from Armavia
Aviation Week & Space Technology
July 17, 2006
Russian experts have completed decoding data from the Airbus A320
operated by Armenia-based Armavia, which crashed on landing at the
Sochi airport on May 3, killing all 113 on board (AW&ST May 8, p.
39). The experts say the data show the aircraft, its systems and
engines were working normally and there was an adequate fuel reserve.
During the last minute of the flight, the aircraft was operating with
the autopilot switched off.

AWARDS; Antigenics CEO receives humanitarian award from the Sabin Vaccine Institute
Science Letter
July 25, 2006
Antigenics, Inc., (AGEN) announced that the Sabin Vaccine Institute
has awarded the company’s chairman and CEO, Garo H. Armen, PhD,
the 2006 Sabin Humanitarian Award.
The Albert B. Sabin Annual Awards recognize extraordinary figures
in biotechnology, medical research and medical reporting, and were
celebrated at a gala, themed “Celebrating Hope for a Healthier World,”
in New York City.
“In each case, these extraordinary individuals didn’t settle for high
achievement in just one area, but they broadened their horizons and
multiplied their effect,” said H. R. Shepherd, DSc, chairman of the
Sabin Vaccine Institute. “They each found new ways to further medical
science, reaching out to help a greater cross-section of humanity.”
Armen cofounded Antigenics in 1994 with Pramod K. Srivastava, PhD.
Armen is also the founder and chairman of the Children of Armenia
Fund, a charitable organization established in 2000 that is dedicated
to the positive development of the children and youth of Armenia.
>>From mid-2002 through 2004, Armen also served as chairman of
the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company Elan Corp. He
received a PhD in physical chemistry from the Graduate Center, City
University of New York.

PRESS RELEASE Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) – Yerevan Office
53-55 Pavstos Byuzand Street, 375010
Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Inessa Grigoryan
Tel: (+374 10) 522076; 562068
Fax: (+374 10) 522076
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Children of Armenia Fund – New York Office
630 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2100,
New York, NY 10111, USA
Contact: Mariam Dilakian
Tel: 212 – 994 – 8201
Fax: 212 – 994 – 8299
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
For immediate release
Multi-Pronged Health Care Program
Villages of the Armavir District Benefit from
Training in Reproductive Health & Dental and Eye Care Program
Armavir District, Republic of Armenia, July 24, 2006 –¾ The
Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) continues to upgrade and expand the
healthcare component of its Integrated Rural Development Program in
Armavir. During eight weeks in June and July 2006, the communities of
Argina, Dalarik, Karakert, Lernagog, Myasnikyan, and Shenik were the
beneficiaries of the scheduled screening stops by the dental and eye
care mobile clinics. Also in this period, COAF conducted training
in all six communities in reproductive health and rights. These
three projects were implemented through partnered agreements with
the Armenian Dental Society of California (ADSC), Armenian Eye Care
Project (AECP), and Counterpart International (CI), respectively.
The first of these recently completed initiatives is the dental
care project that benefited 233 schoolchildren. In a series of
scheduled stops on the school grounds of each of the Model Cluster
communities, these children were diagnosed and treated in the mobile
dental clinic. The two dentists and nurse on board of the ADSC mobile
clinic are highly qualified and experienced in providing the needed
screening and treatment in a confined environment. Similarly, the
AECP Bringing Sight to Armenian Eyes initiative brought the Mobile
Eye Hospital to the Model Cluster villages to identify eye problems,
screen patients and provide follow-on treatment, as needed. In this
year’s program, 433 adults and 1,143 children were examined. Of those
examined, 192 adults and 87 children were diagnosed with problems and
treated and 31 adults and 55 children were referred to specialized
hospitals for follow-on treatment. Additionally, 46 adults from
socially disadvantaged families received free subscription glasses.
The third project is an integral part of COAF’s Community Health
Education (CHE) program. Raising Awareness of Women in Reproductive
Health and Rights was realized with funding from CI. The goal
of the project was to improve the quality of life of women in
the Model Cluster communities. Specifically, the project aimed
at identifying reproductive health risks and violation of women’s
rights and raising their awareness on reproductive rights, behavioral
risks and prevention of gender-based violence. During the project
implementation period, COAF conducted focus group discussions and
surveys, developed educational materials for training 30 trainers,
who subsequently held training sessions for larger groups throughout
the Model Cluster. In addition, information pamphlets were published
and distributed widely. The project benefited around 1,400 women from
COAF’s six communities.
Through these partnered initiatives COAF continues to fulfill its
commitment to Save a Generation to Preserve a Nation.
The Armenian Eye Care Project is a non-profit organization dedicated
to providing ophthalmologic care to the Armenian people through five
primary programs. These include 1) direct patient care; 2) medical
training and education, including training in Armenia and U.S.
ophthalmology fellowships; 3) public education and awareness; 4)
research; 5) strengthening the Armenian eye care delivery system
through capacity building. The organization is governed by a volunteer
board of directors.
The Armenian Dental Society of California (ADSC) was founded in 1993
and since its inception has undertaken various projects both in the US
and Armenia. One of ADSC’s major undertakings for the past few years
has been its Sponsor a Smile Project. With the aim to address the
lack of access to dental care in Armenia and through the acquisition
and conversion of a bus to a mobile dental clinic, ADSC has been able
to reach out to distant communities in Armenia providing dental care
to thousands of schoolchildren.
Founded in 1965, Counterpart International (CI) is a non-profit
organization dedicated to building a just world through service and
partnership. CI’s program areas include agriculture, civil society,
public policy and advocacy, social, rural and urban development. The
representation of CI in Armenia focuses primarily on the protection
of human rights and humanitarian assistance. It has also an important
grants program to support the activities of local non-governmental
organizations.
–Boundary_(ID_sG I+J0gD4NA3FZcmQtmtzw)–