NATIONAL GALLERY CONTINUES SHOWING SAMPLES OF CLASSICAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. 26 films by famous French film director
Jean-Luc Godard will be shown in May-June at the cinema hall of the
Armenian National Gallery. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
by Melik Karapetian, the author and organizer of cinema programs,
employee of the Educational Department of the Armenian National
Gallery, in April he prepared and presented to the cinema spectators
another two interesting programs: 10 films on jazz by Ken Burns and
8 films by famous film-maker of the 70-s of the previous century,
one of the founder of the independent film John Cassavetes. After
the Gallery’s reopening in 2004, Melik Karapetian organized the
first program where he presented 6 Armenian mute films. American
films brought from the National Museum of Washington were shown
in September of the same year. A separate subject film program
has been prepared for each month since 2005 March: documentary and
retrospective reviews on art are organized every Sunday and Wednesday
at the National Gallery. The entrance is free for all those who are
fond of European and classical films. “In this issue the National
Gallery is greatly assisted by the foreign embassies in Armenia, but
the main material is prepared by me from my personal film archives,”
M.Karapetian said. He said that at present he has 1700 films, which
are presented to the spectators by different subject programs 10
months running. “The idea of showing these films occured to me in
the years when no festivals were organized in Armenia yet and there
were no cinemas that could import and show real films for certain
layers of the society,” M.Karapetian said. According to him, their
main spectators are young people, students, cinematographic figures
and finally visitors appreciating the real cinema.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERGE SARGSYAN’S PLANS WERE DISTORTED
Lragir.am
16 May 06
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan announced several days ago that
the home political developments in Armenia favor his plans. Using
the opportunity, the news reporter of the Lragir asked the defense
minister if the secession of Orinats Yerkir from the coalition
also favored his plans. “No,” Serge Sargsyan’s answer was brief and
unambiguous. However, the minister of defense knows what he is going;
first of all is going to “adjust” his plans. “A plan cannot be a
dogma. Any plan changes, and we will try to adjust the plan to the
Armenian reality,” said Serge Sargsyan to our news reporter.

STATEMENT OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC
Lragir.am
16 May 06
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
These days, tragic events took place in Shoushi 18 years ago which
played a significant role in the further escalation and increase of
the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict: on May 16-17, 1988, the leadership
of the Azerbaijani SSR via its emissaries and local Azerbaijani
authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Shoushi region started the
deportation of the Armenian population of the town of Shoushi. These
actions which became possible due to the impunity of the Armenian
pogroms organized the same year in the town of Sumgayit pursued the
aim to extirpate the Armenian element in Nagorno Karabakh.
Absence of adequate estimate, first of all, of the USSR leadership
to these actions which, according to international-legal norms were
an act of ethnic cleanings, allowed the Azerbaijani SSR authorities
to realize pogroms and deportation of the Armenian population of
the republic in 1988-91s (Khanlar, Kutkashen, Vartashen, Shamkhor
regions, the town of Mingechaur, etc. – November-December of 1988,
Kirovabad – November 1989, Baku – January 1990, “Kolco” operation –
April-June 1991) which actually created preconditions for the following
full-scale aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
The NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs focuses the attention of the
international community to the fact that the militaristic rhetoric and
charging of the atmosphere of xenophobia in the Azerbaijani society is
the continuation of the policy conducted by the Azerbaijani authorities
and calls to give a worthy evaluation to these events and recognize
the international-legal responsibility of the Azerbaijani Republic
for mass violation of the basic rights of the Armenian population of
the former Azerbaijani SSR and unleashing of aggressive war against
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, which will have immense significance
for strengthening the security and peace in the region and will allow
to approach the final solution of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.

UNION OF ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT
Lragir.am
16 May 06
Ara Abrahamyan, the president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, is
likely to become aware of the home political developments in Armenia
to be able to answer the questions of news reporters. He stated this
May 16 to news reporters in Yerevan.
Meanwhile relying on the information he already has, Ara Abrahamyan,
nevertheless, assesses the home political developments as negative.
“A far as I know, I assess it as negative, but every political
party and every government is free to decide, and we must respect
their decisions and wait for further developments. Now we should
draw necessary conclusions; well, this one seceded, but what is the
next step going to be?” says Ara Abrahamyan in connection with the
secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition.
The negative thing, according to Ara Abrahamyan, is that the coalition
came to an end. In fact, the leader of the Union of Armenians of
Russia, unlike the Republican and Dashnaktsutiun, thinks that with
the secession of Orinats Yerkir the coalition broke up. At any rate,
what happened was negative, thinks the Armenian businessman living
in Russia. “You know, if it goes on this fast, if the coalition
breaks up this fast, if a political party is ruined within a day,
there is nothing positive in it. This is statehood, but this is
their decision. The reality, the developments followed one another
too fast, and we need to take our time and give our assessment. But
it was their decision, everyone has the right to decide, of course,
all of them are smart people, they made a decision, and time will show
who is wrong and who is right,” says Ara Abrahamyan. He thinks that he
needs to find out first what, in fact, happened on the home political
arena. It is also a matter of personal interest for Ara Abrahamyan,
because the Union of Armenians of Russia is likely to become engaged
in the home political developments. Ara Abrahamyan says it is early
to consider if the organization he leads will run for parliament in
2007, but he says that their engagement is inevitable.
“Considering that over half a million Armenian citizens live in
Russia, and we have a Union of Armenians of Russia, we are supposed
to participate, watch or support. Of course, we are going to run
for parliament, we are going to have our proposals, debates. I often
meet with leaders of political parties and the authorities. We are
consulting, and we are going to make a decision,” says Ara Abrahamyan.
In the parliamentary election in 2003 he supported the Ramkavar Party,
helped the party to distribute computers to schools during their
campaign, but the Ramkavar Party did not enter the parliament.
Ara Abrahamyan may therefore have decided to run for parliament anew.
He says the Union of Armenians of Russia will decide the form and
degree of engagement, taking into account the interests of the members
of the Union who are citizens of Armenia, and the members who are
citizens of Russia, as well as the legislation of Armenia.
“We are trying to comply with the laws, because we know what
an election is, and what kind of engagement we should have. Our
engagement should not disturb the state of things, the peace,”
says the leader of the Union of Armenians of Russia. Nevertheless,
he says presently it is necessary to consider better things than the
election, drawing conclusions from what happened, and contribute to
the development of the economic and political sphere.

LIKELIHOOD OF RETURN OF MIGRANTS DIMINISHES DAY BY SAY, SAYS ARA ABRAHAMYAN
Lragir.am
16 May 06
On May 16 the meeting of the Board of the World Congress of Armenians
is going on in Yerevan, discussing the activity of the organization in
the past two years and future plans. The congress was initiated in 2003
by the leader of the Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan. He
says that over the past two years the congress did considerable work,
but the key issue of the meeting of the board is the future.
“The core issue is to establish an organization which would enable
working out a national policy. It is the Armenian ideology. It is one
of the key concerns,” says Ara Abrahamyan. He underlines the importance
of development of a youth branch of the Congress, for the youth is the
future. Another key issue, according to Ara Abrahamyan, is to establish
branches of the Congress all over the world, including an organization
of West Armenians, which would operate under the World Congress.
“It is very important to define the relations between Armenia
and the Diaspora to have definite devices. The Diaspora-Diaspora
relations, as well as the Diaspora-Diaspora-Armenia relations are
of core importance. It is important to set up an economic Diasporan
organization to improve people’s social condition. It should be
established in Armenia, of course, with the help of the Diaspora,
all together, to create conditions, jobs for economic migrants to
get back, because later it will be impossible to have them back,
for they will have been integrated in those countries,” says Ara
Abrahamyan. According to him, if we fail to create and implement such
a program now, later the return of migrants will be very doubtful.

ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN BEST EUROPEAN OF THE YEAR
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The title of Best European of the Year of the European Movement Armenia
was conferred on the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Arthur
Baghdasaryan. The award was delivered to Arthur Baghdasaryan by the
Secretary General of the European Movement Henrik Kroner. During the
ceremony Arthur Baghdasaryan stated that European integration is the
best path of development for Armenia. “All the members of the EU must
cooperate in pursue for democracy, solidarity and freedom.”
Besides Arthur Baghdasaryan, the European Movement conferred the
award Best European Contribution on the Yerevan Marine School Hayas
for the symbolic voyage of the Cilicia Ship, as well as awards on
the Building Company Kanaka for development in the town of Spitak,
compliant with the European standards, and Le Café de Paris for
fostering economic cooperation between Armenia and Europe.
Arthur Baghdasaryan said Armenia will continue to fulfill the
obligations assumed before the Council of Europe and commitment to
the New Neighborhood Policy of the European Union, because “a freely
developing economy and society can produce more than the government
policies altogether.”
–Boundary_(ID_2/VNH8pmnG4W00ROHVQn6 Q)–

IT IS 16 YEARS PUPILS HAVE LESSONS IN HALF-DARK WAGONS IN VILLAGE OF DITAVAN, TAVUSH REGION
Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006
NOYEMBERIAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8-form school of the village of
Ditavan, Tavush region, has 50 pupils, but the one-storeyed school
building is too small and since 1990, 3 wagon-houses also have been
serving as classrooms.
One wagon-house is used as a canteen. As form master of primary school
Nunik Ghazarian said in her talk with Noyan Tapan correspondent,
these wagon-houses are dark and the pupils of the primary school
complain that they do not see the letters well. It is very hot in the
wagon-houses in winter and they have to air the classroom 10 times
during a lesson. Due to lack of a gymnasium the lessons of physical
culture are held in the school corridor in winter.
According to school headmaster Armen Hakhverdian, they have repeatedly
promised to build a new building for the school in the past years,
even a territory near the school was allotted for this purpose but
the construction has not started.

FLIGHT SAFETY IN ARMENIA IS ZERO
Lragir.am
16 May 06
The Ardarutiun Faction of the National Assembly has reconsidered its
three-year-old proposal to set up an ad-hoc committee to study the
situation in the aviation of Armenia, stated Tatul Manaseryan May 16.
He says after the crash of A320 near Sochi the proposal has become
more urgent. Under the current geopolitical situation aviation is not
just a means of transportation for Armenia but a key and strategic
sphere, the development of which determines the development of
the other sectors of the economy. At the same time, the civil and
military aviations guarantee the country’s security and particularly
the economic security. In the meantime, Tatul Manaseryan says the
government does not pay due attention to aviation.
“There is zero word and figure on aviation in the state budget.
An entire sphere is left out of the budget. Whereas our aviation
can supply 1.5-2 budgets,” believes Tatul Manaseryan. Probably the
lack of governmental care makes the civil aviation to think about
the secondary instead of the primary. Instead of thinking about
legislative provisions it is busy spending another grant. According
to Manaseryan, Ardarutiun consulted the veterans of the Armenian
aviation, Dmitri Atbashyan and others, worked out an air legislation,
which was disapproved by the government, and the General Department
of Civil Aviation promised to work out its own project but it has
done nothing over the past 9 months.
This is not the worst thing, however. Tatul Manaseryan believes that
aviation cannot suffer losses. He states that in Yerevan they spend
10.5 million dollars to repair 1800 meters of runway, whereas in
Dushanbe they spend 2 million on the repair of 3000 meters of runway.
“They write down exaggerated numbers to show that they allegedly suffer
losses.” This is no less concerning. If in the Soviet Union 80 percent
of passenger transportation was carried out by the Armenian aviation,
now foreign airlines hold 70 percent. The remaining 30 percent is
carried out by the Armenian Armavia which, in fact, belongs to the
Russian Siberia Airlines and does not pay profit tax to the Armenian
state budget.” The opposition member of parliament is not against
private capital, however, he insists that control and regulation must
be the monopoly of the government.

OPPOSITION IS NOT A ROOM THAT CAN BE LOCKED UP
Lragir.am
16 May 06
During the hours that followed the resignation of Speaker Arthur
Baghdasaryan, the attitude of the opposition towards his announcement
to become opposition was negative. Now Arthur Baghdasaryan is not
met with slings and arrows, at least. Grigor Harutiunyan from the
Ardarutiun Alliance, reminding about controversies between Robert
Kocharyan and Arthur Baghdasaryan, states that the opposition is not a
room, where they can accept or turn out whoever they want, or lock the
door with a key. People are considered pro-governmental or opposition
judging by their political activities. People assess this or that
political force. “We may cooperate with Orinats Yerkir on certain
issues.” Another member of Ardarutiun Tatul Manaseryan informs that
the parliamentary opposition will not participate in the election of
the new speaker of the National Assembly. “The opposition can see no
point in nominating a speaker, because everything had been decided in
couloirs. In other words, there is no need to act as a fool. We need to
prepare for the processes more seriously.” The opposition is not likely
to idle, especially that “a formally pro-governmental force is coming
to join the opposition which is going to be rather diverse.” Tatul
Manaseryan thinks that the processes underway inside the coalition
show, on the one hand, that their defiant bearing is no more effective.
“Unhealthy processes cannot last long. There is going to be a crash
somewhere. This is the beginning of the end.” On the other, hand,
they show that this defiance still has some way to go. “I cannot tell,
however, where they will reach,” said Tatul Manaseryan.
Republican Rafik Petrosyan thinks that the reason for Arthur
Baghdasaryan’s resignation was his interview with the German
newspaper. The speaker of the National Assembly told the reporter of
this newspaper that Russia cannot be an obstacle on the way of Armenia
to NATO and Europe. “Under Article 55 of the Constitution of Armenia
the country’s foreign policy is led by the president.” It should be
noted that Arthur Baghdasaryan had expressed an opinion which he
had expressed several times long before this interview, including
in Russia. Rafik Petrosyan insists that the speaker of the National
Assembly should not have stated that Russia cannot obstruct. “They
do not speak with great powers in such a language. This should
have been done more mildly, diplomatically.” In other words, Rafik
Petrosyan agrees with Arthur Baghdasaryan, simply he disapproves the
way of expressing one’s own opinion. There is nothing else to do but
wait for the resignation of Rafik Petrosyan. By the way, he thinks
there were other points on which Arthur Baghdasaryan and Robert
Kocharyan disagreed. In the meantime, the Republicans were against
the resignation of Arthur Baghdasaryan. Not because they take care
of the Orinats Yerkir. Simply the “burden of the Republicans thus
becomes heavier.”

MAIN GOAL OF WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY OF ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The main goal of the World Armenian
Congress is economic development and prosperity of Armenia. World
Armenian Congress President Ara Abrahamian declared this at the
sitting of WAC Board held on May 16 in Yerevan. At the sitting they
gave account on the work done by WAC over three years since the
day of the organization’s constituent congress. “Issues of economic
development, which means creation of new jobs, increasing the incomes
of the population, growth of its prosperity, have always been in
the center of attention of WAC,” A.Abrahamian mentioned. According
to him, creation of new jobs will give an opportunity to return to
the homeland to Armenians who have left for foreign countries to
earn money. In his opinion, unless this is done within the coming 10
years, later the issue of return of the Armenians will become more
complicated due to change of the ethnic consciousness of the growing
generation. Another important task of WAC is creation of an effective
mechanism of investments, consolidation of economic and political
resources of the Armenians spread all over the world. A.Abrahamian
regretted to say that only a limited circle of Diasporan Armenians
takes part in assistance to economic development of Armenia. “Remember
the words of Catholicos Vagzen I that for Armenia it is more important
that one million Armenians invest 1 dollar each than 1 person invest
one million dollars,” WAC President said.
A.Abrahamian informed about the active work of WAC aimed at development
of bilateral economic relations with a number of countries and first
of all with Russia. At the same time, according to him, development
of democratic processes is imperfect yet and there are no necessary
conditions for entrepreneurial activity in Armenia. It was mentioned
that the Armenian authorities provide insufficient assistance to
the activity of WAC. A.Abrahamian expressed hope for more active
assistance of the Armenian authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress