ESB EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ALEX AND ARTHUR ABRAHAM
EastsideBoxing.com
May 11 2006
11.05.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Picture it if you can: A German
boxing ring, in a crowded auditorium. A tall opponent named Kingsley
Ikeke and the soon to be champ Arthur Abraham still to make his ring
walk. The music begins to play and Abraham, dressed in the traditional
garb of what can best be described as a large smurf (basically just the
white hat) makes his way to the ring. On his face is one of the most
serious, focused scowls I, and many other fans have ever seen. All
the while Pierre Kartner, aka Father Abraham, a guy eerily similar
to jolly old St Nicholas Klause, belts away his European chart topper
“The Smurf Song,” accompanied by three hot chicks, dressed like female
smurfs and painted blue. The best way to define the whole affair is
psychedelically surreal. There was no metal, or rap, no artificial
extra emotion, rather only authentic elation coming from the Armenian
native, who was overjoyed at getting a chance to fight for a major
world title, and wanted to share that moment with all the fans who
came out to support him, by representing the characters, described
in one of Germany’s biggest pop hits..
Though the heavyweight scene is where most observers begin to notice
the dominance of former Soviet fighters, that dominance is not
exclusive to that weight alone. Arthur, as well as his undefeated
younger brother, Alex, along with Roman Karmazin, Sergei Dzindziruk
and a slew of others represent the next class of fighter in the
intermediate weights.
This Saturday Arthur will once again don the Smurf hat, and with
the same joyous determination that won him the belt he will defend,
represent his tiny yet proud homeland of Armenia. His opponent will be
tough power punching Kofi Jantuah a name familiar to American fans,
and a fighter who will take advantage of the bout if Abraham is not
on top of his game.
Last week I spoke with both Arthur, and Alex, on this upcoming fight
as well as other related boxing issues and none boxing issues. Here
is the gist of that conversation.
Arthur Abraham
ESB: Good Evening Arthur! First of all thanks for your time.
Arthur: Sure no problem.
ESB: Tell us how has your life changed after you captured one of the
major titles?
Arthur: Well nothing much has changed, I remained the same person I
was before I won the belt. Earnings changed a bit obviously. The press
bothers me a bit more now, people ask for autographs, newspapers call
more often. This has changed but I am still the same person I was. Oh
and there is more training now (laughs).
ESB: Can you tell us how the preparation for the fight is coming along?
Arthur: Its brutally tough. Every day only sparring, my arms are
almost falling off. Sometimes they hurt so much I don’t have the
strength to punch. I have such a huge work load.
ESB: Can you say who you’re sparring with? How many rounds of sparring
have you done?
Arthur: I have a bunch of different sparring partners not just the
same few. Boxed against somebody from America today but I don’t
know his name. Knocked him out though. Good fighter something like
24 wins in 27 fights. I just can’t remember all their names. Every
day or two I spar with new guys.
As far as rounds well I did eight today, tomorrow I will do eight. So
far something like 6,8 a day.
ESB: Your next opponent, Jantuah, is also from Africa like Ikeke
but unlike Kingsley he has a puncher’s reputation. What do you think
about him as an opponent and fighter?
Arthur: Of course he is a strong opponent, but no matter how strong
they are, I don’t get in the ring, to lose or just win. It doesn’t
matter if he is a puncher or a technical fighter because he will be
standing in my way and whoever does that I have to get around them
and win. His style of fighting is not relevant.
ESB: If you win your next opponent will most likely be Colombian
Edison Miranda? Will this fight take place in Germany as well?
Arthur: Its too early to say if the fight will be in Germany. First
we will try to win this fight and then we will consider how and where
the fight will be set up. To me it doesn’t matter really where the
fight takes place since I am always ready and always have to win.
ESB: It is obvious to most that the capital of boxing, at least for
your weight, is America. Are there any concrete plans or negotiations
with some of our America promoters to set up a fight or fights here?
Arthur: Sure! My manager has already been in contact and negotiating
with HBO. They have been interested for awhile, but also I don’t want
all the exposure and everything right away. I want to build up slowly,
step by step. If you can understand I just don’t want all the fame
right away.
ESB: Well that leads into my next question then, regarding if you would
be ready to face Wright, Taylor or Hopkins right away or would you…~E
Arthur: (interrupting) I am always ready to fight with Taylor or
Hopkins. If they call me tonight and say, “tommorow your fighting
with one of them,” I will be there ready to fight with one of them.
ESB: Well then speaking of the elites can you tell us who you think
will win the following fights: Taylor-Wright?
Arthur: I think Winky Wright will win. He is much more sound
technically and I think he will pressure Taylor constantly and not
give him a good chance to compose himself and fire back. I think
Wright will win.
ESB: How about Tarver Hopkins?
Arthur: Really? When?
ESB: I don’t have the date off the top of my head but it is signed
definitely.
Arthur: Well then I don’t know, but I think Tarver will win. Hopkins
is old already and really he is looking more so to make big money. He
won’t be able to break Tarver with his name.
ESB: If you won’t be able to breakthrough to America in the near
future, then it seems likely you will fight some Kohl fighters. Can
you comment on a fight with Felix Sturm or perhaps your countryman
Khoren Gevorgyan? What do you think about them as boxers?
Arthur: My manager already tried to set up a fight with Sturm. He
offered them one million Euros for the fight with me and they
refused. Now they are negotiating manager to manager, and they will
try to agree to something.
ESB: How about Gevorgyan? Are you friends with him?
Arthur: Gevorgyan? Well he isn’t a champ or that famous yet, so it
won’t be that interesting to fight him now. I am friends with him
though. I know all the Armenians here, we are always in contact. Talk
on the phone often.
ESB: Who do you think is Pound for Pound right now and why?
Arthur: (without hesitation) Mayweather because he is strong, fast,
and a good puncher. He is very good, and I like his style very much.
One has to try really hard to become a fighter like Mayweather. He
is very professional, and he has and knows how to do it all.
ESB: Whenever I, or other writers ask fighters from the former USSR,
if they would like to compete professionally in their homeland, the
answer is always negative due to financial reasons. If you achieve
the necessary success in Germany or America, would you like to fight
in Erevan, even if the money might not be as good?
Arthur: Of course! That is my goal. Of course I want to fight in
Armenia, that is my homeland, and I will fight there one day. However
like I said, I just became champion, and I don’t want to move and do
everything too fast. Little by little we will move towards and fight
in Erevan. If I fight there we will probably gather up a whole stadium
full of people. Everyone loves us at home, my brother and myself,
and that is why we really want to box there.
ESB: At what age did you start boxing and why?
Arthur: I started at 15. When I watched boxing on TV back then, I
saw these champions of the world, and how they were sitting on the
shoulders of their corner men. I always wanted the same to happen
to me. How they cried, and celebrated with pure joy, when they first
became champions. It was very emotional and touching for me inside,
and I always wanted to be there, celebrating just like them. I promised
myself I would became champion of the world before my 25th birthday
and my dream has come true.
ESB: Who were some of your favorite fighters back then, both national
and international?
Arthur: Mike Tyson, but only the young Tyson, when he was killing
everybody. Not the shadow of him now that fought later and recently,
but when he was young.
I also like Kostya Tsyzu. I really respect him and think he was a
terrific boxer.
ESB: Are you acquainted with Kostya?
Arthur: No I am not. Germany is far away from Australia (laughs). I
think we will meet one day, when the time comes we will meet.
ESB: Ok now the important question: who’s idea was it to pick the
Smurf Song for your entrance music?
Arthur: Well my name is Abraham too. The guy who sings it is a musician
called Papa Abraham, and it’s a very popular song in Germany. Everybody
loves it, its how do you say it, like a national sensation. All the
little kids and adults love this song, so it was very good for my
image. So the song was chosen for me, and that is why I am becoming
more of a household name, and why I am popular here.
ESB: Yea its very interesting and funny to see you with the hat and
the blue female smurf entourage. Have you ever watched the cartoon. I
remember it when I was a kid.
Arthur: Yea of course! It’s a cartoon, I watch everything. Thing is
everybody does and goes to see hip hop, or metal, and nobody will put
on the same type of show. It all becomes similar and boring. I am the
only one who does it this way, and that is why its so interesting
(laughs) and why everybody watches, and is delighted. When I enter
the arena everybody stands up and starts to sing and clap and wave
their hands and cheer for me.
ESB: What do you like to do in your free time outside the ring?
Arthur: Good question, in my free time the first thing I don’t want to
do is train, and I don’t want to hear anything about the sport. I fly
to Erevan, there I spend time with my parents, friends, or my brother
or with a girl. I don’t drink, or smoke. I go to places where I can
spend time and be happy.
ESB: What kind of music do you listen to and like?
Arthur: Different stuff, Armenian, Russian lounge pop, Russian techno,
I really like Irina Allegrova. Oh and I like Hip Hop, American black
music. I like 50 cent, not everything, but most of them.
ESB: Tell us about your family. Kids? Girlfriend?
Arthur: No I am not married and don’t have kids, live with my brother
have a few girls I know.
ESB: Alright now I will ask you some questions about your brother
and then after I talk to him I will ask him the same ones about you.
Arthur: Yea sure go ahead.
ESB: When you were small did you fight a lot? If so who got the better
of who?
Arthur: When we were small we did fight, but not a lot. I don’t
remember who won we were small, it wasn’t serious fighting, the way
brothers usually fight when they are young. However, that was then
now we are living in peace. We are together 24/7, only now we sleep
in different rooms (laughs).
ESB: Do you spar against each other now?
Arthur: We have never sparred against each other in our lives. We
will never spar or fight against each other.
ESB: Who’s side did your parents take when you two argued?
Arthur: I don’t remember but usually back then they watched out for
the younger ones, so that the older one doesn’t do something to them.
ESB: Alex is younger then you?
Arthur: Yea my brother is a year and a half younger.
ESB: can you name one habit of your brother that you can’t stand and
that drives you nuts?
Arthur: (laughs) When we are home: Computer, Internet, Television,
Stereo with music, and the phone is on too. PLUS he eats at the same
time. We come home everything goes on right away. He is my brother
though we can live together.
ESB: The Klitschko brothers claim they will never fight against each
other because they promised their mother. Did you make the same sort
of promise?
Arthur: No we didn’t promise anybody we were just raised that way
that we won’t consider it. How can I seriously fight my brother? How
can I hit him?
ESB: No I understand. How about say hypothetically if such a fight
were to happen can you analyze it and give a prediction?
Arthur: No it will never happen there just isn’t an answer to that.
ESB: Arthur thanks for your time. Now if its possible can I speak
with Alex?
Arthur: Sure! No problem. I will get him.
Alex Abraham
ESB: Hey Alex!
Alex: Hey!
ESB: Can you tell us from an independent perspective how your brother
is looking in training?
Alex: He is training superbly. He is feeling really good right now,
and I think the American will feel the result.
ESB: Will you be in his corner for the fight?
Alex: No I will be sitting at ringside, but I will have a chance to
give advice as necessary.
ESB: When will your next fight be?
Alex: My last bout was a week ago when Klitschko fought. Right now
there is no information about my next fight but I think I will fight
next sometime in August.
ESB: The only half blemish on your record is against Silvan Gomis a
fight that ended in a draw. Can you tell us what happened?
Alex: Well I fought him again after that and won. First time we fought
I was really sick and felt terrible the night of the fight.
Then we lined up a repeat and I won without any major problems. I
took all the rounds easily.
ESB: When did you start boxing and what was your amateur record?
Alex: I started at fifteen like Arthur. I had about 70 fights,
something like 62 wins 8 losses.
ESB: Which fighters did you like back then?
Alex: Arthur and I loved Tyson back then he was awesome. Now I like
Joe Calzaghe he is a very good fighter.
ESB: Can you give us your thoughts on who will win between Karmazin
and Spinks? Also who of the elite fighters in your division would
you like to fight if you could?
Alex: I think Karmazin will probably win. If I could I would fight
the WBO champ Sergei Dzindziruk.
ESB: What do you like to do in your free time?
Alex: (laughs) I like to go to Armenia there is a lot to do there.
ESB: What type of music do you like?
Alex: Everything! A lot of the stuff they show on Russian MTV here.
Armenian music, Russian music.
ESB: Can you name some of the artists you like?
Alex: HMmm I like….Allegrova…~E or Pugachova. Oh and Shufutinsky
he sings a lot of good songs.
ESB: What about movies?
Alex: I like movies with John Reno, and also Scarface. Tony Montana
(laughs).
ESB: Ha! Al Pacino.
ESB: I read your trying to help your parents move to Germany how is
that coming along?
Alex: Yea we are trying to help the and hopefully soon they will join
us here. We have to get them German documents and then everything
will be cool.
ESB: Now I will ask you some questions about Arthur if you don’t mind.
Alex: Yea sure.
ESB: When you were younger and fought each other who won?
Alex: Easy. Arthur was bigger I was smaller you get it.
ESB: Who’s side did your parents take in arguments?
Alex: Well parents defended me cause I was smaller (laughs)
ESB: Do you like the song your brother enters the ring to?
Alex: If there is a large crowd and they are into it and like it then
we like it too, if no then it’s a different matter. Its good because
it promotes him, a lot of people in Europe know his name cause of it.
Our first job is to box, but it is also important besides that to
give the viewers a good show.
ESB: Can you name a habit of your brother’s that you don’t like
that much?
Alex: (chuckles) No I like everything about him. We live together
peacefully. We are always together.
ESB: Alex I want to thank you and Arthur for taking the time to talk
with us. I wish him luck on Saturday and you as well in the future.
Alex: Sure! No problem. Thanks for calling.
As always I want to thank Heiko Mallwitz for helping set this interview
up, and another thanks to both Alex and Arthur for talking to us
from training camp. Good luck to Arthur on Saturday and here is to
hoping HBO decides to pick up his fights so everybody in the boxing
world benefits.
p=6904&more=1

PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND KOREA MEET IN PRESENCE OF DELEGATIONS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
The one-on-one meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and
Roh Moo-hyun of Korea was continued in presence of the two countries’
delegations.
Greeting once again visiting President Rooh Moo-hyun and members of
his delegation, the Azerbaijani leader expressed confidence that the
visit would contribute to development of bilateral relations in various
fields. “At the meetings we are going to have today and tomorrow, we’ll
have the opportunity to discuss issues of bilateral relations. I am
sure that after this visit, our relations with the Republic of Korea
will be more intensively developed in all spheres,” he said.
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun first expressed deep gratitude to
the President and people of Azerbaijan for the hospitality shown to
him and his delegation. “I am the first President of the Republic
of Korea to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan since our counties
established diplomatic relations. Today’s political and economic
development of Azerbaijan creates additional opportunities to enhance
our cooperation. Both countries’ potential is huge, and must be used
in full measure. This is why I am accompanied by four ministers. Mr.
President, taking this chance, I would like to invite you and your
ministers to our country,” he said.
President Ilham Aliyev thanked his Korean counterpart for the
invitation, and said: “You came to Azerbaijan with so representative
delegation. I share your opinion that the huge economic potential of
the two countries will serve development of our bilateral relations.”
He noted that Azerbaijan is already capable to make investments itself,
and stressed the necessity of taking advantage of not only Korean
investment opportunities but also the country’s personnel potential
and experience in economic sphere.
President Roh Moo-hyun pointed to importance of restoration of the
historic Silk Road and other transport corridors, noting that his
country is interested in the global projects being implemented in
the region, as well as in opening of an embassy in Baku.
President Ilham Aliyev noted in his turn that Azerbaijan’s rich natural
resources, the global energy projects implemented in the country and
the attention paid to the non-oil sector and regional development on
the one hand, and high technology and great experience of the Republic
of Korea on the other hand, could balance trade relations between
the two countries. “They (relations) do not meet today’s potential;
there are great opportunities for their expanding,” he said.
The Azerbaijani leader also highly appreciated the Republic of
Korea’s position with regard to settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
President Roh Moo-hyun said Korea will continue the international
and regional cooperation with Azerbaijan and to support its fair
position in the conflict. He also expressed his county’s readiness to
cooperation with Azerbaijan in the fields of air transport, sea ports
construction and applying high technology in chemical and engineering
industries.

PLAYING FOR HER MOTHER
Alyson Sena , Reporter
Palisadian-Post, CA
May 11 2006
For classical concert pianist Ritta Bardakjian, playing piano is a
gift her parents gave her when she was just a child growing up in
Kuwait in the 1970s. The gift originally came in the form of a piano
that her parents shipped from England, where they traveled frequently
on business.
“I sat at the piano whenever I felt lost, lonely or sad,” says
Bardakjian, a Pacific Palisades resident who earned her Doctor of
Musical Arts degree from USC last May. The rich and soothing power
of music has inspired Bardakjian throughout her life, and became
particularly resonant last July, when her mother passed away.
“I wanted to do something in my mom’s memory,” says Bardakjian,
who organized a concert that will take place on May 20 at 7 p.m. at
Pepperdine University’s Raitt Recital Hall. “I just know she would
want me to continue to practice and perform.”
Bardakjian’s program will include Beethoven’s Opus 13 (Path’tique),
Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 (“Funeral March”) and Schumann’s Symphonic
Etudes because her mother, Jackline, “adored Schumann.”
Bardakjian, who is Armenian, grew up listening to Western as well as
Eastern music. She started playing piano when she was about 5 years
old and studied with a teacher from South America who was “very
focused and intense.” As young Ritta developed her playing skills,
the teacher advised her mother to send her outside Kuwait where she
would have the opportunity to seriously pursue her talent.
So, when Bardakjian was 13, she went off to a boarding school in
Uppingham, outside London. Her choirmaster at the school encouraged
her to audition for a conservatory in London and, two years later,
she was training at the London School of Music, where William Lloyd
Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s father) was director.
Bardakjian received her music degree from the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver and made her Canadian debut in 1981, performing
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. In 1983, at age 20, she got the
opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall because the Armenian Ladies’ Guild
was looking for Armenian talent and chose her to perform at an event.
She says she wasn’t nervous because “when you’re young, you’re more
gutsy. Egos don’t play as big a role.” It was a thrilling experience
just knowing she was “touching the keys the greats have touched.”
Bardakjian was accepted to The Julliard School and the Paris
Conservatory on scholarships but declined them both to study with
Hungarian pianist Georgy Sebok at the University of Indiana while
working towards her master’s degree in music.
Sebok “taught me that I had to use the piano as an instrument but
not battle with it,” says Bardakjian, who has also studied with other
renowned artists such as Polish pianist Marek Jablonski and American
pianist Leon Fleischer and Kevin Fitz-Gerald.
Currently, Bardakjian teaches piano to students as young as 5,
though she says that children at that age have to be “exceptional”
in their skills. Bardakjian has a 10-year-old daughter, Angelica,
who studies piano and ballet.
To inquire about lessons with Bardakjian, contact: 573-9622. For
tickets to the Pepperdine concert, contact: 506-4522.

OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS EXPECT RESPONSE OF YEREVAN AND BAKU ON NEW NK PROPOSALS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 11 2006
The OSCE Minsk group (OSCE MG) Co-Chairs wait for the response of
Yerevan and Baku on the mediators’ “new proposals” during RA and AR
FMs’ meeting in Strasbourg May 18 – 19, the OSCE MG Russian Co-Chair
Yuri Merzlyakov stated, REGNUM reports.
Having refused to comment on the essence of the “new proposals”, the
Russian mediator remarked “they contain some new elements, mainly,
concretization and detailing of the proposals put forward before”.
“They have already been delivered to the conflict parties by a French
Co-Chairman Bernard Fassier”, Merzlyakov said. He also informed the
mediators’ visit to the region had been scheduled for mid-May.

HEARINGS ON STABILITY IN S. CAUCASUS TO BE HELD IN PACE MAY 12
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 11 2006
Parliamentary hearings on the subject “A Pact on Stability in the
South Caucasus” will be held in Strasbourg May 12, 2006.
In the course of the hearings the MPs’ attention will be focused
on the ways of achieving stability in the South Caucasus region
applying the model of the South – Eastern Europe, “Novosti – Armenia”
Information Agency reports quoting the Press Service of the Council of
Europe. A Romanian MP Adrian Severin is to make a report. To note,
the hearings have been initiated by the PACE Political Affairs
Committee. Representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the
European Union, the World Bank and the counties of the “Great Eight”
will participate in the hearings.

TURKISH DELEGATION ON FRENCH BILL: OBJECTION ALONE NOT ENOUGH
Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2006
A Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) delegation arrived in Paris
Tuesday to meet with members of the French Parliament over the new
legislative proposal to criminalize denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide.
The Turkish delegation, made up of Parliamentary Foreign Affairs
President Mahmet Dulger and parliamentarians Musa Sivacioglu, Onur
Oymen, Gulsun Bilgehan Token, met President of the French National
Parliament Jean-Louis Debre, leader of the People’s Movement Union
(UMP) Bernard Accoyer, and PS Group Leader Jean Marc Ayroult.
French politicians asserted that they are opposed to the bill,
officials reported.
Turkish parliamentary members then asked their French counterparts
to persuade other groups as well.
Known for his anti-Turkish viewpoints, former Prime Minister and
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs President Eduard Balladur said his
group also opposes the bill.
Moreover, the Turkish delegation also met some French members of the
parliament and Jacques Blanc, the Turkey-France Friendship Group Chair.
Communicating the Turkish people’s harsh criticism of the French
proposal, the delegation highlighted that history was the subject
area of historians.
As part of the latest developments, a declaration made by a group
in Turkey consisting of journalists, authors, and academics, known
for their controversial opinions on the so-called Armenian genocide,
was published in the French Liberation newspaper.

ARMENIA IN CONTEXT OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM: “THERE CANNOT BE SO EVIDENT CONNECTION”
Regnum, Russia
May 11 2006
“A stage-by-stage and, which is most important, well-considered
settlement of the Iranian problem could encourage easing tension in the
world on the whole. And, on the contrary, any deviations can provoke
a completely unexpected deterioration of new conflicts including the
one in Nagorno Karabakh,” chair of comparative politics department
of Moscow State Institute of International relations of Foreign
Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation (MGIMO), Mikhail Ilyin,
PhD, has said to a REGNUM correspondent.
According to him, the Iranian nuclear program is “a complicated issue
that influences world development ion the whole, various countries
and regions, and moreover, Transcaucasus, and Armenia, which is a
close neighbor of Iran.” However, talking about the risk of Armenia
becoming a hostage to Iranian nuclear ambitions, Mikhail Ilyin said
that “there cannot be so evident connection” in this.
Earlier today, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei approved
decision made by the UN Security Council to postpone the issue of
sanctions against Iran.

ARMENIAN JOURNAL: SITE PROVIDES CONSTANT UPDATES OF AIRLINER CRASH
By Timothy Spence, Knight International Press Fellow
International Journalist’s Network
May 11 2006
Region :Eastern Europe-Central Eurasia
Country :Armenia
Within hours of when an Armenian airliner plunged into the Black Sea
on May 3, killing all 113 people on board, the staff of the ArmeniaNow
online newspaper were providing readers with hourly updates on the
country’s first major air accident in decades.
It is the first time in its four-year history that the news
organization provided such intensive coverage of a breaking news event,
said editor John Hughes.
“I always wondered how our staff would react to a disaster like this,
but in my mind it was always going to be an earthquake,” said Hughes,
co-founder of ArmeniaNow and a veteran American newspaper reporter.
“Given what we all have to work with, what I saw was as good as
anything I’ve seen.”
The day’s news gripped the Caucasus nation of 3.2 million people.
Cafes and restaurants kept televisions tuned to local and international
news reports of the accident. Nearly all the 105 passengers and eight
crew members on board Armavia Flight 967 were Armenian.
“Armenia is a small country and I’m sure most people had relatives
or friends or friends of friends on that plane,” said ArmeniaNow
reporter Suren Musaelyan. “It’s a huge tragedy and everybody feels
sympathy to the victims and wants to know what happened.”
Most of the public and independent television stations interrupted
their regular programming throughout the day to provide live coverage
and updates of the crash of the Airbus 320, which went down in stormy
weather after trying to make a landing at Sochi, Russia.
The last major crash of a plane that originated in the Armenian
capital of Yerevan was in 1976.
Musaelyan said he last saw such energy in the news media when he
covered the 1999 assassination of Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen
Sargsyan and five other members of Parliament. He worked at the time
as a reporter for the independent Noyan Tapan news agency.
Hughes mobilized eight reporters, a photographer and three translators,
who provided hourly updates throughout the day and evening.
Veteran Armenian reporter Aris Ghazinyan flew to the crash site off
the Russian coast and phoned in reports from there. Three ArmeniaNow
staff members filed reports from Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport.
At the ArmeniaNow office in central Yerevan, three reporters worked
the phones while the newspaper’s three translators provided real-time
updates in English and Armenian.
Gayane Abrahamyan, who normally covers the arts for ArmeniaNow, said
being assigned to cover the scene at the airport was emotionally trying
but an important experience in how to deal with covering tragedies.
She said families of the victims, overcome with grief, did not want
to answer reporters’ questions. “I tried to approach people from a
different point, by trying to understand and sympathize with their
personal emotions,” Abrahamyan said, and found that people were
willing to talk freely with her.
But that was a challenge for the 22-year-old reporter. “It was
impossible not to cry. It was even difficult to talk. But I tried to
gather all my strength and just to talk to them.”
ArmeniaNow also produced special coverage for the regular weekly
update of the Web site, interviewing family members of those who
perished in the crash and covering announcements from the airline
and Armenian and Russian airline safety officials.
ArmeniaNow is published every Friday in Armenian and English, serving
the nation’s large Diaspora community in the United States, Europe and
Australia, as well as people in the country. The online publication
claims a weekly readership of 12,000 “unique visits.”
Figures for visits on May 3 were not immediately available.
It routinely updates breaking stories during the week and provided
updated results of the 2003 presidential election. But Hughes said
the air crash coverage was something new to his 20-person staff.
“It’s the first time there’s been an event like this that merited
that kind of coverage,” he said. “The reason what we did was pretty
much my instinctual reaction.”
Hughes said he first heard about the crash from a friend who phoned
from the airport around 9 a.m., about five hours after the crash
occurred. Within 90 minutes, ArmeniaNow published its first detailed
news bulletin from reporters.
ArmeniaNow is independently financed and is a partner of the Knight
International Press Fellowships in Washington. Along with Knight,
it is sponsoring an internship program for journalism students at
Yerevan State University. It also participates in a Yerevan State
training program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists.
Timothy Spence is a Knight Fellow working with journalists
in Armenia. This is his second tour with the program; he
was previously in Ethiopia. The John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation sponsors the fellowships, administered by the
International Center for Journalists. For more information, visit

‘FRANCE SHOULD FIRST ADDRESS ALGERIA AND RWANDA’
Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2006
British-Armenian historian Ara Sarafian spoke to Zaman daily about the
controversial bill at the French parliament which would criminalize
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. Despite his defense of the
genocide thesis, Sarafian criticized France, recalling the massacres
that took place in Algeria and Rwanda, and said “The French attitude
is ironic in light of its past.”
The historian voiced fierce objection to the Armenian bill at the
French parliament, citing France, who appears willing to pass the
bill, should first start with Algeria and Rwanda. Sarafian, whose
“Blue Book” caused a small-scale crisis between Turkey and Britain,
has reservations that the bill in France would stop the discussions
in Turkey. Regarding the declaration by nine Turkish intellectuals
that was published in the French daily Le Liberation, Sarafian said
he would sign the document “in principal.”
Sarafian, who heads the Gomidas Institute in London, told Zaman that
approval of the bill will have a negative impact on Turkish-European
Union relations, and the nationalist tendency would gain momentum in
Turkey, essentially cutting off the democratic process. Sarafian went
on to say that this scenario will work to the advantage of the Armenian
as well as Turkish nationalists, only fostering the problem in the end.
With an emphasis on the need for continuation of discussions, Sarafian
pointed to the opportunity of dealing with the Armenian issue in a
peaceful way.
In this regard, Europe received a warning from Sarafian to evaluate
and judge Turkey and Armenia on the basis of progress they have made.
The bill stands to be a game of “power politics,” said Sarafian when
he challenged the administration in Paris to face its own history.
“It is ironic that France should choose this path as the country
accountable for all that has happened in Algeria and Rwanda.”
In his criticism of the Armenian Diaspora as well as Turkey, Sarafian
said the Armenian issue has become a power politics for which both
Turkish and Armenian nationalists are struggling.
Sarafian, stressing his point that the Turkish government has by
far refused to acknowledge the existence of an Armenian “question,”
went on to say that it has been the Turkish government that wrote “the
rules of the game,” and that helped the radical Armenian nationalist
front to gain additional power.
The Armenian nationalists have found themselves in a powerful position
during the Turkish negotiations with the EU, said Sarafian, and added
that the Armenian question is being addressed in two different ways,
which is contradictory.
On the one hand, there are efforts to measure Turkish respect for
EU standards by way of considering the difference in the Turkish
retrospection of the Armenian question, said Sarafian, adding that
on the other hand, this difference in the Turkish vision of the
Armenian question provides racists, xenophobes and anti-Islamists
the opportunity to block Turkey’s progress towards the ideal of the
European Union.
Previously, while conducting research in the Turkish archives,
Sarafian’s research permit had been cancelled. The British-Armenia
historian took part in the Armenian Symposium held at Istanbul
University, despite the harsh reactions of the Armenian Diaspora. He
was granted an “unconditional” research permit in archives recently for
the second time. Sarafian referred to the present Turkish government’s
serious efforts to resolve the Armenian issue as a real tragedy,
and noted that the Justice and Development Party government at least
did not “censure” debates over the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
Sarafian emphasized the Turkish government opened the thesis of the
Turkish History Council to discussions at the arena where there are
other voices and where discussions are slow to move forward, and some
laws are used to suppress the discussions.
Noting that Turkish people have started to openly talk about the issue
regardless, the Armenian-born historian highlighted some publications
do not welcome an official thesis on the “genocide.” The historian
believes occasions to solve the situation peacefully will be available
the near future.
Algerians maintain that under the French administration, hundreds of
thousands of people were killed, as well as those exposed to “identity
genocide,” and that France should apologize. While France refuses
to heed demands calling for an apology, it is also been accused of
training Hutu militia and encouraging genocide by turning away from
the reality.

TURKEY QUITS INTERNATIONAL MILITARY MANEUVERS IN CANADA
By Cihan News Agency, Toronto
Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2006
Turkey, recalling its ambassador to Canada after Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper used the word “genocide” in a statement he
made on April 24, the date Armenians remember the events of 1915,
also withdrew from international military maneuvers in this country.
Turkey Embassy officials announced aircraft and support craft of the
Turkish Air Forces that were earlier confirmed to take part in the
international maneuvers at Canada’s Cold Late Bay in the province of
Alberta on May 17-June 24, withdrew from the maneuvers.
Canada Defense Ministry spokesman Gordon O’Connor confirmed Turkey
withdrew from the military maneuvers on Friday.