Egoyan to direct opera
by Julie Mollins, Reuters
Ottawa Citizen, Canada
August 26, 2006 Saturday
Final Edition
TORONTO – Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, renowned for award-winning
movies that explore the dark sides of human behaviour, is taking a
turn at helming a grand opera with similar brooding features.
Egoyan, 46, the Egyptian-born son of Armenian parents who migrated
to Canada, has examined incest, the horrors of war and the mysteries
of fate in such deeply psychological films as Exotica, The Sweet
Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey and Ararat. He will revisit some of
those themes for an upcoming Canadian Opera Company production of
Richard Wagner’s 19th-century opera Die Walkure.
The Wagner classic, the second of the four-part epic cycle Der Ring des
Nibelungen, is a complex tale in which incestuous love, the will of the
gods and fate combine to advance the overall themes of the Ring cycle.
During an interview at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts in Toronto, where a production of the entire Ring cycle will
open for a three-week run on Sept. 12, Egoyan described similarities
in his approach to making movies and opera.
“In my films I am very interested in subtext and what makes people
act the way they do,” he said. “I try and bring that detail to the
way I direct the opera but also the way I stage it — the way I create
visual ideas which can reinforce the psychology of the piece.”
This is not Egoyan’s first foray into directing opera. He began with
a 1996 Canadian Opera Company production of Salome. He directed an
earlier production of Die Walkure — the source of Wagner’s famous
Ride of the Valkyries — for the company in 2004.

Armenian analyst: War in Karabakh is possible in 2026
Regnum, Russia
Aug. 26, 2006
“Armenia rejected profitable economic projects in Southern Caucasus
for the sake of Nagorno Karabakh,” independent analyst Levon
Melik-Shakhnazaryan stated during press conference in Yerevan. He is
quoted by a REGNUM correspondent as stating that “a very interesting
time” is now in negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh settlement. “The
settlement process has got into a new stage, when the co-chairs stated
that they have exhausted their imagination. Now, the settlement process
has been laid on shoulders of three parties – Armenia, Karabakh, and
Azerbaijan. At that, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is responsible
for non-recommencement of war. He has to explain to his people, why
the war does not recommence, why Azerbaijan does not try to return
Karabakh,” he stressed.
According to the analyst, the war may not recommence in the near
future. “Azeri economy is to such extent integrated into economies
of Europe and the East that Azerbaijan has completely lost its
own policy. It may not decide anything independently. War is not
favorable for any big state, which has own aims in the region,”
he stressed. In that context, responding to question on possible
recommencement of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, the analyst
stressed that ‘Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is property of the
British Petroleum Company till 2026.” “No war with Azerbaijan is
to be expected in the period. It means; we should chose our allies,
cooperating with which we will be ready for the war. If we are well
prepared, the war does not begin,” Mr. Melik-Shakhsaryan stressed,
adding that “time would work for those, who would use it in right way.”
The analyst is sure it is the right time for Armenia to look for allies
in region. While doing so, the country should take into consideration
allies’ civilization because only coincidence of civilization values
may guarantee strategic union, he believes.
Because the Armenians are eastern people, they have not integration,
but ties, relations with Europe, the analyst stated, adding that Iran
may become Armenian’s ally despite difference of religions. However,
he does not exclude effectiveness of cooperation with Russia, Syria,
Belarus, and Iraq.
As for a possible meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers
in September, the analyst does not have any expectations. “They will
speak, welcome each other, may be, and drink tea together. Then, they
will come out and say; everything is before; there are foundations
for future meetings,” he believes.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 26, 2006
Meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers in Slovenia is
under question
Source: Trend
Author: À.Ismaylova
26.08.2006
Still there is no exact information regarding possibility of the
meeting of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia within the
framework of the international conference “Caspian-2008” in Slovenia,
press-secretary of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Matin Mirza told
Trend on August 26.
It should be mentioned that on August 27-28, an international
conference “Caspian-2008” will be held in the Slovenian capital
Ljubljana. The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will also attend
the conference. Besides, the conference is expected to bring together
the Prime Minister of Slovenia Yanez Yansh, active chairman of OSCE
Karl de Guht, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Georgi Baramidze,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, Foreign Minister of
Slovakia and former special envoy of EU on the countries of Central
Asia Yan Kubisha, first Deputy Foreign Minister of Russian Federation
Andrey Denisov, personal representatives of active OSCE Andzey
Kasprzyk and other many officials.
Mirza remembered that the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group offered the
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and Armenia Elmar Mammadyarov and
Vardan Oskanyan to meet in the near future. However, the exact date
and place of the meeting still remains undefined. Azerbaijani
minister has already expressed his readiness to meet with Oskanyan.
Armenian foreign minister also announced that the next meeting of the
two ministers on the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
will take place in the near future.
During his interview with Trend, the ambassador of Azerbaijan to
Austria Fuad Ismaylov didn’t exclude that if during the Conference
the sides voice their desire, a meeting may be held between
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and active chairman of OSCE Karl
de Guht where it is possible to hold discussions on the fires in
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.
–Boundary_(ID_H7Hyqc7/NZ7sBMvnvff1k Q)–

Fights brew at the hard rock’s cafe
by GRANTLEE KIEZA
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
August 26, 2006 Saturday
State Edition
HIS trainer made history winning world titles at three different
weights but flyweight firebrand Vic Darchinyan says he can surpass
even the achievements of his mentor Jeff Fenech.
He reckons he can equal Oscar De La Hoya and win six.
Darchinyan, who may be the most feared man in world boxing, defends
his IBF flyweight title in Las Vegas on October 7 but admits the fight
against California-based Filipino Glenn Donaire is an anti-climax after
proposed battles to unify the flyweight championship all fell through.
His US promoter Gary Shaw flew to Argentina this month hoping to
sign WBO champ Omar Narvaez to face Darchinyan in a battle for the
two titles.
But just like everyone else in the world at 51kg, Narvaez had second
thoughts about waging war with the fearsome little bull ant who has
won his five world title fights by knockout and boasts a record of
26 wins in 26 starts, 21 inside the distance.
“Narvaez said yes and then pulled out of the fight,” Darchinyan
said yesterday at Vic’s Cafe, his new eatery at the Italian Forum
in Leichhardt.
“Lorenzo Parra, the WBA champ, and Pongsaklek Wongjongkam, the WBC
champ, have both been offered more money than they’ve ever made to
fight me but they won’t take me on.
“It is very frustrating because I wanted to be like Kostya Tszyu and
win all the belts in my weight division.
“If I cannot win any more titles at flyweight I will keep moving up
in weight. I believe I can win as many as six world titles if I put
my mind to it.
“Many times I have sparred with Gairy St Clair, the new IBF
junior-lightweight champion. He knows how strong I am.
“There is no reason I cannot win six world titles all the way from
51kg to 59kg.”
Darchinyan says he would love to face mighty Mexicans, IBF bantamweight
champ Rafael Marquez and super-bantamweight king Israel Vazquez even
though they’ve got a few kilos on him.
“I’ve sparred Vazquez with big gloves in Los Angeles and we are both
big punchers,” he said.
“I would love to fight him with small gloves to see who is the
toughest.”
Darchinyan, who can bench press double his body weight and thinks
nothing of doing 1000 push-ups a day, says time is running out for him.
“It seems like yesterday I was fighting for Armenia at the Sydney
Olympics but that is six years ago. I am 30 now and boxers only have
a short career.
“I’m hungry for as many world title belts as I can get and I don’t
want to waste time. Let all the world champs from flyweight to
junior-lightweight know that I am coming after them.”
Darchinyan leaves for Las Vegas next week where he will meet up with
trainer Fenech and Sydney featherweight Billy Dib, who will be his
main sparring partner for the Donaire fight, his fifth defence of
the IBF crown.

The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
August 26, 2006 Saturday
State Edition
History On This Day; Pg. 77
THIS DAY
1768: Captain James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour weigh anchor
at Plymouth, England, bound for Tahiti to observe the transit of
Venus and with secret orders to look for a great south land.
1883: The volcano on Krakatoa island, in what is now Indonesia,
erupts, creating a tidal wave that washes over neighbouring islands.
More than 36,000 people die.
1896: Armenian revolutionaries attack the Ottoman Bank in Istanbul,
sparking a massacre in which 6000 Armenians die in the city.
1900: At the Paris Olympics a Dutch rowing team uses a French boy
from the crowd as cox, then wins. The boy, about 7, disappears after
the medal ceremony, possibly the youngest Olympic champion.
1920: American women are allowed to vote, as the 19th Amendment of the
US Constitution is certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.
1978: Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice is elected Pope and takes
the name of John Paul I. He serves only 33 days before dying of a
heart attack.
1999: Federal Parliament passes a motion by Prime Minister John Howard
expressing “deep and sincere regret” for past injustices to Aborigines.

Azerbaijan has purchased from Ukraine and Belarus mortars produced
during the Great Patriotic War
Regnum, Russia
Aug. 26, 2006
“The Azerbaijani army has got into very sad situation,” independent
analyst Levon Melik-Shakhnazaryan stated on August 25 during his
press conference in Yerevan.
According to him, Azerbaijan’s statements on its budget’s increase
should not frighten Armenia. “Azerbaijan purchased armaments for
$900mln, which is nothing else but scrap metal. They bought tanks for
$1,200,000, mortars, produced in 1941, cars, which are written of by
Russian army, etc.” the analyst maintains, adding that “according to
some date, 5,000 servicemen die annually in Azerbaijan.” According
to Mr. Melik-Shakhnasaryan, “none of Caucasian Turks is now at power
in Azerbaijan.” “Mainly Kurds, Lezgins govern Azerbaijan now, trying
to maintain the stable situation,” he stressed.
“Azerbaijan has lost hope to settle Karabakh conflict in military
way,” the analyst resumed. However, according to him, Armenia should
use time in its own interests. “Armenia should strengthen its army,
in order to be ready to settle conflict in military way, during the
period of lull,” he stressed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
&quot ;RESPECT FOR LIFE AND NOT VIOLENCE
SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY”
Said His Holiness Aram I
During an intervention on Tuesday, His Holiness Aram I stated that
the tragic consequences of the recent conflict in Lebanon – the
long funeral chains, the clearing of the rubble of their homes by
returning citizens and the oil spill in the Mediterranean – illustrate
graphically the ruthless violence human beings can impose on one
another. The world community watched helplessly as these violent
acts were committed, and the General Secretary of the United Nations
admitted his disappointment that the UN was unable to act firmly and
in time to stop the violence.
Continuing his comments, His Holiness said, “Such violence
must stop! Human lives should be spared and the environment
protected”. According to him, conflict resolution and conflict
prevention are the only means through which violence can be
transformed. He urged the international community to apply
international law and international conventions to this case and to
demand accountability. As former Moderator of the World Council of
Churches, he invited religious leaders and members of civil society
to assume their responsibilities and to engage in dialogue, set up
strategies to overcome violence, promote respect for human life and
the environment, and, most importantly, act together.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
history and mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Hamazkayin Cultural Forum
10 Rue Hussein Beyhoum
Beirut, Lebanon
Tel: +961 (1) 37-24-55
Email: [email protected]
Web:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006 Hamazkayin Student Cultural Forum completes in Armenia.
On July 30, 2006 the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society
successfully completed its 12th annual Forum with the departure of the
participants back to their countries.
The Hamazkayin Cultural Forum is an annual event that started in 1995 with
the aim to unite young Armenians from around the world to learn more about
Armenian art, history, culture, society, and modern life in the homeland. It
is a unique opportunity for people to visit Armenia for the first time?or as
a returning visitor?and meet with fellow Armenians from around the globe who
are interested in learning more about their people?s past as well as where
they are headed.
The 2006 Forum had over 50 participates from Canada, Cyprus France, Lebanon,
Syria, UK and the United States. Although the arrival of the participates
from Lebanon was hampered by the bombing of the Beirut airport, 3 of the 6
registered students managed to find their way to Yerevan and took part in
the event. During the event, former Forum participants who happened to be in
Armenia also took part in the various events hence creating a sense of
continuity between current and former Forum participants.
The Forum kick-started with an opening dinner at a traditional Armenian
restaurant, where the participants ate and danced to Armenian folk music,
creating their first connection with Armenia. Before that during the day the
Forum participants had an opportunity to take a tour of Yerevan to get to
know its major landmarks and get orientated in the city.
During the next two weeks the program included a balanced mix of lectures
and excursions both within and outside of Yerevan. The Forum participants
had an opportunity to visit institutions of higher education such as Yerevan
State University and the American University of Armenia where they were
greeted by top ranking administrators to explain to them about their
respective universities. The excursion portion of the agenda included trips
to Garni, Geghard, Sevan, Ejmiadsin, as well as visits to Genocide museum
and memorial in Dzidzernakaberd and to Sartarapat. Other than sightseeing,
the Forum also aimed at introducing the participants to various aspects of
Armenian life by taking them to visits to an Armenian summer camp for
orphans/needy children in Dzaghkatsor, a visit to a school in the village of
Aramous and a visit to an army barracks.
The museums, galleries and concerts livened up the cultural life of the
Forum by allowing participants to enjoy museums by day and concerts and
other cultural activities by night. During the evenings most participants
spent their time dancing or with evening walks around Yerevan with
occasional relaxation in many of the city?s cafes.
The Forum?s educational component included a variety of lectures on issues
such as pilgrimage to Western Armenia, an introduction to the origins of
Armenian letters?both presented by Dr. Herand Markarian; a lecture on the
Armenian Genocide and the latest ?awakening? of Turkish intellectuals
delivered by Prof. Richard Hovanissian; a round-table discussion on the
issue of Armenian upbringing and identity and many more issues. One of the
highlights of the Forum was the screening of the movie ?The Genocide in Me?
with the presence of the director Araz Artinian who talked about her movie
and participated in a lively discussion with the participants about the
meaning of genocide and its impact on one?s life.
The closing ceremony of the 2006 Forum included a talent show presentation
where the participants?who had been training for 2 weeks in Armenian dance
and theater?presented a very diverse entertaining program to sum up their
experience in Armenia during the Forum.
At the conclusion of the scheduled program of the Forum, many participants
went on a tour to Artsakh while others remained in Yerevan to spend the rest
of their summer vacation.
To learn more about the Forum and how to apply for next year, visit
You can also send an email to
[email protected] with specific questions.
Hamazkayin is a worldwide organization with chapters in many countries that
aims to preserve and promote Armenian art, history, and literature. Its goal
is to educate people about the humanities relating to the Armenian people
and perpetuate Armenian culture.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Once a gamer, always a gamer
Inside SOCAL
Long Beach Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California)
8/16/2006
By Doug Krikorian, Columnist
Haig Kelegian is seated coolly behind the huge desk in his
well-appointed second story office above the sprawling casino at the
Bicycle Club, a picture of practiced calm and self-assurance befitting
a man who owns a majority piece of the famous card emporium in Bell
Gardens and is its CEO and president.
He is 73 even though his unlined face doesn’t betray it, and he got
into the card wagering business in 1982 when he bought a share in a
new establishment called the Commerce Casino.
He had become rich in insurance, but left it all behind when he found
out there was more money to be made in the gambling industry.
He would retain his small interest in the Commerce and would go on
to open Ocean’s Eleven Casino in Oceanside and then with a couple of
partners would take over the Bicycle Club from the U.S. government in
April of 1999 and would triple its business and double its profits
within a year and would even recently with son Mark purchase the
Crystal Casino in Compton.
And during most of this span, as he sold his lucrative insurance
business and retired, as he came out of retirement and quickly began
ascending the gaming ladder, as he became a powerful figure in the
state’s card casino landscape, Haig Kelegian somehow also found time to
attend dozens of boxing matches locally, nationally and internationally
as one of Jose Sulaiman’s top lieutenants in the World Boxing Council.
As a member of the WBC’s executive council, as well as its
international secretary and treasurer, Kelegian was involved in a lot
of high profile matches and even served as the fight supervisor in
promotions involving the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler,
Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Salvador Sanchez and Oscar De La Hoya.
Between 1982 and 2002, there wasn’t a big fight in Las Vegas that
was sanctioned by the WBC – and most of the big ones were – that Haig
Kelegian missed, as he was always a visible presence at the weigh-ins
and at press conferences and at the various pre-fight instructional
meetings.
“In those days, I was always going to fights,” says Kelegian, who
became involved in the sport after the then California governor,
Jerry Brown, appointed him to the State Athletic Commission in 1979
and who will be honored for his role in it by being inducted Saturday
into the California Boxing Hall of Fame at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in
Studio City. “I’d go to the Forum on Monday evenings and to the Irvine
Marriott on Thursday evenings and Las Vegas on the weekends. It seemed
like in those days there were fights going on all the time.”
Haig Kelegian pauses, as his cell phone rings.
“It never stops,” he says with resignation as he picks it up and
apologizes for the interruption.
He listens patiently for a moment, and says, “I’ll call you back
later on the matter.”
“Who was that?” I ask with curiosity.
“Oh, it was just a credit issue,” he replies matter of factly.
The walls of Kelegian’s office are dominated by large photos of Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and Marilyn Monroe and others who were
in their primes when the pictures were taken a long time ago.
“Time passes,” I say. “A lot of the people in those photos are gone.”
Haig Kelegian nods.
“Yeah, they are,” he says. “Sinatra was a huge boxing fan. Used to
attend all the fights in Las Vegas.”
Son of an Armenian immigrant who came to America in 1919 from eastern
Turkey and settled in Milwaukee, Haig Kelegian attended the University
of Wisconsin at Milwaukee for a couple of years where he played
baseball, did a two-year Army hitch, majored in English literature
at Wayne State University, married a George Washington University
graduate named Argine (Jean) Bagramian in 1958, and got started in
insurance during college when he went to work for Prudential.
He would move his family to Southern California in February of 1962 –
he had a young daughter and son at the time and later would have two
more sons – and soon would open his own insurance firm that would
evolve into such a profitable enterprise that he decided to sell it
in 1991 and lapse into leisurely retirement at the modest age of 58.
“I was making very good money from my investment in the Commerce by
this time, and so I decided to take it easy,” says Kelegian.
At the time, he was living in Montebello where he long had been one
of the leaders in the local Armenian community, heavily involved in
its church and school activities.
But in 1997, Haig Kelegian found dabbling in real estate, hitting
golf balls and playing cards – he’s a poker devotee to this day –
didn’t sate his ambitious inclinations and that’s when he and his
partners opened the 47-table Ocean’s Eleven and then a couple of
years later successfully took over the Bicycle Club.
“I just wish I would have gone into the gambling business earlier
in my life because it’s so exciting, as well as quite profitable,”
he says. “I’ve been pretty fortunate.
I have been privileged to attend a lot of great fights all around
the world. And now I’m involved in a business that is equally
entertaining. But what I’m most blessed in his having a great family.”
Haig Kelegian’s face glows when he speaks of his nine grandchildren,
his daughter, Michelle Shrikian, an attorney, and sons Mark,
also an attorney and president of Celebrity Casino Inc., Haig
Jr. vice-president of Celebrity Casino Inc., and Andrew, president
of Pacific Coast Propane.
“You couldn’t ask for better kids, and all are married,” he says
proudly.
Naturally, Kelegian has a litany of notable memories from his lengthy
involvement with boxing, the defining one coming on the evening of
May 18, 1995 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
“Jose Sulaiman had me present Muhammad Ali with certificates honoring
his achievements that were given to him from both the U.S. Congress
and Senate,” says Kelegian. “It was the first time he was officially
honored by those bodies.”
Haig Kelegian and his wife now live in Newport Beach in the same
upscale vicinity where Kobe Bryant resides, and they also have a home
in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe.
He no longer is officially involved in boxing, but has remained
friends with Jose Sulaiman president-for-life of the WBC.
“I’ve made a good living from insurance and gambling,” he says. “But
I’ve met so many unforgettable and famous people from boxing. Boxing
is like the gambling business in one respect. Once it gets into your
blood, it’s there for good. . .”
Doug Krikorian can be reached at [email protected]
telegram.com/sports/ci_4193453?source=email
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Calling Nature’s Caretakers…
By Ben Jolliffe
CEPF In Focus Features
August 2006
Vardges Gharakhanyan is a man who gets things done.
As curator of the Arpi Sanctuary in Armenia, he enlisted the help of
the local bishop to bring an end to the illegal tree felling, cattle
grazing, and smuggling of endemic plants that were devastating this
area of semi-desert and mountain steppe.
“We have been able to protect species such as the lesser kestrel, the
Armenian mouflon, and a number of remarkable bats,” Gharakhanyan said.
Born and bred here, Gharakhanyan finds inspiration in the area’s many
caves, plunging canyons, and open juniper woodlands. But sometimes,
like the many other conservationists working in remote areas across
the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot, even he needs the help of others
to continue.
Support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) has now
enabled BirdLife International, an international nongovernmental
organization (NGO), to provide that assistance by expanding its
1,500-person “caretaker network” from Western Europe to include four
countries in the Caucasus Hotspot.
Working through NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey,
BirdLife has recruited 31 local conservation heroes as caretakers
at targeted sites – known as Important Bird Areas or IBAs – critical
for the conservation of globally threatened or unique bird species.
Establishing the network forms an important part of CEPF’s strategic
direction of strengthening mechanisms to conserve the biodiversity
of the Caucasus Hotspot with emphasis on species, site, and corridor
outcomes.
Targeting Outcomes for Species, Sites, and Corridors
Some of the caretakers, like Gharakhanyan, are professionals with many
years of experience in local government, NGOs, or other civil society
organizations. Others, like Mustafa Sari, a shepherd in the uplands
of Turkey’s eastern Rize province, are new to organized conservation.
Yet all of them bring intimate knowledge of the area, and, just as
important, good relations with the people who live there. Sari’s
familiarity with the region’s local species has made him invaluable
as a guide to birders from all over Europe who are coming to the area
in growing numbers, helping to boost the local economy.
Caretakers’ responsibilities include monitoring bird populations,
identifying actual or potential threats, liaising with local
authorities and communities, promoting environmental awareness through
flagship species, and, as they gain experience, developing site action
plans and carrying out site conservation actions.
> > From October 2005 until April 2006, national coordinators at
BirdLife’s partner NGOs received comprehensive training in all these
tasks that they are now passing on to the caretakers themselves.
To encourage sustainability, the project also includes a small grants
component that will support specific conservation actions at the
sites. Once caretakers have established what their particular needs
are, the coordinators will help them apply for grants.
“It’s a very useful training exercise,” said BirdLife’s European
funding development manager, Umberto Gallo-Orsi, who is managing the
overall project. “Caretakers will be in a better position to apply
for funds themselves in the future.”
As a scientific researcher for almost 25 years at Azerbaijan’s
Gyzylagach State Reserve, Alim Talibov has already been carrying out
many of the tasks required of a caretaker in his daily activities.
But he has now developed a wider informal network of colleagues,
rangers, and schoolchildren to monitor the 80,000-hectare reserve,
a seriously threatened area of lagoons and semi-desert on the coast
of the Caspian Sea.
“Local people will now come to me if they see anything unusual,”
Talibov said.
Scaling up the Network
In other areas, such as Georgia’s mountainous Samtskhe-Javakheti
region, the network is helping to catalyze relationships between new
and existing organizations to extend its impact even further.
The Georgian Center for the Conservation of Wildlife (GCCW), a BirdLife
affiliate, selected Giorgi Janashvili as caretaker here partly because
of his many years of experience as a senior outreach officer in the
region with sustainable development NGO Cooperative Housing Foundation,
also known as CHF International.
In 2002, Janashvili set up a new conservation NGO called Orbi, named
after the Georgian word for the Eurasian vulture (Gyps fulvus). By
working through contacts and colleagues with GCCW, CHF International,
and Orbi, he is able to extend his caretaker network over as many as
10 IBAs.
“We have an extraordinary diversity of habitats here, from mountainous
volcanic regions more than 3,000 meters above sea level, to mixed
forest, subalpine meadow, wetlands, and semi-arid [areas],” Janashvili
said. “But not many people live here so we need to enlist everyone
we can.”
Janashvili’s exposure to the caretaker network is also helping him
to continue building Orbi’s local capacity and strengthen its impact.
National Cooperation
BirdLife is also helping the selected NGOs in each country to build
up their existing capacity.
In Georgia, Zurab Javakhishvili used to focus primarily on field
work. But after receiving training from BirdLife under this project,
he was appointed the IBA coordinator at GCCW. He is now managing the
caretakers at the local level as well as fundraising and liaising
with his regional counterparts.
Furthermore, BirdLife’s international expertise has enabled the
organization to leverage more than $500,000 for the network from
international sources, essential when there is so little funding
available at the national level and so many different IBAs to oversee.
“Our caretaker network is almost as diverse as the habitats we cover
– policemen, teachers, hunters, restaurant owners, shepherds. It’s
remarkable,” Gallo-Orsi said.
“But seeing how they work together and learn from each other as
they help to conserve so many globally threatened species is more
remarkable still, particularly in areas where historically there has
been so much mistrust and conflict.”
For more information, contact:
Luba Balyan, IBA Coordinator, Armenian Society for the Protection
of Birds
Onder Cŷrŷk, IBA Coordinator, Doða Derneði Turkey
Umberto Gallo-Orsi, European Funding Development Manager, BirdLife
International
Shahin Isayev, IBA Coordinator, Azerbaijan Ornithological Society
Zurab Javakhishvili, IBA Coordinator, Georgian Center for the
Conservation of Wildlife
s/2006/august_feature.xml
–Boundary_(ID_ddXgyoqv xSaVGDDLTNbEoQ)–