OSCE mission finds no evidence of arson attacks – Armenian agency
Arminfo, Yerevan
6 Jul 06
Stepanakert , 6 July: The office of the personal representative of the
OSCE chairman-in-office held a monitoring of the border zone between
the Nagornyy Karabakh republic and Azerbaijan near the settlement of
Kuropatkino on 5 July.
Members of the OSCE monitoring group did not discover evidence to
support the Azerbaijani side’s allegations of deliberate arsons
of villages on the territory controlled by the Nagornyy Karabakh
republic. At the same time, Karabakh defence ministry representatives,
who accompanied the monitoring group, drew the monitoring group’s
attention to the areas of burnt fields at a distance of about 3 km
behind the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces.
[Passage omitted: known background details of the mission]

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 8 2007
Goran Lenmarker’s election PACE chairman is to Azerbaijan’s good – MP
Eldar Ibrahimov
Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
08.07.2006
Goran Lenmarker’s election PACE chairman is to Azerbaijan’s good, Trend
reports quoting MP Eldar Ibrahimov, deputy head of Azeri delegation
to PACE and chairman of permanent commission for agrarian policy with
Milli Medjlis.
Swedish MP Lenmarker was elected chairman during the 3-7 July session
of PACE. “As new chairman, Lenmarker is quite aware of Nagorno-Karabakh
problem. Having visited the region several times, is knows well about
the situation. We hope he will positively influence approval of some
decision on Nagorno-Karabakh problem upon its discussion in PACE”,
he outlined.
Ibrahimov said also the new co-rapporteur on Nagorno-Karabakh would
be appointed by Lenmarker.

Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
July 8 2007
World Focus Attention On Iran
08.07.2006
Political Innovations & Technologies Center informed about important
events occurred last month
Recently the Political Innovations & Technologies Center set out the
regular analytical materials in connection with regional public and
political events which were held last month. At the press-conference
the Director of the mentioned Center, Mubariz Ahmedoghlu informed
that the more important question interested worldwide last month was
situation in Iran. “6” dealt with nuclear technologies in Iran,
proposed Iran to stop activity concerning uranium enrichment. Russia,
holding certain place in “6”, stated about its intention to launch
for applying specific sanctions against Iran, if Iran denied to
fulfill taken commitments. Reportedly M. Ahmedoghlu, to date some
tensity in the U.S.-Russian relationship, manifesting itself in
reduction of finances allocated by the U.S. Congress to Russia, is
being observed. At the same time, M. Ahmedoghlu noted the fact that
dynamics development of the relations between Turkey and Russia was
the most important event.
Regarding the South Caucasus, Russia was discontent with development
in post-Soviet countries. Thus, the official Moscow did not cancel
its indignation concerning desire of Ukraine and Georgia to accede to
NATO. Moreover, M. Ahmedoghlu informed that the United States
continues to rehabilitate its influence in Central Asia and charges
Russia and China of exerting pressure upon the Central and South
Asia. Intending to realize US$8 billion project in this region, the
U.S. intends to reach its target.
One more important event concerning the United States which was held
last month was a refusal of the main candidate for the post of the
Ambassador of the United States of America to Armenia, Richard
Houghland to express “Armenian genocide” and his statement that “the
opening of frontiers between Turkey and Armenia is not a subject of
discussion.” Furthermore, M. Ahmedoghlu touched upon the point of
aggravation of Armenia-Georgian relationship as a result of
“appropriation” of Georgian songs. According to him, there is a
certain tensity in Armenia-Russian relationship: “The facts of
killing of Armenians in Russian territory and the attempts of
privatization of Armenians’ properties by the Russian incited Armenia
against the Russian. At the same time, Armenia is concerned with that
the U.S. regards Azerbaijan as more democratic. Armenian opposition
assessed this opinion as slap in the face of Kocharian.”
Last month was also important for Azerbaijan, as a number of
international arrangements and forums were held here. Regarding
Georgia, the official Tbilisi accusing Russia of conducting agitation
activities, reinforced frontier control with Armenia. The situation
tensity caused new charges by Armenia that accuse the Saakashvili
Government of aggravation of conditions of their compatriots living
in Georgia. Moreover, they are seriously concerned with development
of Azerbaijan-Georgian and Georgia-Turkish relations.
–Boundary_(ID_s1EOyqDomX+KlRpgtKuzog) —

The natural dancer
By LIANNE ELLIOTT
Waterloo Record, Canada
July 8 2007
Ulana Zadarko hides her face in her hands and starts to laugh. The
13-year-old ballerina is remembering the first time she tried dancing
with a partner. He was way older than her. She’s not sure exactly by
how much, but he was definitely a grown up.
And he lifted her high in the air, so high that even though she’s
not afraid of heights, she was worried he would drop her.
She didn’t know what to do. The whole thing was so strange.
“Oh my gosh, that was one of the weirdest moments of my whole life,”
she says, shaking her head.
She’s sitting cross-legged on a chair in a beautiful old ballet studio
in downtown Hamilton.
Her private lesson is about to start, but the Kitchener girl has
a few minutes to talk about her love for ballet and all the weird
moments she has survived.
Her teachers say she has real promise. They say she dances with
feeling and she has the potential to be a great ballerina some day.
She’s going to Ukraine this summer to train with Tatiana Borovik,
who dances with the Kyiv ballet.
She’s studied at the National Ballet School’s summer camp in Toronto
and she’s been offered parts with the renowned Kirov Ballet of Russia.
She’s a poised, graceful young ballerina. But on occasion, she lets
her teenage side show through.
And, like any young teenager would, she found it a little awkward to
dance one-on-one with a man for the first time.
She was partnered with Ricky Resijan, an experienced dancer who has
performed across North America.
For weeks, they practised a pas-de-deux waltz at Zadarko’s dance
school, the Hamilton City Ballet. Zadarko had to learn a complicated
set of steps and master five lifts before she and Resijan performed
at the ballet school’s June recital at Hamilton’s downtown arts centre.
“I was so scared,” Zadarko says. “But in the end it turned out really
well. I was so relieved.”
It’s not surprising it turned out well. Zadarko dedicates so much of
her time to dance.
Her parents drive her to the Hamilton City Ballet four afternoons a
week. She takes lessons with studio owner Max Ratevosian, who was a
principle dancer with the Moscow state ballet and Armenia’s national
ballet.
The Armenian-born dancer came to Canada in 1990, where he taught at
the National Ballet School and Montreal’s Grands Ballets Canadiens,
before opening his Hamilton school six years ago.
He trains Zadarko in the Russian style, sometimes working with her
one-on-one, sometimes in a class setting.
“It’s not very often you meet someone like Ulana,” he says. “Her talent
is something very special. It comes from nature, from inside her.”
“If you get one student like Ulana, you are lucky. It’s a gift.”
Zadarko’s ability to dance with passion began long ago.
“The music seems to come through her,” Zadarko’s mother, Maria, says.
“At home, if music was on, she would start dancing. Even now, she
rarely walks. She’s always dancing.”
Zadarko started taking lessons when she was four. She and her older
sister studied at the Academy of Dance in Waterloo, where Ratevosian
sometimes taught.
When he started his school in Hamilton, the girls followed him there.
So many milestones stand out for Zadarko since she arrived at the
Hamilton City Ballet.
She remembers how nervous she was when Ratevosian asked her to join
the most advanced class in the school, filled with women in their
late teens and early twenties.
She remembers how weird it felt to put on point shoes for the first
time.
“Oh my gosh, what a disaster,” she says. “It felt so weird. It’s
harder than it looks.”
But she quickly adapted to her point shoes and fit in with the older
class. Soon she was asked to join the National Ballet School’s summer
camp, which she did last summer.
Then came the offer from the Kirov Ballet in the fall. After
auditioning 70 young dancers, they picked Zadarko for a child’s part
in their production of Sleeping Beauty at the Detroit Opera House.
Unfortunately a mix-up at the American border meant she couldn’t
take the part. She found out too late she would need to apply for a
performer’s visa.
“It was quite unfortunate,” she says.
But she is excited to go to Ukraine for a month this summer, the
country where her grandparents were born. She and her mother have
rented an apartment in Kyiv and Zadarko will take private lessons
two hours a day, six days a week.
Zadarko hopes this kind of training will allow her to one day dance
professionally with a company in Europe or North America.
If that doesn’t happen, she figures she’ll become a lawyer. Zadarko,
who skipped a grade and has always been a strong student, is taking
a law course when she starts Grade 10 at Cameron Heights this fall.
But dance is her first dream. Her friends at school always ask her why
she loves it so much, and she has a hard time explaining her passion.
“It’s the freedom of it,” she says, pausing as she tries to think of
a way to explain the sensation. “I can never give an exact answer as
to why. It’s so hard to explain. I just fell in love and now I have
to keep on going.”

Karabakh’s recognition basis for conflict settlement – NKR minister
Mediamax news agency
7 Jul 06
Yerevan, 7 July: The defence minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
[NKR], Lt-Gen Seyran Oganyan, said in Stepanakert today that “as long
as the NKR has not been recognized, we do not intend to return the
territories that serve as a security belt for us”.
Speaking at a news conference in Stepanakert today, Seyran Oganyan
said that Karabakh is in favour of only a peaceful settlement of the
conflict, “but Azerbaijan thrust a war upon us and we had to resolve
the problem in a military way,” Mediamax reports.
The minister said that “the territories under the control of Nagornyy
Karabakh are not an end in itself, but serve as a security zone for
the quiet life of the republic”.
The general stressed that the issue of territories and the deployment
of an international peacekeeping contingent can be considered only
at the last stage of the settlement after the resolution of the main
problem – the determination of the legal status of Nagornyy Karabakh.
“If the main issue of the settlement process is not solved, there
can be no talk about returning the territories,” the NKR defence
minister said.
Speaking about a possible resumption of hostilities in the light
of Azerbaijan’s militarist statements, Seyran Oganyan expressed the
opinion that “Azerbaijan does not wish to start a war”.
In the minister’s opinion, Baku’s militarist rhetoric pursues only
domestic political goals. At the same time, the Nagornyy Karabakh
defence army has a plan of effective countermeasures to defend the
republic, Seyran Oganyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Globe and Mail, Canada
July 8 2007
Avant-garde Armenia
JANET FORMAN
>>From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
Yerevan, Armenia – Finding the gas gauge in the trunk of my Lada
should have been a clue. The commendable bottle of Armenian cabernet
sauvignon for $1.70, versus Internet fees three times that price,
should have been another hint.
But it took repeated encounters with companies such as Lemon
Rent-a-Car, Viagra Bar and Mafia Pizza, (we won’t even discuss Barf
laundry detergent) to realize that in Armenia, my “cultural disparity
alert” ought to be set on “High.” Even its location can be in
question: Some atlases include it in Europe, others in Asia, while
its borders with Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran seem to place
it in the Near East. Armenia can be a confusing place.
Which is why after reading that the Avan Marak Tsapatagh boutique
hotel was located “65 kilometres from the Sevan peninsula’s hustle
and bustle,” I wasn’t entirely surprised to be driving an hour past
Armenia’s small resort region – stopping every 20 minutes to check
the gas gauge in the trunk – along a road so remote that a service
station, a postcard stand, even a peddler hawking cheesy gewgaws
would have been welcome.
Two hours from Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, the monumental
fieldstone walls of Avan Marak Tsapatagh finally appear against the
lonely lakefront.
This and two more stylish boutique hotels are the idiosyncratic
vision of rug manufacturer James Tufenkian, a 53-year-old prosperous
Los Angeles-born diaspora Armenian, a descendent of those who fled
the genocide here a century ago. Now, six million Armenians live
outside the country as opposed to three million inside, their
devotion toughened by 70 years of isolationist Soviet rule that made
visiting difficult, and a chaotic political transition in the early
1990s that left Armenia bereft of even bare essentials such as food
and power.
Tufenkian, who built his successful international enterprise on a
combination of business acumen and design savvy, is determined to
help rekindle Armenia’s economy, partly through high-end tourism, and
partly by reviving the artisan skills that withered with
industrialization; artistry still visible in richly adorned vintage
rugs, elaborate metal work and feathery carvings in the pastel-hued
volcanic Tufa stone.
Settling into my duplex suite, I discover a subtle harmony between
the remote environment and these inventive design elements that
appear wrested from the earth: closets enclosed by a weathered iron
cage, rough stone tabletops, a stairway bordered by stout iron spokes
that recalls a medieval dungeon.
Meals under the cathedral ceilings of the hotel’s restaurant, Zanazan
– which means “various,” to reflect the local multi-dish serving
style – draw on tradition with country foods such as matsun, mountain
yogurt that can be runny as tart buttermilk or unctuous as crème
fraîche; palate-teasing rose-petal jam, which is like eating flowers
off the vine; and a treacherous-looking sword piercing the whole
crisp-skinned Ishkhan lake trout.
Still, for all its avant-garde style, at the time of my visit, Avan
Marak Tsapatagh had no working phones, fax or e-mail and I feel a bit
unmoored heading north to Tufenkian’s hotel, Avan Dzoraget, in the
pine forested Lori, a region that promises moody medieval ruins,
untrammeled hiking trails, but little hope of encountering an
Internet cafe.
Lori’s deep mountain valleys create a kaleidoscope of microclimates
that wash swiftly from alpine to forest to desert, which according to
Jeff Tufenkian, head of the family’s Armenian Forests NGO, has
spawned one of the most species-dense regions on Earth, with 100
types of flora and 365 varieties of birds.
In the valley below, the Avan Dzoraget hotel rises like an improbable
postmodern fortress on the banks of the rushing Debed River, filled
with fanciful design notions such as lamps made of brushed steel
wrapped in gauzy wool shades, distressed metal twisted into
headboards, desks, even “Do Not Disturb” signs and yellow
faux-leather chairs beside weathered nickel pots and a 200-litre clay
butter urn in the lobby.
The kitchen puts a sophisticated spin on rustic dishes such as yogurt
omelettes with honey, and crisp lavash pancakes with apricot jam,
while just outside the hotel’s front door, villagers fill water pails
from a spigot, freshly shorn wool dries on lattices and chickens
scurry across the square.
So after a stirring but challenging week immersed in peculiar
cultural pairings, I’m happy to be on the smooth multilane road south
to Yerevan.
My fragile taxi needs three running shots to scale the hill at
Tufenkian’s most urban property, Avan Villa, a pink Tufa stone
mansion fronted by wrought iron gates. Although the location is a bit
inconvenient to Yerevan’s flaming club scene, where young Armenians
kick open cultural doors to the West at raucous rock venues like
Stop, the 20-minute taxi ride seems fair trade for my room’s
expansive mountain views. This genteel townhouse on the edge of a
hardscrabble city evokes Armenia’s heyday as a prosperous Silk Road
trading state with thick carpets, walls lined with rare 19th-century
flat-weave kilims, and elaborate handiwork such as knitted bedspreads
and museum-quality carved walnut furniture casually offered for
everyday use.
This is a rare moment to visit Armenia – for those who don’t mind
quixotic communications and flights landing in the dead of night
while the airport is upgraded – before ghostly relics of 12th-century
churches become sanitized tourist sites, while stylish hotels still
boast of “hot and cold water 24 hours a day,” and before Armenia
joins the West in becoming rational, sensible, predictable, or the
least bit tamed.
Special to The Globe and Mail.
GETTING THERE
British Airways has the most humane schedule to North America;
Lufthansa may have the best business-class sleeper seats.
WHERE TO STAY
Avan Marak Tsapatagh: 34 rooms including 18 duplex suites on the
shores of Lake Sevan. Single rooms from $66. Airport pickup $115.
Credit cards not accepted at this hotel.
Avan Dzoraget: 34 rooms in the mountainous Lori province, near UNESCO
Heritage Sites Haghpat and Sanahin. Singles from $62. Airport pickup
$139.
Avan Villa, Yerevan: 14-room mansion overlooking the capital. Singles
from $95 including airport pickup.
Reservations for all Tufenkian Heritage Hotels and tours: 374 (1 )
547-888, 542 707; [email protected].
TOURS
Tufenkian’s iconic 12-day “Armenia Reborn” tour is $1,058 per
person/double, plus 20 per cent VAT, which includes accommodation in
Tufenkian hotels, ground transportation, airport pick ups, breakfasts
and museum entry fees. Book through: [email protected], 374(1) 547
888, 542 707.
DON’T MISS
Kima’s Place /Restaurant Getik: 374 (2) 680-3076. On a road outside
the Alpine town of Dilijan, accessible to Tufenkian’s Avan Dzoraget
hotel. No reservations; just turn up any day between 9:30 a.m. and 10
p.m. for Klima’s
Rock club Stop 37, Moskovian Street, Yerevan; Phone: 374 (1)
056-0780. Entry $2.53. A basement cave where Armenian hipsters and
young expats gather
Vernissage Flea Market: Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
MORE INFORMATION
Armenia visitor information:
m/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060708.warmeniatra0708/BNS tory/specialTravel/home
–Boundary_(ID_f/WbxXXyxj jza+sV2VZ2ag)–

AZG Armenian Daily #127, 08/07/2006
Economy
“ARMENIA EXPO 2006” TO LAUNCH IN YEREVAN IN EARLY
SEPTEMBER
“Armenia EXPO 2006” fourth universal regional
trade-industrial expo-forum will be held in Yerevan on
September 8-11. Souren Nazinian, director of LOGOS
EXPO CENTER, told that the forum will include several
exhibitions, particularly, “Industrial Armenia EXPO
2006,” “Trans EXPO 2006,” “Construction EXPO 2006,”
“Computer EXPO 2006,” “Polygraphs. Publishing.
Advertisement EXPO 2006” and others.
Nazinian informed that the export forum will also
include “Furniture EXPO 2006.” The Armenian-Russian
business meeting “Prospects for Economic Development
and Cooperation” will be held within the framework of
“Days of Moscow in Armenia.” At the same time on
September 9-10 Days of Chinese Business will be held,
while on September 10-11 Days of French Business will
launch. He said that the number of the exhibition
participants grew by 15-18%.
Businessmen from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia,
Georgia, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Poland, Germany, Italy,
and France will take active part in the exhibitions of
the center. He emphasized that RA Trade and Economic
Development Ministry, RA Union of Entrepreneurs are
the official sponsors of ARMENIA EXPO 2006.”

AZG Armenian Daily #127, 08/07/2006
Home Politics
DAVID HAROUTIUNIAN TO GET INVOLVED IN POLITICAL
ACTIVITIES SOON
“I believe there should be no non-party ministers in
Armenia,” David Haroutiunian, RA Justice Minister,
said this at today’s press conference. He added that
the is going to get involved in the political
activities, as the new Constitution allows to combine
the functions of executive and legislative powers. He
said that both a deputy and the Justice Minister are
engaged in active political developments in Armenia
and this is required by the Constitution.
In this connection he emphasized that he is likely to
participate in the coming parliamentary elections in
2007. He added he may join a party, without specifying
exactly which one. At the same time he said he is not
going to run for the presidential elections in 2008.
As for the accusations that Judiciary system is
flooded with corruption, he didn’t agree with that and
added that the anti-corruption struggle should begin
by implementation of the reforms in the
court-judiciary system.
By Nana Petrosian

Tahir Tagizade: “Nagorno Karabakh can not take part in negotiations at present”
Today, Azerbaijan
July 8 2007
08 July 2006 [10:45] – Today.Az
“Nagorno Karabakh can not take part in negotiations at present as
a side, the international community knows identity of talks and
conflicting sides,” MFA Press and Information Policy Office Chief
Tahir Taghizade said.
According to APA he was responding the comment of so-called Nagorno
Karabakh parliament leader Ashot Gulyan related to the last statement
of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Azerbaijan MFA official stated that official Baku will work with
both communities in Nagorno Karabakh region after completion of first
stage of the regulation, restoration of ethnic composition of Nagorno
Karabakh like in previous time, and provision of security of people
in the region
This is also important on the base of Azerbaijani Constitution to solve
the status of Nagorno Karabakh region and for further development of
the region.
Tagizade said that only that time there will be necessity to talks:
“Taking use of the opinion said by Sabina Freizer ‘If co-chairs
are not willing to mediate the talks, sides should solve the problem
themselves’ involving Nagorno Karabakh to talks comes through interior
need, and does not bear constructive character.”
URL:

AMD 6.8 MILLION PROVIDED TO 250 DISABLED PERSONS BY ARMENIAN
REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE OF PHILIP MORRIS MANAGEMENT SERVICES B.V. AS
ASSISTANCE
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 6 2006
YEREVAN, July 6. /ARKA/. Armenian representative office of Philip
Morris Management Services B.V., jointly with Armenian Association,
provided AMD 6.8 million to 250 disabled persons as assistance.
The representative office says the program embraces all Yerevan
communities and 7 provincial cities – Gyumri, Vanadzor, Spitak,
Stepanavan, Echmiadzin, Masis and Ashtarak.
AMD 15 thousand is lavished to each of the disabled persons targeted
by the program.
Armenian Association of the Disabled gave hearing-aids to 15 disabled
people registered in “Kamk & Korov” organization.
The aim of this benevolent program is to improve lives of the disabled
and to help them integrate in the community.
Philip Morris Management Services B.V. representative office in
Armenia started helping the republic’s disabled in 2002. Since then
the company has provided assistance to 1900 disabled. M.V.-0—
($1 – AMD 418.03). M.V.–0–