NDU WILL HAVE OBSERVERS IN ALL THE AREAS
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| 17:00:43 | 10-10-2005 | Politics |
The National Democratic Union Information Service informs that on
October 8 the party Council had a session in which representatives
of all the regional structures of the party participated.
The NDU leader Vazgen Manoukyan represented to those present the
political situation in the country, as well as the discussions about
the draft Constitution held up to now.
As a result of the discussions the party has decided to boycott the
Constitutional referendum.
The Council has also discussed several issues about the boycott.
Particularly, they have decided to have observers in all the 1865
electoral areas of the Republic.

SOLHEIM ELEMENTARY STUDENTS DIVE INTO ARMENIAN CULTURE
By SARAKINCAID
Bismarck Tribune, ND
Oct 10 2005
Barf. It’s enough to make a fifth- or sixth-grader bubble with
laughter.
Especially when it’s the name of laundry detergent from Armenia
claiming to be snowy white and make clothes sparkling clean.
Solheim Elementary School reading specialist Pam Rettig introduced
eight students to Armenia through products, labels and photos. Soon,
the students will meet Armenian students from Gyumri, Armenia,
through the Internet.
It’s part of the Armenian Connectivity Program, sponsored by Project
Harmony and the U.S. Department of State. It is meant to enhance
cultural awareness by using computer technology. Students post their
photos and type information about themselves and answer questions on
a topic to get conversation flowing.
“It’s fun to get to know people from other countries and what they
think about stuff,” sixth-grader Rachel Eckroth said.
Eckroth and seven other students met in Rettig’s classroom after
school for the first time last Monday. They meet after school twice
a month. They ate Armenian-style chicken wings and had a quick social
studies lesson with photos from Rettig’s summer trip to Armenia.
The students’ goal is to be more aware of other cultures.
“The world is getting smaller and they really need ownership,” Rettig
said. “They are part of the global community.”
In addition to learning about Armenia through the Internet forum,
Rettig is sharing textiles and other items from her travels around
the world. For example, the students drew names for two hand-woven
Guatemalan blankets and Rettig will bring in items from her Fulbright
teacher exchange in Japan.
The students want to learn about everyday life in Armenia.
Sixth-grader Nick Goulet wants to learn about their culture and daily
life, and fifth-grader Faith Ward wants to know what they eat.
They also learn about Armenia through Rettig’s photos. A one-room
house without electricity or running water. Inside a building to
make lavash, a flat, baked bread. People playing backgammon. Candles
burning in church.
An earthquake hit the area about 15 years ago, but some areas look
as if it were yesterday, Rettig said. Not many people want to build
multi-story buildings and connect electricity or water. Many people
also are poor and cannot afford such things, she said. An expensive
rug costs U.S. $100, she said.
Armenian women spend their days rolling out balls of dough, which
are stored in a recessed area of the floor, then cooked in a hot oven.
Many people do not have refrigeration, Rettig said. People will store
leftover food from earlier meals in the day in a cupboard for later,
she said. At her going away meal with her host family, a piece of
freshly broken bread fell on the dirt floor, then was picked up and
placed back in the basket to eat.
“They have different ideas about sanitation because there is no
refrigeration,”Rettig said.
Men play backgammon in their free time. Traditionally, women do not
play it, Rettig said. She was taught while she was there, and the
woman she stayed with knew how to play, which was unusual, she said.
In church it is candles and prayers instead of hourlong sermons
stereotypical of church in the United States. Rettig explained people
buy candles, go inside the church, say a prayer and then leave. The
reason for the quick service is historical. Certain people were
gathered up in churches and burned during the genocide in Armenia,
Rettig said.
The social studies lessons will expand with each meeting, as Rettig
adds more pictures each meeting to the bulletin board outside her
classroom.
The students applied to participate in Project Harmony. Participation
was limited by the program sponsors. They answered questions, as
well as their parents, and were chosen from 40 students. It’s the
second year Rettig participated in Project Harmony. A second group
of students will participate in the spring.
The Web site the students use to share information with Armenian
students is slower to pop up on the screen than most people with fast
Internet connections would expect. Regardless of the speed of the
Internet connection, it connects at the same, slower speed because the
technology in Armenia cannot download pages as quickly as technology
in America, Rettig said.
The Project Harmony forum has students type a paragraph about
themselves, describe themselves in three words and answer several
questions about stereotypes.
Rettig’s class opened the Armenian Connectivity Program to new
schools in Armenia. Previously, the program was open to middle and
high school students only. The program allowed it because Rettig did
a similar Internet forum with a school in Africa, she said. One other
U.S. elementary school, in Illinois, participates in the Armenian
Connectivity Program.

ARMENIAN AND AUSTRALIAN FMS DISCUSSED BILATERAL RELATIONS
Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 12:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian departed
yesterday for Australia on a formal visit, RA MFA press office
reported.
Today the Armenian FM met with the Australian Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Trade Alexander Downer to discuss the prospects of the
Armenian-Australian relations and exchange views on the international
situation and regional developments. Vartan Oskanian familiarized
the interlocutor with the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process and
Armenia’s relations with the neighbor states. The parties noted the
importance of strengthening bilateral relations and activation of
trade and economic ties.
The Foreign Ministers also voiced satisfaction with the
Armenia-Australia cooperation within international structures. Upon
completion of the meeting Minister Oskanian invited his Australian
counterpart to Armenia.
Within the visit framework the Armenian FM met with Minister for
Vocational and Technical Education Gary Hardgrave, Minister Assisting
the Prime Minister, Minister for Human Services Joe Hockey MP,
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade, Senator Sandy
Macdonald and Chairman of the Armenian-Australian parliamentary
friendship Maris Pein. Besides, Vartan Oskanian met with leaders of
the Armenian community of Australia and attended the liturgy in the
Armenian Church of St. Harutyun in Sidney, where he delivered a speech,
and also met with the chairman of the Armenian-Australian Chamber of
Commerce and the Armenian media.

ARMENIAN HEALTH AUTHORITIES BRACING UP FOR POTENTIAL BIRD FLU OUTBREAK
Armenpress
Oct 10 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS: Armenian health authorities have
developed a national program of measures to withstand a potential
outbreak of bird flu and will send it to government approval. Cases
of bird flu reported last week by Romania and Turkey have increased
fears that it may reach Armenia.
Lilit Asatrian, head of a health ministry department, said experts
fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into one which spreads easily among
humans, creating a pandemic that might kill millions. Last week Turk
television quoted Turkish farm minister Mehdi Eker as saying bird
flu had been discovered in Turkey for the first time. The television
station said turkeys had died of the disease on a farm in Balikesir
province near the Aegean Sea in western Turkey.
According to Lilit Asatrian, examinations were conducted in all large
poultry farms in Armenia to identify their readiness in case of an
outbreak of the disease. She said agricultural ministry has promised
to report about any case of birds deaths.
Asatrian said there is a lot has be done to be prepared for the
disease’s possible spread into Armenia-to set up laboratories and
prepare personnel.
She said Armenian health authorities expect WHO’s assistance to
implement the anti-bird flu program.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA PRESIDENT NOTED ROLE OF GREECE IN ARMENIA-NATO AND ARMENIA-EU RELATIONS
Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 13:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian met today with
newly appointed Geek Ambassador to RA Panayota Mavromichali, who handed
him her credenials, RA leader’s press service reported. Congratulating
the diplomat on the appointment the RA President noted the role of
Greece in the development of bilateral relations and in cooperation
with the NATO and EU.
As for the Armenia-EU relations the parties emphasized the importance
of elaborating the action plan within the New Neighborhood Policy. They
also marked upcoming Robert Kocharian’s visit to Greece as a stimulus
for the Armenian-Greek development.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MONUMENT TO COSSACKS – HEROES OF RUSSIAN-PERSIAN WAR ERECTED IN YEREVAN
Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 13:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A monument to the Cossacks killed during the
Russian-Persian wars in 1826-1827 was unveiled and consecrated near the
Russian Orthodox Church in Yerevan. Words “To the Cossacks of Russia
from grateful Armenian people” are inscribed on the gravestone. The
construction of the memorial was financed by the Armenian community of
Rostov with the assistance of the Yerevan City Administration. Russian
Ambassador to Armenia and RA Ambassador to Russia, governor of Rostov
Oblast Vladimir Chub, Mayors of Rostov-on-Don Mikhail Chernishev and
of Yerevan Yervand Zakharian as well as the RA Minister of territorial
integrity, head of the national security service and chief of the
Armenian police were present at the ceremony.
When delivering a speech Yervand Zakharian noted that the monument
was inaugurated in the place where a Cossack regiment, whose soldiers
gave lost their lives defending Armenia, was quartered. “This fact
once again proves that the friendship between Armenia and Russia is
eternal and we laid one more stone in the fundament of our friendship”,
he said, Interfax reported.

CARGO TRANSPORTATION IN ARMENIA INCREASED 8.5%
Pan Armenian
10.10.2005 15:27 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The average volume of cargo transportation (without
pipelines) within the CIS member-countries (excluding Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan, whose statistical services did not present information)
made 104% against the last year data. According to the CIS statistical
committee, the volume of cargo transportation in Armenia increased
8.5%, in Belarus – 8.3%, in Georgia – 7.8%, in Kazakhstan -2.9%,
Tajikistan – 2.9% and in Russia – 6.3%. Decrease of cargo
transportation volume was observed in Ukraine, Kyrghyzstan and Moldova.

JOURNALISTE TURC CONDAMNE POUR DES PROPOS SUR LES ARMENIENS
SwissInfo, Suisse
7 Octobre 2005
ISTANBUL – La justice turque a condamne vendredi a six mois de prison
avec sursis un journaliste turc de souche armenienne pour insulte a
l’identite turque. Il entend faire recours jusqu’a la Cour europeenne
des droits de l’Homme.
Hrant Dink, redacteur en chef de l’hebdomadaire bilingue “Agos”, qui
paraît en turc et en armenien, a precise qu’un tribunal d’Istanbul
l’avait declare coupable d’avoir insulte et affaibli l’identite turque
dans un article sur les Armeniens. Le papier date de fevrier 2004.
M. Dink appelait dans ce texte les Armeniens a “se tourner maintenant
vers le sang neuf de l’Armenie independante, seule capable de les
liberer du poids de la Diaspora”.
Dans cet article consacre a la memoire collective des massacres
d’Armeniens commis entre 1915 et 1917 en Anatolie, il invitait
egalement les Armeniens a rejeter symboliquement “la part alteree de
leur sang turc”.
M. Dink se defend de ces accusations. Il affirme au contraire avoir
voulu inviter les Armeniens de la diaspora a oublier leur colère
envers les Turcs.
La question du genocide des Armeniens sous l’Empire ottoman en 1915
reste très sensible en Turquie. L’ecrivain turc le plus connu, Orhan
Pamuk, risque ainsi une peine pouvant aller jusqu’a trois ans de
prison pour des critiques a l’egard de l’attitude d’Ankara. Celles-ci
ont ete publiees dans la presse suisse,
Lors d’un entretien publie le 6 fevrier dans “Das Magazin”, le
supplement hebdomadaire du quotidien zurichois “Tages-Anzeiger”,
l’intellectuel avait notamment declare que 30 000 Kurdes et un million
d’Armeniens avaient ete tues en Turquie. Selon lui, personne d’autre
n’ose en parler.
–Boundary_(ID_P/o+uYzGNBeimLldMlNCGw)–

FOREIGN COUNTRIES ASPIRE TO MILITARY PRESENCE IN ARMENIA – BRITISH OFFICIAL
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
posted Oct 10 2005
Baku, October 7, AssA-Irada
The withdrawal of Russian military bases from Armenia should be
achieved after the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict is
settled. This is due to the fact that other countries intend to
station their military units in this country, Great Britain’s special
representative to the South Caucasus Brian Fall has said.
The British representative told the Rose Roth seminar organized in
Yerevan by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly jointly with the Armenian
parliament, that ‘after this it will be impossible to freeze the
Garabagh conflict’.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN NOT CONSIDER EU STATEMENT AS SERIOUS
Azerbaijan News Service
Oct 7 2005
A high-ranking European Union official has warned Azerbaijan may
“fall behind” in the EU New Neighborhood Policy due to its forging
ties with the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC), Armenia media reported. The European Commissioner for
Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the international
community recognizes a united Cyprus. This country is currently
blocking the progress achieved by Baku within the mentioned program
due to the opening of direct flights with TRNC, she said. I have
informed Azeris that if they do not change their decision, we will
continue collaborating only with Georgia and Armenia within the
New Neighborhood Policy. Nonetheless, we hope Azerbaijan will find
a solution for the problem, said Ferrero-Waldner.In his turn Azeri
official do not consider the statement as serious. Tahir Taghizadeh,
head of the information of the Ministry of foreign affairs of
Azerbaijan said official Baku did not receive any letter on the
issue. In his interview with ANS TV, Mr. Taghizadeh said during his
visit to New-York within the 60th session of UN, Elmar Mammadyarov,
foreign minister of Azerbaijan met with his Cypriote (Greek Part)
Colleague and no excitement was heard from that part. In any case we
are not going to change our position. Because position of Azerbaijan
coincides with one of the United Nations, European Union and other
countries who call to eliminate problems and bring the Northern Cyprus
from isolations. Relations with Northern Cyprus are only commercial
and no need to politicize the case.