DELEGATION OF 50 IRANIAN ARMENIANS TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN TO PARTICIPATE
IN ALL-ARMENIAN BASKETBALL GAMES

TEHRAN, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Under the
patronage of the primate of the Tehran Armenian Diocese and the
Diocesan Council, Iranian Armenian sportsmen also will participate
in all-Armenian basketball games to take place for the first time
in Armenia in August 21-27. According to the “Alik” daily, one group
of girls and two groups of boys from Tehran will participate in the
games. The sportsmen’s delegation consisting of 50 people which comes
to Armenia to participate in the games, got blessing of Archbishop
Sepuh Sargsian, the primate of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran, at the
Surb Sargis church, on August 16. An evening divine service was held
presided by His Holiness and with the participation of Archimadrite
Nshan Topuzian, the primate of the Atrpatakan Armenian Diocese, and
clergymen’s group. At the end of the ceremony, His Holiness wished
the sportsmen happy journey.

CONGRESS OF CLERGYMEN AND CHURCH COUNCILS TAKES PLACE IN TEHRAN

TEHRAN, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A congress of
clergymen and church councils headed by Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian,
the primate of the Tehran Armenian Diocese took place at the primacy
of the Tehran Armenian Diocese on August 16. It was the first one in
its form and contents. Night and morning divine service presided by
His Holiness took place at the Surb Sargis mother church. According
to the “Alik” daily, the congress started with the Lord’s Prayer,
after what His Holiness made an opening speech in which he mentioned
the importance of similar congresses which become occasions for a
churchman’s renewal and filling as, in the sense of his title and
mission, a clergyman needs self-development and long-lasting reading.
He touched upon an Armenian clergyman’s self-development and its
types. His holiness mentioned the mission of married clergymen who,
as kind and self-devoted pastors, are obliged to head their flock,
to hold religious worship and ceremony in complete way, to preach the

WELCOMING DECISION OF HIS PARTNERS OF BLOC TO PARTICIPATE IN NA
SITTING, “HANRAPETUTIUN” PARTY DOES NOT JOIN THAT INITIATION

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN. “Today, the bloc doesn’t see any
reason to say “Yes” to the Constitutional reforms.” Aram Sargsian, the
Chairman of the Political Council of the “Hanrapetutiun” (Republic)
party informed journalists about this after the August 18 sitting of
the “Ardarutiun” (Justice) bloc. He reminded that the “Hanrapetutiun”
party already stated his viewpoint concerning that issue. “We stand
for our viewpoint and our approaches,” Aram Sargsian stated. So,
deputies of the “Hanrapetutiun” party will not participate in the
August 29 sitting of the National Assembly. According to A.Sargsian,
“other deputies involved into the bloc will participate in the NA
sitting where they will present their approaches. According to him,
the “Hanrapetutiun” party welcomes this decision of them.

42 IRANIAN ARMENIAN SCHOOLCHILDREN ARRIVE IN YEREVAN

TEHRAN, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to
the Armenian newapaper “Alik” (Tehran), on the initiative of the
Educational Council of Tehran’s Armenian Diocese and under the
patronage of Head of the Diocese Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian, 42
excellent third-formers from Armenian schools of Tehran arrived in
Yerevan on August 18. Their visit to Homeland will last until August
31. On the occasion of their trip to Armenia, the schoolchildren
attended on August 17 a religious service held in St Sargis Church of
Tehran. During the service, the Holy Father wished a good journey to
the children. He congratulated them both on their successful studies
and their trip to Armenia. He blessed the children, presenting a
prayer book to each of them. The service was brought to a close with
the Lord’s Prayer.

Former POWs to stand trial for “high treason” in Azerbaijan

Ekho, Baku
18 Aug 05

Azerbaijan has charged three former POWs with high treason and they
will stand trial in late August, Azerbaijani Ekho newspaper has said.
In an interview with the newspaper, independent military expert
said the Defence Ministry circulated conflicting reports about the
disappearance of the soldiers, first saying they lost their way and
then announcing that they had crossed over to Armenia to cooperate
with its secret services. The expert argues if it was so easy for
“callow youths” to cross over to the enemy’s territory, it mustn’t
be too difficult for Armenian intelligence to come and commit acts
of sabotage in Azerbaijani territory either. The following is an
excerpt from R. Mammadov’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on
18 August headlined “The soldiers charged with high treason are most
likely innocent” and subheaded “This supposition has been voiced by
military expert Uzeyir Cafarov and rights campaigner Eldar Zeynalov”;
subheadings have been inserted editorially:

As is known, the saga of three Azerbaijani soldiers who were taken
prisoner by the Armenian side lasted from February till May of this
year. Then, the Defence Ministry tried to explain their delaying return
by Armenia’s reluctance to honour its international commitments. The
attempts to have them released with the aid of international
organizations, such the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC),
and the state commission for prisoners of war under the Azerbaijani
National Security Ministry also remained futile.

POWs face high treason charges

The soldiers, however, were released in May. After some time, another
report came like a bolt from the blue. It emerged that the three
soldiers of the Tartar [District] garrison – Sgt Ruslan Bakirov,
Pte Xayal Abdullayev and Pte Hikmat Tagiyev – are charged with
high treason (article 274), defection (334.3), breach of combat
duty regulations (338.1) and abuse of power (341.3). According
to investigation materials, the soldiers crossed over to Armenia
in the Tartar direction in February and entered into contact with
Armenian secret services. In May, they were arrested and the case was
considered by the Tartar military prosecutor’s office. A preliminary
hearing of the case is due at the court for grave military crimes on
25 August. The hearings will be presided over by Qadim Babayev.

Such reports are clearly surprising. Azerbaijani soldiers have
been taken prisoner in the past as well, but never before have they
faced such serious charges. Ekho has asked the Defence Ministry for
an explanation, but the head of its press service, Ramiz Malikov,
urged us to send all queries to law-enforcement agencies.

“Our services inquired about them and started an investigation,
but I don’t have specific information about what happened to them
afterwards. You should ask law-enforcement bodies,” he said.

Independent expert doubts Defence Ministry’s theory

“The facts that have been made public are very surprising and
regrettable,” says independent military expert Uzeyir Cafarov.

“First of all, when the soldiers were taken prisoner, the Defence
Ministry could not confirm that for a long time. Then it started
saying an investigation is under way. Then it finally acknowledged
that the soldiers lost their way and were taken prisoner. The head of
the Defence Ministry’s press service said that even our officers can
lose their way in combat conditions. In other words, they initially
said that three soldiers lost their way, but now they are saying that
they deliberately crossed over to Armenia and purportedly agreed
to cooperate with the Armenian secret service. We all remember the
Armenians promising to release the soldiers soon, then saying that
it would happen by the Novruz Bayrami [holiday, 20-21 March], but
eventually things lasted till May,” Cafarov said.

“The soldiers have now been officially charged with espionage and
breach of combat duty regulations. The question is where our [special]
services obtained this information and how they managed to have such
suppositions verified,” the expert said.

Independent commission should inquire into the issue

If the trial of the soldiers is open, we will be able to find out
the details, Cafarov says.

“But I am afraid the trial will be held behind closed doors under
the pretext that at issue is the disclosure of military secrets. I
don’t really believe the Armenian secret service managed to agree
something with these callow youths who accepted their offer. Let me
recall that as this case caught the public eye, our warrant officer
Ramin Xudaverdiyev, called up for service by the Ganca enlistment
office, was taken prisoner early this month. And the Defence Ministry
wasn’t the first to find out about that. Only after the ICRC informed
the soldier’s parents did the Defence Ministry start to investigate
this fact. Before that, the military command was concealing this
information,” Cafarov said.

“I can’t understand how one can cross a mined area in order to
intentionally fall into the hands of the Armenians. How can it be that
after 10 years of a cease-fire it is so easy to cross over to the
enemy? It means it is quite possible for the Armenian intelligence
to cross over to our territory in the same way and carry out acts
of sabotage here. These are very serious and worrying issues. It is
not enough to conduct an in-house investigation the Defence Ministry
has launched, it is necessary to set up an independent commission to
carry out a thorough investigation because at issue is the security
of our borders,” the military expert said.

The circumstances in which three former POWs were brought to book also
seem quite surprising for well-known rights campaigner Eldar Zeynalov.

“I have to say first of all that when someone is released from
captivity, it is done with the mediation of the ICRC. Employees of the
Red Cross ask each of the POWs confidentially if they want to return
to their country of origin. If they don’t, a different procedure is
engaged – the search for the third country starts. In other words,
if these three really wanted to betray their motherland for which
they defected the army in order not to come back, then why did they
return of their own accord? This seriously impugns the theory of the
investigation that they ran away and turned themselves over to the
Armenians of their own volition.

[Passage omitted: the rights activist recalls other incidents when
Azerbaijani servicemen were taken prisoner]

Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
August 18, 2005 Thursday

Tale of two bashes for groom Vic

by GRANTLEE KIEZA

VIC Darchinyan hopes to be a husband in 20 days but is just as nervous
about still being the world flyweight champion in six.

Darchinyan defends his IBF flyweight title next Wednesday against
Colombian slugger Jair Jimenez and a week later leaves for Armenia
with glamorous fiancee Olga Stovboun for a wedding in Vanadzor,
where his dad runs a petrol station.

Vic and Olga met through a mutual friend on the steps of the Sydney
Opera House after the 2000 Olympics where he represented Armenia.

He fell in love with Sydney and then with her.

Olga, who comes from Sakhalin Island, north of Japan, has lived in
Australia for five years and is the good looking one in this modern
tale of beauty and the beast.

They speak in Russian and she calls him by his real first name,
Vakhtang. But she is no great boxing fan and can hardly bear to watch
him sparring let alone punching and being punched for real.

The big-hitting little battler and the beautiful beautician are
counting down the hours to their big day and Vic is determined that
the Colombian firecracker he faces at the Sydney Entertainment Centre
in next weeks world title fight won’t blow up in his face.

“I will still be the world champion when I marry Olga,” said the
undefeated powerhouse, who yesterday finished sparring for the fight
with six rounds against Commonwealth Games aspirant Lenny Zappavigna
and rising professional middleweight Adam Vella.

“Jimenez is like me, very exciting, strong, a hard puncher. He walks
forward throwing big punches non-stop.

“But my trainers Jeff Fenech and Billy Hussein have me very fit and
I will go on to unify my weight division just like Kostya Tszyu did
at his weight.”

Darchinyan is undefeated after 23 fights with 18 wins by KO and apart
from his rigorous boxing training does 1500 pushups a day and runs
15km on alternate days to stay in shape.

La Nouvelle Republique du Centre Ouest – edition INFORMATIONS
GENERALES
17 août 2005

Cinema, television, politique : Charly Koubesserian maquille la peau
et l’ego;
Il a maquille Pompidou, Mitterrand, Charles de Gaulle pendant un
septennat. Jean-Paul Belmondo est son ami depuis trente-sept ans.
Charly Koubesserian est LE maquilleur du cinema et de la television.
Rencontre avec ce fils d’apatride armenien, au repos dans sa maison
poitevine.

RENCONTRES ESTIVALES

De notre redaction de Chauvigny

Dans sa ” Ptite maison “, c’est ecrit dessus, Charly Koubesserian
respire. Le maquilleur renomme du cinema et de la tele a voyage sur
les cinq continents. Mais c’est ici, dans le Poitou, qu’il se sent le
mieux. Au bord de la Gartempe, sa residence secondaire ne paye pas de
mine a l’ecart de Saint-Pierre-de-Maille (Vienne). Avec son epouse
Marie-France dont il aime a dire qu’elle est ” son impresario et son
subconscient “, ils vivent modestement. Loin des palaces dores et du
champagne millesime.

” J’arrive du tournage du telefilm Le Grand Charles, de Bernard
Stora, sur la vie de Charles de Gaulle. Il sortira sans doute en
janvier prochain. J’etais malade. J’ai maquille avec 39° de fièvre et
j’ai perdu douze kilos. Il n’y a qu’ici que j’arrive a me refaire une
sante. ”

Charly, 74 ans, a meilleur mine a present. Il en a vu d’autres après
cent quinze films et soixante feuilletons televises a son actif.

Charly Koubesserian (fait chevalier des Arts et des Lettres il y a
deux ans) a ete photographe, vendeur de robes sur les marches. Puis
suivi une formation de maquilleur a l’Idec, dont il est sorti major
de sa promotion. Direction le cinema. Elève d’Aran Chakatany sur le
tournage du film L’Athlète aux mains nues, il est contraint de
remplacer le maître tombe malade. Ses compositions de maquillage sur
le vieillissement (le visage de l’acteur evolue de 20 a 80 ans), font
forte impression. En 1949, Georges Kelin l’embauche pour Quasimodo
avec Anthony Quinn. Depuis, il n’a jamais range sa trousse. Il
raconte dans le livre L’Armenien, chez Bayard, son enfance difficile
marquee par le genocide armenien et son incroyable parcours entre
plateaux de cinema et de television.

” Le meilleur souvenir ? Ma rencontre avec Jean-Paul Belmondo. C’est
mon bâton de marechal, mon ami. ” Sur son torse, le pendentif en or
est formel : ” A toi, mon ami “, signe Jean-Paul. Bebel est le
parrain de son fils Cedric. Et il est partout. Son siège de tournage
trône ostensiblement autour de la table. L’acteur francais le plus
casse-cou de tous les temps a meme eu droit a sa chambre poitevine
lors d’un sejour d’une semaine. Les photos sont omnipresentes. Charly
n’est pas peu fier de montrer celle où il pose, peinard, entre Bebel
et Alain Delon.

” Avec Jean-Paul, la rencontre a eu lieu au Central a Paris il y a
trente-sept ans, lors d’un match de boxe. Sa carrière demarrait très
fort et il s’etonnait de ne pas avoir eu droit a mes services. J’ai
commence a le maquiller pour le film Ho de Robert Enrico… et nous
ne nous sommes jamais quittes. ”

Soixante-trois films, des barbes, moustaches et un nez de Cyrano plus
tard, cette amitie est inoxydable.

L’artiste-peintre des visages, dont la carrière professionnelle a ete
une incroyable succession d’opportunites, a maquille aussi les
politiques, dont trois chefs d’Etat francais. ” J’ai maquille
Pompidou, la femme de l’empereur du Japon et, par accident, Francois
Mitterrand. Il etait premier secretaire du PS et il trouvait qu’il
avait mauvaise mine. Il m’a recu chez lui a Paris comme si j’etais un
maquilleur d’Hollywood ! J’etais venu pour une journee et je suis
reste cinq jours. ”

Un autre president a fait appel a son talent : Charles de Gaulle. ”
Il fallait faire très vite, il n’etait pas patient : huit minutes
maximum. Generalement, quand il croisait deux fois ses grandes
jambes, il en avait marre ! ” Quatre fois par mois pendant un
septennat, de 1961 a mai 1968, Charly a prepare ” Mon general “.
Quitte a voir sa famille menacee par l’OAS.

” Charles de Gaulle n’etait pas patient :huit minutesmaximum ”

” Aujourd’hui, tous les elus attendus sur un plateau de tele sont
maquilles. Certains le font par coquetterie, d’autres pour eviter que
le visage soit deteriore a l’image. ” L’electeur se niche donc aussi
sous le grain de peau !

C’est un fait, Charly Koubesserian a côtoye les grands de ce monde.
Mais il a toujours refuse la grosse tete.

” L’humilite et la sympathie naturelle sont de precieux atouts. La
vie est trop courte pour se prendre au serieux. Pour un fils
d’apatride armenien, cette carrière est une benediction de Dieu [il
est catholique, NDLR]. Je suis un peu l’ambassadeur d’un peuple
armenien qui a paye 1.500.000 morts de ne pas avoir ete musulman. ”

Le maquilleur le sait, dans la vie, certaines cicatrices sont
impossibles a estomper.

–Boundary_(ID_yWCZrwX0NUGPqtkqECOlyg)–

Daily Forty-Niner via U-Wire
University Wire
August 15, 2005 Monday

Fans rock out to System of a Down at Long Beach Arena

By Jon Matsumoto, Daily Forty-Niner; SOURCE: Cal State-Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif.

>>From Disturbed to Avenged Sevenfold, there are plenty of bands
churning out generic heavy metal these days.

Thankfully, the so-called “new” metal scene still has System of a
Down to lean on when it requires a shot of instant credibility. The
Los Angeles-based band infuses its hard rock with challenging song
arrangements and exotic instrumental textures as well as alternately
thoughtful and playful lyrics.

All of these qualities were on full display last Thursday night at
System’s show at the cavernous Long Beach Arena, which has a near
40-year history of hosting thunderous rock acts from Led Zeppelin
to Slayer.

Even though it was the first show of their two and a half month
North American tour, the quartet appeared to be in fine form. The
Armenian-American outfit rifled out 25 songs during its 90-plus minute
set, including a healthy dose of new ditties from its most recent
album, “Mesmerize.” In fact, its first three songs of the evening
were all from the new CD, including the hooky “B.Y.O.B.”

“B.Y.O.B.” is a rousing example of the band’s ability to successfully
merge various styles and lyrical sensibilities. The song cleverly pairs
the rousing chorus “Everybody’s going to the party/have a real good
time” with the sobering lines “Why don’t presidents fight the war? /
Why do they always send the poor?” In the rabblerousing tradition of
the Clash and Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down isn’t afraid
to lace its songs with politically charged lyrics.

Yet in concert, the band is content to let its songs do the
educating. During the show, vocalist and social activist Serj
Tankian barely addressed the audience, much less made any attempts
at proselytizing. (Tankian and Audioslave’s Tom Morello are the
co-founders of a grassroots social advocacy organization called Axis
of Justice.)

The real visual centerpiece of the group proved to be
guitarist-vocalist Darron Malakian. The animated Malakian, who is also
the band’s chief musical architect, flashed an array of mischievous
stage moves including a dizzying series of 360-degree spins. He also
bugged his eyes out at the audience, pantomimed and served as the
evening’s indefatigable MC and party host.

At times, no less than five sizable mosh pits swirled on the floor
of the Long Beach Arena. It was an impressive sight given the fact
that System’s music isn’t always ideal for slamming because its songs
can abruptly shift in mood and texture. For example, Malakian’s power
guitar riffing is occasionally balanced out by some of his traditional
Armenian/Middle Eastern instrumental flourishes.

The evening’s highlight was clearly the double shot delivery of the
songs “Aerials” and “Toxicity,” arguably the two best songs in the
band’s arsenal.

The Mars Volta preceded System of a Down with a somewhat indulgent,
but generally fetching half hour of trippy, free-form music. The
multi-ethnic nine-piece band came across as a modern day Santana
as it jammed within a musical framework that embraced rock, soul,
jazz and Latin flavors.

WELCOME TO IWPR’S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 300, August 18, 2005

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Aug 18 2005

Caucasus Reporting Service marks its 300th issue with
a special photo-report on the Yezidi Kurds of Armenia
by Belarussian photographer Andrei Liankevich. Visit

Szmajdzinski meets Armenian Defence Ministry Delegation

PAP Polish Press Agency
PAP News Wire
August 17, 2005 Wednesday

Warsaw, Aug. 17 — Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzi?ski on Wednesday
met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the
Republic of Armenia, First Deputy Minister of Defence, General Mikhail
Harutyunyan, the Defence Ministry here reported.

The sides discussed questions connected with Polish experience in
the transformation of the armed forces and their integration with
the Euro-Atlantic structures. Members of the Armenian delegation,
on a three-day visit to Poland, expressed interest in the opportunity
of schooling Armenian officers on Poland.

The meeting also assessed the current situation in the Caucasus region.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress