OSKANIAN: ARMENIA HAS THREE GOALS IN ITS RELATIONS WITH NATO
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. Armenia has three goals in its relations
with NATO, RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said at the “Rose
Route” seminar organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO in
Yerevan. He said the first goal is institutionalization of relations
with NATO regarding security issues, struggle against trafficking,
terrorism and arms control. The second is reforms in Forced Arms of
the RA, which suppose civil control over forced arms. And the third
aspect is Armenia’s participation in NATO’s peacemaking operations.
He said that Armenia already participates in some of NATO’s peacemaking
operations.
Oskanyan pointed out that Armenia is interested in activation of its
relations with NATO in the context of regional security issues as
it needs multilevel system of security. He said that “the public of
Armenia has very close relations with Russia, the Russian military
bases are displaced in Armenia, Armenia is the member of CSTO, but
at the same time Armenia closely cooperates with NATO, and this is
the idea of complementarism”. A.A. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VIVACELL ENTERS VANADZOR AND GYUMRI
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
GYUMRI, OCTOBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Ralph Yirikian, Director General of the
company VivaCell – the second operator of mobile phone communication
in Armenia, told reporters on October 6 that the company has provided
coverage for Lori and Shirak marzes. He noted that VivaCell’s services
will be made available throughout Armenia by late October.
In the words of R. Yirikian, during 3 months of the company’s
operation, it has ensured coverage of nearly 65% of the country’s
territory – Yerevan and 8 marzes. Work is underway to extend coverage
to Syunik and Tavush marzes. R. Yirikian said that some mountainous
settlements of Shirak will be able to use VivaCell’s services from
2006.
Romik Manukian, the regional governor of Shirak marz, noted that
VivaCell’s mobile phone communication services will be available to
70 communities of the marz.

KOCHARIAN, REPRESENTATIVE OF PA OF OSCE PROSPECTS OF NK CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan and Special
Representative of the Chairman of Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE
for Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lenmarker discussed current stage and
prospects of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, the RA Presidential
Press-Service reported ARKA News Agency. They exchanged opinions on
Lenmarker’s report on Nagorno Karabakh. Kocharyan presented the current
stage and prospects of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. Kocharyan
also discussed issues of developing cooperation with the OSCE, and
pointed to the importance of inert-parliamentary cooperation in this
context. A.A. -0–

CIS INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY COMMISSIONS’ SITTINGS TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN ON OCTOBER 5
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. NT was informed from the RA National
Assembly PR Department that the sittings of the Standing Commission
on Science and Education and the Standing Commission on Economic and
Financial Issues of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IA) were
held on October 5 in Yerevan. Mikhail Krotov, Secretary General of
the IA Council, said the drafts discussed will be put on the agenda
of the Assembly’s plenary session to be held in Saint Petersburg on
November 18.
The first sitting of the Standing Commission on Science and Education
covered the moral and legal aspects of biomedical studies conducted
in CIS member states. The sitting was in essence the international
conference’s first part attended by representatives of international
organizations conducting research in the field, as well as by European
and US experts. The speakers addressed the international legislation on
genetic studies and underlined the necessity to create an appropriate
legislative field in CIS member states.
In his speech, Maurisio Salvi of the European Commission discussed
issues of genetic tests, which, in his words, are of great significance
for further development of science. They are interesting from the
political point of view as well: the science on life and biotechnology
is of paticular strategical importance to Europe and ranks second on
the list of priorities after high technoligies. It was noted that the
democratic society must ensure that it will not be used for immoral
purposes or in violation of basic human rights. The creation of a gene
bank, according to M. Salvi, requires the citizen’s consent and should
be done in conditions of confidentiality and human rights protection.
Organizational issues and model laws of CIS countries were discussed
at the second sitting of the Commission.
The Commission made positive conclusions about the model bills
on innovation activities and on status of educational worker. The
discussion of the bill on nonstate higher educational institutions
was postponed on the grounds that the sphere is successfully regulated
by the Law on Education in some of the CIS member states.
Issues related to humanitarian cooperation and scientific and
educational integration were discussed by the Commission as well.
Positive decisions on the model bills on the state reserve and on
bankruptcy of banks were taken at the sitting of the CIS IA Standing
Commission on Economic and Financial Issues. The issue of applying
model laws in economy and the financial sector of the CIS IA member
states was also on the agenda. The participants indicated that model
laws encourage exchange of experience, and no need “to invent a new
bicycle” arises every time. The regular sitting of the Commission
will be held in February-March 2006 in Saint Petersburg.

ARMENIAN BUSINESS HOTEL COMPLEX DELIVERED TO AUA MANAGEMENT
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The ceremony of renaming Armenian
Business Complex after Vardges and Hasmik Barsams took place on
October 6. During the ceremony, Mr. Vardges Barsam stated that Armenian
Business Hotel Complex is delevered to the management of the American
University of Armenia (AUA) for the purpose of assisting the program
on enrollment of regional and foreign students.
With a financial assistance of the USAID’s organization “American
Schools and Hospitals Abroad”, the AUA need to make an investment
of about 300 thousand USD inorder to repair and technically re-equip
the building.
To recap, Armenian Business Hotel Complex was set up in 1990.

KOCHARIAN ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-GREEK RELATIONS AND COOPERATION WITHIN NATO AND EU
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 6 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Greece is a friendly
and partner country for Armenia. RA President Robert Kocharian stated
about this receiving Spilios Spiliotopoulos, the Minister of National
Defence of Greece on October 5. The President attached importance
both to development of bilateral relations and cooperation within
the framework of NATO and the European Union.
Mentioning that a good tradition of an effective cooperation has
been created between the Defence Ministries of the two countries,
Robert Kocharian expressed confidence that it will continue with
success from now on as well.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
the Minister of National Defence of Greece assured in the Greek
party’s wish to continue and strengthen the mutual cooperation. He
mentioned with satisfaction that the Armenian peace-keeping platoon
implementing a peace-keeping mission in the Greek devision in Kosovo
expresses itself perfectly.
Spilios Spiliotopoulos said that along with material-technical
assistance showen to Armed Forces of Armenia, Greece is ready to
assist implementation of obligations undertaken by Armenia within
the framework of the NATO Individual Partnership Actions Program.
The Minister considered RA President’s state visit to Greece scheduled
for coming November as a new spur for further development of the
bilateral cooperation.
The sides exchanged opinions concerning regional problems,
implementation of reforms of armed forces as well.

NICOLAI: E.U. GIVES AN IMMENSELY POWERFUL SIGNAL TO MUSLIMS IN EUROPE AND MUSLIM WORLD BY STARTING ACCESSION TALKS WITH TURKEY
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 6 2005
WASHINGTON D.C. – “European Union (EU) gave an immensely powerful
signal particularly to Muslims in Europe and the Muslim world in
general, by launching accession talks with Turkey,” Dutch Minister
for European Affairs Atzo Nicolai said on Thursday.
Making a keynote speech at Johns Hopkins University in the USA, Nicolai
said, “a strong signal has been given that different cultures and
religions can exist together.” He added that this was the “political
fact” behind the start of negotiations with Turkey.
Asked why the EU made things difficult for Turkey, Nicolai said,
“the EU, it should be remembered, is not NATO. The EU is a
far-reaching contract between societies, not only an agreement
between governments. If it wants to be a member, Turkey has to
change. But that process will also change the EU, its member states
and their citizens. By the time when the accession will be near,
Turkey’s population of 85-90 million will be greater than that of
any other country in Europe. At the same time, Turkey will still be
an agricultural country with many underdeveloped regions.”
Nicolai said Turkey’s membership to the EU would be an advantage from
the point of views of fight against terrorism and avoiding a clash
of civilizations.
“We should well explain the EU people why we want Turkey within the
EU, as the support of people is very important. It is not only the
economic concerns that should be overcome. We have to live and work
together with a different religion and culture,” he emphasized.
“We want to be fair to our citizens, but we also want to be fair to
Turkey,” Nicolai said.
-CYPRUS AND ARMENIAN PROBLEMS-
Nicolai indicated that Cyprus was one of the most difficult issues the
EU has to deal with. “Nothing is black and white in this problem”,
he noted. Nicolai also defended that Turkey has to normalize its
relations with the Greek Cypriot Administration to become a EU member.
When a participant mentioned the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations, Nicolai said this was a very sensitive issue for both
parties. Nicolai recalled that acknowledgement of what had happened
in the past was not a precondition in EU membership process.

THE NEW COCAINE: SYSTEM OF A DOWN AND THE DANGERS OF IRONY
By Zac Pennington
The Portland Mercury, OR
Oct 6 2005
System of a Down
Rose Garden
1 Center Court
If you keep your tongue firmly lodged in cheek most of the time,
you’re eventually going to slip up and bite it. That’s one of the
primary dangers in this seemingly eternal age of irony: phrases, music,
clothing, and other affects adopted in fits of ironic appreciation
have the damnedest way of creeping out of their holes and into your
subconscious-and soon enough that joke you made a few years ago about
having an ironic coke party turns into 15-minute bathroom queues at
every bar in the city for the next five years.
It’s a slippery slope-in spite of all the defenses that we so carefully
compound around our lives, the viral strain of ironic appreciation
seems to have an uncanny capacity to work its way through our otherwise
closed doors of perception. And that’s the only viable explanation
for just how it came to be that a major-label metal band immerged from
the darkest corners of late-’90s radio rock to become every indierock
fan’s favorite guilty pleasure: System of a Down are the new cocaine.
For most of us, a tentative relationship with System of a Down began
with the 1998 release of their self-titled debut-a record comfortably
marketed alongside the era’s reprehensible rap-rock phenomenon.
Despite a campaign aggressively marketing the LA band’s Armenian
descent, most reasonable people saw little to distinguish System from
the hordes of goateed douchebags ruling the airwaves at the time.
>>From the very beginning, however, there was the faint call from
otherwise rational folks (and a few heshers) instantly able to
separate System from the radio rock’s most dreadful scourge in recent
memory-an assemblage of System apologists who’s fruitless refrain was
echoed time and time again: “Dude, I know that Nu-metal is totally
unforgivable-but System seems pretty cool to me. I mean they’re
Armenian, for godssake!” Needless to say, it fell largely on deaf ears.
And then something very funny (and I do mean funny) happened: In
2001, System of a Down released a record called Toxicity. Toxicity’s
near-universal commercial embrace led to a great deal of forced
exposure inflicted upon a lot of previously deaf ears. With the help
of mega-singles (by metal standards, at least) like “Chop Suey!,”
“Toxicity,” and “Aerials,” it was difficult to avoid vocalist Serj
Tankian’s incredibly ridiculous, politically tongue-twisted, angry
leprechaun rants for the better part of two years. And you know what?
Shit was kind of awesome-you know, in a gut-busting, hyper-dramatic,
semi-retarded kind of way-enough to make you want to stop when it
popped up on the airwaves. Every single time.
It must have been about a year ago when I read somewhere that
System’s double album-in-progress (later split into current mega-album
Mesmerize and soon-to-be-released Hypnotize) had primary influences
of indie-friendly touchstones like Kraftwerk, the Zombies, and
the Beach Boys. At the time, it sounded like just another piece of
amusing mythology to tag onto my favorite band to get all post-modern
about. And then, like everybody else, I actually heard Mesmerize-an
incredibly ridiculous, politically tongue-twisted, gut-busting,
hyper-dramatic, semi-retarded, and legitimately brilliant record of
Zappa (or maybe Patton) level sonic complexity.
At first I tried to laugh it off-I mean, it is kind of funny-but
before long I had to face the fact that I sincerely (and still somewhat
inexplicably) love System of a Down. And I know I’m not alone.

NEGOTIATIONS TO BE CHALLENGING, BUT NO OBSTACLES WE CAN’T OVERCOME
Turkish Press
Oct 6 2005
Press Scan
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
The EU launched negotiations with Turkey on October 3rd. However, there
are different views on how long these full membership negotiations
will last. French President Jacques Chirac says that he is not sure
Turkey could become a full EU member one day after fulfilling all
the conditions, while the EU public opinion thinks that Turkey cannot
achieve this process. European experts on Turkey, who spoke to Zaman,
assume a more optimistic approach. Experts in London and Brussels think
that issues like human rights, Kurdish problem, religious minorities,
military-civilian relations, and Armenian allegations can be overcome
during the negotiation process in case Cyprus problem is resolved.

TURKEY WARNED ON HUMAN RIGHTS
By Vincent Boland in Ankara
Financial Times, UK
Oct 6 2005
Turkey must improve its human rights record and make the rule of law
“an everyday reality” if it is to meet the criteria that will let it
join the European Union, a senior European Commission official said
on Thursday.
Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, said Turkey’s continuing
political and social reforms would be under “ever closer scrutiny”
now it had begun the accession process, after he met Abdullah Gul,
Turkey’s foreign minister.
“This means rigorously implementing political reforms in the areas of
the rule of law, human rights, women’s rights, the rights of religious
communities and trade unions,” Mr Rehn said. The aim should be “to
make the rule of law an everyday reality in all walks of life”.
Amid Turkish euphoria over the start of its EU accession process this
week, the warning appeared to be a reminder of what human rights
campaigners claim are recent examples of the abuse of the law by
prosecutors and judges, who operate independently of government.
Turkey’s stance on freedom of expression is already under the spotlight
because of an attempt last month to ban a conference on the fate of
Armenians during the break-up of the Ottoman empire. It faces even
greater scrutiny in the next few weeks ahead of the trial of Orhan
Pamuk, the country’s most celebrated writer.
Mr Pamuk is facing up to three years in jail if he is convicted of
“public denigration of Turkish identity” for comments he made about
Turkey’s attitude to the Armenian issue. Mr Gul acknowledged that
Turkey had a lot of work ahead in the accession process.
Turkey’s negative image may be due as much to its human rights
record as to cultural or religious differences with other European
countries. During a civil war between the state and Kurdish separatists
in the 1980s and 1990s, there were abuses on both sides that still
shape European attitudes, despite recent improvements.