ARMENIA: MY SON, MIKHAIL
By Onnik Krikorian
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Oct 5 2005
TAVOUSH, Armenia, 5 October 2005 – When Mikhail Simonyan’s mother,
Rouzana, noticed that her son was having trouble walking, she thought
the three-year-old had simply taken a bit of fall, and thought nothing
more of it. But a trip to the doctor proved her wrong: it seemed that
Mikhail had contracted measles and the infection had spread to his
inner ear. The infection caused by his bout of measles had spread to
the muscles that keep his spinal cord straight.
His mother was devastated by the news. “It wasn’t until I approached
various non-governmental organizations and public organizations [to
ask for advice and help] that I began to come to terms with Mikhail’s
condition,” she says.
“I met many children who were able to live with their disabilities,
some of whom were in a worse situation than my son. This somehow
filled me with hope that there was a way for Mikhail to live with his
disability as well. I gave this hope to my child and told him there
would be a day when he would be able to walk normally. Together,
we’re still living with this hope.”
Mikhail, now seven, is getting help and remains full of hope that
someday he will walk again. He attends a UNICEF-supported centre
called the ‘Bridge of Hope’, which operates also with a community
administrative centre, Vulnerable Families in Ijevan. These centres
play a critical role in bridging the gaps in services for children
with disabilities and their families.
To date over 300 children with disabilities have been assisted by
the centres.
“The establishment of alternative services offered by community
centres is a way forward for these children to become fully-fledged
members of their communities,” says Naira Avetisyan, UNICEF’s Child
Protection Officer in Armenia.
“This is why these community centres are perceived by the government
as a strategic model for the integration of children with disabilities
into society and into mainstream education. They are acknowledged as
the alternative to institutionalization,” she adds.
A day in the life
Mikhail’s daily routine is far from easy, but thanks to Bridge of
Hope, he has managed to attain a certain degree of control over his
own life. In the morning he washes and dresses himself before eating
breakfast and then sets off for school.
Ijevan is one of the most scenic towns in Armenia, but it is also
the most difficult for those with disabilities to live in.
“Ijevan was not designed for disabled people,” says his mother.
“There are no ramps, and public transport is a problem. If it’s
raining, it’s almost impossible to take him to school and in the
winter when there’s a lot of snow, it takes much longer. A journey
that should take 30 minutes instead takes fifty.”
After school Mikhail goes to the Bridge of Hope Centre to receive
rehabilitative therapy, learn computer skills, to play – he likes
art classes where he can draw – and interact with both children with
disabilities and those without.
Mikhail says that he likes mathematics and wants to become an
astronaut.
He wants to go to university when he gets older, and while most
children in Armenia might draw pictures of their homes or the biblical
Mount Ararat, Mikhail has won prizes for his chalk drawings of the
solar system.
Centres like those established by Bridge of Hope and can help make
lives of those with disabilities better, but unfortunately, prejudice
still exists in society.
“The community is very helpful,” says Mikhail’s mother. “In school
they care about him, although, of course, there are some children who
still don’t understand. He explains to these children that he was sick,
that he is now going to a rehabilitation centre, and that very soon,
he will be walking just like them. And because he’s still young,
he doesn’t go out alone and so he’s spared a lot of problems.”

REPORT: MANY DISABLED CHILDREN ABANDONED
By Bradley S. Klapper
The Associated Press
10/05/05 15:20 EDT
GENEVA (AP) – Many disabled children in the former communist countries
of eastern Europe and Central Asia are being put in institutions,
perpetuating the old Soviet practice of “child abandonment,” according
to a UNICEF report released Wednesday.
Instead of integrating the children into general schools, these
countries still employ a policy of “defectology,” a leftover Soviet
discipline in which disabled children are put in institutions that
separate them from society and their families, said the study by U.N.
Children’s Fund’s Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy.
“These children want to be given a chance to grow up in a family,”
said Maria Calivis, UNICEF’s regional director.
Attitudes toward disabled young people are getting better in these
formerly communist regions, but improvements in state support are
lagging behind, the 64-page study said.
As of 2002, some 317,000 children in these countries lived in such
separated institutions, a number largely unchanged since the fall
of the Iron Curtain, the report found. By contrast, the rate of
institutionalization in Western countries is up to three times lower.
“The prospect for these children is to graduate to an institution
for adults and to face a pattern of denial of human rights,” the
study said.
The countries studied included eight former communist states that
have since become members of the European Union – Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia –
and two others scheduled to join soon – Bulgaria and Romania.
The study also included Balkan states Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro, as well as former
Soviet republics Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and
Uzbekistan.
“Although children with disabilities have become more visible since
the beginning of (the post-communist) transition and attitudes towards
them and their families are changing, many of them are simply ‘written
off’ from society,” said Innocenti director Marta Santos Pais.
Santos Pais said the “high rates of child abandonment” could be
explained by these countries’ outdated medical approaches and lack
of alternative methods for dealing with disabilities.
UNICEF is calling for an end to the segregation of disabled children,
suggesting instead an increase in social benefits to affected families
and greater participation of parents in decisions affecting their
children.
“The reality is many parents feel they have no choice but to give
up their children,” Santos Pais said. “What these families need is
strong social and economic support.”
Some 1.5 million children in these 27 countries were registered as
disabled in 2000, triple the number in 1990, the report said.
However, the surge was largely the result of better recognition and
registration of disabilities, rather than any actual increase in the
number of children disabled.
There may be another 1 million disabled children in the region,
but authorities often lump them together with the chronically ill or
ignore them if they are from ethnic minorities, Santos Pais said.

TURKEY NEEDS TO ERADICATE POLICIES BEFORE BEING GRANTED EU MEMBERSHIP
by Taleen Babayan
Tufts Daily, MA
Oct 6 2005
In the editorial on Tuesday, Oct. 4, “Stop Teasing Turkey,” it was
stated the European Union should make a firm decision about Turkey’s
potential entry as a member state. The EU is being circumspect in
its decision-making process to exercise judicious judgment before it
opens its doors to Ankara.
Turkey, in its eagerness to gain a foothold in Europe – a dream that
has eluded this basically Asian country for centuries – has multiplied
its efforts to join the European Union. In strictly geographical terms,
to consider Turkey a part of Europe is a stretch.
The vehement opposition exhibited by some European countries, including
Austria and Belgium, against Turkey’s joining to the European Union
is well founded.
By the time negotiations are scheduled to be completed -ten years –
the country will have a population well over 85 million. Adding 20
million to the European population is a point of concern.
Anakara must resolve a slew of thorny issues that Europe regards as
prerequisites for membership: the Kurdish issue, Cyprus, judicial
reforms, recognition of the Armenian Genocide and real partnership
with the West. The country has taken a hesitant, at best, stance on
these issues. Turkish Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan has tip-toed around
these issues without adopting a decisive position. Case in point:
He expressed a muted desire to normalize relations with neighboring
Armenia, yet he keeps the common border with it closed, thus choking
the country economically.
Even though Ankara has always pursued pro-western, secular policies,
Turkey stands in stark contrast culturally to Europe. The prime
minister has Islamist credentials, he was jailed on charges of
incitement, yet he is the most secular leader in recent memory. He
purports to be friendly with the West, yet his government refuses
to provide bases to coalition forces in its offensive against Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq.
Ankara needs a new breed of leaders who are visionaries, not
pragmatists. Turkey should emancipate itself from the past. If Ankara
is determined to join the “Western Club,” it should undertake bold
initiatives. It should break away from dogmatic positions. Turkey
should give cultural-ethnic autonomy to the Kurds, who constitute
20 percent of the population, and exhibit far more flexibility
vis-୶is the Cypriots. How can Ankara take itself seriously when
its armies are occupying parts of Cyprus?
Turkey’s dismal human rights record adds another dimension to an
argument for its exclusion from the EU. There should be a change in
its human rights, both at the state and grass roots levels, before
Europe even begins serious consideration of Ankara’s application.
Turkey has imposed a blockade upon a neighboring Christian sovereign
country, Armenia, while vigorously rejecting the historically
documented genocide perpetrated against Armenians. Turkey should
moderate its uncompromising support for Azerbaijan so the Nagorno
Karabagh issue can move forward towards a peaceful resolution. It
should also implement confidence-boosting measures with Armenia,
including recognizing the genocide and lifting its decade old economic
embargo.
Only steps such as these will inspire confidence. Ankara must also
undertake judicial reforms within its penal code to show to the outside
world it is serious in its efforts to reform and finally become part
of the European Union.
Taleen Babayan is a senior double majoring in history and international
relations with a minor in communications and media studies.

OFFICIAL YEREVAN HOPES TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SOON
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. Armenia hopes that the beginning of
the negotiations on Turkey’s membership in the EU will make Turkey
recognize the Armenian Genocide. According to the press release of
the RA MFA Press Service Department, such an opinion was expressed
by the MFA Press Secretary Hamlet Gasparyan. According to the press
release, the beginning of the negotiations on Turkey’s membership in
the EU will put the EU-Turkey relations on a new level. According
to the press release, at this stage Turkey is going to carry out
fundamental changes. Particularly, Armenia hopes that the beginning
of the negotiations on Turkey’s membership in the EU will bring to
opening of the Turkish border with Armenia and to real steps aimed
to protect the rights of national minorities, strengthen democratic
values and principles. A.H. –0–

BRAND EXPO UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OPEN OCT 14 TO 16 IN YEREVAN
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. BRAND EXPO universal international
exhibition will be open from October 14 to 16 in Yerevan, Expomedia
Exhibition Projects Center told ARKA. According to the press release,
home and foreign brands will be exposed there. The exhibition is
organized by Expomedia Exhibition Projects Center in association with
Expofarm, a Moscow exhibition company and with support of
Trade-Industrial Chamber of Armenia. The exhibition will be opened in
Armenian Government Congress Hall. Address is Melik-Adamyan Str. 1.

OSKANIAN, REPRESENTATIVE OF OSCE PA FOR NK DISCUSS SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and
Special Representative of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the OSCE on Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lenmarker discussed settlement of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in Yerevan; press-service of the RA Foreign
Ministry reported ARKA News Agency. Lenmarker presented results of
the July session of the PA of OSCE in Washington, where he made a
report. Oskanyan positively evaluated the report, and pointed out that
realistic possibilities of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement have
been presented in this report. The sides exchanged opinions on current
stage of the conflict settlement and its prospects. Speaking about
Armenia’s participation in the Policy of European Neighborhood, they
agreed that development of the relevant Action Plan will open a new
page in Armenia-EU relations. They also discussed the Armenian-Turkish
relations at bilateral level and in the context of Turkey’s entrance
to the EU.
Press-release also says that Lenmarker arrived in Armenia to
participate in the seminar of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO.

EXHIBITION “SEE THE LAND OF ITALY: TREASURES OF SAINT LAZARUS ISLAND” OPENED IN YEREVAN
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. The exhibition “See the land of Italy”
treasures of Saint Lazarus island” has been opened in Yerevan. RA
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan pointed out that the exhibition
inaugurates Days of Armenian-Italian friendship, which is the best
manifestation of the two nations’ ancient ties and mpresent-day
contacts. Minister Oskanyan thanked Armenia’s authorities for their
assistance in holding Days of Armenian-Italian friendship. He expressed
a special gratitude to the Congregation of Mkhitarists, which agreed
to display some of its treasures in Armenia.
Archimandrite Harutyun Pstikyan, who is responsible for cultural
treasures of the Congregation of Mkhitarists, reported that only 100
of over 10,000 exhibits of the treasures of Saint Lazarus island are
being displayed in Yerevan. “We have brought only the exhibits that
are related to the 1600th anniversary of Armenian alphabet. These
are mostly printed editions, Armenian geographical maps, portraits of
clergymen by well-known Italian painters, such as Heirich Reinhard,
Geuseppe Gavanin, Francesco Mageotto, Hovhannes Aivazovky. Among
the exhibits are also the sword of Levon V, King of Cilicia of the
14th century and the death mask of the Armenian composer Komitas,”
Pstikyan said. He pointed out that the Congregation of Mkhitarists
intends to establish permanent cooperation with the Armenian Government
in organizing an exhibition of treasures of Saint Lazarus island in
Armenia. He said that the Congregation intends to present some of
the exhibits to the National Gallery of Armenia. However, the issue
is yet to be discussed by the Congregation Board.
Says of Armenian-Italian friendship will be held in Armenia from
October 5 to November 5, 2005. Films shot by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
will be demonstrated. A meeting with the well-known writer, author
of the bestseller “La masseria delle allodole” Antonia Arslan, opera
and theatrical performances and photo exhibitions will be held as well.
The Days of Armenian-Italian friendship are being held on the
initiative of the Armenian and Italian Governments under the
patronage of the two countries’ presidents and with the sponsorship
of businessmen.

KOCHARIAN: LOCAL ELECTIONS IMPORTANT FACTOR OF STABILITY OF STATE
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005
YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. Local elections held in Armenia are
important factor of stability of state, RA President Robert Kocharyan
said during his meeting with President of the Congress of Local and
Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Giovanni Di Stasi, the RA
Presidential Press-Service reported ARKA News Agency. Kocharyan pointed
out that decentralization is the major direction of territorial policy,
which first of all means development of local government. He also
reported that this policy has also been reflected in draft amendments
to Constitution of Armenia.
The sides also discussed issues of regional cooperation.
Particularly, Di Stasi proposed the idea of establishing the regional
centre of local governments, which will promote economic, social and
cultural partnership among them. Kocharyan welcomed the idea and said
that Armenia always supported regional cooperation, and considers that
such cooperation will promote formation of atmosphere of confidence,
as well as settlement of regional conflicts.

TURKISH COMMUNITIES NOT AGAINST DEVELOPMENT OF INTER-MUNICIPAL COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA
ARMINFO News Agency
October 5, 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5. ARMINFO. Turkish communities are not against
inter-municipal cooperation with Armenia, says Haye Dogadoglu,
Turkish delegate to the 18th ENTO seminar “Training and Trans-border
Cooperation in Europe” starting in Yerevan today.
She said that Turkish communities approve of such cooperation but
have no clear idea yet how to carry it out. “My participation in the
seminar is the start of this process – time will show how it will
develop,” Dogadoglu said evading the questions about the Armenian
Genocide and the Karabakh conflict. “I have just come to Yerevan and
can’t say anything yet,” she said.

HISTORY SHOULD BE USED FOR IMPROVING ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS: OIC SECRETARY GENERAL
ARMINFO News Agency
October 5, 2005
STRASBOURG, OCTOBER 5. ARMINFO. One should not use the history for
fueling hostility and antagonism between the Turks and the Armenians.
One should use history to build up better relations otherwise
neither of the countries will at advantage, Secretary General of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmelleddin Ihsanoglu says in
a talk with ARMINFO.
He says that the sides should better understand each other. He
reiterates the dogma of the Turkish authorities that there were
many murders both before and after WWI. Investigation will offer no
solution. Everybody suffered and many people died.
Concerning the freedom of speech in Turkey in the light of the recent
Istanbul conference on the Armenian Genocide Ihsanoglu says that there
are many schools of thought in the world but none of them speak of
history and religion as openly as the Turkish one does. The freedom
of speech often gives confused idea of things when people speak of
what they have knowledge but no idea of, says Ihsanoglu noting that
all nations go through the process of reconsideration and reassessment
of some facts of their history.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress