Darchinyan retains IBF, IBO flyweight titles

AP Worldstream; Aug 24, 2005
Armenian-born Australian Vic Darchinyan retained his International
Boxing Federation flyweight title with a fifth-round technical
knockout Wednesday over Colombia’s Jair Jiminez at the Sydney
Entertainment Center.
The 29-year-old Darchinyan, who also retained the International Boxing
Organization title in the same class with the win, moved to 24-0,
including 19 by knockout. Jiminez, who weighed in at 50.55 kilograms
(111 pounds), dropped to 22-5-1 along with 16 knockouts.
Darchinyan, 50.8 kilograms (112 pounds), was making his second defense
of the world title he won from another Colombian, Irene Pacheco, in
Florida last December.
Darchinyan consistently hit Jiminez with stinging straight left
punches to the head.
Jiminez, 26, was under constant pressure in the fourth round when
Darchinyan sent the South American to the canvas in the first 20
seconds with a volley of at least five blows. Sensing an early finish,
Darchinyan pummeled Jiminez for the remainder of the round.
At the time of the stoppage, Darchinyan led by five points on two of
the judges’ cards and six points on the other.
“He’s a tough guy, he took a lot of punches,” Darchinyan said.
Darchinyan restored some pride to Australian boxing with the win in
the scheduled 12-rounder.
Since Darchinyan’s first successful title defense against South
African Mzukisi Sikali in March, Anthony Mundine, Paul Briggs, Kostya
Tszyu and Tommy Browne have all lost, leaving Australians with a 2-6
record this year before Wednesday’s title fight.

Lider TV, Baku
24 Aug 05
Ramin Xudaverdiyev, an Azerbaijani warrant officer who was taken
captive by Armenians on 3 August, was released at 1530 [1030 gmt]
today.
Xudaverdiyev was handed over to the Azerbaijani side in the village of
Balacafarli in Qazax District [western Azerbaijan] in the presence of
representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Xudaverdiyev immediately underwent a medical examination, the state
commission for prisoners of war, hostages and missing persons told
Lider TV. His health is said to be satisfactory.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
August 24, 2005
___________________
GROUP OF 30 SENIORS MAKE PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM
By Jake Goshert
It is a trip Margaret Azarian has only dreamed about: Traveling as an
Armenian pilgrim to the Holy Land.
“I’m looking forward to walking in the footsteps of our Lord. This is
where He first appeared and where everything happened. It is the
birthplace of Christianity. Everything happened there,” said the
parishioner of the Church of the Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT.
“Traveling to the Holy Land has been in the back of my mind for a long
time, for years. Jerusalem is still part of our culture and religion;
and 2,000 years later it is still going strong.”
Azarian and her husband, Nazareth, are part of a group of 30 “avak”
senior citizens headed to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage organized by Fr.
Mardiros Chevian, dean of New York City’s St. Vartan Cathedral. They
leave on Tuesday, August 23, 2005, and return on August 31.
“The seniors of the cathedral expressed an interest in traveling to the
Holy Land, and several other seniors from throughout the Diocese joined
us on this trip. I think what they’ll find is that by going to
Jerusalem they will become stronger Christians,” said Fr. Mardiros, who
helped lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2000. “To actually see and
touch the places where Jesus worked is a life-altering experience.”
That’s exactly the type of experience many of the participants are
looking for.
“Hopefully we will be spiritually nourished and renewed, that’s what I
feel will come of it. Other pilgrims have said that going there creates
a wonderful feeling that doesn’t happen everywhere,” Azarian said. “I’m
looking forward to being with Armenians who are faithful Armenian
Christians and then we’ll see where the trip takes us, spiritually.
Maybe the pilgrimage will encourage me to do something else; you never
know how the Holy Spirit will move you.”
The participants will meet with His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom
Manoogian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, on several occasions during
the tour, which includes stops in the Armenian Quarter of Old Jerusalem.
On the day of their arrival, they will attend a vespers service at the
St. James Cathedral, and later in the trip will have dinner with members
of the Brotherhood of St. James.
The pilgrims will also visit spiritual sites such as Bethlehem, the
Mount of Olives, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and Jericho.
“This pilgrimage is a special opportunity for us all,” Fr. Mardiros
said. “Not only will we be visiting Biblically important locations, but
we will also be delving deep into our Armenian heritage and history.
But more important is the connections we will be making with our fellow
pilgrims. This week will truly create new, lasting friendships.”
Several parishes are planning pilgrimages to Armenia and the Holy Land
in the coming years. Check with your local parish to see if anything is
being planned. The Diocese also plans trips to both the Holy Land and
Armenia. If you would like to receive notices when such trips are
organized, e-mail your contact information to [email protected]
with “trip info” in the subject line.
— 8/24/05

Agence France Presse — English
August 24, 2005 Wednesday 12:30 PM GMT
Turkish intellectuals press ahead with Armenia conference branded as
‘treason’
ISTANBUL
A conference questioning the official line on massacres of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire, aborted after Turkey’s justice minister
branded it an act of treason, will go ahead in September, organisers
said on Wednesday.
The event baptised “Ottoman Armenians of an Empire in Decline” has
been scheduled for September 23-25 at Istanbul’s Bogazici university.
Featuring academics and intellectuals who dispute Ankara’s version of
the 1915-1917 killings, the conference was postponed in May after
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek condemned the initiative as “treason”
and a “stab in the back of the Turkish nation”.
He also said the organisers deserved to be prosecuted.
The outburst raised eyebrows in European diplomatic circles about
Ankara’s commitment to democratic reforms, a requirement for October
3 negotiations over its adhesion to the European Union.
But diplomats said the incident could also prove to be a watershed if
the Turkish government acted to correct Cicek’s remarks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has now agreed to take part in
the conference’s opening session, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on
Wednesday.
“There was no reason to adjourn the conference. We can easily discuss
this question,” the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.
Ankara’s quest for European Union membership struck another hurdle
last month when it continued to insist it would not recognise the
Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus despite extending a customs
agreement to the 10 new EU members.
Several countries have recognised the Armenian massacres as genocide
and Brussels has called on Turkey to confront its past and to allow
greater freedom of speech.
Ankara recognises that the massacres took place, but strongly rejects
that they amounted to genocide.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
mass killings under the Ottoman Empire, forerunner to the Turkish
republic.
Ankara claims that 300,000 Armenians, who sided with Russian forces
against the Turks, were killed in the uprising and in deportations to
Syria. A similar number of Turks were also killed in the conflict,
according to the official version.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
24-08-2005
Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian meets Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov
On August 24 a meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution, took place in the special residence of the Russian
Foreign Ministry with the participation of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Yuri
Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (USA), Bernard Fassier (France) and Andrzej
Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-office.
During the meeting within the framework of the Prague process, the Ministers
discussed all aspects of a peace process, which are to be presented during
the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan scheduled for the
end of this week in Kazan, Tatarstan.
Informal discussions of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution continued during
lunch with the presence of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

ITAR-TASS news agency
24 Aug 05
Moscow, 24 August: Moscow, Baku and Yerevan count on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit to be a success. The two Caucasus
republics’ foreign ministers held consultations in Moscow with
Russia’s participation today on the eve of the talks between the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev and Robert
Kocharyan are to meet in Kazan on 27 August during a CIS summit.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out Moscow’s intention
to “create all conditions to achieve progress in settling the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem”.
He stressed that he “is unable to comment on the process of
negotiations led by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group”. “No
doubt they have their ideas,” the minister said.
“The settlement should make each of the involved parties feel that
they have greater security and that the balance of forces which has
historically evolved in the region is not upset,” the Russian
co-chairman of the Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, has said. According
to him, “if a mutually acceptable accord is reached, we can give it
our guarantees”.
“There are hopes that we can find common denominators,” the Armenian
foreign minister, Vardan Oskanyan, believes. “These can bring about
peace and stability to the Southern Caucasus.”
The main theme for the consultations in Moscow is “to prepare the
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijanian presidents in Kazan on 27
August”. “We have discussed the details of the forthcoming talks,” he
said.
According to him, “the priority is given to the self-determination of
Nagornyy Karabakh which should manifest itself in the people’s right
to be free to shape their future”. “Other issues – eliminating the
consequences of the conflict, resolving territorial problems,
returning the refugees – will ensue because of this priority,”
Oskanyan believes.
Similar to his Armenian colleague, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov takes a positive view of the consultations in Moscow. On
the other hand, he believes that “it is too early to say that there is
any breakthrough in settling the conflict in Nagornyy Karabakh”. He
stressed that “active work is needed” to achieve a settlement. “Now
there is a window of opportunity there to reach a common denominator
on this problem,” the Azeri minister believes. [Passage omitted: the
Karabakh talks background]

Foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan see hopeful signs
on Nagorno-Karabakh

AP Worldstream; Aug 24, 2005
The foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan said Wednesday
that they saw hopeful signs recently in the drive to find a settlement
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Now there is certain progress and we have chances to reach an
agreement on this issue,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as saying.
His Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanyan stressed, “The people of
Nagorno-Karabakh should have the right to self-determination,”
ITAR-Tass reported.
“Other problems are to cope with the consequences of the conflict,
settle territorial claims and return refugees,” he added.
The three ministers met in Moscow on Wednesday, along with
representatives of the United States and France, which together with
Russia are mediating negotiations on settling the conflict.
They also discussed arrangements for a meeting Saturday between
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev on the sidelines of a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent
States in Russia’s Volga River city of Kazan.
The bloodshed in Nagorno-Karabakh began after the legislature of the
ethnic Armenian-dominated enclave in Azerbaijan called in 1988 for the
region to be incorporated into Armenia, which like Azerbaijan was then
still a Soviet republic. Full-scale military offensives broke out in
1991; thousands were killed and a million displaced.
A tense cease-fire has held since 1994 but efforts to finally resolve
Nagorno-Karabakh’s status have failed repeatedly.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Aug 24 2005
Russia expects progress at Moscow talks on Nagorny Karabakh

MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow expects that the talks it is
hosting on the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, a disputed area of
Azerbaijan dominated by ethnic Armenians, will yield results, Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“We are happy that Moscow is hosting another meeting for the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers that is being attended by the
co-chairmen of the Minsk OSCE group,” Lavrov said. “We expect the
meeting to achieve progress.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov thanked the Russian
side for organizing the meeting. He said that he would discuss the
upcoming meeting in Kazan between Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan with the Armenian foreign
minister.
“I hope we will find a common language,” he said.
Kocharyan and Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev will meet on the
sidelines of the CIS summit in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s
Republic of Tartarstan, on August 26-27.

Armenian minister says “common ground” may be found with Baku on Karabakh
ITAR-TASS news agency
24 Aug 05
Moscow, 24 August: Baku and Yerevan may “find common ground” about the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan said at a meeting with the Russian and Azerbaijani
counterparts in Moscow today.
“There is hope that we will find common ground,” he said. “This could
bring peace and stability to the South Caucasus region.”
“The main topic of the discussions in Moscow were preparations for the
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Kazan on 27
August [on the sidelines of a CIS summit],” he said. “We discussed
details of the forthcoming talks,” Oskanyan said.
Like his Armenian opposite number, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov also assesses positively the Moscow meeting. At the same
time, he said “it is too early to speak about any progress towards the
Nagornyy Karabakh settlement”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed Russia’s intentions
“to create all conditions for achieving progress in the settlement” as
a result of the Moscow talks.

Xinhua, China
Aug 24 2005
No plans to allow US military base in Azerbaijan: president

MOSCOW, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
said on Wednesday that his government has no plans to allow the
United States to establish military bases in his country.
Reports that foreign military bases will be set up on
Azerbaijan’s territory are groundless, Aliyev told the media.
Azerbaijan and the United states have not held any talks on the
establishment of a US military presence in the Caucasus country,
Interfax news agency quoted Aliyev as saying.
No countries will be allowed to set up military bases in
Azerbaijan, as the presence of foreign military bases will do no good
for the stability of the country,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev also said his government’s top priority now is to resolve
the territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia.
In late July, Uzbekistan announced that it was giving the United
States 180 days to close an air base in the southwest of the Central
Asian country.
After that, unconfirmed media reports have said the United States
might redeploy part of its forces in the air base to Azerbaijan.
Enditem