MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES PROGRAM TO PROVIDE 118 MILLION USD TO ARMENIA FOR
RECONSTRUCTION OF WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS: “Millennium Challenges” program will
provide 118 million USD for the reconstruction of water supply system
in Armenia.
Water supply specialist of the “Millennium Challenges” task group
Tigran Kalantarian noted that the program includes reconstruction of
water dams, main canals, gravity flowing systems etc. Underscoring
the technical support, studying and training of the newly created
companies of water users, Kalantarian noted that for the development
of institutional system 5.3 million USD will be provided, another 8
million will be provided for works on projecting and on the management
of the program.
At present the US specialists are assessing Armenia’s suggestion. The
task group and US delegates are studying the opportunities for
the implementation of the program from the economic, financial and
surrounding environment viewpoints to assess how the program will
promote the poverty reduction in village areas. The assessment phase
will be finished in early fall. The agreement is expected to be formed
and signed by the end of the year.

AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Diaspora
CYPRUS ARMENIAN COMMUNITY SHOCKED FROM LOSS OF FAMILY IN AIRLINE TRAGEDY —
MELKONIAN ALUMNI LOSE VALUABLE MEMBER
Cyprus started three days of official mourning Monday as the island
recovered from Sunday~Rs disaster when all 121 people were killed on board a
Cypriot airliner that crashed on its approach to the Greek capital Athens.
The news shocked the island~Rs small Armenian community as a family of four
were also on board the fatal flight, traveling together for the first time,
with their 12-year-old son boarding his first flight.
Hagop and Hilda Tutunjian, and their young boys, 16-year old Ara and Baret,
four years his younger, were on the Helios Airways flight from Larnaca to
Athens, from where they would complete the journey for a holiday in Prague,
Czech Republic.
Hagop, a graduate of the Melkonian Educational Institute, was among the core
team struggling to save the school despite the AGBU~Rs unjustifiable
persistence to close the school and sell all its assets. He was a member of
the 7-person board of the Melkonian Alumni in Cyprus and was at many times
at the forefront of demonstrations, often pursuing a calm and rational
approach to public debates and arguments.
He started his community involvement as a teenage footballer, playing for
the local AYMA team in the 1960s and early 1970s. He kept his interest in
youth and sports over the years, coaching the AGBU-AYA junior football team
and helped stage several plays, some of which he directed. He was involved
with the Hamazkayin cultural club of Nicosia and served on the governing
board of the Nareg Elementary schools of Cyprus.
Working in the Gulf for many years, he recently set up his own electrical
supplies business.
Hilda (née Costanian), was a graduate of the American Academy and a member
of the AYMA club in her earlier years. She was an active “mother of
Melkoniantsi” and among the auxiliary team of supporters of the Alumni
struggle to help save the school. She was actively involved in church
activities, helping out with the Sunday school in Nicosia.
Ara was in his fourth year at the Melkonian and among the youth disappointed
by the AGBU. His younger brother, Baret, just graduated from the Nareg in
Nicosia.
Messages of support kept pouring in with friends and relatives by the sides
of Hagop and Hilda~Rs remaining families ~V brother Albert Tutunjian, and
parents Vartkes and Lilly Costanian.
“They shall be sorely missed, Hagop with his fiery but fair arguments, Hilda
who kept faithful to her religious education, often visiting any church ~V
Armenian or Greek Orthodox or even Catholic ~V and was a support for her
sister who suffered a car crash nearly two decades ago. Ara was a young
teenager in his prime and a rebel at times, while Baret made us all laugh
with his youthful smile. These were kind people who did not harm a sole.
They did not deserve this tragic end,” said a close friend of the family.
What should have been a celebration, marking the second holiest day for
Greek Orthodoxy, the holy day of ~QPanayia Theotokou~R (the Virgin Mary,
Mother of God), turned into a day of prayers as bells chimed somberly and
the faithful started their annual pilgrimages to monasteries with a heavy
heart.
There were no survivors among the 115 passengers and six crew, with complete
families wiped out as all of the travelers were holidaymakers, 48 of whom
were reportedly children.
Relatives of the air crash victims were also flown to Greece Monday to help
in the grueling task of identifying the remains of their loved ones, many of
whom were charred beyond recognition and needed blood samples to match their
DNA.
Even though the tragedy dominated the front pages of the Monday newspapers,
the local media were screaming at the incompetence of the airline as well as
the civil aviation authorities that could not give out a list of passengers,
even though 24 hours had elapsed. This was expected to happen later in the
day.
The media have also reflected on public pleas for information and that an
investigation of the circumstances that surrounded the mysterious crash be
concluded promptly and with transparency.
On the other hand, calls for resignation have been directed at civil
aviation authorities that granted the leased Boeing 737-300 its air
worthiness certificate, while the general public outcry demanded that the
airline be shut down.
Masis der Parthogh
–Boundary_(ID_nM38Jiet4xNZr5VFlh4uBg)–

ARMENIAN BUSINESS DELEGATION HOLDS MEETINGS IN AJARIA
BATUMI, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS: An Armenian delegation of businessmen
headed by Volodya Badalian, the co-chairman of the Armenian-Georgian
Business Association, who is also a member of parliament, is in the
Ajarian Autonomous Republic of Georgia meeting with local high-ranked
officials to discuss issues of mutual interests.
The delegation met with the head of the Ajarian tourism and resorts
department Temur Zoidze who spoke about tourism development in
Ajaria. He particularly said that this year they are expecting 60,000
tourists while last year their number reached only 14,000. During
May-June 6,500 Armenians have already visited Ajaria; last year their
number was 1,200.
It is expected that this year 15,000 Armenians will leave for Ajaria
to spend their holidays there. “We will do everything to continue
presenting Ajarian tourism potential in Armenia,” said T. Zoidze.
This year on the Ajarian border near the Choloki settlement a tourism
information center was opened which is the only one in Georgia. The
center provides information about hotels, places of interests
etc. Zoidze said in 2006 5 high-class hotels will function in Ajaria,
the roads will continue to be reconstructed, the infrastructures
will be improved and this will give an opportunity to receive 150,000
tourists in 2006, 15,000 of which from Armenia.
During the meeting with Ajarian finance and economy minister Kakha
Shavadze the latter underscored the amendments made this year in the
tax legislation aimed to give an impetus to further development of
tourism and economy in Ajaria. As to the turnover between Armenia and
Ajaria, the minister said its amount is increasing and added that the
amount of products transported to Armenia from Turkey through Batumi
is also increasing.
On his part, Badalian said that “Ajarian government is interested
in the expansion of ties between the two countries and integration
of economies as well as in making mutual investments. The
Armenian-Georgian Business Association created last year is working
on these issues,” said he. Badalian is also expected to meet today
with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Ajarian prime minister
Levan Varshalomidze.

ARTASHES GEGHAMIAN DISPROVES RUMOURS ABOUT HIS BEING IN MONTE CARLO
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, N0YAN TAPAN. “I came to disprove today’s
information in the “Aravot” newspaper about the issue that I and
Vazgen Manukian, the Chairman of the National-Democratic faction have
joined Serge Sargian, the Defence Minister; Hovik Abrahamian, the
Minister of Regional Governance, and Andranik Manukian, the Minister
of Transport, who are in Monte Carlo now. Artashes Geghamian, the
Chairman of the “National Unification” party informed journalists
about this, unexpectedly appearing at the August 13 press-conference
of Alexan Karapetian, his fellow party member in the “Azdak” club.
According to A.Geghamian, the publication in “Aravot” proves once more
that the authorities of Armenia are in agony. As for the position of
the chief editor of the newspaper, according to him: “Aram Abrahamian
is one of the most respectable editors who has just been tripped up.”

AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Karabakh issue
STATEMENTS ON THE EVE OF KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING
A meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents is slated in Kazan
on August 26, two days after the foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow.
The deputy of the US co-chair to the OSCE Minsk group, Elizabeth Ruth,
stated that she takes the Kazan meeting as “a real opportunity”. “We
have much belief in the formation of conditions for reaching peace
accord in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”, Ruth said. The US diplomat
stated that in spite of the hopes pinned on the Kazan talks, one
should not expect singing a final document between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov noted that there is no
agreed document on Karabakh regulation so far. “This is the principle:
so far as few things are agreed, we may say nothing is agreed”.
Both statements were issued by the International Crises Group. The
Caucasus project director of the ICG noted that “it is possible to
reach an agreement in the conflict at the impending meeting of Azeri
and Armenian presidents in Kazan. The talks of the last year allow
us to make this claim”. The monthly report of the Group points out
that the media discusses the possibility of a referendum in Nagorno
Karabakh but Azerbaijan renounces this suggestion.
Another statement by the ICG, comprised of former high-ranking
officials, condemns Yerevan and Baku authorities for inertia in
forming the public opinion.
By Tatoul Hakobian

AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Neighbors
ARMENIAN CHURCH READY TO RESTORE THE MOSQUE OF SHUSHI
Baku labeled “another provocation” the statement by Archbishop
Pargev Martirosian of Artsakh diocese to invite Iranian specialists
to restore the Shiite mosque of Shushi built in 1883.
Turkey allocates $1.5 million for restoration of Surp Khach of Akhtamar
The Turkish government has assigned $1.5 million for restoration of
Surp Khach church of Akhtamar Island. This step largely directed to the
EU, was also interpreted by the authorities in Ankara as a signal to
improve Armenian-Turkish relations. Despite the absence of diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Turkey and the 12-year-old blockade,
contacts between diplomats from both sides never ceased. Turkish
mass media informed that the secrete Armenian-Turkish negotiations
discuss now the issues of Armenian Genocide, Armenian-Turkish border
opening and the withdrawal from neighboring territories of Nagorno
Karabakh. Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul noted on his part
that there is nothing strange in Armenian-Turkish contacts, they
always were there.
By Tatoul Hakobian

AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Neighbors
NEW FACE OF ANTI-ARMENIAN MOODS IN AZERBAIJAN
Anti-Armenian moods hovering in Azerbaijan as high as on the state
level are changing their guise as parliamentary elections approach. On
August 3, the head of Yeni Fikir youth party, Ruslan Bashirli, was
arrested on charge of an attempt to “seize the Azerbaijani government”
by the help of US National Democratic Institute and special services of
Armenia. A press release by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan
points out that Bashirli received $2.000 from Armenian agents.
The National Security Service of Armenia dubbed the claims of the Azeri
prosecutor “ridiculous and far from reality”. “One cannot settle inner
issues of Azerbaijan by forgotten methods that the USSR employed in
20s-30s”, head of the NSS, Gor Hakobian, stated.
Bashirli’s arrest triggered protest marches against the chairman
of People’s Front Party (Yeni Fikir is its youth wing) all over
Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev probably expected that the world
community would close its eyes to the assaults on this nationalistic
party and its leader Ali Kerimli. But the OSCE Baku office condemned
the violence and the US Embassy to Azerbaijan urged Aliyev to condemn
attacks on the opposition and secure just forthcoming elections.
By Tatoul Hakobian

AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Healthcare
BLOOD: A MATTER OF BARGAIN
Only Voluntary Donoring Guarantees Safe Blood
The process of hospital privatization gave birth to private blood
departments and banks. The post-soviet era of market relations made blood a
subject of bargain. In Armenia, there are state-run blood transfusion
stations only in 5 provinces – Shirak, Armavir, Syunik, Kotayk and Lori. In
other provinces people get blood in appropriate departments of central
hospitals. The Haematology Center is empowered to control all state and
private blood banks. “There are many private companies that are better
equipped than the state-run Haematology Center, and in this respect it’s
somewhat irrational to supervise them. We often feel shame to go to a blood
bank for an inspection when we ourselves have far humbler conditions. This
is an issue demanding urgent solution as all blood services within a state
should be regulated by the same standards and methods, and each patient
getting blood transfusion should trust the quality of the blood”, head of
the Haematology Center Smbat Daghbashian said.
The head of the Haematology Center indicated that the overwhelming majority
of paid donors are socially vulnerable people who are more likely to have
blood infections. A donor in Armenia gets 20-50 USD for one portion of
blood. There is a danger that social conditions can make donors conceal
their diseases, used medicines etc. Having their services refused at one
clinic they may turn to another till they get the money they need. Center N1
is in charge of inspection over blood infections. Thanks to the computerized
process an ill donor that was declined at one place but managed to sell his
blood somewhere else can be easily detected.
“Donoring should be on voluntary terms to guarantee safe blood”, Daghbashian
said.
Only 5-6 percent of donors in Armenia are volunteers. 80-85 percent donoring
falls to the relatives’ lot. Blood collection at the Center is carried out
by means of special scales acquired by the help of German Embassy. Other
clinics do not posses such scales and the measurement is approximate.
Correct freezing of blood is another guarantee for safe blood. Elements of
blood are kept in certain temperature and under certain procedure, which
differ depending on each case. Blood freezing requires special refrigerators
that the Center lacks so far.
To solve the issue of safe blood each country needs 40-50 volunteer donors
in every 1000 population. In Armenia, only 3-4 people enlist as donors in
every 1000. People, very passive in giving their blood in daily life, get
activated in case of disasters such as the earthquake of 1988 and the Beslan
tragedy.
By Karine Danielian

SAAKASHVILI-YUSHCHENKO “BORJOMI DECLARATION”: EUROPE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE CASPIAN
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Monday, August 15, 2005 — Volume 2, Issue 159
On August 12 in Borjomi, Georgia, Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili
of Georgia and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine signed a declaration
broadening the horizon of European and Euro-Atlantic integration to
the entire “Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian” area, and called on the leaders
of all countries within this area who share that vision to create a
Community of Democratic Choice. Saakashvili and Yushchenko propose
holding a founding summit of the heads of state of this Community
this autumn in Ukraine.
In his remarks at the signing ceremony, Saakashvili noted that the
Borjomi spa resort had in its time been frequented by members of
Russia’s imperial family and later by leading figures in the Soviet
hierarchy. “Not even in their worst nightmares could they have
imagined that an independent Georgia and independent Ukraine would
exist, let alone sign in this very place a declaration on promoting
freedom,” he commented (Imedi TV, August 12). As if to accentuate
the symbolism, Russian forces had only days earlier passed by Borjomi
while withdrawing from Georgia to Russia.
The Borjomi Declaration notes that the Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian area,
“which belongs in Europe,” has a unique potential to offer to Europe
in terms of human resources, energy supplies, and access from Europe
to Asia. Thus, democracy and stability in the Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian
area is a condition to stability and security in Europe as a whole. A
Community of Democratic Choice in this area can become a major factor
in “freeing our region from all remaining lines of division, from
violations of human rights, from frozen conflicts, opening a new era
of democracy” in this area in the interests of “the whole of Europe,
from the Atlantic to the Caspian Sea.” Thus, the vision of Europe
from the Atlantic to the Caspian forms the core of this initiative.
Pledging to “conduct policies in Ukraine and Georgia based on
those principles,” Yushchenko and Saakashvili jointly invite the
leaders of all the countries in the region to become co-founders of a
Community of Democratic Choice, with a view to turning the Baltic-Black
Sea-Caspian area into a “fully integrated region of Europe and of the
Atlantic community.” The European Union and Russia (both referenced as
“close neighbors” to the area in the document) and the United States
(defined as exponent of democracy) are invited to endorse this regional
undertaking by attending the founding summit as observers.
The declaration is cautiously formulated so as to steer clear of
irritating Russia and to avoid any suggestion that certain countries
in the region are being asked to choose between Russia and the West.
For similar reasons, but also for political consensus building
in the region, the document refrains from mentioning NATO or the
anti-terrorism coalition. (Although many countries in the region
are NATO members or aspirants and anti-terrorism coalition members,
a few are not). Thus, the document’s emphasis falls overwhelmingly
on unexceptionable democratic values.
Saakashvili had initially proposed holding the regional summit in Yalta
to underscore the demise of the Yalta system of division of Europe and
the need to consolidate freedom in what used to be Moscow’s sphere of
influence (“Time for a Return to Yalta,” Washington Post, May 10). The
Ukrainian-Georgian declaration, however, does not mention Yalta
either for symbolism (as Saakashvili did with reference to Borjomi
in his own remarks) or as a possible venue for the proposed regional
summit. This caution clearly reflects the Ukrainian leadership’s
concern to improve its relations with Moscow and Russian voters in
Ukraine during the parliamentary election campaign, which will be in
full swing in Ukraine by the time the summit convenes there.
Rather than hosting a Yalta-demise summit in Crimea, therefore,
Yushchenko announced in Borjomi that he would soon be hosting a
Soviet-nostalgia event with Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Crimea to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the
Soviet “pioneers” camp in Artek (Imedi TV, August 12). The Community
of Democratic Choice founding summit will, in any case, also mark an
“end to the history of division in Europe, of domination by force and
by fear, and mark a new beginning of neighborly relations based on
mutual respect, confidence, transparency” ().
With Georgia as initiator, the Georgian-Ukrainian declaration is the
first interstate public document to use the term “Europe from the
Atlantic to the Caspian” and to sketch, if only in broad outline,
a concept to substantiate this vision.
–Vladimir Socor

GEORGIAN OFFICIAL VISITS AKHALKALAK TO INTRODUCE PROGRAM ON RESETTLEMENT OF MESKHETIAN TURKS
Armenpress
AKHALKALAK, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS: Georgian state minister for
conflict resolution and the head of the Georgian president-affiliated
state commission on Meskhetian Turks re-settlement Georgi Khaindrava
visited August 14 Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia with predominantly
Armenian population to introduce the state program for re-settlement
of Meskhetian Turks to Georgia.
A-INFO news agency reported that during the meeting with
representatives of Javakhq NGOs G. Khaindrava noted that Georgia
has assumed a commitment on the implementation of the program for
re-settlement of the Meskhetian Turks and added that after becoming
Georgian citizens they may live in any part of Georgia.
Representatives of the Javakhq NGOs noted that Turks did not live in
today’s Armenian populated regions of Georgia – Akhalkalak, Ninotsminda
and Akhaltskha. They said no Javakhq resident will allow a Turk to
appear in there territory. If the country has assumed commitment to
re-settle the Turks they may settle them on the territory where they
used to live.