Azerbaijan: Does Wahhabism Pose A Threat?
RFE/RL Sunday
07 August 2005
By Liz Fuller
Addressing a 3 August conference in Baku on “Religion and National
Security,” Rafik Aliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijani government’s
Committee for Work with Religious Formations, warned that the increased
activity of “Wahhabis,” meaning members of radical and/or unregistered
Islamic groups, poses a threat to political stability in Azerbaijan in
the run-up to the 6 November parliamentary elections. Reports of at
least one, possibly two National Security Ministry operations against
Wahhabis in recent weeks would seem to substantiate Aliyev’s apprehension.
The first such crackdown took place on the night of 12-13 July, when
National Security Ministry personnel raided the village of Novkhany near
Baku, killing two “armed Wahhabis” and arresting six others. Some 30
more suspected Wahhabi sympathizers were apprehended in the district in
the following days, day.az reported on 4 August, quoting the father of
Emil Novruzov, one of the young men in question.
Also on 4 July, the National Security Ministry refuted media reports
that its operatives arrested 11 Wahhabis during a raid on a Baku mosque
the previous day and are monitoring attendance at several other mosques.
In the wake of the July arrests, Azerbaijani Deputy Interior Minister
Vilayat Eyubov was quoted by day.az as saying that he does not believe
the situation in Azerbaijan is conducive to the spread of Wahhabism. “I
do not believe that they will be able to put down roots in Azerbaijan
and attain their desired [objective],” he was quoted as saying. At the
same time, Eyubov admitted that there is a constant flow of information
about suspected Wahhabi sympathizers, and that information is
systematically evaluated.
In contrast, popular Imam Ilgar Ibrahimoglu believes that Wahhabism does
indeed pose a danger for Azerbaijan. Ibrahimoglu told zerkalo.az that
“it is no secret to anyone that radical Wahhabi groups have been active
in Azerbaijan for several years,” and that there is no indication of a
weakening of that trend. Ibrahimoglu attributed the appeal of Wahhabism
to the lack of democracy, frequent human rights violations, and the
authorities’ clumsy repression of less radical but unregistered
religious communities. (Ibrahimoglu’s own Djuma Mosque in Baku has been
subjected to repeated pressure and harassment over the past two years.)
Parliament deputy Ramiz Akhmedov blamed the growing popularity of
radical Islam on the “primitive, 19th-century” approach of the
officially registered Muslim clergy that, he claimed, alienates
believers and impels them to seek “pure Islam,” zerkalo.az reported on
18 January. Some, Akhmedov continued, opt for Shi’a Islam, some for
Sunni Islam, and others for a third alternative that he did not name.
Adherents of radical Islam then seek to take advantage of young
believers’ interest in studying the fundamentals of their faith. And
supplying such knowledge has apparently become a major industry:
Akhmedov pointed out that religious literature is freely available both
in Baku and elsewhere, written in contemporary Azerbaijani and printed
in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
According to zerkalo.az on 4 August, Wahhabism has taken root above all
in the northern and central districts of Azerbaijan, and in Baku. That
geographical pattern suggest that Wahhabism first penetrated from
Daghestan, which borders on Azerbaijan to the north. So-called Wahhabis
in several remote villages challenged the Daghestani authorities in
1999, and the Russian media consistently blame Islamic fundamentalists
for the almost daily terrorist bombings and killings in that republic.
The online daily echo-az.com similarly registered a strong Wahhabi
presence in northern Azerbaijan, but in an article on 18 January
entitled “The ‘Wahhabization’ of Azerbaijan is continuing,” it claimed
that there is also a Wahhabi presence in the south of the country. The
same article listed other ways in which young Azerbaijani believers are
exposed to radical Islam: when studying theology abroad, and while on
pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Former Deputy National Security Minister Sulhaddin Akper enumerated
various ways in which the Azerbaijani authorities could counter Wahhabi
propaganda: by raising the level of religious education, screening more
stringently applications from persons wishing to perform the hajj, and
lodging a formal protest with the government of Saudi Arabia, which is
perceived as an exporter of radical Islam. Akper said it is up to both
the Foreign Ministry and Azerbaijan’s official religious bodies to take
appropriate action.
But according to the government’s Committee for Work with Religious
Formations Chairman Aliyev, the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus (UMK),
instead of acting to avert the subversion of Islam in Azerbaijan by
radical tendencies, is actively encouraging them. Aliyev claimed in
mid-July that on two occasions within the previous three months, state
customs officials have intercepted and confiscated consignments of
radical Islamic literature addressed to the UMK. Aliyev said the first
consignment of books weighed 14 tons and the second 10 tons.
But UMK officials claimed that the literature in question was in Arabic,
Uzbek, and Kazakh, and was intended for shipment to Uzbekistan. They
said the consignments were sent to Baku “by mistake.” On 4 August,
Caucasus Press quoted Aliyev as saying customs officials intercepted a
further consignment of radical literature two days earlier, and that
such shipments are sent to Azerbaijan via Turkey and Georgia.
Speaking at the 3 August conference on “Religion and National Security,”
Aliyev said that he thinks the recent arrests of “Wahhabis” were
justified, according to zerkalo.az on 4 August. He called for “serious”
work to explain government policy to the leaders of religious
communities in the run-up to the 6 November election.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh gets new composition of main electoral body
Arminfo
8 Aug 05
Yerevan, 8 August: New members of the Central Electoral Commission [CEC] of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] have been appointed.
NKR President Arkadiy Gukasyan has recently appointed Sergey Nasibyan as CEC
chairman, Seyran Ayrapetyan as CEC deputy chairman and the chief specialist of
the department for state and legal issues under the NKR security council
staff, Karen Sagiyan, as CEC member, an Arminfo correspondent reports from
Stepanakert .
The central council of the Free Motherland Party appointed Samvel Arakelyan,
head of the staff of the party, and Inga Sarkisyan, a clerk of the party, as
members of the CEC.
The central council of the Democratic Party of Artsakh [Nagornyy Karabakh]
endorsed Raya Nazaryan as secretary of the CEC. Semen Afiyan, head of the
protocol section of the NKR Foreign Ministry, was appointed CEC member.

Hovnanian buys Florida homebuilder

By John Spence
MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:04 PM ET Aug. 8, 2005

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. said Monday it
acquired the assets of First Home Builders of Florida for an
undisclosed amount of cash.
Hovnanian, based in Red Bank, N.J., said the purchase of the privately
held homebuilder will augment its presence in western Florida.
Last year, First Home Builders delivered 1,819 homes and revenue of
$308 million, Hovnanian said. At the end of July, the Cape Coral,
Fla., homebuilder had a backlog of about 4,350 homes with a sales
value of $925 million.
Last week, Hovnanian said it acquired nearly all the homebuilding
assets of Ohio-based Oster Homes.
Earlier in the year, Hovnanian also acquired two other privately held
homebuilders with operations in Florida: Cambridge Homes and Town &
Country Homes.
“We have targeted further investment in Florida because the regulatory
process in the state is lengthening, which is constricting the supply
of land available for homebuilding,” said Ara Hovnanian, chief
executive.
“At the same time, population growth and job growth in Florida are
creating sustained demand for new homes,” Hovnanian added.
The company said it anticipates the acquisition of First Home Builders
will add about 5 cents a share to fiscal 2005 earnings.
Shares of Hovnanian lost 5.5% to $62 on Monday.
John Spence is a reporter for MarketWatch in Boston.

Reuters, UK
Aug 8 2005
NEWSMAKER-UN envoy accused in Iraq probe known for bluntness
Tuesday 9 August 2005, 8:13pm EST

By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8, (Reuters) – Veteran U.N. official Benon Sevan,
accused of getting kickbacks in the oil-for-food program he headed,
is a larger-than-life figure who once called himself the most
“politically incorrect person in the U.N.”
On Monday, he was accused by a U.N.-established panel of
investigators of receiving nearly $150,000 for steering oil contracts
to relatives of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
He has vigorously denied the charges.
Sevan, 67, a Cypriot of Armenian descent, was chosen to direct the
oil-for-food program after a distinguished 40-year career with the
world body in which he was involved in some of the most intractable,
and often dangerous, world crises.
A big man with white hair and dark eyebrows, Sevan was admired by
colleagues for an ability to solve problems fast, his blunt retorts
and a store of anecdotes for all occasions, told in rapid-fire
heavily-accented English.
He once jokingly said his outspokenness made him the most
“politically incorrect person in the United Nations.”
The report on Monday from the Independent Inquiry Committee, headed
by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, alleged that
Sevan received received wads of $100 bills in illicit payments after
his personal finances were hurt when he was swindled in a stock
fraud.
>From 1998 to 2001, he sought oil allocations from Iraq for the
African Middle East Petroleum firm, owned by Egyptian Fakhry
Abdelnour, a cousin of Boutros-Ghali, the report said.
This firm transferred $580,000 to the account of Fred Nadler, the
brother of Boutros-Ghali’s wife Leia, the report said. Of this
amount, Nadler deposited in cash $147,184 to the New York bank
accounts of Sevan, the report said.
Sevan drew down his New York bank accounts in 1996 and 1997 to buy
$180,000 in stocks at a time the market was booming, the report said,
adding that borrowed on an equity line of credit and took a cash
advance on his credit card.
Rather than take any money out, he reinvested it. But by the end of
1998, his stock portfolio had plummeted by more than half, due in
part to his becoming ensnared in a securities fraud scam carried out
by four executives of the D.H. Blair brokerage firm. The executives
later pleaded guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud and
collusion to fix stock prices.
FINANCES STRETCHED THIN
>From mid-1997 through November 1998, Sevan’s income was “frequently
stretched thin from the monthly burden of funding two residences,
debt obligations, credit card charges and related living expenses,”
said the report by the panel, led by Former U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Paul Volcker.
“In short, Mr. Sevan’s personal financial condition was precarious at
the time he became executive director of the Office of the Iraq
Program in October 1997. It remained so when he traveled to Iraq to
ask Oil Minister (Amer) Rashid for an oil allocation in June 1998,”
the Volcker report said.
Raised by an aunt in Cyprus, Sevan, who is married and has one
daughter, studied ancient Greek philosophy at New York’s Columbia
University before joining the United Nations in 1965.
In his long U.N. career he served in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi,
Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia and Lebanon and in myriad jobs at U.N.
headquarters in New York, including security coordinator and Security
Council administrator.
In Iraq, he narrowly survived the bombing of U.N. headquarters in
August 2003, leaving the office of Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello,
the mission chief, to smoke a cigar minutes before the blast, which
killed 22 people.
It was left to Sevan to recite Vieira de Mello’s dying words —
“Don’t pull the mission out!” — as his body was carried aboard a
Brazilian presidential plane at Baghdad airport for his last journey
home.
Sevan was named in October 1997 to run the oil-for-food program under
which Iraq, squeezed by international sanctions imposed for its 1990
invasion of Kuwait, was allowed to sell oil to buy goods for its
people.
“He was considered tough and unsentimental and knew the political
game,” said one envoy. Key Security Council members, like the United
States, went along with the appointment.

The New Anatolian
Aug 8 2005
Swiss Senate: Leave Armenian question to historians
ANKARA – A Swiss House of Representative banning the rejection of the
so-called Armenian genocide damaged relations between Turkey and
Switzerland. Taking Turkish reactions into consideration, the Senate
decides to leave the subject to experts.
‘The genocide claims will never be an issue for the Swiss Senate,’
says Swiss foreign affairs committee President Briner. He says that
other countries ‘have no business pointing the finger at Turkey, 90
years after the disputed events’
The Swiss Senate will not debate or make any decision related to the
Armenian genocide, said the president of the Senate foreign affairs
committee, Peter Briner in a statement on Saturday, a move decidedly
opposite to that of the Swiss House of Representatives who recognized
the So-called genocide in 2003.
The controversial events of the early 20th century between the
dissolving Ottoman Empire and its Armenian minority “will never be an
issue for the Swiss Senate,” Briner was quoted as saying by
Swissinfo.
Briner said that other countries had no business pointing the finger
at Turkey 90 years after the disputed events.
Noting that the foreign affairs committee had decided that the death
or deportation of Armenians between 1915 and 1919 would not be the
subject of a plenary session, Briner said the committee agreed with
the government that it was not Parliament’s job to decide on the
whether the events constituted genocide.
The Armenians’ claims have been recognized as truth by the
parliaments of several countries, including Canada, France, Russia
and Italy.
Although Switzerland’s House of Representatives recognized the
so-called genocide a few years ago, the Swiss government however does
not officially speak of “genocide” but rather of “mass deportations”
and “massacres.”
Briner said that the committee believed that it was more important
for the parties involved, namely Turkey and Armenia, to reach an
agreement.
Support for PM Erdogan’s proposal
Briner, backing the earlier proposal by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, said that a mixed commission of historians should “work
through the terrible events,” just as Switzerland had reappraised its
history during the World War II.
Attempts by international scholars to determine once and for all what
really happened between 1915 and 1919 have never got much further
than agreeing on which two peoples were involved.
In June, Alev Kilic, the Turkish ambassador in Bern, told Swissinfo
that during Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey’s visit to Turkey in
March, her counterpart Abdullah Gul talked about establishing a
commission of historians from both sides and opening all files and
archives.
“Of course the proposal was also made to the Armenian government, but
we can’t establish anything without their agreement,” Kilic said. “We
have still not received a positive reply.”
Genocide decision shadow over Turkish-Swiss relations
The decision by the Swiss House of Representatives recognizing the
so-called genocide greatly damaged relations between Turkey and
Switzerland. Another of their decisions which bans the rejection of
the so-called Armenian genocide only throws fuel on the fire.
At the end of July, the Swiss ambassador in Ankara was forced to
deflect a barrage of diplomatic flak concerning the Swiss
investigation of a Turkish politician who had proffered revisionist
views about the Armenian genocide in 1915.
Last Friday Turkish authorities announced the indefinite postponement
of a visit to Turkey by Swiss Finance Minister Joseph Deiss scheduled
for September, citing agenda problems of his Turkish counterpart.
During the First Woorld War years the Armenians rioted against the
Istanbul Government in order to establish an Armenian State. The riot
caused an ethnic conflict and more than 520,000 Turks were massacred
by the Armenian armed groups while many Armenians were also killed or
died due to the clashes and war circumstances.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

New Straits Times, Malaysia
Aug 9 2005
COVER STORY: Colour of quiet melancholy
RUHAYAT X

Laurent Achedjian travels the world to snap stories. RUHAYAT X talks
to the photographer who can bring even the stiffest dummies to life,
about his points of interest and inspiration.
IF a Martian were to land in Malaysia, what would he/she/it notice
the most about this little world we have here? While we wait for the
apocalyptic big bang denoting the start of an old-fashioned alien
invasion a la Steven Spielberg’s dreary War of the Worlds, I suppose
we’ll just have to go for the next best thing – ask a Belgian who has
never been here before.
“What I notice the most about Singapore and here is the colours.
There is a lot of colour around, a lot of yellows and reds,” Laurent
Achedjian helpfully offers. “But sometimes I wonder if that is really
what this place is all about, or just something that I see because
that’s what I look out for.
“For example, here’s a shot I took in a fabric store in Singapore. I
was drawn to the layers and layers of colours and textures, and this
is something new to me. But to you it might be too obvious.”
Indeed, my immediate reaction to the shot was, “So what?” It’s a
scene we have seen so many times that we have become somewhat
desensitised to its inherent beauty. Compounding this is the context:
whereas Achedjian approaches the fabric store with the sense of
wonder of seeing something for the first time, we locals associate
the scene with a commodity, a place where we go to buy things.
Hence, our perception is influenced by our intent. This is where the
lens of a photographer makes its biggest contribution. It can take
even the most mundane objects and make those seem heavenly.
Browsing through his portfolio, it is obvious that Achedjian (left)
has an eye for capturing details, highlighting things that we’d miss
or take for granted.
One photograph which he’d taken in New York, for example, juxtaposes
the seriousness of a news bulletin against a backdrop of the faux
happy life promoted by the typical decadent billboard, forging a new
narrative that tells more about the place in a single frame than
seems reasonable.
In another, he somehow manages to see past the riot of billboards in
a typical Los Angeles neighbourhood to tie them together like
coherent paragraphs of a short story. What drew him to the
composition initially, he says, was the larger-than-life Marlboro Man
in the background. From there he traced out the threads and framed
his story.
Achedjian walks around with his mind fully open to possibilities.
This could be due partly to his journalistic training, which teaches
one to always be aware of one’s surroundings, particularly the
periphery which may add far more interesting details than the main
focus.
He started out in journalism at the University of Brussels because
going to university was “something you had to do, because everyone
else is doing it.” During the course he discovered that journalism
was quite different from what he thought it would be. It wasn’t until
his trip to the US that he discovered his true calling.
“Photography found me,” is how Achedjian puts it. His vacation after
completing his degree was supposed to only be for six months. He
ended up staying in America for the next five years, leaving only
because his visa had run out and he was unable to obtain a work
permit.
“After a couple of months in New York I discovered that I enjoyed it
very much. So I began thinking of ways for me to stay there a bit
longer. I thought, why don’t I take a degree course? I looked around
for a suitable course to take, and decided to do photography.”
Adjusting to a foreign culture is not something unusual for
Achedjian, whose Armenian grandparents had been living in Istanbul in
the early 20th century. They migrated to Belgium to escape
persecution by the revolutionary Turkish government.
“Belgium just seemed a quieter place,” he says, by way of explaining
his ancestors’ somewhat unusual choice of destination. Most Armenians
went to southern France or South America, he says.
His grandmother passed away last year, and he wistfully notes that he
doesn’t know much about who they are or where they had come from.
“They might as well be in the flea market,” he remarks, alluding to
series of pictures he had snapped of previously-cherished family
heirlooms placed for sale in flea markets. The sense of sadness at
pieces of personal history being auctioned away is palpable in his
shots.
If there is one thing that seems to tie his disparate works together,
it is his sense of colour. A flip through his portfolio shows shot
after shot of delicious candy palettes with the contrast pushed
almost to saturation.
“Yeah, what happens is that most of these were still taken from
negatives, rather than digital. I shoot in all kinds of format. And
then they are scanned in and enhanced in Photoshop. No collage or
anything – I play on the colour to make everything seem hyper-real.
But it’s never a drastic change.”
A recurring theme in his compositions is melancholy. Even in
brightly-coloured frames of subjects caught in the throes of
celebration, you can still detect a hint of sadness. As the
photographer had mused previously, you wonder if this what is out
there in the world, or merely the way that Achedjian views the world
around him.
A particularly wonderful image is one of a man dressed in RuPaul-like
drag which Achedjian captured at a gay parade in New York. The man is
standing in the middle of the celebrations of a community which he
must have chosen to be in, dressed in the most colourful dressage,
yet the forlorn gaze in his eyes seems to hint that he feels he
doesn’t quite belong there. The happy context surrounding him only
serves to make his sadness even more intriguing.
“I like to play with personality. How they feel inside. If it’s a
direct smiling face, then I’m not interested,” he says. The man’s
melancholy was in fact what had drawn him in the first place.
Such juxtapositions are indeed Achedjian’s forte. He manages to
capture the discordance with apparent ease. Yet, while he is
intrigued by personality, he says he is more comfortable with
objects, icons and symbols. Sometimes, he even treats the human
subjects in his pictures as mere objects.
He also professes a fondness for what he calls “fake nature”,
man-made environments or things. An example of this is his amazing
ongoing series on store mannequins.
The mannequins are not posed, yet through his lens, they acquire a
distinct personality and become beings with individual attitudes.
Enough to make you believe that at the end of each working day, these
statues have a family they go home to!
Also, his camera provides the fascinating suggestion that mannequin
“personality” and “attitude” differs according to geographical
location. In New York, they are more serious and reflective, whereas
in Singapore they seem happier and openly expressive, in facial
expressions, body language and the clothes they “wear”.
Achedjian acknowledges the sense of amazement. “You can get the
personality out of the mannequins through the context they are
sitting in,” he says, laughing out loud when it was suggested that
one mannequin looked cool. “You just need to get the right angle to
it,” he says modestly.
To date, his works are sold in a limited edition series of three
prints only.
“I’m not yet a famous photographer. I asked the art gallery and they
advised me to make only three copies. They said I could always make
my art print and show it in exhibitions. Later, when I am more
well-known, maybe I can make more prints in each edition,” he
explains.
He once had a solo show in Paris titled “Uncertain Glamour” He found
out that he had to fill up a 20-metre-long space, so he dug up old
photos of his travels in the US.
“I wanted to show everything about the underbelly of America, from
kitsch to vanishing traditions, to show where the country has gone
and is going,” he says.
He passes me a postcard from that show. It has an image of a tattered
flag with red and white stripes fluttering in the wind.
It could have been a Malaysian flag, I say. If not for the water
towers, it could be passed off as a Malaysian scene. Achedjian
smiles. “Yes. I was thinking that also. Maybe I can use this as a
marketing teaser or poster for a solo show here, bridging my time in
the US with my photos of Malaysia. Maybe I’ll talk to GaleriTaksu and
see. I’d love to come back here.”
In the photo, the evening sky is downcast, the setting sun rendering
the reds and yellows with a deep glow. You look at the scene and it
feels like someone had just died. And you think that it would be a
gorgeous show indeed.
Laurent Achedjian’s limited edition prints may be purchased through
GaleriTAKSU (tel: 03-4251-4396). The photographer’s catalogue may be
viewed on his website,

ArmenPress
Aug 8 2005
HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL STAFF MEETS CHINESE DEPUTY FM
YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, ARMENPRESS: Head of the Armenian presidential
staff, the co-chairman of the Armenian-Chinese inter-governmental
commission Artashes Tumanian met today with Chinese deputy foreign
affairs minister Chao Tsumkhua.
Armenian presidential press service said during the meeting A.
Tumanian said Armenia pays great attention to boosting the
Armenian-Chinese relations. The sides noted that bilateral relations
are developing quite dynamically and are based on high-level
political dialogue and mutual understanding.
They said the visit of the Armenian president to China in
September, 2004 has promoted the development of bilateral relations.
Saying that Armenian-Chinese relations have great future, the sides
underscored the work of the inter-governmental commission the next
session of which will take place in fall in Beijing. They noted that
in some spheres of economy they have already been implementing a set
of joint programs.

The Times, UK
Aug 8 2005
>From rags to riches to ruined reputation
>From James Bone in New York and Michael Theodoulou in Nicosia

BENON SEVAN, a United Nations official who served in Afghanistan and
Iraq, allegedly took kickbacks after losing money in a stock fraud.
The investigation of the Oil-for-Food scandal, chaired by Paul
Volcker, blamed Mr Sevan’s `precarious personal financial condition’
yesterday for his decision to accept almost $150,000 (£84,000) in
1998 and 2002.
Mr Sevan earned $129,524 (£72,600) when he took over the Oil-For-Food
programme in 1997. His wife, Micheline, made $69,243 (£38,800) as an
assistant at the UN’s department of economic and social affairs.
The couple owned a house in Long Island, rented a flat in Manhattan
and had savings of less than $5,000 in their New York bank accounts.
But in 1996 Mr Sevan bought shares worth $180,000 using money from an
equity line of credit and taking a cash advance on his credit card.
His investment lost more than half of its value, partly because of a
stock fraud that led to the conviction of four brokers. From December
1996 to October 1998, Mr Sevan’s bank account was overdrawn 45 times
and his wife’s account was in the red 153 times.
A Cypriot-Armenian, Mr Sevan is in Cyprus, which does not extradite
its citizens.
Mr Sevan’s mother, Verginia, was a teenager when she gave birth out
of wedlock. She was cast out by her family and his father is
understood to have refused to recognise him.Mr Sevan was supported by
his mother’s three sisters as he studied at the prestigious Melkonian
Educational Institute in Nicosia.
He went on to win a scholarship to Columbia University in New York
before joining the UN.
Mr Sevan maintains his innocence and claims to have received $160,000
in cash gifts from an aunt, Berdjouhi Zeitountsian, a retired civil
servant. She died last year aged 84 after falling down a lift shaft.

ArmenPress
Aug 8 2005
MEDIEVAL ARMENIAN MONASTERY FOUND IN KYRGYZTAN
BISHKEK, AUGUST 8, ARMENPRESS: A group of paleontologists from
Kyrgyztan’s Slavonic University found a medieval Armenian monastery
on the shore of Issyk-Kul lake, ITAR-TASS reported.
Alexander Kamishev, the leader of the group, said “We have heard
about the “Catalonian Map” which was formed by Venice traders
traveling by Silk road. In the map it was noted that on the shore of
Issyk-Kul there is an Armenian monastery under walls of which ashes
of apostle Matthews were buried.” He said the monastery was built in
14th century.
“We think that the monastery has three storeys but the two are
under ground, just in a way Armenian medieval monasteries were
built,” said Kamishev, noting that the “Catalonian map” is a “true
map” and with its help they will also manage to find the relics of
apostle Matthews.

ARKA News Network
Aug 8 2005
ARMENIA ATTACHES SPECIAL IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF TIES WITH CHINA
YEREVAN, August 8. /ARKA/. Armenia attaches special importance to
deepening its friendly ties with China, Head of the RA Presidential
Administration, Co-Chairman of the Armenian-Chinese Intergovernmental
Commission Artashes Tumanyan stated at his meeting with Special
Representative of the Chinese Government, Chinese Deputy Foreign
Minister Chao Zhunkhuai. The sides pointed out that since the
establishment of diplomatic relations Armenian-Chinese cooperation
based on a high-level political dialogue has been dynamically
developing.
The sides also pointed out the key role of RA President Robert
Kocharyan’s visit to China in 2004. Expressing the confidence that
the bilateral relations are greatly promising, the sides pointed out
the importance of the activities of the bilateral intergovernmental
commission, which is to hold its regular meeting in Beijing this
autumn. The sides also expressed satisfaction over successful joint
program in some economic sectors. P.T. -0–