I-Newswire.com (press release)
March 23 2005

UNICEF Applauds Armenian Ratification of CRC Optional Protocol on the
Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan today signed the Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, ratified by the
National Assembly of Armenia on 28 February 2005.

i-Newswire, 2005-03-24 – ~SThe commercial sexual exploitation of
children is a horrific crime and an intolerable violation of child
rights,~T says Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative in Armenia. ~SThe
ratification of this Protocol is a major step forward in the campaign
to protect the children of this country from sexual exploitation and
abuse. With its ratification, Armenia joins a transnational
partnership to tackle this global crime.~T

The Protocol applies to children under the age of 18 and obliges
ratifying countries to take measures to prevent, investigate and
punish cases of sexual exploitation and sale of children and provide
victims with proper counseling and rehabilitation.
~SUNICEF estimates that over one million children worldwide enter the
multi-billion dollar commercial sex trade every year, though accurate
statistics are hard to come by given the clandestine nature of this
industry, says Yett. ~SIt is clear that this is a global scourge,
affecting every country in the world, including Armenia.~T
These exploited children are at increased risk of violence, drug
abuse, and disease ~V including HIV/AIDS. The damage endures long
after the violations; sexually exploited children suffer harm ~V
sexual, physical and emotional ~V that can last a lifetime.
The Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and
child pornography was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on 25 May
2000. Armenia~Rs ratification brings the total number of ratifying
countries up to 88.
~SWe will continue to support the Government of Armenia in its efforts
to build a protective environment for children, including the
measures required as a result of this ratification,~T says Yett. ~SThe
National Assembly is now considering the second Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which addresses the
involvement of children in armed conflict. We urge its speedy
ratification.~T
###

UNICEF began working in Armenia in 1994. UNICEF is mandated by the UN
General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children~Rs rights,
to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to
meet their full potential.

For further information:
Emil Sahakyan, Communication Officer, UNICEF Yerevan, tel: ( +374 1 ) 523 546
[email protected]
Angela Hawke, UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS, tel: ( +41 22 ) 909 5433

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GOMIDAS INSTITUTE: IT WOULD BE UNWISE TO SUPPORT EFFORTS TO DENY AUTHENTICITY OF BLUE BOOK

LONDON, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Turkish Parliamentarians are
preparing to formally challenge the authenticity of the 1916 British
Parliamentary Blue Book on the Armenian Genocide, the Gomidas Institute
(UK) reported. As part of their formal challenge, they intend to send a
delegation to make representations to the Houses of Parliament. Deniz
Baykal, the leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
has already met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss
denying the Armenian Genocide. The chief target in the latest denial
efforts is an assault on the 1916 British Parliamentary Blue Book, The
Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916. “The proposed
Turkish programme to deny the Armenian Genocide in London should be
taken seriously,” the Gomidas Institute’s statement asserted. The
institute is the publisher of the only critical edition of the
Blue Book, as well as dozens of other publications on the Armenian
Genocide. A new edition of The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire 1915-1916. [Uncensored Edition] will be released shortly by
the institute. In the introduction to that critical edition, historian
Ara Sarafian notes that the facts covered by the Blue Book have been
corroborated by the records of other national archives, including
those of the United States. Indeed, the Gomidas Institute has just
published a critical collection of those documents, United States
Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917. The existence
of this critical literature suggests that it would be unwise for
Erdogan’s government or other Turkish Parliamentarians to support
Mr. Baykal’s efforts to deny the authenticity of the Blue Book. The
Parliamentary Blue Book has integrity that has withstood critical
examination. Indeed, those inclined to criticise this work would be
well advised to read its content before discussing it. The Gomidas
Institute is an independent academic institution dedicated to modern
Armenian studies.

IT’S PLANNED TO FUNDAMENTALLY REPAIR 7 CULTURAL CENTERS THIS YEAR IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. It’s planned to fundamentally repair
7 cultural centers at the expense of the state resources in 2005
in Armenia. According to the Press Service of RA Ministry of Urban
Development, sum-total in the amount of 409.1m drams (nearly $800
thousand) will be allocated from the state budget for the purpose of
fundamental repairs of cultural centers. 130m drams out of this sum
will be allocated for fundamental repairs of 3 entities in marzes. To
recap, nearly $42m and $31m are necessary for repair and construction
of nearly 900 cultural centers in 2004-2008 in Armenia, respectively.
It’s planned to finance the repairs both from state resources and
with the assistance of international donor organizations. 60 houses
of culture have been repaired with financing of different sources
recently in Armenia.

Brief Overview of Armenia’s Energy Sector; Key Contacts in Armenia’s
Health Care and Pharmaceutical Sectors

BISNIS Armenia Update
23 March 2005

Contents:
1. Now on the BISNIS web site
2. Press Release: New World Bank Project in Armenia
3. News Items on Armenia
4. Grant Announcement – Armenia-US Bilateral Science Grants

**************************************************************
New Reports on the BISNIS and State Dept web sites:

— Brief Overview of Armenia’s Energy Sector

— Armenia: Commercial News Summary
wsam.htm

— Key Contacts in Armenia’s Health Care and Pharmaceutical Sectors

— Armenia: Consular Information Sheet
/cis_1141.html

********************************** ****************************
World Bank Supports Improvement of Water and Wastewater Services in Yerevan

WASHINGTON, February 24, 2005.

The World Bank’s Board today approved an International Development
Association (IDA) credit of US$20 million for the Yerevan Water and
Wastewater Project (YWWP). The credit will assist the Armenian
Government in its efforts to improve Yerevan’s water and wastewater
system by continuing and expanding accomplishments achieved under a
previous IDA-financed Municipal Development Project (MDP).

The YWWP will help provide Yerevan with safe, continuous water supply
while reducing environmental pollution. This is the third IDA-financed
water and wastewater project in Armenia. The World Bank also financed
the initial Municipal Development Project to support Yerevan’s Water and
Sanitation Company (YWSC) and a more recent (FY04) Municipal Water and
Wastewater Project for Armenia’s medium and small-sized cities.

“Because of Government’s visionary leadership of the Armenian water
sector, and diligent efforts by all project participants, significant
improvements have been made in Yerevan’s water service since the first
project began in 1998,” said Brian Steven Smith, head of the World Bank
team designing the YWWP.”Much work still remains of course, and we look
forward to continued improvement during implementation of the new project.”

The Project benefits directly from Yerevan’s successful experience with
a management contractor recruited under the MDP. For the YWWP,
Government will increase private sector involvement and competitively
recruit an operator for YWSC under a lease contract. The Project will
finance investments in YWSC during the first five years of the lease.

The Project has two components: a YWWP Fund and Technical Assistance.
The YWWP Fund will finance investments undertaken by the water utility
operator during implementation, which will yield energy savings,
improved reliability of supply, and reduction of environmental
pollution. The Technical Assistance component will fund interim
operational management of YWSC, project financial and technical audits,
and incremental operating expenses.

The Credit will be made to Armenia on standard IDA terms, including 40
years maturity and a 10-year grace period.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments to
Armenia total approximately US$ 860 million for 38 operations.

For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Armenia, please
visit:

**************************************************************
News Items

NEW ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON APPOINTED

Armenian President Robert Kocharian appointed Tatul Markarian on 19
March as Armenia’s new ambassador to the United States, Mediamax
reported. The 41-year-old Markarian previously served as a senior
Armenian diplomat in Washington for four years in the mid-1990s and has
been a deputy foreign minister since June 2000. He has significant
experience in mediation talks with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. RG
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, 21 March 2005,

**************************************************************
Armenia posts twofold increase in mobile subscribers

RBC, 15.03.2005, Erevan 15:59:08.

As of January 1, 2005, the number of subscribers to mobile services
reached 203,309 compared to 111,118 at the beginning of 2003, the press
department of ArmenTel reported. In 2004, ArmenTel’s revenue from
providing mobile communications services advanced 46 percent to
EUR27.483m. This increase is due to the company focusing on the
development of mobile communications services. In 2004 the company
allocated 41.6 percent more funds for investments in the development of
mobile communications, which rose to EUR17.364m.

Source:

**************************************************************
NATIONAL FOUNDATION OF SCIENCE AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES (NFSAT) AND
U.S. CIVILIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (CRDF)

2005 ARMENIAN-U.S. BILATERAL GRANTS PROGRAM

The National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT) and
the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) announce
the fourth competition for the 2005 Armenian-U.S. Bilateral Grants
Program (BGP-IV).

The three primary goals of this program are to support high quality,
innovative research and development by establishing sustainable
U.S.-Armenian research collaborations, to provide an alternative to
emigration for Armenian scientists, and to fully employ former weapons
research scientists in civilian research.

This merit-based competition provides 18 to 24 months of support to
joint research teams of Armenian and U.S. scientists and engineers.
Joint proposals may be submitted for cooperation in civilian research
and development in all basic and applied sciences (see Appendix 1).

NFSAT and CRDF will give the highest priority to proposals that include
former weapons scientists and junior scientists, including undergraduate
and graduate students at Armenian universities, scientists who have
completed their Ph.D. or Kandidat degrees within the last six years, as
well as participants at institutes located outside Yerevan.

· All awards will be for collaboration between researchers of Armenia
and their counterparts in the United States.
· The Armenian Principal Investigator and all Armenian team members
must be citizens or permanent residents of the Republic of Armenia who
will reside in Armenia during the course of the grant period. The U.S.
Principal Investigator must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and
must reside in the U.S. during the course of the grant period.
· Applicants may request up to US$30,000 for an 18-24 month period.
At least 80% of total project costs must be designated for the Armenian
team and no more than 20% for the U.S. team.
· Applicants must submit original hardcopies of the proposal in
English and Armenian (or Russian) and electronic copies of the proposal
in English and Armenian (or Russian) to NFSAT and an electronic copy in
English to CRDF through the CRDF website.
· For explanatory purposes or for the sake of clarification, this
Program Announcement may be translated into one or more languages other
than English. In the event of the existence of such translations, the
English-language version shall serve as the definitive variant in
determining the interpretation of any provision of this Announcement.

The deadline for BGP proposals to be submitted to NFSAT and CRDF is 6:00
pm (local time in Armenia and the U.S. respectively) on May 16, 2005.
The competition results are expected to be announced on November 1,
2005. All decisions of NFSAT and CRDF are final.

For more information, go to

********** Forwarded by: ***************************
Ellen S. House, BISNIS Trade Specialist for Armenia
U.S. Department of Commerce
Tel: 202/482-2284, Fax: 202/482-2293

NEED FINANCING FOR A PROPOSED SALE TO EURASIA?
BISNIS FinanceLink helps U.S. companies find financing for export
transactions where a Eurasian buyer has already been identified.
For more information:

–Boundary_(ID_+3V/Un4SO24POxQ8pAt2aQ)–

Following December’s EU Summit, Turkey Forced to Reassess Issue of “Minorities”
By Jon Gorvett

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East
pages 48-49
March 2005 Issue

Talking Turkey

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER Recip Tayyip Erdogan certainly was not
exaggerating when he told the nation after December’s historic
European Union summit that “We have a difficult journey ahead of us,
littered with obstacles.” While Turkey now has a date to start EU
membership talks later this year, a whole string of tough issues
still waits to be resolved-and with nothing guaranteed on any side.

Yet while the difficulty of Turkey’s relationship with Cyprus grabbed
most of the worry-along with a skillfully obscured question mark over
the status of any “permanent” conditions on Turkey’s membership, such
as freedom of movement-one of the thorniest issues in the year ahead
is likely to be that of “minorities.”

This touches on a real raw nerve in Ankara and elsewhere in the
country, and already is causing a degree of outraged debate.

The issue concerns EU views of Turkey’s patchwork of religious,
linguistic and ethnic groups. While the nation’s Kurds are probably
the most well known of these, there are literally dozens of others
that are less high profile. These range from the Laz-the Black Sea
people who have their own language and culture-to the Yoruks,
originally nomadic people of the Anatolian steppes. There also are
many ethnic groups that arrived in Turkey during the rollback of the
Ottoman Empire, with Caucasians and Circassians, Slavs and Albanians
forming considerable groups, almost all of whom have also become
integrated with other Anatolian-based ethnicities. Ironically enough,
many of these groups were ethnically cleansed in the 18th, 19th and
20th centuries-from the Balkans in particular-because they had become
identified via their Muslim religion with “the Turks.”

Crosscutting through these ethnic identities, moreover, are religious
ones. There are a multiplicity of groups within Islam itself, in
addition to the major fault line of Shi’i and Sunni, with the
largest-and most problematic-of these others in Turkey being the
Alevis.

Indeed, some would argue that the division between the Alevis and
Sunnis is sufficiently wide for the Alevis not to be considered
Muslim at all. It is in this controversial area, too, that the EU has
recently jumped feet first.

In the lead up to the EU summit last December which fixed a date for
Turkey to start membership talks, the suggestion came from Brussels
that the Alevis should be considered a “minority.” In mathematical
terms, with anywhere between 5 million and 12 million Alevis in
Turkey, a country of around 60 million, a minority they clearly are.
But in Turkey, as elsewhere, the definition of “minority” has far
more political and social baggage attached to it than simple
statistics.

At the end of the conflict that led to the founding of modern Turkey,
back in the 1920s, the peace treaty that established the state’s
frontiers contained provision for the security of three officially
recognized “minorities”-the Armenians, Greeks and Jews. These were,
of course, religious groups as well as ethnic, representing the old
Ottoman Empire’s three largest non-Muslim communities. This
dovetailed with Ottoman administrative practice, which had always
used religion to define the status of its citizens.

Since then, all three official minorities have declined in numbers to
the point where the Greek community numbers no more than a couple of
thousand, the Armenians perhaps five times that and the Jews ten
times. The Greek community, in particular, became the whipping boy
for decades of antagonism between Greece and Turkey, with major
anti-Greek riots in the 1950s and 1960s causing much of the community
to emigrate. Given the widespread view that to be a Turk is also to
be a Muslim, most Muslim Turks view all three minorities with some
degree of suspicion. As a result of this-along with the tendency of
states such as Greece, Armenia and Israel to see these people as
overseas communities that should have some allegiance to them-they
often are seen as basically foreigners. Discrimination against them
has been commonplace over the years.

To be identified as a “minority,” therefore, is seen by many in
Turkey as highly negative. Rather than as a way of guaranteeing
cultural and educational rights and combating discrimination, it
often is seen as a form of alienation, division and a kind of
singling out. And Turkey’s history is replete with examples of why
being “singled out” is not a good thing. Likewise, the Turkish
Republic’s stated principle of unity has sometimes been a defense for
different religious groupings, who are able to point to shared
citizenship as a testament to their loyalty. As a result, some of the
loudest voices against the idea of the Alevis being a minority have
been Alevis themselves.

The Ambiguity of Alevism
Too, because of religion’s key role in the definition of minority,
this dispute also has focused on the argument over what Alevism
actually is. Here, the community has become divided, with some
arguing that it is quite a distinct religious position from Islam,
while others argue that it is a subset-either of Shi’i Islam, or a
combination of Shi’i and Anatolian animist beliefs that predate the
arrival of Islam.

The former idea is clearly the more risky, as it plays along with the
beliefs of many Sunnis that there was always something a bit dodgy
about the Alevis. They do not pray five times a day, do not go to
mosque, but instead to their own temple, known as a cemevi. They also
do not observe Ramadan and other mainstream Muslim festivals, while
they do celebrate days that look suspiciously like Christmas, Easter
and Epiphany, leading some to conclude that old Christian festivals
from pre-Islamic Anatolia have lived on with them. At the same time,
their women and men pray together and have no prohibition on alcohol.
They see Ali, rather than Mohammed, as the key figure in Islam,
linking them to Shi’ism, yet from this, too, they greatly differ.
They traditionally have voted for the left, and have provided the
country with some of its best-known and most radical secularists-both
bad marks for the traditionally right-wing Islamists, whose party now
runs the country.

Yet at the same time, it is also the idea that most strongly lays the
basis for defining the Alevis as a minority. Advocates argue that
this is the best way to counter discrimination, which for many Alevis
is very real. Even those who are opposed to the idea of minority
status concede that Alevism is marginalized and officially excluded.
While the country allows Jewish, Greek and Armenian schools, Alevis
go to state schools, where Sunni ideas are taught and their existence
denied. The community overall has a generally lower standard of
living, while the religion enjoys no official financial support,
unlike Sunni Islam, which is administered in Turkey via an official
government body.

The EU’s intervention in the issue may have mixed results, then.
Anything that appears to attack social unity-perceived as a denial of
difference-is widely frowned on. This is particularly true when it
comes from the Europeans, who, Turks are still taught, have long
sought to divide Turkey as a way of dominating it. Before the 1923
Treaty of Lausanne, which established the minorities, was the
never-implemented 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which saw the Ottoman Empire
carved up like a Thanksgiving Turkey by World War One’s victorious
Allied powers. The Europeans, many Turks still believe, have a
“Sèvres mentality.”

The road to EU membership, therefore, is sure to be a bumpy one.

Jon Gorvett is a free-lance journalist based in Istanbul.

–Boundary_(ID_1q5GJN+cU6XxIpE8D0uhdQ)–

Armenian president, migration chief note positive immigration trend

A1+ web site
23 Mar 05

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today met Gagik Yeganyan, chief
of the Migration and Refugees Department of the Armenian government.

Yeganyan said that the negative migration indicator is continuing to
fall in the republic. A positive indicator was already registered
last year: the number of people who arrived in Armenia exceeds the
number of those who left the country by 2,000.

The meeting also discussed the process of implementing a programme on
providing 760 refugee families with accommodation. The meeting also
touched on issues related to the legislative regulation of labour
migration and to reducing the scale of illegal migration.

Catholic World News
March 23 2005

Iraq: Easter under curfew

Baghdad, Mar. 23 (FIDES/CWNews.com) – Christians in Iraq will
celebrate Easter under a curfew, the Fides news service reports.

Chaldean, Armenian, Syrian and Latin Catholics in Baghdad will
celebrate Holy Week in a climate of apparent calm, but in a constant
state of tension and fear of violence and attacks.

A lay Catholic in Baghdad told Fides about the situation: “Services
for Holy Week and Easter will be in the mornings only because of the
curfew. This means we cannot hold the Easter Vigil Mass at night and
Easter will be very quiet. Many families are too afraid to go to
church. For us the situation is calm; there is tension among Muslim
groups but it does not affect Christians. However violence affects
everyone and is the cause of fear.”

“In northern Iraq it was a tradition for Catholics to take part in
Holy Week services at the various ancient Chaldean and Syrian
monasteries. But today most people are too afraid to go anywhere, or
let their children go to church. There will be less people at
services on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. People know their lives
are in danger all the time and this is deeply worrying. Even the
bishops fear violence and many prefer to live somewhere else rather
than at the bishop’s residence or the church.

“Nevertheless our hope was strengthened at the sight of smiling
children waving palms and singing on Palm Sunday in Baghdad. We hope
they will live in democracy, serenity, social harmony, freedom of
expression and religion. This is our prayer for Easter.”

>>From Rivalries to Dialogue
By Ana Palacio and Vasil Hudak

Moscow Times
March 24 2005

President Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Paris with EU leaders took
place as relations between the Russian Federation and its key Western
partners — the United States, the European Union and EU member
states — are at a new low. An increasing number of Western voices
are calling for much tougher policies toward Russia, including
possible exclusion from the Group of Eight. They point to the ongoing
centralization of political, economic and social life. This includes
the new appointment of regional governors and growing state pressure
on independent media and civil society institutions, as well as the
treatment of Yukos and recent changes in allocating licenses for
natural resources exploration.

For their part, Russia’s leaders feel betrayed and misunderstood by
the West. They stress that Putin’s main concern is to preserve
Russia’s territorial integrity at all costs. Moscow presents this as
the main underlying reason for consolidating influence over Russia’s
regions and for regaining control over the nation’s critical natural
resources. Only a strong and stable Russia, they argue, can be a
reliable and predictable partner for the West in addressing such
global challenges as international terrorism and the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, or in dealing with China.

These conflicting views are most obvious in the former Soviet Union.
Called the “European neighborhood” by Brussels and “near abroad” by
Moscow, this region is undergoing a profound change initiated by the
Rose and Orange Revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, respectively.
Pro-democracy changes in these countries are viewed in Moscow as part
of a Western plot to isolate Russia and to diminish its importance in
global affairs. Because of its symbolic value and ethnic ties, the
loss of influence in Ukraine is a particularly sensitive issue for
President Putin. The question “who is next?” can be felt in Moscow’s
corridors of power. At the same time, anti-Russian attitudes are
growing, from Moldova, where anti-Russian rhetoric has helped
Moldovan Communists stay in power, to Armenia, where traditionally
pro-Russian political leaders are switching to a pro-Western
position. Moscow is reluctantly realizing that its influence in the
former Soviet Union is decreasing as a new generation gradually
replaces old communist apparatchiks, and this new political class
dares to look for new approaches. However, Russia’s influence,
potentially both positive and negative, should not be underestimated.
It is a key economic partner for these countries and holds enough
cards through open or indirect military influence in frozen conflict
zones to destabilize them.

The present crisis between Russia and the West should be turned into
an opportunity to cooperate in their shared neighborhood. First and
foremost, the West should acknowledge Russia’s potential to be the
main positive contributor in the region. Russian leaders should
demonstrate their country’s ability to constructively deal with such
critical issues as frozen conflicts and energy security. Meanwhile,
such strategic decisions as the future development of energy
transport and communication infrastructure should be handled by
creating an integrated European transport and communication network
and combating the perception that this is a tool to diminish Russian
influence. Russia should transform its approach to the countries in
the near abroad from one of domination to one of cooperation among
equals, respecting the political choice of each nation’s citizens.
Stable, prosperous and secure neighbors are in Russia’s national
interests.

A serious effort should be undertaken to explore ways of coordinating
the increasing economic and political integration of the countries in
the EU neighborhood, and their traditional ties to Russia and the
other former Soviet republics. Countries such as Ukraine or Georgia
should not feel they are being pushed to choose between one or the
other.

It is important to move from the current zero-sum approach to a new
dialogue and cooperation based on accepting the choice of the
countries within the shared neighborhood. Leaders should work
together to create a European space of security and prosperity that
would include Russia, the EU and the countries of the European
neighborhood and that would enjoy the economic and political support
of the United States. Such a constructive long-term agenda would
bring security and prosperity to the region, while serving as an
important turning point in now sour relations.

Ana Palacio, a former foreign affairs minister of Spain, and Vasil
Hudak, vice president of the EastWest Institute and director of the
EWI Brussels Center, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.

PanArmenian News
March 23 2005

SERGE SARGSIAN: WEAPON DEPOTS IN ARMENIA AND KARABAKH ALWAYS KEPT
UNDER STRICT CONTROL

23.03.2005 08:08

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The accusations brought against the Armenian
citizen, who was wanted by the police, are based on the fact that he
was trying to sell arms in the US. Meanwhile the investigation showed
that no single weapon was exported from Armenia, Secretary of the
Security Council, Defense Minister Serge Sargsian stated today, IA
Regnum reports. In his words, the weapon depots in Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh were always kept under strict control. ~SNo thefts
have been ever registered~T, the Minister stated. To remind, Armenian
citizen Artur Solomonian and his brother Levon Solomonian were
detained on suspicion of arms traffic in the US. They were both
wanted by the law enforcers for avoiding the obligatory military
service. According to the investigators, the Armenian citizen headed
the gang composed of the citizens of Armenia, Georgia and the US.

EDUARD ROSSEL MET WITH CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS GAREGIN II

PanArmenian News
March 23 2005

23.03.2005 05:36

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast of Russia Eduard
Rossel met with Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II. During the
audience Eduard Rossel aquatinted the Catholicos with the social and
economic situation in the Oblast and told about the reconstructed
temples in Verkhoturye, Nevyansk as well as the Temple-on-Blood built
in Yekaterinburgh. Eduard Rossel noted that over 120 nationalities
are residing in the Sverdlovsk Oblast and told that presently a
mosque and synagogue are being built in Yekatirenburgh. He highly
appreciated the work carried out by the Armenian Diaspora. In his
turn Garegin II said he is aware that an Armenian Church has been
laid there in 2003. Eduard Rossel noted that the construction of the
church will be finished in 2006 and invited the Catholicos to
Yekatirenburgh. Moreover, year of 2006 declared the Year of Armenia
in Russia.