ArmenPress
March 18 2005

BELARUS PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST CIS COLLAPSE

BELARUS, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS: Belarus president Alexander
Lukashenka warned today that the Commonwealth of the Independent
States (CIS), a grouping of former 12 Soviet republics, risks
imminent collapse if no drastic reforms are taken to make it viable.
Addressing a meeting of CIS foreign ministers in Minsk Lukashenka
said the CIS is going now through a turmoil that may put an end to
it.
Lukashenka said he was sounding the opinion of all CIS leaders.
“Today’s meeting is important, we all will bear the responsibility
for the CIS disintegration that will happen if we do not oppose it,”
he said.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by RIA Novosti
news agency as saying that the meeting will sum up all proposals for
reforming the CIS. He said many of CIS bodies which proved to be
ineffective, will be liquidated.

PanArmenian News
March 18 2005

ARMENIAN AND AZERI PARLIAMENTARIANS DISCUSSING DRAFT REPORT ON
KARABAKH IN BRUSSELS

18.03.2005 06:28

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian and Azeri parliamentarians as well
as representatives of the OSCE PA are completing 2-day discussions of
the Goran Lennmarker’s draft report on Nagorno Karabakh, Armenpress
agency reports. Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhanissian
and Republican Party member Manvel Nikoian are serving on the
Armenian delegation. Azerbaijan’s representative Aldar Ibrahimov told
the Azeri media that the Azerbaijani deputies will do their best to
make the item of Atkinson’s report (where Armenia is described as an
occupant-state) adopted in the PACE be reflected in the report
prepared by OSCE PA Special Representative on Karabakh Goran
Lennmarker. Lennmarker’s report will be presented at the annual
sitting of the OSCE PA to be held in Washington in July. In
Ibrahimov’s words if the above-mentioned item were included in the
present report it would considerably simplify the adoption of the
resolution, in which Armenia is stated as an `occupant’. The members
of the Armenian delegation are working for neutralization of the
consequences of Atkinson’s report.

ArmenPress
March 18 2005

AEN DENIES REPORTS ABOUT SALE OF SHARES

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS: A spokeswoman for Armenian Electric
Networks (AEN) denied today press reports claiming that Alexei
Schneider, the owner of Midland Group, an offshore British-registered
company, that owns the AEN, wants to sell his shares in it at $100
million.
Schneider acquired his shares at $15 million committing also to
pay $25 million of AEN’s accrued debts.
The spokeswoman, Marina Grigorian, said Midland Group’s owner is
not going to sell his shares in the company and “therefore, there is
no point in talking about the networks’ price.”

PanArmenian News
March 18 2005

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF LEBANON PREPARING FOE EVENTS DEDICATED TO
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90-TH ANNIVERSARY

18.03.2005 07:53

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian community of Lebanon is preparing for
events dedicated to the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
the organizing committee composed by representatives of all the
religious Armenian organizations as well as political parties and
institutions reported. In the words of the initiators, this date will
give an impulse for joining efforts and more efficient work directed
to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
restoration of rights of Armenians in their historical land – Western
Armenia.

EDITOR OF DRAFT RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONVINCED THAT GERMAN
MPs WILL FOLLOW THEIR CONSCIENCES ON THIS ISSUE

BERLIN, MARCH 18. ARMINFO. The German-Turkish relationship is very
important to Germany and to the Federal Government. The governments of
Germany and Turkey have always solved their differences by mutual
agreement. We are convinced that German Members of Parliament will
nevertheless follow their consciences on this issue, says Mr Christoph
Bergner MP, the editor of the draft resolution on genocide, and
President of the German-Caucasian Parliamentary Group in the
Bundestag.

It is not the first time that the Turkish government has tried to
influence decision making in German federal and state administrations.
To some extent this is quite normal among friendly nations. We
endeavour to conduct a dialogue and to explain our position. Therefore
we hope that our motion will receive a broad backing not only in
Parliament but perhaps finally also by our Turkish partners.

Armenian politician given 3-year prison sentence for spreading anti-Semitic
propaganda

AP Worldstream
Mar 18, 2005

An Armenian court on Friday sentenced a radical nationalist politician
to three years in prison for disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda.

Armen Avetisyan, the leader of the United Armenian Aryans’ party, was
charged with spreading hatred toward Jews through the mass media in
this impoverished former Soviet republic.

Avetisyan denied the charges.

The landlocked Caucasus country, which is strongly Christian, has a
Jewish community that numbers less than 1,000.

Van Nistelrooy, Robben return to Dutch squad for Romania, Armenia matches

AP Worldstream
Mar 18, 2005

Dutch coach Marco van Basten recalled star strikers Ruud van
Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben to his squad Friday ahead of World Cup
qualifying matches against Romania and Armenia.

Both strikers had missed recent matches due to injuries.

The Dutch lead Group 1, after a key win over the Czech Republic in
Rotterdam last year.

Chelsea’s Robben and Manchester United’s Van Nistelrooy were summoned
from abroad, along with Fulham keeper Edwin van der Sar and Barcelona
fullback Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Roy Makaay of Bayern was not called up because he is still recovering
from a thigh strain.

Van Basten, who has pledged to favor players who are in form above
big-name stars, left out Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert, the
Netherlands’ all-time leading scorer.

Van Basten continued to select young talent, calling on AZ Alkmaar’s
Martijn Meerdink and Hedwiges Maduro of Ajax.

He also gave preference to players in the Dutch league. The team’s
roster features more players from AZ Alkmaar than any other club,
reflecting in part Alkmaar’s success in progressing to the UEFA Cup
quarterfinals.

Also returning from injury are Ajax midfielder Wesley Sneijder and PSV
Eindhoven fullback Phillip Cocu.

The Netherlands play Romania in Bucharest on March 26 and Armenia on
March 30 in Eindhoven.

Agence France Presse
March 18 2005

Secessionist leaders in former Soviet regions to strengthen ties

AFP 19/03/2005 00:49

MOSCOW, March 18 (AFP) – Four breakaway regions in former Soviet
republics plan to conclude a mutual support pact, one of their
leaders said Friday.

“We intend to reach a mutual support agreement,” Sergei Bagapsh,
leader of Georgia’s rebellious Abkhazia region, was quoted as saying
by the ITAR-TASS news agency during a visit to Moscow.

Bagapsh said he would soon meet with his counterparts Eduard Kokoity
of South Ossetia (Georgia), Arkady Gukasyan of Nagorno-Karabakh
(Azerbaijan), and Igor Smirnov of Transdniestr (Moldova).

The Russian media has suggested the leaders of the four regions met
secretly here on Wednesday and would do so again in April in the
Abkhazian town of Sukhumi.

Moscow has been accused of encouraging the two Georgian secession
movements, and has supplied peacekeepers after they beat back troops
from Tbilisi in wars after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russian troops intervened to stop fighting that broke out in
Transdniestr in 1992, and have never left.

Fighting also broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan, as the Soviet Union was collapsing. It has
remained in Armenian hands since a 1994 ceasefire.

Kasparov to play white knight
By Simon Kuper

FT
March 18 2005 20:36

“Yeah, I want to make a short statement,” Garry Kasparov began last
week. “I think it could be sort of surprise for many of you.”
Whereupon possibly the best chess player in history revealed he was
retiring from the game aged 41. Kasparov said that among other things
he wanted to help make Russia a democracy.

In fact the statement wasn’t “sort of surprise”. Eighteen months ago,
when I interviewed Kasparov in London, he was already a political
junkie who knew his chess mind was waning.

We started badly that day when I tripped him on The Strand. Though it
was an accident, he glared at me over his flat boxer’s nose. You did
not want to be across a chessboard from this guy. Later we settled on
the sofas of Home House, a mansion on Portman Square, where Kasparov
drank Earl Grey tea and talked in a rapid-fire English marred only by
a Russian tendency to mislay articles.

He told me his mental powers were waning. “Absolutely! Obviously
you’re losing concentration with age.” It didn’t seem to bother
him. Already he was turning his energies elsewhere. While remaining
the world’s number one in chess, Kasparov followed politics so
minutely that he could profile individual Moldovan politicians.

But when talking politics, he kept using the phrase “the big
picture”. Chess helped him see the big picture, he said. “In chess if
you make the wrong assessment of the big picture you are wiped out.”
Most politicians, though, couldn’t see the big picture. They got
distracted by detail.

What exactly did Kasparov mean by “big picture”? “The big picture is
the Middle East conflict, European constitution, Russia. It’s not
Africa.”

Further probing revealed that “the big picture” entailed seeing the
world as a sort of chessboard. The issue wasn’t losing the odd
pawn. It was winning the game. “The freedom”, as Kasparov called it,
played with white. Facing it across the board was dictatorship:
communism, fascism, Islamic fundamentalism. To win, you had to crunch
lots of data, as in chess.

In short, Kasparov sounded like a neo-conservative. He said: “I am a
scientist, a political scientist. I cannot be a politician because I
am not flexible.” And, he might have added, because he struggles to
hide his impatience with us humans.

I asked how growing up in Baku had shaped his thinking. “Everything I
learned from my relatives was very non-complimentary for communism,
and I had very lively brains. I could absorb the information. So I was
already involved in political debate, but at very passive level,
because I had to fight for my chess survival, I had to be officially a
good boy, and I had some strange views that eventually Russia could
change.”

Did he still believe that? The problem now, he said, was that Vladimir
Putin’s people couldn’t leave the Kremlin because they had used it to
enrich themselves. If they lost power, they would lose their
businesses.

Soon after this interview Kasparov helped found the liberal Free
Choice 2008 committee, which aims to oust Putin’s people in the next
elections. Despite being a half-Jewish Armenian born in Azerbaijan, he
had wedded himself to Russia’s future.

“Look, it’s still my house,” he sighed. “I’m not a big fan of Moscow
climate, I was born on the seaside. But you don’t select your
country. If you have any hopes of having impact on the life of your
country, you must stay there. At some point I established the
principle: I will leave the country only if I’m forced.”

The question is how much impact a mere chess genius can have in
contemporary Russia. A Mexican soap star might do better. Do
Muscovites still play chess in the park? “No, it’s definitely not a
national habit any more, because country’s busy. People are busy
making money. Now there’s too much information available, so it’s:
‘Who cares?’ It’s no longer Kasparov playing Karpov. It’s no longer
the match of utmost importance.”

At the end we talked chess. What had been Kasparov’s zenith? “Probably
my best day was this second simultaneous match against the Israeli
national team. I beat them 4-0. Four very strong grandmasters, and
each game I played off my original strengths. So I would assume that
this day was the day of my greatness. The masterpiece, you know,
needs hand of God. I remember certain games I played in my life, great
games, and I was very, very ecstatic before the game. I sensed that
there’s a great energy. Unfortunately it was some time ago.”

He said he hoped people would remember him. They will, but probably
only for his chess.

Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

Friday, March 18, 2005
PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Armen Carapetian
Tel: (818) 500-1918

ANC LEADS EFFORT TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS AT GRANT HS

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA – The Armenian National Committees (ANC) of East
and West San Fernando Valley mobilized on March 8 when a fight broke
out between several hundred Armenian and Latino students at Grant High
School requiring police intervention. The incident resulted in the
arrest of four and expulsion of eight students, and has garnered
significant attention on television news, talk radio, and print
media. The ANC met the following day with the Committee on Armenian
Students in Public Schools (CASPS) and Grant High School officials to
immediately quell the alarming situation.

Within two days after the incident, the ANC co-sponsored meeting with
parents and Grant High School officials which was attended by over 300
people. During the entire week after the incident, members of the ANC
were on campus collaborating with parents of Armenian students and
school administrators to analyze the causes leading to the incident
and how to prevent such incidences from occurring in the future.

`The fights that broke out at Grant High School between Latino and
Armenian students are of serious concern to all communities including
the Armenian American community,’ stated Manug Haladjian, Chairman of
the East San Fernando Valley ANC. `This has been an issue at Grant
High School in prior years, and this latest incident is evidence that
this issue must be taken more seriously by all concerned parties,’
continued Haladjian.

The ANC and CASPS recently organized several meetings on the issue
with experts in the field from various schools in the area. In
addition to meeting experts, parents, students, and school officials,
on March 17, the ANC and CASPS also met with representatives from the
City and County of Los Angeles Human Resources Commission, and the
offices of State Senator Richard Alarcon, Assemblywoman Cindy
Montanez, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Wendy Gruel to arrange a
meeting between Armenian and Latino leaders in the area.

`Excellent education can only be achieved through a safe, healthy and
positive school environment that fosters respect and understanding for
all cultures,’ said Ara Papazian, who chairs the West San Fernando
Valley ANC. `We strongly encourage school officials to view this issue
with an eye toward system-wide, long-term solutions that raise the
level of cultural understanding among school administrators, teachers,
students, and parents.’

Beginning in 2004, the ANC recognized the need to address the issues
facing the increasing number of Armenian students in the public
schools. The ANC began implementing a course of action which sought to
raise awareness of the challenges facing the Armenian students and
look for ways to improve their educational environment. Over the past
six months, the ANC has organized meetings with Los Angeles Unified
School District Officials, including School Board Member Jon
Lauritzen, Grant High School Principal Sandra Cruz, and various other
LAUSD administrators and teachers.

In an effort to improve their understanding of the cultural
differences of Armenian students, 20 educators from Grant High School,
including Principal Cruz, will be participating in the March 30
Armenian Cultural Conference in Pasadena. Now in its tenth year, the
Armenian Cultural Conference, which is sponsored by the school
districts of Burbank, Glendale, EIEP of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and
Montebello, aims to raise awareness and understanding of the Armenian
culture among public school teachers and administrators, so that they
may deliver more effective and culturally sensitive education to
students of Armenian descent. The ANC, along with CASPS and Grant High
School, will co-host a meeting on March 31 with parents of Armenian
students at Grant High School to discuss concerns and start looking
for long-term solutions and programs to address the various issues
with Armenian youth in public schools. In addition, a meeting will be
organized for students to air their concerns i! n April. On May 4,
the ANC, CASPS, and Grant High School will host a town hall meeting
for the entire community on this issue.

`We stand ready to work with school officials, parents, students and
other community groups in the spirit of partnership, implementing
programs that will address these issues and their root causes,’
affirmed ANC leaders in a joint statement released last week.

The ANCA is the largest and most influential Armenian American
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the United
States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian-American community on a
broad range of issues.