ArmenPress
March 1 2005

BULGARIA’S RECORD OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION EXPERIENCE USEFUL FOR
ARMENIA, AMBASSADOR SAYS
YEREVAN , MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview with
Armenpress Bulgaria’s ambassador to Armenia, Stefan Dimitrov, said
there are more and more indications that Armenia and Bulgaria are
determined to intensify diverse bilateral ties, which received a
strong impetus following Armenian president Robert Kocharian’s visit
to Bulgaria in 2003 September, preceded by Bulgaria’s president
Georgy Pirvanov’s visit to Armenia in 2002. The ambassador said the
visits have put the Armenian-Bulgarian dialogue on the highest level.
He said the bilateral ties received another boost when Armenian
parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasarian visited Bulgaria last year,
which “showed that the parliamentary diplomacy occupies its specific
place in the modern world.”
The ambassador also stressed the four meetings between Armenian
and Bulgarian foreign ministers last year alone, both in Bulgaria and
Armeniaá which he said would promote further strengthening of ties
between the two countries’ foreign ministries.
Mr. Dimitrov also spoke about invigorating economic contacts
between Armenian and Bulgarian businessmen, which is taking place
concurrently with stepped up political contacts. He, particularly,
mentioned a 2004 business forum. He said the trade between the two
countries increased threefold in 2003 against the previous year, “an
evidence that bilateral high level meetings yield concrete and
tangible results.” According to ambassador’s calculation, trade
between the two countries increased 25-30 percent in 2004 against
2003.
According to Mr. Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s ten-year record of hard job
to meet EU membership criteria may be of great importance for
Armenia, which also wants to join it. “Being geographically part of
Europe, we worked to make practical steps to adapt our legislation to
that of EU rather than to adapt our mentality,” he said, adding that
European integration is a priority for both Bulgaria and Armenia.
He said both countries are working in this direction, fixed by a
document signed by Armenian and Bulgarian foreign ministers.
“Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004, April 2 and by 2007 January 1, we are
supposed to become a full member of the EU,” he said, adding that
legal grounds for membership are already prepared and that on April
17 Bulgaria and EU will sign a relevant agreement.

–Boundary_(ID_I/y5/Ha71sRqN/Hw6z6CGw)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

ISSUES OF COOPERATION IN EDUCATION FIELD DISCUSSED
[March 01, 2005, 15:36:22]

Minister of Education Misir Mardanov has met the head of the Council
of Europe Directorate on Education Mr. Gabriel Mazzo and the
coordinator of this organization on cooperation Gennady Kosiak.

Minister Misir Mardanov has told about the meetings of Ministers of
Education of the countries of the Southern Caucasus which has been
lead carried out on the initiative of the Council of Europe, highly
has estimated preparation as a result of these meetings of the manual
titled “History of the Caucasus”, having informed, that in June
current year the book would be prepared and issued in the Azerbaijan,
Russian and English languages.

Having informed about the problems, which have arisen as a result of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, about the
classrooms organized in tents and cars, The Minister has noted, that
now the government of Azerbaijan carries out measures directed on
settlement of the mentioned problem.

M. Mardanov also has dwelt on the work done together with the
international organizations in the field of reforms of education, and
the measures, which are carried out for integration of Azerbaijan’s
education system to Europe, connections of the Country to Bolon
process.

Mr. Gabriel Mazza stressed necessity of carrying out of discussions
on the stipulated projects, has expressed readiness to assist to
application and expansion of the Bolon process in the Country, and
also has touched the question of value of regional cooperation.

At the meeting, also were exchanged views connected to projects,
providing realization and expansion of bilateral cooperation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
March 1 2005

HAYASTAN FUND COLLECTS 80 PERCENT OF PLEDGED DONATIONS

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS: Hayastan all-Armenian Fund said it
has collected some 80 percent of donations, pledged during a last
year telethon. The latest telethon on 2004 November 25 set a
fundraising record on Thanksgiving Day by raising over $11 million
during live, 12-hour international broadcast event.
Funds are raised to complete the crucial North-South “Backbone”
Highway and provide for vital infrastructure projects in Armenia and
Karabagh. Telethon 2004 was broadcast to over 45 million households
in 24 cities throughout the United States and Canada, as well as to
major capitols and cities in Europe, South America, the Middle East,
the CIS and Armenia.
The Fund said construction of a section of the highway stretching
from Stepanakert to Karmir Shuka is underway. Construction of other
sections is set to start in late March.

Today, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

US officials disappointed on statement by US ambassador to Armenia

01 March 2005 [15:23] – Today.Az

The US officials were disappointed on the statement by John Evans,
the US Ambassador to Armenia, who stated to a meeting with the
Armenian Diaspora at the Berkli University at California on the
impossibility of returning Karabakh to Azerbaijan, Hafiz Pashayev,
the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States, told Trend.

He discussed the issue with the US officials, including Lora Kennedy,
the Deputy Secretary of State on Caucasus, Central Asia and Southeast
Europe.

“They once more assured the Azerbaijani Ambassador that the United
States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and doe
recognize neither Nagorno-Karabakh Republic nor its government,”
Pashayev stressed. Such an irresponsible statement by the US
Ambassador on the eve of a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministers is unaffordable.

“Evans should make clarification to this statement as soon as
possible. Every diplomat takes its maximum to avoid any statement
contradicting official standpoint of his country. The atmosphere
ruling in the meetings with the Armenian Diaspora in different states
of the United States over a fortnight seems to influence on Evans
enough to make him violate the major principle of diplomacy,”
Pashayev underlined.

URL:

AZG Armenian Daily #019, 04/02/2005

Cinematography

HOLLYWOOD’S SPIRIT IN ARMENIA

New Birth of Hayfilm

Hayfilm, the first and the biggest cinema studio of the Soviet Armenia,
was founded in1923. In 1957 it was called Hayfilm, while in 1966,
it was named after Hamo Beknazarian. Since the very first years it
became clear that the cinema studio will have a long and fruitful
creative life. But, as a result of the changes in the course of the
last 15 years, Hayfilm suffered hardship. Today the studio works in
unbearable conditions, it has only one camera. It is obvious that
the studio can’t work in such conditions for a long time, one should
make huge investments to enter the international cinema market and
should be well-equipped technically. So, it was decided to privatize
the cinema studio.

“About a year and a half ago, we began discussions in that direction,
but we didn’t agree on some points and demands with the investors
(Ara Abrahamian, Gerard Gafestchian) and we stopped the process,”
Gevorg Gevorgian, head of Hayfilm cinema studio, said. At present,
Khachik Khachikian, American-Armenian businessman, chairman of Vision
Quest Pictures company, wants to privatize the studio. He will allocate
$1,5 million for the privatization of the studio, while the further
investments will surpass $100 million. According to Mr. Gevorgian,
by the instruction of RA prime minister, the possession of the studio
is being calculated. As for the concern that the deal may turn to be
an unreal one, Mr. Gevorgian assured that “one of the key points of
the agreement is that all the possession should remain to the state
until the investments are made.” The name and the emblem of the studio
(the statue of David of Sassoon) will be preserved.

Representing the plan of the future building of Hayfilm, made by
an American-Armenian Architect, Mr. Gevorgian described the main
constructions of the studio. Mr. Gevorgian denied the information that
the current building of the studio will be totally ruined. “The studio
will be preserved with its main edifices. The small and unimportant
constructions may be destroyed,” he said.

The construction of the cine-city will have two stages. The first
one includes the total renovation of the whole studio, construction
of squares, creation of artificial lakes and fountains, construction
of 12 gigantic pavilions (each of them is a double one, i.e. there
will be 24 pavilions in total), the establishment of a cinema-school,
where the students of our cinema and art institutes will study. The
investor will secure equipment that keeps in line with the European
criteria. The cinema production section, as well as the artificial
city will be constructed in the territory of Hayfilm. Investments
amounting to $112 million are envisaged for this stage. The films of
the studio will be rerecorded in the digital format. An international
film festival is envisaged to be held in Hayfilm.

They envisage building a hotel complex in the second stage. This
hotel complex will be no entertainment center but will receive the
cinema figures from foreign countries. $100 million is envisaged for
this stage. In fact, the investments will surpass the expectations.

In one word, a real miracle is going to take place in the course of
the coming five years.

The new Hayfilm will have 2500-3000 employees instead of the 300 that
are currently working at the studio. This will solve the issue of
the unemployment and the minimal salary of the employees will amount
to $100.

Simultaneously with the reconstruction works, many films will be shot
at Hayfilm. The studio envisages to shoot 5-6 début films, 4 feature
films and 4 cartoons will be produced by Hayfilm in 2005. The studio
will represent Edgar Baghdasarian’s “Mariam” and Vigen Chaldranian’s
“Agatangeghos” films in at Cannes Film Festival. In case they manage,
they will send a film to the US Film Academy to be nominated, as well.

Mr. Gevorgian stated that AMD 250 million are allocated for the studio
from the state budget annually.

Let’s wish success to the authors of this great initiative and let’s
hope that one day we will again be proud of the miracle the Armenian
cinema creates.

By Gohar Gevorgian

–Boundary_(ID_egX9SHSgHgOpyCN4jj92qQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE special envoy urges to step up frontline monitoring

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

Baku, February 28, AssA-Irada

The OSCE chairman’s special envoy Anjey Kaspshik has stated that
he will raise the issue of stepping up monitoring activities on the
contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian military troops at the OSCE.

Kaspshik’s statement was due to frequent ceasefire breaches on the
frontline.

The special envoy said that he had appealed to the OSCE chairman,
the Minsk Group co-chairs and the two countries’ foreign ministers
over the persistent ceasefire violations.*

AZG Armenian Daily #019, 04/02/2005

Turkey-EU

AMERICAN JEWISH GROUP TO LOBBY FOR TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP

For several years now, the Israeli government and a few American-Jewish
groups have supported Turkey on various issues, some of which run
counter to Armenian interests.

In addition to denying the Armenian Genocide, lobbying the US Congress
against a commemorative resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
and backing Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict, these Jewish groups
have now added a new irritant to the existing disagreements with
Armenians.

In a report issued last December, David A. Harris, the Executive
Director of the American Jewish Committee, wrote that the European
Union’s decision to start membership talks with Turkey was “truly
momentous.” He stated that Turkey is counting on the AJC and American
Jews to lobby for its interests.

The enthusiastic and almost blind support by Israel and some American
Jewish groups for Turkey’s EU membership runs against Armenians’
intent to force Turks to recognize the Armenian Genocide and open
the border with Armenia, as the price of admission to the EU.

In the following excepts from his lengthy report, Mr. Harris makes
abundantly clear the close partnership between Israel, the AJC
and Turkey:

“…In the Turkish Jewish community, with which the American Jewish
Committee has a very close affiliation, last week’s news from Brussels
will be enthusiastically received. The 22,000-member community has long
taken the view that Turkey’s future anchored in Western institutions
is the best guarantee of national security, stability, and prosperity.

“And, in Israel, the EU’s announcement will also be welcomed. Israel
has publicly declared its support for Turkey’s accession…

“In a recent American Jewish Committee visit to Turkey, the European
Union was issue number one (and two and three) on the agenda of
government officials, including the prime minister and foreign
minister. The October EU Commission report had just been released,
and the ensuing two months were seen as the last chance to persuade
European leaders to do the ‘right thing’ at their fateful meeting in
Brussels on December 16-17.

“Turkish leaders view the AJC as important to the political
equation. Not only have we been consistently regarded as a steady and
reliable voice for the Turkish-American relationship, but also, because
of AJC’s wide-ranging contacts throughout Europe, the Turks have
counted on our support when we meet with French, German, Greek, and
other European leaders. Lacking a well-organized Diaspora community,
they’ve looked to American Jews to fulfill that role….

“In the 1990s, the [Turkish-Israeli] bilateral relationship took off
in dramatic fashion, including defense cooperation, joint military
exercises, counter-terrorism measures, intelligence-sharing, a free
trade agreement, and tourism~E

“Today, Israel regards its links with Turkey as vitally important
and mutually beneficial….

“And not least, Turkish Jewry, though diminished in size, largely
due to aliyah [exodus], continues to prosper and enjoy a full
communal life, including keeping alive the Judeo-Spanish language of
Ladino. Anti-Semitism exists, but is not regarded as a major threat,
according to communal leaders. What is a threat — and not only to
Jews — is terrorism.”

By denying the Armenian Genocide, siding with Azerbaijan on the
Karabakh conflict, and lobbying the US Congress against recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, the Israeli government and some American
Jewish groups have deeply offended all Armenians. Nevertheless,
both Jews and Armenians must be mindful of the following key points.

Armenians must not forget that there are many prominent American
Jewish individuals and organizations as well as high-ranking Israeli
officials and scholars who fully support the Armenians on the
foregoing issues. In their frustration and anger, Armenians would be
wrong to lash out at all Jews. For example, when some ill-mannered
Yeshiva students insult Armenian clergymen in Jerusalem, Armenians
should not react by accusing all Jews or all Israelis of being
anti-Armenian. To be sure, several Israeli officials and Rabbis
as well as Jewish-American-organizations have condemned the crude
behavior of these Yeshiva students. Furthermore, many righteous Jews
have not shied away from severely criticizing the Israeli government
of its denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Similarly, Israelis and Jewish Americans should not blame Armenians
of being anti-Jewish, just because o prejudicial statements made by
few Armenian individuals. Armenians and Jews would be unnecessarily
antagonizing each other by indiscriminately condemning all members
of both groups for the sins of the few. Political differences should
not be pursued by exchanging insults, but through informed dialogue
among Armenians and Jews of good faith.

By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier

Independent Bangladesh, Bangladesh
March 1 2005

A tourist’s experience about Bangladesh

David Abbot

After just a short time here, I am about to leave. So, as usual I am
doing a newsletter before going to the next country.

Before coming here I met a couple of people who had just recently
visited Bangladesh. When I asked them what they could recommend they
burst out laughing, not a good sign. They did mention a couple of
interesting things, but the gist was that they thought Bangladesh
more of an experience type of place and less of a sightseeing one.
With this in mind I made way to East Bengal. Getting here was quite
easy, involving just a short, but uncomfortable train journey from
Calcutta to the Bangladeshi border. After passing through Indian and
Bangladeshi immigration formalities I caught a couple of buses to get
to Khulna in the south west of the country. Khulna is at the top of
the Sundarbans, the largest littoral mangrove forest in the world.
Apparently quite interesting to visit, unfortunately though too
expensive as there was no other with which to split the cost of boat
hire, so that got skipped. I did visit Bagerhat though, an area with
the greatest concentration of historical buildings in Bangladesh, all
mosques or tombs. A couple of them were quite nice, most were not
very impressive and I didn’t think it boded well for the historical
sites of the country. The crocodiles that live in the area were
nowhere to be seen either.

>>From Khulna I got a couple of buses, much more comfortable than any
in India, to Dhaka and then straight away from Dhaka to Chittagong in
the South East of the country. One advantage of Bangladesh being that
it is not very big at all, so getting from one place to another
doesn’t take very long.

>>From Chittagong, which is not a very attractive place itself, I went
to Rangamati a town set on a lake man made with a number of islands,
inhabited by some of the hill tribes. It was in this area that a
Briton and two Danes were abducted and held for a month in
February/March 2001. As a result there is heightened military and
political sensitivity, with checkpoints on the way in and out of the
area, where tourists must register as they enter and leave the
Chittagong hill tracts. It was on this bus that I had the most
unexpected experience in Bangladesh, namely meeting another tourist,
not only this but coincidentally having the seat next to him on the
bus. There are very few people who visit Bangladesh for tourism, as
an example the previous occidentals registered with the checkpoints
on the way in to the Hill Tracts had come through two weeks prior to
us. So, Craig the Australian bushman I had met and I wandered around
Rangamati and found a boatman who would take us around the lake for a
reasonable price. He took us to a number of islands where the hill
tribes live in his incredibly noisy little diesel craft. It was
interesting to see not only the villages where these people lived
etc. and seeing them pick fruit, fishing etc. but most interesting to
see the ethnic difference here. This was the end of the Indian
sub-continent and the beginning of South East Asia. The tribal people
being of Tibeto-Burmese ethnicity, as opposed to the Dravido-Aryan
ethnicity of the sub-continent. It is unusual to be able to see such
stark contrast I such a small distance. The lake was pleasantly
scenic and the people nice enough as well, but after a few hours it
was enough. We went back to Rangamati, had a look around town a bit
more and then got the bus back to Chittagong.

The next day we went for what was quite possibly one of the more
bizarre outings I have done, but also probably the high point of my
experiences of Bangladesh. We visited the ship-breaking yards. This
is a long stretch of beach with super-tankers and container ships run
aground, being stripped by the minions of Bangladeshi breakers. The
only other places I am aware of where this is also done is Karachi
(Pakistan) and Gujurat (India) as it is only practicable in places
where the labour cost is extremely low and the health and safety
considerations are almost non-existent. It is a difficult scene to
try and describe. Huge hulks of ships in various states of
dismemberment, some that only just arrived merely have numerous
ant-like people scurrying over the carcasses scavenging anything left
on board as well as all the fixtures and fittings, which are then put
into huge piles of urinals / doors / windows / etc. The beach is
littered with ships funnels, sheets of steel, etc. and filthy workers
with Oxy-acetylene torches cutting up the last bits. The boats are in
various stages of being stripped, some with only a few sheets of
steel so far removed by the men with the torches others where the
only parts that remain are the massive aft sections that are slowly
being pulled towards the beach by massive winches, for the final
sejunction. There are skeletons of ships, that for some reason seem
to have been stripped of everything, but the central structure and a
bit of the hull, so they look like massive steel racks.

After wandering over the beach for while, we managed to find someone
who was willing to take us out in his row-boat so we could get up
close to the boats and see them from the sea. The boatman was not
very pleasant and did not really show us what we wanted to see, so
when another guy with a motor-boat came alongside we jumped into his
boat to get a proper tour. He took us around the ships and a out to
sea far enough that we could see how far the boats stretched away
for. From this vantage it was also possible to see where the boats
were from Lemasol (Cyprus), Monrovia (Liberia), Detroit and New
Orleans (USA), Nassau (Bahamas) amongst others. One of the
unfortunate side effects of this industry is the amount of pollution
that goes into the sea, with oil slicks lapping the beaches. One of
the more disturbing images of the excursion was to see young children
wading and swimming through the oil slick, trying to catch some fish,
with oil on their faces and clothes. Even if they did catch any fish
there, it would no doubt be extremely unhealthy to eat, but they
don’t have the luxury of being fussy.

We then wandered through the various emporia that lined the highway,
selling various things from the ships including but not limited to:
Life jackets, Fire-proof asbestos suits, winches, helmets, lifeboats,
sonar, radar, metal-working lathes, standing drills, compasses,
foghorns, telephones, lifeboat radio bags, instruction manuals, life
rings, paddles, oars, rope, chains, toilets, urinals, video
recorders, tape recorders, televisions, radios, basins, washing
machines, posters, safety signs, bottles, lifeboat food rations,
water rations, toilet paper, corn flakes, paintings, cutlery,
windows, crockery, safety manuals, video cassettes (including
“recording marine incidents” and various Greek films), overalls,
braces, harnesses, belts, assorted fastenings, refrigerators, crates,
chess sets, backgammon boards, hydrostatic release valves, clocks,
gauges, dustbins, gas masks, buckets, nets, tarpaulins, scuba
equipment, oxygen bottles, lanterns, lights, torches, search lights,
mooring posts, pulleys, gears, batteries, magazines, engines,
exercise equipment, metal stairways, glass, hoses, doors, gloves and
a lot of scrap metal. It was as interesting walking around this
paraphernalia as the boats themselves. It did however beg the
question ?who did they expect to sell this stuff to, as we were the
only people looking around it and we had almost no interest in buying
anything. So after spending some time perusing the wares we
hitch-hiked back to Chittagong, where we had a bite to eat before
getting a bus to Dhaka.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh has managed to attain the unenviable
position of the worlds most polluted city. This is made all the more
impressive by the fact that the rest of the country has almost zero
pollution being lush and verdant. I have only been here a couple of
days, but already have a sore throat from the noxious air.

Craig and I went around the city looking at various bits, we tried to
find the Liberation museum, but were unsuccessful, but we did however
find huge piles of rubbish and a number of abandoned cars, as well as
flooded streets. Although there had been only moderate rain over the
previous day, some roads were more submerged, it makes one empathise
with how the country suffers during the monsoon season which will be
coming soon. Many of those roads that weren’t submerged had a thick
putrid slime of mud and waste on, making it particularly unpleasant
to walk through.

We decided to visit Lalbagh fort, apparently Dhaka’s premier tourist
attraction. This is not a very big or impressive fort, but is an
island of calm amongst the tumult and noise of Dhaka. Some of the
Bangladeshi tourists were more interested in us than the fort, and we
were photographed and filmed as we wandered around. The main
clientele of the place seemed to be courting couples walking around
the grounds. From there we walked down through the side streets to
the bazaar area. As we were walking through the bazaar, a man walked
past with a massive bulbous elephant shaped foot, something I had
previously not seen. The bazaar was as hectic as any other in the
third world, but the people more curious about Craig and I than most
other places I had been, walking up and staring at us or shouting
Bondur (we thought it meant foreigner, actually I later found out it
means friend), to retaliate, we would go up to them and stare at them
and shout Bangladeshi at them, some took this in good humour, others
freaked out and ran away. We visited the Armenian church, the oldest
church in Bangladesh, built in 1624 for the small but influential
Armenian community. The custodian of the place told us all about its
history and about the community. We then went to see the artisans
making conch shell jewellery in Hindu street, where they cut and
carve the shells into rings and bracelets and file patterns on them.
We then went to the Pink Palace which was closed for some undisclosed
holiday, but where we met some Bangladeshi women who spoke English
and invited us to join them for a boat trip. We all boarded the small
boat and the boatman propelled us through the water at some
surprising speed, considering he only had one paddle and used it in
similar vein to a Venetian gondolier. The trip was only for about ten
minutes, so we decided to hire him for a proper tour, the
Bangladeshis disembarked and we went up river.

Further up river one could see ridiculously overloaded boats. Many of
the boats were so overloaded that the water was actually lapping over
the deck and the boatmen had actually moved the controls on top of
the wheel houses. These boats were so precariously low in the water
that I’m sure all it would take is one reasonable sized wave to go
over the deck to sink them, but we didn’t see that happen, although
I’m sure if we waited around long enough we would have. We also saw
something neither of us had ever previously seen, people breaking up
the bottom of the new, soon to be opened, concrete bridge that spans
the river and stealing the rock. Bangladesh has almost no rock
anywhere, so rocks are valuable here for use in aggregate. There was
a cow bobbing along upside down with an exploded stomach next to the
ship repair yards, where it seemed the steel from the ship-breaking
yards was being used to keep aged vessels afloat. After seeing them
working on these boats we paid closer attention to all the others and
realised they were all patchworks of steel, there didn’t appear to be
one boat on the river that hadn’t been extensively rebuilt. After
each having an unsuccessful attempt at trying to row the boat we went
back to Sadarghat, where we had started from and tried to head back
towards our hotel. The traffic on the way back was so horrendous (the
main reason for the horrific pollution) that after a short while we
decided it would be quicker to walk. This also gave us the
opportunity to stop and chat with the hundred or so riot police
waiting to get violent with the people gathered for some political
rally. We considered taking the stage ourselves, but decided against
it as we would probably insight a riot.

Craig has now left back to India and I am off to Myanmar in a couple
of days. I plan to try and see a couple more things here, including
the national museum and Pink Palace, but they were closed again
today.

Bangladesh has been a peculiar but enjoyable experience. It is
somewhere that has so few tourists, that there is almost no tourist
infrastructure as a result. The locals, even in the big cities find
seeing white people so novel that they will stop and stare and shout
Bondur at the top of their voices, to make sure everyone else notices
there are aliens afoot. This can be a bit annoying, but at the same
time it has a certain charm. The people don’t realise they are
sometimes being rude, but are so overcome with this new experience
that they just gather in packs around one, just to see and here the
Bondur. It does however get one better service in places, when I went
to the barber I didn’t have to queue, on the bus the locals will give
up their seat for the white man, and when the bus stopped for a snack
stop en route to Chittagong, Jerry the Bangladeshi who had been sat
next to me would not allow me to pay for what I had had, as I was a
guest. When the light in my hotel room started flickering madly, I
called the room boy to sort it out, he said it was too late in the
evening to do anything, so I called down to reception to see if they
could sort it out. They didn’t understand what I was talking about so
they brought a businessman who spoke English up with them to help
with the translation, they saw the problem but also said it was too
late to do anything, whereupon the businessman unleashed a tirade of
abuse at them, telling them ¡°He is a guest in our country, fix it
now!¡± which they then managed to do. So, this aspect of being
something unusual here has had its benefits and drawbacks, but
ultimately it has been that, that has made the experience more
special. This is one of the more unusual countries I have been to,
but I have enjoyed it. Although I would have only been here for ten
days, I don’t actually feel I have too much more to see here and to
be honest I could quite easily see the place becoming wearisome after
much more time, but I am pleased I came here, if only to satisfy my
curiosity about the place.

–Boundary_(ID_TrR0z2fKoSevxfJPGOeuEw)–

PACE to mull Armenians’ illegal settlement in occupied Azeri lands

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

Baku, February 28, AssA-Irada

Azerbaijani parliamentarians Samad Seyidov and Asim Mollazada will
attend a meeting of the Political Committee of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Warsaw, Poland on Tuesday,
a source from the Milli Majlis (parliament) told AssA-Irada.

Issues related to preparations for the PACE spring session, regional
co-operation and illegal settlement of Armenians in the occupied
regions of Azerbaijan will be discussed.

The Azerbaijani MPs, who are currently in the Polish capital,
participated in a symposium entitled “Stepping up democracy in Europe”,
which was organized by the Committee on Monday.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

Foreign Minister to leave for Prague

Baku, February 28, AssA-Irada

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will leave for Prague, Czech
Republic on Tuesday. He is expected to meet with his Armenian
counterpart, Vardan Oskanian, on the following day.

The two ministers will discuss the peaceful settlement of the Upper
Garabagh conflict and the OSCE fact-finding mission’s final report
on the settlement of Armenians in the occupied regions of Azerbaijan,
a source from the Foreign Ministry told AssA-Irada.*