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PRESS RELEASE
November 18, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

U.S.-ARMENIA TRADE LEGISLATION MOVES STEP CLOSER TO PASSAGE

WASHINGTON, DC – Legislation which would permanently lift
restrictions on normal U.S-Armenia trade relations came one step
closer to its final passage this week, as Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist (R-TN) took action to move the long-stalled
miscellaneous tariffs legislation (HR1047) forward, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA.)

Upon the Senate’s return to session last Monday, Sen. Frist filed a
cloture petition, which would avert a Senate filibuster of the
tariffs legislation. Action on the petition is expected tomorrow
and requires 60 votes for passage. The mammouth legislation, which
includes the Armenia trade provision among hundreds of other trade
related issues, would then be up for full Senate consideration.
The House already passed the measure in October.

Passage of H.R. 1047 would successfully end a two-year effort, led
by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI)
and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) in the House and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-
KY) in the Senate to secure passage of permanent normal trade
relations (PNTR) legislation for Armenia. The PNTR bill would help
increase U.S.-Armenia trade and investment, strengthening Armenia’s
free market economic development and integration into the world
economy. It would also help offset the devastating impact of the
dual Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, estimated by the World Bank
as costing Armenia up to a third of its entire GDP (as much as $720
million annually) and half of its exports.

AsiaNews.it, Italy
Nov 18 2004

No to religion used as an instrument of death, the Pope says

John Paul II meets Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish leaders from
Azerbaijan. Tolerance is possible; it is a sign of cultural progress.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – No one can `present or use religions as an
instrument of intolerance, aggression, violence and death’. The ways
of religion must instead be those `of love and justice for all. They
must teach as they do in Azerbaijan, that tolerance is possible; that
it is a sign of cultural progress.’

Speaking today to Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish leaders from Azerbaijan
John Paul II reiterated the call he made three years ago in Assisi to
the leaders of the world’s religions.

The Pontiff spoke about Nagorno-Karabach, a region still disputed
between Armenia and Azerbaijan itself, a land he `hopes will return
to full peace’. He told his guests that `a solution to this and
similar disputes requires a common effort and good will. People must
be open and understanding to one another in a spirit of true
reconciliation’.

The Pope told the delegation, which included Russian Orthodox Bishop
Aleksandr of Baku, that he remembered the `warmth’ and `friendliness’
with which he was welcomed in the country in 2002. He went on to
recall the `pride’ of the late Azeri President Heydar Aliev in
Azerbaijan’s religious tolerance, in what he called `the country’s
bedrock’.

`May your visit in the Vatican,’ the Pope added, `be a symbol for the
world. May it show that tolerance is possible; may it be a sign of
cultural progress; may it set humanity on bases for a wider and more
inclusive social and cultural development.’

`No one has the right,’ the Pope cautioned, `to present or use
religions as an instrument of intolerance, aggression, violence and
death. On the contrary, friendship and mutual esteem, especially if
it is supported by political leaders, are a source from which peace
and true progress can spring’.

`Together, Muslims, Jews and Christians can in the name of God and
civilisation appeal to humanity to stop violence and murder so that
everyone is allowed to follow the ways of love and justice. May God
help us follow these ways with perseverance and patience’.

There are only 300 Catholics in predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan. (FP)

Catholic World News, MA
Nov 18 2004

Pope greets Azeri delegation

Vatican, Nov. 18 (CWNews.com) – Pope John Paul II (bio – news) met on
November 18 with a delegation of religious leaders from Azerbaidjan,
and urged them to work for peace in Nagorni-Karabakh– a border
region contested by Azerbaidjan and Armenia.

The Pope told his visitors that Christians, Jews, and Muslims should
unite to end “the murderous violence” all over the world. He
mentioned specifically his hope “that peace returns to Azerbaijan,
and that the conflict in Nagorni-Karabakh is soon resolved.”

John Paul II reminded the religious leaders– representing the
Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities– of his own trip to
Azerbaidjan in 2002. He praised the Muslim majority of the former
Soviet republic– who constitute 98 percent of the population– for
their open attitude toward other faiths. And he sent his
“affectionate greetings” to the country’s tiny Catholic community,
comprised of only about 300 people.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Nov 18 2004

Iran: Country Faces New UN General Assembly Censure On Human Rights
By Robert McMahon

A UN General Assembly committee has voted to condemn human rights
abuses in Iran, citing a crackdown on media, use of torture, and
discrimination against women. The assembly’s human rights committee
approved a resolution calling on Iran to take steps such as judicial
and penitentiary reforms and eliminating all forms of discrimination
based on religious grounds. Iran called the charges baseless and
gained the support of many developing states. But the measure is
expected to be approved by the full General Assembly in December.

United Nations, 18 November 2004 (RFE/RL) — For the second straight
year, the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee has passed a
resolution raising concern over rights abuses committed by Iran.

The assembly’s human rights committee approved a resolution calling
on Iran to carry out reforms to curb abuses ranging from suppression
of media to torture and discrimination against women and minorities.

The measure was approved yesterday by a vote of 69 to 55, with 51
abstentions. It is expected to be approved by the assembly next
month.”For those many who are denied the right to speak out, for
those minorities who suffer persecution in silence, for women who
face discrimination, hardships and sometimes physical harm, it is our
desire to improve their lives that motivates this resolution.” —
Canadian Ambassador to the UN Allan Rock

Canada sponsored the resolution for the second year in a row. Its UN
ambassador, Allan Rock, told the committee he hopes the measure will
promote change in Iran.

“For those many who are denied the right to speak out, for those
minorities who suffer persecution in silence, for women who face
discrimination, hardships and sometimes physical harm, it is our
desire to improve their lives that motivates this resolution,” Rock
said.

The resolution noted some positive developments, such as the visits
to Iran of UN rapporteurs and human rights dialogues between Iran and
a number of states. But Rock said the overall situation has
deteriorated since last year and that it is important to bring the
weight of international opinion to bear on Iran.

The resolution is not binding but carries symbolic importance.

Iranian envoy Paimaneh Hasteh called the resolution’s charges
baseless. She accused Canada of introducing the measure in response
to a domestic outcry over the death in 2003 of Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi while in custody in Iran.

An Iranian court this summer moved to end the trial of the key
suspect in her death. That prompted an outcry from Canada and
Kazemi’s legal team, led by Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Hasteh told the committee that Iran’s judiciary continues to
investigate the death. She cautioned that resolutions singling out
Iran for reproach are doomed to fail.

“We even warn that this approach, if it continues to prevail, will
jeopardize the entire processes of ongoing cooperation and dialogue
initiated by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the
bilateral and multilateral levels,” Hasteh said.

The vote followed a pattern familiar at UN human rights panels when
single-country resolutions are proposed. European states, the United
States, and Latin American nations supported the measure, while
Islamic and developing states opposed it.

Opposing states said such “naming and shaming” resolutions are
counterproductive and divisive for the committee.

Pakistani representative Billal Hayee, speaking on behalf of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the resolution will not
serve to promote human rights.

“It increases the risk of generating confrontation and politicization
at the international level on human rights issues by creating a gulf
between the developed and the developing countries quite opposite to
the very agenda of the United Nations,” Hayee said.

Other states objecting to the practice included Turkmenistan and
Belarus, which themselves face critical resolutions in the committee,
and Sudan, subject to a UN investigation into whether genocide is
being committed in the Darfur region.

But the Czech Republic’s representative, Ivana Grollova, sought to
stress the importance of such resolutions. She noted that 17 November
was the 15th anniversary of events triggering the fall of communism
in Czechoslovakia and the improvement of human rights.

“Please allow me today to express my honor that on behalf of my
government I could today join those who care about the protection of
the fundamental freedoms and human rights of everybody,” Grollova
said.

Forty countries co-sponsored the resolution, including the United
States and 25 countries of the European Union. Countries voting
against the measure included Russia, the five Central Asian states,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Reuters, UK
Nov 18 2004

Equatorial Guinea wants death for coup suspect

By Estelle Shirbon

MALABO (Reuters) – Equatorial Guinea’s state prosecutor has demanded
the death penalty for a South African accused of plotting to topple
the president of sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest oil producer.

Summing up the case against 19 suspected mercenaries standing trial,
state prosecutor Jose Olo Obono said on Thursday that the group was
working for an international web of financiers seeking to put exiled
politician Severo Moto in power.

Equatorial Guinea says the plot to oust President Teodoro Obiang
Nguema Mbasogo was organised by Simon Mann, a former British special
forces officer who was jailed by Zimbabwe in August on charges
related to the alleged coup.

Obono told the court he wanted the death penalty both for South
African Nick du Toit, who was in court flanked by four armed guards
with his hands and feet shackled, and for Moto, who lives in Spain
and is being tried in absentia.

Du Toit was the only man in the trial to admit involvement in the
plot, but he retracted his confession on Tuesday.

The South African said he had been tortured and confessed only to
save his life. But in his summing up, Obono rejected any allegations
of mistreatment, saying all the prisoners’ rights had been respected.

“Any statement to the contrary … is not admissible in this trial,”
he told the court.

Obono also called for seven other South Africans on trial to be
sentenced to 86 years each and for six Armenians to serve 26 years
each.

LIST OF FINANCIERS

Fourteen people, including Mark Thatcher, the son of former Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, are listed in court documents read out by
Obono as financiers of the plot.

Thatcher is accused of stumping up $275,000 (148,000 pounds), while
Lebanese oil tycoon Eli Calil is alleged to have contributed
$750,000. Both deny any involvement.

A number of British businessmen are also named in the list handed out
in the Malabo court, including a J.H. Archer. He is alleged to have
provided $240,000 to the coup plotters.

Disgraced British politician and best-selling novelist Jeffrey
Archer, who spent time behind bars for perjury and perverting the
course of justice in relation to a libel case, denied any links to
the case. His middle initial is H.

“Lord Archer emphatically denies any involvement with the alleged
coup in Equatorial Guinea,” Archer’s lawyers said in London,
repeating a statement they first made in August.

Members of Equatorial Guinea’s legal team denied media reports that
Thatcher had been charged by the country, which has yet to decide
whether to seek his extradition from South Africa.

Thatcher is due to appear in a Cape Town court on November 26 to
answer questions from Equatorial Guinea about the alleged plot.
However, his lawyers have challenged this, saying it may infringe on
his right to a fair trial in South Africa or Equatorial Guinea,
should he later be extradited.

He is also due to attend a November 25 court hearing at which he
faces charges under South Africa’s anti-mercenary law.

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Nov 18 2004

Soccer gear for Yerevan

Time to clean out your closets for a worthy cause! Greg Ekchian, a
senior at Belmont High School, is spearheading a project to collect
soccer cleats and equipment (both new and used) to donate to
youngsters in the sister cities of Cambridge and Yerevan, Armenia.

Cleats and equipment may be left in the designated box in the
Belmont High School Lobby through Nov. 30. Ekchian will also pick up
any donations if that would be more convenient. He can be reached at
[email protected].

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Nov 18 2004

Banquet, concert to benefit Armenian music students

The first annual banquet of the Hovanness Badalian Music Fund will be
held on Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Hellenic Cultural Center in
Watertown.

H. E. Arman Kirakossian, Armenia’s ambassador to the U.S., will
be in attendance and composer Konstantin Petrosian of Providence,
R.I. will be the master of ceremonies. Among the highlights of the
evening: the first U.S. appearance of folk singer Artur Anushavanian;
soprano Nune Karapetian performing with pianist Nune Hakopian; and
recognition of Boston’s own Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble with an
Appreciation Award.

The goal of the fund is to provide merit-based scholarships to
children enrolled in Armenian music education programs worldwide. The
fund will also provide assistance to individuals and organizations
that create material and training programs for children.

The fund is named in honor of Hovanness Badalian, who played a
significant role in educating Armenian children and young adults.
Through his songs he spread the spirit of the Armenian culture around
the world. Upon his passing in 2001 composer Vardan Ajemian said, “We
lost a great artist. He was the father of Armenian folk songs. We
lost a very honest man.”

Armenia celebrated Badalian’s 80th birthday last month at the
National Opera in Yerevan with the participation of prominent artists
including his daughter, opera singer Nuneh Badalian.

For information and to make a contribution to the fund call
617-331-0426, or write to HBMF, P.O. Box 733, Watertown, MA 02471.

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Nov 18 2004

Armenian Women’s Welfare serves luncheon/auction

The Armenian Women’s Welfare Association Inc. has announced that Gene
Lavanchy, Fox-25 morning news anchorman, will be guest auctioneer at
this year’s annual luncheon benefit. Janet Jeghelian, former WRKO
talk-show host, will be the mistress of ceremonies.

The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 20 at the Marriott
Newton, 2345 Commonwealth Ave., Newton. A reception and silent
auction bidding will begin at 11 a.m. followed by luncheon, live
auction bidding, and the Super Raffle drawing. Super Raffle prizes
include: first prize, $2000; second prize, a diamond cross necklace;
third prize, TiVo and a six-month subscription; and many more prizes.

The annual luncheon/auction is a major source of fund-raising
that will further the AWWA’s mission and will also benefit the
Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica Plain.

The luncheon/auction planning committee is chaired by Janice
Boornazian (Belmont) and Diane Dinell (Needham). Elaine Patapanian of
Belmont is also a member of the committee.

For more information, call Janice, 617-796-6134.

South Manchester Reporter, England
Nov 18 2004

Church turns Joseph into a `new man’

REVEREND Greg Forster: Loves the new carol.

A TRENDY church has turned the biblical Joseph into a touchy-feely
`new man’.

Instead of the age-old image of Joseph as a reluctant father, St
Wilfrid’s Church in Northenden has reincarnated the famous biblical
figure as a sensitive soul firmly in touch with his feminine side.

In a Christmas service on December 2, parishioners will get their
first taste of a new carol by singer/songwriter Ian Vesty, a former
Buddhist whose jolly ditty Joseph of Nazareth was written as an
antidote to the rather more austere carols from the Victorian and
Medieval eras.

The song – in which Joseph dotes on a pregnant Mary and accepts the
Virgin Birth despite having doubts – has been endorsed by the Rev
Greg Forster at the 19th-century church.

He said: “I’m very happy with the carol; it sticks strictly to the
scriptures and the gospel according to Matthew, Luke and John.

“It is saying that Joseph went along with what Mary was telling him
even if he didn’t know what it was about.

“Ian’s lyrics are teasing words. The song is all about making people
think of Joseph in a new, much better light rather than the darker
versions we’ve had before.”

The new image of Jospeh is very close to the one I read in the bible,
and is far more sympathetic with him than the one depicted in the old
Victorian and Medieval songs.”

Unlike in more traditional carols, in which Joseph was mainly
depicted as an old man courting a very young Virgin Mary, Ian’s
lyrics depict the carpenter as a bit of a soft touch.

Lines such as “Since you’re with child and we know it’s not me but a
gift from on high, And I know in your heart and that’s all that
matters to me,” turn Joseph into a retrospective new man of his day.

In the second verse, Joseph spares a heavily-pregnant Mary the
ignominoy of being presented to his relatives.

Instead, she is taken straight to the inn where, in the gospel
according to Ian Vesty, she gives birth prematurely after the rigours
of her long journey on the back of a donkey.

Rev Forster goes along with this too. He said: “The bible doesn’t say
that Mary gave birth prematurely, but it’s something I suspect as
well after all that travelling.”

In comparsion to the famous 12th-century song the Cherry Tree Carol,
in which Joseph casts doubt on the Virgin Birth, Joseph of Nazareth
depicts its eponymous character almost as a slave to Mary’s wishes
rather than a hard-headed sceptic.

Ian, who has tried several faiths but no longer goes to church, said:
“It occurred to me that here is this man who is engaged to be married
to a young girl and she tells him, `Okay, I’m now pregnant’.

“I think he was in love with this woman because obviously he went
along with the Virgin Birth without really understanding it.

“The difference between my lyrics and the old carols is that mine
suggests Joseph was a changed man after he was visited in his dream
by the angel who told him of the Virgin Birth, whereas in the old
ones he was seen as a unbeliever until the miracle actually
happened.”

Ian’s song lyrics are not the first time St Wilfrid’s has strayed
from strict religious traditions. Three months ago, the South
Manchester Reporter told how Rev Forster had changed the words to the
famous hymn I Vow to Thee My Country to make it, as he put it, `less
nationalistic and more Christian’.

Ian will be selling copies of Jospeh of Nazareth on CD format at the
Christmas carol service on Thursday, December 2. All proceeds from
the CDs, which also feature The Cherry Tree and his own song Armenian
Mass, will go to the Booth Centre, a drop-in for the destitute at
Manchester Cathedral.

Moscow Times (subscription), Russia
Nov 19 2004

Uncommon Senses

Casting blind or deaf actors may be relatively standard in Europe and
the United States, but it hadn’t been done much in Russia, until now.

By Tom Birchenough
Published: November 19, 2004

Setting a film in a home for the blind, deaf and dumb might sound
like a recipe for yet another bleak, moralizing post-Soviet film, but
Roman Balayan’s “Bright is the Night” is an exception to the rule.
Social commentary is simply not something the veteran Armenian-born,
Ukrainian-based director does. If anything, “Bright is the Night”
resembles his costumed 1995 adaptation of Ivan Turgenev’s “First
Love,” with its lush pastoral setting and atmosphere of slow but
unoppressive decay, and its understated treatment of the emotions
that connect a small number of characters in close proximity. It’s
summer, and the majority of residents are away from the institution,
leaving just a handful of staff and patients on the premises.

The main player is a young therapist, Alexei, played by Andrei
Kuzichev, who was seen earlier this year in a supporting role in
Vladimir Mashkov’s “Papa.” Though obviously devoted to his profession
and to those he looks after, he has plenty of extra time during the
summer months for wandering the forests and fishing in the lake with
the institution’s janitor, an amiable drunk named Petrovich (Vladimir
Gostyukhin).

But Alexei’s idyll is turned upside down with the arrival of an
attractive medical resident, Lika, played by another relative
newcomer, Olga Sutulova, whom he first encounters sunbathing in the
nude and later discovers to share his enthusiasm for engaging
patients by kindling their emotions for each other. Needless to say,
Lika and Alexei’s new-age therapeutic techniques raise the hackles of
the institute’s more traditional-minded director, Zinaida (Irina
Kupchenko), as does their growing romantic involvement. Zinaida has
long felt affection for Alexei, while rejecting the advances of the
institution’s other therapist, Dima, played by Alexei Panin.

If that sounds like a prelude to a major dramatic crisis, it isn’t.
Instead, the film is dominated by slow interactions between the
therapists and their patients, through Braille and a kind of sign
language made of hand and body contact. These scenes are made all the
more effective for the fact that the amateur actors playing the
patients are themselves either blind, deaf or dumb. Such
versimilitude has become reasonably standard for Europe or the United
States in art-house films, but is extremely rare in Russia to date.

Moving moments do emerge, particularly in the interactions between
Alexei and Vitya, a young boy whose arrival at the institute
precipitates the film’s denouement — if that’s what the final scene
can be called, given that the revelations themselves can’t be spoken
out loud. Climbing trees and running through the fields with Vitya,
Alexei reaches the stage, crucial to his method, when he feels that
his combination of touch and body sign language has allowed him to
“hear” the voice of the child. Once that bond is established, Alexei
is too devoted to abandon the lad, even if that means abandoning his
love.

Production values are modest, and certainly reflect the limited funds
available to this Russian-Ukrainian co-production. But
cinematographer Bogdan Verzhitsky does a great deal with the assets
he has. At a nighttime open-air dance scene toward the end, his
camera centers on two patients who have obviously responded to
Alexei’s treatment and found emotional engagement with each other,
contrasted with close-ups of eye contact between the other characters
who have not.

The paradox with “Bright is the Night” — a film that will catch some
international attention, given the reputation of its director and his
co-screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov — is how little interest it will
provoke among Russia’s multiplex-going viewers today. The small
late-afternoon audience with whom this critic watched the film was
dominated by people well into their 40s, who responded well. Most
likely, Balayan’s film will find its place on a mainstream television
broadcast sometime in the future, where it will appeal greatly to
those viewers — Soviet-era, yes — for whom a trip to the cinema is
no longer a possibility.

“Bright is the Night” (Noch Svetla) is playing in Russian at Dom
Khanzhonkova.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress