Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2004

Advocates of Azeri officer on trial appeal to Hungarian court

A letter with more than 100,000 signatures collected by the Committee
for Ramil Safarov’s Rights was sent to the Budapest Court on Tuesday
on the initiative of the Garabagh Liberation Organization.
The Azerbaijani public is keeping the trial of Safarov, an officer of
the Azerbaijan Army charged with murdering an Armenian military man
in Budapest, Hungary, in focus, the letter reads.
`The officer, whose family has been subject to the Armenian
aggression, committed the murder in a state of affect after the
Armenian serviceman humiliated his honor and dignity,’ the letter
says.
In the letter the Committee requested the Budapest Court to carry out
an unbiased investigation and trial and prevent any interference by
the Armenian authorities and lobby in the court proceedings.
`A fair decision to come will serve strengthening friendly relations
and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary, as well as stepping
up mutual trust,’ the letter said.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2004

CE committee to hear report on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

British parliament member David Atkinson will deliver a report on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in a meeting of the Council of Europe
(CE) Political Committee to be held in Paris on Wednesday and
attended by Azerbaijani MPs Samad Seyidov and Asim Mollazada.
Earlier the Azerbaijani side approved the first version of the
report, the major part of which has been prepared by the incumbent CE
Secretary General Terry Davis, while the Armenia termed the version
as a threat to its national interests. *

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2004

Armenia’s military expenses to make up over $93m in 2005

Armenian Minister for Finance and Economics Vardan Khachatrian said
during parliamentary discussions of Armenia’s 2005 state budget that
the country’s state budget will make up $611 million. Of the sum,
$103.356 will be spent on education and $93.212 on defense.
Khachatrian noted that the state budget’s educational expenses have
exceeded for the first time the military ones over the last 10 years.

Sergey Ohanian, `defense minister’ of the self-proclaimed Upper
Garabagh Republic, in his interview with the Armenian public
television, conveyed his concerns to the country’s authorities. `If
you want peace, be ready for a war,’ Ohanian stressed.
During parliamentary discussions of Azerbaijan’s draft 2005 state
budget, which envisioned 12% of military expenses, some MPs expressed
their concerns over the fact that the military expenses were below
the ones envisaged in Armenia’s state budget.
Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov, in his turn, underlined that Azerbaijan’s
military expenses for 2005 are twice as much as those of Armenia.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2004

FM receives new Turkish Ambassador

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received a copy of the credentials
of newly appointed Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan Moral on
Tuesday.
During the meeting the parties exchanged views on multi-faceted
bilateral cooperation and energy projects.
Ambassador Moral underlined that his country is eager to expand
relations with South Caucasus countries. Turkey adheres to settlement
of the Upper Garabagh conflict within international legal norms and
Azerbaijan’s integration into European structures, he stressed.
Mammadyarov, in turn, highly appreciated Turkey’s support to
Azerbaijan in solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper
Garabagh and during the discussions of putting the `Situation in
occupied lands of Azerbaijan’ item into the agenda of the UN General
Assembly’s session.*

ArmenPress
Nov 18 2004

ARMENIAN-ITALIAN RELATIONS EXCELLENT, ITALY’S AMBASSADOR SAYS

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: In an interview with Armenpress
Italy’s ambassador to Armenia, Marco Clemente described bilateral
political relations between the two nations in the last few years as
“excellent.” “I have had many opportunities to witness the existence
of these warm relations during all my meetings with Armenian
authorities since my arrival here,” Mr. Clemente said.
He said these relations received a strong impulse in 2000 with the
opening of the Embassy of Italy in Yerevan. The Armenian Embassy in
Rome had already been active for some years before then.
He said development and emergency aid to Armenia played special
role in the bilateral relations. Italy was the first foreign country
to arrive in Armenia after the tragic earthquake in 1988. Ever since,
the Italian government has provided substantial development aid
either directly or through international organizations. In 2002 the
assistance aid committed by Italy amounted to more of 1.7 million
Euro.
He said a program has been implemented in the field of military
co-operation, which envisages participation of some young Armenian
trainees to courses at a prestigious military academy in Italy. These
courses are preceded by Italian language lessons organized by the
Italian Embassy in Yerevan.
According to the ambassador, the main factors that determine the
present positive situation in bilateral relations are the interest of
Italy in the South Caucasus region both politically and economically;
the common cultural ties and the presence of a successful and well
integrated Armenian-Italian community in Italy.
According to the ambassador, relations between Italy and Armenia
in the international organizations’ framework are also excellent:
both countries very much rely on the role of the multilateral
diplomacy in solving international conflicts and crisis.

ArmenPress
Nov 18 2004

UNICEF SAYS HEALTH CONDITION OF CHILDREN AT SPECIAL SCHOOLS IS
ALARMING

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: Children with special needs
placed at special/boarding schools in Yerevan face myriad health and
development problems, according to the Assessment of Health Condition
of Children with Special Education Needs conducted upon the request
from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia
by the Children’s Health Care Association with UNICEF’s support.
The study which provides an in-depth analysis of health and
development problems of children was carried out at Nubarashen No. 1
and 11 schools for children with mental retardation, school No. 9 for
children with hearing impairments and Nubarashen No. 18 special
school for children with behavioral problems. The objective of the
study was to assess health condition of children, identify whether
children are placed in a proper special school and meet new admission
criteria recently adopted by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Out of 514 children registered in the surveyed schools, only 391
(76%) were available for screening. Over 60% of children were from
Yerevan, while the rest were from neighboring regions. The screening
revealed that along with children with special educational needs,
schools also accepted their siblings without such needs solely on the
basis that they belonged to the same socially vulnerable families. On
the average for 16% (62 children) of the surveyed children the
schools that they were placed in were not appropriate. However, the
reintegration of those children into mainstream education is already
impossible.
According to the study findings, poverty (50% of children) and
family problems (62 % in Nubarashen No. 18 special school) are major
causes for placement of children in a special school.
Many of the children suffer from chronic diseases, including cases
which require immediate medical intervention. In particular, up to
17% of the surveyed children have hearing problems caused by chronic
tonsillitis and otitis. In many cases, however, school
administrations were not able to provide relevant medical assistance
to the children due to the lack of qualified medical personnel and
absence of legal power to authorize specialized medical intervention.

In addition, the study indicates that out of 391 children 28 (7%)
were subjected to physical violence within their families, whereas 9
children (2%) were subjected to violence at the schools.
The assessment once again brings up the importance of regular
medical checkups of all children in special schools as well as the
need to revise curriculum in those institutions. Moreover, the
development of the state policy on early identification of childhood
disability and early intervention will lead to timely integration of
children with disabilities into the society, thus preventing many
children from being placed in special schools.

ArmenPress
Nov 18 2004

ARMENIAN GENETIC REGISTRY TO BE CREATED IN 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: Tamara Sarkisian, the director
of a National Academy of Sciences affiliated medical genetics
registry center, told Armenpress that the national genetic registry
will be set up in Armenia in 2007 that will allow to have the overall
genetic picture of Armenians. She said the center was officially
opened in 1999, though researches had been made since 1997.
She said genetic studies allow more precise diagnoses of
illnesses, their origin and to carry out preventive measures. The
center, the sole one in the region, was created with the assistance
of the government and international donor organizations. Tamara
Sarkisian said the center cooperates with counterpart organizations
in Europe, USA and Russia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Cambridge Chronicle, MA
Nov 18 2004

Green building comes to life for Tobin students

“Everybody walk up the stairs to the fourth floor,” called out Bill
Deignan, a city planner at the recently renovated City Hall Annex. As
they neared the top, a girl asked her friend, “Why can’t we take the
elevator? I’ve got asthma!”

After the eighth-graders from Tobin School had relaxed into the
conference room swivel chairs, they gazed up at the skylight and
learned about the solar panels hidden on the roof of this historic
building. “What if you have a meeting at night, do the lights still
go on?” one student asked.

They were clearly engaged and listened intently as Deignan
described how a “green building” meant there was less indoor air
pollution and was healthier for someone with asthma. Maybe the stairs
weren’t so bad after all.

For most of them, the Nov. 9 field trip was the first time they
had entered a “green building” and the first time they had been in
the office of someone working for their own government. These
students were learning about what makes their government tick as well
as the reality of energy efficiency and new technologies.

This field trip focused on energy use is part of a Sister City
program pairing Tobin School students with eighth-graders in Yerevan,
Armenia. The program received a Sustainable Development Seed Grant
from the State Department this year. Science teachers Tad Sudnick and
David Petty have been leading the study. Three groups of students
toured the building, applying what they had learned in science class.

They touched the sustainably harvested wood paneling on the
walls. “Cherry?” mused a boy. “Isn’t it supposed to be red? Maybe it
needs a little more oxygen.”

PanArmenian News
Nov 18 2004

AZERBAIJAN`S STATEMENTS ON INTENTION TO GET BACK TERRITORIES
BORDERING WITH KARABAKH NOT SERIOUS

BAKU, 18.11.04. A $30 million project called `The restoration of
freed territories` financed by the World Bank is being realized in
Azerbaijan. The project aims at the re-settlement of refugees and
forced migrants of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict period and is
carried out by the Agency for restoration and reconstruction of the
territories of Azerbaijan. Thus, against such a background,
Azerbaijani leadership`s statements on intention `to return` by force
the territories, which make a safety belt around NKR, sound rather
doubtfully.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Nov 18 2004

NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR OF TURKEY PRESENTED COPY OF HIS
CREDENTIALS
[November 18, 2004, 15:44:51]

On November 16, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mammadyarov has met the newly appointed ambassador of Turkey to the
country Mr. Turan Moral.

As is informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, having congratulated Turan Moral with appointment as
the ambassador to Azerbaijan, Minister E. Mammadyarov has expressed
hope that the diplomat would actively participate in the further
expansion of relations between two countries and achievement of high
level of these links. Speaking about successful development in all
areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the Minister has
expressed gratitude for the support rendered by the brotherly country
to our republic in many spheres. Having dwelt on the power projects,
which are successfully carried out due to close cooperation of our
countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has emphasized confidence
that he relations established in other fields also would be
successful.

Having conveyed to Elmar Mammadyarov greetings of Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Turkey Abdullah Gul, Ambassador Turan Moral has state that
would use the best efforts for continuation and henceforth existing
between Azerbaijan and Turkey all-round and close cooperation. Having
emphasized boundless interest of the country to Azerbaijan, he has
noted, that Turkey supports integration of Azerbaijan into the
European structures.

Having expressed gratitude of brotherly Turkey for the support
rendered to our country in work, done on settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict, and during the
discussions which have been carried out for inclusion in the agenda
of session of General Assembly of the United Nations Organization of
item `Situation on occupied territories of Azerbaijan’, Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov has expressed hope for efficiency of this help.

The ambassador has emphasized, that Turkey supports settlement of the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict within the framework of preservation of
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and according to norms of
international law.

In conclusion, minister Elmar Mammadyarov has accepted a copy of the
credentials of the ambassador, has wished him successes in the
further activity in our country.