ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 28, 2005 Friday
OSCE Minsk Group vows to intensify Karabakh settlement efforts
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
BAKU
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received a special mission of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Baku on
Friday. The mission was formed to investigate settlements on
Azerbaijani occupied lands.
The president hopes that the mission, which will visit the occupied
lands and familiarize with the local situation, will help to put an
end to Armenian illegal activities. He said these activities “are one
of the biggest obstacles on the way of lasting peace in the Karabakh
conflict.”
Materials about settlements on the occupied land, which the mission
has received from Azerbaijan, are very important for the work of OSCE
experts, Russian Cochairman of the OSCE Minsk Group for
Nagorno-Karabakh Yuri Merzlyakov said. He vowed that the Minsk Group
would intensify Karabakh settlement efforts.
The mission will visit Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and another seven
occupied areas of Azerbaijan outside the Karabakh limits. The mission
will make a report to the OSCE Vienna headquarters.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 28, 2005 Friday
Armenian activities on occupied lands affect talks – diplomat
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
BAKU
Intensified actions of Armenia on the occupied Azerbaijani lands
“have a negative effect on the negotiations,” Deputy Foreign Minister
and special representative of the Azerbaijani president to the
Karabakh settlement negotiations Araz Azimov said at a Friday
briefing in Baku.
He said the question of illegal settlements on occupied lands, which
Azerbaijan had raised at the United Nations, was very important.
Azerbaijan “raised the question not for the sake of political
speculations but proceeding from international legal norms,” he said.
“We are ready for negotiations with Armenia but we think that
activities on the occupied lands have a negative effect on the
negotiations. So we suggest stopping these activities,” Azimov said.
He said materials on settlements and economic activities on the
occupied lands had been transferred to the OSCE mission made up of
experts of Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Sweden,
Finland and Italy.
The mission will go to the occupied lands in a day to familiarize
with the local situation, verify facts received from Azerbaijan and
draft a report. The report as such “will not solve the problem,” the
diplomat said. “Our main goal is to stop activities of the occupied
territories.”

UN News Center
Jan 28 2005
UN agency grants Armenia new loan to boost its impoverished rural
economy

28 January 2005 – With output in Armenia still only about 65 per cent
of its level in 1990 when it gained independence from the former
Soviet Union, the United Nations is granting a new $15.3 million loan
to help boost the economy of rural areas, which cover about 80 per
cent of the impoverished Caucasus country.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian today visited the Rome
headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) to mark the agreement, which was being signed by IFAD
President Lennart Båge and the Armenian Agriculture Minister Davit
Lokyan.
The loan, on highly concessional terms, will support the Rural Areas
Economic Development Programme, building on the progress made by
IFAD’s three previous initiatives in Armenia, which involved total
financing of $36.5 million to improve food security in rural areas
and meet the challenges of a market economy.
The new programme targets unemployed men and women, small and medium
farms, rural entrepreneurs, agro-processors and traders. It consists
of a package of measures, including: loans for investment and working
capital; grant-financing of small-scale infrastructure; and training
in developing a business. It is expected that thousands of small- and
medium-sized enterprises in rural areas will be created or enlarged
as a result.
The programme also aims to increase returns from farm labour,
bringing higher levels of disposable income and to facilitate
farmers’ access to markets. Most of the funds will be channelled
through private banks and other financial institutions by means of an
innovative refinancing facility.
IFAD is a specialized UN agency dedicated to eradicating rural
poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s
poorest people – 900 million people – live in rural areas and depend
on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Through
low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop
and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to
overcome poverty themselves.
There are close to 200 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty
eradication programmes and projects worldwide, totalling $6.5
billion. IFAD has invested about $3 billion in these initiatives.

OSCE mission accepts Azeri evidence on illegal settlement in Karabakh –
official
Turan news agency
28 Jan 05
BAKU
Settlement on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is being carried
out directly by Armenia, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister [Araz
Azimov] said at today’s press conference commenting on the 28 January
meeting in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry with the co-chairmen of
the OSCE Minsk Group and with members of the international mission
which is to probe into settlement on the occupied districts.
He said that the meeting was attended by the National Security
Ministry, the State Border Service and the State Committee for Land
[and Cartography]. During the meeting, Azerbaijan presented to the
mission maps, video and audio materials proving settlement on the
occupied territories. The mission regarded the evidence as justified
and accepted it.
The Armenian authorities are directly involved in settlement on the
territories and some 23,000 people have been illegally settled on the
occupied lands, Azimov said. The settlement policy has many forms,
including the implementation of special targeted economic and
infrastructure projects. Settlement on the occupied territories does
not have a positive impact on the negotiations on resolving the
conflict.
The mission also received information on the use of the occupied
territories for drugs trafficking and for organized criminal activity.
The fact-finding mission will reach the territories in several
days. They will first visit Kalbacar and Lacin districts and will then
head for other territories, including Susa District.
The investigation will last 10 days. A report will then be prepared on
the basis of the gathered evidence. Next, the report will be presented
to the OSCE Minsk Group and to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.
Azimov also commented on the PACE resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh. He
said that the resolution objectively reflected the occupation of
Azerbaijan’s land and ethnic cleansing. Azimov said that the current
talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan discussed ending the military
conflict and removing its consequences. An agreement should be
prepared and signed on the results of the discussions, Azimov said.
When the time comes, there will be discussion with representatives of
Nagornyy Karabakh’s Armenian community and with the Azerbaijani
community which will by then return there. “Azerbaijan will be
discussing the issue of communities with its citizens and the public
should realize that,” Azimov said.

ArmenPress
Jan 28 2005
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS POPE JOHN PAUL II
VATICAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Robert
Kocharian who is in Italy on a four-day official visit met today with
UN World Food Program Director Jacques Deuffi. The latter highly
assessed the pace of cooperation with Armenia.
In his turn Armenian President expressed hope that the cooperation
with UN World Food Program will expand more in future. At present
Armenia and this organization implement 5 programs costing 1.7
million USD.
Robert Kocharian also met with the head of the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD) L. Bogey and the latter highly
assessed the reforms that are being implemented in Armenia in the
agricultural sphere.
L. Bogey assured that the present speed of the cooperation will
continue. After the meeting a credit program costing 20 million USD
was signed – 10 millions will be provided for the development of
agricultural economy and the other 10 million for the development of
village communities’ infrastructures.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian visited today Vatican where he
met with Pope John Paul II.
“Your presence here reminds me of our first meeting in Vatican in
March, 1999, on the opening occasion of Rome-Armenia exhibition and
also of our meeting in Yerevan on the 1700th anniversary of the
adoption of Christianity by the Armenians. I use with pleasure the
opportunity to greet all the people in Armenia and those Armenians
who are in different parts of the world but united by Christian and
cultural ties,” said John Paul II.
The Pope referred to the good relations with Holy See and said “I
know that Catholic community is respected in Armenia and all its
initiatives promote the increase of prosperity of the whole people.
The relations between the Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches
are based on mutual respect and relationship.”
After the meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Armenian
President visited the Saint Grigor Lusavoritch monument which was
erected in Vatican and blessed by the Pope on January 19. Here the
President was greeted by the Armenian Catholic clergymen. Later the
President met with the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berluskoni.

Sofia News Agency/Novonite, Bulgaria
Jan 28 2005
Sofia Exhibits Unique Glimpses from Turkey’s Top Peak

Photo reporter K. Atanasova (R) was heartfully greeted by M. Behar,
CEO of M3 Communications Group, Inc., while opening her exhibition on
Turkey’s Mount Agri. The event is held under aegis of H.E. Ambassador
Haydar Berk (L). Photo by Y.Nikolova (SNA)

An exclusive photo exhibition dedicated to Turkey’s Mount Agri opened
in Sofia to offer rare images from this remote and slightly known
region believed to keep the biblical Noah’s Arch.
The pictures were taken by Sofia News Agency’s young photo reporter
Kameliya Atanasova, who climbed the dormant volcano last summer in a
joint expedition of Bulgarian and Turkish alpinists.
The lavish opening of the exhibition attracted scores of official and
ordinary people intrigued to peep into that another world caught in
pictures.
The expo was organized by PR leader M3 Communications Group, Inc.,
and held under the aegis of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey and
H.E. Ambassador Haydar Berk.
Snowcapped Agri rises to a height of 5165 m, and is Turkey’s highest
peak. It overlooks vast areas bordering Iran, Iraq and Armenia.
Agri is the famous biblical Mount Ararat, the legendary site of the
second beginning of the world. It is believed that Noah’s Ark rested
on its summit during the big flood, and the wide plain of Igdir at
the foot of the mountain is the first place where Noah set foot after
the disaster.

Interfax
Jan 28 2005
Azerbaijan says Armenia illegally populating occupied lands
BAKU. Jan 28 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev has accused Armenia of illegally populating lands it has
occupied in Azerbaijan and has called this one of the obstacles to a
lasting settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over Nagorno- Karabakh.
Aliyev, who was speaking at a meeting with the co-chairmen of the
Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), expressed hope that a planned inspection of the
occupied territory by the co-chairmen would be instrumental in
stopping Armenia from populating the area.

Newark Star Ledger, NJ
Jan 28 2005
Grandma’s basement full of secrets
BY PETER FILICHIA
Star-Ledger Staff
Leslie Ayvazian had a feeling that when she went into the
sub-basement of her grandmother’s house in Leonia, she was going to
find something special.
She did indeed: the diaries kept by her maternal grandmother, Marie
Bedikian. They’re the basis of “Rosemary and I,” Ayvazian’s new play,
which begins a three-week run at the Passage Theatre Company in
Trenton on Thursday.

In 1989, after Bedikian’s death, Ayvazian inherited the Bergen County
home and moved in with her husband, Sam Anderson, and son, Ivan. She
then began exploring, somehow expecting to find a hidden treasure or
two.
There were many more. “Drawers and drawers full of diaries,” says
Ayvazian, still sounding astonished at the discovery. “Very little
was in English, and much was in her native Armenian — and in three
other languages, too. I had no idea that she knew five different
languages.”
Ayvazian had Bedikian’s diaries translated — and found more
surprising information.
“She had never told me that she once had a singing career,” Ayvazian
says. “She actively sang for 10 years — in seven different languages
— and even appeared at Carnegie Hall.”
The diaries yielded some tragic stories, too. In 1915, Ayvazian’s
grandparents were living in the Armenian section of Istanbul, where
Bedikian was studying with noted Armenian composer Solomon
Solomonian, better known by his pseudonym, Komitas.
“She was on her way to a lesson,” says Ayvazian, “when a neighbor
leaned out the window and told her to go home because Komitas had
been arrested, and the Armenian massacre by the Turks had begun.”
Komitas was among some 500 Armenians shot by the Turks, yet he
survived the bullet wounds. He went mad from the experience and died
20 years later in a Paris asylum.
“I learned,” says Ayvazian, “that he never spoke another word as long
as he lived.”
Within weeks of the massacre, Ayvazian’s grandparents were on their
way to New York. “They took linens, tablecloths, rugs and trunks full
of other things,” she says, “and yet they kept them in this
sub-basement and never opened them. I found my grandmother’s
costumes, too, made of the most gossamer material.”
Ayvazian started writing. Some of the stories wound up in her play,
“Nine Armenians,” which was produced off-Broadway by the Manhattan
Theatre Club in 1996. Yet the idea of a writer who’s having a
difficult time learning about her family’s hushed-up history turned
into what is now “Rosemary and I.”
“I’d been working on it, on and off, for all these years. For a long
while, it didn’t have a title. I have a problem with titles,”
Ayvazian admits. “My son was 4 days old before we decided on a name
for him. Then, after Rosemary Harris played my grandmother in a
reading — and did it so well — I renamed the character after her.”
Now Passage theatergoers will see the results under the direction of
Blair Brown — the same Blair Brown who won a Tony Award in 2000 for
her performance in “Copenhagen” on Broadway and starred in the 1987
TV series “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.”
Their collaboration was engineered by Lisa Loosemore, who’s
Ayvazian’s manager and Brown’s agent. “Lisa read my play ‘Lovely
Day,’ about a Vietnam vet who believes his son should fight in the
current war, while the boy’s mother does not,” says Ayvazian. “She
gave it to Blair, who liked it, and when we met and I told her I
belonged to a writing group, she asked if she could come one night.”
Ayvazian gave everyone writing assignments that night. “No matter
what I asked,” she says, “everything Blair wrote concerned how much
she wanted to be a director. One thing led to another, and now she’s
directing ‘Rosemary and I.’ She even designed the poster, too.”
And she cast Ayvazian as Rosemary’s daughter, Julia — a character
based on Ayvazian’s mother.
“I usually like to sit back and see my plays performed, but when I
did a reading (Passage artistic director) June Ballinger thought I
should do it, and Blair agreed,” says Ayvazian, who’s now commuting
from that Leonia home to Trenton. “But I promise I won’t do the next
production.”

Las Vegas Sun
Jan 28 2005
Reid’s phone call to Ridge spurs LV sisters’ release from federal
custody
By Timothy Pratt

LAS VEGAS SUN
The Las Vegas teens who have spent the last two weeks detained in Los
Angeles pending deportation to Armenia were scheduled to arrive at
McCarran International Airport this morning.
Last night 18-year-old Emma Sarkisian and her 17-year-old sister,
Mariam, were told they would be freed and got the word back to their
family and lawyers.
Family, friends and strangers who rallied behind the family are
expected to be celebrating their return into the evening. This
morning, the girls’ Russian-speaking father, Rouben Sarkisian, who
runs Tropicana Pizza in Henderson, said through an interpreter that
today it will be “free pizza for everybody!”
Then he laughed and admitted he doesn’t know exactly how he and his
daughters will celebrate their reunion after the emotional roller
coaster of the last two weeks.
“I will see how they feel and what they want to do,” he said. He
added that he understood many residents of the Las Vegas Valley might
want to greet the sisters — whose photos and stories have been in
the media nonstop since their Jan. 14 detention — so he would
probably bring them by the pizzeria this afternoon.
Their freedom had been won, said one of their lawyers, Jeremiah Wolf
Stuchiner, “apparently due to the intervention of (Secretary of
Homeland Security) Tom Ridge,” whom Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., had
asked in a phone call Wednesday to give the case “personal
attention.”
That sort of phone call has rarely, if ever, occurred to stop an
order of deportation, which is “like a death sentence” in its legal
finality, said Stuchiner, who has worked on immigration issues for
nearly 50 years, first as a federal official and then as a lawyer.
Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
said “a collective decision had been reached … to use our
discretionary authority and grant a deferred action on the case.”
That means the sisters still have no legal status and will have their
case reviewed on an ongoing basis, she said.
Several immigration experts said the case drew attention to a larger
problem, with thousands of children facing deportation because of the
actions of their parents.
Jeanne Butterfield, executive director for the American Immigration
Lawyers Association, a Washington-based group that has 9,000 members
nationwide, said “the case illustrates that we need changes in our
law — especially for minors who are having trouble with their legal
status through no fault of their own.”
But Thursday night at Tropicana Pizza the mood was giddy.
The restaurant had been ground zero for the growing public campaign
in support of the girls in recent weeks. Their framed photos sat on
the counter, behind two sheets of paper with phone numbers for
members of Congress and immigration officials.
Michelle Sarkisian, 13, stood outside the pizzeria around 8:45 p.m.,
exchanging text messages via cell phone with Mariam.
Though the scene was typical American tech, the pizzeria in a mall,
the surrounding suburbs, it arose from a labyrinth of immigration
law, international diplomacy and Capitol Hill maneuvers.
Mariam was hiding in the federal holding tank’s shower and using the
cell phone that had been forbidden to her to tell her sister she was
due to be freed.
“We’re coming home tomorrow!” Mariam wrote.
The case had turned on a series of events stretching back more than a
decade. Rouben Sarkisian arrived in the United States in 1991 and had
three more daughters with his wife, Anoush. He then divorced his
wife, married a U.S. citizen, and through that marriage gained the
status of legal resident — the step below citizenship. He later
divorced the U.S. woman.
But Sarkisian never gained any legal status for his oldest daughters,
though he has said on several occasions that he thought he had. He
even took them to a Las Vegas immigration office in July to obtain
the paperwork he thought would show their status, in order to obtain
a driver’s license for Emma.
That visit set in motion the steps that led to the Jan. 14 detention
of the girls. Immigration officials said they had been ordered
deported in 1993 and were just following the law.
The Sarkisians’ lawyers argued that the government should give Rouben
a few months to finally become a citizen, which would then give him
the right to petition for his daughters to become legal residents.
Now that they are being released, the lawyers will withdraw their
writ of habeas corpus still before Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston
at the George Federal Building, since “the purpose of the habeas was
to stop detention and have them released,” Stuchiner said.
Rouben Sarkisian said Thursday’s events, as well as the two weeks
before, had been “like life — one time up, one time down.”
That up and down included placing an advertisement in recent days to
sell the pizzeria, since he thought he would need money “to fight to
keep my daughters here.”
Thursday night, he didn’t know whether he would still try to sell the
business. “The girls have worked hard in the pizzeria and … and
being together is what drives the business,” he said.
Rouben said it was hard to focus on the future for now. He reviewed
the day’s events, which began at 9 a.m. when he had attended a
hearing at the George Federal Building and was told the girls would
not be released to his custody while Johnston decided in the coming
weeks whether they would be deported.
“I thought it was over,” he said. Then the sisters themselves were
told they would be freed in the afternoon, news that eventually got
back to Las Vegas only because a member of their legal team, lawyer
Troy Baker, called them to brief them on the results of the hearing.
Baker had been given a phone number to reach the teens in their
detention cell because Johnston had ordered the federal government to
give lawyers access to the girls.
“I called them about 6 p.m. to tell them where we were going from
here, after their release had been denied,” Baker said.
“But while I was on the phone, someone told them they would be set
free. I told them, ‘Don’t start jumping up and down until I confirm
this.’ ”
Baker said the girls had been told several times in recent days that
they had lost the legal battle and would be sent back to Armenia,
even though no decision had been made. The girls were born in Armenia
but don’t speak its language and have no family there, the Sarkisians
have said.
Baker said he didn’t want them to be given incorrect information
again.
Stuchiner, who Baker said has an impressive “black book,” made a few
phone calls Thursday night and confirmed the news about the release.
The Sarkisian case had already brought surprises, including twice
turning the sisters back from flights to Moscow within hours of
take-off — once due to an administrative order and once due to a
judge’s order.
A retired Armenian archbishop in Los Angeles whose diocese has an
estimated 600,000 followers had also been lobbying Armenian and U.S.
authorities to let the girls go. And — in what the lawyers said was
the key to the release — dozens of local residents let their
congressmen know they thought the sisters should be with their
family.
Rouben said Thursday night that he did not blame anybody and was not
bitter about what his family had been through in recent weeks.
“I think everybody tried to do what they were supposed to do,” he
said.
“And in the end, common sense and good people — they prevail in
America.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 27, 2005, Thursday
19:59:04 Central European Time
Lebanese cabinet approves draft election law
Beirut
The Lebanese cabinet voted Thursday in favour of a new election law
drafted by pro-Syrian Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh which has
ignited wide criticism by opposition figures. Twenty-four ministers
voted in favour of the law, while six abstained – four of these loyal
to Shiite house speaker Nabih Berri, Information Minister Elie ferzli
said. The draft was referred to parliament for making it a law that
would regulate general elections slated for spring. The new bill is
based on the 1960 election law, with some modifications. These
include a proposal reducing the voting age level to 18 years, a
control on campaign spending and provisions for solitary ballots
guaranteeing voting privacy. The draft comprises 75 articles, key
among which are articles 2 and 3 specifying the number of
constituencies and the sectarian deputies in each. Beirut would have
three constituencies, the first with six deputies (four Moslem
Sunnis, one Christian Orthodox and one Druze), the second with nine
deputies (two Moslem Sunnis, two Moslem Shiites, three Orthodox
Armenians, one Evengelical and Catholic Armenian) and the third with
four (one Catholic, one Orthodox, one Maronite and one for
minorities). All in all, Lebanon will have a total of 26
constituencies. In initial reaction, former prime minister Rafik
Hariri threatened to resign from parliament along with his bloc if
the legislative body passed the draft into law, sources close to the
premier said. Hariri rejected especially vehemently the way the
Beirut cosntituencies were drawn up by Franjieh, a Christian
Maronite, one of Syria’s staunchest allies and a supporter of
Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud. Hariri charged the
constituencies have been tailored for political goals and could spark
sectarian sedition. Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, Beirut’s Choice,
includes 18 MPs. Hariri said earlier he would run for election in the
third constituency instead of the first if the draft remained as it
is. His aim would be to ensure balance between the constituencies.
Hariri’s ally Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said the upcoming
parliamentary elections were very important for the country’s future,
adding: “Our aim is to end the Syrian tutorship via democratic means
and turn the page of the war to no return.” Jumblatt, once a Syrian
ally, fell out with Damascus after it influenced the Lebanese
parliament to extend the term for Lahoud for another three years.
Since then, Jumblat has been leading a campaign calling for
implementing the Saudi-sponsored Taif accord, on the basis of calling
for the withdrawal of some 14,000 Syrian troops in the eastern Beka’a
region and ending the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence agencies’
meddling in Lebanese domestic affairs. Maronite cardinal Christian
Mar Nasrallah Butros Sfeir also criticized the draft, saying: “The
law should be fair to ensure an honest and fair elections and keep
away from any outside influence.” dpa wh sc