ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT FORMS INTER-DEPARTMENT TASK FORCE TO MAKE
PREPARATIONS CONSTRUCTION OF ARMEnIAN-IRANIAN WATEr POWER PLANT
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10. ARMINFO. The Armenian Government is forming an
interdepartment task force to coordinate the efforts to design and
construct jointly with Iran a water power plant on the
Armenian-Iranian section of River Arax.
The governmental press service reports that the Government gives high
importance to the project and approves of the results of the Armenian
and Iranian energy ministries’ joint work to draft it. The task force
is to quarterly report on its work.
The project is estimated at $140 mln to be provided by Iran while
Armenia is to repay in electricity supplies. The plant’s estimated
capacity is 140 MW with yield of 841 mln KW/h a year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

10.0% GDP GROWTH REGISTERED IN ARMENIA IN JAN-NOV, 2004
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10. ARMINFO. 10.0% GDP growth in Armenia was
registered in Jan-Nov, 2004. ARMINFO was informed in the press service
of the National Statistical Service of Armenia, according to
preliminary data, in Nov as against Oct the economic drop made up
22.1%. By the end of Nov 2004 the GDP totaled 1,672.1 bln drams or
($3,1 bln).
In Jan-Nov of 2004 the GDP growth was accounted for by 16.2% increase
in the construction volumes ($426.5 mln or 229.3 bln drams), 16.0%
increase of the income of the population ($2.074 bln or 1,115.3 bln
drams), 14.3% growth of the volume of agricultural produce ($767.1 mln
or 412.5 bln drams), industrial produce – 1.4% ($881.4 mln or 473.9
bln drams), energy generation – by 9.1% ($5,371.0 mln kw/h), 4.5%
growth of foreign trade turnover ($1.3 bln or 1,001.5 bln drams),
retail trade turnover by 9.2% ($1.3 bln or 699.9 bln drams), cargo
traffic by 16.4% (1,796.8 mln tons/km) and average wages by 28.0% ($76
or 40,961 drams). The expenses of the population in Jan-Nov increased
by 15.5% totalling $2.083 bln or 1,120.2 bln drams.
According to the statistical service, in Nov as against Oct 2004 the
GDP fall made up 22.1%, which was accounted for by 41.5% reduction of
the gross agricultural produce and 11.8% reduction of the services
provided to the population. At the same time, in Nov 2004 as against
Oct the volume of foreign trade turnover increased by 6.3%, energy
generation – by 23.9%, industrial produce – by 1.1%, cargo turnover –
by 9.5%, construction – by 9.1%, incomes and expenses of the
population by 3.3% and 4.5% respectively, retail turnover – by 2.5%
and average monthly wages – by 0.5%.
In the structure of the foreign trade turnover the exports increased
by 3.2%, and in Nov as against Oct 2004 it decreased by 9.4%m
totalling $645.9 mln. The imports increased by 5.3% in Jan-Nov 2004
as against the same period of 2003, and in Nov as against Oct it
increased by 16.2%, totalling $1,219.3 mln. It should be noted in
Jan-Nov, 2004 the AMD/USD exchange rate was in average 537.74 drams
against one U.S. dollar, and in Nov – 502.71 dram against one USD.

AFSHAR SULEYMANI: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRAN AND ARMENIA ARE NOT AIMED
AT DAMAGE TO AZERBAIJAN
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10. ARMINFO. The relations between Iran and Armenia
are existing, however, they are not directed to the detriment to
Azerbaijan, says Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan
Afshar Suleymani in the interview with Day.Az.
According to him, the level of present relations between Iran and
Armenia is often exaggerated. The ambassador noted that there is an
agreement between Iran and Armenia concerning laying of gas-pipeline,
which will last till 2007, and some changes could be taken place
during this time, particularly, the conflicts between Azerbaijan and
Armenia could be settled. At the same time, he emphasized that even in
the case of implementation of the gas-pipeline project, Iran will not
use this argument against Azerbaijan. “These relations would be in the
interests of Azerbaijan as Iran, having relations with Armenia, may
support the settlement of the conflict”, – said the ambassador. -R-

UNESCO TO TAKE ACTIVE PART IN CELEBRATIONS OF 1,600TH ANNIVERSARY OF
ARMENIAN ALPHABET
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10. ARMINFO. UNESCO will take an active part in the
celebrations of the 1,600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet, says
the secretary general of UNESCO national commission of Armenia’s
foreign ministry Karina Daniyelyan.
She says that UNESCO will finance an international scientific
conference on Armenian studies to be held jointly with the National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
Over 20 large-scale events are planned in the framework of the
celebrations. The whole country will celebrate the date throughout
the year. A dramatized show “Alphabet Procession” will be started in
the ancient city of Yervandashat to end in the Hole See of
Echmiadzin. The Day of Translator will be marked especially solemnly
in the village of Oshakan, the homeland of the author of the Armenian
alphabet Mesrop Mashtots.
An e-conference “Information Technologies sand Armenian Letters” will
be held during the year.
The festivities will be held not only in Armenia but in Nagorny
Karabakh, the Javakheti region of Georgia and in the Diaspora. The
celebrations will be crowned in Oct by a show in the National Opera
House.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan has instructed his
subordinate relevant commission to draft and present a program of
festivities by Jan 15 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
===============================================Monday 10 January 2005
AZERBAIJAN: WILL CHRISTIAN CHILDREN NOW GET BIRTH CERTIFICATES?
Having repeatedly refused to register 18-month old Luka Eyvazov’s birth,
because his parents gave him a Christian name, the authorities have at last
given him a birth certificate, after Forum 18 News Service reported his
case. Unusually, the authorities also apologised to Luka’s parents
“for making us wait and suffer for so long,” Luka’s mother
Gurayat Eyvazov told Forum 18. Without a birth certificate, Luka was not
able to go to kindergarten or to school, get treatment in a hospital, or
travel abroad. Luka’s case was the last known case of a series of Baptist
parents in the mainly-Muslim town who were refused birth certificates for
their children because they had chosen Christian, not Muslim first names.
However, Mrs Eyvazov said it was unclear if the next time Baptist parents
try to register a child’s birth with a Christian name they will face
similar refusals. “Officials said nothing on this.”
AZERBAIJAN: WILL CHRISTIAN CHILDREN NOW GET BIRTH CERTIFICATES?
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
At the age of nearly 18 months, Luka Eyvazov has finally received his birth
certificate just weeks after Forum 18 News Service reported the
authorities’ repeated refusals to issue a birth certificate because they
did not wish to register him with a Christian name. Luka’s parents, who are
ethnic-Georgian Baptists, live in the small town of Aliabad in the
north-western region of Zakatala [Zaqatala] close to the border with
Georgia. “The town administration phoned my husband on 17 December to
say the birth certificate would be there and he collected it on 20
December,” Luka’s mother Gurayat Eyvazov told Forum 18 from Aliabad on
10 January. “They said they had no permission earlier to issue the
birth certificate and even apologised to us for making us wait and suffer
for so long.”
Luka Eyvazov is the fourth child of Novruz Eyvazov, the leader of one of
three Baptist congregations in Aliabad. His is the last known case of a
series of Baptist parents in the mainly-Muslim town who were refused birth
certificates for their children because they had chosen Christian, not
Muslim first names. However, Gurayat Eyvazov said it was unclear if the
next time Baptist parents try to register a child’s birth with a Christian
name they will face similar refusals. “Officials said nothing on
this,” she told Forum 18.
Children’s births in Azerbaijan are generally registered at the place where
their parents are registered to live. As Azerbaijani citizens and
registered residents of Aliabad, the Eyvazov couple originally tried to
register Luka’s birth at the local town administration, which is where they
first encountered a refusal. Without a birth certificate, Luka was not able
to go to kindergarten or to school, get treatment in a hospital, or travel
abroad.
Luka’s parents failed too at the regional level in Zakatala, where civil
registration official Aybeniz Kalashova wrote to the Eyvazovs last May
complaining of foreign Baptist missionaries who had come to Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s “spreading the Christian faith of the Baptist sect
among the population”, and who “tried to change surnames and
first names, changing them into Georgian and Christian names”. The
Eyvazovs even took their case to Mehman Soltanov of the Justice Ministry’s
civil registration department in the capital Baku, but this too failed to
break the logjam (see F18News 1 December 2004
).
Other members of Azerbaijan’s ethnic Georgian minority have told Forum 18
that the difficulty of registering children with Georgian Christian names
is particularly acute in the Zakatala region, though it occurs from time to
time in neighbouring regions with an ethnic Georgian minority.
One ethnic Georgian told Forum 18 on 10 January from Kakh [Qax] region
south of Zakatala region that Ingilos – ethnic Georgians who were
converted to Islam several centuries ago and are considered to be
Georgian-speaking Azeris by the Azerbaijani authorities, such as the
Baptists in Aliabad – face great difficulties trying to change their
surnames back to the Georgian form and registering children’s births with
Georgian names. However, the Georgian told Forum 18 that in most of these
cases the motivation for the parents’ desire for Georgian first names is
national, not religious.
Georgian Orthodox priest Fr Ioan Abesashvili confirmed to Forum 18 in Kakh
last November that his parishioners had no problems registering the births
of their children with Georgian Christian names.
Meanwhile, Zaur Balayev, pastor of another Baptist congregation in Aliabad,
told Forum 18 on 4 January that the town authorities have finally agreed to
allow him to open a grocery shop. He said the earlier refusals were part of
systematic local official opposition to Baptists in the town and an attempt
to drive them out by economic means by depriving them of the means to earn
a living (see F18News 9 December 2004
).
Two of the three Baptist congregations in Aliabad have repeatedly tried to
register with the authorities to gain legal status but, despite meeting all
the criteria, have got nowhere with their applications (see F18 News 8
December 2004 ). The third
congregation does not wish to register. Church members have been detained,
fined, threatened and their homes have even been shot at over the past
decade.
Najiba Mamedova, the notary of Zakatala region, angrily refused to discuss
with Forum 18 on 10 January why she is still refusing to notarise the
signatures on the Baptist congregations’ registration applications
necessary for the applications to go further. “You are asking about
such trivial matters when 25 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory is occupied
by Armenian bandits and the country is flooded with refugees,” she
declared, refusing to say why this was relevant to why she would not
notarise the Baptists’ signatures. She then put the phone down. Mamedova
has a record of behaving angrily towards enquirers, having shouted “We
don’t need Baptists here” at Forum 18 (see F18News 8 December 2004
).
For more background information see Forum 18’s Azerbaijan religious freedom
survey at ‘
A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
;amp;Rootmap=azerba
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

Georgia’s premier welcomes new ferry link with Russia
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
10 Jan 05
Tbilisi, 10 January: A series of documents on the opening of a ferry
rail link between the Georgian port of Poti and the Russian port of
Kavkaz was signed in Tbilisi today. Russian Transport Minister Igor
Levitin and Georgian Economic Development Minister Aleksi Aleksishvili
signed the agreements “On the ferry service”, “The rules of shipping”
and “The temporary rules for the operation of the ferry service”.
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who attended the
document-signing ceremony, said “the signed agreements and the opening
of ferry traffic between the ports of Poti and Kavkaz will create
positive trends in the development of trade relations between Georgia
and Russia”.
The first ferry crossing will be completed in the second half of
January and at first it will operate once every three days,
transporting on average 25 railway carriages. Not only Georgia and
Russia will use the Poti-Kavkaz ferry link, but also Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries.
[Passage omitted]

TURN THE PAGE, BUT READ IT FIRST: WHY EUROPE AND TURKEY MUST NOW
ADDRESS THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Administrator
`It’s not the land that we lost, nor the dead. No, the worst is the
hatred.’
-Saroyan, the main character impersonated by Charles Aznavour, in Atom
Egoyan’ s film on the Armenian Holocaust `Ararat’.
By Nicolas Tavitian, Worldpress.org, Brussels, 04/01/2005
On Dec. 13, the ghost of the 1915 Armenian genocide suddenly burst on
the E.U. scene as French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier announced
that Turkey would be expected to recognize the event during
E.U. accession negotiations.
Why should the recognition of an event 90 years old be an issue today?
Why connect it to Turkey’s E.U. bid? Indeed, why rack up the past, as
Jack Straw put it?
This is not about Turkey recognizing the Armenian genocide: it is
about the country ending its denial, and the low-level, state
orchestrated hate campaign that goes with it.
The Armenians were eradicated from the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16
because they had been used as a pretext for interference on the part
of the great powers of the day. In a gruesome and purposeful affair
carried out over less than a year, an estimated 1.5 million people
were killed. Many more fled to Russiaand Syria. The remainder were
swept up in cleansing campaigns over the following decades. As a
result, Turkey’s Armenian population dropped from 10-15 percent to 0.1
percent of Turkey’s overall population, and all in Istanbul.
How does a country return to normal after such an enormous – indeed,
unprecedented – atrocity? By blaming the victim: Turkey has
accusedArmenians of rebelling during the war, of helping the Russians
and of killing as many Turks as Turks killed Armenians. With this
inescapable corollary, the Armenians were, and remain, a threat to
Turkey.
This narrative has been anchored in the minds of Turks by 90 years of
official historiography and nationalistic campaigning. Its natural
conclusion is that Armenians, wherever they live, are the enemy and
their claim to genocide recognition is nothing less than a covert
attempt to seize territory from the Turkish Republic. It is a message
that has been driven by government policyfor decades, and it has
fuelled widespread hostility in the Turkish population towards a group
they no longer have direct contact with.
According to Turkish historian Taner Akcam, this narrative played an
important role in the reconstruction of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk as a
newborn, anti-imperialist and thus necessarily innocent nation. It has
bred a natural hostility to Armenians that can easily turn to fear and
hatred. Europeans will recognize here parallels with fears of the
Jewish conspiracy propagated by anti-Semites.
In the eyes of many Turks, Armenians in Europe and America who
continue to commemorate the catastrophe are a threat, and this threat
is being pursued around the world.
Turkey’s hostility to Armenians manifests itself on the most
irrelevant occasions. When permission is requested to build an
Armenian church in a European city, a Turkish Ambassador is likely to
be working against it. When Armenians hold an event – say a conference
or an exhibition – in a public building, the odds are Turkey will work
to have it cancelled.
More dramatically, the prevailing state of mind in Turkey has played a
major role in shaping the country’s policy towards the state of
Armenia. The civil conflict between the ethnic Armenians of Karabagh
and the state of Azerbaijan in the early 1990’s actually fed the
narrative of Armenian expansionist threat (Azeris are considered Turks
in Turkey). In defiance of its own interests, Turkey refused to
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and closed its border with
that country.
In Turkey, the few remaining Armenians are still considered a security
threat. They are supervised directly by the National Security Council,
an honor they would happily do without.
The narrative of denial and its consequences are noxious, and it is
not compatible with joining a community of nations such as the
European Union- Copenhagen criteria or not.
Noxious, too, is the vigour that the Turkish state displays in
obliterating the memory of the genocide abroad. Any event relating to
the genocide =80` film, conference, memorial, publication – literally
anything will be fought against tooth and nail by Turkish Embassies,
mobilizing Turkish immigrant communities if need be. Violence may be
involved, as in the French town of Valence on Nov. 28.
Most people are not heroes; they yield. The British government itself
has yielded. So has the European Commission as it sidelined the issue
in the context of Turkey’s relations with the E.U. Many press agencies
and media yield by presenting the genocide as an Armenian `claim,’ as
if 90 years had not been sufficient to establish the facts as more
than a claim. Countless authors, filmmakers, and others who considered
telling the story of the annihilationof an ancient nation also
yielded.
That is why the Armenian genocide, a crime of unprecedented magnitude,
is so little known and has barely been mentioned in more than a
passing fashion in the context of Turkey’s membership bid. And that is
why the twin evils of denial and the group hostility it has bred –
call it nationalism, racism, xenophobia – must not be allowed into our
community of nations.
Michel Barnier’s declaration teaches us at least one lesson: the
legacy of genocide is too big to be brushed under the carpet. Turkey’s
true friends in the E.U. must have the wisdom to confront genocide
denial.
Nicolas Tavitian is Director of European Programmes for the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU, online at ), a founding
member of the Turkish Armenian association TABDC-EU, and author of
several reports on relations between Turkey and Armenia, including
`Les relations arméno-turques: la porte close de l’Orient'(2003),
available on

Couple hosts fundraiser for kids’ vaccinations
A Christmas party Saturday yielded donations instead of gifts to help
children in Armenia
Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader
January 10, 2005
By Darleene Barrientos
Amid a dark, rainy Saturday evening, Roobik and Carmen Ovanesian’s
glowing home was a beacon, beckoning to neighbors and friends to come in
and donate money to help every child in Armenia get vaccinated.
About two hundred people made their way in the door to drop off a check
Saturday, raising nearly $8,000. The party was a fundraising event for
the Millennium Armenian Children’s Vaccine Fund, part of the Ani and
Narod Memorial Foundation.
The event was deliberately scheduled Saturday, as part of Armenian
Christmas celebrations. Armenian Christmas, or the Day of Epiphany, is
celebrated Jan. 6.
Organizers hoped to raise $20,000, to close out the $1.5 million
campaign goal. More than 400 guests were invited, and were asked to make
a tax-deductible donation to the fund in lieu of a Christmas gift. The
amount raised over the weekend will be matched by UNICEF.
“We would l ove for the last $20,000 to be raised tonight,” Project
Coordinator Eliza Karagezian said. “But whatever comes in, we are
grateful for it.”
Roobik and Carmen Ovanesian offered to host the event after Carmen saw a
brochure detailing the campaign and its goals.
“It is very important, it’s a very good cause,” Ovanesian said.
“Vaccinations are a simple thing, but children die from smallpox and
polio all the time.”
Armenia might be far from Glendale, but its important that any child in
every country be vaccinated, Glendale Community College trustee Armine
Hacopian said
“Every child that’s vaccinated makes it a safer world,” she said.
“Children are not restricted to one country.”
The celebration attracted several Armenian and Armenian American leaders
from Glendale and beyond. Mayor Bob Yousefian and Glendale Police Chief
Randy Adams both attended, along with several candidates for the City
Council, City Clerk, the Glendale Unified School District board and
Glendale Community College trustee board.
Burbank Unified School District board Vice President and Burbank
attorney Paul Krekorian and Downey City Councilman Kirk Cartozian also
attended the foundation fundraiser.

post-gazette.com
Eurasian threat / A distant region packs a dangerous potential
Monday, January 10, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sixth in a series: A World in Focus
Defining Eurasia is no easy thing. It is the part of the world that lies
north of South Asia, east of Western Europe and west of East Asia. It
includes Russia and Iran as well as many smaller countries, some facing
complex issues. The countries have relatively little in common, and the
region does not approach problems as a region.
Russia is the giant, stretching from Western Europe to the Pacific Ocean. In
2004 it grew in strength economically, largely on the back of high prices in
the oil industry. Presidential elections gave President Vladimir V. Putin 72
percent of the vote, which he promptly used to increase his authority.
Problems for Russia came from Chechnya, where a recently elected president
was assassinated; anti-Russian Chechen militants also killed at least 335,
including many children, in a tragic incident at a school in Beslan.
Mr. Putin had his fur singed when the pro-Western candidate, Viktor
Yushchenko beat his favorite in the Ukrainian elections. Add that to the
European Union’s having tucked six former Soviet protectorates under its
wing in May, and 2004 became a not-so-great year for Russia and its leader.
Mr. Putin’s relationship with President Bush seems to be holding, but Russia
bears close watching.
It has scheduled joint military maneuvers with China for 2005, a new
development in their relations. To the degree that there is still a
three-cornered rivalry between the United States, Russia and China, Russia
may just have played its “China card.”
The drama with Iran in 2004 was over potential weapons applications of its
developing nuclear capacity. The Europeans are playing a constructive role
in seeking to bring Iran’s facilities under the supervision of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, to that body’s and America’s
satisfaction. In the meantime, Israel is threatening to attack Iran, as it
did Iraq in 1981, to erase or diminish the threat it perceives to itself
from Iran’s nuclear program. If it were to do so, it would set off the
mother of all wars in the region and there would be a high risk of the
United States being drawn into the conflict.
In the continuing push and pull between the conservative clerics and
cautiously-modernizing political elements in Iran, 2004 saw the
conservatives win parliamentary elections hands-down. Presidential elections
scheduled for June are likely to provide another setback for the reformers,
in spite of a general diminishing of conservative clerical influence in the
population as a whole.
Democracy is a delicate plant in much of Eurasia. In Georgia, disputed
results of presidential elections apparently marked by fraud were overturned
by demonstrators, putting a pro-Western president in office. Elections and a
referendum in Belarus were judged to fall far short of standards. Elections
held in Kazakhstan, single-party Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in 2004 were
not considered democratic either.
There will be more elections this year, in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Azerbaijan and Moldova, all of which should be closely monitored by
international observers to try to make them as credible as possible.
Government control is either shaky or heavy-handed in all of these places,
making a credible electoral process difficult to achieve.
The United States has to be interested to a degree in all of these
countries, for different reasons. Some, such as Kazakhstan, have oil; some
border on Afghanistan; some present humanitarian issues. The Armenians and
Georgians have descendants in the United States, who lobby on their behalf.
Iran and Russia remain obvious concerns to Washington. What happens in
Eurasia may seem a faraway concern; it can’t be.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
January 10, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]
ASSEMBLY EXTENDS APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly announced today that the
application deadline for the 2005 Terjenian-Thomas Assembly Internship
Program in Washington, DC has been extended to January 30, 2005.
The application deadline for the Assembly’s internship program in
Yerevan remains February 15.
Both programs, offered June through August, provide college students
of Armenian descent the opportunity to intern in those respective
cities while taking part in a full schedule of educational, social and
cultural activities. Students accepted to the Washington program are
typically placed in congressional offices, government agencies,
think-tanks and media outlets based on their educational backgrounds
and work experience. Interns are also given the opportunity to meet
with Members of Congress, policy makers and noted academicians through
the popular Capitol Ideas and Lecture Series programs.
Now entering its sixth year, the Assembly’s intern program in Armenia
offers students the unique opportunity to live and work in one of the
most historically and culturally rich countries in the world. Over
the course of eight-weeks, students will work in Armenian government
agencies, meet with Armenia and Karabakh officials and tour historical
sites in and around Armenia.
Partial and full housing scholarships are available to qualified
students on a competitive basis. Internship applications are
available on the Assembly’s Web site at
For more information on the internship programs or assistance with the
application process, please contact Internship Program Manager Alex
Karapetian in Washington at (202) 393-3434, ext. 245 or via email at
[email protected].

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

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NR#2005-002