Fresno Bee, CA
Jan 6 2005
Armenian Town plan challenged
Two local preservation groups file a lawsuit.
By Russell Clemings / The Fresno Bee
Two groups of local historic preservation advocates have gone to
court hoping to overturn Fresno’s approval of a large part of the Old
Armenian Town redevelopment project.
Heritage Fresno and Friends of Armenian Town allege that the city’s
redevelopment agency did not “properly address impacts on historic
resources and feasible alternatives” when its board – which also is
the City Council – unanimously approved the project in November.
Their Fresno County Superior Court complaint says that the city and
developers Richard Gunner and George Andros made no mention of their
plans for the facade of Armenian Evangelical Church, in storage since
being torn down in November 2003.
It also says the agency did not get enough public comment before
deciding where to move five other historic buildings that would be
displaced by the project. The agency plans to put the structures on
vacant lots along L Street between San Benito and Monterey streets;
preservation advocates have proposed an alternative site at M and
Ventura streets, closer to their original locations.
“These people just don’t think a good enough job has been done in
protecting historic resources,” said their attorney, John C.
Gabrielli, of Davis. “They’re not interested in stopping the project
at all. They’re interested in sitting down and hashing things out.”
Neither Marlene Murphey, interim director of the redevelopment
agency, nor Lowell Carruth, attorney for Gunner and Andros, responded
to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
The Old Armenian Town project includes a new home for the state’s 5th
District Court of Appeal, plus three office buildings, a parking
garage, and some retail space. An Armenian Cultural Center also is
planned. The site is bounded by O, Ventura and M streets and Freeway
41.
George Bursik, a spokesman for the preservation groups, lives in one
of the few remaining homes in the project area and says he objects
mainly to the city’s plans for his and other houses.
“I don’t believe the city has a legal right to confiscate a person’s
home,” he said. “I mean, I understand that they have the legal right,
but … just because some developer comes along and wants to take it
doesn’t make it in the public interest.”

ArmenPress
Jan 6 2005
AZERI, ARMENIAN FMs TO MEET IN PRAGUE JANUARY 11
BAKU, JANUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister
Araz Azimov told a local ATV channel that foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov have
agreed to hold another meeting in Prague on January 11 in an effort
to continue exploring ways for ending the dispute over Nagorno
Karabagh.
Azimov said the OSCE Minsk group cochairmen from Russia, France
and USA will also participate in the meeting, which, according to
him, will discuss the so-called stage-by-stage conflict resolution
option.
Late last month Azeri foreign minister said Baku expects
considerable progress from the next meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers.
“If Armenia continues to approach the issue as seriously, as it
did during the two previous meetings in Sofia and Brussels of foreign
ministers, the conflict settlement process would mark remarkable
changes,” he said.

ArmenPress
Jan 6 2005
ARMENIAN CONTINGENT READY TO DEPLOY IN IRAQ
YEREVAN, JANUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: A spokesman for Armenian defense
ministry told Armenpress that a 46 non-combat platoon is ready to be
deployed in Iraq. The spokesman, Seyran Shahsuvarian, said the
platoon is composed of 30 truck drivers, 10 sappers, three doctors
and three officers.
Armenia’s parliament voted to send 46 non-combat troops to Iraq on
December 24, a move that drew sharp criticism from many Armenians and
opposition groups.
The troops could serve in Iraq for up to a year and would only
conduct humanitarian operations. “There is not, and will not be an
Armenian military presence in Iraq,’ Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
had said earlier. “In the humanitarian aspect, it is preferable for
Armenia to contribute to the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, in
establishing democracy in this country which has important
significance for the region and which could have an impact on the
Caucasus.’
The troops would serve as part of the Polish-led multinational
force that operates in a belt of territory south of Baghdad.
The proposal had been widely criticized by opposition parties,
many Armenians and even the 30,000-strong Armenian community in Iraq,
which fears being targeted for attacks if the troops were sent.

ArmenPress
Jan 6 2005
DESPITE HEAVY SNOWFALL ROADS OPEN FOR TRAFFIC
YEREVAN, JANUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: The capital city Yerevan and much
of Armenia were socked by a Wednesday heavy snowfall, with no more
expected today in the capital. The snowfall began at about 7 p.m.
January 5 and went on through the night, but warmer air from the
south pushed its way today morning, resulting in snow melting in the
capital, while it is continuing to fall in some southern and east-
northern regions.
The only closed road is the one stretching along the Selim
mountain pass, all others are being cleaned up and are open for
traffic, Armenian weather service told Armenpress.

Syrian Arab News Agency
Jan 6 2005
President Assad Congratulates Armenians on Christmas
Damascus, Jan 6, (SANA)-
by S. Younes
President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday congratulated the Armenian
Orthodox Community on Christmas according to the Armenian Calendar.
Minister of the Republic Presidency Affaires Ghassan al-Laham visited
the Armenian Orthodox Archbishopric to wish the Armenian church
leaders and the Armenian community sons all the best on the feast
occasion.
Archbishop Naalbindian thanked the President representative praying
for his excellency’s long life and hoping for the fulfillment of the
Syrians wishes under his leadership.

Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada)
January 6, 2005 Thursday Final Edition
Council’s nickel-and-dime response is a crying shame
by Bill Dunphy
Reach into your pocket — or purse if you’re so inclined — and see
if you can find yourself a nickel.
Pull it out. Hold it in your hand. Roll it between your fingers. Flip
it up in the air and catch it again.
Have a good look at it, it’s probably been a while since you’ve even
noticed one.
A long time ago, nickels weren’t round, they were 12-sided. An even
longer time ago, you used to be able to buy things with a five-cent
piece — a loaf of bread. A haircut. A bus ride.
These days, you’d be hard pressed to find anything you can buy with
that nickel except for a piece of pink bubble gum or a grand total of
two minutes on the parking meters behind City Hall.
It took city council 20 times that two minutes yesterday to decide
that five cents — one nickel — per Hamiltonian is just the right
amount of money to donate to the southern Asian tsunami relief
effort.
Five cents apiece. A nickel from each of us to all of them. A total
of $25,000.
That averages out to about 16 cents per victim of the devastating
tsunami waves that swept 150,000 people to their deaths on Boxing
Day.
Councillor Tom Jackson praised the mayor, city manager Glen Peace and
city staff for moving so swiftly in developing a response to the
10-day-old disaster.
And he heartily approved of the nickel-a-person donation.
Recalling his very first week on council, back in 1988, Jackson noted
they’d voted to send $5,000 to aid victims of an earthquake that
killed up to 40,000 Armenians.
“I think $25,000 is very commensurate with what councils have done in
the past,” Jackson said.
Councillor Bill Kelly defended the donation as appropriate.
“I would dearly like (the city) to donate 10 times — 100 times! —
this amount, but you have to deal with reality … Our job is to get
people to rally behind this, to act as a funnel, as it were, for
donations.”
In the nine days prior to having this $25,000 donation to rally
behind, Hamiltonians have been donating at an average well above
$50,000 a day.
Still, Councillor Sam Merulla echoed the notion that the city
donation would act as some kind of goad or spur for others to give.
“It’s a challenge to the business community to not only match what we
are doing as a city on the backs of the taxpayer, but also (to)
exceed that,” Merulla said.
Yesterday, Dofasco and its employees announced $110,000 in donations
to relief efforts.
It’s doubtful they knew of the city’s efforts prior to organizing
their donation.
In addition to the $25,000 donation, city staff recommended allowing
the Red Cross to set up a fundraising booth at this Sunday’s Mayor’s
New Year’s levee, that the city lend its name to a CHtv fundraising
event slated for next Tuesday, and that staff draw up a list of
resources (skilled people and equipment) that might be made available
for relief work, should anyone ask for it.
A few councillors expressed reservations about the staff’s
recommendations, suggesting that the donation was a pittance or a
token.
Several raised the notion of adding $1 per person to the property tax
bill to fund a $500,000 donation — but that idea failed to catch on.
One idea did seem to pique the councillors’ interest, although it was
not included in the staff report and not championed by Mayor Larry Di
Ianni, who mentioned it in passing as an idea that would be the
subject of “more discussions in the coming weeks.”
The idea — to adopt or twin with a specific Sri Lankan village and
offer it short- and long-term aid — came not from staff, or from a
councillor, but from Noor Nazim, a member of the city’s Strengthening
Hamilton’s Community Initiative. Nazim has been tirelessly struggling
to organize relief since the day the tsunamis first hit.
Councillor Bob Bratina — the fifth speaker at the emergency session
and the first to pronounce the word tsunami correctly — plucked the
idea from obscurity, and suggested setting up a task force to
investigate that idea as well as several other useful suggestions
that arose on the council floor. He carried the day.
After the meeting, the mayor said he welcomed the task force and
promised his office would take responsibility for kick-starting its
work. And he offered cautious encouragement for Nazim’s idea.
“His suggestion isn’t to be dismissed, that’s why I’m happy it was
referred to this task force … it may just be a project that people
in this city can rally around.”
How do you put a price on leadership like that?

Baltic News Service
January 5, 2005
FIRST 2005 BABY IN IRELAND BORN TO LITHUANIAN
VILNIUS, Jan 05
The first 2005 baby in Ireland was born to a young Lithuanian woman
one second past midnight.
According to the Lietuvos Rytas daily, the woman gave birth to her
first baby, a boy, in a Dublin hospital.
The parents of the baby intend to name their son David. The couple
moved from Lithuania to Ireland a few years ago and currently lives
in Dublin.
The Irish daily newspaper The Sunday Independent was told at the
hospital that the baby and the mother were feeling fine.
Doctors presented the baby with various gifts.
First babies born in this hospital in 2004 were not only Irish as
well. Last year an Armenian woman gave birth to twins Natalie and
Angela one and eight minutes after midnight respectively.

Associated Press Worldstream
January 6, 2005 Thursday 11:01 AM Eastern Time
Head of Armenian church leads nation in Christmas worship
YEREVAN, Armenia
Armenians lit candles and attended services to mark their Christmas
holiday Thursday as the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church urged
believers to resist violence, terrorism and the threat of war.
Catholicos Karekin II led Christmas services at the Echmiadzin
Cathedral outside the capital, Yerevan. President Robert Kocharian
and other top government officials attended.
Karekin told worshippers “to banish hate from the heart” and “to
resist violence and terrorism and the threat of war.”
Later Thursday, after the Christmas liturgy, priests were to conduct
a rite known as the Blessing of the Water, which symbolizes the
baptism of Jesus Christ in the river Jordan.
“Only the Armenian Church has maintained the ancient tradition of
celebrating the birth of Christ and the Epiphany on one day,” a
statement from the church said.
The Armenian Church celebrates Christmas on Jan. 6, the date
originally used by all Christians. In the fourth century, Christians
in the Roman Empire began celebrating on Dec. 25 to override a pagan
winter solstice festival on the same day, but the Armenian church
left Christmas where it was.
Four years ago, Armenia celebrated its 1,700th anniversary as a
Christian country. In 301, it became the first state to make
Christianity the official religion.
Worldwide there are about 10 million Armenians. Slightly fewer than
half live in Armenia itself.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 4 2005
NKR and RA Ministers of Foreign Affairs discuss the issues of
deepening bilateral relations
Robert Kocharyan: The year of 2004 was peaceful, stable and fruitful
for Armenia
Arkadi Ghukasian: the year of 2004 was successful for NKR
Ambassador of Iraq to Azerbaijan: Sending Armenian peacekeeping
forces to Iraq not to change the position of official Baghdad
regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
*********************************************************************
NKR AND RA MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DISCUSS THE ISSUES OF
DEEPENING BILATERAL RELATIONS
YEREVAN, January 4. /ARKA/. NKR and RA Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Armen Melikyan and Vartan Oskanian discussed the issues of deepening
relations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs. According to
RA MFA Press Service Department, the parties exchanges opinions about
the issues of bilateral interest. Taking the protocol on cooperation
between the MFAs of NKR and RA as the basis, the Ministers discussed
the issues of even more profound development of relations. Melikyan
who has taken the positions recently, introduced the main directions
and tasks of NKR MFA emphasizing that their activity will mainly
target at achieving international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh. In
particular, the necessity of activation of mutual contacts was
emphasized. The Ministers drew the attention to the current situation
around the conflict settlement and the negotiations process in the
framework of OSCE group. It was noted that the attention of the
international community to the issue enables to more profoundly
introduce tasks targeting at realization of rights to
self-determination of NKR people. A.H. -0–
*********************************************************************
ROBERT KOCHARYAN: THE YEAR OF 2004 WAS PEACEFUL, STABLE AND FRUITFUL
FOR ARMENIA
YEREVAN, January 4. /ARKA/. The year of 2004 was peaceful, stable and
fruitful for Armenia, as stated in the RA President Robert
Kocharyan’s New Year greeting, according to RA President’s Press
Service Department. Accomplished works provided for significant
economic growth, which translates into new jobs, according to the
president. This is a difficult but the shortest road toward
prosperity for our country and our people. Kocharyan noted that to
have a qualitatively new country we must work hard. `Social
polarization in our country is still deep. The number of our citizens
living in poverty is still large. It means that the process of
reforms must continue, and the cornerstone of this process is the
rise of living standards and fight against poverty. To achieve these
goals we have developed a mid-term plan of action, which is being
implemented persistently’, he said. According to Kocharyan, results
of the accomplished works in this passing year will be noticeable
already in 2005. In a number of areas we plan a significant increase
of salaries. The state budget has a qualitatively new structure,
where shares allocated to health care and education are substantially
augmented. In the sphere of foreign affairs important has been
involvement of Armenia in the European `New Neighborhood’ initiative,
as the President stated. This fact underlined the readiness of the
European Union to build special relations with our country.
Cooperation with our partner-foreign states has been enhanced, and
Armenia has continued active participation in international
processes.
According to Kocharyan, Armenia-Spjurk relations have been further
advanced and he distinguished `One Nation-One Culture’ first Armenian
festival, which was performed enthusiastically. `Allying with the
`Hayastan’ All-Armenian Fund the Armenians of Diaspora managed to
collect a considerable amount of money to conclude construction of
the Karabagh’s North-South highway. This is an important step in
strengthening the factual independence of Karabagh – independence,
which is nonnegotiable’, he said. The President also emphasized that
our Armed Forces in the passing year have become even stronger and
assured that the year of 2005 will be more productive for Armenia
`and there are all the preconditions for it’. A.H. –0–
*********************************************************************
ARKADI GHUKASIAN: THE YEAR OF 2004 WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR NKR
STEPANAKERT, January 4. /ARKA/. The year of 2004 was successful for
NKR, as stated NKR President Arkadi Ghukasian in his New Year
greeting. `We were not affected by political and social upheavals.
Due to the reforms conducted, a stable economic growth is recorded in
the country, and the volume of production has grown’, he noted.
Ghukasian drew the attention to the fact that the economic growth
brought to gradual increase of the welfare of NKR people and to
improvement of their social conditions. Ghukasian reminded that in
2004 the government of NKR managed to increase the salary of
personnel working in budgetary funded organizations and to increase
the volume of aid to most needing strata of the society: families of
missing soldiers and those perished in the Karabakh war, invalids,
war veterans, and large families.
As it was particularly stated in the greeting of the President,
beginning from the next year the government will begin building
apartment blocks for socially unsecured families. `The size of
pensions will increase as well as that of other social payments.
Also, salary of the personnel working in the sphere of healthcare,
education, culture and sport will increase’, he noted.
The state budget of NKR for 2005 envisages 30% growth of expenditures
for social purposes. Ghhukasian noted that in 2004 the basis was put
for rapid completion of the construction of the North -South highway,
which is of high strategic importance for Artsakh for strengthening
its military, economic and national security. `The unprecedented
success of the TV marathon is considered by me as a disposition of
trust by Diaspora in the reforms introduced in social-political and
social-economic spheres, and in the measures taken to build civil
society in Artsakh’, he said.
Ghukasian noted that `for the last year our army became even stronger
and its military efficiency increased’. `The problems of the NKR Army
of Defense, including those of social character, have been and will
remain in the center of attention of the government. The power of our
army enables us to pursue successful foreign policy to advocate our
interests in the international arena. I assure you that any attempts
of Azerbaijan to break the rhythm of our people will be repulsed by
the NKR Army of Defense’, as stated in the greeting of the President.
A.H. -0 –
*********************************************************************
AMBASSADOR OF IRAQ TO AZERBAIJAN: SENDING ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPING
FORCES TO IRAQ NOT TO CHANGE THE POSITION OF OFFICIAL BAGHDAD
REGARDING THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
YEREVAN, January 4. /ARKA/. Sending Armenian peacekeeping forces to
Iraq will not change the position of official Baghdad regarding the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as stated by the new Ambassador of Iraq to
Azerbaijan Arshad Omar Ishmael when commenting the decision of the RA
NA to send military contingent to Iraq, according to TREND. “Many
peacekeeping forces may arrive in our country, but it will not
influence of our general policy’, he said. According to him, the
decision of RA NA to send 50 peacekeepers to Iraq was taken after the
military operations. `Armenia is willing to participate only current
processes to restore peace. There is a Surah in the Koran stating
that `those who declare Jihad for the sake of conquesting Mecca are
above those who did it later’. I do not believe that those who got
involved in the struggle to save Iraq and those who did it later
would be treated simultaneously. In any case, those who came first
are important for us’, he said. The diplomat drew the attention to
Iraq’s always supporting the position of Baku in the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. Official Baghdad is for the
solution of the problem only `in the framework of the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan’. `During the last discussions in UNO we
voted for the project of resolution developed by the Azerbaijani
side’, he reminded. The Ambassador noted that that policy would be
pursued in future as well.
To note, so far there is no Embassy of Iraq in Yerevan. `This is a
very important fact and Azerbaijan should take it into account.
Interests of our friends have an important place in our foreign
policy’, he said. A.H. -0 –

Agence France Presse — English
January 6, 2005 Thursday 4:42 PM GMT
Polish and Lithuanian soldiers leave for Iraq
WARSAW
Some 100 Polish and 56 Lithuanian soldiers left for Iraq on Thursday
to take over from other soldiers serving there in the Polish-led
multinational force in the country.
The soldiers form part of the fourth contingent Poland has sent to
Iraq since late 2003, the Polish army said in a statement in Warsaw.
A strong ally of the US since the start of the Iraq conflict, Poland
said in December that it would cut its troops from 2,400 to 1,700
after the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 30.
Some 700 other soldiers based in Poland have been put on reserve to
be sent to Iraq if needed.
After the Iraqi elections, the 5,500-strong Polish force will include
soldiers from 15 countries.
The countries contributing are Armenia, Bulgaria, Denmark,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway,
Romania, Salvador, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United States, Colonel
Leszek Laszczak said.
Armenia will contribute to the force for the first time, sending
around 50 soldiers.
Hungary withdrew its 300 troops from the Polish-led force at the end
of 2004, six months after Spain brought home its own soldiers.
“For the time being we have no information that other countries plan
to withdraw their troops,” a Polish military official said.
A poll published in December showed that 72 percent of Poles opposed
their troops’ presence in Iraq.
Poland has lost 13 soldiers and four civilians since the beginning of
the conflict.