PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee
San Francisco – Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
[email protected]

Contact: Roxanne Makasdjian (415) 641-0525

KARABAGH MINE CLEARING SPECIALIST VISITS SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco, Sept. 8, 2004 – Bay Area Armenian-Americans learned about
the efforts underway in Artsakh to rid the country of dangerous
landmines. Kurt Chesko, the Program Officer for the demining agency HALO
gave a presentation to Bay Area Armenian-Americans about the extent of
the problem of landmines in Artsakh and the effort to clear them. The
event was hosted by the Bay Area Armenian National Committee at San
Francisco’s Vaspouragan Hall.

Chesko spent two months this past fall. With the permission and
cooperation of the government of Artsakh, HALO has been working in the
country since 1995, when it conducted an 18-month program surveying the
region and equipping and training deminers. By 1999, the deminers had
successfully cleared hundreds of mines. HALO returned to Artsakh in
2000 with a project of re-equipment, providing additional training, and
establishing a “mine action center,” which collects and maintains
information about the mines, safe routes, etc. In addition to
landmines, unexploded ordnance is also cleared.

In Artsakh, both Azeri and Armenian forces laid minefields. In many
areas, access to prime agricultural land is denied and many farmers and
villagers have been wounded by their inadvertent detonation of the
hidden mines. In the first quarter of 2004 alone, mines were responsible
for 8 deaths and 10 injuries in Artsakh. Aid organizations in the region
have also been forced to restrict their operations due to fears of
landmines on or just beside roads and the presence of unexploded ordnance.

Chesko explained that there are several kinds of mines in Artsakh, the
most common of which is the “Osean 72” which explodes when stepped on,
throwing shrapnel in all directions. He said the worst problem is the
anti-tank mines, which are extremely destructive, carrying 10 lbs of
explosive, and which are not as easily detected by the mine clearing
equipment.

HALO employs a team of 186 local Armenian men and women in Artsakh,
including mine clearers, medics, drivers, and teachers who educate
communities about how to protect themselves against the landmines. The
deminers are organized into units of 8, each with a team leader. Many of
the deminers are former soldiers. The deminers receive 2-4 weeks
training, and longer for those working as medics or those needing
training on the clearance of other types of ordnances, like grenades,
small rockets, etc.

To clear the mines, HALO first surveys an area, talking to farmers to
understand where the mines are located. The organization then ranks the
area according to the urgency for demining – #1 being an area of high
population, and #5, lowest population.

“We’re not clearing the mines they need for defense,” said Chesko.
“Those on the front lines are not touched. Those areas are not a
priority for us.” He also said that neighboring Azerbaijan which has a
similar or worse mine problem has refused HALO’s offer of demining and
has expressed strong opposition to the ongoing demining efforts in Artsakh.

Chesko displayed photo slides illustrating examples of damage done by
exploded mines: a farmer’s flock of sheep killed, villagers without
limbs, damaged farm equipment. He also displayed the simple tools used
by the deminers: metal detectors, Kevlar vests, small shovels, and
protective headgear. The workers cordon-off the area to be demined, in
lanes of one meter in width, and each worker slowly waves the metal
detector along his/her lane. When a mine is detected, the worker
carefully digs the dirt until the side of the mine is exposed. An
explosive puts a charge near the mine and it is exploded and removed.

The deminers are able to clear approximately 18,000 square meters per
day. To date, 11,000 acres in Artsakh have been cleared of mines. HALO
predicts the need for 4-6 more years of demining in order to rid the
problem in Artsakh.

The HALO Trust (Hazardous Area Life Support Organization) is a
not-for-profit NGO (non-governmental organization) with over 5,500
mineclearers in 9 countries in Central and Southeast, Africa, the
Caucasus & Balkans. HALO’s 2004 budget for Artsakh is financed by the
Dutch government ($574,000), USAID ($450,000) and the Cafesjian Fund
($60,000).

Chesko said HALO’s administration rate is 7%, with 93% of its funding
going directly to clearance efforts. Artsakh’s deminers are paid $175
per month, a payment calculated to support 12 family members. If
workers are injured to the extent they can no longer work as a deminer,
they are compensated with $3,000.

Chesko plans on returning to Artsakh next year.

A1 Plus | 14:47:29 | 05-10-2004 | Social |

WAR FIGHTERS PROTESTING

Authorities manage to split and incite the various strata against each
other. The families of invalid and perished war fighters of Artcakh
now face the situation.

The point is that the families of dead fighters will be granted to
apartments under the prior order set by Armenian Government. The
invalid and wounded war fighters consider the decision absurd since
sometimes a few wives of one dead fighter who had given birth to one
and more sons of the same fighter are allocated apartments.

The initiative group of commanders of Artcakh War has today held a
press conference in Armenian Aryans’ Union. They set Government a
deadline till tomorrow to respond to their demand of 6 points or else
they will go on a termless sit-in in front of the Government building.

Initiative group demands:

1. to declare 2005 the Year of War Fighters;
2. to pass a law on the status of war fighters;
3. to restore the privileges provided by the decree of President in 1992;
4. to reconsider Government decision and to increase the least wage of invalid war fighters to the least pension for a military man retiring;
5. to grant the dwelling problem of perished and dead war fighters;
6. to count and to involve the expenses for the above issues in 2005 budget.

Bulgarian News Briefs

bnn
05.10.2004

UPDATE 1: New items on British visas for Bulgarians, Parvanov visit to
Armenia, Azerbaijan

SOFIA (bnn)–Britain may retain its entry visa regime for Bulgarians even if
the Balkan country joins the EU, and official said Tuesday.

British Ambassador Jeremy Hill said his country would revise the current visa
regime once Bulgaria is admitted in the EU but it was possible that the visa
requirement remains even after that.

***

SOFIA (bnn)-Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov started Tuesday a four-day
trip to Armenia and Azerbaijan, his press office announced. On the first day
of his visit Parvanov met his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan. He wasto
travel to neighbouring Azerbaijan on Wednesday and meet his colleague Ilham
Aliev. The talks are expected to focus on improvement of commercial and
transport links between Bulgaria and the two formerly Soviet republics.

***

SOFIA (bnn)–Macedonia’s Interior Minister Siljan Avramovski will visit
Bulgaria, the Focus news agency reported Tuesday. The agency quoted Macedonian
Interior Ministry spokesman Goran Pavlovski as saying Avramovski would discuss
bilateral co-operation with his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Petkanov. He would
not immediately set a date for the visit.
  /bnn/

Armenia posts 0.7% deflation in September

05.10.2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia posted 0.7% consumer price deflation in
the month of September, the country’s state statistics committee told
Interfax.

Prices for food goods including alcohol and cigarettes dropped 1.1% in
September and prices for non-food items remained flat. Service prices
dropped 0.1% in September.

The government said inflation was 7.9% in September 2003-September
2004. Prices for food goods including alcohol and cigarettes grew
11.2% in the period, non-food prices 0.7% and service prices 1.6%.

Consumer prices grew 8.6% in 2003.

Armenia ready to counter Azerbaijan if need be

01.10.2004

Yerevan. (Interfax-AVN) – Armenia does not want to resume military
operations against Azerbaijan, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh
Sarkisian has told Armenian Public Television.

“Armenia will declare war only if attacked by Azerbaijan. However, if
it is the case, Azerbaijan will be repulsed so as not to even mention
the war again for years to come,” he emphasized.

Azerbaijani authorities have recently repeatedly stated the
possibility of resuming military operations against Armenia to settle
the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, if peaceful negotiations do not yield any
results.

“The aftermath of the war will be heavy for both sides,” the Armenian
defense minister said.

“Given the most favorable outcome of the war for Armenia, we do not
wish to resume military operations, since a war always results in
human casualties. Even if the losses ratio equaled 1:7, as was the
case in 1993-1994, we would not be willing to start a war,” Sarkisian
pointed out.

In addition to that, in wartime the sides will have to spend their
limited resources on solving military problems, he noted.

At the same time he emphasized that the Armenian Armed Forces were the
most combat ready force in Transcaucasia.

Sarkisian also said that NATO’s decision to cancel the military
exercise in Azerbaijan, slated for mid-September, due to the fact that
Armenian officers were not allowed to participate in it, had not been
a surprise to him.

At the same time he said that Armenia was interested in Azerbaijan’s
participation in the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace
program. “Azerbaijan’s participation in this program imposes certain
commitments on Baku, and we will be better off dealing with
Azerbaijan, committed to its promises,” he pointed out.

Armenia Starts Bulgaria’s President Two-Leg Trip

novinite.com
5 October 2004, Tuesday.

President Georgi Parvanov will pay a visit to Armenia October 5-7, to
be followed by a two-day stop at Azerbaijan October 7-8.

Parvanov is scheduled to confer with counterparts and other state
officials, together with the Transport and Communications Minister
Nikolai Vassilev and the mayors of several cities who accompany him.

Business forums and bilateral agreement signing ceremonies are also on
the agenda of the visit.

The Poetry of Dance: Roger Sinha’s `Apricot Trees Exist’

Maisonneuve Magazine
October 05, 2004

by Kena Herod

While we tend to think of poetry and dance as separate art forms,
throughout human history the two have been intimately linked. Even in
today’s highly specialized world, choreographers occasionally use
poetry (and other forms of the written word) as inspiration for
movement, or even within a performance as a complement to the
dance. Montreal choreographer Roger Sinha, however, intertwines poetry
and dance more than usual in `Apricot Trees Exist.’ Sinha’s newest
piece is based on Inger Christensen’s book-length poem, Alphabet.

Roger Sinha, born in England to Indian and Armenian parents, began his
dance studies at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. In 1986, he made
his professional debut in Quebec City; he continued his performing
career in Montreal, where in 1992 he choreographed his first work, the
acclaimed solo Burning Skin. Since then, Sinha has looked back to his
Indian roots for choreographic material. Drawing inspiration from
classical Indian dance and Asian music, Sinha has become renowned for
his East-meets-West contemporary choreography. With his latest work,
Sinha decided to challenge himself anew, feeling that he has explored
his personal history enough for the time being. `I wanted to get out
of myself, my preoccupations,’ he says of the autobiographical
material that infused his earlier choreography.

Interpreting the formal constraints of Christensen’s poem was Sinha’s
first challenge. The Danish poet used the alphabet (as the title
implies) in addition to Fibonacci’s number system as a basis for the
structure of the poem. Taking up this structure, Sinha substitutes
body parts that begin with eachletter of the alphabet and puts them in
motion for the amount of time it takes to read the corresponding lines
of the poem, creating an `anatomy of the alphabet’ that moves through
time.

Benoit Leduc and Magdalena Nowecka, above, performing in “Apricot
Trees Exist.” Sinha coreographed his dancers to create an “anatomy of
the alphabet.”

PHOTO BY ROLLINE LAPORTE

To facilitate the Montreal audience’s understanding of the poem, Sinha
is using a new French translation in voice-overs and projections on a
screen. But he is less concerned about the audience `getting’ the
poem=80=99s meaning (that’s just icing on the cake) than that they
appreciate the movement on stage. Non-dance elements are kept as
simple and economical as possible, he says, in order not to detract
attention from the choreography.

In the past, Sinha says, `I’ve always avoided anything hi-tech; it
puts me off. It’s so time and money consuming.’ And yet, in order to
push himself in a new direction and take full advantage of a
three-week residency at L=80=99Agora de la Danse, Sinha wanted to use
more theatrical bells and whistles in tandem with choreography for
`Apricot Trees Exist.’ `Even if it doesn’t work out,’ he says, at
least `I will have tried it.’

A first, too, for him was the high level of involvement of his dancers
in the creative process of the work. It was born partly out of
necessity-an ankle operation left Sinha temporarily immobile. He
appreciatively acknowledges not only the inventiveness of his dancers,
but also their ability to work within his guidelines and understand
his style. He notes that their efforts `took a lot of pressure off me
to always be the center’ of creation.

Coreographer and dancer Roger Sinha, pictured above in another
production, invited his dancers to play a part in the creative
process, in part becausean ankle operation left him temporarily
immobile.

In another bid to stretch himself as an artist, Sinha decided to
eschew the highly rhythmic Asian music he has favoured in previous
work and hired Bertrand Chénier, who composes mainly for film, to
write the score. Sinha callsChenier ‘s score `ambient’ (perhaps as a
consequence of thecomposer’s experience in film, the music seems to be
more in the background), allowing `other things to come out’ of the
dance. With a pulse-driven composition, Sinha notes, it is all too
easy to `become a slave’ to the rhythm.

The same week as the premiere of `Apricot Trees Exist,’ Sinha will
unveil another new work, a meditation on globalization commissioned by
the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation for its Public Policy
Conference. Regarding boththese pieces and his work in general, Sinha
says his motive for choreography is not just self-expression. He
admits, `There is always that ego-aspect of the artist that wants
=80=98my stuff’ to be shown.’ But, artists, he argues, should also
take the public `away from their familiarities,’ in ways that `will
allow them to grow.’ Like Christensen in Alphabet, Sinha hopes to
clarify our vision, helping us see the world and its wonders of nature
afresh. For him, choreography is `an opportunity you have as an
artist, part of our responsibility that we don ‘t see in commercial
art.’

`Apricot Trees Exist’ runs October 13-16 and 20=80`23 at Le Studio de
L’Agora de la Danse.

Kena Herod is the dance critic for Maisonneuve Magazine. The Dance
Scene appears every other Tuesday. Posted at 00:00:00 on 10/05/04

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE HOLE FOR THE NEW TERMINAL OF AIRPORT IS DUG

A1Plus
05-10-2004

Construction for the new terminal of ‘Armenia International Airlines’
Company was launched on June 4. Now the main pit of it is already dug
and the builders are going to lay the foundation. The hole is 8 meters
deep, 135 meters long and 40 meters wide.

A modern three-storied airport will be built on that ground. The first
part of the project will finish in 3 years. About $ 50 million will be
necessaryto invest.

The new owner of `Zvartnots’ has already spent 1% of the sum to
asphalt the highway from the airport to Argavand village.

According to Gevorg Abrahamyan, Press Secretary of `Armenia
International Airlines’, road planning is out of the investment
obligations of the company and it was implemented for charitable
purposes.

AZERI DELEGATES INTEND TO PORTRAY ARMENIANS AS TERRORISTS

A1Plus
04-10-2004

Two Armenian lawmakers – Shavarsh Kocharyan and Hermine Naghdaryan –
attended Monday PACE Liberal fraction meeting as members of the
fraction.

It became clear at the meeting that Azeri delegates intend to accuse
Armenians of terrorism during Karabakh problem likely discussion at
the PACE winter session, Shavarsh Kocharyan said in an interview with
our correspondent.

`I was concerned about that yet before departure from Yerevan. That’s
why I applied from Yerevan to be put on waiting list for making speech
at the session ‘, Kocharyan said.

In his words, Azeri lawmakers are going to accuse Armenians of
terrorism also on Wednesday, when Terror Challenges topic will be
discussed at the PACE session on Russian delegation initiative.

Armenian, Bulgarian leaders sign Karabakh communique

Mediamax news agency
5 Oct 04

YEREVAN

Armenia and Bulgaria welcome the intensification of talks in 2004 to
settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, said a joint communique signed
between Armenian and Bulgarian Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Georgi
Purvanov in Yerevan today.

“Both sides are united on an opinion that the conflict should be
resolved only peacefully,” the document said.

“Armenia and Bulgaria are expressing their support for the efforts of
the OSCE Minsk Group and its co-chairmen aimed at finding a lasting
and comprehensive solution acceptable for the sides,” the joint
communique by Kocharyan and Purvanov said.