RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 26 2004

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT STOPS IN DUSHANBE ON HIS WAY TO CHINA

DUSHANBE, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – The Presidents of Tajikistan
and Armenia Emomali Rakhmonov and Robert Kocharyan discussed on
Sunday in Dushanbe the issues of bilateral cooperation, said the
press secretary of the Tajik president, Abdufattokh Sharipov.

Mr. Kocharyan made a short stop in the Tajik capital on his way to
China, where he is going on a state visit.

In Mr. Sharipov’s words, at the meeting Mr. Rakhmonov and Mr.
Kocharyan voiced the necessity to continue work over the improvement
of the contractual-legal base of bilateral relations in different
spheres (both countries along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and
Kyrgyzstan are members of the Organization of the Collective Security
Treaty. Armenia along with Ukraine and Moldova have the status of
observers under the Eurasian Economic Community, whose members are
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan).

The Tajik president, in the words of the press secretary, noted the
necessity to accelerate work on the adoption of a regular package of
bilateral documents, which are now under consideration.

“Tajikistan is ready to continue political dialogue at different
levels, encourage the ties of business, scientific, cultural circles,
contacts between citizens,” the press secretary quoted Mr. Rakhmonov
as saying.

Mr. Kocharyan in his turn said that after the visit of the Tajik
president to Yerevan, the first session of the intergovernmental
commission on economic cooperation and a business forum took place,
said Mr. Sharipov.

“This is a good tendency, which is to provide a result. As the sides
are getting ready, Tajikistan organizes a second session of the
commission so that it could start implementing mutually beneficial
specific projects,” said Mr. Rakhmonov.

After the meeting with Mr. Rakhmonov, Mr. Kocharyan flew to Beijing.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 26 2004

MOSCOW OPENS STRING QUARTET CONTEST

MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – A 7th international string
quartet contest took start at the Moscow Conservatory today. To last
into September 30, Thursday, it bears the name of Dmitry
Shostakovich, one of the world’s foremost 20th century composers.

The contest has brought together fourteen quartets from Armenia,
Belgium, Finland, France, Italy and Kazakhstan. Performers from every
part of Russia represent the host country. These are student quartets
from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk and Petrozavodsk.

“The event is timed to the Dmitry Shostakovich birth centenary
galas,” Valentin Berlinsky, top-notch Russian performer and contest
jury president, said to a news conference last Thursday.

“The Moscow Conservatory has established its own award for this
particular contest,” added prominent violinist Vladimir Ivanov.
Conservatory orchestra department dean, he is on the jury. The best
quartet on which Moscow Conservatory students or alumni appear will
have its Smaller Hall for a concert-a generous award.

The winner quartet will also have a concert.

Renowned solo and quartet performers are on the jury-suffice it to
mention Marc Danel of Belgium, Italy’s Pavel Vernikov, Dominique de
Villancourt of France, and several Russians, among them Alexander
Galkovsky, Vladimir Ovcharek amd Vladimir Ivanov.

Grand Prix makes 720,000 rubles, roughly $24,000; the second prize
360,000 rubles, or $12,000; and third 280,000 rubles, $9,300.

Established seventeen years ago, the Shostakovich contest launched
many quartets into the global limelight. Of special brilliance among
them are Russia’s Eleonora, Dominant, Mozart and Romantic, The Lark
of the U.S., France’s Danael, the British Medea, and Italy’s Fone
Quartet.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 26, 2004 Sunday 11:10 AM Eastern Time

Armenian president comes to Beijing on five-day state visit

By Alexander Zyuzin

BEIJING

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan arrived in Beijing on Sunday on a
five-day state visit, Xinhua reports.

He will meet with Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao, State Council Premier
Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People’s Congress Wu Bangguo to discuss political, trade, economic
and cultural relations.

The negotiations will result in signing of a joint declaration and
several agreements to boost economic, technical and cultural
cooperation.

The Armenian delegation will visit Shanghai on September 29 to
familiarize themselves with Chinese reforms.

Sunday Mail
September 26, 2004, Sunday

ROSIE KANE: RATTER LUNACY;
REFUGEE FAMILY TREATED WORSE THAN A RODENT

by ROSIE KANE

TRUST me, it would take something really extraordinary to get me
cuddling a rat.

But the plight of an extraordinary asylum seeker Julia Gulshan
Babayeva and her two sons did just that.

She called me in desperation last week from a detention centre near
Gatwick airport after being picked up by immigration officers. The
terrified family were being threatened with deportation.

I first met Julia at a debate in the run up to the elections for the
Scottish Parliament.

She had fled Azerbaijan after her husband was killed for refusing to
shoot Armenians. Julia is Armenian.

She was devastated by her husband’s murder but continued working as a
psychology lecturer to support her family.

But during an interview on Azerbaijani radio, Julia criticised the
education system and was arrested.

She was subjected to brutality and fled to Britain with her children,
putting in a claim for asylum. She and her sons – Alex and Aziz –
were housed in Sighthill, Glasgow, two years ago.

She is loved and respected by locals for her work in the community.

I tried to comfort and reassure the family while they feared being
sent back to danger. Alex, 18, was also terrified for his beloved pet
rat, Maxi, which he had been forced to leave in Sighthill.

I get the heebie-jeebies where rodents are concerned but promised to
make sure poor Maxi was safe.

I called the SSPCA and revealed how the family pet was locked in and
starving.

They were amazing and quickly called back saying they had collected
Maxi and he was at Cardonald Cat and Dog Home.

I jumped in a taxi, sped to the home and asked to bring Maxi home.

Once convinced I was a suitable carer, I was introduced to my new
lodger.

My heart stopped, I had never wanted to be anywhere near a rat –
domestic or wild -and here I was collecting one to take home. Sharing
my fear and loathing of all rodents, my daughters Nicola and Susanne
immediately threatened to leave home.

But after a couple of hours we were all cooing around the cage. The
best bit was calling Julia and the boys to tell them their pet was
safe and well. They were delighted and described it as a shred of
hope.

Tragically, it seems Maxi had more rights than Julia and her boys.
When apprehended, the family were driven for eight hours without food
or drink.

They were distressed, terrified and unwell but not allowed to see a
doctor.

They were being held in a strange place with little or no rights and
plans were being made to ship them to danger. If I had done that to
my children, social workers would have been right to intervene – but
they are not given any powers to help Julia, despite the obvious
abuse.

The SSPCA were able to intervene to save little Maxi. He was checked
by a vet and liberated into caring hands.

The Scottish Parliament has no power to intervene when basic human
rights are being abused. Our politician’s palace can do nothing to
help Julia and her boys.

We have a skills and population shortage. I know from experience we
have a shortage of psychologists like Julia.

We have let Julia and her children down. We have failed in our duty
to respect and uphold basic human rights and have lost a highly
motivated, intelligent and valued family.

Julia’s lawyers are fighting her case. I only hope they succeed.

#For more info and updates see the Positive Action in Housing website
at

GRAPHIC: Rat’s my boy: Rosie cuddles Maxi, whose owners may be
deported to danger

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

University Wire
September 22, 2004 Wednesday

America should embrace, not erase, ethnic diversity

By Virginia Terzian, Daily Titan; SOURCE: California State U. –
Fullerton

FULLERTON, Calif.

Why is it that with so much effort over the years to be “politically
correct,” I still have to mark ‘other’ on any official document I
fill out?

Like many students not easily ethnically categorized, I found filling
out a scholarship application disconcerting.

As an Armenian-American, I have over 3,000 years of rich history, but
no category to call my own.

I’m not alone in my exile, with a large portion of the world’s
population in my cluster including Persians, Arabs, Russians,
Indians, Native Americans, Central Americans, Pacific Islanders,
biracial and, for that matter, anyone else in the world who doesn’t
fall under the big four: White, Hispanic, African or Asian.

I don’t understand why my ethnicity is of any importance in these
documents at all; does my being Armenian have any bearing on my
intelligence or on my monetary need for financial aid? Of course not.
So, why should it be a factor in determining if I deserve a
scholarship? If we live in a country that respects and wants
diversity, shouldn’t we embrace different backgrounds instead of
attempting to cluster people into large groups and excluding everyone
else?

It would seem the United States has forgotten what makes this a great
country: the idea of respect and equality for all people.

How can we be equal if people are forced to categorize themselves as
simply “others” and lose their ethnicities in the process?

By limiting the options people have in order to define their
background, all we do is perpetuate a cycle of ignorance.

If no one is aware of other ethnicities they are less likely to be
open to diversity.

Also, a large factor of discrimination present on any official
document is the fact that the word “white” seems to be an adequate
definition for anyone who is of European decent. Yet defining someone
as brown, black or yellow would be seen as an act of racism.

Somehow it is fine to categorize an entire region of the planet as
merely white and completely overlook any possibility that this could
offend them. By categorizing people based on the color of their skin
we are taking a huge step back in our history. By marking someone an
“other,” we strip that person of his or her history, heritage and
culture, which is as important today as ever.

We “others” aren’t going anywhere and our numbers are only growing,
so why not remove the labels and allow us all to be defined as what
we truly are: Students, working hard to make a better future for
tomorrow.

COLONEL RAMIZ MELIKOV: TIME WILL COME AND UNITED AZERBAIJANI PEOPLE
AND STATE WILL SWEEP AWAY ARMENIAN OCCUPANTS FROM KARABAKH AND 7
REGIONS ADJOINING IT

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. “The time will come and the united
Azerbaijani people and state will sweep away the Armenian occupants
from Karabakh and 7 regions adjoining it,” said Head of the Press
Service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Colonel Ramiz Melikov in
his interview to the Azerbaijani “Zerkalo” newspaper.

He disagreed with the opinion that Azerbaijan loses the information
war, adding that official Baku and the whole Azerbaijani people try to
inform the world community of the deeds and policy of Armenia. “How
could the officers of the Armenian armed forces which had occupied the
lands of the neighboring state and brought the Azerbaijani people so
troubles occur in Baku to participate in the exercises. Such an
impudence is characteristic only to Armenians,” Melikov said. He said
that Azerbaijan tries to avoid military resolution of the conflict by
all means possible. Melikov said that Armenia pretends that it is a
supporter of peaceful resolution of the conflict, at the same time
placing a huge quantity of illegal weapons in the occupied
territories.

As regards the cancellation of NATO exercises “Cooperative Best Effort
2004,” Melikov said that NATO leadership went on such step in
conformity with its principles. “Armenia does not support peace both
in the South Caucasus and in the whole Europe, otherwise, it would
have given its agreement for peaceful settlement of the conflict
during 10-year-long Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations,” Melikov
said. He added that cancellation of the exercises will not affect
Azerbaijan-NATO relations, and that NATO leadership “must take into
account the fact that Armenia considers cancellation of the exercises
in Baku its own victory.” He said that Armenia’s participation in the
Cooperative Best Efforts 2004 pursued the only goal of making a blow
on the idea of peace-making and mission of cooperation, and it
succeeded. “We hope that the leadership of the largest international
structure will not allow Armenians to interfere into its affairs in
future,” Ramiz Melikov said.

NKR PRESIDENT RECEIVES SPECIAL ENVOY OF OSCE ACTING CHAIRMAN IN
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. A day before at the NKR Permanent
Representation in the Republic of Armenia President of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arkady Ghoukassian received Special Envoy of
the OSCE Acting Chairman in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Representative for
Karabakh conflict Philippe Dimitrov.

ARMINFO’s own correspondent in Stepanakert informs, during the meeting
the interlocutors have discussed the process of settlement of the
Karabakh conflict and the possible steps in this context.

Philippe Dimitrov has stressed the interest of the OSCE acting
chairman in the peaceful settlement of the conflict, expressing
necessity of activation of the process. In his turn, NKR president has
mentioned the importance of the issues of the status and security of
Nagorny Karabakh. Arkady Ghoukassian has expressed confidence that the
settlement of the conflict is impossible without taking into
consideration the interests of the NKR people. At the end of the
meeting the NKR president has confirmed the readiness of the Karabakh
side to solve the existing problems by a dialogue.

GEORGIA’s NB TO COOPERATE WITH RA CENTRAL BANK IN ESTABLISHING DEPOSIT
GUARANTEE FUND

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. Georgia’s National Bank (NB) intends
to actively cooperate with the RA Central Bank in sharing experience
in establishing a Deposit Guarantee Fund, NB President Irakly
Managadze told ARMINFO. He pointed out that Armenia has surpassed
Georgia in this process by launching its Fund last July and can render
Georgia information assistance in speeding up the introduction of this
system. He forecasts that the Georgian Deposit Guarantee Fund will
start working late next year. Managadze pointed out that Armenia and
Georgian are keeping pace with each other.

The main direction of the Georgian NB in 2005 will be the introduction
of new instruments to regulate liquidity, that is, SWAP-contracts, and
the RA CB’s experience may be of benefit to Georgia. The Georgian NB
is currently regulating liquidity by interventions both on the
interbank market and on the monetary exchange, to curb inflation and
ensure price stability.

According to the NB, the turnover of the domestic currency market
totaled 3.6bln. USD and 558 EUR in 2003. The share of dollar exchange
business was 4.4% of the total volume, and that of extraexchange
business 90.3%, while the lion’s share of operations with the Euro
(98.3%) was on the interbank market. In 2003, the currency
purchase-and-sale operations of the Georgian NB constituted 1.2% of
the total volume, and 26.7% of the exchange turnover.

REPORT CONCERNING THREE REPUBLICS OF SOUTH CAUCASUS TO BE CONSIDERED
IN ASSEMBLY OF WEST-EUROPEAN UNION IN DEC

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. A report concerning the three
republics of the South Caucasus will be considered in the Assembly of
the West-European Union in Dec of the current year. Deputy Chairman of
the Assembly of the West-European union Marco Zacchera stated during
the press conference today.

He stressed that before preparing his report Zacchera will certainly
get acquainted with the document prepared by PACE Rapporteur for
Nagorny Karabakh Terry Davis. According to Zacchera, before the
discussions of this report at the sitting of the Assembly the document
will be sent for examination by the leadership of the three South
Caucasian republics. Representatives of the countries of the South
Caucasus will also be present during discussion of the report, Marco
Zacchera said, promising that the document will be balanced and the
positions of all the three republics will be indicated in the
document. “The purpose of my visit to the South Caucasian region is to
get acquainted with the situation in the place and to prepare an
impartial report”.

TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU WILL NOT BE CONDITIONED BY ADMITTING
ARMENIANS’ GENOCIDE, THOUGH IT MUST ADMIT

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. Turkey’s accession to the European
Union will hardly be conditioned by official Ankara’s admitting the
Genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of 20th
century. Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of the West-European Union
Marco Zacchera stated during the press conference in Yerevan. At the
same time he mentioned that Turkey must admit the Genocide of Armenia,
and he reminded that in due time the parliament of Italy had passed a
resolution where masacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey is mentioned
as a genocide. “But we must look ahead, as looking back we can knock
our hears against the wall”, Zacchera said.

According to Zacchera, he is personally for Turkey’s admission to the
EU is it meets certain requirements. “I am pleased that here, in
Armenia, both government representatives and the opposition pronounced
for Turkey’s admission to the EU, but the matter is that it must abide
by and respect Europrean standards,” he said. According to him, it
concerns not only the human rights sphere, but also the necessity of
harmonizing Turkey’s legislation with European standards. “We must
admit that Turkey has made some progress in this matter, but it msut
also meet European standards in implementing its economic policy and
balance the rights and powers of the civilian and military
authorities,” he said. Zacchera expressed the opinion that Turkey’s
admission to the EU will be of benefit both to Europe and to Armenia,
as it will allow the EU to expand to the Black Sea. According to him,
Turkey’s admission to the EU will be of benefit to Armenia in that the
borders of European countries cannot be closed,m and Turkey will be
closer to the South Caucasus. -ST-

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress