San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Sept 3 2004

Sargsian captures five-set marathon

Match is second-longest in Open history By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK – They don’t pass out gold medals at the U.S. Open, cash
being preferred, but Nicolas Massu of Chile, a gold medalist in
tennis at Athens, and Sargis Sargsian staged a match last night that
was truly Olympian.

Sargsian, from Armenia, finally won it, but only after he and Massu
had struggled through the second-longest match in Open history – 5
hours and 9 minutes.

The longest match on record at the Open was a 1992 men’s semifinal
between Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Michael Chang that lasted 5
hours, 26 minutes. Edberg won 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

Before the Sargsian-Massu match, the second-longest match also
occurred in 1992, with Ivan Lendl defeating Boris Becker 6-7, 6-2,
6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in 5:01 in the round of 16.

The Sargsian-Massu get-together was a stormy one, with Massu,
supported by a noisy, flag-waving contingent of Chileans, carrying on
several dialogues with the chair umpire, who twice warned him for
slamming his racket and later penalized him a game for another such
abuse.

“Three violations,” Massu said. “The first two were OK. Nothing to
say. But the third one, I can’t believe.”

Massu did not dispute that he had thrown his rackets; he shattered
two of them. “Yeah, but normally all the players throw the racket,”
he said. “This umpire (Carlos Ramos) should not umpire anymore. He
unbelievable. He’s never going to umpire me again.”

Ted Schroeder of La Jolla, meantime, remembered that in the final of
the 1949 U.S. Championships, he and Pancho Gonzalez played a five-set
match that went on for 5 hours, 15 minutes. Schroeder said there were
no chairs on the court and changeovers had to be completed in 30
seconds.

In his three previous matches in that tournament, Schroeder said, he
had played five-setters on consecutive days against Gardnar Mulloy,
Frank Sedgman and Billy Talbert.

Massu being eliminated left the men’s phase of the tournament without
any of the Athens medalists. Silver medalist Mardy Fish of the United
States failed yesterday against Michal Tabara, the player from the
Czech Republic winning 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Bronze medalist
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile had been beaten in the opening round by
Robin Soderling of Sweden.

The women’s field has lost bronze medalist Alicia Molik of Australia,
but gold medalist Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and silver
medalist Amelie Mauresmo of France are still around.

Marathons aside, this week at the Open has been marked by
retirements, with first Todd Martin, then Wayne Ferreira saying
farewells. Andre Agassi, of their generation, presses on. He did
yesterday, gaining the tournament’s third round when a muscle problem
in the left leg forced Florian Mayer of Germany to retire in the
fourth set. Agassi advanced 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (ret).

Agassi, 34, said he misses many of the players against whom he
competed when he was in his 20s.

“In some cases, these are guys you grew up with and competed with
since you were 8 years old,” Agassi said. “So you do miss them; you
feel as if the game misses them.”

Agassi said he has not made any plans after the Open. He said he may
play a full fall schedule, he may not. On one point, he was clear: He
has no plans to retire should he win the Open.

No. 3 seed Carlos Moya took last night’s concluding match in Arthur
Ashe Stadium with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 conquest of American Amer
Delic. Earlier, French Open champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina fell
to Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Delegation hails successful visit to Turkey

swissinfo, Switzerland
Sept 3 2004

A delegation of Swiss parliamentarians is winding up a visit to Turkey
following meetings with the country’s leaders and opposition figures.

Peter Briner, the head of the group, told swissinfo that there was
nothing now to prevent foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey from
visiting Ankara.

Calmy-Rey and the foreign affairs committee delegation had been due
to make scheduled trips to Turkey last year, but these were called
off at short notice.

Turkey was angered when two Swiss cantonal parliaments officially
recognised as genocide the 1915 killings of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians in Turkey. The federal parliament followed suit last
December.

But Briner said that Turkey now had “no bad feelings” towards
Switzerland.

swissinfo: How successful has the visit been?

Peter Briner: I think it has been a very successful trip. Our objective
was to get acquainted with Turkey and to meet parliamentary colleagues
of the foreign policy committee, because if we want to understand
each other we first have to get to know each other.

We met with open doors and an extraordinary hospitality from our
Turkish friends.

swissinfo: You met Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. What subjects
did you discuss with him?

P.B.: We discussed mutual cooperation. There is a lot of cooperation
in business, in culture and in technology. They [our Turkish partners]
stressed their wish to strengthen our business relationship.

On our side we had problems to be resolved too. It seems that Turkish
customs discriminate against Swiss imports due to European Union
certification, even though we have a free trade agreement with Turkey
and with the EU. We are discussing this problem at various levels
and I’m hopeful that it can be resolved.

swissinfo: Did you raise the issue of human rights?

P.B.: We did mention human rights. We also met a small delegation of
opposition leaders led by [Kurdish human rights activist] Leyla Zana.

She said she wants to see a stable Turkey living in peace, democracy
and justice. She therefore welcomes the focus on reform due to
[Turkey’s application for] membership of the European Union.

She is encouraged, but of course she would like to speed things up.
She will fight with democratic means, we hope, because violence is
no way to reach goals. We stressed the fact that democracy can be
reached only through legal means.

swissinfo: A year ago you wanted to go to Turkey and weren’t able to.
In the meantime relations between Bern and Ankara appear to have
improved. How would you describe them now?

P.B.: We have a very open, friendly relationship. We discussed the
disagreements which made us postpone our trip. We explained things
in Switzerland, and finally I think we did finish that discussion to
the satisfaction of both sides.

swissinfo: Do you think that your visit might pave the way for Swiss
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to visit Turkey finally?

P.B.: Yes, absolutely. Foreign Minister Gül said there were no
obstacles whatsoever to a visit by Calmy-Rey, and that the chiefs of
protocol would try to find a suitable date. There is no bad feeling
left whatsoever.

swissinfo-interview: Morven McLean

Protesters sentenced to prison
By Jahan Aliyeva (Sun Staff Writer)

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004

BAKU — Nasimi district court handed down prison sentences to six
members of the Organization for Liberation of Karabakh (QAT) on Monday.

Judge Famil Nasibov handed out various prison sentences ranging from
three years to five years to QAT chairman Akif Nagi, deputy chairman
Firudin Mamedov, and Ilkin Gurbanov, Mursal Hasanov, Rovshan Fatiyev
and Manaf Kerimov. QAT activists and relatives of the defendants who
protested this decision in the court were forced out and dispersed
by police.

The six men were sentenced to imprisonment for their participation
in a protest against the presence of two Armenian military officers
at a NATO-sponsored conference called Best-Efforts-2004 held in Baku,
June 21.

According to the indictment, the imprisoned QAT members are charged
with attempting to enter Grand Hotel Europe, where a NATO conference
was being held, by using force against police and guards, interfering
with traffic and attempting to prevent the NATO event. The court
sentence noted that as a result of the QAT protest, Grand Hotel Europe
suffered 1 million 700 thousand AZM ($347) in damages.

Parties from across the political spectrum have condemned the
verdict as “unjust”, including political organizations, public
activists, members of the Parliament, pro-governmental and opposition
organizations.

On September 1, the first day of the autumn parliament session,
several pro-governmental deputies and MP’s criticized the sentencing
of the convicted QAT activists.

MP, Jahangir Huseynov, said that “it was necessary to arrest not OKL
activists, but employees of the prosecutor’s office and the court”,
while Zeynab Khanlarova, also a pro-governmental MP, said that “these
persons (from the court) have Armenian blood in their veins”.

Some MP’s stressed that they are ready to reimburse the amount of
damages that was suffered by Grand Hotel Europe during the protest.

Murtuz Aleskerov, speaker of the parliament also supported the QAT
protest against the arrival of Armenians to Baku.

“However, this is the NATO requirement. If we consider NATO assistance
to settle the Karabakh conflict, then we are the subject to this,”
he added.

However, Zahid Oruj, MP from the pro-governmental Ana Vatan (HomeLand)
Party thinks that there has been a certain misunderstanding between
the government, NATO and the people of Azerbaijan that led to the
sentencing.

“There is a simple thing in the heart of the matter. Azerbaijan
has been a member of the Partnership for Peace Program within NATO,
since 1994, and actively is taking part in all of the events in the
framework of this program. In general, NATO applies to the nations that
want to take part. It contradicts NATO’s principles to force nations
to take part in such events. Armenia, which has no interest in NATO,
had special interests for taking part at NATO’s seminar that was held
in Azerbaijan,” Oruj told Baku Sun.

Oruj explained that Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkissian
repeatedly stated that Armenia not only doesn’t want to become a
member of NATO, but that it also contradicts Armenia’s strategy in
its foreign policy. Defense cooperation with Russia is more of a
priority for Armenia than becoming a member of NATO.

“The point is that Armenia was worried about the developing relations
between NATO and Azerbaijan, thus they planned to make troubles with
these relations. They tried to tarnish the Azerbaijani people’s image
in front of NATO and the member countries. It was the information war
and Armenia managed to cause problems. Two Armenian officers came
and left, but the entire nation is at odds, the relations between
the government and people are weakened.”

Shamil Mehdi, deputy chairman of QAT, who thinks that the court’s
verdict is a “political order” said in an interview with Baku Sun
that “this verdict is not against QAT members, but against the entire
Azerbaijani nation.”

Mehdi believes that the imprisoned QAT members are playing the role
of catalysts in Azerbaijan’s society.

“The Azerbaijani community has been in something like a deep depression
for a long time, in terms of the Karabakh issue, but these six people
proved enough that Azerbaijanis will never concur to the occupation
of their lands. No one can force the nation to accept this.”

“Actually, there should have been nation-wide protests against this
unjust verdict, but it didn’t happen because, people are afraid to
be intimidated. The real situation is that people know that if they
protest even once, all of their family members will suffer.

We have information that high-ranking officials from government
organizations oppose this verdict too. But we all know the reasons
why they keep silent,” Mehdi said.

He added that the government does citizens to hold any protests that
openly show their disagreement.

“So, what should we do? Then let us greet the Armenians with flowers
and make sacrifices at their feet next time they arrive at the
airport,” he said ironically, referring to the planned arrival of
Armenian officers in Baku later this month to take part in NATO’s
military training later this month.

Opposition party insists on picketing French embassy

Assa-Irada
Sept 3 2004

Baku, September 2, AssA-Irada

The Mayor’s Office of Baku has not sanctioned a protest action that the
opposition Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (WAPFP) schedules to
hold outside the French embassy in Baku on Friday. However, the party
insists on holding the protest action. The WAPFP intends to picket
some ministries and the embassies of NATO member states accredited
in Baku in protest against the arrival of Armenian officers in Baku
to attend NATO military training due in September. The police broke
up the party’s previous protest actions held outside the ministries
of Foreign Affairs and Defense as well as the US embassy in Baku.*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 3 2004

President Aliyev says he will halt talks with Armenia if they are
proved to be fruitless

Baku, September 2, AssA-Irada

During his visit to Nakhchivan started on Thursday President Ilham
Aliyev unveiled his standpoint towards the peaceful settlement of
the Upper Garabagh conflict.

President Aliyev told journalists that Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov has reported him on the recent Prague meeting with his
Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian. The talks must be continued,
he noted.

Asked if he believed in the prospects of the talks, President Aliyev
said: «When I see that the talks are fruitless and when I don’t believe
in their prospects, then Azerbaijan will halt the talks. Today,
I can say that it is necessary to continue the talks.» President
Aliyev restated that no agreement has been reached during the talks
yet but discussions on concrete subjects are underway.*

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
September 1, 2004

Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions

CONFLICT WITH ABKHAZIA IS CREATING STRAINS IN GEORGIA’S ALLIANCE WITH
TURKEY, WHICH HAS INFLUENTIAL ABKHAZ EMIGRE COMMUNITY, MANY MEMBERS
OF WHICH HAVE RETURNED TO ABKHAZIA

SOURCE: GEORGIANS STRIKE AT TURKS. — Tbilisi Is Irritated by
Assistance That Ankara Is Giving to Abkhazia. By Oleg Kasimov. Noviye
Izvestia, Aug. 4, 2004, p. 4. Condensed text:

. . . A certain amount of tension arose last Saturday [July 31] in
relations between Georgia and Turkey. The reason was an incident in
the coastal waters of Abkhazia. A Georgian coast guard cutter fired
on a Turkish freighter that had crossed into Georgian territorial
waters and was headed for Sukhumi. The vessel was damaged, but the
Georgians did not succeed in detaining it. Abkhazia’s minister of
security, Mikhail Tarba, declared yesterday that Abkhazia would
henceforth sink all Georgian ships entering the region’s waters. The
minister said that, if necessary, aircraft would be used.

Somewhat earlier, the Abkhaz leadership also announced a halt to
the negotiating process with Tbilisi. The announcement was made the
day after the self-proclaimed republic’s armed forces completed
training exercises that involved 15,000 people, including reservists.
The maneuvers were regarded in Tbilisi as preparations for a
large-scale war with Georgia. Under these circumstances, Turkey chose
to respond with silence to the incident involving its ship. There are
reasons for that: Turkey and Georgia, together with Azerbaijan,
currently form a politico-military axis that serves as a
counterbalance to another geopolitical structure in the region — the
triangle formed by Russia, Armenia and Iran. With support from
Washington, Ankara is pushing for rapid completion of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which will carry Caspian oil to
world markets by way of Georgia and Turkey. In addition, Ankara is
helping Georgia to develop its military. It is no mere coincidence
that a platoon of Georgian peacekeepers has been serving in Kosovo
since 1999 as part of a Turkish battalion.

However, the unresolved Abkhaz problem is creating nervousness in
the two countries’ relations. Turkey recognizes Georgia’s territorial
integrity and rejects Sukhumi’s attempts to secede from that
Transcaucasian republic. But at the same time, it closes its eyes to
the fact that its cargo ships regularly violate Georgia’s maritime
border and deliver food and manufactured goods — which the Georgians
regard as contraband — to Abkhazia. Georgia’s security services have
even given Ankara a list of Turkish vessels (19 altogether) that
regularly travel between Abkhazia and Turkey, but they have received
no response. Many experts are of the opinion that Ankara’s stance on
the Abkhaz problem is heavily influenced by the Abkhaz community
living in Turkey. It consists of roughly 400,000 descendants of
muhajirs — the name that was given in the Ottoman Empire to persons
of Abkhaz descent who fled to the empire during the Caucasus War in
the 19th century. Most of them adopted Islam in Turkey.

In the early 1990s, the Abkhaz authorities appealed to these people
to return to their historical homeland, promising them housing and
free education. At the same time, it was decided to build two
mosques, one in Sukhumi and the other in Gudauta. At first the
repatriation process progressed rapidly: Hundreds of muhajir families
returned to Abkhazia from Turkey. The number of citizens in the
autonomous republic who professed Islam rose sharply; according to
recent surveys, 49.3% of residents consider themselves Christians,
while 28.7% call themselves Muslims. Ankara is now closely following
the situation in Abkhazia, emphasizing its concern for the muhajir
families who have moved to the autonomous republic. With Ankara’s
tacit consent, Turkish ships regularly deliver fuel and food to the
region. Ankara is financing the establishment of schools there that
use Turkish as the language of instruction. In June, the Turkish
ambassador to Georgia visited the region and said that Ankara is “not
indifferent to the processes unfolding in Abkhazia.”

It goes without saying that, in its confrontation with the Georgian
authorities, Sukhumi is banking on the Abkhaz lobby in Turkey, which
is attempting to influence the policies of official Ankara. Last
October, Sukhumi received a visit from former Turkish Finance
Minister Zekiriat Emizel, who is of Abkhaz descent. He assured the
unrecognized republic’s leaders that he was using his political
influence to try to turn Turkish public opinion and the attention of
the Turkish government toward Abkhazia’s problems.

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
September 1, 2004

Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions

ABKHAZIA ENDS TALKS WITH TBILISI AFTER GEORGIAN COAST GUARD VESSEL
FIRES ON TURKISH FREIGHTER IN ABKHAZ WATERS; SYSOYEV: MOSCOW HOPES TO
USE GEORGIA’S CONFLICTS TO RETAIN ITS INFLUENCE THERE; GIVEN LINKS
WITH ARMENIA, IT COULD THEN REGAIN CONTROL OF TRANSCAUCASUS, CENTRAL
ASIA

SOURCE: GEORGIA IS READY TO TAKE ON EVERYONE. — Tbilisi Is
Determined to Recover Remaining Territory. Kommersant, Aug. 2, 2004,
p. 9. Condensed text:

(By Vladimir Novikov in Tbilisi and Oleg Zorin [in Moscow]). —
Georgia is on the verge of war with its former autonomous regions.
Abkhazia announced on Saturday [July 31] that it was withdrawing from
all talks with Tbilisi. . . .

The Abkhaz authorities’ announcement that they were pulling out of
talks with Tbilisi followed an incident that occurred in the
unrecognized republic’s coastal waters. A Georgian coast guard cutter
patrolling the Abkhaz coast on Saturday spotted a Turkish freighter
headed for Sukhumi. In an attempt to detain the vessel, the cutter’s
commanding officer ordered the crew to open fire with a large-caliber
machine gun. The freighter was damaged, but the attempt to detain it
failed.

For several years now, Georgia has been demanding that all foreign
ships calling at Abkhaz ports undergo preliminary inspection in the
West Georgian port of Poti. Tbilisi maintains that this is necessary
in order to stop shipments of weapons and narcotics to Abkhazia. Over
the past several years, dozens of ships flying the Turkish flag, as
well as the flags of other states, have been detained in Abkhaz
waters and sent to Poti. Some of them have subsequently been fined
and released, while others have been seized and sold at auction.
Until now, this hadn’t had any major repercussions.

But this time officials in Sukhumi responded angrily to Saturday’s
incident. Prime Minister Raul Khadzhimba announced that Abkhazia was
withdrawing from the negotiating process on the grounds that
Georgia’s attack on the freighter was a flagrant violation of the
1994 cease-fire agreement.

Tbilisi responded immediately. “The Abkhaz leadership had better
think long and hard before it withdraws from the negotiating
process,” Georgia’s state minister for conflict resolution, Georgy
Khaindrava, told Kommersant. Mr. Khaindrava said that Sukhumi’s
decision could lead to a complete suspension of the peace process to
resolve the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

Officials in Tbilisi maintain that the incident involving the ship
has nothing to do with the 1994 cease-fire agreement. Georgia’s State
Border Protection Department said that the crew of the patrol vessel
had acted in accordance with Georgian law and had not violated any
international agreements. Moreover, the Georgian authorities say they
will continue their efforts to stop the unmonitored entry of foreign
ships into Abkhaz ports. So neither Tbilisi nor Sukhumi intends to
back down.

The new flare-up in relations between Tbilisi and Abkhazia
coincides with an escalation of the conflict between the Georgian
government and the leadership of South Ossetia. There were incidents
involving the use of weapons in several villages of the unrecognized
republic early Sunday morning.

South Ossetian authorities accused Tbilisi of shelling the southern
part of Tskhinvali with mortars. And Georgian Minister of Internal
Affairs Irakly Okruashvili reported yesterday that two Georgian
policemen had been wounded and six South Ossetian residents killed in
an incident near the village of Prisi. . . . The Georgian internal
affairs minister issued a warning: “We have no intention of
tolerating South Ossetia’s escapades. Every time the South Ossetians
open fire, we will fire back.”

Moreover, Irakly Okruashvili said that Georgia has no plans as yet
to close down its police post in the village of Tamarasheni, which is
not far from Tskhinvali. The day before, at a meeting of the Joint
Monitoring Commission for a settlement of the conflict in South
Ossetia (the meeting was attended by representatives of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and mediated by
Russia), Tbilisi and Tskhinvali seemed to have reached an agreement
whereby Georgian police in the Georgian village of Tamarasheni . . .
would be replaced with posts manned by the trilateral peacekeeping
forces — i.e., by Russian, Georgian and Ossetian peacekeepers.

But after the commission meeting, the Georgian internal affairs
minister said he was prepared to order a withdrawal of Georgian
policemen from Tamarasheni only “if there are guarantees that the
local Georgian population will be safe.” Georgia is demanding a trial
period to see if the trilateral peacekeeping contingent (in other
words, the Ossetian and Russian peacekeepers) is in fact neutral. The
Georgian side is also calling for the establishment of trilateral
peacekeeping posts in several Ossetian villages on a reciprocal
basis. Finally, Georgia categorically refuses to dismantle financial
police checkpoints on the administrative border between South Ossetia
and other parts of Georgia, citing the need to combat smuggling.

All of Tbilisi’s demands will no doubt be unacceptable to the
Ossetian and Russian sides. And this is now spawning fears that a
further escalation of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict could lead to
another war between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, one in which Russia would
inevitably become involved.

In an interview with Mze Television on Saturday, Georgian Defense
Minister Georgy Baramidze said, “Georgia is prepared for war and does
not advise anybody to start one.” The minister added that Georgia is
ready to “respond to any armed provocation, including actions by
those who represent the Russian side.”

But Kommersant’s sources in Tbilisi say that for Georgia, getting
involved in another armed conflict would not be in the country’s best
interests. The person who would most like to avoid war is President
Mikhail Saakashvili himself. An armed conflict would cancel out all
his plans to rebuild the Georgian economy and improve the
population’s standard of living, which was one of the president’s
main campaign promises. What’s more, a war in the immediate vicinity
of the pipelines leading from the Caspian basin to Europe via Georgia
would hardly be to the West’s liking. Finally, no one knows how a war
might go for Tbilisi, given the powerful Russian backing enjoyed by
both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Officials in Tbilisi think that war
in the Transcaucasus would be disadvantageous for Russia as well,
since it would completely discredit Moscow’s peacekeeping efforts.

So Georgia is not inclined to burn all its bridges. On a visit to
Kiev in late July, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, one of President
Saakashvili’s closest associates, said that the “new Georgian
authorities are trying to achieve something that [former Georgian
President] Eduard Shevardnadze never could” — better relations with
Russia. And in support of that statement, Mr. Zhvania once again
urged Russia to participate in the privatization of strategic
facilities in Georgia, such as ports and power stations. The prime
minister also declared that the Russian military bases [in Georgia]
are an “anachronism that hampers the development of bilateral
relations,” and proposed the creation of a joint counterterrorism
center near Tbilisi. According to Kommersant’s sources, Georgia is
prepared to provide the counterterrorism center with not only heavy
equipment but also aircraft, and to allow several thousand Russian
soldiers to serve there.

But Moscow is against linking the establishment of a
counterterrorism center to the dismantling of its military bases in
Akhalkalaki and Batumi. Moreover, Russia is demanding that Georgia
record in a bilateral treaty a pledge by Tbilisi not to allow foreign
military bases on Georgian territory. But Georgia feels that solving
the problem in this way would be degrading for a sovereign state and
is proposing another option — a statement by the Georgian president
(at the UN, for example) that no foreign bases would be permitted on
Georgian territory. . . .

* * *

What’s at Stake. (By Gennady Sysoyev). — . . . The current
conflict over Abkhazia and South Ossetia involves more than just the
Georgian authorities fighting the leaders of the self-proclaimed
republics for control over Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. It is primarily a
battle for Georgia — not in the sense of the country’s restoring its
integrity, but in the sense of gaining control over Georgia. And one
of the main combatants is Russia.

The prominent American political analyst Zbigniew Brzezinski once
gave US leaders the following advice: Never let Russia bring Ukraine
under its influence — without Kiev, Moscow will never be able to
regain control over the former Soviet empire. In a certain sense,
Georgia is now just as important to Russia as Ukraine.

If it can maintain its influence over Tbilisi, Moscow, given its
strategic partnership with Armenia, will be able to control more than
just the Transcaucasus. In such a situation, Central Asia, where the
US has significantly increased its political and military presence of
late, is all but bound to eventually return to the orbit of Russian
influence as well. Because with no alternative to the Russian route
for exporting their strategic resources to the West (and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is primarily meant to provide such
an alternative), the Central Asian republics and Azerbaijan will
sooner or later be forced to seek refuge once again under Moscow’s
“umbrella.” And with the return of Central Asia and the Transcaucasus
to the fold, the restoration of the former Soviet empire — albeit on
the basis of different principles — will no longer be such a utopian
goal for Moscow. On the other hand, if Moscow loses effective levers
of influence on Tbilisi, this will render Russia’s military presence
in Armenia all but pointless, lead to a weakening of its influence
throughout the Transcaucasus, and consign the idea of regaining its
former influence in Central Asia to oblivion once and for all.

Moscow apparently hopes to maintain its influence in Georgia
chiefly through the breakaway republics. It allowed President
Saakashvili to emerge triumphant in the battle for Batumi and was
counting on reciprocity. For one thing, it expected Tbilisi to drop
its demands for the removal of the Russian bases on Georgian
territory. But Mikhail Saakashvili failed to repay his debt to Russia
for Adzharia; instead, he decided to press for control of South
Ossetia. If he quickly succeeds, he will substantially reduce
Russia’s ability to bargain over Abkhazia, and Moscow is extremely
reluctant to let that happen.

Russia has yet another major stake in the battle for Georgia. If a
policy of holding on to Tbilisi at any price prevails in Moscow, this
is bound to be seen by the rest of the world as showing that Russia
has adopted the imperialist ambitions of the former USSR.

Gang called in top doctor as negotiator
By Julius Strauss and Heather Thompson

The Telegraph, UK
Sept 3 2004

After herding more than 300 children and adults into the school gym,
the terrorists lost no time in telling the authorities who they
wished to negotiate with.

A Moscow-based paediatrician named Leonid Roshal was on the list. He
started talking to the hostage-takers by mobile phone immediately,
and yesterday morning arrived on the scene.

The rebels called specifically for Dr Roshal because they see him as
an honest broker who will not be commandeered by the Kremlin to
implement its will. His first priority will be to get the gunmen to
accept a shipment of food for the children, who have not eaten in 36
hours.

Aged 70, Dr Roshal gained international reknown in 2002 for the
crucial role he played in the 2002 Dubrovka theatre hostage-taking in
Moscow. One of few people to pass freely between Chechen terrorists
and Russian authorities during the three-day siege, Dr Roshal served
as a chief negotiator, medical support and main liaison, bringing
food, medicine and comfort to those inside and news to the rest of
the world. During the siege he treated hostages inside the theatre
and was photographed taking out the body of a woman who was shot by
the terrorists.

Before Russian special forces ended the stand-off by pumping
knock-out gas into the theatre, the doctor helped to secure the
release of eight children. Despite Dr Roshal’s insistence that he was
simply fulfilling his role as a paediatrician, he was awarded a
Russian Order of Valour later that year. Dr Roshal is currently the
head of the emergency surgery and child trauma department at the
Paediatrics Research Institute, a branch of the Russian Academy of
Medical Sciences.

He spent much of his 45-year career helping children in crisis,
travelling to disaster sites across eastern Europe and in Egypt,
Japan, Afghanistan and Turkey.

After participating in the relief effort following the devastating
1988 earthquake in Spitak, Armenia, he founded an international aid
organisation which aims to rescue children in trouble. By 2003, the
organisation had assisted children involved in more than 20 disasters
around the world.

An advocate of the much criticised Russian system of public health
care, Dr Roshal spoke out against a planned reform last April, in an
interview with The Daily Telegraph. “There’s no ideal health system
in the world,” he said, “but ours is as good as any. All we need is
more money.”

The Amazing Race’s plucky duo

The Star Online
Thursday September 2, 2004

Mirna Hindoyan and Charla Faddoul who were eliminated after the seventh
episode tell ZACK YUSOF of the good and trying times they faced competing in
The Amazing Race.

Their trek on The Amazing Race may have ended in tears for plucky
contestants Mirna Hindoyan, 27, and Charla Faddoul, 28, but nobody expected
host Phil Keoghan to be visibly moved as well.

“At each pit-stop, Phil was so gracious to us and I can tell you that he
wasn’t like that with the other teams,” said Mirna in a telephone interview
from Maryland.

Charla Faddoul (left) and Mirna Hindoyan were fierce and determined
competitors throughout seven legs of The Amazing Race.
“I think Phil and us have mutual respect for each other. We are big fans of
the show. Unlike some of the other teams, we didn’t get on the show through
an agent, but it was through our own will, trying very hard to prove that we
had what’s needed to be on the show.

“I think Phil also respected us because we had respect for the locals. It
was obviously hard for him to see that after all our hard work, we just
could not advance further.”

On this occasion, the normally ice-cold host of the top-rated TV adventure
race could not contain his emotions and allowed his eyes to well up when the
122cm-tall Charla explained her motivation for competing on the show after
they were eliminated.

It’s a physically challenging 29-day race, with 11 teams travelling
116,800km and at the same time performing challenging tasks for a US$1mil
(RM3.8mil) prize. Few people gave Charla and her team-mate and cousin Mirna
Hindoyan much chance of making it past the early stages.

But having survived seven episodes using their wits and wiles, the two have
gained the respect of audiences around the world.

“I just wanted to prove to the world how much I can do, and the pressure is
greater when there are always people thinking you can do it,” said Charla to
a teary-eyed Keoghan when they were eliminated.

Mirna and Charla were fierce and determined competitors throughout seven
legs of The Amazing Race. They gave as good as they got on their travels but
got themselves eliminated after gambling on an earlier flight from Abu Dhabi
to Dubai, which was later delayed by three hours. Their final destination
was to be Nairobi, Kenya.

“That was the worst moment of the race for us. Everything was going so well
until then. That killed our lead.” said Mirna.

Since the fifth season of the series began airing in the United States on
July 6, Mirna and Charla have emerged as one of the most interesting teams
on the show, while angering other teams and polarising popular opinion. The
other contestants like Colin and Christie in particular were so against the
two women.

“Let’s just say that Colin’s a very offensive person and he is not open to
people of different cultures. From day one, he had some choice words that he
used on us. We are Armenian and very proud of our heritage. He wanted to
beat us and we wanted to do our best. Some people just resort to blocking
doorways and others just try to use their brains and play their own games.”

In fact, the cousins were prepared to resort to almost any measure,
including using Charla’s small stature, to get ahead. From the very
beginning of the race, Charla had admitted that people were inclined to
offer her help because of her size. She was proven right as early as the
third episode when she claimed that she needed a doctor so that she could
secure a seat on a plane. Unscrupulous maybe, but having a small person
among their ranks definitely worked in Mirna and Charla’s favour.

As it turned out, Charla proved to be such an able competitor. She ended up
performing most of the tasks at the roadblocks, which made many people
speculate that she was doing most of the work.

“I really would like to respond to that,” stated Mirna firmly. “Most people
don’t realise how much of a struggle the race was for us. Charla may be the
smallest person in the race but she weighs as much as me. I’m a 160cm girl
who weighs 48kg and I must say that although I’m a very hardworking person,
I’ve never worked as hard as in the race.

“I’m very proud of her because for the first 10 days of the race I was ill
and on antibiotics. But also, for the two people challenges, I was there
with her and a lot of time I had to do it on my own like herding the goat
and finding the dancer in Argentina.

“I joked and laughed about it but it hurts me when people think that I
didn’t contribute. If we weren’t a team, I don’t think we would have made it
that far.”

Between the two of them, they speak a variety of languages including
Armenian, Turkish, French and Spanish, and have travelled extensively to
foreign countries. Their linguistic skills and experience of different
cultures certainly helped them on various legs of the race.

“We like to have a good time,” explained Charla. “We love experiencing
different cultures and meeting people. There are lots of beautiful things in
the world to experience. We try to communicate with the locals because in my
travelling experience, I find that when you respect people, they treat you
very graciously. It’s nice to try and speak their language. Speaking
different languages definitely gave us an edge over the other teams.”

Certainly, Mirna and Charla’s stint on The Amazing Race has made them
household names back in the United States. People, In Touch, Jay Leno,
Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight have all requested interviews
with them.

In a CBS poll conducted just before they were eliminated, the two ladies
were voted as the team most likely to win. Even after their elimination from
the race, the fan websites garner more comments about Charla and Mirna than
any other team.

For the record, Mirna and Charla are first cousins from Towson, Maryland,
and Phoenix, Arizona, respectively. Both are Armenian and were born in the
same hospital in Syria one month apart. They emigrated to the United States
when they were young children.

As well as co-owning/ managing 10 sportswear stores, Charla said that she is
married to the man of her dreams. Although she has a form of dwarfism, she
stressed that she does not consider it a limitation. Mirna is an attorney
who graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law at 23, the
youngest in her class.

Now that they are eliminated from the race, which of the remaining teams are
they rooting for to win the grand prize?

“We like the mums, and Chip and Kim. They are very nice people to be around.
They are very positive people,” said Charla.

Added Mirna: “At the end of the day, we are proud of what we have
accomplished. Our families and people who stopped us in the streets are
proud of us. I got letters from Singapore and all over the world where the
senders said they were proud of us. We never expected any of this and we are
very appreciative.”

The Amazing Race airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on Astro’s AXN channel.

BUKINIST BOOKSTORE SUED BY JEWISH COMMUNITY

A1 Plus | 15:17:34 | 02-09-2004 | Social |

On Thursday, Gherch Burstain, chair of Jewish Mordekhay Navi community
in Armenia, speaking at a seminar on ethnic minorities held in Yerevan,
voiced alarm at appearing signs of anti-Jewish sentiments in the
republic saying they can become dangerous.

In his opinion one of these sentiments’ reasons is that Armenians
are ill-informed about other nations’ history. He said people’s
insufficient knowledge in this area stirs up ethnic hatred.

Burstain said in recent days the community launched a legal action
against Bukinist bookstore for disseminating anti-Jewish literature
that is intended for planting hatred against Jews and damage relations
between the two nations.

Head of the Ethnic Minorities Coordination and their Rights Awareness
program Stepan Safaryan said the delay in the Ethnic Minorities Law
adoption is hobbling solution of these problems.

Stepan Safaryan is convicted that urgent solution of ethnic minorities’
problems is one of the means to obtain the CE confidence toward
Armenia.