Armenia registers Jehovah’s Witnesses after years of debate
By AVET DEMOURIAN
AP Worldstream
Oct 13, 2004
Authorities in Armenia registered the Jehovah’s Witnesses on Wednesday,
allowing the religious group to operate in the Caucasus Mountain
nation after years of debate and denial.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses first appeared in Armenia in 1988, after
a devastating earthquake in what was then still a Soviet republic,
but had been unable to register after the nation became independent
in the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Legalizing the Jehovah’s Witnesses group was one of the main conditions
set out by the Council of Europe when the continent’s leading human
rights organization granted Armenia membership two years ago.
Deputy Justice Minister Tigran Mukuchian told The Associated Press a
major obstacle to registration had been members’ refusal to serve in
the military, which in the past led to arrests and prison sentences. A
law institution alternative service has removed that obstacle, he said.
The leader of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armenia, Grach Heshishian,
expressed surprise at the Justice Ministry’s decision, while the
dominant Armenian Apostolic Church denounced it, calling the group
“anti-Christian.”
An Armenian Apostolic Church statement accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses
and other unspecified organizations of having missions that involve
“hunting for human souls, destroying families and creating a split
in society.”
Seeking to soothe church opposition to the registration, Justice
Ministry spokesman said the authorities would watch closely to make
sure the Jehovah’s Witnesses were acting legally, adding that “the
sect will have to respect the laws and rights of Armenian citizens.”
Official figures put the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armenia
at more than 4,000; one of the requirements for registration of a
religious group is that it have at least 200 followers in the nation.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced pressure from authorities in Russia.
Courts in Moscow outlawed the group’s activities in the capital
earlier this year under a law allowing bans on religious groups that
are considered to be inciting hatred or intolerant behavior.

Czech Republic 3, Armenia 0 in World Cup qualifying
AP Worldstream
Oct 13, 2004
Jan Koller scored two goals and his Dortmund teammate Tomas Rosicky
added one to lift the Czech Republic to a 3-0 victory over Armenia
in their World Cup Group 1 qualifier Wednesday.
The Czech Republic opened strongly, with Dortmund striker Koller
scoring three minutes into the game off a pass from Marek Heinz.
Edgar Manucharyan missed a clear chance to equalize seven minutes
later when his power shot from the right hit the crossbar of Petr
Cech’s goal.
Two minutes later, referee Jacek Granat disallowed a goal because of
an offside after Armen Shahgeldyan played one-two with Karen Aleksanyan
and beat Cech.
In the 30th minute, Dortmund midfielder Rosicky made it 2-0 after he
collected Tomas Uifalusi’s pass in the center and moved closer to the
Armenian box before hitting the target with a powerful drive from 25
meters (yards).
Zdenek Grygera missed a clear opportunity for the visitors two
minutes before the interval when Koller nodded down Marek Heinz’s
volley cross from the right, but the Ajax Amsterdam defender’s shot
was blocked by goalkeeper Apoula Bete.
The Czechs dominated the second half and Koller was close to scoring
again on a solo effort in the 68th minute. Goalkeeper Apoula Bete
blocked his close-range shot with a stunning save.
Koller made it 3-0 nine minutes later, firing home from the edge of
the box.
The Czech Republic has 6 points from 3 games, while Armenia remains
winless in four games.
___
Lineups:
Armenia _ Apoula Bete; Yeghisne Melikyan, Karen Dokhoyan (Artur
Mkrtchian, 46), Sargis Hovsepyan, Harutyun Vardamian, Artur
Petrosyan, Hamlet Mkhitarian, Rafael Nazaryan, Armen Shahgeldyan
(Andrei Movsisian, 80), Edgar Manucharyan, Karen Aleksanyan (Albert
Sargsian, 65).
Czech Republic _ Petr Cech; Zdenek Grygera, Tomas Galasek (Radoslav
Kovac, 55), Rene Bolf, Marek Jankulovski, Jan Koller (Vratislav
Lokvence, 84) , Tomas Rosicky, Stepan Vachousek (Jiri Jarosik, 74),
Marek Heinz, Libor Sionko, Tomas Uifalusi.

Azeri, Norwegian foreign ministers discuss Karabakh settlement
Assa-Irada, Baku
13 Oct 04
Baku, 13 October: The chairman of the Council of Europe Committee
of Ministers and Norwegian foreign minister, Jan Petersen, who is
on a visit to Baku, today met Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov,
Milli Maclis Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov and President Ilham Aliyev.
Elmar Mammadyarov told the Norwegian diplomat about the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem in detail and explained Azerbaijan’s position on
settling the conflict. The meeting also discussed the implementation
of Azerbaijan’s commitments to the Council of Europe and the fight
against international terrorism.
At a briefing after the meeting, Jan Petersen stated that the Council
of Europe is not in a position to solve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
and the organization can only broker a solution to this problem. In
the opinion of the European guest, Armenia and Azerbaijan should
reach agreement between themselves.
[Passage omitted: Petersen also met the speaker of the Azerbaijani
president]

ARE USA AND AZERBAIJAN TO DECIDE THE FATE OF LIBERATED TERRITORIES?
A1 Plus
13-10-2004
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has recently been making
strange expressions over Karabakhi conflict settlement. In particular,
answering the question of Opposition MP Aram Sargssyan in Parliament
Minister said: “I see nothing to alarm for. Our diplomacy is in a
good state, the political processes pass the way they are to. We are
the one to give something. But we won’t give Karabakh.”
Vardan Oskanyan announced 6 years ago no one allowed us even to
dream of Karabakh out of Azerbaijan whereas now the international
society has resigned itself that version, Minister thinks. Of course,
it doesn’t mean that they will accept and declare about it but the
fact they have complied with it is beyond controversy for Oskanyan.
Oskanyan doesn’t remember “any serious state” to make a statement over
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan at 6 recent years. Minister
says statements like that are made very carefully, without touching
upon the topic of Nagorno Karabakh.
By the way, Vardan Oskanyan generously agreed to the suggestion by Aram
Sargssyan that independence of Nagorno Karabakh must be recognized.
The most sensational statement of Vardan Oskanyan concerned the
agreement concluded between USA and Azerbaijan over stationing USA
military groups in the liberated territories, which are under control
of Armenian forces. “To tell the truth, it’s the task of Azerbaijan
and USA. But I don’t consider it real. I don’t think USA to make such
a decision”, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian campaign is worth a shot
Nonprofit Children’s Vaccine Fund aiming to raise $1.5
million for various inoculations for Armenian children
for next 15 years.
Glendale News-Press
October 13, 2004
By Josh Kleinbaum
GLENDALE – While many Americans worry about the flu vaccine shortages,
children in Armenia and other countries around the world are trying
to get vaccines for more serious treatable diseases. In Glendale,
one group is trying to help.
The Millennium Armenian Children’s Vaccine Fund is attempting to
raise $1.5 million to provide the standard set of vaccinations for
children in Armenia for the next 15 years. The vaccinations, given
to children in America as standard practice, cover serious diseases
such as diphtheria, hepatitis B, polio and tuberculosis.
“The need is enormous,” said Eliza Karagezian, the fund’s project
manager. “Without vaccines, children get sick with preventable diseases
and suffer needlessly. The financial infrastructure in Armenia does
not allow [the government] to provide children with these vaccines.”
In the past, Armenia has relied on foreign aid from other nations to
provide the necessary vaccines, Karagezian said. This money raised
by the Millennium Fund will allow Armenia to be self-sufficient.
“Children in developing countries are under so much stress from
malnutrition and the environment that vaccines are a wonderful way
to make them less susceptible to other things, like diarrhea or
pneumonia,” said Celia Woodfill, epidemiologist in the immunization
branch of California’s Dept. of Health Services. “It’s very good
that they’re trying to go for 15 years, because then it could have
a sustained effect. If you could stop the disease in kids, you can
stop the disease in the community. Maybe by then, Armenia will have
found its feet.”
The fund is working with UNICEF and Armenia’s Ministry of Health to
get the vaccines to children. Karagezian said the fund, administered
by the Ani & Narod Memorial Foundation, has raised $1.3 million,
and she hopes to raise the additional $200,000 by the end of the year.
When the fund reaches its goal of $1.5 million, it will have enough
money to vaccinate 560,000 children in Armenia.
“Having a healthy economy and a healthy democracy starts with having
healthy individuals,” said Ardashes Kassakhian, executive director
of the Armenian National Committee’s Western Region. “We see how
important health care issues are here in this election in this country,
and other countries have the same concerns.
“Children are our future. We have to teach them well and let them
lead the way.”
,1,2967802.story?coll=la-tcn-glendale-news
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri speaker, Norwegian minister discuss Karabakh settlement
Trend news agency
13 Oct 04
Baku, 13 October: Azerbaijani Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov received the
Norwegian foreign minister and chairman of the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers, Jan Petersen, on 13 October. Alasgarov said
that the visit is of great importance to Azerbaijan and the talks
will give impetus to the development of Azerbaijan’s relations with
Norway and the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.
He said that Azerbaijan has fulfilled most of its commitments to the
Council of Europe and will soon resolve the issues of alternative
military service, ethnic minorities and others.
Talking about the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Alasgarov said that
the settlement of the problem has been delayed due to international
organizations and leading countries’ wrong approach to the problem. It
is amazing that visiting experts from the Council of Europe and other
international bodies show interest not in the flagrant violation of
the rights of 1m refugees, but in the fate of three or five people
convicted for the crimes they have committed, Alasgarov said.
He went on to say that Azerbaijan will not cede even an inch of
its land and that the country’s policy is aimed at restoring its
territorial integrity within international legal norms. I hope that
the international organizations and leading countries will understand
our position and defend us, he said.
In turn, Petersen said that his visit will contribute to the
development of bilateral relations. He went on to say that Statoil and
other Norwegian companies want to make investments in Azerbaijan and
expressed the hope that Azerbaijan will create conditions for that. As
for the Karabakh conflict, Petersen said that he can empathize with
Azerbaijan over the conflict which has not been resolved so far. We
hope that [the country] will find a fair solution to it in the near
future, he said. Petersen stressed that the basis for this is the
fact that the conflicting sides have sat at the negotiating table.

Azeri speaker bans MPs from criticizing foreign countries
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
13 Oct 04
Baku, 13 October: Commenting on the problem of settling the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict at a session of the Milli Maclis, the speaker of
the Azerbaijani parliament, Murtuz Alasgarov, banned the deputies
from criticizing foreign countries.
He said that at their meetings with him, foreign ambassadors to
Azerbaijan express their dissatisfaction with the remarks about their
countries made in parliament.
He pointed out that some members of the Milli Maclis criticize Russia,
the USA and other countries.
“I infer that some of you sympathize with Russia, some with the USA
and others sympathize either with France or with no country at all. Who
asked for your opinion about this or that country?” the speaker asked.
Alasgarov also told the deputies to express their judgments only
through the press.
“You can express your opinion in the press about individual people,
or for example, about the elections in the USA. We have no right to
hold such discussions in parliament,” Murtuz Alasgarov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh MP dismisses Baku’s “nervous” reaction to ombudsman bill
Mediamax news agency
13 Oct 04
Yerevan, 13 October: Azerbaijan’s “extraordinarily nervous reaction”
to a bill on the ombudsman, which the Nagornyy Karabakh parliament is
going to adopt, “is explained by the fact that any step by Karabakh
towards democratization of society is conducive to enhancing its
authority in the foreign policy arena”, the chairman of the standing
commission for foreign relations in the NKR National Assembly, Vagram
Atanesyan, has said in an interview with our agency.
“The extraordinarily nervous reaction to the ombudsman bill is
explained by the fact that any step by Nagornyy Karabakh towards
democratization of society is conducive to enhancing its authority in
the foreign policy arena and continued tolerant perception of the de
facto existence of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic by international
structures, including European ones,” the Karabakh parliamentarian
said.

Production Report
“In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian”
Indiewire.com
October 13, 2004
by Jason Guerrasio
While making a documentary about strange roadside museums, Don Bernier came
across Elizabeth Tashjian’s 18-room Victorian home in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
>>From the outside it looked like the other homes in the neighborhood, but
once inside Bernier realized it was anything but normal. “It was filled with
paintings of nuts. Nut masks. Elizabeth would basically educate you on nuts
and where they were from,” he says.
Elizabeth Tashjian is better known in up-state Connecticut as “The Nut
Lady.” For years she’s given guided tours of her home, which is filled with
a wide array of nut artwork. Intrigued by Tashjian’s obsessive hobby,
Bernier ditched the roadside museum doc and began one on her. But before he
could start she collapsed in her home and was in a coma for close to two
months. She awoke to learn that the government had taken over her home and
destroyed most of her art (the work that survived is currently at
Connecticut College). “When she came out of the coma, essentially she was
pissed,” says Bernier. “So the state threw a lot of physiatrists and
therapists to declare she was mentally incapable [to live on her own] and
now she’s been moved to a nursing home. Everything got taken away from her.”
Bernier’s documentary follows Tashjian, who’s still wacky about nuts, as she
tries to pick up the pieces of her Nut Lady legacy.
Shooting on and off since 2001, Bernier is currently finishing post with
hopes to have a final cut by the end of the year. Budgeted at under $200,000
and shot on DV, he has recently received a Jerome Foundation grant to finish
it. Though he will submit it into festivals, Bernier believes the ideal
outlet for the doc is television.
[ For more information, please visit: ]

European qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation, Libya
Oct 13 2004
As the campaign to reach the 2006 FIFA World Cup continues, Wednesday
represents the next opportunity for 42 European teams to either
continue their solid starts to qualifying or revive their hopes.
The pick of the ties is arguably the heavyweight contest between
Denmark and Turkey in Group 2.
It also seems hard to separate Group 3 rivals Portugal and Russia
ahead of their encounter in Lisbon.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, will want to assert their authority in
Group 1 when Finland visit the Amsterdam ArenA.
In Group 5, Italy could do with a pick-me-up as well, having succumbed
to Slovenia four days ago. The Azzurri welcome to Parma a Belarus
team still unbeaten after their 4-0 win against Moldova. Spain also
travel with the cushion of a recent victory, having overcome Belgium
at the weekend. They go to undefeated Lithuania in Group 7.
France might have been held twice at home in Group 4, but they will
none the less expect maximum plunder from their trip to Cyprus. Group
6 leaders England are on the road in Azerbaijan, a team still to win
in this tournament. Things are even worse for Armenia, who have no
points from three matches and entertain a Czech Republic side boosted
by their Group 1 victory against Romania.