Moscow Times, Russia
July 30, 2004
Fifty Years of Riffs
British and Russian bands honor a legendary guitar at a free festival
By Sergey Chernov
The Fender Stratocaster — the guitar of choice for all
self-respecting rock stars — celebrates its half-century this year.
And to mark the anniversary, over 20 bands from Britain and St.
Petersburg will take the stage in the Miller Fender Fest, a large
open-air event on Saturday.
The free event on Bolotnaya Ploshchad is one of an international
series of concerts held to mark the guitar’s 50th birthday, and will
showcase four British bands — King Adora, Mystery Juice, Gold Blade,
and Kaiser Chiefs — as well as top Russian acts on a total of five
stages.
The legendary electric guitar was designed by American inventor Leo
Fender in 1954. He was later quoted as saying that it was his attempt
to “design the best instrument in the world, once and for all.” Since
then it has been played by musicians including Eric Clapton, Buddy
Holly, Hank Marvin and Bob Dylan.

For John Robb, singer and guitarist of Manchester punk band Gold
Blade, who will perform on the main stage, the instrument is
associated with one star. “I think of Jimi Hendrix and it makes me
feel really good,” he wrote in an e-mail last week. “He was the
genius who made the Fender Strat great.” Robb chooses a Telecaster
himself, but the band uses Strats on some of their songs.
Meanwhile, another participant, Sergei Voronov of Moscow-based
blues-rock band Crossroadz, strums a guitar once owned by Keith
Richards of the Rolling Stones. While on tour in New York in 1988, a
session drummer introduced Voronov to Richards, according to
Crossroadz’s official biography. The rhythm guitarist invited him to
join him in the studio, and then gave him the 1959 instrument.
While celebrating the famous instrument, the festival does not lay
down a hard-and-fast rule about playing only Fender Stratocasters,
and the music will not focus on the classic rock that is primarily
associated with the Strat, instead ranging from ska to psychobilly
and electronic.
The British participants bring their own highly distinctive sounds.
Mystery Juice, from Edinburgh, plays a psychedelic mixture of blues,
hip-hop and Gaelic fiddle, while Birmingham’s King Adora performs
updated glam rock, complete with the dramatic makeup. The indie-rock
band Kaiser Chiefs, from Leeds, has drawn comparisons with Britain’s
recent music sensation Franz Ferdinand.
The Russian bands, most of whom hail from St. Petersburg, are even
more diverse in style. Markscheider Kunst performs Afro-Cuban style
with Russian lyrics, while Billy’s Band took its original inspiration
from Tom Waits, but has adapted his cabaret rock for domestic
consumption. Deadushki combines electronica and punk, and
Moscow-based Deti Picasso blends rock with Armenian folk.
“The main idea was to represent different acts that use a guitar one
way or another,” the festival’s co-promoter Dmitry Sidorov said last
week. “That may be music of different styles, including those using
electronic and ethnic elements.”
The Miller Fender Fest starts on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Bolotnaya
Ploshchad. Metro Tretyakovskaya. Info at

ArmenPress
July 29 2004
DOCUMENTARY AIMS TO PROVOKE DEBATES ON HOW TO END CONFLICTS
STEPANAKERT, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: A documentary shot by Georgian
filmmakers in cooperation with their counterparts from the breakaway
region of Abkhazia and telling about the Armenian-Azeri dispute over
Nagorno Karabagh was shown to residents of Stepanakert, the capital
of Karabagh. The film became possible thanks to funding from Heinrich
Bell Foundation from Germany and the British Reconciliation Resources
organization.
Walter Kaufman, a representative of the Heinrich Bell Foundation
in the South Caucasus, said before the show of the documentary that
one of the major objectives of the Foundation in the region is to
help societies of the conflicting nations to restore the confidence.
The documentary, he said, was to show how people on different sides
of the barricades were looking at the conflict.
Mikhail Mirziashvili, one of the directors of the film, said: “You
will not find in this documentary an answer to a question as who is
to be blame for the conflict, who is right and who is wrong. We have
tried to describe the conflict from a human being’s viewpoint.”
According to him, one of the goals is to push people from rival
camps to start debates over what to do to and how to do to end
confrontation. Two other documentaries, shot by the same team and
telling about Georgia’s conflicts with South Ossetia and Abkhazia
will be also shown to Stepanakert residents

ArmenPress
July 29 2004
IFC, ARMECONOMBANK SIGN AGREEMENT FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: One of the leading Armenian
commercial banks, Armeconombank and the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) signed a two million credit agreement on Wednesday
to develop small and medium-size business and housing mortgage
credits.
Armeconombank managing director Ashot Osipyan said the credit will
be provided in two tranches – each with a five year of repayment
period. Central Bank chairman Tigran Sarkisian said cooperation with
foreign lending organizations gives the bank a good opportunity to
offer new services to its customers, particularly, concerning housing
mortgage credits. Osipyan said interest rates on housing mortgage
credits went down from 24-25 percent, when the bank started giving
such credits, to 16 percent now. He said the new loan will help to
take the rates down to 14 percent and extend the repayment period
from 4 to 5 years.
The great portion of the new loan–$1.5 million- will go for
business development and the rest will be added to housing mortgage
funds.
The director of IFC Central and Eastern Europe Department, Edward
Nassim, said this is the first time when the IFC provides a credit to
a commercial bank in Armenia. This proves that the situation in the
banking sector is improving, he added
Until now the IFC has invested in Armenia $7 million, of which $5
million in Marriott Armenia Hotel and $2 million to ACBA bank for
implementation of a leasing credit program.

ArmenPress
July 29 2004
CROSS-STONE FROM ARSHILE GORKY’S HOME BROUGHT TO YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: Badal Badalian, the chairman of a
Yerevan-based Arshile Gorky Foundation, showed reporters today a
khachkar (cross-stone) which he said he brought from the village of
Khorgom on the banks of Lake Van in Turkey, the native village of
Arshile Gorky, one of the most famous contemporary artists of the USA
and the founder of Abstract Surrealism.
Badalian said he and another Armenian painter were traveling
across Western Armenia, now in Turkey and visited Gorky’s village,
now populated, as he said, by ethnic Armenians, assimilated by local
Yezidis and were drinking water from a spring in the yard of Gorky’s
home when a stone on the earth caught their sight. A closer look
revealed it was a khachkar.
Yezidis allowed Armenians to take the khachkar, weighing some 100
kg, to Armenia. Badalian said today the cross on the stone might have
been carved by Gorky himself when he was 10 or 11.
Arshile Gorky, described by Andre Breton as the most important
painter in American history, was born in Western Armenia, in. In
1915, Gorky (Vostanik Adoyan) escaped Turkish massacres with
thousands of others refugees. After his mother died of famine, he
headed for the US. His whole life in the new country, which ended in
suicide, consisted of years of hard work and bitter struggle.
Tragically enough, the years in which his art was ascending to its
greatest heights were also the darkest in his life. His marriage was
disintegrating; he was operated on for colon cancer, and he lost many
works in a studio fire.

ArmenPress
July 29 2004
PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN TO WATCH OLYMPIC GAMES ON AUGUST 23
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: Iskhan Zakarian, chairman of a
government department on physical training and sports, said today
president Kocharian will travel to Greece on August 23 to watch
Olympic Games. The Armenian delegation to Athens is composed of 52
people, 6 of whom are sporting journalists.

ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
28 Jul 04
Armenian women pleased with their life in Azerbaijan

[Presenter Natavan Babayeva] The arrest of members of the Karabakh
Liberation Organization [who protested against Armenian officers’
visit to Baku] and the fact that the Armenian officers had been
invited to Baku [to attend a NATO conference] were wrong decisions by
the Azerbaijani authorities. This is the opinion of Yevgeniya
Shagenovna Abdullayeva who thanks the government for allowing her to
live in Baku in conditions of freedom and normal ethnic relations.
[Correspondent over video of Baku] More than 20,000 Armenians live in
the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, today. We decided to knock on a number
of doors which have always been open to Armenians in Azerbaijan –
just to ask how they are doing. We failed to meet a woman called
Rimma because she was at work. But we got in touch with an Armenian
woman who introduced herself as Madina. She was guarded by her
Azerbaijani husband and sons.
[Madina] Why are you filming me? How can you do things like that
without telling me?
[Man in Russian] Don’t film.
[Correspondent] What are your relations with the government? Are they
normal?
[Madina speaking in Russian] Yes. I am not complaining. Thank God, I
never complain. Everything depends on God. What can we do?
[Correspondent] We knocked on an another door. Yevgeniya Shagenovna
Abdullayeva met us with real Azerbaijani hospitality. She said that
the Azerbaijani government does not discriminate against her. Her
Armenian background has not restricted her movements or wishes.
[Yevgeniya Abdullayeva] I can say that I am personally satisfied. If
I had not obeyed, I would have never stayed here. I have brought up
two children here over the entire period of the [Nagornyy Karabakh]
conflict since 1988. My daughter was six in 1988 and another daughter
was four. Since that time, I have brought them up, they have
graduated from school and university, my daughter is married, I
travel and talk freely. No, I have no problems.
[Correspondent] Her only problem is that she is a housewife. Although
she had worked as a language and literature teacher for 19 years, she
had to quit her favourite job. Not because of the Azerbaijanis’
attitude to her, but because she was ashamed of what the Armenians
had done to the Azerbaijanis.
[Yevgeniya Abdullayeva speaking in Azeri] When I quit my job, I was
asked why are you doing this, nobody has ever reproached you, you
have an Azerbaijani family and children. I said no, why shouldn’t I?
I thought afterwards that my decision was correct. Everything needs
to be respected. Why should I wait?
[Correspondent] The Armenian woman is pleased not only with the
principal of the school, but also with the peace policy conducted by
the state in which she lives. As for [Armenian President] Robert
Kocharyan, she condemns him for his desire to unleash a war.
[Yevgeniya Abdullayeva speaking in Azeri] Who is he? Maybe someone
knows him, why should I? I do not know him and do not want to. Why
should I? Only because I am Armenian? First, I am Armenian living
here. I have not seen him, I do not meet him and I do not want to
meet him. What kind of attitude should one have to a country that
wants a war? Any country, not only Armenia. Would you have a good
attitude to a country that wants to wage a war with you?
[Correspondent] She says that the 25 years of her free life among the
Azerbaijanis should serve as a warning to Armenia. But this Armenian
woman also spoke about our officials’ position on Karabakh.
[Yevgeniya Abdullayeva speaking in Azeri] My attitude is that it is a
difficult issue. There is a mother who has lost her three sons, God
forbid. One must cope with this, right? It is difficult, they [the
Azerbaijani authorities] probably should not have given permission
and they [Armenian officers] probably should not have come here. One
should take people’s feelings into account. This is my personal
opinion. Was there any need to touch a raw nerve? Those who suffer
suffer in any case, right? But what can we do? The government should
deal with this, right?
[Correspondent] You see, even the Baku Armenians realize this.
Zamina Aliyeva and Aytan Mammadova, ANS.

Azartac news agency, Baku, in Azeri
29 Jul 04
Georgian Armenians demand compensation for Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline

Tbilisi, 29 July, Azartac special correspondent Islam Aliyev: An
Azartac special correspondent reports that the Armenian population of
the village of Tabatskuri of Georgia’s Tsalka District is demanding
compensation for the section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
which is being built on the plots of land owned by them. The
villagers staged a rally on 27 July and announced that a larger rally
would be staged if relevant organizations did not pay compensation to
them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ekho, Baku, in Russian
29 Jul 04 pp 1, 2
Azeri diplomatic corps discusses its problems with cabinet – paper

A recent meeting between Azerbaijani ambassadors and government
members noted the importance of intensifying the work of the
country’s diplomatic missions abroad, the Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho
has said. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated that
it was necessary to continue the “unrelenting struggle” against
Armenian propaganda and to intensify propaganda and information work
using modern information technologies, according to the newspaper. In
turn, other ministers touched on the problems that their departments
encounter in their international activities and drew the ambassadors’
attention to the need to increase control over budget expenditure at
the embassies. In reply, the ambassadors spoke about problems in
performing banking transactions with Azerbaijan and voiced many other
complaints. The following is the text of R. Orucov and N. Aliyev
report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 29 July headlined “The
Foreign Ministry decided not to wash its dirty linen in public” and
subheaded “Although, according to some reports, it did announce the
recall of ambassadors from a number of countries”. Subheadings have
been inserted editorially:
Diplomatic missions have to intensify work
The first joint session of the country’s diplomatic corps ended in
Baku yesterday. It emerged yesterday that President Ilham Aliyev
called on the Azerbaijani embassies abroad to work with the mass
media more closely. “Great attention should be paid to this sphere,”
Aliyev said. He said that a special post should be created in the
embassies for this purpose. At present, the embassies react to some
events or publications post factum in most cases. In Aliyev’s
opinion, the embassies should be proactive and should strive to get
the reports that are advantageous to Azerbaijan published (Turan news
agency).
Most of yesterday’s meeting was taken by speeches of government
members. According to the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry, effectively all the main members of the cabinet took part
in the meeting yesterday. In his speech, Defence Minister Safar
Abiyev reminded the audience of the tasks that the head of state has
set for the diplomats. Then the floor was taken by Interior Minister
Ramil Usubov who spoke about the need to intensify the diplomatic
missions’ work in terms of combating crime and ensuring internal
security at the foreign relations level. In turn, National Security
Minister Eldar Mahmudov spoke about great similarities in the work of
the diplomats and staffers of the special services. He said that
close cooperation between all government structures to ensure
national security was very important.
It has to be noted that almost all the members of the Azerbaijani
government delivered their speeches yesterday. And they all spoke to
the ambassadors about the problems that their departments encounter
in their international activities.
Ambassadors raise problems
The ambassadors replied with their own questions and suggestions.
They identified as one of the major problems the issue of extending
the validity period of the passports of our countrymen abroad and
issuing them quickly. Incidentally, it was decided at the session to
send a high-level official from the Interior Ministry on a business
trip to the embassies in those countries where the problem exists
with the extension of the passport validity period in order to
elaborate jointly with the diplomats a plan of measures to resolve
this issue.
First Deputy Finance Minister Ilqar Fatizada drew the diplomats’
attention to the need to increase control over budget expenditure at
the embassies. He reminded them of the rules of using office cars and
of the need to elaborate normative documents to celebrate the
national holidays of Azerbaijan.
In reply, the ambassadors told the representatives of the ministries
of finance and taxation about big problems that the foreign missions
experience when performing banking transactions with the home
country. Complaints about many other issues were also voiced.
As diplomatic sources told Ekho, the concluding speech by the chief
of the Presidential Executive Staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, proved to be
most interesting. Most of the speech was dedicated to describing
different flaws in the work of the embassies. Some reports about the
session also say that the fate of different diplomats was also
discussed, but no details have been disclosed yet.
Unrelenting struggle against Armenian propaganda
Incidentally, according to the Turan news agency, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov said at the meeting that the Azerbaijani
ambassadors to the USA, Russia, France and Egypt would be recalled
soon. Touching on the main objectives of the Azerbaijani diplomatic
service, the minister noted that the unrelenting struggle should be
continued against Armenian propaganda which strives to “discredit”
Azerbaijan. Using modern information technologies, information and
propaganda work should be intensified both in Azerbaijan and abroad.
Activities directed at continuing the provision of aid to the
refugees and internally displaced persons should be carried out. The
foreign missions should closely follow the reports by the local mass
media about Azerbaijan, analyse them, and inform the Foreign Ministry
in time, Mammadyarov said. He pointed out the need to intensify
cooperation with the local and foreign mass media and to hold regular
news briefings. Mammadyarov also deems it important to broaden the
propaganda and information work using the Internet.
As one of the participants in the meeting noted in a conversation
with Ekho yesterday, “the event was very useful to all sides; I can
bring a visual example: yesterday some members of the diplomatic
corps saw one another for the first time in their lives.” He also
noted that some speeches touched on the financial activities of
ambassadors. But, he said, “nothing specific was said about recalling
some heads of missions,” although the source did not rule out the
possibility that the rotation of the ambassadors might take place.

PRESS RELEASE
Council of Europe Spokesperson and Press Division
Ref: 384a04
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected]
internet:
Anti-torture committee publishes its first report on Armenia
Strasbourg, 28.07.2004 – The Council of Europe’s Committee for the
Prevention of Torture (CPT) has today published its first report on Armenia,
following a visit to the country in October 2002.
In the report, the CPT concludes that people detained by the police in
Armenia run a significant risk of being ill-treated. The Commitee therefore
recommends that a high priority be given to professional training for police
officers, including in modern investigation techniques.
The report also draws attention to overcrowding in prisons and the shortage
of activities for inmates. Furthermore, the CPT calls for urgent steps to
improve the conditions in which people sentenced to life imprisonment are
being held at Nubarashen Prison, and highlights major deficiencies at
Nubarashen Republican Psychiatric Hospital.
In their official responses to the report, the Armenian authorities refer to
measures which have been taken to improve police training and to step up the
control of police activities. The authorities also announce a reduction of
the prison population, following the adoption of a new Criminal Code, and
highlight measures aimed at improving conditions at the Nubarashen
facilities.
The CPT report and the responses of the Armenian Government have been made
public with the agreement of the Armenian authorities. They are all
available on the CPT’s website:
To receive our press releases by e-mail, contact :
[email protected]
A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to
promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops common
responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 45 member states.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:

PRESS RELEASE
27 July 2004
Foreign Minister Oskanian Meets With Ambassador Janez Lenarcic of
Slovenia, Incoming Chairman of OSCE Permanent Council
On 26 July, Minister Oskanian received Ambassador Janez Lenarcic,
Slovenia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE. Slovenia assumes the
chairmanship of the OSCE in 2005 and Lenarcic, as Incoming Chairman of
the OSCE Permanent Council was on a get-acquainted visit to Armenia
and the region.
In view of Slovenia’s imminent OSCE chairmanship next year, Ambassador
Lenarcic requested that Foreign Minister Oskanian share Armenia’s
views on cooperation with and within the OSCE. The Minister stressed
that the OSCE is an important organization for Armenia, both as a
supporter of democratization efforts, and in its support of media, of
the government’s anti-corruption strategy and in other civic
programs. The Minister spoke about the useful and effective role of
the OSCE Yerevan office in these programs.
The Foreign Minister also commented on the recent declaration by CIS
member countries on the need for OSCE reform, for greater transparency
and inclusivity, and pointed out that Armenia’s Permanent Mission in
Vienna repeatedly raises this issue with the OSCE leadership.
At the same time, both parties stressed that the OSCE, as the forum
within which the OSCE Minsk Group operates, is very important in its
role in conflict resolution and peace building. The parties exchanged
opinions on the various directions and areas of OSCE operations in
terms of their relevance to regions in transition, specifically the
South Caucasus.
Minister Oskanian also informed Ambassador Lenarcic on the latest
developments with the Nagorno Karabagh conflict settlement process as
well as Armenia-Turkey relations.
Ambassador Lenarcic was accompanied by Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhyn,
Head of the OSCE Yerevan Office, and Ambassador Andrej Kasprzyk,
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman for the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict.