ARMENIA POLLUTES RIVER IN AZERI EXCLAVE – TV SAYS

ANS TV, Baku
13 Jun 04

(Presenter) Armenia’s sewage water pollutes the Araz (Araxes)
river. Health Minister Ali Insanov has said that Azerbaijan has
repeatedly asked international organizations to help resolve the
problem. Armenia, however, does not show any interest in solving
the problem.

(Correspondent) The issue of pollution of the Araz river by
Armenia will be raised during forthcoming meetings by international
organizations, Azerbaijani Health Minister Ali Insanov said during
his trip to Naxcivan. Insanov said that he raised the question at
all international meetings in which he took part so that to solve the
problem. Armenia, however, is not interested in solving the problem.

(Insanov shown speaking to microphone) I noted the problem in my speech
at an annual session of the WHO (World Health Organization) Assembly in
Geneva in May. We raise the issue from time to time. Unfortunately,
Armenia’s position on the issue, just like on many other issues,
is inappropriate.

(Correspondent) Armenia’s sewage and waste waters pollute the Araz
river. Bacteriologic tests showed that the contamination of the river
is eight to 10 times over the norm in Sadarak District and four to
six times in Culfa and Ordubad districts. It cannot be ruled out that
the contamination affects the flora and fauna of the Araz basin.

Natella Mahmudova and Musfiq Haciyev, ANS, Naxcivan.

AZERI MINISTER TELLS NATO REP ABOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

ANS TV, Baku
13 Jun 04

It is irrefutable that Armenia has occupied part of Azerbaijan’s
territory. Despite this the international community has not so
far declared Armenia an aggressor state which proves the existence
of double standards in the (Nagornyy Karabakh) conflict settlement
process, Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev told NATO Assistant
Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet at a meeting today
(13 June).

Mr Fournet said in reply that NATO is aware of Azerbaijan’s position
and is looking for ways of improving (bilateral) relations.

An opposition party leader fatally shot in Azerbaijan

AP Online;
Jun 14, 2004

An opposition party leader, who was known for his bold military
exploits in the war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, was fatally
shot early Monday in Azerbaijan’s capital, police said.

Fatulla Huseynov’s body was found by his neighbors outside his Baku
home, said Yashar Aliyev of the city police. Neighbors reported
hearing between four and six gunshots minutes earlier.

Aliyev said police did not yet have a motive or suspect.

Huseynov, 67, was one of the leaders of Azerbaijan’s opposition
Justice party. He also served as the vice president of Association
of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. He had previously worked in
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry and headed the nation’s road police.

In 1992-93, Huseynov fought in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan, where he earned the nickname the “black colonel”
for his unit’s military feats.

Azerbaijani forces were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh, and a
cease-fire was signed in May 1994. But Nagorno-Karabakh’s final
status has not been resolved and firing sporadically breaks across the
“line of control” demilitarized zone that separates Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces.

Baku not against Armenian presence at NATO exercises – Azeri official

ANS TV, Baku
14 Jun 04

[Presenter Leyla Hasanova] Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has
commented on the planned visit of Armenian officers [to Baku to attend
NATO exercises].

[Azimov shown speaking to microphone] This event in Baku is being held
by NATO. All partner countries are allowed to and must take part in
NATO events. Official Baku is not against the participation of two
Armenian officers.

[Correspondent] Do you take into account the public discontent?

[Azimov] The reason for the discontent is clear and normal. At the
same time, we should take into account all aspects of this issue.

Cleveland Plain Dealer , OH
June 13 2004

Six masterpieces
Paintings worth the pilgrimage within a day’s drive of Cleveland

GEORGES SEURAT

‘A Sunday on la Grande Jatte’

Dots. Zillions of dots of color. That’s what Georges Seurat used to
paint his Pointillist masterpiece, “A Sunday on la Grande Jatte,”
first exhibited in Paris in 1886 and now owned by the Art Institute
of Chicago.

From Our Advertiser

The painting, one of the most famous in the world, has been
reproduced endlessly. Yet it defies reproduction, because its
technique, richness and large scale never come across in postcards or
posters. Seurat’s work, roughly 10 feet wide and 7 feet high, depicts
an island on the Seine River in Paris, where a well-dressed crowd has
gathered to enjoy the riverbank on a summer afternoon. It’s an image
of middle-class leisure at the dawn of the modern age. It’s also a
summation of Seurat’s theories about light and color, about how to
organize a grand composition and about how to go beyond the more
informal landscapes painted by his contemporaries, the
Impressionists.

“It’s all about technique, the very calculated changes you can see
with the naked eye, but you can’t see in reproductions,” said Gloria
Groom, a curator of European painting at the museum. “Because the
surface is incredibly complex, it’s not a one-dimensional object.
It’s a tapestry, and it’s very rich.”

Viewed up close, the painting is a sea of tiny flecks. The arm of the
lounging boatman on the left side of the picture, for instance,
crackles with pure dots of purple, red, pink, green and blue. Step
back a few paces, and the dots appear to meld into the color of
flesh.

“You can see it from different viewpoints, different perceptual
depths,” Groom said.

This summer, beginning Saturday and running through Sunday, Sept. 19,
the art institute will celebrate “La Grande Jatte” in a blockbuster
exhibition with roughly 130 paintings and sketches that re-create
Seurat’s creative process.

The show was conceived as a salute to the completion of the
Millennium Park concert stage on Chicago’s lakefront by Los Angeles
architect Frank Gehry. But it’s also an invitation to gaze deeply
into one of the world’s most famous masterpieces.

“When you’re in front of the painting, it’s not a passive
experience,” said Groom, who cocurated the exhibition. “Participation
is insisted upon. You cannot just ignore it.”

The Art Institute of Chicago is at 111 S. Michigan Ave. Hours are
10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
and Sunday. Open until 8 p.m. Tuesday (late hours switch to Thursday
on July 1). Admission is $10; $6 for students and seniors; free for
children under 5. Call 312-443-3600 or go to

J.M.W. TURNER

‘Burning of the Houses of Parliament’

Katherine Solender of Cleveland, the acting director of the Allen
Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, has spent years looking at
J.M.W. Turner’s “Burning of the Houses of Parliament,” one of the
most famous paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The work depicts the fire that consumed the Palace of Westminster on
the night of Oct. 16, 1834, as thousands of Londoners gathered to
watch from the banks of the Thames River.

Solender wrote an 80-page catalog for an exhibition in 1984 that
reunited the Cleveland painting with another version owned by the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Called “Dreadful Fire! Burning of the
Houses of Parliament,” the book compared both paintings with Turner’s
numerous watercolor studies and contemporary accounts of the
catastrophe.

Standing in front of the painting last month, Solender saw things she
hadn’t seen before, particularly in Turner’s handling of paint. She
noticed, for example, how the thinly painted, blue-gray haze on the
right side of the painting contrasts strikingly with the heavy,
thickly painted yellow-orange flames that erupt in the center of the
image.

“It’s about nuance and layering and all these different surfaces,”
Solender said. “The thing that’s so powerful is how he puts together
the physicality of the fire with all these things that explore the
meaning of it.”

While Turner’s ostensible subject is an urban disaster, the painting
also comments on the futility of resisting the immense power of
nature. Turner conveyed that immensity with brushstrokes that evoke
how the fireball erupting from Parliament turns into huge, smoky
clouds that nearly blot out the moon.

“The variety of applications of paint on one picture is so amazing,”
Solender said. “How could you reproduce something that complex?”

The Cleveland Museum of Art is at 11150 East Blvd. in University
Circle. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; until 9 p.m.
Wednesday and Friday. Admission is free. Call 216-421-7340 or go to

PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER

‘The Wedding Dance’

If there’s a Renaissance painter who deserves to be called
“Shakespearean,” it’s Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The greatest Flemish
painter of his time, Bruegel is beloved for paintings that are
utterly specific in their documentation of peasant life in
16th-century Holland, but universal in their appeal. The greatest
concentrations of Bruegel’s work lie in European museums. But there
are two great Bruegel paintings in the United States. “The
Harvesters,” painted in 1565, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York City. And “The Wedding Dance,” painted a year later, is at
the Detroit Institute of Arts, where it will go back on display about
July 1 after a gallery reinstallation. For an art lover, that’s
reason enough for a road trip to Motown. The foreground of “The
Wedding Dance” is dominated by well-fed men and women who reel and
strut like birds in a mating dance.

“The men with their codpieces, and the women with their flowing
skirts – it’s all about animal energy,” said George Keyes, chief
curator of the Detroit museum.

But if the dancers catch the eye at first, prolonged looking reveals
interactions between the smaller figures who loiter in the
background. Keyes imagines they’re striking deals, gossiping,
complaining about the weather.

Bruegel used color and shape to keep the eye moving throughout the
composition. Areas of red appear repeatedly, in the form-fitting
leggings of the dancing man in the lower left foreground, in the
skirt of the broad-hipped woman in the center foreground and in the
outfits of many peasants in the background.

Bruegel’s use of red directs the eye deep into the painting, where
the artist has artfully arranged a crowd of partygoers like a
Hollywood director with a huge cast of extras.

“This was a man who was an extraordinary observer of the world around
him,” Keyes said. “He never lets up in terms of characterization.”

The Detroit Institute of Arts is at 5200 Woodward Ave. Hours are 10
a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and 10
a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Suggested admission is $4, $1 per
child. Call 313-833-7900 or go to

WINSLOW HOMER

‘Snap the Whip’

Winslow Homer intended his 1873 painting “Snap the Whip,” an image of
boys at play in a field, to be reproduced as a black-and-white wood
engraving.

It was part of an extensive and highly popular series of paintings
that he had copied as illustrations for weekly magazines in the 1860s
and ’70s.

But even though the painting has been reproduced many times since
then, in both color and black and white, the original, owned by the
Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, maintains its
authority.

“The texture of the paint is reproducible, but it’s both stronger and
more gutsy in the original and therefore has a more visceral effect
on the viewer,” said John Wilmerding of Princeton University, a
renowned historian of American art.

The painting depicts a game in which nine boys hold hands and run
across a field outside a oneroom rural schoolhouse. Two bigger boys
at the back of the line stop suddenly, creating a whip action that
throws the youngest boys at the other end of the line to the ground.

Wilmdering said the painting has been interpreted as an image of
children establishing a playground pecking order. He also sees it as
“a celebration of youth after the slaughter of fathers and brothers
in the Civil War.”

When asked in a phone conversation what he sees when he looks deeply
at the surface of Homer’s painting, Wilmerding had no trouble
describing it from memory. He said he notices how Homer used his
brush to differentiate between the boys’ coarse clothing, the softer
textures of trees and sky in the background and the flat geometry of
the schoolhouse.

Perhaps most of all, Wilmerding said he thinks about how Homer
suggested the rough texture of the field through which the boys are
running in bare feet. In front of the original, it’s easy to see how
the foreground is filled with both flowers and stones, details that
don’t come across well in reproduction.

“It gives the painting a seriousness and almost pain,” Wilmerding
said. “It’s a game, but it’s a lesson about life.”

The Butler is at 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown. Hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday; and
noon-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Call 330-743-1711 or go to

ARSHILE GORKY

‘The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb’

Many great artists endure hardships before realizing their ambitions,
but Arshile Gorky suffered more than most.

Born in the early 1900s in Armenia as Vosdanig Adoian, he had an
idyllic childhood that ended violently in 1915, when the Turkish army
invaded his homeland and began a campaign of genocide that left 1.5
million Armenians dead.

Gorky’s mother, whom he loved dearly, died of starvation in 1919.
Other family members, including the future artist, reunited in the
United States.

Adoian, who renamed himself for the Russian author Maxim Gorky, began
teaching and studying art first in Boston, then in New York.

After immersing himself in the styles of Paul Cezanne and Pablo
Picasso, Gorky came into his own in the 1940s. The 1944 painting “The
Liver Is the Cock’s Comb,” owned by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in
Buffalo, N.Y., is perhaps his greatest masterpiece.

Eight feet wide and more than 6 feet high, the work is an abstract
landscape filled with watery plumes of semi-transparent color that
coalesce around spiky, thornlike shapes, painted in thin, sharp black
lines, as if to suggest beaks and claws.

“To get the full impact of the colors and the gestures in the
painting, you really have to be in front of it,” said Kenneth Wayne,
a curator at the Albright- Knox. “It’s just full of energy and life.
It’s not somber and morose. It’s very active and dynamic.”

As an expression of Gorky’s work at its peak, the Albright-Knox
painting represents a moment that was tragically brief. After a
studio fire, a bout with cancer, a disabling car accident and a
failed marriage, Gorky committed suicide in 1948 by hanging himself.

“The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb” shrieks with life. But to experience
it fully, you have to stand in front of the painting. Looking at a
reproduction just won’t do.

That’s what makes it worthy of an artistic pilgrimage.

The Albright-Knox is at 1285 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, N.Y. Hours are 11
a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; until 9 p.m. Friday; and noon-5
p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8; $6 for students and seniors; free for
children 13 and under. Call 716-882-8700 or go to

GIOVANNI BELLINI

‘Feast of the Gods’

If ever there were a painting in a U.S. museum worth traveling
hundreds of miles to see, it’s “Feast of the Gods” by Giovanni
Bellini at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The artist, a Renaissance master of color-drenched Venetian painting,
signed and dated the work in 1514, two years before he died. The
painting, in oil on canvas, depicts a randy episode from the poetry
of Ovid. During an orgy of the gods, Priapus, whose gown has a
telltale bulge below his waist, tries to violate a nymph named Lotis.
But an ass brays, the gods awaken from a drunken stupor, and Priapus
is foiled.

For David Brown, the National Gallery’s curator of Italian paintings,
reproductions fail to convey the painting’s scale, color and
brushwork. At 6 by 6 feet, it’s big enough to command attention amid
other Renaissance masterpieces. It also glows with a rich luminosity
characteristic of Venetian painters and unmatched by artists from
other Italian cities.

“Viewing it up close, you can see his [Bellini’s] wonderful skill of
hand, the manipulation of paint, the choice of colors, the attention
to detail,” Brown said. “The other thing is that the sheer beauty of
color and brushwork mask the actual subject of the picture, which is
an attempted rape.”

Seeing the painting in person also makes it possible to compare
Bellini’s brushwork with that of Titian, a younger and even more
famous Venetian master. After Bellini’s death, Duke Alfonso d’Este of
Ferrara asked Titian to repaint the landscape in the upper left
quadrant of the painting so it would look at home with a roomful of
other mythological paintings the duke had asked Titian to paint.

Titian’s brushwork in the landscape, in which a castle rises from the
top of a mountain, is bolder than Bellini’s treatment of the gods in
the foreground, which is more refined and delicate. But the two
styles merge perfectly to create a languorous, summery,
alcohol-saturated mood.

“It’s just how you’d feel after drinking a lot of wine at a picnic in
the country,” Brown said.

The National Gallery is at Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues,
N.W., in Washington, D.C. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through
Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Call 202-737-4215
or go to

Team Petrosian gets a draw in round four

Chessbase News, Germany
June 14 2004

13.06.2004 In the first three rounds the Armenians were overmatched
by the World all-stars. Today was like two separate tournaments with
the heavyweights on each team battling it out in a Linares-caliber
line-up. The decisive games came from below, however, as van Wely and
Lputian crashed to their third losses. The World kept its four-point
lead.

A full point for Armenia

Round 4 (June 13, 2004)

Petrosian Team 3 – 3 World Team
Kasparov ½ – ½ Adams
Leko ½ – ½ Svidler
Gelfand ½ – ½ Anand
Akopian 1 – 0 van Wely
Vaganian ½ – ½ Vallejo
Lputian 0 – 1 Bacrot

Overall score: World Team: 14 – 10 Petrosian Team

Vladimir Akopian finally put the Armenians on the board by beating
Loek van Wely in today’s fourth of six rounds. That was van Wely’s
third loss, but he was kept out of the cellar, or at least joined
there, by his opposing board six Smbat Lputian, who lost to Etienne
Bacrot.

Both games continued the black plague theme of the tournament. So far
there have been ten decisive games and six were wins for the second
player, including the last five in a row. Akopian painted a
positional masterpiece today to bounce back from two consecutive
losses. If you go through the moves quickly it looks like van Wely’s
pieces aren’t moving while Akopian’s take over the board.

Lputian couldn’t quite dig himself out of a positional hole against
Bacrot, although he could have made much more of a fight of things in
the endgame if not for time trouble. Lputian is well known for taking
on strategically dubious positions and making them work tactically.
He is the veteran of hundreds of winner-take-all open tournaments and
this style has served him well over the years. It just isn’t very
effective against the world’s best players, who take what you give
them but don’t overpress. We won’t even get into his black repertoire
of 1..e6 2…d5 against just about everything.

Meanwhile, van Wely is the veteran of dozens of supertournaments
thanks to being born in the Netherlands instead of Armenia. He is a
permanent invitee to the spectacular Corus Wijk aan Zee events and he
doesn’t even finish in last place anymore! (He made fine scores of +1
and even in the last two events.) After hitting 2700 and coming close
to the top ten three years ago, van Wely almost dropped out of the
top 100 at the end of last year. This year he has been back on track,
at least until this week.

Vaganian just held on to draw another French Defense against Vallejo.
Anand and Gelfand dueled in an interesting Petroff, swapping pieces
creatively until agreeing to the draw with just a pair of rooks on
the board. Leko-Svidler was a short, sharp Sicilian that finished on
move 20 with still a lot of interest in the position. A pity.
Kasparov again pushed long and hard for a win, this time against
Adams, and again had to settle for a half point against dour defense
by the Englishman.

Vallejo – Vaganian after 40…Qd3

Things are looking good for White with his passed h-pawn, especially
now that they have reached the second time control. Black’s only hope
is to swindle a perpetual check draw.

The Spaniard tried to secure his king with 41.Kf2?, but the wily
veteran refuted this and forced the draw with 41…Nd4!, threatening
mate starting with ..Qe2+. White captured the knight and it was all
checks after that until the draw at move 48.

We have the luxury of using Fritzy to see every possible check and
trick, and it looks like 41.Qd2 gave White good winning chances.
41…Qe4 42.Qd6+ and only then Kf2.

van Wely – Akopian after 57.Rb6

Akopian cashed in on his positional domination with 57…f4! The
White minor pieces are dominated and overloaded.

58.Rb7+ Ke8 59.Bc1 Rc2 60.Kf3 Ng5+ 61.Kf2 Nxh3+ and the passed h-pawn
is too much to handle. Van Wely resigned on move 65.

Azerbaijan’s “Black Colonel” Killed

Baku Today
June 14 2004

Fatulla Huseynov, first vice-president of the Azerbaijan Football
Federations Association (AFFA), who also was known by the appellation
“Black Colonel,” was shot to death early Monday.

According to ANS, Huseynov got seven bullets from the Russian-made
Makarov pistol while getting into his car in front of his house at
around 7 a.m. Motives of the killing was not clear yet.

The murdered had been working for law enforcement bodies for long
years. He had gained the appellation “Black Colonel” during the
1991-94 war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
June 14 2004

ARMENIAN DIASPORA CAN NOT DAMAGE US STRATEGIC INTERESTS
[June 14, 2004, 12:54:17]

While the Americans prepare to forthcoming November presidential
elections, ethnic groups existing in the country propagandize their
role, as electorate. And it speaks that in the year of elections,
opportunity of influence of Diasporas grows twice. Ethnic groups
for strengthening the positions take part in pre-election campaign of
candidates financially and morally; try to receive from them guarantees
for the further realization of their interests. What will be the
role of Turkish and Azerbaijan Diaspora in this year elections? The
conversation of correspondent of AzerTAj with the first graduate –
Azerbaijani of the authoritative American Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy Elin Suleymanov is on this topic.

– What you can tell, basing on your experience in the USA, about
influence of ethnic minority on the policy in this country?

– As a whole, the democratic system in America is arranged so,
that in lobbyism not only the ethnic groups, but even the groups
incorporated around of certain interests here can be engaged. For
example, there are separate lobbyists of businessmen, workers of
education, public health services. For us, interesting and in some
cases dangerous is the influence of ethnic groups on foreign policy.
The general influence of ethnic minority on the policy on the USA
is positive. But, unfortunately, the Armenian Diaspora, opposing
Azerbaijan, is one of the most radical groups in America. The Armenian
Diaspora in itself is not monolithic group. Among them there are both
radicals, and conservatives. When the question concerns Azerbaijan and
Turkey, between them there is a common understanding – all of them
act from destructive position. Despite of it, their efforts cannot
render essential influence on strategic policy of the USA. Despite
their attempts, they cannot damage Turkish-American relations, or
the Azerbaijan-America partnership intensively developing in the last
ten years.

And in the year of elections the Diaspora becomes stronger. To take
presidential elections of this year: interrogations testify that both
democrats, and republicans have equal opportunity for victory. It means
that both sides need a lot of voices of voters. Thus, the candidate
of both sides can get under influence of this or that electorate. In
such situation, influence of not only traditional Jewish, Greek,
Ukrainian or Armenian Diaspora grows, the important role can play
also the Turkish and Azerbaijan Diaspora. For this purpose, it is
necessary to mobilize forces inside the Diaspora and effectively to
use available opportunities.

– On what depends the efficiency of Diaspora? From the finance,
number of members or organization?

– All elements listed by you are important. But the most important is
organization. And plus the national spirit prevailing inside. Members
of community should understand, whom they are and be adhered to the
Motherland. The Diaspora comprises people. If people do not wish to
help the native land or will overlook about the national morals, any
finance or organization cannot create effective Diaspora. The Armenian
or Jewish Diaspora is not large in number. Turks and Azerbaijanis
have advantage on them. However, because of lack of organization
and financial sources, their influence is poorly felt. But I should
admit that it is a long process. The strongest Diasporas in the USA
were formed during 2-3 generations. We are beginners on this way.

– You spoke about the national spirit. Whether it is possible to
count satisfactory national spirit among the Turks and Azerbaijanis?

– Turks and Azerbaijanis should work together. All should understand,
that there are not closer people in the world than we are. It is felt
among the Turks and Azerbaijanis living abroad. I hope, that we and
henceforth shall continue our joint business. But sometimes there are
such Turks or Azerbaijanis who, having left the Motherland, lose all
links with it. Others speak supposedly that “I am offended by the
country”. But I cannot understand, how it is possible to turn away
from the Native land? And there are such that at all do not wish to
join Diaspora. As they said, they wish only to receive the American
citizenship. Naturally, each person has personal interests. But I
think, that in a circle of personal interests of our compatriots
living abroad, it should enter and interests of the Motherland. To
achieve it, we should pass still a long way.

-Recently, due to joint efforts of Turkish and Azerbaijan Diasporas,
in the Congress, there happened extremely important event for
Azerbaijan. In the Congress, the working group on work with
Azerbaijanis has been created. What can you say on prospects of
this group?

-The event really represents for Azerbaijan great value. This
fine result is caused by efforts of the Azerbaijan state applied
in last years on mobilization of our compatriots living abroad,
growing cooperation between the Turkish and Azerbaijan Diasporas, and
also activity of our students training here. Creation of group is a
parameter of growing strategic value of our state in Washington. It is
no secret, that creation of special working group on such small state,
as Azerbaijan is rare case for the USA. Co-chairmen of working group –
the representative of Pennsylvania State, congressman Kurt Weldon and
the representative of Texas – Congressman Solomon Ortiz are influential
members of US Congress. Attacks to them recently have increased on the
part of the Armenian community. In Washington, even in constituencies
of the congressmen the forged are distributed on them. It is necessary
for members of the Turkish and Azerbaijan Diasporas to render
congressmen maximal support. Without our support, the working group
does not have future. This group can have great prospects. I assign
on working group large hopes both in strengthening links between the
Congress and Milli Majlis, and in wide representation of interests
of Azerbaijan in Washington. But, as I have already noted, without
support of members of Diaspora, the congressmen can meet difficulties.

– I want to return again to the presidential elections. One of
present candidates – the democrat John Kerry is the representative of
state Massachusetts, where it is a lot of Armenians, in the Senate.
Protection of interests of the Armenian voters, statement in the
Congress from the anti-Azerbaijan position and bills became a component
of activity of the senator Kerry. In what degree can the position of
Azerbaijan suffer, if he will win elections?

– I lived last 2 years in the state of Massachusetts. I would
not estimate John Kerry as the politician with completely the
anti-Azerbaijan position. He is pro-Armenian. But between these
two concepts there is a difference. To tell the truth, John Kerry
supports close relations with the Armenian circles and protects their
interests. It should cause our concern. But it is not necessary to
forget also, that foreign policy of the USA is a stable concept. This
country pursues its strategic interests. Even if the new owner of
the White House will try to introduce in foreign policy the USA new
tendencies, as a whole, the direction of policy remains as usual.

Part of the city of Boston refers to Watertown, almost all inhabitants
here are the Armenians. Having got here, you feel as in Armenia. They
even have named one of streets Artsakh. Local Armenians think as
Armenians, instead of Americans. John Kerry should understand, that
these people would never support national interests of America. They
protect only narrow lobbyist interests. Such policy is unpromising.

-Have you been subject to pressure of the Armenian community during
study in Boston?

-Certainly. At the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts
University, which I have graduated, annually receive education 30
Armenian students. The Armenian Diaspora finances this program.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan also is the
graduate of this school. For 2 years of study there, I became the
witness of good organization of the Armenians. All of them use the same
expressions, act from common position. We tried to popularize here the
position of Azerbaijan. So, the last year the ambassador of Azerbaijan
in Washington Hafiz Pashayev made a speech in School before wide
audience. And this year the deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov visited
the School. Now the administration of School searches for ways of the
organization of the Azerbaijan program. Using financial opportunities
of the State Department, the government of Azerbaijan or the School,
we are going to direct annually here students from Azerbaijan. As a
whole, it would be good, if the Azerbaijan delegations, even one or
two once a year read lectures in the known educational institutions
of America, partook at conferences. Thus, the future politicians of
the USA will study Azerbaijan still in their student years.

Chessbase News, Germany
June 14 2004

Meeting the King’s Indian – with Petrosian

13.06.2004 To commemorate the 75th birthday of the late world
champion Tigran Petrosian our Internet trainer Dennis Monokroussos
will look at his distinctive way of meeting the King’s Indian
Defense. Join him on Monday night, especially if you would like to
add a new anti-King’s Indian weapon to your repertoire. Catch it on
the Playchess server.

Dennis Monokroussos writes: “This Thursday, Tigran Petrosian, the 9th
World Chess Champion, would have been 75. In Armenia, his home
country, a match between those with a connection to Armenia or
Petrosian against a Rest of the World team is taking place to
commemorate the occasion, and we’ll use this week’s show to
commemorate it in our own way. In particular, we’ll look at his
distinctive way of meeting the King’s Indian Defense and some of its
most notable successes over the years (its victims include Fischer
and Kasparov!). So please join us tonight, especially if you would
like to add a new anti-King’s Indian weapon to your repertoire, as
well as to take a look at one of the great geniuses of positional
chess of all time.”

Dennis Monokroussos is 37, lives in South Bend, IN (the site of the
University of Notre Dame), and is writing a Ph.D. dissertation in
philosophy (in the philosophy of mind) while adjuncting at the
University.

He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his
non-philosophy time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time
he was one of the strongest juniors in the U.S., but quit for about
eight years starting in his early 20s. His highest rating was 2434
USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s – “too much blitz,
too little tournament chess”, he says.

Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven years now,
giving lessons to adults and kids both in person and on the internet,
worked for a number of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools
program, where he was one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8
championship team from the Bronx, and was very active in working with
many of CITS’s most talented juniors.

When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main
areas of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key
moments of the middlegame (or endgame, when applicable). With respect
to the latter, he attempts to present some serious analysis culled
from his best sources (both text and database), which he has checked
with his own efforts and then double-checked with his chess software.

Dennis Monokroussos’ Radio ChessBase lectures begin on Mondays at 9
p.m. EDT, which translates to 02:00h GMT, 03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h
Sydney (on Tuesday). Other time zones can be found below. You can use
Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger,
Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download a free trial client.

PRESS RELEASE

June 14, 2004

American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]

Preventing Blindness: A Top Priority at the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute

Preventing blindness in Armenia – this is the bold and ambitious mission of
the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology (GMEIPO).
The institute is located in Yerevan at the AUA Business and Conference
Center, and was established in 1999 within the AUA Center for Health
Services Research and Development of the College of Health Sciences.

“In our experience, screening over 6,000 children in Armenia’s summer camps
and other vulnerable populations in the regions, we have found that a large
majority of eye diseases and problems could be avoided with proper
education, affordable access to regular eye examinations, and treatment,”
said Naira Khachatryan, ophthalmologist, AUA graduate, and GMEIPO Program
Manager, who is also completing her Doctorate in Public Health at the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Preventable blindness is such a
tragedy, and playing a small part in preventing a single case or in
restoring proper vision is immensely gratifying.”

Mr. and Mrs. Garo and Gloria Meghrigian generously contributed $500,000 to
establish the Eye Institute in memory of their daughter, Christine Hripsime
Meghrigian (Dec. 10, 1953-Feb 26, 1991). Mr. Meghrigian was experiencing a
gradual loss of his eyesight, and he felt that adults as well as children
may be facing similar situations in Armenia. It was his vision to help other
Armenians not suffer the same fate by providing ongoing screenings in
Armenia; educating eye care providers and the general public on scientific
advances in detecting, preventing, and treating eye diseases; and more
importantly, translating these advances into nationwide clinical practices.
Mr. Meghrigian has passed away, but his wife Gloria and other family members
have a keen interest in the ongoing work of the Institute to prevent
blindness.

Continuing AUA’s track record of building relationships and partnerships
with international and local agencies, most recently, the GMEIPO in
partnership with Armenia’s Ministry of Health and the Ararat Lions Club, was
awarded the Lions Club International Foundation SightFirst grant to improve
eye care in Gegharkunik Marz. “This collaborative project is comprehensive
and system-oriented. It establishes a regional ophthalmic unit in Sevan to
provide eye care on the district level, strengthening local infrastructure,
and providing services in the Marz currently only available in Yerevan,”
said Michael Thompson, Director of AUA’s Center for Health Services Research
and Development. “GMEIPO’s plan is to develop a mode of organizing,
financing, and delivering regional ophthalmic services for Armenia that
could be replicated as a national model of quality and affordable medical
services. Unlike other humanitarian efforts that simply provide care,
GMEIPO focuses on developing infrastructure, local expertise, and
sustainable systems.”

GMEIPO will be taking the lead to build a regional ophthalmic unit according
to Armenia’s Ministry of Health standards and equipped per the World Health
Organization standard list. Human resources will be developed, and training
will consist of international experiences, local academic training, and
local practical training covering both treatment and management skills.
Together, GMEIPO and the Ministry of Health will establish village
examination centers, and will complete mass screenings of approximately
20,000 people who are over the age of 50 in the Gegharkunik Marz. All
prevalent cases of bilateral blinding cataract, estimated at 1,000-1,500, in
the Marz, will be identified and treated during a one and a half year
period.

“AUA is proud of the Garo Meghrigian Eye Institute and its outstanding
achievements. All of the AUA academic programs operate research and
development centers rooted in their academic fields that strive to impact
the community, to help improve the lives of individuals, and also to serve
as examples and catalysts for systemic change,” said AUA President,
Haroutune Armenian.

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The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit educational
organization in both Armenia and the United States and is affiliated with
the Regents of the University of California. Receiving major support from
the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight
graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit

Pictures: GMEIPO actively participated in the Boarding School Visual
Impairment Project – 2002, supported by UNICEF/Armenia and the Jinishian
Memorial Fund.