Cihan News, Turkey
July 10 2004
European Union Increases Pressure On Armenia To Shut Down Metsamor
Nuclear Power Plant
ISTANBUL (CIHAN) – The European Union has increased its pressure on
Armenia to shut down the Metsamor nuclear power plant. The Armenian
Power Station uses antiquated Soviet technology, is built on a fault
line and is very close to the Turkish border.
European Commissioner Janez Potocnik, who is preparing a report in
the realm of the Project on European Enlargement and New Neighbors
Initiative, paid a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan as part of a
round of visits to Southern Caucasian countries. Potocnik said in
Yerevan on Friday that the Metsamor nuclear power plant should be
shut down and that the European Union was ready to give 100 million
euro in aid to Armenia in order to facilitate the shutting down of
the plant.
The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was shut down in March 1989 by
the Soviet Union because of safety fears following the devastating
earthquake that struck Armenia in December 1988. However, faced with
a deepening energy crisis due to the country’s lack of fossil fuels,
Armenia decided to resume operations at the 440-MW/second unit on
November 5, 1995. The plant, which was built in 1980 with an intended
life of 30 years, now supplies around 30% of Armenia’s electricity.
Since the Metsamor NPP was inactive for six years, Armenian and
Russian nuclear officials believe that the lone reactor functioning
at the plant could operate up to 2016. The European Union, however,
is pressuring Armenia to shut the plant sooner than this, since it
considers Metsamor to be a safety risk due to flaws in the plant’s
Soviet-designed reactors and due to the region’s seismic activity.
The EU has suggested the plant be shut down by 2004, and has pledged
financial support to facilitate its closure. The G-7 countries, the
World Bank, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the
European Union are exerting pressure on Armenia to close the nuclear
power plant. However, the Armenian state is working to extend the
operation of the nuclear power plant until 2016.
According to the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), the power plant is old and is situated on one of the most
active fault lines in the world.
The power plant is about 10 kilometers away from the Turkish border
and is 70 kilometers away from Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, 16
kilometers away from the Turkish city of Igdýr and 60 kilometers away
from the Turkish city of Kars.

GEO.TV
July 10 2004
Terrorism’ has besieged Islamic world, says President Musharraf
BAKU: Terrorism is holding the Muslim world hostage, Pakistan’s
President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday on the eve of his official
visit to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.
But, the West must also change its attitude to the Islamic world —
and in particular persuade Israel to withdraw from Palestinian
territory — if global terrorism is to be crushed, he said.
The Pakistani leader made the remarks in a wide-ranging speech about
the challenges facing the Islamic world during his state visit to
Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim state which has forged close links with
Islamabad.
“Unfortunately the Islamic world is faced with many problems. It is
as if the Islamic world is facing a storm,” the 60-year-old
president, speaking through an interpreter, told a special session of
the Azeri parliament.
“It is also unfortunate that terrorism does harm to Muslim
countries… The tactics they use, terrorism, car bombs, executions
and other dirty methods, damage our great religion. Today they are
holding our societies hostage.”
“They must understand that they cannot solve the problems of the
Islamic world this way…I call on them to return to the true path.”
But he said the West, and particularly the United States, had to
assist the Islamic world in stamping out terrorism.
Western nations could do this by helping Islamic countries develop
their economies. The West should also help resolve a series of
conflicts in which Muslim communities have found their territory
under occuppation, he said.
He listed Pakistan’s dispute with India over Kashmir, Azerbaijan’s
lingering conflict with its neighbour Armenia over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The Palestinian problem must be resolved in a just way,” the
Pakistani leader said. “Israel must accept reality and return to the
framework of its 1967 borders.”
“If we are able to put this into practise, then the world will be
able to root out extremism, militarism and terrorism,” Musharraf
added. “If the status quo remains, then that will not lead to the
resolution of these problems.”
Musharraf, an army chief who came to power in a bloodless coup five
years ago, is himself walking a delicate tightrope on Islamic issues.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States,
he supported the US-led operation to overthrow the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, and root out terrorist groups.
But that support for Washington has made him a villain in the eyes of
many Muslim radicals. He has since been the target of several
near-miss assassination attempts.
Musharraf was speaking on the second day of his visit to Azerbaijan,
a country of eight million mostly Shia Muslims bordering Russia and
Iran.
On Thursday, Musharraf signed a package of documents on trade and
security cooperation between the two countries. He said that in
Azerbaijan, Islamabad
had found a steadfast international ally.
Later Friday, Musharraf is due to go on a walkabout in the Azeri
capital, Baku, and attend a concert in his honour at the State
Philharmonic Hall.
Musharraf and his entourage are scheduled to leave Azerbaijan on
Saturday morning.

Beliefnet.com, NY
July 10 2004
Reopening the Gates in Turkey?

By Terry Mattingly
Scripps Howard News Service

There are two front gates into the walled compound that protects the
home of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the
world’s 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.Visitors enter
through a door secured by a guardhouse, locks and a metal-screening
device. They cannot enter the Phanar’s main gate because it was
welded shut in 1821 after the Ottoman Turks hanged Patriarch Gregory
V from its lintel. The black doors have remained sealed ever since.
A decade ago, bombers who tried to open this gate left a note: “We
will fight until the Chief Devil and all the occupiers are chased
off; until this place, which for years has contrived Byzantine
intrigues against the Muslim people of the East is exterminated. …
Patriarch you will perish!”
The capital of Byzantium fell to the Turks in 1453. Yet 400,000
Orthodox Christians remained in greater Istanbul early in the 20th
century. That number fell to 150,000 in 1960. Today fewer than 2,000
remain, the most symbolic minority in a land that is 99 percent
Turkish. They worship in 86 churches served by 32 priests and
deacons, most 60 or older.
What the Orthodox urgently need is an active seminary and
patriarchate officials are convinced the European Union will help
them get one, as Turkey races to begin the formal application
process. At the top of the list of reforms sought by the EU are
improved rights for non-Muslims.
Thus, during the recent NATO Summit, President Bush held a strategic
meeting with Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, Armenian Patriarch
Meshrob Mutafyan, Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva, Syriac Orthodox
Archbishop Yusuf Cetin and Patriarch Bartholomew. “The European Union
here is not focused so much on religion as it is on basic human
rights,” said Phanar spokesman Father Dositheos, through an
interpreter. “For us this means hope. Any attention to the rights of
minorities has to be good for us in the long run. Here, a little bit
of religious freedom would go a long way.”
But hard questions remain, as terrorists compete with Turkish
reformers for headlines. Western politicos are anxious for Turkey to
serve as a bridge between East and West, between secularized Europe
and the Muslim world. But others worry that decades of work by Turkey
to mandate secularism on its people will have the opposite effect _
creating fertile soil for the growth of radical forms of Islam.
The Greek government now backs the entry of its once-bitter rival
into the European Union. But one of the most outspoken critics of
this move is the Orthodox archbishop of Greece. “Turkey is not a
European country and, while its culture is worthy of our respect, it
is not compatible with our European culture,” said Archbishop
Christodoulos, during an interview in Athens. “This is not a matter
of prejudice. … Our European culture has a sense of unity that
comes from the spiritual traditions and the common spiritual roots of
these countries.”
But officials at the Phanar disagree and hope to verify reports that
Turkey will take concrete steps to demonstrate its acceptance of some
Western values _ such as religious liberty. The Orthodox and other
religious minorities are anxious to have more control over their
finances, to be able to grant work permits to foreign clergy, to
freely elect their own leaders and to build and rebuild sanctuaries.
During his visit, Bush said he was satisfied that Turkey will soon
let the Orthodox reopen the Halki seminary on Heybeliada Island,
which was closed in 1971 under laws strictly controlling all
religious education. In addition to training new clergy, this might
strengthen two surviving monasteries. This is crucial since, under
Turkish law, any monk who is elected Orthodox patriarch must be a
Turkish citizen.
But change is slow and uncertain in this ancient city. The gate to
the Phanar was been sealed for many generations. “We hear rumors. The
government officials say Turkey will allow us to reopen the seminary
if the church will reopen the gate,” said a church official who asked
not to named. “The church says it may reopen the gate if the Turks
allow the seminary to be opened. The government says it will allow us
to reopen the seminary if we open the gate. We are used to this.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Guardian, UK
July 10 2004
Hacked flesh and great ideas
James Buchan assesses an epic engagement with the aftermath of the
Ottoman empire in Louis de Bernières’s Birds Without Wings
Read an interview with Louis de Bernières

Buy Birds Without Wings at Amazon.co.uk

Birds Without Wings Louis de Bernières
625pp, Secker & Warburg,
£17.99
The destruction of the Ottoman empire in the first world war and its
aftermath put an end to a tradition of religious and ethnic tolerance
in Asia Minor, the Balkans and the Arab lands. In place of the
corrupt but uninquisitive old order, a half-domesticated nationalism
ruined the old cosmopolitan cities of the eastern Mediterranean –
Istanbul, Salonika, Smyrna, Beirut, Alexandria – broke up any
affinities between Muslims, Christians and Jews, and undermined every
effort to establish liberal and prosperous states. There has been a
century of war.
Romantic nostalgia for a lost world of pashas and cohabitation
prompted Lawrence Durrell to write The Alexandria Quartet of 1957-60.
A brilliant and overdue Levantine society worked out its destiny in
prose as honeyed and indigestible as Oriental confectionery. The
swansong of exotic English literary modernism, The Alexandria Quartet
is now the deadest of dead dogs.
Louis de Bernières has chosen in place of a sophisticated commercial
city of the 1930s a picturesque village on the Lycian coast in about
1900. This is Eskibahce, now just another ghost town on Turkey’s
southern shore but once a place where Christians and Muslims lived in
friendly intimacy, illiterate in both Greek and Turkish, and more
alike than they knew. A beautiful Christian girl makes veiling all
the rage, while the village molla halts the stoning of an adulteress
by appealing not merely to the sharia but to the doctrines of Jesus,
son of Mary. It is a place, as one might expect from De Bernières,
that is folksy, capricious, sentimental, superstitious, good-hearted
and brutal in the extreme.
In place of a single complex life story or family narrative, De
Bernières introduces and sets in motion a mob of characters
restricted, necessarily as in Dickens, to a single salient
characteristic. There is the beautiful Philothei, a Christian girl
betrothed since infancy to Ibrahim the Goatherd; two boys who play at
birds nicknamed Karatavuk (Blackbird) and Mehmetçik (Robin, or so
we’re told); Father Kristoforos with his religious doubts and
Abdulhamid Hodja with his beloved mare; the Greek schoolteacher who
stays up all night corresponding with irredentist secret societies;
the landlord Rustem Aga, his unfaithful wife and Circassian mistress
who is not who she seems; and Ibrahim the Potter, who has a talent
for such leaden aphorisms as “If the cat’s in a hurry, she has
peculiar kittens.”
As he tells their stories, De Bernières interleaves a biography of
Mustafa Kemal, founder of modern secular Turkey and known as Atatürk
or Father of the Turks. This old-fashioned piece of hero-worship
introduces a 19th-century solemnity which jars with the genre scenes
in Eskibahce, but does no real harm. Indeed, for those who don’t know
the modern history of the Middle East, the 22 biographical chapters
may be of some use.
As the old order begins to disintegrate, the Muslim boys of the town
are called up to do their religious duty and fight for the Sultan.
They are surprised to find they are fighting one set of infidels
(Australian Franks, British Franks, even French Franks) while allied
with another set of infidels (German Franks). Mehmetçik, who despite
his name is a Christian, is shipped off to a labour battalion. The
Armenians are told to collect their belongings and, in a scene kept
scrupulously free of hindsight, marched out of the town.
Karatavuk finds himself on the Gallipoli peninsula. In a terrific
literary set-piece, far beyond anything De Bernières has attempted or
achieved up to now, the boy fights his way through the Allied
invasion and defeat. The story winds its way through the
opportunistic Greek invasion of the Aegean coast, the Turkish defence
under Mustafa Kemal, the mass departure behind their icons of the
Christians from Eskibahce to mainland Greece, and the burning of the
Christian quarters of Smyrna.
For De Bernières, who sometimes cannot resist the 19th-century
manner, “history is nothing but a sorry edifice constructed from
hacked flesh in the name of great ideas”. His historical bugbears are
religious absolutism and “the devilish false idols of nationalism”.
Yet in the saintly village molla Abdulhamid Hodja or Karatavuk and
his comrades at Gallipoli, De Bernières the novelist shows that
religion and patriotism can also produce acts of heroism and
generosity. Those sections are a reminder that a book doesn’t have to
have complex characterisation to convey the less obvious truths of
life.
In his early novels, set in Latin America, De Bernières appeared to
be working off some debts to the magical-drippy school of Gabriel
García Márquez. There is an unfortunate scene here in which the
foul-mouthed corpse of a Greek merchant denounces the Greek and
Allied leaders as he sinks to the floor of Smyrna harbour. There is
also a Latin American copiousness that becomes more evident after
Karatavuk’s ordeal at Gallipoli. In the last third of the book, the
story loops away in distant meanders, like a river approaching the
sea. In those chapters, I learned some words of Turkish but many more
of English, such as immanitous, mommixity and phatic.
For those readers who liked the Italian officer in Captain Corelli’s
Mandolin, there’s an Italian officer here too. His name is Granitola.
He is part of the Italian army of occupation in southern Anatolia and
makes friends with Rustem Bey; he passes a few pages pleasantly
enough. A new character is introduced on page 607. If historical
novelists since Walter Scott have had difficulty starting – why begin
then? Why not a bit before? – De Bernières finds it agony to stop.
The reader closes the book with a satisfied thud only to hear the
yelping of two trapped epilogues and a crushed postscript.
But then, all critics say books are too long and all authors say they
are precisely the right length.
· James Buchan’s novels include Heart’s Journey in Winter. To order
Birds Without Wings for £15.99 plus p&p call Guardian book service on
0870 836 0875.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

New Straits Times, Malaysia
July 10 2004
ENTERTAINMENT: Ballard revisits `Titanic’ wreck
Faridul Anwar Farinordin

IN the 1997 Academy Award-winning movie Titanic, directed by James
Cameron, a fictional underwater expedition led by Brock Lovett
(played by Bill Paxton) probed the wreck to look for a precious
pendant called the Heart of the Ocean.
Believe it or not, this actually reflects the situation today. Since
the wreck of the Titanic was first discovered by Dr Robert Ballard in
1985 after sinking 3,600 metres into the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, its
watery grave has been visited by people with questionable intentions.
“People have gone down and got married there. Treasure hunters have
been going there and tearing it apart with their equipment. They use
submersibles, land on the the wreck’s deck and bump things down. It’s
like a circus unfolding when it should be a memorial,” said Ballard
in a recent phone interview.
It has been estimated that as many as 8,000 artifacts may have been
ransacked from the liner – everything from porcelain and plates to a
part of its hull.
His increasing concern over the future of the wreck prompted Ballard
to make a bittersweet return to the Titanic – this time, to determine
the factors hastening the deterioration of the wreck and lobby for
international co-operation towards protecting the site from further
desecration.
A documentary of this 32-member expedition called Return To Titanic
will be aired on the National Geographic Channel (Astro Channel 52)
at 9pm tomorrow. There will be never-seen-before footage of the wreck
– inside the passenger cabins, suites and dining room.
“This time, we focus on the human aspect of the tragedy. We hope to
touch people’s hearts and raise awareness that this is a special ship
and deserves more respect. The footages are very moving – we show
where the bodies landed… but we didn’t touch anything,” he said.
The images, said Ballard, a professor of oceanography at the
University of Rhode Island in the United States and director of its
Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, tell many heart-wrenching
stories.
“We saw shoes which could have belonged to a mother and her daughter.
Next to them was a mirror and a comb. Immediately you can imagine
that the mother was probably combing her daughter’s hair when the
tragedy struck. The images are so powerful, as if the ship is
speaking to us.”
The expedition arrived at the site in June on board the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research ship Ronald H.
Brown. It was funded by the National Geographic Society, Mystic
Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (MA/IFE), NOAA, Partisan
Pictures, the JASON Foundation for Education and the University of
Rhode Island.
As the person who discovered the wreck, Ballard feels a strong sense
of responsibility towards its preservation. “Before 1985, I had no
attachment to the ship. I was an engineer and a scientist. Even when
I discovered the wreck, I saw it as a quest, a feat just like
reaching the peak of Mount Everest.
“It was only later that I became more attached to her (Titanic) and
feel that she is special in so many ways. She is to me what Everest
is to Edmund Hillary (the first man to conquer Mount Everest), who
urged people not to turn it into a junkyard,” he said.
An international treaty was recently signed by the US and Britain to
protect the site from further damage. “Hopefully France and Russia
will join in the future,” he said, adding “at the same time, we plan
to carry out preservation work on the ship using modern technology
such as underwater robots which can be employed to clean and repaint
the ship.” Born on June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas, Ballard said he
grew up wanting to be Captain Nemo from the Jules Verne classic
fiction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Naturally, this adventurer has been nicknamed anything from Nemo and
“oceanography’s answer to Indiana Jones” to “underwater cowboy” (“I
actually view the ocean as a Wide West!” he said with a laugh).
Ballard’s other discoveries include the underwater hydrothermal vents
which shed new light on the origins of life (1977), two ancient
Phoenician ships – the oldest ship wrecks ever found in deep water
(1999) – and four 1,500-year-old wooden ships in the Black Sea
(2000), which suggested evidence of a great flood and ultimately
supported the biblical story of Noah’s Ark. An Armenian newspaper
reported that Ballard is interested in locating Noah’s Ark on top of
Mount Ararat in Turkey, but he claimed it was just a rumour.
“I am more interested in finding evidence of civilisation before the
great flood.” Also an author of 18 best-selling books including The
Lost Ships of Guadalcanal, The Eternal Darkness, Graveyards of the
Pacific and an autobiography Explorations, he received the National
Geography Society’s prestigious Hubbard medal in 1996 for his
accomplishments in the world of underwater explorations.
With the Titanic, he said “she continues to fascinate me because she
is still there. She landed on the seabed in such a way that the mud
was pushed in front of her as if she’s still going to New York City.
“She is an amazingly frozen piece of history, like the pyramids of
the deep. Of course there are the mysteries, the grandeur of the
`unsinkable’ liner, the horror of the disaster and the human stories
of the passengers – the band members who kept playing as she was
sinking, the captain who chose to go down with her and a boy who
turned 17 and refused to board the life boat because he just turned
into a man.”
Will he visit the Titanic again soon? “Perhaps in another 20 years,”
he said.

Glendale News Press
LATImes.com
July 10 2004
FROM THE MARGINS
Rebel, not without a cause

PATRICK AZADIAN
This is the first of two parts.
In April, I finally saw “On the Waterfront,” featuring Marlon Brando,
on the silver screen. I was thankful to the Alex Film Society for
this unique opportunity. In my excitement, I joined the society, and
as if “On the Waterfront” was not enough of a reward, I was gifted a
DVD of another Brando movie, “Sayonara,” for becoming a member.
In “Sayonara,” Brando stars as Maj. Lloyd Gruver; it is a tale of an
American stationed in Kobe, Japan, during the Korean War. At the
time, the military regulations forbade marriages between American
troops and Japanese women. Gruver initially supported the military’s
regulations but eventually falls in love with a local showgirl, named
Hana-ogi. By the end of the movie, Gruver is in direct conflict with
the military’s regulations as he proposes to his Japanese darling.
–
August of 1953 was a particularly warm summer month in Glendale. The
U.S., North Korea and China had just agreed to end the Korean War.
The American troops were gradually making their way home to scenes
far less jubilant than the ones their compatriots encountered after
World War II.
Maj. Lloyd Gruver and his bride, Hana-ogi, arrived at the Glendale
Greyhound station at 400 Cerritos Ave. Gruver’s buddy, George, was
awaiting them at curbside. George had a healthy dose of envy for
Gruver’s ability to serve his country. George had flat feet; the
military examiners had rejected him. But he was determined to pay his
dues by helping the Gruvers settle into their new home in Glendale.
George spotted Gruver carrying two pieces of large luggage. He darted
away from his 1952 white Oldsmobile Super 88 and greeted Gruver in a
manner reserved for Russian party officials from the Caucasus. The
two men embraced for a few seconds before George smacked Gruver’s
cheeks with his trademark kisses. Years of service overseas, and
Gruver still had not gotten used to the idea of being kissed by a
male friend.
“Welcome home, Gruvers.”
“Thank you for picking us up, George.”
“My pleasure; that’s the least I could do. Sorry about the weather;
it is unusually hot.”
“Not too bad. Oh, George, this is my wife, Hana-ogi.”
“Nice to meet you. You are even more beautiful than Gruver had
described.”
“Thank you, you are kind.”
“Let me take those,” George pleads as he bends forward and extends
his arms to take charge of the luggage.
“That’s OK, George. I got it.”
“Let me have them, if you don’t want me to knock you around, right
here in front of your wife!”
“OK, big guy. Take ’em away.”
George lifts the luggage as if they were filled with feathers, and
swiftly places them in the trunk of his Olds coupe. He runs over to
the passenger side and opens the door. He pushes the seat backing
forward to make way for Gruver to sit in the back.
“No, no, I sit in back. Gruver sit in front,” Hana-ogi exclaims.
“What! That big lug in the front? Impossible!”
“George, the chances of Hana accepting to sit in the front are as
good as North Koreans surrendering to the South, sporting a smile.”
“OK, Hana-ogi. Go ahead.”
–
George shifts his Olds into drive and proceeds to make a U-turn
heading north to Kenwood Drive.
“Nice wheels, George.”
“Thanks, finally I got something to show for after working at
Eagleson’s for so long.”
“You still work there? Do the guys still give you a hard time for
your last name?”
“Yeah, every once in a while they try to get under my skin. It’s
worse when I make the salesman of the month.”
“Well, next time they call you a ‘starving Armenian’ or a ‘Fresno
Indian,’ let me know. I will need some physical exercise after this
war.”
“Naah, it’s not a big deal.”
“You can always shorten your name. All the actors in Hollywood are
doin’ it. ‘Kalebdjian’ can become ‘Caleb’ with a ‘C.’ ‘George Caleb.’
”
“First of all, if you still haven’t noticed, we are going to live in
Glendale, not Hollywood. Second, I am not so sure how my parents
would feel about that. They didn’t flee persecution to voluntarily
give up their family name.”
“I am just pulling your leg. I am just hoping you can make us some
Turkish coffee once we get home.”
“Turkish?! Haven’t I told you it’s Armenian, and not Turkish?!”
“I know, I know, take it easy. I am just having fun with you.”
“I actually had to special order some just for you from Syracuse, New
York.”
“Can’t wait!”
–
Marlon Brando’s life may best be defined by a line from “The Wild
One,” in which Brando, playing a motorcycle gang leader, is asked
what he’s rebelling against. “Whattaya got?” was his reply.
His most famous act of rebellion was his refusal in 1973 to accept an
Oscar. He sent a woman named Sacheen Littlefeather to read a
statement against Hollywood’s mistreatment of Native Americans. She
was booed.
“I am myself,” he once declared, “and if I have to hit my head
against a brick wall to remain true to myself, I will do it.”
– PATRICK AZADIAN lives and works in Glendale. He is an identity and
branding consultant for the retail industry. Reach him at
[email protected].

uefa.com, Switzerland
July 10 2004
Karamyan twins set for Rapid
Twin brothers Artavazd and Arman Karamyan are to become the first
Armenians to play in the Romanian First Division after signing for
AFC Rapid Bucuresti in a 120,000 move from FC Arsenal Kyiv.
Identical careers
The pair, both Armenian internationals are 24 and have signed
two-and-a-half year contracts. Artavazd, a midfield player and Arman,
a striker, have always been at the same clubs – beginning at FC MIKA,
moving to FC Pyunik then Greek side Panahaiki GC and Ukrainian club
Arsenal. However, they never settled in Kiev and have been playing at
Pyunik in Yerevan since February.
‘Fast and efficient’
They were recommended to Rapid by former Armenia coach Mihai
Stoichita and Rapid technical director Dan Apolzan spotted them in an
international tournament in Cyprus in February. Rapid president Dinu
Gheorghe said: “We hope to have done a very good deal, because both
players are very fast and efficient.” Ironically, both could face
Romania with Armenia in November when the nations meet in FIFA World
Cup qualifying.

New Kerala, India
July 10 2004
Situation in Kashmir similar to Nagorno Karabak:Musharraf
Islamabad |

The situation prevailing in the Kashmir Valley is almost similar to
what is prevailing in the Armenian conclave of Nagorno Karabak,
claimed Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday.
Reports reaching here from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku quoted
Musharraf as saying that Pakistan’s “lingering” dispute with India
over Kashmir was similar to the conflict between the Armenian
Government and its neighbouring enclave of Nagorno Karabakh and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The News further quoted him as saying that all of these issues needed
to be addressed and resolved in just manner, and countries perceived
as aggressors needed to be aware of ground realities.
“If we are able to put this into practice, the world will be able to
root out extremism, militarism and terrorism. If the status quo
remains, that will not lead to the resolution of these problems,”
Musharraf was quoted as saying.
He also claimed that “Islamic terrorism” was holding the Muslim world
hostage, and that the West must also change its attitude to the
Islamic world.
“It is unfortunate that terrorism does harm to Muslim countries…
The tactics they use, terrorism, car bombs, executions and other
dirty methods, damage our great religion. Today they are holding our
societies hostage. They must understand that they cannot solve the
problems of the Islamic world this way…I call on them to return to
the true path,” he said. (ANI)

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
July 10 2004
EU TO PROMOTE SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICT
[July 10, 2004, 11:13:49]
On July 8, special representative of the European Union on Southern
Caucasus Heike Talvitie held a news conference in the embassy of the
French Republic in Baku.
As correspondent of AzerTAj informs the ambassador of France in
Azerbaijan Roland Blatman, in his opening remarks has presented
participants of the special representative of the European Union.
Mr. Heiki Talvitie has told journalists: `My activity as the
representative of the European Union (EU) in Nagorny Karabakh, in
zone of the conflict is the most important question for the parties.
Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are engaged in settlement of the
problem. My task consists in rendering assistance to the parties and
co-chairmen. I shall render the parties of the conflict the feasible
assistance depending on what ways of settlement of the Nagorny
Karabakh problem they prefer. Now, between the parties there are new
moments. Though the last years were ineffectual, nevertheless,
co-chairmen of the Minsk Group have done significant work. I want to
repeat particularly: `All will depend on trust of the sides. For us,
it is very important to create trust between the sides, and the EU is
ready to arrange in this direction. Certainly, if after settlement
certain move will be achieved we can carry out rehabilitation. The EU
will operate more actively. The general idea of my visit consists in
it. I shall go to Nagorny Karabakh not as the tourist, and for
realization of the mission.
Finally, Mr. Heike Talvitie has answered questions of media
representatives.

Armenian “Journey Through Dance” at New York’s Lincoln Center
Date: 7/6/2004
AGBU
Contact: AGBU Press Office
Phone: 212.319.6383
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
New York-Over a thousand people attended AGBU Antranig Dance
Ensemble’s latest dance performance, “Journey Through Dance”, at New
York’s Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Saturday, June 5th, 2004.
The presentation was particularly special for Antranig’s dancers and
staff as it commemorated the troupe’s 35th Anniversary. After many
decades of entertaining, Armenian and non-Armenian Antranig devotees
continue to enjoy the display of colorful folk costumes and
traditional choreography.
The opening number, “Hayastan”, overflowed with bright and flowing
colors, and incorporated a burst of energetic sword dueling among the
male dancers. The variety of dance presented in the program was
especially striking. Ethnographic dances from historic Armenian
regions have always been a staple of the Antranig repertoire, but this
year they included a rare dance from the “Hamshen” area.
Over sixty youth from the Hye Bar Dance Group of the Armenian Church
of the Holy Martyrs, under the direction of Rita Kizakian, and the
Hamazkayin Society of New Jersey also performed two pieces, “Lorgeh”
and “Azgagragan”.
The evening concluded with an enthusiastic finale of “Der
Voghormya/Avarayr” by the Antranig dancers, which brought to life the
meaning of the ancient devotional prayer special to Armenians around
the world.
Although many helped to make “Journey Through Dance” possible, it was
the creativitiy and choreography of Yerevan-native Gagik Karapetian,
and Artistic Director Joyce Tamesian-Shenloogian that were seminal in
realizing the production.
Established in 1970, AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble consists of young
Armenian men and women who are devoted to celebrating dance as part of
the Armenian heritage.
As a result of the overwhelming response from the Lincoln Center
audience, plans are underway for encore presentations of “Journey
Through Dance” in New York as early as Fall 2004 with a possible tour
to other cities. For more information on Antranig, please visit
or call Vicky Sarkisian at 845.658.8712.