Internet crimes in Armenia
By: Ludmila Goroshko
Computer Crime Research Center, Ukraine
June 22 2004
Most of computer crimes in the banking sphere of Armenia are committed
through the Internet, Olga Safaryan, legal expert of “Internews”
told during seminar “Legal Field of Information Technologies and
Their Correspondence to European Standards”.
She said that these crimes are not solved in Armenia, like anywhere
in the world, because banks try to avoid announcing such information;
they fear to incur reputation damage. Olga Safaryan informed that
these crimes haven’t been prosecuted yet hence they have no special
organization to fight computer crimes in Armenia.
“In my report I suggest, on the analogy of other CIS countries,
to create a department to control computer crimes. At the moment,
it is still not clear who will investigate these crimes if they
occur, and therefore there are no statistics,” she said. Besides,
Safaryan noted that August 1, 2003 a new Criminal Code of Republic of
Armenia came into force, where chapter 24 that consists of 7 articles
is fully devoted to computer crimes. The worst crime is the one
committed through negligence, causing of harm to health or other grave
consequences. It is provided for by article 254, part 4, to establish
6 through 12 years jail for illegal access to computer information.
“However, this article does not define grave consequences that may
lead to problems applying it”, she said.

Azeri, Armenian foreign ministers see Prague talks on Karabakh as “positive”
MPA news agency
22 Jun 04
Baku, 22 June: Different aspects of and prospects for resolving
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict have been discussed in Prague by the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.
Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan expressed concern about the
recent cease-fire violations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,
MPA reports. The sides pointed out that the situation was being dealt
with in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.
The ministers said that the meeting was useful and positive. It was
attended also by the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group from the USA,
Russia and France, and the special representative of the OSCE chairman,
Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Armenia, Iran boost energy cooperation
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
21 Jun 04
[Presenter] The Araks river is in the focus of the Armenian-Iran
cooperation. Armenia and Iran agreed to jointly use the river’s hydro
[electrical generating] potential nine years ago. A joint commission
was set up on in 2000 and after three years a scheme to use the river
has been confirmed. The project includes the construction of two
power stations, one on Armenian and one on Iranian territory. The
Armenian Energy Ministry discussed the preparation of the joint
Armenian-Iran programmes and the issues of the construction of the
Megri hydro-electric power station during the meeting held in Syunik
District.
[Correspondent over video of power grids] The preparation works on the
construction power stations on the Araks river are being completed. The
construction site has already been confirmed. The sides will sign an
agreement in two months and the station’s ground stone will be laid in
summer 2005. The power station will be constructed by Iranian financial
means, estimated at about 40m dollars. This amount we [Armenia] shall
return in the form of energy produced in the new power station. This
is the third Armenian-Iran joint project. The first one was the
Armenian-Iran high-voltage power station which was commissioned last
year. The second line’s construction followed the first one which is
under construction and will be completed in the autumn.
There are seven Armenian-Iran joint programmes in the energy
industry. The construction of the Armenian-Iran gas pipeline’ will
also start soon. The agreement has already been signed, the financial
sources are being confirmed and the preparation works are being
completed. The construction of oil processing and chemical plants
are possible plans.
[Armenian Energy Minister, Armen Movsesyan, captioned] These seven
programmes which we have with Iran in the energy industry are quite
large, serious programmes. I think that all these programmes will
be implemented.
[Correspondent] Apart from the security issues in the field of energy,
these programmes will also promote the development of other districts
and the resolution of social problems, in particular, employment
issues.
Tereza Kasyan, “Aylur”.

INCREASING SALARIES AND PENSIONS
Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 18, 2004
throughout the republic. She stressed that the background radiation
around the factory will by all means be checked and the findings of
the survey will be published. 99 FLATS WERE BUILT FOR RESETTLERS IN
2003. In the report of the state department of migration, refugees and
resettlement it is mentioned that in 2003 155 families resettled in
NKR and 99 flats were built for resettlers. The head of the department
Serge Amirkhanian mentioned that it is necessary to increase the
budget subsidies at least by one fourth of the budget confirmed in
2004 because after the adoption of the law “On Refugees” at the end of
the past year the department also has to solve the housing problems
of the refugees. In answer to our question whether the program
of resettlement can include also the dying villages of NKR Serge
Amirkhanian mentioned that there are such villages in the program:
Dahrav, Nakhijevanik, Aranzamin, Sarnaghbyur in Askeran region and
the village Garnakar in Martakert region. “Already three families have
been resettled in Dahrav, although there are about 68 abandoned houses
there,” mentioned S. Amirkhanian. He emphasized that the list of the
resettled villages is regularly reconsidered, therefore if the heads
of the regional administrations have suggestions in this reference
they may present them. THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IS
UNSATISFACTORY. The ministry of education and culture held tests in
the republic schools and the results were published in the newspaper
“Lusarar”. According to this information, the knowledge of the pupils
was graded zero. In this reference minister Armen Sarghissian announced
that the results of the tests will be compared to the results of
the final school examinations. According to the minister, similar
tests allow to reduce the amount of false marks to the minimum. Armen
Sarghissian mentioned the importance of objective grading of knowledge
of pupils because in two years it is planned to pass to the system of
admittance to higher educational institutions without examinations.
According to the minister, 7 directors of schools were dismissed
from their positions and two received warning in written form in the
result of the recent checking. According to the minister, the aim of
the checking is not punishing but rendering methodological help. A.
Sarghissian also emphasized that in the result of discussions during
the visit of the RA minister of education S. Yeritsian to Karabakh
teachers of Karabakh made 365 suggestions referring to the 12-year
secondary education system, of which many were accepted.
NAIRA HAYRUMIAN

NO INDEPENDENT MASS MEDIA
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 21 2004
The training with the topic “Monitoring of the mass media during
elections” organized by the Stepanakert Press Club with the financial
assistance of the international organization “Article 19” ended. The
topic of the third day was the activity of the non-governmental
organizations before elections as well as the cooperation of the mass
media and non-governmental organizations in conducting monitoring.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations took part in
the training on the third day: chairman of the public organization
“Institute of People’s Diplomacy”, coordinator of the international
organization “Caucasian Forum” on Karabakh Irina Grigorian, chairman
of the Association for Protection of Rights of NKR Citizens Georgy
Safarian, chairman of the public organization “Tradition” Valery
Balayan. The conductors of the monitoring asked them to tell about
their experience of election monitoring. According to G. Safarian,
five Karabakh public organizations took part in the monitoring for
transparency of the NKR presidential elections in 2002. There was
only one complaint at the Association for Protection of Rights of the
Karabakh Citizens, from candidate Albert Ghazarian whom the association
assisted to send the claim to the head public prosecutor’s office
(the town public prosecutor did not accept the claim). And on the
election day no violations of the law in effect were observed. Irina
Grigorian confessed that the monitoring started late therefore the
results were not complete. However, the first and small experience
will later become important basis by all means. Mrs. Grigorian also
informed that a club of non-governmental organizations operates
in Stepanakert, which involves about 10 public organizations. The
chairman of the public organization “Tradition” Valery Balayan
mentioned that if the experience of the observer is small, the
experience of the participant in elections is rather big. The first
election to the Supreme Soviet of the newly founded NKR in 1991 was
most fair and transparent. The question of propaganda of legislative
acts in the mass media and by non-governmental organizations was
also discussed. In this connection Alexey Koshel who conducted the
training mentioned that propaganda is a rather difficult problem
which requires long-lasting and determined work. According to him,
in Ukraine the school of political analysis is established which is
called for education of a new generation of analysts. He set forth
for discussion the problems of mutual understanding of journalists
and the mass media implementing monitoring. In this reference the
organization of coalitions (temporary associations of non-governmental
organizations and the mass media), press centers whose work will
become an important source of information for the mass media. The
peculiarities of coverage of the “black PR” during the elections were
also discussed. According to Mr. Koshel, extending truth to the reader
can be the only way to fight this phenomenon rather spread both in
the West and the entire post-soviet territory. Summing up the findings
of the three-day training, Alexey Koshel said, “In fact there are no
independent mass media.” Although he thinks that the tendency of the
mass media to become independent becomes apparent day by day. And in
this process the alternative mass media play a big role. The way-out
is self-organization and financial self-sufficiency by which the mass
media may certainly achieve at least relative independence. 
SUSANNA BALAYAN

PRESS RELEASE
The Adjutant General’s Department
Kansas Army National Guard
Kansas Air National Guard
Division of Emergency Management
CONTACT: Joy D. Moser
Director, Public Affairs Office
Work: (785) 274-1192
Home: (785) 232-4518
FOR RELEASE ON June 17, 2004
No. 04-071
June 18 Ceremony Marks Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day
A ceremony at the State Defense Building, 2800 SW Topeka Blvd., Topeka,
will mark “Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day” on Friday, June 18. The
ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Room 11 and will feature remarks
by Maj. Gen. (KS) Tod Bunting, the adjutant general; Col. Joe Wheeler,
Plans, Operations and Training Officer, Kansas Army National Guard;
and Command Sgt. Maj. Dale Putnam. They will share information about
their recent visit to Armenia, the National Guard State Partnership
Program and plans for an upcoming visit by an Armenian delegation.
Since 2003, Kansas has been partnered with Armenia through the
State Partnership Program. This program pairs developing nations
in Europe, South America and Asia with the National Guard in states
and territories to foster mutual interests and establish long-term
relationships. In April, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a proclamation
declaring June 18, 2004, as “Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day” in Kansas.
“Kansas troops are deployed around the globe helping to protect the
cause of freedom through force of arms and it is through programs like
the State Partnership Program that peace will be strengthened,” said
Bunting. “By modeling military-to-military, military-to-civilian and
civilian-to-civilian relationships, our Citizen-Soldiers are showing
the world how we, as Soldiers and Airmen, are servants of the people
instead of the other way around. Our Constitution starts ‘We, the
People of the United States…” Through this program, it is “We the
People” of Kansas who are reaching out in a spirit of cooperation to
the people of Armenia to show them who we are and how we live and to
learn from them who they are and how they live.”
In addition to Bunting, other dignitaries attending the ceremony
include Alex A. Kotoyantz, a retiree from the Kansas Department
of Transportation in Junction City and an active member of the
Armenian community in Kansas. Kotoyantz was a key advocate for the
“Kansas-Armenia Day” proclamation.
-30-

Selling Armenians on Armenia
Condos lure expatriates back home
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
June 20 2004
GLENDALE — Forget Hawaii, Aspen or the Caribbean. How about buying
a time share in … Armenia?
It may sound like a tough sell — mainstream attractions are few
in this arid, agricultural country of 3 million. But builders of
Western-style town homes just outside the capital Yerevan believe
they have ready buyers among the more than 8 million Armenians living
outside the country.
“Come Home to Armenia” beckons the marketing campaign of East
Coast-based Hovnanian International Inc., which has just begun to
market the time shares in Glendale, home to the largest population
of Armenians outside Armenia.
“To local Armenians, I say, It’s your land, it’s your responsibility,
to go back and see how magnificent it is,” said Hovnanian
representative Hilda Grigorian, who staged the first time share meeting
this month in Glendale, drawing more than 100 prospective buyers.
Armenian-Americans have flocked to visit Armenia since its independence
13 years ago from the former Soviet Union. There they encounter a
land of great natural and historic beauty — and Third World living
conditions.
Running water in the capital city is sometimes limited to a few hours
in the morning and evening, phone service and electricity are erratic
— elevators break down in high-rise buildings. No building codes or
inspections exist despite the pattern of earthquakes — a reality in
a place where the average monthly income is about $24.
But for those willing to plunk down $4,500 to $6,000 for a 20-year
lease on one of Hovnanian’s fully furnished 1,500- to 1,800-square-foot
town homes, the one-week-a-year time shares provide an old-world
setting without its nitty-gritty inconvenience.
In fact, Hovnanian’s enclave, which at build-out will have 500
single-family homes, looks much like homes in planned communities in
Irvine or Santa Clarita — only with Mount Ararat as a backdrop.
“Our goal is to get the Armenian diaspora to return and to return
frequently — if not every year, but every other year,” said Arthur
Havighorst, vice president for Vahakni (Hovnanian) Homes and Timeshare
Resort.
The pull of family and culture is similar to the concept behind time
shares in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the United Arab Emirates
— not necessarily considered the top vacation destinations for the
average traveler.
La Crescenta resident Leonig Shekherdimian already visits Armenia
once a year to see family and take in scenes from her homeland. She
typically rents a Yerevan apartment, with its trials of broken plumbing
and sweltering accommodations with no air-conditioning.
A time share would mean that “I don’t have to worry about no water
or no heating or no air conditioning.”
La Crescenta resident Gagik Alagozian visited Armenia for the first
time two years ago, and that was enough for him to decide to invest
in the country.
“I opened up a small business there — I have cattle — and I want
to expand,” said the aerospace engineer who moved to America from
Iran 27 years ago.
He also plans to invest in a home.
“We go to Big Bear to see nature, but in Armenia, there are places
absolutely untouched that you can explore.”
There is also an effort to market the time shares to retirees and
tourists.
More than 41,000 visitors come to the country each year, and tourism
is now the second largest part of the country’s GDP.
“Armenia is a beautiful country. It has a strong, ancient history,
and it was the first Christian nation,” Shekherdimian said. “Just to
visit the churches there says a lot about our country and culture.”

Sudan’s Final Solution
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: June 19, 2004
The New York Times
LONG THE SUDAN-CHAD BORDER — In my last column, I wrote about
Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old woman whose world began to
collapse in March, when the Janjaweed Arab militia burned her village
and slaughtered her parents.
Similar atrocities were happening all over Darfur, in western Sudan,
leaving 1.2 million people homeless. Refugees tell consistent tales of
murder, pillage and rape against the Zaghawa, Fur and Masalit tribes
by the Arabs driving them away.
As this genocide unfolded, the West largely ignored it. That was not
an option for Ms. Khattar and her husband, Ali Daoud.
The night after the village massacre, survivors slipped out of the
forest to salvage any belongings and bury their dead. They found the
bodies of Ms. Khattar’s mother and father; her father’s corpse had
been thrown in a well to poison the water supply. Ms. Khattar was now
responsible for her 3-year-old sister as well as her own two children.
Then, as they prepared the bodies, one moved. Hussein Bashir Abakr, 19,
had been shot in the neck and mouth and left for dead, but he was still
alive. His parents had both been killed, along with all his siblings
except for one brother, who had been shot in the foot but escaped.
That brother, Nuradin, gave up his duty to bury their parents,
choosing instead to carry Hussein into the forest and to try to
nurse him with traditional medicines. Nuradin’s bullet wound made
every step agonizing, but he was determined to save the only member
of his family left. Over the next 46 nights, Nuradin dragged himself
and his brother toward Chad.
Finally, they staggered over the dry riverbed marking the border,
where I found them. Hussein has lost part of his tongue and many of
his teeth and cannot eat solid food. He is sick and inconsolable;
his wife and baby were carried off by the Janjaweed and haven’t been
seen since. As I interviewed him, he bent over to retch every couple
of minutes, Nuradin still cradling him tenderly.
Ms. Khattar and most of the other villagers decided they could not
make the long trek to Chad. So they inched forward at night to find
refuge on a nearby mountain.
Every other night, she crept down the mountain to fetch water, risking
kidnapping by the Janjaweed. “It was so hard in the mountains,”
Ms. Khattar recalled. “There were snakes and scorpions, and a
constant fear of the Janjaweed.” Six-foot cobras have killed some
of the refugees. To feed her children, Ms. Khattar boiled leaves and
plants normally eaten only by camels. Even so, her mother-in-law died.
Officially, Sudan had agreed to a cease-fire in Darfur. But at the
end of May, a Sudanese military plane spotted the villagers’ hideout,
and soon after, the Janjaweed attacked.
“Ali had told me: `If the Janjaweed attack, don’t try to save me. You
can’t help. Don’t get angry. Just keep the children and run away to
Bahai [in Chad]. Don’t shout or say anything,’ ” Ms. Khattar said. So
she hid in a hollow with the children, peeking out occasionally. She
saw the Janjaweed round up all the villagers, including her husband
and his three young brothers: Moussa, 8, Mochtar, 6, and Muhammad,
4. “Even the boys,” she remembers. “They tied their hands like this”
— she motioned with her arms in front of her — “and then forced
them to lie on the ground.” Then, she says, the males were all shot
to death, while women were taken away to be raped.
There were 45 corpses, all killed because of the color of their skin,
part of an officially sanctioned drive by Sudan’s Arab government to
purge the western Sudanese countryside of black-skinned non-Arabs.
The Sudanese authorities, much like the Turks in 1915 and the Nazis in
the 1930’s, apparently calculated that genocide offered considerable
domestic benefits — like the long-term stability to be achieved by
a “final solution” of conflicts between Arabs and non-Arabs — and
that the world would not really care very much. It looks as if the
Sudanese bet correctly.
Perhaps Americans truly don’t care about the hundreds of thousands of
lives at stake — we have other problems, and Darfur is far away. But
my hunch is that if we could just meet the victims, we would not be
willing to acquiesce in genocide.
After two Janjaweed attacks, Ms. Khattar was left a widow, responsible
for three small, starving children in a land where showing her face
would mean rape or death. I’ll continue her saga in Wednesday’s
column.  
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
June 18, 2004
CONCORSO BELLEZZA, LE MISS PALESTINESI SI RITIRANO/ANSA ;
MINACCIATE DA GRUPPI INTIFADA
BETLEMME (CISGIORDANIA)
(di Roberto Ferri)
(ANSA) – BETLEMME (CISGIORDANIA), 18 GIU – Il conflitto e le
profonde divisioni tra israeliani e palestinesi hanno fatto
naufragare un’iniziativa volta ad avvicinare i due popoli.
Un concorso di bellezza chiamato ‘Miss Linea Demarcazione’,
aperto a giovani israeliane e della Cisgiordania, e’ di fatto
fallito quando le otto concorrenti palestinesi, tutte di
religione cristiana e residenti del distretto di Betlemme, si
sono ritirate per le minacce ricevute da gruppi dell’Intifada.
Unica araba a partecipare e’ stata Arpy Krikorian, una armena
residente a Gerusalemme est. Il concorso e’ stato vinto infine
da una ragazza ebrea di 17 anni, Ortal Baltiti.
‘Miss Linea Demarcazione’ si e’ svolto a Gilo, un rione
ebraico di Gerusalemme costruito oltre le linee armistiziali in
vigore fino alla Guerra dei sei giorni (1967).
Per i palestinesi Gilo e’ un insediamento colonico, tanto
piu’ inviso in quanto sorto su terre confiscate al vicino
villaggio cristiano di Beit Jala (Betlemme).
Nei primi mesi dell’Intifada, la verdeggiante vallata che
separa Gilo e Beit Jala e’ stata teatro di aspri combattimenti,
che hanno provocato vittime da ambo le parti. Ora sono divisi
fisicamente dalla ‘barriera di separazione’ che Israele sta
edificando in Cisgiordania.
“Il concorso di bellezza era solo un pretesto per parlare di
pace e coesistenza – ha spiegato Adi Nagar, una organizzatrice
della manifestazione – L’obiettivo vero era quello di avvicinare
i palestinesi di Beit Jala e Betlemme agli israeliani di Gilo.
Le due comunita’ sono fisicamente vicine eppure si tengono a
distanza”.
Con il consenso delle famiglie, otto adolescenti palestinesi
si erano iscritte alla competizione. Nei giorni precedenti il
concorso, sette si sono fatte da parte. Alla ottava – Dina
Makhriz, tra le favorite e percio’ indecisa su come
comportarsi – e’ stata la stessa Nagar a consigliare il
forfait.
“Tutte erano state minacciate da sconosciuti. Cosi’ ho detto
a Dina di rimanere a casa. Ho preferito saperla felice assieme
ai genitori piuttosto che vederla sfilare impaurita al nostro
concorso”, ha raccontato Nagar.
A Beit Jala e Betlemme nessuno conferma pubblicamente le
minacce ma e’ convinzione diffusa che le giovani siano state
intimidite da militanti dell’Intifada. Peraltro molti criticano
le famiglie che hanno autorizzato le figlie ad iscriversi alla
gara. “Gilo e’ una colonia, e quelle ragazze hanno commesso un
errore accettando di partecipare a quel concorso di bellezza. I
loro genitori non devono dimenticare che i palestinesi soffrono
a causa dell’occupazione israeliana”, ha esclamato Muna Mahfuz,
una studentessa universitaria di Betlemme.
Per Ortal Baltiti, la miss eletta, la mancata partecipazione
delle ragazze palestinesi “e stata invece un’altra occasione
perduta di dialogo”. “I primi a pagare il prezzo del
conflitto – ha detto la giovane israeliana subito dopo essere
incoronata reginetta di bellezza – siamo proprio noi, i ragazzi
delle due parti, che vogliamo vivere felici, lontano dalla
guerra”.(ANSA).

THE HALO TRUST WARNS
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
18 June 2004
During the first week of June two mine accidents happened in the
territory of Nagorni Karabakh and four people suffered. The first was
on June 3 near the village Meghvadzor, Kashatagh region. Two young
men suffered, Armen Hakobian born in 1964 and Andranik Mossiyan born
in 1982, both from the village Tumi, Hadrout region. Gathering herbs
A. Hakobian stepped on an antipersonnel mine. Wanting to help his
friend A. Mossiyan reached him and also stepped on a PMN-2 mine. One of
them lost his right foot, and the other’s left leg was amputated above
the knee. The second accident happened near the village Myurishen,
Martouni region. Five villagers went for timber in a tractor. On
the way back the antitank mine exploded under the back wheel of
the carrier. Ararat Aroushanian born in 1964 was taken to hospital
with a leg fraction and Davit Avagian born in 1991 received light
injuries. Only in 6 months in 2004 24 people suffered from mines and
unexploded ordnance, of them eight people died. These statistical
data exceed the number of the entire year of 2003 when 21 people
suffered, of them 9 died. Recently often adults become victims of
mines connected with active agricultural works, as well as using
of the territories still not used after the war (hunting, abandoned
vineyards, collecting metals).
AA. 18-06-2004