TOURISM IN KARABAKH
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
18 June 2004
The unique historical monuments and the magnificent scenery in Karabakh
provide ideal conditions for development of tourism. The advantages of
Karabakh may be enlisted longer but the topic of the article is why the
great potential is not used. The summer season has already started and
it would be desirable if it brought practical changes in the sphere
of tourism. There are about a hundred tourist agencies in Armenia,
which also offer tours in Karabakh. In Karabakh there are 2-3 tourist
agencies. By the way most of their agents have never been to Karabakh
but they successfully organize tours to Karabakh. There are a number of
reasons why the government should be interested that the local tourist
agencies offer their services to the tourists. First, authority. The
company organizing tours to Karabakh takes care for accommodation,
sends guides with the groups, takes care for visas trying to avoid
this if possible, makes up itineraries which are as a rule boring. The
aim is one: gain maximum profit making least expenses. Naturally
the foreigner does not get acquainted with the history and culture of
Karabakh. These itineraries can be considered as anti-advertisement for
Karabakh, which damage the authority of our country and the desire of
tourists to visit Karabakh once again. The professionalism of guides
from Yerevan cannot make up for the absence of real knowledge about
Karabakh that is not taken from books. Through the Internet we receive
opinions on these itineraries, which are not positive. In these cases
no attention is paid to the important fact where the tourist agencies
belong. Second, finance. Each tourist visiting Karabakh spends an
average of 100 US dollars daily. A standard tour in Karabakh lasts
for 3 days. The agency in Karabakh spends means for providing three
conditions as it was already mentioned. Transport is also from
Yerevan. Taxes are paid to the local budget. Naturally the profit
which is not difficult to count also stays out of Karabakh. According
to non-official data, the annual circulation in the sphere of tourism
in Karabakh totals 1 million US dollars 70 percent of which even
geographically does not enter Karabakh. And on the whole one can
have an idea of the size of income from tourism making a tour in the
offices of the tour agencies operating in Yerevan. Third, service.
The group arriving for a tour provides 6 persons with work. The large
mechanism of the sphere of service is operated: cafes, restaurants,
local food, souvenirs, accommodation service, etc. Tourists arriving
with local agencies and even separate persons more often turn to
these services than tourists served by the agencies of Yerevan. The
reasons are many. First, for a Yerevan agency it is difficult to
orient what kind of goods or services the local producer offers,
there are no practical connections and the tourist does not want to
take a risk. Second, there is no wish to spend on something which
is not profitable for the agency. The local tourist agencies view
this from a different viewpoint. Arrangement is made beforehand to
go on a trip to a certain place, and the organizer of the trip is
usually the party that offers services. Naturally, taking into account
competition, they want to make better and more interesting offers for
tourists first of all. Of course, the interests of the tourist agency
are not ignored either. Therefore, there is an additional system of
service which is not present in the above-mentioned itineraries but
brings significant income to everyone. Fourth, transport. The car
is the only transport to Stepanakert. The airport formally operates
but the weather does not enable using helicopters as a stable means
of transport. Transport improves year by year. The private sector
today can offer comfortable minibuses which will take the tourists
from Yerevan to Stepanakert and back in 5-6 hours, as well as trips
in Karabakh. Good knowledge of the local roads will naturally enable
the local drivers arrive in the shortest possible time. Fifth, the
philosophy of itineraries. This differs with Yerevan and Karabakh
tour agencies. Everyone’s aim is one, to make money, the approaches
are different. For Yerevan-based tour agencies which organize trips all
over the territory of Armenia Karabakh, naturally, is not in the first
place. Geographically Karabakh is far from the places which attract
tourists. The trip to Karabakh interests mainly Armenian tourists
who sometimes wish to see Karabakh. For the local agencies trips in
the territory of Karabakh are the only means to earn profit. And
organization of trips in Armenia and abroad are beyond their
abilities yet and will continue to be in the near future. Secondly,
the itineraries for the same route organized by the local agencies
are naturally better and full. The local guides know the history,
traditions, legends of our county betterâ^À¦ And when the first goal
is fulfilled and the group has already arrived, the second task occurs
– to do everything to make the tourist wish to visit Karabakh once
again. And this can be provided by quality service only. In this case
tour agencies of Yerevan cannot keep up with the competition. Sixth,
legal aspects. Till recently anyone in Karabakh could run the business
of tourism. There was no state control therefore the situation in
the sphere can be considered chaotic. After the adoption of the NKR
law “On Licensing” the activity of guides is, according to the law,
to be licensed. Is the government going to control the activity of
the Yerevan tour agencies, as well as the legal and natural persons
occupied with tourism in Karabakh? We turned to the head of the
department of licensing under the NKR Ministry of Development of
Industrial Infrastructures and Building Karen Shahnazarian. According
to him, there is no mechanism for enforcement of the law “On Licensing”
in the sphere of tourism because there is no law regulating the
sphere of business. As to the activity of the Yerevan tour agencies,
according to Karen Shahnazarian, all of them must have the license
of the Republic of Armenia where the places of organizing trips must
be mentioned. However, according to the law in effect the license has
force only in the territory of the republic where it was granted. Why
is the adoption of the bill on tourism delayed? With this question
we turned to the chairman of the committee on education, social
questions and health of the parliament Edward Aghabekian. He said
that the bill is with the committee but the government does not seem
to be interested. They intend discussing the bill in September. It
turns out that the chaotic situation will in the near future remain as
the main law on tourism in Karabakh. It is necessary to adopt the law
without delay. Seventh, the visa. According to the head of the consular
service of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs Youri Zakharian, the
order of visa granting will be changed in favour of the tourists. For
entering Karabakh foreigners must have visa the cost of which is 25 US
dollars. This year already the cost will be reduced. Admitting that
tourists often enter Karabakh without visa Zakharian mentioned that
they try to prevent such cases. Statistics. According to the data of
the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the number of visitors to Karabakh
increases by 30-40 percent yearly. In 2003 this number totaled 2500
(mainly Armenians) from 70 countries. The number of people arriving
from Armenia and other CIS countries is not known. Hotels. Presently
there are a number of hotels in Karabakh, which correspond to the
international standards: “Lotus”, “Nairi”, “Heghnar”, “Shoushi”. This
sector successfully develops due to private investments. Along with
the hotel business the private sector also develops which practically
provides the whole spectre of hotel services plus the local colouring.
AA. 18-06-2004

SOCIETY MUST BE ATTENTIVE TO THEM
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
18 June 2004
In all countries there are orphanages which operate through the support
of the government and benefactors. The boarding school in Kashatagh has
been operating since 1996 and accommodates 30 children. In Kashatagh
there is one child from Stepanakert, two children were admitted to
the orphanages of Armenia. At the department of problems of family
and children under the Ministry of Social Security we learned that
there are 64 parentless children in the republic presently who are
mainly taken care of by their relatives and guardians. They receive
monthly state benefit of 3 thousand drams. According to the head of
the department Samvel Dadassian, parentless children also receive aid
from sponsors one of which is the German charity organization “Image
of Hope”. The organization provides food and clothes to parentless
children and single pensioners. The aid is given twice or three times
a year. Touching upon the aid provided by benefactors, S. Dadassian
also stated that for improving the material state and quality of life
of the parentless children in the republic the NKR Ministry of Social
security and “Karabakh Telecom” have worked out a joint program of
providing financial to children under 18 in 2004. “The program is
financed by Karabakh Telecom and once in three months these children
receive 10 thousand drams on the bank accounts in “Artsakhbank” opened
in the name of their guardians,” said S. Dadassian. The program will
be implemented up to January 1 of 2005. At the department of problems
of family and children we were informed that all the 64 children have
received their sum for the first trimester of 2004 and the payments
for the second trimester are currently made. Recently the government
of Armenia adopted a decision according to which the children who have
left the orphanage will be provided with flats. Speaking about the
housing conditions of parentless children living in our republic the
head of the department noticed that mainly living with their guardians
the children do not have the need for flats except for a family
(three children) who are homeless. Presently a survey is conducted
and in the future this problem will also possibly be solved. The
birth of a child is the beginning of a fairy tale. Unfortunately,
there are children for whom the fairy tale ends as soon as it starts.
Sometimes by fate and sometimes because of the careless attitude of
their parents a group of children today are parentless. The duty of
our state and the society is to do so that these children believe in
the existence of happy childhood.
ANAHIT DANIELIAN. 18-06-2004

MONITORING OF MASS MEDIA: VIEW FROM ASIDE
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
18 June 2004
With the assistance of the international organization “Article 19”
the Stepanakert Press Club organized training for the representatives
of the Stepanakert mass media. This is another event in the process
of democratization of the society. Training began on June 15. At the
training was present the representative of “Article 19”, coordinator
on South Caucasus Irina Smolina. The training was conducted by the
deputy chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, expert of the
organization “Article 19” Alexey Koshel and the representative of the
Yerevan Press Club Elina Poghosbekian. Of the Artsakh mass media were
invited representatives of the republic newspaper “Azat Artsakh”,
Public Radio and TV, official organ of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation “Aparazh”, newspaper “Hayrenik” as, well as members of the
Press Club. The first day of the training was mainly devoted to the
experience of the mass media of conducting public opinion polls,
monitoring. In reference to this topic Alexey Koshel and Elina
Poghosbekian raised a number of acute problems which were actively
discussed by the participants of the training. At the end of the first
day the participants of the training were offered to take part in a
game and monitor Artsakh mass media. According to the experts, both
teams managed to keep up to the requirements of the game. The second
day was devoted to such important issues as the ethic, the moral code
of the journalist. Both chairperson-experts spoke on these topics. On
the same day due to the efforts of the organizers of the training the
meeting with the chairman of the NKR Central Election Committee Sergey
Davtian took place. The chairman of the CEC pointed out the role of
the mess media during elections. “Without the mass media elections
are impossible,” he said. S. Davtian spoke about certain drawbacks of
the law “On Elections to Municipalities”. Nevertheless, the CEC will
meet the requirement of providing equal rights and conditions for
all the candidates. During the second day the task of the activities
of lawyers and their services was discussed which is important for
maintaining trust between the mass media and the reader or viewer.
SUSANNA BALAYAN. 18-06-2004

NKR PRESIDENT IN FRANCE
Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 18, 2004
On these days the president of Arkady Ghukassian is in France to
take part in the cultural celebrations devoted to the tenth year
of maintenance of cease-fire in the Karabakh conflict area. The
president visited Marseilles and Nice. At the city hall of Marseilles
Arkady Ghukassian met with the representatives of the local Armenian
community. During the meeting at which were present members of the
National Assembly of France and representatives of the municipality
Arkady Ghukassian presented the social, economic and political
situation in Nagorni Karabakh. At the same time the president
mentioned that during the short period of independence the Republic of
Nagorni Karabakh achieved significant success in building a legitimate
democratic state and forming civil society. In Nice the president also
met with the representatives of the local Armenian community. At the
meeting were present the chairman of the regional council of Alpes
Maritime, the deputy chairman of the National Assembly, members of
parliament, representatives of the municipalities. During the meeting
the participants discussed the situation in the social, economic and
cultural spheres of Nagorni Karabakh. In Nice president Ghukassian
also met with the leaders of the Armenian youth organization of Cote
d’Azur and the reporters of the newspaper “Nice Matin”. According
to the arrangement made beforehand On June 14 Arkady Ghukassian in
France met with the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Henry
Jacolen. During the meeting they discussed questions referring to
the prospects of regulation of the Karabakh conflict.

Armenian trespasser detained on Azeri-Iranian border
ANS TV, Baku
19 Jun 04
The State Border Service said today that on 13 June they detained an
Armenian who tried to secretly cross the Iranian-Azerbaijani border
in the section supervised by a border outpost in Fuzuli District’s
village of Qazaxlar.
The border trespasser was 33 year-old Gerasim Grogoryevich
Lazarian. The Border Service’s investigation department has instituted
criminal proceedings into the case. The trespasser is in custody. An
investigation is under way.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri embassy in Georgia not to issue visas to Armenian officers
ANS TV, Baku
19 Jun 04
[Presenter] The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia has not yet issued
visas to Armenian officers who are trying to come to Baku. It must
be remembered that a NATO conference will take place in Baku in
three days.
[Correspondent] The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry does not see any
problem with the Armenian officers’ visit to our country. Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov today issued a statement which says –
quote, the issue is about NATO exercises which are important in terms
of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy interests and the future development of
the geopolitical situation in the region. Over 1,000 representatives
of NATO member states and other countries will take part in the
large-scale exercises. Some people’s attempts to discredit this big
event using Armenia’s representatives seem artificial and not serious,
end quote.
The statement says that the situation is not simple. It says that
Azerbaijan’s developing relations with NATO should not be hostage to
the country’s relations with Armenia. Intensifying discussions on the
issue will only blow the problem up and cause an unhealthy interest
in it. As a result, certain groups will try to use the situation in
their political interests. Araz Azimov said that protests against the
Azerbaijani side’s intention to permit the Armenian representatives
to visit our country will lead to the postponement of the conference
and to coolness in relations with NATO.
Azimov said that if the Armenian officers arrive in Azerbaijan, they
will be able to see Azerbaijan’s real achievements, understand what
kind of crisis Armenia has created for itself and see what people
have gained and lost.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia has no intention of issuing visas
to the Armenian officers who want to take part in the NATO conference
in Baku on 22 June. The Armenians have already applied to the embassy
for visas, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Georgia, Ramiz Hasanov,
has told ANS.
[Hasanov over phone] How can we give them visas? There are no
diplomatic relations between the two countries. I mean in what form can
we issue visas to them? How can I put visas in their passports? There
is no way we can issue visas to them.
[Correspondent] The conference will take part in three days.
Rasad Isgandarov, ANS.

USNews.com
Defining America
6/28/04
Our exceptional innocence
By Michael Kazin
Are Americans exceptional when they go to war? A century ago,
the nation was shocked to learn that U.S. troops had committed
atrocious acts in their struggle against independence fighters in the
Philippines. Soldiers tortured native prisoners by almost drowning
them and hanging them up by their thumbs. In retaliation for a deadly
ambush on the island of Samar, Gen. Jacob H. Smith ordered his men
to kill any Filipino over the age of 10 and to leave the island
“a howling wilderness.”
For months, high officials in Teddy Roosevelt’s administration
suppressed the military report that described these deeds. When the
truth finally came out in 1902, Congress held hearings, and many people
called for the secretary of war to resign. Mark Twain wrote, “We have
debauched America’s honor and blackened her face before the world.”
Ugly as they are, the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib prison reveal
nothing quite so brutal as “the water cure,” much less a command to
slaughter children. But most Americans have reacted to the images
from Baghdad the same way that Twain and most of his fellow citizens
did to those outrages in the Philippines: as a sad betrayal of our
national values.
Yet over the past century, the bloodiest in human history,
Americans have conducted themselves in war much like the leaders
and peoples of other powerful nations. At the end of World War II,
the United States used firebombs and atomic bombs to kill hundreds of
thousands of Japanese civilians, even though their government was near
surrender. In North Korea, our Air Force decimated the countryside,
driving millions of people into underground caverns for the duration
of the war. In Vietnam, revelations about the gruesome massacre at
My Lai in 1968 did nothing to stop carpet-bombing or the widespread
use of pesticides. In Haiti and the Philippines, some U.S. occupation
troops molested and murdered local inhabitants.
Such acts differed only in degree, not kind, from the British bombing
of Dresden during World War II, the French war against the Algerian
independence movement, and the Soviet Army’s rape of thousands of
German women after the fall of Berlin. The only truly “exceptional”
nations have been the few that went one terrible step further and tried
to wipe out an entire people. Fortunately, the Turks did not succeed
in annihilating the Armenians, nor did the Germans murder every Jew.
Right and duty. What does set the United States apart is that so
many of its citizens believe in its moral superiority. The conviction
began with the nation itself. “We fight not to enslave, but to set a
country free,” wrote Tom Paine during the Revolutionary War, “and to
make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.” That an immigrant
like Paine was such an eloquent exceptionalist testifies to the power
of the creed itself. Americanism is a faith designed to apply to all
humanity. In their innocence, millions of Americans believe it is
both their right and their duty to spread that faith around the world.
Such naivete can lead to disaster, as it did in Vietnam and may again
in Iraq. But it can also give the United States an advantage over other
lands. Most Americans expect their soldiers and leaders to live up
to their stated ideals. General Smith was court-martialed, convicted,
and dismissed from the Army, although few Filipinos actually died as
a result of his hideous order. My Lai led to several court-martials
and a murder conviction. And this spring, a large majority of the
public disagreed with conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sen. James
Inhofe who made light of the torture at Abu Ghraib. In contrast, it
has taken four decades after France left Algeria for the whole truth
about the atrocities of that colonizer to be revealed. Cynicism can
be as blind as innocence.
Yet American tradition, with its strong Christian roots, often
condemns the individual sin without necessarily demanding that the
evil policy be changed. By the time Congress investigated the outrages
in the Philippines, the United States had defeated the rebels and
was busy converting “our little brown brothers” to American ways. By
the 1904 election campaign, the atrocities were no longer an issue,
and Theodore Roosevelt won the presidency in a landslide. We will
soon learn whether, a century later, voters will deliver a more
exceptional verdict.

Global Chaos, Just for Fun
terra lycos Network
Wired News
02:00 AM Jun. 17, 2004 PT
It was a sultry evening early last summer when 200 or so New Yorkers
marched into Macy’s department store and loudly informed bewildered
onlookers and one blasé sales clerk that they were looking for a
“love rug” for their communal suburban house.
That was the start of the Mob Project. And this Saturday,
at approximately 2 p.m. local time, people in 76 cities in 32
countries will participate in a global flash mob to celebrate the
first anniversary of what is now a worldwide phenomenon.
Since the first mob gathered in force last year on June 19 (there
was a small mob event in Manhattan a few weeks earlier, but it was a
failure due to police interference), flash mobs have been organized
around the world. People are evidently quite taken by the idea of using
e-mail, blogs and the Internet to gather together a group of people
who suddenly materialize in public places, do something absolutely
inane and then vanish.
Some mobs have joined together to sing Christmas carols. Others have
gathered to support then-Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean,
to attempt to link their laptops to form a supercomputer, to taunt
performance artist David Blaine when he was hanging in a box over
the River Thames in London or to protest local politics.
Mobs can do whatever they want; there is no mob boss, no Tony Soprano
running things. But it is worth pointing out that flash mobs were
supposed to be meaningless, silly, utterly pointless endeavors,
according to “Bill,” who conceived the whole Mob Project idea.
“It’s just a mob, for no reason. That’s it, that’s the whole point,”
said Bill, when Manhattan’s Mob Project ended Sept. 10, 2003.
The current political unrest in many areas of the world sparks a
desire to describe the global mob as a warm and fuzzy international
gathering. But in a return to the random roots of the mob as Bill
dreamed of it, organizers have firmly stated that the gathering will
have absolutely no political or social significance.
“The idea of the East greeting the West and the West greeting the East
and everyone coming together has nothing to do with a real flash mob
script. Mobs should be silly,” said one of the event’s main organizers,
who in the spirit of Bill just goes by the name “Dave.”
Dave, who describes himself as “a 36-year-old communications technician
from Moscow, who was born in Armenia, is Chinese by origin and has
been living in New York and Chicago for the past three years,” seems
to be a perfect person to host a global event.
The idea for the global mob was first posted May 21 on the Flash Mob
Association website run by Dave and his collaborator, “Capricorn.”
Twenty-five people from six countries were soon involved in the
planning.
Mobs follow a script that lets participants, many of whom don’t know
each other, synchronize their actions. In Manhattan, the scripts,
printed on slips of paper, were handed out to participants at
designated meeting places immediately before the beginning of each
event. Since then, many people have relied on e-mail or text messages
sent to mobile phones to deliver the scripts.
Participants in the global flash mob will receive their scripts
by e-mail immediately prior to the event. To participate, a local
organizer just needs to register. Once signed up, they will receive
the e-mail containing the script and will also have access to private
planning forums.
Organizers said they worked hard to come up with a script that
would work well for people in different locations. The various mobs
are encouraged to follow the script as closely as possible, but the
organizers also said that participants should feel free to alter the
script to suit cultural differences if needed.
“Planning this has been a lot of fun,” said “Tempest,” an organizer
from Sydney, Australia. “The script is pretty cool, I think. It should
confound a lot of people.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Officers Already Have Entry Visas to Baku, report says
Baku Today
Baku Today 18/06/2004 17:23
Two Armenian military officers have already received entry visas to
Azerbaijan to attend a Baku-hosted NATO conference scheduled for
June 22, Public Television of this country reported on Wednesday,
citing Armenia’s ministry of defense.
However, Armenpress reported on Thursday that the officers are planning
to ask Azerbaijan’s embassy to Georgia on June 21 for the visas.
The report said Colonel Murad Isakhanian and Aram Hovhanesian (the
latter’s rank was missed) from Armenian defense ministry’s department
of foreign relations are to represent their country in the upcoming
planning conference for NATO’s Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises,
which are planned to be held in Azerbaijan in September.
According to the Armenian media, Azerbaijani authorities have promised
NATO leadership that they will not put up obstacles to Armenian
officers’ attending the Baku conference. High-ranking Azeri officials
have also expressed willingness to let officers of the occupational
military in.
Foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his deputy Araz Azimov have
recently told local media that since the conference is organized by
NATO, it would be unwise on the part of Azerbaijan to create obstacles
for the Armenians’ coming.
But some non-governmental organizations in Baku, particularly the
Karabakh Liberation Organization, have warned the officers against
coming to Baku, threatening to go for any radical step to prevent
their arrival.

Garikian University Scholarship Fund
Contact: Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy
[email protected]
Tel: 818-248-7737
Fax: 818-248-7745
C/O Western Prelacy
6252 Honolulu Avenue, #100
La Crescenta, CA 91214
COMMUNIQUE — GARIKIAN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND 2004-2005 ACADEMIC
YEAR
The Executive Board of the Garikian University Scholarship Fund at
its latest meeting reviewed the By Laws of the Garikian University
Scholarship Fund and changed the requirements of the Scholarship for
the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Based on this, the following decisions
are brought to the attention of Armenian University students, both
former and new applicants, of the GARIKIAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
All candidates:
1. – Should attend one of the accredited Universities of the State
of California.
2. – Should have successfully completed their first academic year at
the respective universities.
3. – Should pursue their higher education in one of the following
fur (4) majors or subjects specified by the revised By-Laws of the
GARIKIAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
a. – Armenian Studies – Armenian Literature
b. – Political Science.
c. – Journalism
d. – Education-Teaching and Counseling
We call on our University students to apply for application forms from
the Western Prelacy and return them completed no later than August 31,
2004 to the following address:
Secretariat, Executive Board