EU ready to grant 100 mln euros to close Armenian nuclear plant
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 3, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, June 3 — The European Union has reiterated its readiness
to allocate 100 million euros to close the Armenian nuclear power
plant 40 kilometers west of the Armenian capital Yerevan, the press
secretary of the Yerevan office of the European Commission’s delegation
in Georgia and Armenia, Anait Azatyan, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The funds will be allotted after the talks on terms of the plant’s
shutdown are completed.
The Armenian nuclear plant was launched in 1979 and shut down in 1989
after a devastating earthquake. In 1996, Russia helped Armenia repair
the second reactor and put the plant on line.
This plant generates 40 percent of all electricity in Armenia. In the
meantime, the EU is pressing for its closing. The Armenian authorities
declared in response the plant’s shutdown would be possible if the
EU proposed alternative electric power sources. One of the options is
to lay a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia. The pipeline construction
is expected to begin this year and be completed in 2006.

Who’s Hanging Tough in NATO?
by Vladimir Socor
The Moscow Times
June 3, 2004 Thursday
For all the problems and challenges it now faces, NATO can celebrate
a triumph in Istanbul at its upcoming summit. Seven countries from
the Baltic to the Black Sea have completed the accession procedures
and will for the first time attend NATO’s summit as members. This —
along with the previous accession round by three Central European
countries — represents the alliance’s greatest strategic, political
and moral victory in its 55-year history. It is, moreover, the right
basis for building NATO’s future — because its essential missions
will henceforth focus on theaters to the east of its new perimeter,
beyond the Black Sea.
Predictions that the enlargement would turn NATO into an ineffective
political body akin to the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe have been laid to rest by the performance of the new member
countries. Their entry contributes significantly to the alliance’s
political cohesion even as this asset shows signs of fraying on the
older, western flank.
If anything, the OSCE’s culture of compromise and consensus with
those opposed to Western values seems right now to be seeping in
via older allies. How else to explain the suggestion from several
Western European governments that NATO needs to make a special
effort and invite President Vladimir Putin in order to ensure a
“successful summit”?
In truth, the alliance’s seven-country enlargement, and the about as
many countries that will confirm their membership aspirations at the
summit, give the real measure of the alliance’s permanent viability
and appeal. Can anyone argue that NATO really needs a photo op with
the restorer of Russian autocracy as a demonstration of its success?
Some, apparently, argue that it does, as seen from NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer’s efforts to secure Putin’s
presence at the Istanbul summit. The NATO leader made that invitation
publicly in Moscow on April 8 and has repeated it several times
since then; most recently in his May 17 speech in Brussels, saying:
“I hope that the conditions will be right for him to come to Istanbul.”
We don’t know what these conditions would be; but we do know that
Putin is playing hard to get. He says he’s considering the invitation,
but that his advisers tell him he shouldn’t go. Translation: The
conditions are not right and should be improved.
Putin’s conditions include: continuing tolerance of Russia’s breaches
of the 1999-adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe and
associated commitments on the alliance’s southern flank; and —
those breaches notwithstanding — an allied move toward ratification
of that same treaty so as to place the three Baltic states under
its restrictions.
Approved at the OSCE’s 1999 Istanbul summit, the adapted CFE treaty
and the documents known as the Istanbul Commitments form twin parts
of a single package. From Istanbul 1999 to Istanbul 2004, what is the
balance sheet on implementation? To make a long, technical story short,
the following stipulations remain unimplemented to date:
Setting a firm and realistic date (three years would amply suffice)
on the closure of Russia’s Batumi and Akhalkalaki military bases
in Georgia.
Closing the Gudauta base in Georgia, which Russia was required to close
back in 2001. Since then, Russia has been offered the alternative
option of handing Gudauta to a UN observer mission in Georgia’s
secessionist region of Abkhazia.
Withdrawing all Russian troops from Moldova’s Transdnestr region —
a move that Russia was required unconditionally to complete in 2002.
Liquidating the stocks of Russian-supplied combat hardware
(“unaccounted-for treaty-limited equipment”) deployed with Abkhazian
and Transdnestr forces, as well as with Armenian forces beyond Nagorny
Karabakh, inside Azerbaijan proper.
The verification provisions in both the CFE treaty and the Istanbul
Commitments are also being breached, and the treaty’s hallowed
principle of host-country consent (no country may station its forces
on another country’s territory without freely given consent) is simply
being flouted here on the southern flank.
The treaty is meant to be legally binding once it enters into force;
the commitments are defined as “politically binding,” whatever
that means. To Moscow, by all evidence, neither set of documents is
binding — unless the West makes clear that commitments are binding
by definition.
Russian diplomacy wants NATO to:
Give up the linkage between ratification of the CFE treaty and
fulfillment of the Istanbul Commitments.
Accept Russian promises to fulfill some of those outstanding
commitments some time in the future, in lieu of actual fulfillment,
and even give up on implementation in some cases.
Several Western European governments have signaled an inclination to
go along with such a scenario. Some have asked Georgia and Moldova
to consent to Russian retention of Gudauta and of the “peacekeeping
troops” in Transdnestr (this would bestow host-country consent on
those foreign forces).
When NATO’s secretary-general and the OSCE’s chairman-in-office state
publicly that Russia should remove its arsenals from Moldova without
mentioning the commitment to withdraw its troops, Moscow reads this
as a message that it can keep troops in place.
Whether at the summit or in some other NATO forum, the alliance cannot
avoid addressing the issue of peacekeeping and conflict resolution on
its own vital strategic perimeter. Thirteen years after the end of
the Soviet Union, peacekeeping in this region remains, in practice,
Moscow’s monopoly, which only serves to freeze the political
settlements of the conflicts.
Two years ago, NATO and the United States seemed set to engage jointly
with Russia in peace-support operations and conflict-resolution
efforts in Moldova, Georgia and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. These
intentions figured prominently in the joint communiques in May 2002
of the U.S.-Russia and NATO-Russia summits. However, nothing further
has been heard about these intentions since those summits.
To be sure, U.S. forces and resources are now overextended worldwide.
But there is a strong case to be made for European allies taking the
lead in peace-support operations and conflict settlement in the Black
Sea-South Caucasus region, Europe’s doorstep.
European NATO allies complain of a shortfall in deployable forces
against a vast backdrop of static forces in the homelands. In any case,
peacekeeping and conflict resolution in this region need be neither
large-scale, nor predominantly military. On the contrary, they should
be compact and should emphasize the civilian aspect of peace support.
The United States, NATO and the European Union have strategic
and democratic motivation, as well as the means, to initiate a
transformation of peacekeeping and conflict resolution at this
crossroads, where the access routes to the greater Middle East and
the energy transit routes to Europe intersect. This must become a
Euro-Atlantic priority. The NATO summit agenda would be incomplete
if it did not address, or at least set the stage for addressing soon,
this imperative.
Vladimir Socor is a senior fellow of the Washington-based Jamestown
Foundation, publishers of the Eurasia Daily Monitor. This comment is
reprinted from Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Rapid Tourney Set For Sunday
by Robert Howard
Newcastle Herald (Australia)
June 4, 2004 Friday
THE Newcastle Chess Association has announced that a rapid tournament
will be held on Sunday at the Bridge Club, 12 Young Street,
Broadmeadow. Each side will have 25 minutes for all moves. Prizemoney
will depend on entries. First round starts at 9.30am.
The June Australian Chess Federation rating list is out. The top
players are as follows:
Rogers 2646 (down 22 points),Wallace 2505 (no change), Johansen 2494
(down 15), Solomon 2466 (up 20), Lane 2463 (down 30), Gluzman 2458
(no change), Tao 2439 (no change), Zhao 2424 (up a whopping 44 points
after his Doeberl Cup win), Bjelobrk 2393 (up 15), Froelich 2389
(down 11) and Smerdon 2389 (up 9).
KERRY Stead won the Mingara Major tournament held on the Central
Coast last weekend on 5.5/6. He won his first five games and then
drew with Mosaddeque Ali in the last round. Daniel Clint and Alex
Mendes da Costa shared second on 5/6.
ALEXEI Shirov swept through the field at the Bosnia 2004 tournament
held in Sarajevo. He triumphed with 7.5/9, well ahead of second place
Sergei Movsesian on 6. And Vassily Ivanchuk won the European
Individual Championship. He and Predrag Nikolic shared first on 9 but
Ivanchuk won the play-off.
THE Women’s world title series has seen a variety of upsets. Humpy
Koneru of India eliminated the last surviving player from China, Xu
Yuhua, in a 2-0 sweep, ensuring that China will not retain the title
this series. The semi-finals saw the following pairings: Ekaterina
Kovalevskaya v Humpy Koneru and Antoaneta Stefanova against former
world title holder Maia Chiburdanidze. The winners were Stefanova and
Kovalevskaya who now will play a final match for the title.
THE 75th anniversary of the birth of the late Armenian world champion
Tigran Petropsian will be marked in Moscow by a match Armenia v The
Rest of the World. It will be a six-player team match. The Armenian
team will consist of three Armenians, Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian
and Rafael Vaganian and three players with Armenian connections,
Garry Kasparov, whose mother is Armenian, Peter Leko, whose wife is
Armenian, and Boris Gelfand, who studied under Tigran Petrosian. The
Rest of the World team is likely to be Viswanathan Anand, Michael
Adams, Peter Svidler, Loek Van Wely, Etienne Bacrot and Paco Vallejo.
The event should run from June 10.
Here are some games from the Women’s world title series.
Xu Yuhua (2474)v Tkeshelashvili (2307) [C10](Womens World
Championship,Elista, 2004)1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3
Ngf6 6.Nxf6ch Nxf6 7.c3 c5 8.Be3 Nd5 9.Ne5 Nxe3 10.Bb5ch Bd7 11.Qf3
Nf5 12.Bxd7ch Ke7 13.Qxb7 Kf6 14.Bc6 Be7 15.Qxa8 Qxa8 16.Bxa8 Rxa8
17.Nd7ch Resigns.
Galliamova (2502) vKhaziyeva (2110) [C41] (Womens WorldChampionship,
Elista, 2004)1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.Nf3 e5 5.Bc4 Be7 6.00 00
7.a4 c6 8.a5 Qc7 9.Re1 Rb8 10.h3 b5 11.axb6 axb6 12.b3 b5 13.Bf1 Re8
14.Bb2 Bf8 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.b4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Ne5 18.Nf5 Nc4 19.Bxc4 bxc4
20.Qd4 d5 21.e5 Nd7 22.Na4 c5 23.bxc5 Bxc5 24.Qg4 g6 25.e6 Rxe6
26.Rxe6 fxe6 27.Nh6ch Kf8 28.Qxe6 Qf4 29.Nxc5 Nxc5 30.Ba3 Rc8
31.Qg8ch Ke7 32.Qxh7ch Ke6 33.Re1ch Ne4 34.Qe7 mate.
Solution to Problem 1117
(The position was: 1B4k1, 5p1p, 6p1, 8, P2b4, 2p2P1P, 5P2, 5K2)1. …
Be3 wins. If 2 fxe3 c2. Whites best is 2. Be5 c2 3. Bb2 but he has a
lost endgame.
Problem 1118
Belov v Lautier, Aeroflot Open, 2004.Black to move and gain a winning
material plus.(Check: 6k1, p5pp, 8, 1b6, 4B3, P3PK2, 1rp2PPP, 4R3)

Armenia’s chief diplomat says progress possible on Nagorno-Karabakh
Associated Press Worldstream
June 3, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s chief diplomat on Thursday said that
negotiations over settling the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute may yield
progress in the near future.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are at odds over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
which Armenian forces seized from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. A 1994
cease-fire has largely held, but no final settlement has been reached.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said Thursday that “certain
progress” may be achieved on the issue within the next two months,
without elaborating further.
Negotiations are being conducted by a small group of diplomats from
both sides, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, who tend to refrain from making the details
of the talks public.

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN AN ARMENIAN COOKBOOK
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
June 2, 2004 Wednesday Final Edition
“The Armenian Table: More Than 150 Treasured Recipes That Bring
Together Ancient Flavors and 21st Century Style,” (St. Martin’s
Press, $29.95, hardcover) is a collection of traditional favorites
and inspired contemporary variations.
CNY is giving away a copy of the book. Send your name, address and
phone number to: Armenian Cookbook giveaway, The Post-Standard, P.O.
Box 4915, Syracuse NY 13221. Entries must be postmarked by midnight
June 6. We’ll pick a winner in a random drawing.
The winner of “The Good Housekeeping Grilling Cookbook” is Lena
DeSantis, of Syracuse.
The winner of “Burgers Every Way” is Marion Wrobel, of Syracuse.

The Washington Times
June 2, 2004, Wednesday, Final Edition
Muscat ripe with summer opulence;
Big, sweet grape’s a refreshing departure from fashionably dry drinks
By Paul Lukacs, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Muscat is the forgotten grape, out of step and old-fashioned. But it
also is the original grape – or at least as close to original as we’re
likely to taste. Most important, wines made from it can be delicious.
Sugary or dry; sparkling, still or fortified, good muscats have a
haunting, head-spinning perfume – floral notes akin to rose petals
and orange blossoms, combined with echoes of luscious ripe summer
fruits such as peaches and apricots. They’re opulent wines, so even
when vinified to dryness, they smell at least slightly sweet.
That sweetness explains their current obscurity.
Muscats have become the victims of the contemporary vogue for
[supposedly] dry white wines flavored with vanilla-scented oak. When
sweeter wines were more in vogue, they used to be much more popular,
and odds are that they will become so again. But for now, flavor,
rather than fashion, is the reason to drink them.
Ampelographers, or grape scientists, have traced muscat to ancient
Greece, making it the oldest grape variety being cultivated today.
Wine growing is older still, going back about 8,000 years and
originating east of the Black Sea in what now is Armenia and Georgia.
No one knows exactly when the shift from wild vines to cultivated
ones occurred, but the first planned vineyard likely bore fruit that
tasted and smelled something like muscat.
Three types of muscat are cultivated in vineyards across the globe.
Muscat blanc a petits grains is the one the Greeks grew. [They still
do, most notably on the island of Samos.] It tends to produce the
finest wines – intense but at the same time refined and delicate.
Muscat of Alexandria came next. As the name suggests, it probably
originated in Egypt, and then was taken around the Mediterranean by
the Romans.
Widely planted today, much of the crop is used for table grapes and
raisins. The last of the muscat litter is ottonel, a much more recent
arrival, first propagated in a French nursery in the mid-19th century.
To make things more confusing, the three muscats go by a host of other
names, depending on where they’re grown and what the local nomenclature
may be. In addition, because they love to mutate and change, they all
come in multiple clones, with berries of different colors and sizes,
and [slightly] different aromas and flavors.
In Italy, particularly Piedmont, muscat, or moscato, is often used
to make sparkling wines. Some of the best come from vineyards near
the town of Asti. Because of their relatively low alcohol levels,
they are super summer sippers, especially before supper.
Moscato d’Asti from Cascina la Spinetta [$20] and Marcarini [$17]
both taste wonderfully bright and vibrant. Slightly sweeter, so
equally good with a fruit dessert, is Michele Chiarlo’s “Nivole”
[$12 for a half bottle]. With any of these, buy only the 2003 vintage,
as Moscato d’Asti deteriorates quickly with age.
A less expensive and equally exciting sparkling muscat choice comes
from the fairly obscure Clairette de Die appellation in the Drome
valley of eastern France. Grape-growing here goes back at least as
far as the Romans, Pliny the Elder having described sweet wine from
Die as the best in all the empire.
Clairette de Die is a misnomer, as the wine is made primarily from
muscat blanc a petits grains, not clairette. But it can be delectable
nonetheless.
The firm of Jaillance makes an excellent one called “Cuvee Imperiale”
that costs only about $13.
Truly dry muscats are relatively rare, the grape naturally tending
toward sweetness as its perfume intensifies. Alsace in northeastern
France is the one place that excels with them. Epicures there consider
muscat the perfect partner to the region’s rich foie gras.
Although admittedly less traditional partners, Indian and Thai dishes
also go very well with spicy Alsatian muscat. That’s why it’s a great
wine to have on hand when you’re ordering takeout.
A lot of Alsatian muscat is of the ottonel variety, although blanc
a petits grains is cultivated in the region, as well. When looking
for a dry rendition, ignore bottles that say “vendanges tardives”
[late harvest], as they’re likely to seem too sweet to drink with
savory foods.
Domaine Weinbach Muscat “Reserve” 2002 [$36] is beautifully crafted,
with that firm’s telltale minerality underlying the wine’s delicate
fruit flavor.
Firmer and tighter, Marcel Deiss “Bergheim” 2001 [$30] proves extremely
food-friendly. Not as complex but considerably less costly, Lucien
Albrecht 2002 [$15] is full of vivacious spice.
Many muscats come into their own with [or even as] dessert. The best
known come from grapes grown near the town of Beaumes de Venise in
France’s southern Rhone valley.
The wines here are called “vins doux natural,” meaning they have been
slightly fortified with grape spirit, thus arresting fermentation
and retaining sweetness.
Good examples include Domaine de Coyeaux [$15 for a half-bottle],
Domaine de Durban [$30] and P. Jaboulet [$32], all from the 2001
vintage. These would be excellent partners for fruit tarts or pies.
A few American wineries make good, balanced dessert muscats. A
consistent favorite comes from Robert Pecota in Calistoga in the
Napa Valley. Named for his daughter, Pecota’s Moscato d’Andrea [$15
for a half-bottle] tastes clean and refreshing, with a lingering but
not at all cloying finish. The grape is blanc a petits grains, here
going by its Italian moniker, canelli, and 2001 is the current vintage.
Finally, in Rutherglen in northeastern Victoria, Australia, vintners
fortify and age muscat in old barrels, yielding wines they call
“liqueurs.” These dessert nectars display an oxidative rather than
floral bouquet, so it’s hard to believe they come from the muscat.
But they do, and they can be outstanding, especially when paired
with chocolate.
Campbells and Chambers Rosewood are two producers that make some of
the best examples of Ausie fortified muscat.
Their basic cuvees average about 10 years of age. These wines cost
about $16 for a half-bottle, are light amber and taste evocatively
of dried fruits, caramel and toffee.
Try them chilled with ice cream. The older versions are thicker,
richer and even more expressive, but they cost upward of $70 per
half-bottle, so they have to be considered extra-special treats.
As with the younger, floral wines, fortified muscats taste truly
distinctive. And that, when all is said and done, is why any wine is
worth drinking – no matter what’s in or out of vogue at any given time.

PM MEETS IMF RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE
ArmenPress
June 3 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Andranik Margarian received
today James McHugh, IMF resident representative, who briefed him on
a recent meeting of IMF Board of Directors and discussed also future
cooperation plans between the lending organization and Armenian
government.
McHugh was quoted by the government press office as saying that he
was happy to inform the prime minister about the growing confidence
of the IMF in Armenia. “IMF Board of Directors is pleased with the
ongoing economic progress of your country,” he was quoted as saying.
McHugh said IMF is completing its current program in Armenia in
June. After reviewing the fulfilled work in September, the Board
of Directors will consider release of a new aid, he said. McHugh
said the successful accomplishment of previous programs inspires
hopes that the current one will also be a success. Other economic
development-related issues were discussed during the meeting.
According to deputy finance and economy minister, Atom Janjukhazian,
Armenia’s foreign debt as of December 31, 2003 stood at almost $1.1
billion, constituting 39.3 percent of the GDP. Around $875 million
were the government’s direct credit liabilities, $214.6 million were
credit liabilities of the Central Bank and $73 million were credit
guarantees of the government.
Armenia paid last year around $141 million to service its foreign debt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SMALL SINGERS OF ARMENIA’S REVELATION IN PARIS
ArmenPress
June 3 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS: The biggest revelation at a May 22
concert at Palais de Congres in Paris, that was celebrating French
singer, song writer and actor Charles Aznavour’s 80-th anniversary
was Small Singers of Armenia group, headed by composer and conductor
Tigran Hekekian. They performed Aznavour’s Pour Toi, Armenia (For You,
Armenia) song. The song was written after the terrible earthquake that
hit Armenia in 1988, when Aznavour brought in 89 artists to record
‘Pour Toi Armenie,” which was the first of the top fifty from the
first week it was out, remained on top of the list during several
weeks and sold over 2 million records in France.
The famous US singer, Liza Minelli that was among the guests, invited
by Aznavour, was delighted with the performance and was trying even to
replicate Armenian words. The Small Singers then performed another
song together with Aznavour in French. Hekekian said he noticed
tears in the eyes of Aznavour when he was listening to the children
singing Pour Toi, Armenie, while Liza Minelli said she was ready to
help issue a CD with the recording of the song.
French president Jacques Chirac reportedly asked the Armenian
ambassador to France to convey to Armenian president Kocharian that:
“You have a wonderful children choir that represents Armenia at the
highest level.”
In 1998 Aznavour was named Entertainer of the Century by CNN and users
of Time Online from around the globe with nearly 18% of the total vote,
edging out such greats as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.
Born in Paris of Armenian parents he made his debut at the age of nine,
acting, dancing, singing, and he has not left the stage since then,
except for a short period during the Second World War. His first song
“J’ai Bu” received first prize for the record of the year. After that
his songs were one success after the other, and several great singers
sang and recorded them. among them were Edith Piaff, Maurice Chevalier,
Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, Shirley Bassey, Fred Astaire, Liza Minelli,
Placido Domingo.
For his role in “La Tete Contre Les Murs” he received the prize of
the Crystal Star as the best the male actor. Sixty other acting roles
followed, among them -Tirez sur le Pianiste” by Francois Truffaut,
“Un Taxi pour Tobrouk”, “Le Diable et les Dix Commandments”, “Les
Aventuriers” and “Le Tambour” In 1997 President Jacques Chirac named
Charles Aznavour “Officier de la Legion d’Honneur,” the highest honor
in France.

HABITAT CONTINUES BUILDING HOMES FOR INSECURE ARMENIAN FAMILIES
ArmenPress
June 3 2004
ASHTARAK, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS: Habitat for Humanity Armenia, a
non-government charitable organization that supports community
development in the Republic of Armenia by building and renovating
simple, decent, and affordable homes, has renovated the first of four
semi-built homes in the village of Voskeat, Aragatsotn province.
US ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, traveled today to the village to
attend the start of the renovation of the second cottage. Some $5,000
are envisaged for renovation of each house. This an interest free-free
loan that the owner has to pay back in 20-25 years.
Armenian Habitat charitable non-governmental organization (NGO) was
founded in Armenia in March 2000 by a group of enthusiasts headed
by a former US Peace Corps volunteer. The prototype of this local
non-profit was Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), which
“brings families and communities in need together with volunteers
and resources to build decent, affordable housing.”
Armenian Habitat operates in Armenia’s capital Yerevan and four
surrounding marzes – Aragatsoten, Armavir, Kotayk and Ararat. The
logic behind the NGO’s projects is that the grantee should be a needy
family but with a reliable source of monthly income, have an incomplete
house, and be prepared to pay roughly US $20-30/month for the next
20-25 years to reimburse fully Habitat’s non-interest-bearing loan,
and these funds will also be used for completing new houses.

ARAM IVANIAN’S PAINTINGS TO BE EXHIBITED IN FRANCE
ArmenPress
June 3 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS: Two French cities of Lyon and Marseille
will host a trade exhibition of 168 paintings by Aram Ivanian, a member
of the Armenian Astghik (Starlet) organization of disabled children,
which he painted by using computer technologies.
The Armenian-French Association of Disabled People (ALFA) was very
instrumental in helping organize this exhibition that will travel
to France later this month. Rosa Bashinian, a French citizen who
is the chairwoman of the ALFA is now in Armenia. She said she hopes
all the paintings will sell and the raised proceeds will be added to
the funds, being collected for construction of Hope Shelter Center,
run by Astghik.
“There is a peculiar simplicity in the works of Aram Ivanian,
typical only of children, but he is able to make masterly daring
generalizations. His works are many-style, sometimes unexpected and
courageous,” Levon Nersisian, the chairman of Astghik said.