Saturday, May 8, 2004
Armenian group releases latest Bedoukian ‘Studies’
World Coin News
The Armenian Numismatic Society has published the second volume of Dr. Paul
Z. Bedoukian’s Selected Numismatic Studies.
Bedoukian is considered the foremost authority in the study of Armenian
numismatics. His great knowledge of chemistry, metallurgy and Armenian
history has greatly added to the numismatic field.
The non-proft ANS was founded in 1971 and is the only Armenian numismatic
organization in existence. It publishes a number of books and journals of
Armenian ancient and medieval coins.
For more information on prices and ordering, write to: Armenian Numismatic
Society, Attn: Y.T. Nercessian, 8511 Beverly Park Place, Pico Rivera, CA
90660, or call (562) 695-0380.

TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS
Rome, Italy
May 8, 2004
Nalbandian, Moya to Clash in Rome Final
© Getty Images
Fifth seed David Nalbandian and sixth seed Carlos Moya will meet in a
blockbuster final of the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome on Sunday after
different semifinal victories Saturday.
Moya denied an all-Argentina final when on Saturday he clipped Mariano
Zabaleta 6-3, 6-4, which followed his crushing quarterfinal victory over
Andrei Pavel, in which Moya conceded just three games.
Moya advances to his fifth different ATP Masters Series final (Indian Wells,
Miami, Monte Carlo and Cincinnati) and this year alone he has reached five
ATP finals on five continents.
Nalbandian rallied from a set down to defeat 2002 Roland Garros champion
Albert Costa 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4. He is chasing his first ATP title since Basel
in 2002. Since returning from a six-week injury lay-off last month,
Nalbandian has reached quarterfinals in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and now the
Rome final.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Nalbandian: “It wasn’t an easy week with the rain and everything. I played
two matches one day, which is quite tiring. Tomorrow it is going to be
another difficult match, but you have to be 100% because it is a Masters
Series final and you don’t play one every day.”
On a very long game, when he broke at 4-all in the final set against Costa:
“Yeah, very difficult. I have a lot of chances to break it. Was very, very
tough but I tried to keep my focus on my return, on my game. But I think I
make it in the 4-all, so that’s very important.”
Moya: “Well, I knew that it was a matter of time because I like the
tournament, I feel well here, I like the courts, is a clay court tournament.
So there was no reason that I didn’t do well the past years. So I knew that
this year or the next one or maybe two years I was gonna play well, so looks
like this year.”
“I came here very confident, and I won the first two matches and I got more
confidence even, and now I’m in the final. So, I mean, it’s been a great
week so far for me. I’m in a Masters Series final. It doesn’t happen every
day, so I’ll try to enjoy tomorrow and try to win my third title as a
Masters Series.”

Karabakh
AGBU.org
April 2004
City of Dreams? Karabakh’s center of culture hangs on and hopes
Karabakh
Marianna Grigoryan and Sona Danielyan
Gray-haired and aged by war and hardship, 68-year old Rima Danielian moves
with care down the edge of a bluff approaching a row of unremarkable shops
in her town, Shushi.
She passes children coming home from school who are growing up in a Shushi
far different than the one Rima sees in her memory.
“My city is the most beautiful,” says Rima. “For centuries Shushi had been
considered as the heart and center of culture of Artsakh. And today it seems
life has become silent. Many things have changed.”
In fact, in the decade since Shushi-on its strategic vantage point
overlooking the capital, Stepanakert the site of prolonged and vicious
fighting between Armenian and Azeri forces-almost everything has changed.
Rima’s memory is good and its facts well known. Before the war, Shushi had
12,000 residents. It was a beacon of culture, a center of art, of publishing
and of a refined life that, if found in Shushi today, is somewhere under the
city’s scarred exterior where 3,500 hang on.
A Borrowed Life: Roosters announce the beginning of the day in Shushi, soon
followed by the ringing of bells at St. Ghazanchetsots Church-33 clangs from
the tower, one for each year of Christ’s life.
The bells mark the beginning of Anahit Danielian’s working day. She sells
candles at the church and says that even though most of her neighbors have
nothing to do with their days, even the poorest ones come to pray; probably
for a better life.
“It’s true that it seems that people’s life conditions don’t change,” Anahit
says. “But in recent years people have been getting married more often and
it delights the heart.” It has become tradition, she says, for couples from
Stepanakert (about 10 kilometers away) to come to the church for their
weddings.
And the occasion to have outsiders in Shushi is welcomed by owners of the
little shops that are evidence of the commerce of necessity, even in a
skeleton of a city.
“Residents of Shushi mainly buy vermicelli, sugar, oil and cheap vodka,”
says 24-year old Liana Harutyunian, a shop worker. But “buy” is not exactly
the right word. “They mainly borrow,” she says. There are two bottles of
champagne on her shelf, so long there that Liana can’t remember where they
came from.
“Sometimes those who come from Stepanakert for wedding ceremonies plunge
themselves into excesses like that if, of course, they forget to bring that
stuff with them. Such things are not for residents of Shushi.”
Liana moved to Shushi from Masis six years ago with her two little girls and
says that they couldn’t live and exist here if her parents didn’t help them
by sending flour, potatoes and other necessary foodstuff from Masis.
“Many people don’t work but I have a job,” Liana says. “However, for two
months I haven’t been getting my monthly 15,000 thousand drams (about $26).
She shows a notebook in which she keeps a record of “borrowed” food. “Only
this copybook grows thicker and thicker. This month people’s debt to the
shop has become more than 100,000 drams (about $177).”
Buying on credit has become a way of life that, for many, is necessary but
humiliating.
Stella Hakobian has seven children and receives a government subsidy for
having a large family-an incentive by the State. “Every month the owner of
the shop gets my children’s allowances,” says Stella, who moved to Shushi
from Hrazdan, a town north of Yerevan. “During the month we take some things
from the shop and then take my children’s allowances directly to the shop.
This is how our debts are covered.”
Stella recently was given an apartment, another perk of having a large
family. She and her children have a three-bedroom flat, but the only
furniture in it is beds. “We have no job,” says Stella. “The only good thing
is that in winters we can go ‘sticking’ in the neighborhood forest for wood
to heat our apartment. And in the spring we pick berries and sell them for
cheap prices to earn money.”
Shushi has not recovered in any comparable way with the development that has
taken place in neighboring Stepanakert. And while the number of “large”
families (having four or more children) is increasing in response to the
State programs, the overall birth rate has dropped, officials say.
“When we were at war we thought everything would be ok,” says veteran
Karineh Danielian. “However, it was understood that there would be
difficulties in the future. Anyway, hope still lives.”
Culture as Pastime: City leaders say that Shushi’s future lies in finding a
way to keep its young people and assure a future for them in their city.
“The majority of young people don’t think about leaving the city because
they haven’t got enough opportunities for thinking about it,” says 22-year
old Armen Poghosian. “For many of them a marshrutka (Russian for mini-bus)
ticket from Shushi to Yerevan is as much as the sum they spend for living
during a month.”
But even in the diminished version of its former self, Shushi shows glimpses
of what it once was, and efforts are made at providing a “normal” life that
would encourage youth to stay.
In fact, cultural life shows the most obvious development in Shushi.
In this place of damaged and vacant buildings one can find an arts college,
a drama theater, a puppet theater, a choir, a quartet, a dance group, and
the list can continue. A few summers ago an arts festival was even started.
The State Humanitarian College named after Arsen Khachatrian is the only
educational option given to students from Shushi and neighboring or remote
villages. The college mainly teaches various arts and crafts such as
painting, carpet making, decorative art, etc.
In May 2003, a technical school was renamed into the college, which, though
small, is a sign of Westernization in a place that seems largely detached
from the rest of the world-or more connected to its former Soviet regime.
The college was reopened in 1992 after the liberation of Shushi. Today the
college has 181 students, ranging in age from 15 to 23.
During a recent day in the winter session at the college, students gathered
to discuss the topic: “Love, Marriage, Family and Law”, while teachers sat
at a table to moderate the discussion.
After a short introduction students discussed questions on divorce, on
children’s rights and whether love is enough reason to get married, and
looked for answers from their experienced teachers.
As is often the case in small towns, the youth of Shushi and their teachers
have relationships that are open and relaxed. After the day’s special
program they all met to sing songs, read poetry, dance, eat, drink, then
dance and sing some more. The scene, not typically found in institutions of
learning, for example, in Yerevan provides a glimpse of life in Shushi.
Such events are a big thing for the youngsters here. It is noticeable that
the day was planned with great care, especially through the way the girls
prepared themselves in their best manner.
Shushi doesn’t offer many opportunities, outside school, for its younger
generation to socialize and even then, the events are restricted to daylight
hours. When the sun goes down, activity is mostly limited inside apartments
among family.
Our future is vague, the youngsters say. And they complain that their city
of rich cultural heritage is too often overlooked.
“Stepanakert is Karabakh’s advertising town,” says David Avagimian, age 22,
who joins other actors at the puppet theater after school. “For some reason
they prefer to concentrate everything there.”
The kids at the puppet theater say officials making promises to revive
Shushi’s cultural life don’t seem to understand that culture is all that’s
developing in Shushi.
In fact the only singing ensemble in Karabakh is from Shushi (so, too, is a
former “Miss Karabakh”).
First it was a quintet founded in 2000 by girls singing in Shushi’s Varanda
choir, and now it is a quartet called Nareh who have become celebrities in
Karabakh.
Karine,19, Alina 27, Christina 23 and Gayane 22, have taken part in some
folk and pop festivals in Stepanakert where they’ve taken first place. The
girls are mainly performing folk songs but in a modern way.
First they would travel around Karabakh and perform for free, just to become
known. Sometimes they get paid today and they consider $200 ($50 each) a
fair price. However they don’t always get that much.
“If we have a good sponsor we’ll get promoted,” says Gayane. “If not we’ll
stay here and no one will probably know about us except Karabakh.”
Anush Danielian, 22, says she dreams of having an Internet café in Shushi to
connect youth with each other and the outside world. “The only thing we do
now is visit each other, but that gets old.
“All of us have interesting dreams but to make them come true we need
opportunities. And if dreams and possibilities coincided with each other,
then Shushi would become the city of our dreams.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Internews
May 7 2004
Armenia Hosts its First Youth Film Festival

Internews Armenia Programs Manager David Matevossian granting an
award to the film “Noradus.”
(May 6, 2004) Internews presented a special incentive prize to two
young Armenian filmmakers, Artak Margaryan and Susan Simonyan, during
the first youth film festival in Armenia.
The special prize – a certificate and 200 US dollars – was presented
by Internews Programs Manager David Matevossian for camera work and
sound design in the documentary, `Noradus,’ a film that highlights
the history and present concerns of an Armenian village near Lake
Sevan, one of the largest high altitude lakes in the world.
More than 160 films were featured at the `It’s Me’ Film Festival in
Yerevan held April 25 through May 2 and organized by the
Cinematographers’ Union of Armenia, the Institute of Cinema and
Theatre and Internews. The festival brought together young filmmakers
from Armenia, Russia, Syria, Iran, Canada and France.
The grand prize went to Yevgenya Shekoyan for her film `There I saw
the World,’ which was distributed to Armenian TV stations by
Internews under the Open Skies project, `Films of Crisis Times.’ A
film produced during an Internews training project about a children’s
development center was among the finalists and was screened at the
festival.
Internews Armenia is funded by grants from the United States Agency
for International Development.

Interfax
May 7 2004
Armenia raises $5.6 mln from gold reserves sale
Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia raised 3 billion dram (about $5.6
million) in net profit for the country’s budget from the sale of gold
reserves, Central Bank of Armenia Chairman Tigran Sarkisyan told the
press.
Armenia sold its entire gold reserve of 1,396.5 kilograms, estimated
at $17.1 million on October 1 2003 and forming part of the country’s
international reserves, at the end of 2003.
The sale was made in accordance with the international reserve
management strategy and had the approval of the Central Bank of
Armenia board, Sarkisyan said. The Armenian government made
transaction through international dealers when the price of gold
topped $400 per troy ounce.
When foreign debt is double the volume of international reserves,
there is no need for a gold reserve because debt payments are made in
dollars, euros or SDR, Sarkisyan said.
Sarkisyan would not say whether the Central Bank would buy gold again
if international prices dropped.
The Finance Ministry reported that foreign debt on January 1 2004
totaled $1.097 billion and international reserves amounted to $512
million.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 7 2004
Armenia parliamentary majority, opposition agree to continue talks
YEREVAN, May 7 (Itar-Tass) – The ruling majority in Armenian
parliament and the opposition agreed to continue political
consultations on the situation in the country. Partakers of
Thursday’s talks will work out the agenda of further consultations,
their joint statement said on Thursday.
`Participants of the consultations attach importance to creating a
new situation in the country’ taking as the basis the statements of
the parties of the ruling pro-presidential coalition and the
opposition.
Representatives of the factions representing the political majority
— the Armenian Republican Party, the parties Orinats Erkir and
Dashnaktsutyun, and of the opposition — the faction Edinstvo (Unity)
and the party National Unity and neutral political forces — United
Labour Party and the deputy group People’s Deputy participated in the
talks.
The resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) contains the demand for the political dialogue between the
Armenian authorities and the opposition. The PACE considered the
internal political situation in Armenia on April 28.
The opposition continues to insist on Robert Kocharyan’s resignation
from the post of the Armenian president. The release of its arrested
activists, provision of the television air, free road for residents
of Armenian regions in Yerevan who want to take part in
anti-government rallies are among the demands of the opposition.
The republic’s authorities call opposition actions `demonstrations of
political extremism.’ Police dispersed the opposition rally in
Yerevan downtown overnight to April 13. The opposition stated on
Wednesday that it would refrain from rallies in Yerevan in the next
ten days `as a sign of good will.’
The talks of Armenian parliament speaker Artur Bagdasaryan with the
opposition were first held on April 26-27, but they were interrupted
later.

Mail & Guardian , South Africa
May 7 2004
In key for a new season
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s (JPO) fourth birthday is on
June 21 – an unbelievable feat, because the months between January
and June 2000 were some of the blackest for orchestral musicians in
Johannesburg. Paul Boekkooi looks back on four years of the
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and previews its new season
he Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s (JPO) fourth birthday is on
June 21 – an unbelievable feat, because the months between January
and June 2000 were some of the blackest for orchestral musicians in
Johannesburg.
At the end of January 2000 the old National Symphony Orchestra was
disbanded owing to a lack of funds. That orchestra gave two
heart-rending free performances to the Johannesburg public in
Parktown’s Linder Auditorium without a conductor. Both houses were
brimful. Many thought it the final death knell for orchestral music
in Africa’s richest city.
The musicians thought differently. They started forming committees to
investigate the possibility of establishing a new orchestra where
each member would be a stakeholder in the company they collectively
own. The JPO gave its inaugural concerts on June 21 and 22 that year
in the Linder with Finnish maestro Hannu Lintu conducting. The
sustainability of regular symphony seasons was one of the challenges
facing the new orchestra. It met only sporadically during the first
30 months of its existence. However, since 2003 it presented four
symphony seasons annually. With ample corporate funding, the JPO is
now able to plan seasons at least a year ahead. After an excellent
first season in 2004 with only a couple of artistic disappointments,
lovers of symphonic music can look forward to an arguably better
second symphony season, starting on May 12 at the Linder. The
five-concert season on Wednesdays and Thurdays at 8pm ends on June
10.
Although United States composer Alan Hovhanness’s Mysterious Mountain
(1955) is apparently popular on Classic FM, a live performance of
this work by the composer of Armenian and Scottish parentage might
have a different impact.
Only a minority might appreciate the composer’s New Age sounds and
his sometimes boringly conservative harmonies. The orchestration is
colourful and mystical, but unfortunately at times, also wearisome.
However, the same concert presents French pianist Jean Dubé (23) who
won the International Liszt Competition in Utrecht, The Netherlands,
two years ago. He’ll be playing the Liszt Piano Concerto No 1 in E
Flat Major.
But how adroit will conductor Michael Hankinson be and what kind of
exoticism will he be able to evoke in the full score of Stravinsky’s
Firebird Ballet?
The week after that, on May 19 and 20, a new conductor will take his
bow with the JPO – Pretoria-born Conrad van Alphen, who already has
an international reputation. He will conduct Russian master pianist
Boris Petrushansky in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No
4 in G Op 58, while he will also bring us one of the 20th century’s
most celebrated symphonies: the Shostakovich No 10 in E Op 93. In
terms of formal analysis, few of the composer’s symphonies have had
more written about them than this one.
For the three remaining concerts, the JPO has contracted a maestro
who has had a special relationship with it from the very first year –
Germany’s Bernhard Gueller. He or the riveting Charles Ansbacher from
the US, who conducted during this year’s first season, is the kind of
orchestra trainer the JPO needs to continually grow as an symphonic
entity. Gueller brings us three stimulating, divergent programmes.
The first, on May 26 and 27, are by Czech, Hungarian and Russian
composers, opening with a selection of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances,
followed by a rare performance of Bartok’s Viola Concerto as prepared
for performance from the composer’s original manuscript by Tibor
Serly.
The brilliant, Russian-born violinist, who lives in Pretoria but is
often one of the JPO’s sub-principals, will be the soloist. The
concert ends with Rachmaninov’s swansong, the broodingly melancholic
Symphonic Dances, Op 45.
The following week Anton Nel (piano) is the soloist in music by
Viennese composers: Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture, the Brahms Piano
Concerto No 1 in D Op 15 and Beethoven’s Symphony No 3 in E Flat Op
55 (The Eroica), also performed at the JPO’s inaugural concert.
The theme for the final concert on June 9 and 10 is The Planets. Not
only will Gustav Holst’s famous suite be heard, but the June concert
opens with Mozart’s last and arguably greatest symphony, No 41 in C
K551 (The Jupiter). Book at Computicket.

Analytical Information Agency, Russia
May 7 2004
Russia’s 8th amid CIS countries in industrial production growth in Q1.
Russia was the eighth amid CIS countries with 7.6% industrial
production growth in Q1, according to the preliminary data of the CIS
Statistics Committee.
Only Azerbaijan (4.2%) and Armenia (2.8%) were behind. No data on
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is available.
Ukraine is still the growth leader (+18.8%), Georgian is the 2nd
(+17.3%), Moldova – the 3rd (+16.7%).
The average growth for ten CIS countries stood at 9% in Q1 vs. 7% a
year earlier.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
May 7 2004
Armenia’s Returning Occupied Districts To Be Debated In Strasbourg
Meeting
Yerevan’s releasing seven occupied Azerbaijani districts in return
for the latter’s opening communication links to Armenia will be
discussed during the foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan
Oskanian’s upcoming meeting.
The meeting planned to be held in Strasbourg on May 12, the 525th
newspaper reported on Friday, citing Mammadyarov.
Mammadyarov said that the peace nogotiations would not be continued
unless they yield tangible results.
`We should not hold meetings just for the sake of meetings,’
Mammadyarov said, adding that the sides would define directions for
future negotiations in Strasbourg.
The Azeri foreign minister said the Strasbourg meeting would be
attended also by the OSCE Minsk group’s co-chairs, and special
representatives of the both conflicting countries.
President Ilham Aliyev also stated on Wednesday that his government
hopes for finding a peaceful solution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The president said if there were no hope, he wouldn’t keep supporting
the talks.
Armenia occupied Azerbaijan’s former autonomous region of
Nagorno-Karabakh and also seven districts surrounding it in 1991-94
war. Despite a shaky seace-fire signed between the two countries on
12 May 1994, the peace talks mediated by OSCE’s Minsk group have
failed to find a settlement to the conflict.

A1 Plus | 16:00:09 | 07-05-2004 | Politics |
HARUTYUN ARAKELYAN FINDS NO USE OF PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN’S RESIGNATION
Armenian Ramkavar-Azatakan Party leader Harutyun Arakelyan convened a news
conference to say that confidence referendum could lead the country to
deadlock. He offers constitutional referendum instead.
Speaking on National Assembly, he said, in his opinion, its seats should be
filled only through party lists.
As always, Arakelyan criticized the ruling coalition, this time referring to
the party-conducted survey, which showed 60% of respondents were opposed to
the coalition government.
He voiced disapproval over the idea of president Kocharyan’s resignation.
“Will all problems be solved if Kocharyan resigns?” he asked.
Arakelyan was reluctant to speak also on the party’s internal troubles. Four
members were dropped out of the party because of the party charter
violation, he said without specifying their exact wrongdoing.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress