Author: Chavushian

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base français
24 juillet 2005

Célébration du Traité de Lausanne Le texte fondateur de la Turquie
moderne Encadré

Lausanne (ats) Le Traité de Lausanne, signé le 24 juillet 1923, a
fixé les frontières de la Turquie moderne. Il a en revanche enterré
pour longtemps le rêve des Kurdes, des Arméniens et des Assyriens
d’avoir leur propre Etat autonome.

En 1920, le Traité de Sèvres avait pourtant offert aux nationalistes
kurdes cette perspective. Imposé par les puissances victorieuses lors
de la Première Guerre mondiale, il préconisait la création d’un
Kurdistan, comme entité nationale reconnue, sur les ruines de
l’empire ottoman défait.

Mais en moins de trois ans, la Turquie, sous la conduite de Mustafa
Kemal, mieux connu sous le nom d’Atatürk, bat les forces grecques
dans la plaine anatolienne et réprime les soulèvements kurdes,
arméniens et assyriens. Elle obtient que le Traité de Sèvres, qu’elle
qualifie alors de “diktat”, soit renégocié.

Après s’être mis d’accord sur le lieu des pourparlers, le Beau-Rivage
Palace d’Ouchy à Lausanne, les représentants turcs et des grandes
puissances se rencontrent entre novembre 1922 et juillet 1923. Au fil
des négociations, la Turquie réussit à faire reconnaître
internationalement sa souveraineté et ses frontières.

Le nouveau Traité est signé le 24 juillet au Palais de Rumine, à
Lausanne. Trois mois plus tard, Atatürk proclame la République,
transformant un Etat islamique encore médiéval en un Etat laïc
moderne.

Territoire kurde partagé

Pour les Kurdes, cette période marque le début d’un processus
d’assimilation forcée. Car le Traité de Lausanne signifie aussi la
fin des espoirs d’autonomie pour les minorités de la région. Les
Kurdes voient leur territoire partagé principalement entre trois
Etats: la Turquie, l’Irak et l’Iran.

Lors des négociations de Lausanne, leur sort n’était en effet plus
d’actualité pour les grandes puissances, notamment pour les
Britanniques, soucieux de préserver les territoires riches en pétrole
situés à l’est de l’Anatolie. La Turquie y renonçait et cette région
passait sous le mandat britannique du Nord de l’Irak.

AZERI PUBLIC TV COMPANY PLANS TO BROADCAST PROGRAMS IN ARMENIAN

YEREVAN, JULY 19. ARMINFO. The administration of the newly created
Public TV Company of Azerbaijan is planning the broadcast of programs
in Armenian.

Azeri media reports that the company’s director general Ismail Omarov
says that the issue will be finalized after a public opinion poll. “The
Nagorno Karabakh Armenians are also Azerbaijan’s citizens. We are
going to provide them with a special status. Azeri citizens should
be informed of the processes in the country and its development. When
they learn that they will be the first to stand up against the Armenian
occupation,” says Omarov.

He notes that the broadcasting may be started before the Karabakh
conflict settlement.

ARMENTEL ANNOUNCES NEW TARIFF

PanArmenian news network
July 18 2005

19.07.2005 04:12

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ArmenTel telephone company has announced introducing
new tariff form corporate subscribers of the mobile network,
the company Press Service told .am edition of PanARMENIAN.Net. The
Corporate tariff plan provides for cooperation with juridical persons,
who own 5 and more telephone lines of Sim-card packages. According to
the new tariff plan, one-minute conversation in the corporate network
will cost 27 drams, a call to the ArmenTel GSM common network – 35,
just the same as a call to VivaCell network or the fixed telephone
network, while SMS is 16 drams. The prepayment for the tariff plan
in question makes 18 thousand drams, activation of a Sim-card with
activation of some services – 2400 drams, switching roaming services –
99 thousand drams. The prices are indicated without value added tax.

ARMENIAN MILK PRODUCERS TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL DAIRY FEDERATION

YEREVAN, JULY 18. ARMINFO. Representatives of international milk
producing companies including International Dairy Federation are
in Armenia now to discuss with their Armenian counterparts a wide
range of the industry related problems – from successful business to
healthy lifestyle.

The director of the leading milk producers in Armenia Ashtarak Kat
Ashot Apoyan says that Armenia’s accession into the federation will
allow the country to attract big money in its milk industry. To this
end Armenia should first set up a national dairy assocition comprising
local milk and dairy producers. Apoyan says that very soon Armenia’s
milk industry will comply with the international standards.

The representative of the federation Yorg Jeffers says that he and
his colleagues have visited two Armenian dairy companies and highly
appreciated the quality of products and especially the level of
production control. “We are going to offer this control mechanism to
the milk companies of other countries,” says Jeffers.

ARMENIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ATTRACTS INVESTMENTS IN HI-TECH STATES

PanArmenian News Network
July 18 2005

18.07.2005 06:20

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Development Agency has initiated
a telemarketing campaign for attracting investments to the sphere
of informational technologies of Armenia, head of the investment
department Hasmik Hovhannisian stated in conversation with “.am”
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In her words, during the telemarketing
campaign over 30 organizations of the EU states engaged in Hi-Tech
industry showed interest in cooperating with Armenia. “We achieved
agreement on cooperation with several companies intending to open
branches in Armenia. Other companies requested data on the situation
with the information technology industry in Armenia and expressed a
wish to meet and discuss possible cooperation. Armenia represented
high technologies with precision instruments, electronics, organic
chemistry, medicine and biotechnology. During a week the ADA working
group held meetings with the representatives of 13 out of 25 interested
companies, who inquired about the professional level of the Armenian
personnel. Hasmik Hovhannisian informed. She also said that the process
of attracting investments is not a one-day task and Armenia’s presence
in the investment package is a good result. To note, thanks to the
efforts of the ADA the Sonics branch was opened in Armenia.

PRAVDA, Russia
July 14 2005

Death toll from department store fire in Russia’s north reaches 24
07/12/2005 11:27

When the fire broke out, the department store quickly turned into a
large burning crematorium

Two unidentified criminals threw bottles of flammable fluid in the
Passage trade center in the town of Ukhta, in Russia’s north. The
fire, which broke out in the store, killed 24 people.

It was originally reported on Monday that the fire killed 18
shoppers, presumably women, and two men, who worked in the trade
center. The number of victims of the fire changed on Tuesday morning
– the death toll reached 24, Interfax reported with reference to the
north-Western department of Russia’s EMERCOM.

Investigators believe that the accident was based on a business
conflict: entrepreneurs of Slavic nationalities try to oust Caucasian
businessmen from the local commerce.

Taking into consideration the scale of the tragedy, the local
authorities decided to pay the funeral ceremony for all victims of
the accident. The day of the burial will be announced the mourning
day in the republic.

The majority of the victims died from combustion products, Echo of
Moscow radio station said. The fire in the trade center of the
northern city of Ukhta became the largest accident of the type in
Russia, which had been caused with criminal arson.

The fire in the Passage trade center, situated in the central, old
part of the city, broke out yesterday at 2:00 p.m. The fire raced
through the store quickly: it started on the ground floor in the
center of the building and then went through a long narrow corridor
to the only exit, having blocked all shoppers and vendors inside. The
fire enveloped the first floor a couple of minutes later and reached
the attic.

“The store used to be a 16-flat wooden barrack for settlers, – a
fireman explained. – The building was repaired and transformed into a
respectable and expensive trade center, but the security remained on
the level of a barrack. That is why, when the fire broke out, the
department store quickly turned into a large burning crematorium,”
said he.

The people that were staying inside the burning building, would run
out into narrow smoked corridors and fall down unconscious, having
inhaled too much of poisonous fumes. The panic-gripped people blocked
the only open exist from the building. Those staying on the first
floor were trying to break windows, but they could not make their way
out into the street because of the bars. One of the security guards
of the store managed to save about ten people from the fire. When the
guard was outside, he drove his offroad vehicle up to the building,
fixed a hook on the bars, that were blocking the window near the fire
exist and ripped it off. A crowd of desperate people rushed to the
embrasure immediately, trying to take hold of the fire escape. The
majority of the panicking people were falling down on the ground,
being unable to descend.

The entire building was on fire when fire brigades arrived. The
firemen managed to extinguish the fire two hours later, but the
weight of water ruined the burnt floor and the roof of the building.

Eyewitnesses of the tragedy said that they had seen two teenagers
running into the left wing of the ground floor. The teenagers threw a
bottle of flammable fluid in and escaped. Specialists found traces of
the flammable fluid afterwards, Newsru wrote.

It was not possible to arrest the criminals red-handed. Local police
officers are certain, though, that someone most likely hired the
teenagers for the arson attack. “The commercial situation in Ukhta
reminds the one in other cities of Russia. Entrepreneurs of the
Caucasian origin have the city’s commerce under their control.
Natives of Azerbaijan run food sales, Armenian nationals control the
field of manufactured good, whereas citizens of Dagestan are in
charge of transport. Our locals try to protest against the
Caucasians, who control the business in the city,” a police officer
said.

GOLDEN APRICOT TO RESTORE TRADITIONS

A1+
14-07-2005

Today Robert Kocharyan received the delegation of famous cinema
workers, who arrived in Armenia to take part in the second
International Yerevan Film Festival Golden Apricot-2005.

Welcoming the guests he thanked them for active participation and
noted that the festival has achieved wide popularity and will
certainly make its contribution in the history of cinema.

`The conduction of such festivals is very important for us’, he said
adding that it offers a splendid opportunity to restore the good
traditions of the Armenian cinema and be aware of the latest
developments.

When introducing the guests festival chairman Harutyun Khachtryan
noted that outstanding cinema workers have arrived in Armenia. In his
words, the geographical area of Golden Apricot has been considerably
enlarged , what made the festival more interesting and attractive.

AZG Armenian Daily #128, 13/07/2005

Cinema

GEDIKIAN’S NEW FILM PICTURES REAL ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS

French-Armenian film director Robert Gedikian arrived in Armenia to
shoot his 14th film titled “Armenia”. “One of the main aims of the
film is to show things that people fail to see in daily life. The key
thing is the idea of the film: to depict the life of the Armenians and
their environment. This is a love story that may take place anywhere
but in order to express my idea in whole we need to shoot it here
because Armenia has appeared in the center of world affairs”, Gedikian
says.

Armenian and French actors alike will star in the film. Main
developments will unfold in Yerevan and some episodes will be shot at
the monastery of Areni village and on the shore of Sevan Lake. Actress
Aria Askarid, Gedikian’s wife, will play the title role of Anna. “Anna
who arrives in Armenia to find her father is notices the crying
difference between the rich and the poor. This issue always interested
and troubled me not only in Armenia but also elsewhere.

Films dealing with human relations are understandable for all
mankind. I want to show by this film that values existing in great
countries exist in small countries too”, the director says.

Gedikian knows little about contemporary Armenian cinematography,
mentions only the names of Sergey Parajanov and Artavazd Peleshian. He
find out about his Armenian origin in childhood. “I was born in
Marseilles where 10 percent of the population were Armenians. I knew
about my Armenian roots since my childhood. But a mother tongue comes
from mother, and my mother was German, that’s why I speak not Armenian
but German”, he said.

Robert Gedikian will take part in 2d Golden Apricot international film
festival with 2 films shot last year — “The Mars Field Stroller”
dedicated to Fransoa Miteran and “My Father is an Engineer”. All of
his films were featured at the best film festivals of the world, and
he is sure that the “Armenia” will share that fate. Gedikian, by the
way, has already sold the film though shooting has not started yet. He
is also the producer of the film and Paradiz Company is the
pro-producer. The film will cost 2.5 million euros, which is a rather
small sum for French films.

“It is one of my principles to shoot not expensive films. I am doing a
craftsman’s work. In this film, I will depict the real picture of the
Armenian life: beautiful buildings with untidy yards and ruined
houses. I am well informed and know what’s going on in Armenia. I
think I have sufficient information about one of the most intolerable
phenomena — corruption”, Gedikian says. During the film shooting he
turns “dumb” till the end of the shooting, i.e. September 20. With
this film that will be ready on the independence day, the film
director wants to bring happiness to Armenia.

By Ruzan Poghosian

A1plus

| 14:05:05 | 05-07-2005 | Politics |

PASHAYEV DAMAGES AZERBAIJAN’S INTERESTS

`Expel Armenia’s representative from Azerbaijan’, the Organization for
Karabakh Liberation demanded protesting against the presence of Armenian
expert in Baku.

The other day chairman of Veradardz Hayk (Return to Armenia) organization,
native of Baku Robert Melik-Pashayev participated in seminar organized by
the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population and the PACE
Sub-Committee on Refugees. When addressing the seminar participants
Melik-Pashayev gave a report titled `Return of documents and property.’

According to day.az, the OKL claims that the participation of Armenia’s
representative in an event taking place in Baku damages Azerbaijan’s state
interests.

The authors of the statement threaten that if the authorities do not
undertake measures against Armenains they will proceed to action.

Only 34.7 per cent of Armenians want NATO membership – poll

Mediamax news agency
1 Jul 05

YEREVAN

Only 34.7 per cent of Armenian citizens and 52.5 per cent of experts
advocate Armenian membership in NATO, an opinion poll has shown.

The sociological survey called “Armenia’s place and role in the
region” was commissioned by the Armenian centre for national and
strategic studies (ACNIS) and conducted among 40 experts and 1,500
citizens who represent various sections of Armenia’s population,
Mediamax news agency reports.

Thirty per cent of the experts and 33.9 per cent of the polled
citizens were against Armenia’s membership in NATO.

It is noteworthy that 22.2 per cent of the experts and 24.9 per cent
of the citizens who were against the membership explained their
position by the absence of normal relations between Armenia and
Turkey.

Of the citizens who opposed NATO membership, 52.9 per cent believe
that Armenia must have a common security policy with Russia and must
remain a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. None
of the 40 polled experts shared this point of view.

On the other hand, 77.8 of the polled experts said that “NATO does not
expect Armenia to join it and it is meaningless to think about this”.