Author: Chmshkian Vicken

Online News Consumers Become Own Editors

By ANICK JESDANUN
.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – J.D. Lasica used to visit 20 to 30 Web sites for his
daily fix of news. Now, he’s down to three – yet he consumes more news
online than ever. Lasica is among a growing breed of information
consumers who use the latest Internet technologies to completely
bypass the home pages of news sites and jump directly to articles that
interest them.

He can scan some 200 Web journals and traditional news sites – all
without actually going out and visiting them.

Online news consumers are increasingly taking charge, getting their
news a la carte from a variety of outlets. Rarely do they depend on a
single news organization’s vision of the day’s top stories.

“The old idea of surfers coming to your Web site and coming to your
front door, that’s going away,” said Lasica, a former editor at The
Sacramento Bee. “People are going to come in through the side
window, through the basement, through the attic, anyway they want
to.”

Some Web sites are already responding.

“When we all started this 10 years ago, we wanted to be the one and
only place people come to,” said Jim Brady, executive editor of The
Washington Post’s Web site.

These days, he said, the Post is happy simply to be one of many
sources checked daily. He sees his home page as a starting point, and
during the July 7 bombings in London, the Post even linked to the BBC,
something unfathomable a few years ago.

The Post and Knight Ridder Digital, meanwhile, are redesigning Web
sites to spread elements previously found only on home pages.

And in a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them,” Knight Ridder
Inc., Gannett Co. and Tribune Co. collectively bought three-quarters
of Topix.net, a startup that provides tools for readers to bypass news
home pages. The New York Times has been paying an undisclosed amount
to have its headlines featured there.

Topix provides direct links to news stories it collects and sorts from
more than 10,000 sources, and it slices story by category as well as
region, down to the ZIP code.

A news aggregation service from Google Inc. scans more than 4,500
English sources and uses software to rank and display stories to which
it links, while America Online Inc. and Yahoo Inc. offer services that
rely more on humans.

Yahoo News, rather than trying to keep readers from leaving, provides
easy access to articles elsewhere using Really Simple Syndication, or
RSS, a technology that immediately notifies users of new entries on
their favorite news sites and Web journals.

“In this world where people are looking for multiple points of view,
if all you’re giving them is your view, … they are going to leave
anyway and maybe be less likely to come back,” said Neil Budde,
general manager for Yahoo News.

Many news organizations have tried to render online a packaged product
in the mold of the traditional newspaper or broadcast. That mentality
is changing, but slowly, Budde said.

News outlets are starting to add tools to untether readers from home
pages. The Associated Press, Reuters and others, for example, are
adding RSS support so readers can use tools like Yahoo’s to display
summaries and access stories directly.

Web journals, or blogs, present another way to bypass home pages. Many
are topic-centric and carry links that present the blogger’s rather
than a news editor’s vision of the top news items.

Some traditional news sites, including the Post, are even beginning to
let their columnists link to outside sources.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Yahoo News had 24.9 million visitors
in June, more than any single news outlet on the Internet, and only
MSNBC and CNN had more visitors than AOL News.

Google News ranked 13th among news sites.

At The New York Times’ Web site, referrals from RSS feeds account for
only 2 percent of traffic but represent the fastest growth – 8.5
million page views in June compared with about a half million in late
2003.

The new tools bring opportunities such as better ad targeting, but
they also present some challenges. The news agency Agence
France-Presse, for one, has sued Google for copyright infringement
over Google News’ use of photos and story excerpts.

Aggregators and feeds also potentially let readers select only the
topics they care about, ignoring other developments editors might deem
important, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American
Life Project and former managing editor at U.S. News and World Report.

But Charlie Tillinghast, general manager and publisher for MSNBC.com,
said the new tools can also alert readers to once-obscure items they
might not otherwise have seen.

Knight Ridder considers tools like Google News and Topix as “nothing
but incremental traffic from people who might not have otherwise seen
the site,” said Ross Settles, its vice president of strategy.

During the Scott Peterson murder trial, for instance, the chain’s San
Francisco area papers saw increases in traffic from outside the area.

The new age of online news will still need reporters to produce
stories and editors to make judgment calls.

The need for partners to provide content will never go away, said
Lewis D’Vorkin, editor in chief for AOL News.

Home pages will continue to serve as a jumping off point for some
readers, and MSNBC recently beefed up its home page to include
customized headlines that are chosen based on stories the reader
recently read.

But to stay relevant, online news sites must ultimately overcome their
reluctance to point elsewhere, said blogging pioneer Dave Winer.

“The reader wants lots of sources and doesn’t particularly care
whether you point offsite or onsite,” Winer said. “They just want
the story.”

And while news executives insist their brands will remain important as
trustworthy destinations, some readers prefer to trust individual
bloggers or friends who forward news items via e-mail.

Nicco Mele, webmaster for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, said he
rarely visits news sites directly anymore and instead trusts bloggers
like Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, a Dean supporter.

Pointing to Moulitsas at a recent conference, Mele remarked, “I’ll
read what he thinks I should read.”

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org

07/24/05 12:01 EDT

NKR CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
19 July 05

On June 8 the session of the NKR Constitutional Court took place.
There might be nothing extraordinary about this if such meetings were
not so rare. Somehow this session passed unnoticed by the mass media,
which is not good because the institution of the Constitutional Court
which is one of the principal attributes of a state is quite a new
thing for our society. The action of the NKR Constitutional Court is
set down by the article 20 of the NKR law on courts, by which the NKR
Supreme Court is vested with the powers of the NKR Constitutional
Court and acts according to the Law on the Constitutional Court
of the Republic of Armenia. The NKR Constitutional Court a)
decides the conformity of the laws and decisions adopted by the NKR
National Assembly, the decrees and orders of the president of the
republic, the decisions of the government with the constitution; b)
judges the disputes on the results of referendums, presidential and
parliamentary elections; 3) recognizes the obstacles occurring before
the presidential candidate of the republic as irresistible or null;
4) decides on the existence of sufficient ground for impeachment of
the president of the republic, etc. The Constitutional Court can be
sued by: the president of the republic; one third of the members of
parliament; presidential and parliamentary candidates for disputes
on the results of elections; the government in the case defined
by the article 59 of the Constitution. The readers may wonder what
the citizens who do not have identical rights are supposed to do. In
accordance with the NKR legislation the citizens of NKR have the right
to go to ordinary courts (the NKR Court of First Instance, the Court
of Appeal, the Court of Cassation). And the questions which fall under
the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court can be addressed to the
deputies of the NKR National Assembly, and in case of necessity one
third of the parliament appeals to the Constitutional Court. Now
about the latest meeting of the Constitutional Court of NKR. The
parliamentary candidate Arthur Hakobian nominated from the electoral
district 20 appealed to the NKR Constitutional Court to annul the
results of the parliamentary election because of severe violations
of the NKR Electoral Code during the poll. The Constitutional Court
observed the essential principles of the process, i.e. brief (art. 21
(1) b); oral argument (art. 21 (2) c); continuity (art. 22); equality
of litigants. At the same time it is not clear why there were only
two justices if the Law on the Constitutional Court provides for 5
judges. What if there is a split? The session of the Constitutional
Court revealed the faults of the NKR Electoral Code, which affect the
course of making the results of elections valid or invalid. These
are the lack of a defined procedure of lodging a complaint against
the election commissions in the article 41 of the Electoral Code;
defining of breaches affecting the results of the election. In the
end I would like to point out the professionalism of the justices
of the NKR Constitutional Court who objectively heard the appeal
of the parliamentary candidate of the election district 20 Arthur
Hakobian and made a ruling in accordance with the NKR Law on the
Constitutional Court.

G. SAFARIAN. 19-07-2005

CD Review: New System of a Down disc welds music, message
by BRENT BALDWIN Satellite Correspondent

Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
July 15, 2005 Friday
Final Home Edition

System of a Down is the pseudonym behind one of the most unique,
high-energy and bizarrely twisted sounds in the music industry today.

The band, four Armenian-Americans hailing from Los Angeles, put
together the finest elements of heavy metal, Armenian folk music,
new wave and pseudo-funk to create an aggressive, hyperactive and at
times mesmerizing sound.

The band’s extremely talented line-up includes
guitarist-songwriter-singer Daron Malakian, lead
vocalist-keyboardist-string arranger Serj Tankian, bassist Shavo
Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan.

Malakian leads the way on the stunning new release, “Mesmerize,”
writing almost all the lyrics and music, as well as singing more
often than he has on past albums.

“Mesmerize” is a stunning package, even when you first open it. It’s
tough to predict what will capture the buyer first — the astoundingly
creative cover art by Malakian’s father, Vartan Malakian, or the
gigantic parental advisory label on the front that warns of explicit
material, drug references, sexual references and foul language.

Regardless, the music inside of the peculiar package makes this album
one of the best releases of the year.

The political messages System of a Down has recorded in the past are
still prevalent in this effort, and they start right away with a sort
of political lullaby intro named “Soldier Side,” which only has three
lines of lyrics:

“Welcome to the soldier side where there’s no one here but me /
People all grow up to die / There is no one here but me.”

Then the listener is promptly kicked in the face/ears by the
aggressive, electric energy of the (also very political) single
“B.Y.O.B.” Another apt title for this song would be “Schizophrenic
Shuffle.” It changes tempos on a dime, going from metal shredding
to psychotic riffing to its catchy pop chorus: “Everybody’s going to
the party / have a real good time / Dancing in the desert / blowing
up the sunshine.”

It’s a sharp attack on the behind-the-scenes decision-makers for the
Iraq war.

Other political statements can be found in “Sad Statue” and “Cigaro,”
where issues are dramatized and put into guitar-driven tanks of songs.

And this is only the start of the scathing social commentary that
presents itself throughout the album.

Pointed assaults on the seemingly mind-numbing entertainment industry
are laid out like National Enquirers in a grocery store. The band
takes those who believe in a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and wake them up
to the real world of nonreality/MTV with songs such as “Radio/Video”
and “Violent Pornography.”

“Radio/Video” is pure mockery at its best, and “Violent Pornography” is
a look at what TV is becoming, with shows like “Desperate Housewives”
and “The O.C.” commercializing sex, a step that System of a Down
feels will lead to widespread XXX television.

“It’s a violent pornography / choking chicks and sodomy / the kind
of (expletive) you get on your TV / it’s a nonstop disco / turn off
the TV.”

The catchiness and absurdly fast tempo of the music makes it sting
with a certain urgency, as if television must be fixed now before
it’s too late.

“Old School Hollywood” is more of a comic relief track on the album,
along with “This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m on This Song.”

“Old School Hollywood” is about Malakian’s experience at a celebrity
baseball game where he felt completely out of place with washed-up,
stuck-up movie stars. The music is heavy with ’80s new-wave keyboards
and relentlessly paced guitars.

Intensity runs rampant on the album. “Revenga” is a hyped ode to
revenge, while “Question!” is an utterly poetic and spiritual song
with fret-busting, guitar-laden verses and almost Evanescence-esque
dark choruses.

“Lost in Hollywood” closes the album, highlighting Malakian’s
insecurity about being a resident of Hollywood and the false,
dog-eat-dog lifestyle celebrities celebrate:

“Phony people come to pray / Look at all of them beg to stay / You
should’ve never trusted Hollywood.”

Sometime later this year fans will get the follow-up disc, “Hypnotize,”
which is bound to carry just as heavy a message in an impeccable
musical package.

Powerful emotions, political awareness and raw energy make this album
one of the best buys of the year.

In the game of metal, System of a Down makes, bends and breaks the
rules with innovative style, boldness and energy.

ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT OF YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY IS ENGAGED IN
POLITICAL CENSORSHIP

YEREVAN, JULY 14. ARMINFO. Instead of watching on architectural look
of the blighted capital, architectural department of Yerevan
municipality has been engaged in political censorship. Thus,
department’s officials have forbidden recently to put up a poster
saying “Whether it becomes impossible to live in the motherland?”
elaborated on the public initiative of the Association of Friends and
Workers of Armenia’s Museums. As informed at a today’s meeting
Association’s Head Marine Aroyan, the refusal was motivated by that
the poster was politicized enough.

The Association was created in 2004 having an aim to join the
potential of museums’ workers and find new ways for the development of
museum-business in Armenia. The Association includes 30 museums, 40
museum workers are its members. They organize joint exhibitions,
expositions, conduct seminars and cooperate actively with both the
UNESCO and the “Soros Foundation” International Benevolent
Organization. Owing to this cooperation, country’s 4 museums have
received small grants on fulfilling visitors’ attraction programs –
the most actual problem for Armenian museums.

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

CROSSROADS July 14, 2005

DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP SHAHE AJEMIAN
Archbishop Shahe Ajemian, who most recently was the Dean of the
Department of Theology at Yerevan State University, died yesterday in
Armenia. Archbishop Ajemian was 78 years old and had been sick for some
time. He was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1926. He is a graduate of the
Theological Seminary of the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias Lebanon, where
he was ordained a celibate priest in 1947. A noted scholar and teacher, he
furthered his studies at the University of Brussels. From 1965 to 1994 he
was a member of the St. James congregation in Jerusalem. In 1994 he was
appointed to head the Department of Theology at Yerevan State University.

V. REV. ANOUSHAVAN APPOINTED
V. Rev. Fr. Anoushavan Tanielian, the Vicar General of the Eastern
Prelacy, has been appointed Ecumenical Officer in the United States for the
Eastern and Western Prelacies. The appointment was announced by His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. Hayr Anoushavan will carry
out his new ecumenical duties while continuing to serve as the Vicar General
of the Eastern Prelacy.

POWERFUL EXPLOSION AFFECTS CILICIAN CATHOLICATE
On Tuesday, July 12, a powerful explosion, heard many miles away, took
place in a Christian neighborhood in northern suburban Beirut, nearby the
Catholicate of Cilicia. Lebanon’s Defense Minister was wounded in the
bombing that killed at least two people and injured a dozen others.
A Press Release from the Catholicate said that the explosion took place
about 10:30 a.m, near the Catholicosal complex on the road to the mountain
town of Bikfaya where the See’s Theological Seminary is located. The blast
shattered windows of the Veharan (the Catholicos’ residence and
administrative center) and light damage was incurred to the main reception
room and the bookstore.

ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN WILL TRAVEL TO
BOSTON THIS WEEKEND
Archbishop Oshagan will be in Massachusetts this weekend. On Sunday he
will preside over the Divine Liturgy at St. Stephen’s Church in Watertown.

CATHOLICOS CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACKS IN LONDON
His Holiness Aram I condemned the terrorist attacks in London that took
the lives of many innocent individuals and injured hundreds. In a letter
sent to the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan
Williams of Canterbury, His Holiness expressed condolences, sympathy and
support for the English people.
His Holiness said, “Such terrorist acts are against the religious,
moral and human values and principles. We must join our churches and
religions to condemn violence in all its forms and expressions.”
His Holiness also expressed concern and support to the families of the
victims, and wished a quick recovery to all those who were injured.

CILICIAN SEE’S THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
COMPLETES 75TH ACADEMIC YEAR
The Seminary of the Catholicate of Cilicia has successfully completed
its 75th academic year under the guidance of His Holiness Aram I and with
the cooperative efforts of the administration, staff and students.
“Throughout the year we tried to renew our old selves, to become new
beings through Christ and our Seminary’s 75-year old rich heritage. It has
always been said that the Seminary is not a school in the usual meaning of
the word, it’s not only an institution that delivers education; the Seminary
is all these, but it is also an institution that shapes and forms characters
with faith, Armenian culture and values; it is to follow the path of our
ancestors, the path of faith and love, light and hope, service and holiness,
and integrity and work,” said Fr. Bartev Gulumian, the Dean of the Seminary.
The Seminary’s 75th anniversary is being commemorated worldwide during
2005. His Holiness is making visits to all of the dioceses under the
jurisdiction of the Cilician See specifically for this purpose.

CATHOLICOS WILL VISIT EASTERN PRELACY IN OCTOBER
His Holiness Aram I will visit the Eastern Prelacy from October 19 to
November 1. The primary purpose of the visit is to celebrate the 75th
anniversary of the Theological Seminary in Antelias, Lebanon. This year is
also the tenth anniversary of His Holiness’ election and consecration as
Catholicos of Cilicia. Full details of the events will be forthcoming.

GRANDDAUGHTER FOR REV. FR. VARTAN AND YR. PAULINE KASSABIAN
A joyous message from Rev. Fr. Vartan and Yeretzgeen Pauline Kassabian,
of St. Gregory Church, North Andover, Massachusetts, announced the birth of
their first grandchild, Grace Katherine born on June 28. Parents are Scott
and Johanna Gauvin from Springfield, Illinois.
Der Hayr and Yeretzgeen write: “We are so blessed to have a beautiful
little girl in our lives. May God bless her and keep her healthy through her
new life. We wanted to share this great news with all our friends and
thought the Crossroads was a good way to get the good news out!”

NAREG SRPAZAN AT THE PRELACY
Bishop Nareg Alemezian, ecumenical officer for the Catholicate of
Cilicia, visited the Prelacy this week. Nareg Srpazan is on several
different ecumenical missions on behalf of His Holiness Aram I.
Bishop Nareg previously served within the Eastern Prelacy, first in
Vancouver, and later as pastor of Sts. Vartanantz Church in Ridgefield, New
Jersey.

LECTURE BY ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
CITES VIGEN GUROIAN ON ETHICAL THINKING
In a lecture delivered at Oxford, Archbishop Rowan Williams of
Canterbury, cites several “great thinkers,” including Vigen Guroian, in the
field of ethics. He writes:
“Bulgakov doesn’t elaborate this at great length, but there’s actually
quite a lot of work to be done on what ethics would look like in the context
of a doctrine of holy wisdom like this. And those great thinkers who in the
last 15 or so years have begun to shift Christian ethics towards a
different, church-related model are moving in precisely this direction.
Whether it’s Alistair MacIntyre, Stanley Hauerwas, John Millbank or Vigen
Guroian (himself an Armenian Christian) all of these writers in their
different ways seem to be saying that ethics is to be understood only in the
context of the body of Christ. We are not talking about duties and rules,
nor are we talking about the freedom of self-expression. When we talk about
ethics we are talking about the realization of wisdom, not human prudence,
but the self-sacrificing wisdom of God which is the heart of all reality,
and the centre of all life.”
The entire lecture is available at:

TODAY IS BASTILLE DAY
Today, July 14, is Bastille Day, a national holiday in France similar to
the U.S.’s Fourth of July. The day commemorates the storming of the
Bastille, which took place on July 14, 1789, and marked the beginning of the
French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison in France where the monarchs
often imprisoned dissidents. Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners
at the time of the “storming” it had become a symbol against oppression and
for liberty, equality, and fraternity.

SONS AND GRANDSONS OF ST. GREGORY
REMEMBERED THIS WEEK
This Saturday, July 16, the Armenian Church commemorates the lives of
the sons and grandsons of St. Gregory the Illuminator, Sts. Aristakes,
Vrtanes, Housik, Grigoris, and Daniel (who actually was not related but was
a valued student of St. Gregory).
All of the above mentioned continued the work of St. Gregory, preaching
the word of Christ to pagans, at great cost to their own lives.
St. Gregory had two sons: Aristakes and Vrtanes. Aristakes succeeded
Gregory as Catholicos and was martyred around 333 A.D. Aristakes represented
the Armenian Church at the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325. It was
at this council that the Nicene Creed, recited to this day during the Divine
Liturgy, was written and adopted. Vertanes-at this time over 70 years
old-was called upon to become catholicos and served for eight years until
his death. Vrtanes had two sons, Grigoris and Housig. Grigoris preached in
the northern provinces of Armenia (now Georgia) where he was martyred.
Housik, although not a clergyman, was called upon to assume the catholicosal
throne. He was martyred in 347.
Daniel, who as noted above, was not related to Gregory, is included
with the sons and grandsons. He was chosen to succeed Housik as catholicos,
but never actually served as he too was martyred one year later in 348.

ARMENIAN CATALOGUE AVAILABLE
In recent weeks the Bookstore has received many new books in Armenian.
For a catalogue of available books in Armenian send a request by email to
[email protected] or contact the Prelacy Bookstore at 212-689-7810.

AND FINALLY IN HONOR OF JULY, THE MONTH OF LIBERTY.

“Liberty!” answered from on high
The sovereign voice of Destiny:
“Wilt thou enroll thyself henceforth
A soldier true of Liberty?
The path is thorny all the way,
And many trials wait for thee;
Too strait and narrow is this world
For those who loveth Liberty.”

The fourth stanza from a poem entitled “Liberty”
by Michael Nalbandian (1830-1866)
Translated by Alice Stone Blackwell

Calendar of Events
July 23, 2005-Dinner Dance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Ladies’
Guild of Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, Rhode Island.

August 8-18-Christian Educational Program in Armenia for the Prelacy
sponsored orphans (ages 12 and 13), at Dzaghgatsor, conducted by V. Rev. Fr.
Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General and Dn. Shant Kazanjian, Director of the
Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC).

August 27-National Educators’ Seminar sponsored by the Armenian National
Education Committee (ANEC), at Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, NJ.

September 25-35th anniversary of St. Gregory Armenian Church of North
Andover, Massachusetts, presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan.

October 19-November 1-Visit of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia, to the Eastern Prelacy, commemorating the 75th anniversary
of the establishment of the Cilician Seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.

October 28-29-Mashtots Conference celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the
founding of the Armenian alphabet, at Harvard University. Jointly sponsored
by the Eastern Prelacy and Harvard University Mashtots Chair, Department of
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

November 11-13-Mini-Datev program for the Midwest parishes.

March 17-19, 2006-Sunday School Teachers’ Conference at the Wonderland
Conference and Retreat Center in Sharon, MA.

Parishes of the Eastern Prelacy are invited to send information about their
major events to be included in the calendar. Send to:
[email protected]

Visit our website at

ARKA News Agency
July 13 2005

OVER 20 APPLICATIONS AND COMPLAINTS IN A WRITTEN FORM SENT TO THE NKR
CENTRAL ELECTION COMMITTEE

STEPANAKERT, July 13. /ARKA/. Over 20 applications and complaints in
a written form were sent to the NKR Central Election Committee (CEC)
during the recent parliamentary elections, the Secretary of the CEC
Raya Nazaryan stated. According to her, all of them were considered,
and four applications that required additional verification, were
sent to the law-enforcement bodies of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Decisions on three cases made by the Office of Public Prosecutor and
Court were received.
“On the whole, the general opinion of CEC and law -enforcement bodies
is that insignificant shortcomings, if any, haven’t influenced on the
results of voting”, she said. A.H. -0–

Azeri ruling party members, foreign minister discuss polls with Albright

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
13 Jul 05

[Presenter in studio] The former US secretary of state and chairwoman
of the Board of Directors of the National Democratic Institute [NDI],
Madeleine Albright, met representatives of the [ruling] New Azerbaijan
Party [NAP] and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov today.

The key topic was the upcoming parliamentary election. However, the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem was also discussed during the talks with the
foreign minister.

[Correspondent over a meeting with the NAP] The meeting with Madeleine
Albright will help form an impartial impression of Azerbaijan in the
international community, Ali Ahmadov, executive secretary of the
ruling NAP, said after the meeting with Madeleine Albright, the former
US secretary of state and chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the
National Democratic Institute. The public-political situation and the
current election situation were discussed in detail, he added.

Ali Ahmadov informed Albright of equal opportunities created for all
political forces, which will make it possible to hold free and
transparent elections.

[Ali Ahmadov] I consider that our information and exchange of opinions
will create a clear view of the realities of the election situation in
Azerbaijan. In any case, the aim of our meeting was to help Albright
get an impression of Azerbaijan based on coherent information from
different sides.

[Correspondent] Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also
received Albright today. The meeting discussed Azerbaijani-US
relations, relations between the countries and mainly the
public-political situation ahead of the elections. However, the sides
also touched on the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. The
minister also commented on reports alleging that a referendum will be
held on the status of Nagornyy Karabakh.

[Mammadyarov] I noticed in today’s press that there are rumours and
insinuations. I want to reiterate and make sure that the talks are
being conducted on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
that everything is in line with the Azerbaijani constitution.

[Correspondent] The minister said that he is ready for talks with his
Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanyan, anywhere and at any time. He
said that the opposite side’s consent is needed for such a meeting to
take place.

AZG Armenian Daily #129, 14/07/2005

Cinema

ATOM EGOYAN WANTS TO SEE INTERESTED SPECTATORS IN ARMENIA

Golden Apricot International Film Festival launched at “Nairi” movie
theatre on July 12. After the opening ceremony of the festival the
organizers began the sacred ceremony of blessing apricots at
St. Zoravor church. Atom Egoyan, film director, stated during the
press conference that the festival is an unprecedented phenomenon for
our culture and added he was proud for that. He said that it is very
important that the films of foreign directors as well are included in
the film festival, as it became an international one this year. Atom
Egoyan also emphasized the importance of representing the films of our
old masters to the young Armenian spectators. He said he will be glad
if the spectators will have the opportunity to begin a dialogue with
the cinematographers. Atom Egoyan has just returned from the film
festival in Karlovi Vari and he said the young Armenian spectators
were very interested and encouraged here too.

Mr. Egoyan is glad that the festival helps the directors to
communicate with each other. “Yesterday I had a nice evening with
Kiarostami. I have met him during a number of film festivals and I am
glad to see him here,” Mr. Egoyan said.

Atom Egoyan said that it will be difficult to chose among the films,
as there are many films that won first prizes at international film
festivals. “Atomic Truth,” the last film of the director will not be
shown at the festival, as Egoyan wanted to be included in the
activities of the jury solely. But he said that soon the film will be
shown both in Russia and in Armenia. “It was shot to be shown in the
Cannes, but I am still working on that,” he said.

Ruben Gevorgiants, head of the jury for documentary films, said that
the festival is developing. He compared the festival with a child that
learns to walk and soon will tell the world about our country.

Atom Egoyan said that in the beginning he didn’t get the meaning of
this year’s symbol of the festival, but when he understood that, he
got hungry.

By Tamar Minasia

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 12 2005

Intermediaries to seek rapprochement in conflicting sides’ positions

Baku, July 11, AssA-Irada
The intermediaries on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper
Garabagh visiting the region met with Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov in Baku on Monday.
The visit targets holding broad discussions to bring closer the
positions of the conflicting sides on the eve of the August meeting
of the two countries’ Presidents in Kazan, Russia, said the OSCE
Minsk Group (MG) co-chairs Bernard Fassier of France, Steven Mann of
the United States and Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia.
Minister Mammadyarov and the co-chairs exchanged views on a full
range of issues pertaining the `Prague talks’. The parties also
agreed to meet the next day to continue the discussions, the Foreign
Ministry said.*

Zaman, Turkey
July 11 2005

‘People Focus on Armenian Issue, Ignore Srebrenica Massacre’
By Foreign News Desk
Published: Monday July 11, 2005
zaman.com

The commemoration ceremonies for the 10th anniversary of the
Srebrenica massacre open the wounds of people who witnessed the
bloodbath. In the Srebrenica carnage, 8,000 Muslim Bosnians were
massacred towards the end of Bosnian War in Srebrenica, under the
United Nations (UN) protection.

A cover page article titled “Witnesses Tell about Srebrenica Genocide
on Its 10th Anniversary” published in the Aksiyon weekly news
magazine relates accounts by those who witnessed the butchery. The
massacre, which took place before the eyes of Dutch soldiers who were
commissioned in the UN Peace Force, is told related by eyewitnesses
as follows:

Bosnia Herzegovina Losses Commission President Amur Marsovic: 27.734
citizens were lost during the war. Ninety-two percent of them were
Bosnians, 6 percent Bosnian Serbs and 1.7 percent Bosnian Croatians.
A Macedonian Turkish citizen, Saban Huseyinov was also among the
victims. Thirteen percent of the fatalities are women. Ninety percent
of the victims were civilians. The data shows that it was a planned
annihilation. We discovered 366 mass graves.

‘Bones belonging to one person can be found in three different mass
graves’

All the graves are in the Serbian region. We have found the corpses
of 20 thousand citizens so far by deduction. I say ‘by deduction’,
because a corpse belonging to a single person was pieced together
from three different graves in a 30-kilometer radius of each other.
In addition, we encountered corpses, which had changed places few
times. We found bones cut to pieces by heavy construction equipment.
Even the Nazis were not so brutal. The Western world wants to ignore
the massacre and not accept responsibility for it. This is what hurts
us most. If we must live together again, they should accept this.
They pressure Turkey to accept the Armenian genocide but the
parliamentarians themselves to not discuss this. Political decisions
are taken, but Srebrenica massacre occurred ten years ago and all of
its witnesses are here. They want to burry Srebrenica into history
and cover it up.

Srebrenica Massacre architect remains in office

Hasan Nuhanovich translates for the Dutch soldiers, “The Serbs
occupied the villages near the city and bombarded them. Despite the
occurrence of these incidents, United Nations (UN) commanders said,
“Do not worry, you are under our protection until a political
solution is found. If the Serbs attack, we will bomb them by planes.”
The Serbs attacked the city from four different directions on July 6.
The Dutch troops did not shoot even a single bullet. They collected
the Bosnians together who wanted to defense themselves and seized
their weapons already less in number. The biggest massacre occurred
from 11-12 July 1995. Serb soldiers occupying the city separated the
men from the women. They killed some of the men at point blank and
took others to the forest. The Dutch soldiers watched the incidents
and some of them even helped the Serbs. They took about 5,000
Bosnians including my brother out of the concentration camp on July
13 and killed men in full view of the others. I lost both my father
and mother at the same time. The biggest injustice the Dutch soldiers
did to the Bosnians was keeping the developments secret. The world
did not learn about what was going on here for a long time. Mane
Curic, the Srebrenica police chief chose people to be killed in front
of the UN troops. He is still the security chief in Srebrenica.
Neither the European Union (EU) nor the US has done anything on the
issue. Despite knowing Mladic’s whereabouts, US soldiers have not
apprehended him.

Nura Alispahic: When I turned on the television to watch the news
last month, I saw my little son for whom I have cried for during the
past 10 years. These were the first images of the Srebrenica massacre
broadcast by The Hague. My son had lost a lot of weight. The Serbs
took them out of a car. Then, they executed four of them by shooting
them. I saw my son later. When they killed the person next to him, my
son returned to view. He looked as if he was asking for help. I
rushed to the television from where I sat and fainted at the second
step. They shot my son. I saw him for the last time when the Serbs
entered the city. Thousands of Bosnians like us had taken shelter in
a factory where the Dutch soldiers had camped. The soldiers handed us
over to the Serbs. My son was looking for an escape exit from the
forest to flee the impending execution. I cannot forget the moment I
embraced him for the last time.

Nura Alispahic’s daughter Makbule: The Serbs planned everything in
advance. The UN soldiers silences us. While we were awaiting death,
they were amusing each other. Even the drivers of the buses bringing
us to Tuzla were Serbs. When the Chetniks stopped the buses on the
road, the drivers opened the doors and said to them, “Take whichever
one you like!”

Vice President of Srebrenica Mothers Foundation Kada Hotic: “I lost
my husband, children and many of my relatives on July 11. The bones
of my husband and his relatives were found in a mass grave recently;
but still there is no news of my children. I do not think that there
will be fair trials at the War Crimes Trial in Lahey. Will the
Western World, which condoned the war crimes during the war, find the
criminals and judge them? No! Everything we experienced is so
transparent; but we cannot find any addressee to apply. No Western
foundation wants to accept the events we experienced, as genocide.
1042 children are still lost. 570 girls were violated and killed.
They executed men by shooting them in front of my eyes. They killed a
little child, who was crying out of fear of being executed by
snatching him from his mother’s arms. There are thousands of
eyewitnesses to these events; but no one listens to them.

Elvisa Lokman: When the war started, my childhood ended.

My father was never with me when I needed him most. I will never
forget how the Serbs decapitated Akif and played football with his
head. I thought my childhood would be returned to me after Srebrenica
was made secure. I will never forgive myself for not embracing and
kissing my father. I did not want to believe that it would be the
last time I saw him. But, I never saw him again. Today, I am still
afraid of the dark. I jump out of bed screaming at the slightest
sound in the house.

Our Serbian neighbor was shouting: Kill for me too

>From the Srebrenica memoir of Sevliya Feyzic: Early in the morning,
we all went to the factory where the UN troops were camped. We were
15,000 people in and around the factory. The UN soldiers did nothing.
The Serbs raped young girls. Some men were shot before the factory.
On July 12, in the morning, trucks and buses arrived. Among the Serb
soldiers, I saw two of my neighbors, Zlatan and Cvetin. They were
shouting as they kicked us. The bus driven by the Serbs headed
towards Bratunats. On the road, there were Chetniks who stopped the
buses, chose some men and shot them. Our neighbor Milan Micic driving
the car opened the door and shouted, “Kill for me too”. The Serbs got
down and raped young girls among who was my aunt’s daughter.

The Bosnian Major of Srebrenica: Before the war, the population of
Srebrenica was 36,000, of which 20,000 was Bosnian, 8,000 Serb, and
the remaining part consisted of Croats and other ethnic groups. Only
3,000 Bosnians could return to the city. There are currently 10,000
people living in the city 6,000 of whom are Serb.