Author: Dabaghian Diana

PROJECT HARMONY CELEBRATES GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY

YEREVAN, APRIL 13. ARMINFO. Project Harmony-Armenia, together with
organizations from more than 100 countries around the world, is
planning community service projects and special events to celebrate
the 6th Annual Global Youth Service Day, which will take place from
15-17 April 2004.

Project Harmony Office in Yerevan informs ARMINFO that Global Youth
Service Day (GYSD) is an annual global event led by Youth Service
America with the Global Youth Action Network as its key partner,
together with a consortium of 34 International Organizations and more
than 150 National Coordinating Committees. It is a public education
campaign that highlights the amazing contributions made by youth
year-round to their communities through volunteering. Since GYSD
started, a number of international organizations have joined Youth
Service America and Global Youth Action Network to expand this
program, including Inter-American Development Bank, Youth Employment
Summit, IEARN, Service for Peace and others. One of the major events
taking place in the framework of GYSD is the visit to Nork elderly
house. On April 15 students from Yerevan school

131 will prepare PowerPoint presentation on London and together with
grannies will create a “Virtual Tour” to the capital of Great
Britain. On the same day young artists from “Tsitsernak” NGO will
make a visit to the same elderly house to give a small performance of
singing and dancing. Similar visits to the elderly houses will be
organized in other regions of Armenia.

Some other interesting events, such as the human rights seminar for
disabled children in Lori region, visiting the Second World War
veterans in Vayots Dzor region, and the Gavar orphanage children’s
visit to the ICC will be implemented under GYSD. In addition, all
Internet Computer Centers (ICCs) created through the Armenia School
Connectivity Program in all eleven regions of Armenia will provide
the local community with free service by organizing an open doors day
on April 16 and 17. During these hours the site staff and students
will promote the ICC to the community and will help visitors use ICC
resources. At the same time, a community service project will be
organized by each ICC, which will include the cleaning of school
grounds and neighboring parks, tree planting, and other projects. In
Yerevan, on April 16 all schools will participate in the City
subbotnik (cleaning day) organized by the Yerevan municipality.

Project Harmony builds strong communities by fostering civic
leadership, harnessing Internet technology and facilitating
cross-cultural experiential learning. Project Harmony was founded in
Vermont in 1985 as a grass-roots exchange organization for Soviet and
American high schools. Today, Project Harmony has 13 offices
worldwide. In its 20-year history, Project Harmony has facilitated
educational, professional, cultural, and community-based programs
involving hundreds of families and individuals.

RA AMBASSADOR TO CANADA SPEAKS ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN INTERVIEW TO
STUDENT RADIOSTATION OF UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

OTTAWA, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The Student Radiostation of the
University of Ottawa broadcast live an half hour’s interveiw with Ara
Papian, the Ambassador of Armenia to Canada on April 11. As Noyan
Tapan was informed from the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, the interview was dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide, its causes and consequences, as well as events in Canada
dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Genocide. The radiostation
broadcasts for 17 thousand students of the University of Ottawa but it
is acceptable in the most part of the city of Ottawa. The interveiw
will be broadcast once more on April 14.

A1plus

| 14:15:21 | 13-04-2005 | Social |

HUMAN RIGHTS LIBRARY IN SEVAN TOWN

>From now on in the Sevan town the protection of Human Rights is paid serious
attention. Today the opening ceremony of the Human Rights Library was held
in the Cultural Palace of Sevan town. Representatives of state governing and
local self-governing bodies, as well as international, local organizations
and the mass media were invited to the event.

Sevan Human Rights Library is the sixth one among the libraries of the ACRPC
Human Rights Library Network. The other libraries are located in Vanadzor,
Dilijan, Hrazdan, Artashat and Gavar towns of Armenia.

There is a reading-room in the newly founded library; it is saturated with
modern computer techniques and stationary.

The book fund is accounted through the software program WINISIS, which also
gives the opportunity of a fast search of needed publications.

The readers make use also of the Legal Informative System IrTek, which
represents the e-versions of the full set of legislative enactments, laws
and legal acts adopted by state bodies of the republic.

At present the Network possesses about 15000 pieces of literature of 3600
titles. The libraries receive the periodical republican and foreign press.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 12 2005

FRANCE SUPPORTS PEACE POLICY OF AZERBAIJAN
[April 12, 2005, 11:23:23]

Speaker of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijan Parliament) Murtuz Alaskarov has
received the visiting Chairman of the French-Azerbaijan Friendship
Group, Senator Ambroise Dupont, April 11.

Greeting the guest, Mr. Alaskarov spoke of the history of relations
between two countries, of importance of the historical visit of the
nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to France in 1993. He
said, President Ilham Aliyev as a president also has made his first
visit to France, and that the agreements signed during this visit
have set up firm ground for a new stage in the bilateral relations.
Over 25 French companies work in Azerbaijan. They mainly are engaged
in large-scale projects.

Chairman of the Milli Majlis recalled his meetings with the Chairman
of the French Senate Poncelet last year in Versailles during which
was reached agreements on tourism and cultural links underlining that
the recently opened Cultural Center of France in Baku is logic
continuation of that agreement.

Speaker of Parliament said Azerbaijan has great potential to develop
tourism in the country. Bu occupation on 20 percent of the Country’s
territories seriously impedes development of this branch at a due
level.

The people of Azerbaijan expect much form France as one of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs. The co-chairs better to take strict measures
against the aggressor, he emphasized.

Senator Ambroise Dupont expressed consent for warm reception and
provided information, conveyed greetings of the Chairman of French
Senate Christian Poncelet to Mr. Alskarov. He expressed pleasure with
the changes in the country, especially with the quick economic
development. Azerbaijan has much potential for greater development
but its needs peace in region, he said. Azerbaijan adherence to peace
in the Nagorno Karabakh problem is important. `We welcome this policy
and support’, Mr. Dupont underlined.

In the meeting, also were exchanged views on a number of other issues
of mutual interest.

Cyprus Press and Information Office, Occupied Northern Cyprus
April 12 2005

Erdogan called for Armenians to apologize to Turkey

Istanbul NTV television (11.04.05) broadcast that the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Norway while on an
official visit, said that the concept of Kurds must not be confused
with the PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan] and he also commented on
the Armenian genocide claims.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said that we must not confuse the
concept of Kurds with the concept of PKK and noted that viewing all
the Kurdish citizens of Turkey as terrorists will be wrong. He noted:
‘Let us not be tricked. The Western countries are exploiting that.’
Stressing that the republic’s citizenship is the supra-identity in
Turkey, he added: ‘We will not adopt a nationalist approach based on
regional racism and religion.’

Erdogan drew attention to the country’s indivisible integrity,
saying: ‘However, there are elements which make an effort to divide
our country. Various elements in the West are trying to achieve that.
If a desire exists to sacrifice the EU for that purpose, then I am
sorry to say that we do not have such a problem.’

Commenting on the Armenian issue, Erdogan said: ‘The government and
the opposition challenged the claims. We are opening all the state
archives. Everyone should come and study the documents. If an act of
genocide was committed in the past, then we will be prepared to
account. However, the Armenians must be prepared to account for their
history if an act of genocide was not committed.’

Erdogan said that a letter has been drawn up in connection with the
Blue Book on the Armenian allegations and noted that it will be
signed by 550 deputies in the parliament. Erdogan said that the
letter will be conveyed to the two houses of the British parliament.
In a sense, it will call for an apology to Turkey. The copies of the
same letter will be conveyed to the 11 countries that have taken the
book as a reference.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SQUARE’S MEMORIAL STONE IN MONTEVIDEO TO BE UNVEILED
ON APRIL 22

MONTEVIDEO, APRIl 11, NOYAN TAPAN. At the instructions of mayor of
Uruguay’s capital Montevideo Adolfo Peres Piera, one of the city
squares will be named Armenian People Genocide Square. Uruguay’s
Armenian Cause Commission and the Armenian Diocese Central Department,
the Vramian Club and “Komitas” radio-hour issued a joint report,
according to which a decision has been made to erect at the square a
memorial stone which will be unvailed on April 22. The organizations
expressed gratitude on behalf of Uruguay’s Armenian community and the
whole Armenian people to the authors of the initiative to honor in
such a way the memory of the numerous victims of the Armenian
genocide. They informed that about a year ago Raffi Hunanian, a member
of Montevideo’s city council proposed naming one of the city streets
“1915, April 24”, however, after dicussing this proposal, the city
council made on March 30 a unianimous decision to allocate an area
abutting on one of the city’s busiest streets and name this area
“Armenian People Genocide Square”. The Armenian organizations of
Uruguay remind that in 1965 – the year of the 50th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide, Uruguay was the first country to officialy
recognize the Great Genocide, and has always supported the Armenian
people over the last 40 years. To recap, there is already Armenia
Square in Montevideo.

9 OUT OF 12 ARMENIANS RUNNING FOR GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL WON ELECTION

07.04.2005 06:40

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The City Council election was held in Glendale
April 5. There was a large number of Armenians among the candidates,
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported. The victory
of Ardashes Kassakhian, elected City Council Secretary, is an important
event for the Armenian community. It should be noted that the election
for the position were last held in 1929. Supported by Glendale ANCA
Kassakhian surpassed 9 candidates and won with a big gap in votes,
collecting 5 714. The following four candidates are elected for the
City Council: Ara Nacharian – 8 362 votes (10,4%), Pap Eusefian –
7 230 (9%), Frank Kuintero – 7 119 (8,8%), Dave Weaver – 6 574
(8,2%). Ronald Boruki is elected treasurer by 12 140 votes. Victor
King (30,2% votes), Armine Hakobian (28,3%), Anita Quinonez-Gabrielian
(26,5%) are elected Glendale College Board members. The College elected
Education Council members are Greg Grigorian (19,9%), Chuck Sambar
(14,5%) and Joilin K. Wackner (14,5%). On the whole, 9 out of the
12 candidates, enjoying Glendale ANCA support won the election.

4 SERVICEMEN SUSPECTED OF BURNING OF CAR OF SYUNYATS YERKIR’S EDITOR

KAPAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. According to one of the versions,
the car of S.Alexanian, editor-in-chief of the Syunyats Yerkir
newspaper, was burnt by 4 servicemen from the military unit of Goris.
S.Alexanian’s son quarrelled with them some days before the April
1 incident. Arayik Tumanian, Chief of the Military Police of Goris
garrison, confirmed the fact of the quarrel in his conversation with
Noyan Tapan’s correspondent at the same time mentioning that the
case is at the stage of preliminary investigation and he can’t say
nothing more yet. To recap, S.Alexanian accuses Suren Khachatrian,
Syunik Governor, of organizing the burning of his car. And the latter
declared that he isn’t involved in the burning of S.Alexanian’s car
and has already applied to the regional law-enforcement bodies for
the purpose of disclosing the case.

Scottish folk community bids a fond musical farewell to a mercurial spirit
JIM GILCHRIST

The Scotsman – United Kingdom
Apr 04, 2005

HOW DO you capture the mercurial spirit of someone like Martyn Bennett,
the formidably musical piper, fiddler, composer and mixing magician,
who died of cancer at a tragically early age at the beginning of
the year?

Next week’s memorial concert in the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, will
have a fair crack at meeting the challenge, with a suitably eclectic
programme encompassing traditional singing and electronica, jazz and
ceilidh music, Highland piping and a large-scale orchestral work.

It will be a celebration of the man rather than a memorial, insists
Bennett’s wife and fellow musician, Kirsten. She is currently in
the throes of organising the event, which will feature performers
who influenced or were influenced by Bennett. There are no shortage
of these – Bennett’s extrovert marriage of fiery piping and fiddling
with the electronic beats and samples of clubland was widely hailed as
the first truly Scottish hardcore dance music. He also created lush
soundscapes for the spoken word, as well some characterful works for
orchestral forces.

Bennett died at the end of January, less than three weeks before his
34th birthday, following a long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The
loss was widely felt throughout the Scottish music community. Next
Friday, a spectacularly wide-ranging programme will reflect the musical
adventurousness and sheer zest of the man, with proceeds going to the
Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh, the Bethesda Hospice on the Isle of
Lewis and the Martyn Bennett Trust, a new commemorative fund aimed
at helping young musicians who share Bennett’s vision of music as a
vital cross-cultural medium.

Guests will include Fred Morrison, an extrovert performer who was one
of Bennett’s favourite pipers, singer Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw
of Capercaillie, the energetic folk-fusion outfit Croft No 5 and the
powerfully voiced traditional singer Sheila Stewart, who featured
on Bennett’s last album, Grit. Also singing will be his mother,
folklorist and Gaelic singer Margaret Bennett, with whom he made the
album Glen Lyon.

Kirsten Bennett herself, who was a member of her husband’s Cuillin
touring project, will be playing alongside Martin Swan and Michaela
Rowan of Mouth Music, while from the vibrant Edinburgh jazz scene
come Trio AAB, joined by singer Gina Rae and flautist Brian Finnegan
for Tom Bancroft’s Multistorey Karma Park (Bennett guested in its
premiere in 1997).

The concert will open in grand style as young musicians of Bennett’s
alma mater, the City of Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High,
perform Mackay’s Memoirs, a spectacular work for strings, clarsach,
pipes and percussion which Bennett composed for Broughton’s centenary
and which also helped fuel 1999’s celebrations for the opening of the
Scottish Parliament (a newly recorded CD of it should be available
on the night, including an additional re-mix by DJ Dolphin Boy).

Jillian Thomson of Dance Base will perform her interpretation of Nae
Regrets, from Grit, which featured in last year’s acclaimed ballet,
Off Kilter, while, in a Bennett-ish collision of styles and cultures,
Greg Lawson, violinist with McFall’s Chamber, and piper Rory Campbell,
accompanied by sundry percussionists and electronic samples, will
perform Karabakh, a piece which Bennett wove around a recording
of a young girl from the beleaguered Armenian enclave of Karabakh
in Azerbaijan.

“That piece says so much about what Martyn was all about,” says
Kirsten. “We wanted to have as much of his own music as possible, so
we’re delighted to have Mackay’s Memoirs and Karabakh. Unfortunately
Su-a Lee [cellist with McFall’s Chamber] can’t be there, so we can’t
do the string quartet with small pipes and percussion, although it
will be on a later recording.”

The musician’s untimely death left surprisingly little unfinished
musical business, given his creative output, although, says Kirsten,
there were certain things he entrusted Martin Swan, with whom he
had worked in the past, to finish for him, such as the recording of
Mackay’s Memoirs to which Swan has indeed been giving the final re-mix,
and the quartet.

There are a few other things pending, she adds: Bennett was thinking
about a new album, setting old recordings of traditional music to DJ
dance beats, and she is currently sifting through all that. There
remain a few other unrecorded items, and she is hoping that Peter
Gabriel’s RealWorld label, which released Grit, might include them
in a possible anthology.

In the meantime, her first preoccupation is next Friday’s concert,
which will be MC’d by the Gaelic singer and BBC broadcaster Mary Ann
Kennedy – on whose Celtic Connections programme Bennett was much in
demand – and Annie Reed from RealWorld.

“I just wanted to get the spirit of Martin across,” continues
Kirsten. “We didn’t want it just to be a night of famous people, but
musicians who were connected with Martyn and understood what he was
about. He was so ill, and there were so few people in contact with him
for the last year or two of his life… I wanted them to be involved.”

Further guests are bound to swell the list, and Kirsten’s only
regret is that she’s been unable to enlist anyone to play the ney –
the Middle-Eastern flute which, as played by Omar Faruk, was a big
influence on Bennet’s music. However, the evening’s musical horizons
seem mind-bogglingly, if appropriately, broad as it is.

* The memorial concert is on 15 April at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh,
tel: 0131-668 2019). Donations to the Martyn Bennett Trust can be
sent to: c/o Active Events, 60 Love Street, Paisley, PA3 2EQ.

Ukraine: Kyiv Eyes Iran’s Gas For Use, Transit to Europe
By Roman Kupchinsky

The government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is interested
in Iranian gas

Prague, 4 April 2005 (RFE/RL) — In early February, Interfax announced
that Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko will make an official
visit to Iran in the “first half of the year”. The topics to be
discussed during the visit were listed as bi-lateral relations and
joint projects in the energy sector.

The announcement of Yushchenko’s trip to Iran, coming so soon after his
inauguration, served to underscore the importance that Kyiv attaches
to finding alternative energy supplies while seeking to wean itself
away from its dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Teheran has been on the Ukrainian energy compass for the past few
years as a potential supplier of oil and gas. Kyiv also sees Iran
as a country where Ukrainian companies can provide considerable
expertise in energy related construction projects, and as a market
for oil drilling equipment and large diameter pipes. Ukraine also
sees itself as a possible transit route for Iranian gas destined for
European Union markets – primarily in Central Europe and Germany.

Iran, according to the International Energy Administration of the
United States ) has proven
reserves of 28 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. That is 18
percent of the worlds proven gas reserves and second only to Russia.
Around 62% of Iranian natural gas reserves have not been developed.

Ukraine also sees itself as a possible transit route for Iranian gas
destined for European Union markets – primarily in Central Europe
and Germany. As such Ukraine could earn considerable money on transit
fees, money which could in turn be used to purchase Iranian gas for
the Ukrainian domestic market.

During Yushchenko’s visit to Germany in March, Deutsche Bank agreed to
provide Naftohaz, the Ukrainian oil and gas monopoly, with a credit
line of $ 2 billion. The Ukrainian side will decide how this money
is to be spent and some analysts in Kyiv believe that it might be
allocated to renovating the aging Soyuz pipeline and preparing it
for the task of delivering Iranian gas to Germany.

The Turkmen Connection

Interest in Iranian gas was renewed in Kyiv after Viktor Yushchenko
was elected president and Turkmenistan unexpectedly raised the price
it charges Ukraine for natural gas in January by 32 percent, that is,
to $ 58 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Another factor contributing to interest in the Iranian route is that
the contract for Turkmen gas to Ukraine ends in December 2006. After
this date, Ukraine will be forced to buy Turkmen gas from Gazexport,
a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom.

On 28 March, RIA press agency reported that a Ukrainian delegation led
by Fuels and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov and the head of Naftohaz
were given assurances by Gazprom head Alexei Miller, who stated: “We
support the Ukrainian side’s proposal to move to monetary payments
for the transit of gas through Ukrainian territory and to raise the
tariff rates to the European level.” Miller added: “Gazprom, for its
part, can fully meet Ukraine’s requirements in Russian natural gas
at European-level market prices.”

The Ukrainian side is approaching this promise with caution given
Gazprom’s past history of manipulating the gas market in order to
promote the Kremlin’s political agenda. There is also considerable
doubt that Gazprom is capable of meeting long-term commitments for
gas deliveries to the West.

On 6 March, IRNA press service reported that the Ukrainian deputy
minister of oil and energy held talks in Tehran with Iran’s Deputy
Foreign Minister for International Affairs Hadi Nejad Hosseinian during
the third meeting of the two countries’ energy commissions. At this
meeting, the Ukrainian side proposed buying 15 billion cubic meters
(bcm) of gas from Iran, to be delivered via a proposed pipeline whose
route has still not been agreed upon.

The currently proposed routes for this pipeline are:

-Iran to Armenia and then onto the Georgian port of Supsa, and from
there along the bottom of the Black Sea to Feodosia in the Crimea.
Once in Ukraine, the gas can enter into the Ukrainian “Soyuz” trunk
pipeline for delivery to the EU. According to a recent estimate done
by a Ukrainian energy think tank, the cost of this 550 kilometer
route would be some $ 5 billion and it would be able to transport
some 60 bcm per year.

– Alternately, the pipeline can run from Iran to Armenia then to
Georgia, on to Russia and end up in Ukraine. No cost estimate has
been announced for this route.

The IRNA report mentioned that Ukraine and Iran are to hold an
experts meeting in Tehran in May to discuss the financial aspects
and construction and implementation of the project as well as the
amount of gas to be exported. “Tehran and Kyiv will then make the
final decision” IRNA reported.

Two Powerful Opponents

Opposition to a Ukrainian gas deal with Iran is likely to come from
two countries – Russia and the United States.

On March 19, Interfax reported that Deputy CEO of Gazprom Alexander
Ryazanov stated that he does not consider the transit of Iranian gas
through Armenia to Ukraine and onward to Europe to be viable.

“I can’t even image how this could be done at all,” Ryazanov said,
adding that the Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia-Ukraine and Iran-Armenia-
Georgia-Ukraine transit routes mentioned in the press are unrealistic
and economically unsound.

Ryazanov did not specify why the routes were unrealistic and the
Ukrainian side is likely to view his objections as being more political
then economic.

The way the United States views the pipeline proposals are still
unknown. But in the case of a proposed gas pipeline from Iran to
supply Pakistan and India, the United States took a rather dim view.

Al-Jazeera reported on 19 March that “Washington warned Pakistan
not to go ahead with its Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project,
saying that this project will strengthen Iran and thus negatively
affects the United States economically.”

It is likely that the Iranian-Ukraine pipeline project will be
discussed in Washington during Yushchenko’s first official visit as
president to the United States, which is currently underway (from 4
April to 7 April).

American concerns will most likely be centered on the potential
problems which could arise if the EU should become overly dependent
on Iranian gas, instead of being overly dependent upon Russian gas.

As an alternative route, the U.S. has been backing the idea of a an
energy corridor for moving Caspian basin energy to the West. That
corridor includes a gas pipeline which would by-pass Russia and
its pipeline system. The downside of this project is the role which
Turkmenistan would play in it and the reliability of its often erratic
leader Sapurmurat Niazov.

While the United States does not want to “strengthen Iran” it
has also been urging Ukraine to diversify its gas supplies. Given
Ukraine’s limited options for such diversification – the Norwegian
gas fields are rapidly being depleted and Ukraine’s demand for gas
is not decreasing — the Iranian pipeline might be one of the few
possible options open to Kyiv.