Author: Felekian Ara

NKR PRESIDENT GHUKASSIAN MET WITH MATTHEW BRYZA IN THE US

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Nov 30 2006

NKR President Arkady Ghukassian and the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group met on November 24 in the United States, reports the department
of information of NKR president administration. They discussed the
present stage of the talks over the settlement of the Karabakh conflict
and the prospects. The participants of the talk, which took place in
a constructive atmosphere, emphasized the importance of resolving
the problems occurring between the conflict parties at the table
of negotiations.

UCLA CENTER LAUNCHES NATIONAL EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND, EDUCATE ‘HERITAGE’ SPEAKERS
By Kevin Matthews

UCLA International Institute, CA
Nov 29 2006

With a new National Language Resource Center, the federal government is
recognizing that the preservation of U.S. language communities will not
be accomplished with approaches aimed at monolingual Americans. The new
center grew out of a proposal by the UCLA Center for World Languages
and a UC-wide consortium on language instruction.

Tagalog was part of Chris’s identity; Ryan could talk on the
telephone; Athena simply listened to others at home.The two dozen
students in this quarter’s Section 1 of Introductory Filipino/Tagalog
at UCLA all grew up in California, all have at least one parent of
Filipino descent, and all heard the language at home. It’s a typical
class for Philippine-born instructor Nenita Pambid Domingo. UCLA’s
Tagalog students are "99 percent" heritage learners, she says, and
members of the remaining 1 percent often enroll because of "romantic
entanglements" with Tagalog speakers.

A similar situation holds for many other languages that are less
commonly taught at colleges and universities-that is, they are also
heritage languages because their acquisition by students begins in
homes and communities, not the classroom. Meanwhile, the peculiar
(and varying) pedagogical needs of heritage learners must also be
addressed in popular language programs such as Spanish.

Although the issue has been around for decades, materials and
agreed-upon methods for heritage teaching are lacking to this day,
according to UCLA’s Olga Kagan, director of a new federally funded
center for heritage language education. In U.S. classrooms, only
Spanish has been taught to native speakers for more than a few years,
and even in that case, says Maria Carreira, a linguistics professor at
California State University, Long Beach, who is working closely with
Kagan, "the number and variety of texts for Spanish speakers pales in
comparison to those available for non-natives." Worse, she says, there
are no training manuals or programs for heritage language instructors.

One of 15 U.S. centers charged with setting standards for teaching
languages, the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC)
seeks to fill these gaps. The NHLRC was launched this summer when
UCLA’s Center for World Languages (CWL, also directed by Kagan) and
the UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching won a four-year
Education Department grant, worth $326,000 per year, to oversee nine
major projects in the emergent field.

The ambitious near-term goals of the NHLRC include the creation of
1) a database tracking where certain U.S. immigrant and refugee
communities live, with analysis of their demographics and case
studies of how minority languages are passed on to new generations,
2) a generic framework for the design of heritage language curricula
that takes diversity both among and within groups into account,
and 3) a yearly research institute, or symposium of scholars, for
the study of heritage language knowledge and loss across languages,
to guide the development of course materials and teacher training.

To Paraphrase Tolstoy According to Kagan, the impetus to preserve
heritage languages comes variously from students, their nuclear
and extended families, and their communities. For example, many of
UCLA’s 2,000 Korean American undergraduates at some point develop an
interest in South Korean popular culture, while a Chinese American
student may decide to pursue business opportunities in his parents’
or grandparents’ home country. For Armenian immigrants, the memory of
the 1915-18 genocide and the desire to preserve traditional culture
drive collective efforts to preserve the language (the third most
spoken in metropolitan Los Angeles). Russian parents unfailingly
observe the inadequacy of translations of nineteenth-century novels
such as Anna Karenina, and may view the Russian language as key to
their children’s cultural awareness.

Families and communities can also impede language preservation. For
example, says Domingo, Filipino American students who formally
take up the language more confidently spoken by their parents and
grandparents may do so without encouragement from home. A generation
ago they faced active resistance from parents concerned about a legacy
of discrimination. (And that’s Tagalog-the dominant national language
of the Philippines along with American-imposed English. The islands’
important regional tongues, though spoken around L.A., are scarcely
taught at all.)

Foreign language learners are all alike. Every unhappy heritage
language learner is unhappy in her own way.

The truism will hold even within a single U.S. language community.

Domingo’s students may have a lot in common, but their abilities and
needs vary surprisingly. Chris Torralba, a third-year undergraduate,
says he spoke a lot of Tagalog before class began this fall. His
parents always "thought that the language should be a part of who I
am." Ryan Ruiz, also in his third year, is not so emphatic, but as
a child he could conduct phone conversations in the language.

Meanwhile, Elsie Velasco, another third-year, overheard her family
but did not speak. Fourth-year student Athena Peralta was born in
the Philippines and brought at age two to the United States, where
she has lost a great deal in spite of hearing Tagalog at home.

According to Domingo, any of these students can speak the language
fairly well after a year of coursework. Learning the grammar is often
a greater challenge; there detachment helps, and second language
learners have a slight advantage.

A heritage student may appear to be, and may be, fluent in a language
for many purposes but turn mute when conversation proceeds beyond a
repertory of everyday, home-centered contexts, Kagan says.

Traditional written and oral exams don’t capture such a person’s
strengths and weaknesses. That’s one more in the bevy of shortcomings
that she wants the new language resource center to address.

NATO NOT GOING TO ENGAGE IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.11.2006 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NATO does not take part in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement process and is not going to engage in the issue in
future, NATO Spokesman James Appathurai said in Riga. In his words, the
Alliance’s position is as follows: the OSCE plays a very important role
in the talks on the Karabakh conflict. When asked of the possibility
of starting an intense dialogue with Azerbaijan, Mr Appathurai said,
"Baku has not made such a request yet," reports Mediamax.

ILHAM ALIYEV: WE ARE APPROACHING THE LAST STAGE OF TALKS ON SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 29 2006

"The talks on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict have been
held for three years within Prague process and there have been enough
meetings on presidential and ministerial levels. The ways of solution
are discussed at these meetings.

We have passed several stages during this period. We are approaching
the last stage of talks on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told AzTV, APA reports.

Ilham Aliyev said that all problems were discussed and the parties’
positions were formed within these three years.

"Now the future of the talks depends on our steps. From this point of
view I normally estimate the results of the last meeting. Debatable
questions were discussed at the meeting. We have managed to solve
a number of problems. But there still are debatable problems and
the two presidents talked over them. Azerbaijan’s position remains
unchanged. Our position is to solve the problem within Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. The UN resolutions have to be executed.

Azerbaijani territories should be released and over 1 million refugees
should return to their motherland. We are satisfied with the activity
of international organizations recently. They have already expressed
their opinion of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh within Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. This strengthens our position," the President
said.

ATTACKS ON MEDIA HURT CONFLICT RESOLUTION

International Crisis Group, Belgium
id=4529&l=1&m=1
Nov 27 2006

Brussels, 27 November 2006: The Azerbaijani government’s aggressive
moves to silence independent media and the leading opposition party
last week not only raise obvious human rights problems but will have a
detrimental effect on efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

On 24 November, the authorities took the country’s first, biggest and
most professional independent TV and radio broadcaster, ANS, off the
air. The same day, police forcibly evicted the key opposition party,
the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, two opposition dailies Azadlig
and Bizim Yol and the Turan information agency from their Baku offices.

The hasty government actions were taken after proceedings that lacked
transparency and political neutrality. The parties were unable to
appeal before the decisions were implemented. Following a pattern
of harassment of Azerbaijan’s independent journalists since 2003,
Friday’s events once again put into question Azerbaijan’s commitment
to protecting freedom of speech and upholding the rule of law.

To facilitate the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
International Crisis Group has called for the opening of a genuine
popular debate on the conflict. ANS has tended to take a hard line
on Nagorno-Karabakh, but it was open to a range of opinions and kept
popular opinion informed of developments related to the issue. The
closure of ANS will stifle the public discussion and information
sharing that is so essential to acceptance by Azerbaijani society of
any resolution to the conflict.

Azerbaijan’s international partners – the EU and its member states,
the U.S., the OSCE, the Council of Europe and others – should in
unequivocal terms call on the Government of President Ilham Aliev to
restore media freedoms protected in the Azerbaijani Constitution and
in commitments made as a member of the OSCE and the Council of Europe,
and as a recent signatory of an EU Neighborhood Action Plan.

GENOCIDE RECOGNITION BY TURKEY IS NOT A PRECONDITION FOR ARMENIA

Financial Mirror, Cyprus
Nov 27 2006

A critical month lies ahead for Turkey as it must show good conduct
during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI a few days before the European
Commission report on Ankara’s progress towards European Union
accession.

Turkey is also being tested on two other issues that could dash its
hopes of joining the European club — its refusal to recognise the
Cyprus Republic and denial of the genocide of 1,5 million Armenians
by the Ottoman rulers.

The policy of denying the historic events of 1915 has stiffened the
stance of some western nations, while relations with France soured
when the lower assembly in Paris passed a law making genocide denial
a civil crime, similar to holocaust denial.

Lobbying for such resolutions is the Armenian diaspora of nearly four
million in Europe and the Americas who are survivors of the genocide.

Standing by their side is the government of Armenia that has genocide
recognition at the core of its foreign policy agenda, ahead of social
and economic reforms, even more importantly than regional alliances
in a turbulent Caucuses region.

But Armenia’s Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian, concluding a three-day
visit to Cyprus with President Robert Kocharyan, told the Financial
Mirror in an interview that "genocide recognition by Turkey is not
a precondition for normalizing relations."

"The purpose of our visit to Cyprus was to activate our economic
ties. We have common issues that we discussed but we never ganged up
against anybody. That should not be a concern to Turkey."

"Genocide recognition is a common issue for all Armenians, whether
they live in the diaspora or in Armenia," he said adding, "it’s the
moral obligation of every Armenian to remember, and also to pursue
recognition because we think that will be the minimum compensation
that needs to be provided after almost a hundred years."

"In terms of getting more countries recognizing [the genocide],
and through them increasing the pressure on Turkey, yes, there are
positive movements. Whether this brings us closer to recognition
by Turkey, the answer is no, because as more countries recognize,
Turkey becomes more aggressive in its state policy of denial."

"The reason we’re seeing developments like in the French parliament to
make denial punishable by law, is a clear reaction to the aggressive
denialist policies of the Turkish government," Oskanian said.

"This shouldn’t affect French-Turkish relations because France is a
sovereign country and its parliament has the sovereign right to take
any decision, just as Turks consider denying the genocide their right,
so they should not be upset and angry.

"Turkey itself has a law which punishes those who simply address and
talk about the events of 1915 and use the term ‘genocide’," he said.

— Erdogan’s smokescreen

Oskanian said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan’s
suggestion a year ago to create a committee of historians to study
the problem was "a smokescreen."

"That suggestion was not taken seriously despite that fact that
President Kocharian responded to that letter and Turks never talk
about that response," he said.

"After that, American scholars, Armenians and Turks, wrote to Erdogan
telling him that this study of the Armenian genocide has been exhausted
and that their conclusions are very clear," he added.

"But when you have a law [301 of the Turkish penal code] that punishes
the use of the term ‘genocide’ how on earth do you expect those
historians that will be appointed to be objective about this topic?"

Oskanian added that there cannot be a commission of historians between
two countries that have no diplomatic ties.

"There has to be at least some normalcy between the two countries,"
he said. "The borders have to open. President Kocharian had said
that only then can we effectively create all sorts of committees to
address all sorts of issues and Armenia is prepared to do it."

"We would like to get there, eventually to live with Turkey in the same
neighbourhood. We cannot simply avoid addressing these issues, but it
can be addressed in a way that those memories can be replaced by new
experiences of interaction between the Turkish and Armenian people".

— US can help with border opening

Oskanian said the United States is an effective power that can have
an influence on Turkey especially on the issue of border opening,
but the U.S. itself has not recognized the genocide for reasons of
strategic interests.

"In the past eight years we have refused to choose between sides. Our
foreign policy is based on complimentarity. We work with everyone
and we seize the opportunities. There are areas where we see more
opportunity with Russia, areas where the U.S. can provide more and
others where the EU can be more effective," he said.

"This is not the Cold war era that we need to choose between East
and West."

As regards maintaining a presence in Iraq or other Middle East
conflicts, Oskanian said, "you can’t simply be a security consumer,
you’ve also got to be a security provider. We have to acknowledge
our role. When we were asked to play a peacekeeping role and play
our part in Iraq we complied."

But when it comes to Iran and his birthplace, Syria, the foreign
minister said Armenia’s influence is not visible, despite historic
ties with both.

"Our approach is engagement rather than confrontation and we think
the world powers also would be more effective by engagement rather
than confrontation."

He said economic development is the main priority for next year.

— Double-digit growth

"We’ve had six years of double-digit growth, we need to sustain this
kind of high growth over the next few years. European integration
is an important direction as is achieving peace and stability in our
region through conflict resolution," he said.

"Nagorno Karabagh is also a major foreign policy issue to continue
our talks to reach a peaceful resolution on the basis of the right
of the people for self-determination," Oskanian said.

"The unequivocal solidarity with Azerbaijan also works against Turkey,
because that undermines their credibility in the Caucuses, as well
as their claim to be a bridge between east and west, between the
Caucuses and the European Union."

"The reason we negotiate on their behalf is that President Kocharian
is from Nagorno Karabagh and the people trust him, but also because
Azeris refuse to talk with Karabagh. In order for the process not to
be stalled, President Kocharian has taken it upon him to negotiate
with the Azeris," the Armenian official explained.

"But the ideal situation would be if the Azeris will agree to talk
with Karabagh and that would be the shortest and most effective way
to reach a peaceful resolution."

"When Karabagh emerged as an independent political entity, that
happened out of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a whole empire
collapsed. The only period that Karabagh was part of Azerbaijan was
the Soviet period and it was illegal."

Oskanian concluded that economic reforms are the key for Armenia’s
development, which has attracted foreign investments mainly from
France, germany, the U.S., Italy and Russia.

"Since independence (in 1989) we’ve been very aggressive in pursuing
reforms. We’ve got to go to the second generation of economic reforms
so that process will continue. The most recent agreement we signed
with the EU is called the Action Plan of the EU Neighbourhood Policy
which includes a lot of reforms that Armenia is committed to pursuing
in coming weeks.

PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS TO WORKERS OF TV AND RADIO
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily
28/11/2006

President Robert Kocharian awarded medals and titles to the workers
of TV and radio on the occasion of 80th and 50th anniversaries of
the TV and radio respectively. Armen Amirian, executive director of
the National Radio, Spiridon Hambardzumian, coordinator of Haylur
news program and Marat Ordian, deputy director of the Public TV were
awarded Movses Khorenatsi medals.

Raisa Mkrtchian, soloist of TV and radio’s symphonic orchestra, was
bestowed the honorable title of People’s Artist, Mark Petrosian, the
author of Classic Channel program of the Public TV and Suren Rshtuni,
chief director of the TV.

The title of merited journalist was awarded to Artur Bakhtamian,
Haylur’s senior news announcer, Tatevik Baghdasarian, author of the
Night Channel program of Public Radio, Sargis Najarian, program
director of Stereo-studio Karen Vardanian and news presenter of
Radiolur, Varouzhan Olkinian.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

A LECTURE ON "ARMENIAN CHURCH AND THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT" AT THE ACUSA
CENTER

The Christian Education Department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the
Armenian Church University Students’ Association (ACUSA) have jointly
organized a series of lectures. The third session of the series was held in
the ACUSA center in Antelias on November 18.

The lecturer, Dr. Nora Bayrakdarian-Kabakian, presented the role of the
Armenian Church in general and the Catholicosate of Cilicia in particular in
the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Ecumenical movement.

Dr. Bayrakdarian talked about the origins of the Ecumenical movement,
focusing mainly on the establishment of the WCC. "The main purpose of the
Ecumenical movement is the unity of churches and the development of
cooperation between them in issues related to accomplishing their missions
and to conflicts plaguing the world," she said.

The speaker emphasized that the Catholicosate of Cilicia has paid special
attention to Ecumenical affairs since the 1950’s, by an active contribution
to this field, the proof of which is the position of its spiritual Head, His
Holiness Aram I, as Moderator of the World Council of Churches during the
last 16 years.

Concluding, Dr. Bayrakdarian mentioned that WCC and the Ecumenical movement
in general, confront new challenges today as a consequence of the changing
world circumstances.

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

SERZH SARKISSYAN: CONDITION OF ARMENIAN PEACEMAKER, WOUNDED IN IRAQ, IS SATISFACTORY

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 21 2006

The condition of the Armenian peacemaker, wounded in Iraq, is assessed
satisfactory, RA DM, Serzh Sarkissyan, said in an interview to the
Public Radio of Armenia.

To remind, a senior lieutenant, Georgy Nalbandyan, born in 1981, was
seriously wounded In Iraq, November 11, as a result of undermining
during execution of the regular task. His companions, peacemakers
from Poland and Slovakia, have died. The Armenian officer’s leg was
amputated and he will be further treated in Germany. This is the
first incident with participation of the Armenian servicemen within
the two years, during which the Armenian peacemakers carry out their
mission in Iraq. The Minister reminded that the wounded is in Germany
and undergoes rehabilitation after the leg amputation. After one or
two operations he will return to Armenia.

MODERNIZATION OF YEREVAN THERMAL POWER PLANT TO START NEXT YEAR

Armenpress
Nov 20 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenian energy minister Armen
Movsisian said the results of a tender announced for modernization
of the Yerevan Thermal Power plant will be summed up in a couple
of months.

He said the modernization project is expected to be started in early
2007 and end in 2008.

The government of Armenia has received a $150 million credit from
the Japanese International Cooperation Bank to do the job. The bulk
of this money will be spent on construction of a new powerful 250
megawatt capacity turbine working on natural gas.

Experts say the modernization will result in reducing the prime
cost of 1 kilowatt/hour electricity from current 400 drams to 160-170
drams. The updated plant will produce one sixth of the overall domestic
power demand.

The minister said the thermal power plant was removed from the list
of state-owned enterprises subject to privatization, as demanded by
the credit agreement.