Author: Hovhannisian John

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| 16:44:12 | 20-09-2005 | Politics |

HAYRIKYAN REJECTED INVITATION

During today’s press conference leader of the National Self-Determination
Union Paruyr Hayrikyan said he has rejected Robert Kocharian’s invitation
for the participation in the events dedicated to the Independence Day.

He wants the President to realize that tomorrow is not the Independence Day
but the Day of Self-Determination of Armenia. «The coming generations should
know about it», he noted. Paruyr Hayrikyan also touched upon the
constitutional amendments informing that the finite position of the Union
can be known tomorrow from the NSDU office. To note, P. Hayrikyan has made
several proposals on the constitutional reform and in his words, they were
adopted.

ONE IN THREE IRISH AGAINST TURKEY JOINING EU
By Martin Wall Irish Times

AZG Armenian Daily #168
20/09/2005

World press

About one-third of Irish people would oppose Turkish membership of
the EU, a new opinion poll has found.

The poll on Irish attitudes to the EU also indicates that half the
population is undecided about the proposed EU constitution.

The latest Eurobarometer poll, published yesterday by the EU Commission
representation in Ireland, suggests that the overwhelming majority
of people believe the country has benefited from EU membership.

The poll also reveals that just over half of Irish respondents are
“for” developments towards political union. However, it suggests that
there are significant reservations about future EU enlargement.

Just under 40 per cent of those surveyed support limiting enlargement
to only some of the countries that wish to join the EU. Some 13 per
cent of respondents believe no additional countries should be allowed
into the EU.

A total of 29 per cent of respondents favour an enlargement of the
EU to include all countries that wished to join.

When asked about specific countries seeking to join, 34 per cent said
they would oppose the membership of Turkey. One-third said that they
would support Turkey joining the EU, and 29 per cent had no opinion.

The poll found Irish people opposed to Turkish membership were likely
to agree with the view that cultural differences were “too significant
to allow for this accession”.

Those in favour of Turkish membership were likely to agree with the
view that it is part of Europe because of its geography (90 per cent);
its history (80 per cent); that Turkey’s membership would enhance
understanding between European and Muslim values (81 per cent); and
strengthen security and help rejuvenate an ageing European population
(70 per cent).

The poll indicates that Irish people would favour the accession of
countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. It found 50 per
cent of respondents said that they did not have an opinion on the
proposed EU constitution.

A total of 37 per cent were in favour of the constitution, while 13
per cent were against.

The poll also suggests that while most people had heard of the
constitution, the majority is unaware of its provisions.

Some 15 per cent of respondents had heard of the constitution and
knew of its contents, while 62 per cent had heard of it but knew
little about what it contained.

The most common reason Irish people had for supporting the constitution
(38 per cent) was that they saw it as essential for the smooth running
of EU institutions.

Some 29 per cent supported the document because it strengthened the
feeling of European identity.

The most common reason (41 per cent) people gave for opposing the
constitution was that they associated it with a loss of national
sovereignty. Almost the same percentage cited a lack of information
as a reason for their opposition.

The poll of 1,006 people in Ireland was carried out by TNS MRBI
last May and June, partly before the referendums in France and the
Netherlands on the constitution.

MURDER OF AFRICAN STUDENT IN ST. PETERSBURG SOLVED

Kommersant, Russia
Sept 16 2005

Vladislav Piotrovksy, head of the criminal police of the Main
Department of Interior Affairs in St. Petersburg, announced yesterday
that the murder of Congolese student Roland Epassaka, who died Tuesday
night after being knifed on September 9, had been solved.

Piotrovsky and other city officials met with about 100 students from
African and Asian countries yesterday in the building of the city’s
legislative assembly. “The victim was acquainted with acquainted with
the most disorderly contingent in the neighborhood where he lived,”
Piotrovsky told the students. “On September 9, he and his brother
and one more acquaintance were drinking alcoholic beverages in the
apartment he rented. Then he young man went to the store near the Metro
station, where he met acquaintances who attacked him… The identities
of those people have been established and more evidence is being
gathered now.” He added that it is hard for the police to guarantee
the safety of students who live away from campus, not in dormitories.

The students began to object, but they were politely led out of the
building at that point. A spontaneous action emerged in the courtyard
of the building and the students marched along Nevsky Prospekt to
Smolny Palace, the city governor’s residence on the Square of the
Proletariat Dictatorship, where they were dissuaded from continuing
by the police. The city prosecutor’s office refused to confirm that
the murder had been solved. A spokesman there said that “so far,
no one has been charged and no one has been taken into custody in
the case.” Kommersant has determined that the suspects in the case
are the victim’s Armenian former girlfriend and her new friend,
a Chechen national. They have in fact been taken into custody, but
for living in the city without registration.

NAGORNO KARABAKH PARLIAMENT ADOPTED LAWS “ABOUT CONSULAR AND DIPLOMATIC SERVICE” AND “ABOUT INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS”

DeFacto, Armenia
Sept 16 2005

At the first plenary sitting of the NKR NA of the fourth convocation
that took place on September 14 Nagorno Karabakh Republic National
Assembly adopted laws “About Consular and Diplomatic Service” and
“About International Agreements”.

The Karabakh parliamentarians discussed about 20 issues and approved
some projects referring to amendments in the laws on fixed payments
and taxes. The deputies also listened to the NKR Finance and Economy
Ministry’s report “On Implementation of the NKR State Budget in
the First Quarter of 2005” and the CEC information on conduct of
parliamentary elections in NKR on current June 19.

CENTRE OF PROSTHETICS

Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
15 Sept 05

The Centre of Prosthetics of Stepanakert was founded by the German
branch of International Christian Solidarity in 1995 with the support
of Baroness Caroline Cox. The centre was supported by the mentioned
organization till 2000. Since 2000 it has been under the auspices of
Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The director of the Centre of Orthopedic
Prosthetics Levon Sarghissian said 346 disabled persons are registered
in the centre. Of them 147 are from Stepanakert, 49 from Martuni, 45
from Martakert, 47 from Hadrut, 43 from Askeran, 15 from Shushi and 4
from Berdzor. The majority became disabled during the war in Artsakh,
the rest are veterans of the Great Patriotic War, people with diabetes
who underwent amputation, as well as young children. Almost every year
the number of the disabled increases by 10-15. According to the
director of the centre, the increase is caused by the large number of
diabetes patients in the country. The services in the centre are free
of charge. By the decision of the government once in two years a new
prosthesis is provided to the disabled free of charge. 15-20 people
per month need repair of prosthesis. Owing to the three orthopedists
Karen Danielian (1995), Mher Avanessian and Oleg Mirzoyan working here
the centre does not have any problems connected with the services.
>From 1997 to 2000 two of the mentioned orthopedists were trained in
Yerevan at the centre of prosthetics. All the expenses were covered by
the German organization, and some time later the third specialist
passed a short training. The director of the services said since 2000
in the framework of the joint programme of the German NGO Image of
Hope and the NKR Ministry of Social Security once a year the centre
supplies aid to 300 sole pensioners (food) and 70-75 parentless
children living in Karabakh (food and clothes). The distribution of
the aid to parentless children is done in the second half of the month
of September. The Image of Hope sends the aid to the Yerevan office,
the representative in Yerevan personally deals with the shipment of
the aid to Stepanakert. The director of the centre said the patients
are satisfied with the quality of work and service. The work is done
in time. Heriknaz Isoyan, mother of two children from Berdzor, lost
her legs and one hand in an accident. She was confined to the
wheelchair for a long time and was unable to do anything about the
house. After coming to the centre she rediscovered herself. She can
walk without others’ help and even embroider. We asked the director if
the centre comes across any obstacles or faces any problems. The
answer was brief: `The centre has no problems.’

NVARD OHANJANIAN.
15-09-2005

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP EXPECTS RESULTS FROM AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS’ TALKS

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 12 2005

Baku, September 9, AssA-Irada
The International Crisis Group, an organization working to prevent
conflicts worldwide, has praised the recent talks between the Azeri
and Armenian presidents in the Russian Volga river city of Kazan.

The meetings are of great importance for the peaceful resolution of
the Upper Garabagh conflict, ICG vice-president Alain Deletroz told
a press conference in Baku on Friday.

“Hope remains after the Kazan meeting for the positive outcome of
negotiations, as neither the Azeri nor the Armenian side made any
negative comments following the meeting. Both sides expressed hopes
for the results in the peace process.”

Deletroz added that ICG does not see a conflict resolution without
compromises and therefore calls on both sides to be constructive.*

Yerevan late show in London
Sunday, 11 September 20

Tal Grig Yerevan needed a Emil Mesropyan goal three
seconds from time to keep them on track for
qualification from the four-team UEFA Futsal Cup
preliminary round mini-tournament.

Amazing finish
The Armenian champions’ successful spot-kick ensured a
last-gasp 5-4 victory against Dinamo Tirana of Albania
in London today. Yerevan had led 2-1 at half-time
after two goals from Arman Sahakyan but Tirana staged
a determined second-half display. Ani Mullaj looked to
have earned them a draw with 39 seconds remaining
before that dramatic winner.

Second victory
It means Yerevan top the table with six points, having
already beaten Roubaix Futsal of France on the opening
day, and they will feel confident of taking one of the
two places on offer in the first qualifying round.
They now play mini-tournament hosts London White Bear
FC on Tuesday night, who will fancy their chances of
progress after a first-ever victory for an English
side in UEFA Futsal competition.

Bounced back
London had begun with a slender 2-1 defeat by Tirana
but bounced back today to see off Roubaix with a
convincing 6-0 victory, featuring three goals in each
half and two for Alexandr Topalo, to delight home fans
at the Crystal Palace national sports centre. The
heavy defeat ends Roubaix’s realistic hopes of a
top-two finish but they will aim to finish on a high
when they take on Tirana in Tuesday’s first game.

©uefa.com 1998-2005.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian, Coordinator of Public Relations
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 44; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

September 7, 2005

HURRICANE KATRINA UPDATE:
STATUS OF THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN LOUISIANA

An Interview with Mr. Vasken Kaltakjian,
Chairman of the Baton Rouge, LA, mission parish

* * *

The Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) has spoken at
length with Vasken Kaltakjian, chairman of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
mission parish, who offered the following information about how the
local Armenian community has been affected by Hurricane Katrina.

NO LOSS OF LIFE, SIGNIFICANT LOSS OF LIVELIHOOD

First and most importantly, there has been no loss of life among the
local Armenian families. There has been a substantial loss of property
due to wind, rain, and flooding. And the Armenians who run businesses
in New Orleans expect that those businesses are lost or in ruins–which
obviously may leave the greatest long term consequence for community
members.

Armenian residents of New Orleans itself, and its suburbs Kenner and
Metarree, have been evacuated; their properties remain flooded. In
general, people who left New Orleans did so with very little in the form
of personal property, cash, or clothing, since they expected the crisis
would endure for only a matter of days. Armenians in La Place were not
affected by the flood, but their houses did suffer significant wind and
rain damage. Electrical power is now operating in La Place, and
displaced families have begun congregating there.

HOUSING DISPLACED FAMILIES

Baton Rouge and La Place are the two main locales where displaced
Armenian families have been domiciled. Mr. Kaltakjian attests that
conditions in Baton Rouge are relatively “normal,” given the
circumstances elsewhere in the state; but the resources of the area are
strained by the influx of refugees from the disaster zone. In the
immediate aftermath of the hurricane, the Armenian residents of Baton
Rouge hosted four Armenian families–two of which have already moved on
to stay with relatives in La Place. Other families have been notified
and welcomed to come to Baton Rouge.

Mr. Kaltakjian has driven to La Place, LA, where four Armenian families
permanently reside. These four households are currently housing five
additional Armenian families, which have escaped from hurricane-ravaged
areas. With phone service out, it had been difficult to get information
on the five displaced families. Mr. Kaltakjian visited with the
families, confirmed that they were accounted for, and tried to assess
their situation with regard to relief needs.

Several Armenian families remain incommunicado; Mr. Kaltakjian is aware
that they have left the disaster area, but he has not been able to
confirm their current whereabouts. He expects to receive this
information as soon as normal phone service resumes.

BRIEF RETURNS HOME TO INSPECT DAMAGE

Earlier in the week, authorities designated a 12-hour window to allow
every home-owner in New Orleans to return temporarily to their homes,
inspect damage, and take pictures to submit insurance claims. Only a
few of the affected Armenian families were able to enter the city,
however.

For those who have been able to return to their homes, many report that
everything is flooded, and stench is already oppressive. Moreover,
people are worried that all the rancid standing water will propagate and
spread disease. Today Mr. Kaltakjian plans to bring a generator and
gasoline to one family, whose house now stands in two and a-half feet of
water, so they can start the long process of cleaning up.

As far as a permanent return, no one knows exactly when this will be
able to occur; the authorities have stipulated the anywhere from two to
six weeks may elapse before people are allowed to return home. In any
event, currently there is no electric or water service in the disaster
area.

LOCAL CHURCH REACHING OUT TO MEMBERS

The Baton Rouge mission parish owns a church facility of 4,000 square
feet; adjacent to it is a 1,500 square-foot reception hall, which seats
about 100 people. The parish has notified displaced Armenian families
that they are welcome to stay in the facility, but none has as yet taken
up that offer; for now, they have preferred to stay in the private homes
of Armenians unaffected by the disaster. However, several families
presently staying in Texas may take up temporary residence in the church
building when they return to Louisiana.

At the behest of the Diocesan Center, Mr. Kaltakjian has made a list of
all the Armenian families in the areas: about 70 people in total–of
whom 27 are children–comprising 23 families. According to Mr.
Kaltakjian, the immediate need for area Armenians is to acquire some
basic items to help them get by day-to-day. Many have no income for the
foreseeable future, and are cash-poor after 11 days of displacement from
their homes.

A PLEA TO FELLOW ARMENIAN AMERICANS

Asked what message he’d like to convey to fellow Armenian Americans, Mr.
Kaltakjian remarked that it’s a hard time in his state, and everyone
affected deserves help. But please, he asked, remember your Armenian
brothers and sisters in Louisiana. He fears that the community is
insufficiently organized to aggressively pursue and secure immediate aid
from relief agencies, and he appeals to America’s other Armenian
communities for assistance.

He explained that contributions of clothing and canned goods would not
be helpful in the present circumstances. Instead, the community would
be best benefited by monetary donations, or by contributions of gift
cards to retailers like Wal-Mart or K-Mart, which will allow the
displaced Armenians to purchase clothing and other goods for themselves,
give them something to do, and generally boost morale in depressing
situation.

At the directive of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate, the Eastern
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America has arranged for special
collections to be held at all Diocesan parishes on successive Sundays:
September 11 and 18. Half of the collected donations will go toward the
general relief effort for Hurricane Katrina victims (to be distributed
through Church World Service, the humanitarian aid arm of the National
Council of Churches).

The other half will go directly to the Baton Rouge parish, whose leaders
will distribute the relief aid to affected Armenians according to their
need.

The most efficient way to contribute is through the Diocesan website,
, where you can click on the “Donate” link and
make a credit-card donation on our secure server. Individuals and
parishes can also send checks via mail to the Diocesan headquarters in
New York (please write “Hurricane Katrina Relief” in the memo).

ARMENIANS IN LOUISIANA

The Armenian community of Baton Rouge, LA, is about 30 years old. When
Mr. Kaltakjian first came to Baton Rouge in 1977, he estimates that
about a third of the present community was already resident there. Most
of the residents (then and now) hail originally from Lebanon; some come
from Syria; and there are families from Egypt and Armenia itself.
Living in a hurricane zone, the community has seen extreme atmospheric
conditions, as well as flooding, in the past; but certainly nothing like
the present crisis.

–9/7/05

# # #

Houston Chronicle, TX
Sept 4 2005

Novel’s narrator finds himself
But the reader may be lost on the trip
By DEBRA WEINSTEIN

THE ZAHIR.
By Paulo Coelho.
HarperCollins, 298 pp. $24.95.

The unnamed narrator at the center of Paulo Coelho’s The Zahir:
A Novel of Obsession is an international best-selling novelist who
lives in France and brings in $2 million a year from royalties even
when he doesn’t publish a book. When he publishes a book, he earns
about $5 million. This may be a multimillion-dollar year for Coelho,
who will be publishing an estimated 8 million copies of The Zahir in
83 countries. He is a publishing giant, the author of the self-help
spiritual fable The Alchemist; his publisher claims he broke a
Guinness world record when he signed 53 different language editions
of The Alchemist in one sitting at the 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair.

Coelho’s Alchemist was a lean book about a shepherd boy’s journey
to find treasure buried in the Pyramids; he discovers instead the
treasures within himself. In The Zahir, the shepherd boy is transformed
into a celebrity novelist, and the treasure he’s searching for is
his wife, Esther, a war correspondent who has disappeared. Was Esther
kidnapped or killed, or did she simply abandon a marriage that left
her unfulfilled? It’s a premise rich with inherent drama, but despite
the claims on the dust jacket, it’s not really the story of this novel.

This novel is about the novelist. He’s a man who, since he was a child,
has “fought to make freedom (his) most precious commodity,” who writes
“pages of such genius that even (he) couldn’t understand them.” The
novelist’s life may be empty, but it’s the emptiness of book signings
in mega-stores, lunches with representatives of the film industry and
interviews with journalists asking the same tired questions. When
he’s not thinking about his fame and success, he’s thinking about
Esther ~W his Zahir ~W a concept that roughly translated means his
obsession. Should the novelist go in search of a wife who is somewhere
in the interior of Kazakhstan? Halfway through the book, he still
can’t decide: “Before I could find her, I must first find myself.”

Coelho’s narrator “finds himself” through a host of characters
who serve as the author’s mirror or mouthpiece. You know them
simply through their dialogue, which is indistinguishable from the
novelist’s first-person narration. There is his girlfriend, Marie, a
35-year-old French actress who encourages him to write his next book,
A Time to Rend and a Time to Sew. The book is about his lost wife,
and it becomes an instant best-seller, and Marie isn’t even jealous.
She’s a celebrity, too, so she understands about success, and she’s
also a fan.

Then there is Mikhail, the man with whom Esther has disappeared. He
surfaces in France to offer the narrator his special brand of spiritual
guidance. He’s a performance artist who does group therapy with
unhappily married people in an Armenian restaurant, and he travels
around with a band of homeless bohemians.

When, in the final pages of this meandering book, our narrator finds
his wife, it’s a scene meant to be poignant, but it’s cringe-making in
its grandiosity. Here is Esther, the Zahir, conveniently transported
to where the author wants her, fitting too neatly into the narrator’s
life.

This is the age of the blog, of instant hit-and-run publishing. It’s
easy to put your blah-blah-blah out there for a reading public. But
novels are different; they demand some sort of narrative thread.
Coelho knows this. In one of many asides in a novel of asides,
he writes, “When I used to read biographies of writers, I always
thought they were simply trying to make their profession seem more
interesting when they said that ‘the book writes itself, the writer
is just the typist.'” The Zahir feels a lot like typing.

Debra Weinstein, author of Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z, wrote
this for the Washington Post Book World.

Timoshenko passes sarcastic comments on flamboyant Rssn MP
By Vitaly Matarykin

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 2, 2005 Friday

KIEV, September 2 — Circumstances have pressed Ukrainian Prime
Minister Julia Timoshenko to make comments on issues standing wide
apart from economy or politics.

Friday night, she made explanations to the media about her ethnic
background and aired a sarcastic note on a flamboyant Russian MP who
had initiated the filming of an erotic parody depicting her fictitious
intimacy with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Timoshenko said Transport Minister Yevgeny Chervonenko had released
untrue information about her ethnic roots in connection with the
beating of a student of the Jewish Theological University in Kiev at
the end of August.

Chervonenko accused her of insufficient attention to the incident,
saying she herself had an Armenian father and a Jewish mother.

“My mom was very astonished to hear it, because she’s a hundred percent
Ukrainian as far bask as her roots can be traced,” Timoshenko said.

Her late father descended from an ethnic Latvian family, she said
contrary to media reports that he maiden surname was Grigian, which
clearly suggests an affiliation with the Armenian people.

On the beating of the Jewish religious student, Timoshenko said all
the malefactors had been detained.

“I am well-disposed towards the Jews, I support all the Jewish
organizations and treat that nation very respectfully,” she said

She did not shun the question about the erotic movie, an idea of which
was authored by the Russian Liberal-Democratic MP Alexei Mitrofanov.

“I actually think the people who do such things can only have some
fantasies about sex but are good for nothing when it comes down to the
real thing, so let’s forgive them their trespasses,” Timoshenko said.