Author: Hunanian Jack

Contact:

Haykuhi Khachatryan
Communications Coordinator HFH Armenia
Aygestan 8th Street, bld 5,
Yerevan-070; Armenia
(374 1) 556-114
[email protected]

Women build at Habitat for Humanity Armenia

Habitat For Humanity builds more than homes. It connects hearths and
souls of people to do better for the people living next to us.

Nani Oskanyan, the president of Diplomatic Spouse Association is one of
HFH Armenia’s local supporters who invited and organized the spouses
of the Ambassadors in the Republic of Armenia to join Habitat For
Humanity Armenia and to build in the frames of Women Build program,
for the family of Khachatryans in Voskehat village, Aragatsotn marz,
on April 9, 2005. This family of 6 lived in a barn for many years.
They later finished just one room of their house and moved into that
room in order to simply survive. In 2004, they were selected as an
HFH Armenia partner family.

The participants at the build were the wives of several countries’
ambassadors to Armenia. They were the Iranian Ambassador’s wife–Mrs.
Faranak Mojharban, Lebanese Ambassador’s wife–Mrs. Tigresse Chidiac,
Ukrainian Ambassador’s wife–Valentina Tiaglo, Romanian Ambassador’s
wife-Mrs. Ana Iordache, Turkmenian Ambassador’s wife-Mrs. Durdieva,
Estonian Ambassador’s wife–Mrs. Barkhudaryan, UNISEF Representative’s
wife-Mrs. Yett. They all joined the Women’s Build event at Habitat
For Humanity Armenia to a build simple, decent, affordable and healthy
home. This is the second time that Nani Oskanyan is building with
Habitat in Armenia in Voskehat village.

Women Build even is inspiring women to be more active and get involved
in community development. Construction is not only men’s job but
women can do it as well and help our communities.

“This is the first time I am doing volunteering work but I am
really glad
that am able to help Armenia and Armenian people to have better lives
and healthy homes”, — Mrs Faranak Mojharban said.

Habitat for Humanity Armenia is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity
International and supports community development in the Republic of
Armenia by assisting in the construction and renovation of simple,
decent and affordable homes. The purpose of the organization is to
help families in need improve their living conditions, to raise funds
to support the vital work, and to give hope to thousands of people
across the country. The organization was formed in March of 2000 and,
to date, has dedicated 100 homes and given shelter to 575 people.

Sub-standard housing is all too common in Armenia. Many families live
in deteriorated housing, in cramped quarters with inadequate water
and heat. HFH Armenia’s selected target group is families living in
substandard, over-crowded and unacceptable living quarters. This group
comprises more than 50-60% of the country’s current population. These
families are unable to purchase their own homes, as they do not have
sufficient income to save to pay for the entire house cost up front,
nor can they risk, or would they be eligible for, a high-interest
loan from a commercial lender.

Habitat for Humanity Armenia has found a way to solve the
problem. Families, with two or three wage earners, pay back a
no-interest loan for a simple, decent, affordable, and healthy home,
and are still able to feed their families. Habitat for Humanity Armenia
is using a combination of two approaches to help Habitat families
solve their housing problems:

1) Completing half-built homes, which are numerous in
Armenia. This approach enables families to fulfill their
dream of completing their own home. Utilizing existing
core structure reduces costs and prevents the disruption
of relocating.

2) Purchasing apartments to make use of Armenia’s existing
under-utilized housing stock. Purchased homes are resold at
no-profit, interest-free, to Habitat families who renovate
their apartments and help in the construction of other
families’ homes.

For more information please email Haykuhi Khachatryan, Communication
Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity Armenia [email protected] .
See also .

Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International is a
non-denominational Christian, non-governmental, non-profit housing
organization that has helped more than 700,000 people of all races,
religions and backgrounds to have a simple, decent and affordable
place to live. Habitat for Humanity has built or renovated more
than 175,000 homes throughout the world, becoming a global leader
in addressing poverty housing. Habitat for Humanity is active in 100
countries worldwide, including 19 in Europe and Central Asia.

~END~

Journal of Turkish weekly
April 15 2005

Biggest Shock to Armenian Allegations

(JTW Ankara) The head of Turkish Institute of History,Yusuf Halacoglu
publicized new scientific documents against Armenian allegations.
According to Halacoglu, these historic documents will spoil
Armenian’s claims. One document revealed by Halacoglu is dated back
28 May 1915.
According to document, it has been ordered, how Armenians should be
sent back.
Halacoglu revealed two more documents, one American paper that
calculates Armenian population dated back 1921. Also in the documents
it has been explained that how aid organizations will help Armenians.

This week Armenian President rejected Turkish letter for
collaboration on allegations. The move strengthened the hand of
Turkish side, which head started the opening of Ottoman archieves.
Halacoglu claims, to solve the problem it is a must to open all
Ottoman archieves.

Armenpress

STUDENTS PROTEST AGAINST GEORGIA’S NATIONAL POLICY

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: Several Armenian student organizations,
united in the Student Council, organized today a protest action outside
Georgian embassy in Yerevan demanding that central Georgian authorities stop
their discriminatory policy against Armenians in that country.
Before reaching the embassy building in downtown Yerevan they marched
through several streets shouting “No to white genocide,” “Stop Georgianize
Armenians.”
Arsen Palian, a member of the Council’s board, said their goal is to
convey their concerns over the fate of Georgian Armenians to that country’s
ambassador to Armenia. “Georgian authorities must give up their plans to
implement their national policy at the expense of a friendly nation,” he
said.
He said the letter they conveyed to the ambassador asks him to come up
with a statement that Georgian authorities will respect Georgian Armenians’
rights.
Another students said they were assured by the ambassador that Meskhetian
Turks deported from Georgia in 1944 by Stalin would not be resettled in
areas populated by Armenians and that the issue of teaching Armenian
language at Armenians schools in Georgia would be revised

ARMENIANS DID NOT INTEND TO OCCUPY THEIR OWN TERRITORIES

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 14. ARMINFO. “As a man who was born in Shushi and
has for many years studied the inscriptions on the town’s historical
architectural monuments and graves of XVIII-XX I can say with full
responsibility that Armenians and Russians constituted the greater
part of the town’s population at that time,” says Karabakh
ethnographer Hrachik Haroutyunyan commenting on the article in
GazetaSNG.ru saying that the ancestors of the Azeris lived in Karabakh
as long ago as paleolith.

In the article Azeris protest against some alleged excavations in
Shushi aimed, as they claim, “at wiping out the Azeri trace in
Karabakh.” “The goal of the Karabakh occupying Armenians is to create
an artificial Armenian history of this land,” says the article. Azeri
professor Hidayat Jafarov says that the excavations show that the
Armenians are going to occupy Karabakh in archaeological terms too.

Haroutyunyan assures that the inscriptions on over 1,000 graves in
Shushi show that all the top positions in the town in XVIII-XX were
held by Armenians and Russians. “So we, Armenians, did not plan to
occupy our own territory and Jafarov’s statement is one more
propaganda trick,” he says reminding that journalist Israfil Mamedov
said on Baku radio recently that they should write Shushi’s
history. “Now we have no real history and each of us should be
concerned for this,” Mamedov said. “Wasn’t he in fact calling for
rewriting the history of the Armenian land in Azeri manner?”
Haroutyunyan concludes.

Turkish press
April 14 2005

Tough Days

BY MURAT YETKIN

RADIKAL- Soon after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was protested
by a pro-PKK group in Oslo yesterday, main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP) head Deniz Baykal told a group meeting of his
party that recent discussions on national sovereignty and minority
rights had raised tension in the country. Baykal underlined that the
terrorist PKK had once again violated Turkey’s understanding of
national sovereignty by recently declaring that Kurdish groups in
Iraq, Syria and Turkey should unite under a common flag. Two days ago
in Oslo, Erdogan explicitly argued that illegal groups trying to
divide Turkey are backed by certain European Union circles.
Yesterday, asked what he would do to `stop the war,’ Erdogan’s
reaction was harsh. `It’s our security forces’ duty to respond to
terrorist activities,’ he said. He seemed angry when responding to
questions on such sensitive issues as the `Kurdish minority.’

For his part, Baykal found Erdogan’s reaction lacking. He believes
that the government has failed to effectively manage and control the
public anger which has recently shown itself on the streets. `When
those who should speak up instead stay silent, then the streets start
talking,’ he warned. Looking at Baykal’s readiness to tolerate the
recent violent demonstrations by excusing them as `rightful public
reactions due to a government failure,’ we can easily see how tough
are the days we’re facing and how even tougher ones lie ahead.

Baykal yesterday also underlined that he believed the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) would soon rule that terrorist Abdullah Ocalan
should be retried. This will definitely be another tension-raising
issue. In addition, there is also the so-called Armenian genocide
issue. All of these developments could have been predicted by the
government. Didn’t it realize that such sensitive issues would be
discussed as our EU membership talks are looming? As a matter of
fact, in strategy meetings held last year, state officials stressed
that the issues of Armenia, Cyprus and Kurds would trouble Ankara in
the near future. But what did our government do to head off such
problems? Nothing… Our government’s crisis management is deficient.
In the age of mass communications, it chooses to stay silent. This is
a weak policy to pursue.

A1plus

| 15:50:44 | 12-04-2005 | Sports |

FINAL TOUR TO BE DECISIVE

The leaders of the International Chess Tournament including Ashot Anastasyan
were defeated in the 8-th tour and the fight for the 1-st place became more
tensed. Ashot Anastasyan with 6 points shares the 1-st horizontal with 8
other chess players. However, according to additional index he is only the
3-rd.

In the 8-th tour Artashes Minasyan won a victory over Elina Danielyan while
Gabriel Sargsyan played a draw game with Gadir Huseynov. Now Gabriel
Sargsyan occupies the 16-th position with 5.5 points.

In the final tour Ashot Anastasyan will meet with Moldavian grand master
Viorel Jordanesku.

Turkish Press
April 12 2005

Yakis: Armenian Bill Prepared By CDU/CSU Is Full Of Misinformation

BERLIN – Parliamentary Commission for Adjustment to the European
Union (EU) Chairman Yasar Yakis said on Monday that the Armenian bill
submitted by German union parties (CDU/CSU) to Federal German
Parliament was full of misinformation.

The Turkish parliamentary delegation, including of members of the
Commission for Adjustment to the EU and the Turkey-EU Joint
Parliamentary Commission met Greens Parliamentary Group Foreign
Policy Spokesperson Fritz Kuhn.

Speaking after the meeting Yakis said the bill which the CDU/CSU
presented to Federal German Parliament on Armenians and the bill
about the excessive force used by Turkish police on individuals were
discussed at the meeting.

Yakis said that there is not one single sentence which does not
contain wrong information in the bill presented by CDU/CSU on
Armenian demands and allegations, noting that, “we expressed our
concern that Turkish-German relations can be damaged in case the
mistakes are included in the bill. We told them that this bill was
not beneficial either to CDU, Turkish-German relations or
Turkish-Armenian relations, but on the contrary, it would be very
harmful.“

Yakis said Kuhn told him that they were also preparing a bill on
Armenian issue, and he offered cooperation in preparation of this
bill. “This cooperation does not mean `listen to us alone. Listen
also to us. We will not stand on the archives of only the Ottomans.
We can present you with the documents from German archives as well.
You may also take documents from the Armenian side. Then, write
whatever you will.“

Yakis said he told Kuhn that the problem of police`s applying to
force was also seen in other countries, and noted that, “I also told
Kuhn that the country should be accused if the government fails to
carry out necessary procedures on the police.“

Yakis said Kuhn told him that such scenes should not often be seen in
a country which is a candidate to the EU.

Yakis said, “we also discussed what kind of cooperation could be
made between Turkey and Germany for Turkey`s progress on the way to
become an EU member. As you know, Greens expend the most powerful and
stable support to Turkey`s EU membership.“

The Turkish Parliamentary delegation will meet representatives of
various parties and Turkish community during their till Thursday.

RA PRESIDENT EMPHASIZES NECESSITY TO MAKE CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM MORE
EFFECTIVE

YEREVAN, APRIL 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The Civil Service Council (CSC)
continues work on detecting cases of documents forgery by people
occupying posts in the civil service system, or claiming to the
posts. Manvel Badalian, the CSC Chairman informed about it at the
working meeting with RA President Robert Kocharian, held on April 7.
As Noyan Tapan was informed from the RA President’s Press Office,
R.Kocharian emphasized the necessity to appoint leading specialists
to the civil service posts and to make the system full-fledged
and effective. The parties also touched upon problems concerning
integration of the civil service system, as well as the initiative
of the CSC to make some legislative amendments.

AMBASSADOR ARMEN SMBATIAN DELIVERS A LECTURE AT INSTITUTE OF ASIA AND AFRICA OF MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY

MOSCOW, APRIL 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Armen Smbatian, Ambassador of Armenia to
Russia preseted a lecture on the theme “Present and Future of Armenia”
at the Institute of Asia and Africa of Moscow State Universuty on
April 6. Lectors and students of the Institute represented initiative
of the meeting with the Ambassador. A.Smbatian presented in details
the social-economic situation present in Armenia, as well as the
current regional political events. Touching upon the present stage
of development of Armenian-Russian relations, Ambassador A.Smbatian
drew attention of those present to the events on the year of Russia
in Armenia this year. As Noyan Tapan was informed from the RA Foreign
Ministry’s Press and Information Department, during the discussions
following the lecture, Ambassador Smbatian answered the questions of
those present. Most of the questions concerned to Armenia-Russia,
Armenia-Turkey, Armenia-West relations, foreign policy of Armenia,
issues concerning primary economic tasks of the country.

28664 PUPILS ATTEND MUSIC, ART, CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH CREATIVE CENTERS

YEREVAN, APRIL 8, NOYAN TAPAN. At present 190 music, art schools and
children’s and youth creative centers function in Armenia. 26 of them
are in Yerevan. 12 of Yerevan schools are under the subordination of
Yerevan Mayor’s Office, 13 prefectures and 1 RA Ministry of Education
and Science. According to the data of RA National Statistical Service,
28 thousand 664 pupils attend music, art schools and children’s
and youth creative centers. 70.2% of the pupils pay for their
education. 52.2% attend piano classes.