Author: Jagharian Tania

THE UNDER 19 FOOTBALL TEAM OF ARMENIA WON CYPRUS 1:0

ArmRadio.am
30.10.2006 12:33

The under 19 football team of Armenia scored 1:0 against the
team of Cyprus in the second round qualification of the European
Championship. In another match of the same group the team of Hungary
beat Azerbaijan 5:0.

Only after the last round of the tournament it will become clear
which two teams will continue competing in the European Championship.

November 1 in Larnaka Armenian footballers will meet with Hungarians,
while the team of Cyprus will meet with Azerbaijan. After two rounds
the group is leaded by Hungary with 6 points, the teams of Armenia and
Azerbaijan have 3 points each, while the team of Cyprus has no points.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HOLDS TRAINING ON EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Panorama.am
12:55 30/10/06

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has organized a seminar
to educate trainers for Armenian prosecutors, judges, and advocates
on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and on advanced case
studies. The seminar will be led by the Honorable Richard G. Stearns,
United States District Court Judge; Gediminas Sagatys, Senior Advisor
to the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and Professor of Law
at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius; and Henrikas Mickevicius,
Executive Director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute in
Vilnius. The training seminar will last a day and a half and will
be held on October 30-31, as well as November 1-2, 2006. The seminar
will include advanced discussions and case studies of Articles 5 and 6
from the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as a comparative
analysis of the recent amendments to the Armenian criminal procedure
code with the ECHR. There will also be discussions on how the ECHR
has changed the constitutional, legislative, and case law landscape
in Lithuania, and lessons learned from this transition.

Armenia has been a signatory to the European Court of Human Rights
since 2002. This training is especially relevant since the number
of Armenian petitioners who have made applications to the Court has
increased from 89 in 2003 to 340 in 2005. This will be Judge Stearns"s
second trip to Armenia at the invitation of the U.S. Government. In
June, 2006, Judge Stearns conducted training sessions for Armenian
judges, the Prosecutor General"s Office, and the Armenian Police
Department on trafficking in persons issues, and specifically on
victims" rights and the protection of witnesses.

Koha Jone, Albania
26 Oct 06

Commentary accuses Albanian foreign minister of "negligence" on
Kosovo issue

by Donat Syla "Failed diplomacy"

At a meeting with a Serbian politician, Albania Foreign Minister
Besnik Mustafaj said, among other things, that "the question of the
status of Kosova [Kosovo] should not affect the process of bilateral
cooperation" and that "the relations we are building between our two
countries must be durable and long-term regardless of the positions
adopted by the two sides over Kosova’s status." As the head of
Albanian diplomacy, Mr Mustafaj must know the saying that the enemy
of my friend is my enemy. Or, in other words, the enemy of my brother
is my enemy. This is what the Canon of the Mountains [traditional
social/legal code] said.

Yet, without overcharging the issue with nationalist ideology, as we
are being told that it is not fashionable to mention that in the 21st
century, we must remark that, besides the Kosova issue, bilateral
relations between Albania and Serbia contain many elements that
undermine Albania’s position with regard to Serbia, especially in the
economic and diplomatic fields.

Why is it so? Because, despite all the destruction the Serbian
economy has suffered in the past few years, it still has the
necessary infrastructures to rise, to recover and to advance, also
with the help of the international community. In other words, the
Serbian economy will be the main one in the Western Balkans. US
diplomacy is also interested in its revival, as Daniel Fried [US
assistant secretary of state] stated during a visit he paid to
Belgrade recently, when he said that the United States wished to have
Serbia as a strategic partner and a leader in the region.

However, Albania has been showing immaturity in the diplomatic field
too, although it knows full well that, during the war in Kosova,
Serbia provoked it more than once in border incidents.

Besides, Serbia is facing criticism from international opinion and it
has not yet met its most elementary obligations under international
justice, as it has not handed over some of its main criminals
responsible for genocidal campaigns in the former Yugoslavia.

Here it is worth recalling that a little while ago France condemned
the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, although this issue directly
affects not the French, but a nation in a corner of Europe that is
striving to become a member of the European Union.

Foreign Minister Mustafaj stated recently that the issue of Kosova’s
final status would be postponed to next year. What is upsetting in
our foreign minister’s statements is that the man has been preaching
something that is not good for Kosova, something that also implies
Albania’s responsibility in this issue, which is a manifestation of
utter negligence in so important a matter.

To a certain extent, Mustafaj has paved the way for the international
factor to work for a solution to the Kosova issue that does not take
into consideration the interests of the Albanians, still less of the
Albanians who live outside Albania’s borders.

It is rather surprising that Albania has taken some bold steps in its
foreign policy towards another Balkan state – Macedonia, in this case
– knowing that backing the request of the Macedonian Albanians to
have their own flag or the request of most Macedonians to have their
country named Macedonia runs counter to Greece’s aspirations to the
territories to the north of its borders. If Albanian diplomacy had
not backed down on its statements on this issue, Albania would have
risked losing a very important economic source, taking into account
that Greek investors play a major part in the Albanian economy and
also that there are a considerable number of Albanians living and
working in Greece.

At a news conference during a Balkan conference held in Serbia a few
days ago, President Moisiu said in so many words that there could be
no compromise over Kosova’s final status. This he did in an exchange
with Serbia’s President Tadic who, among other things, tried to
present Kosova as a country in which terrorism and crime thrived. And
despite all that, Serbia wants to have Kosova back in its midst.

It follows that Serbia has nothing against dealing with "terrorists,"
or rather, terrorizing those it calls terrorists.

This can well be expected from a Serbian president. However,
considering how Albanian diplomacy has been acting over the Kosova
issue, one can clearly say that it has failed in defending the
interests of the Kosovars, as according to the head of Albanian
diplomacy the Kosova issue should not affect Albania’s relations with
Serbia.

In the meantime, Serbia is resorting to all manner of pressure to
present Kosova in the worst possible light to the international
community. The "revolted" Albanian president has, however, seen the
mistakes of Albanian diplomacy.

A sinister fate is, as always, following us both in Kosova and
Albania and, what is worse, this is due to the political
shortsightedness of our politicians.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 28 2006

Novelist with roots in Beirut wins Whiting Award

Daily Star staff
Saturday, October 28, 2006

BEIRUT: Saudi-born novelist Micheline Aharonian Marcom has been
awarded one of 10 annual Whiting Writers’ Awards for emerging
authors, each worth $40,000. The winners of this year’s prizes –
given to two novelists, three short story writers, three poets and
two playwrights in total, all of them in the early stages of their
careers – were announced in New York on Thursday.

Marcom was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in 1968, of mixed American,
Lebanese and Armenian parentage. She grew up in Los Angeles but spent
her formative summers in Beirut before the Civil War broke out.

Marcom’s first novel, "Three Apples Fell from Heaven," was published
in 2001. Set in Ottoman Turkey during the tumultuous two-year period
between 1915 and 1917, the novel caught the attention of critics for
its stylistic complexity. Marcom’s book threw up multiple
protagonists in a series of interlocking vignettes. The cast includes
Maritsa, a young woman harboring desires to be a young man; Lucine, a
low-level employee at the US Embassy and the consul’s lover; Sargis,
a poet losing his mind while hiding out in his mother’s attic; and
Rachel, a ghost of sorts who haunts the novel by offering reflections
on all the other characters from the bottom of a well.

If Marcom’s debut dealt directly with the Armenian genocide, then her
follow-up, "The Daydreaming Boy" published in 2004, traces its legacy
– the emotional aftermath haunting survivors of the massacres living
in Beirut in the 1960s. A middle-aged man named Vahe distracts
himself with torrid, adulterous affairs, but they all fail to turn
his mind from his brutal past, which he sees before him day in and
day out.

Again Marcom’s language is impressionistic and rich. Some sentences
go on and on, coiling one vibrant image into another and yet another.
Other sentences are short and rhythmic. One passage describes a
photograph of an unknown boy ripped from an old Armenian journal and
tucked into the protagonist’s wallet.

"His look is the look of sadness – in this photograph I can see it.
It is not the rags that tell of it, his stance with the bared knee
slightly bent, or the invisible hands, I assume he has hands. What
marks the public sadness for this boy?" Marcom writes. "He could very
well have been my uncle, my mother’s youngest cousin; we are kin in
any case, kin made from an event in history. Not one moment, but many
bound together and routed from hearths and bundles up in his raggy
hat-turban – there is of course the moment of the photograph."

"The Daydreaming Boy" is the second installment in a planned trilogy.
Marcom is currently a writer-in-residence at Mills College in
California. The other winner’s of this year’s Whiting Writers Awards
are novelist Nina Marie Martinez; short story writers Charles
D’Ambrosio, Yiyun Li and Patrick O’Keefe; poets Sherwin Bitsui, Suji
Kwock Kim and Tyehimba Jess; and playwrights Bruce Norris and Stephen
Adly Guirgis. – The Daily Star

RUSSIA’S ACTIONS REGARDING GEORGIA AIMED TO PREVENT BLOODSHED

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2006 17:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "People in Abkhazia, South Ossetia are worried by
militarization of Georgia. So are we.

The aggravation of the Russian-Georgian relations is due to it – the
attempt or arrangements of a possible solution of the Abkhazian and
South Ossetian issues by force," Russian President Vladimir Putin
said during a live news conference today. "If Georgian leadership
resorts to that, it will be a great mistake. If people want to live
peacefully, they need to use all peaceful tools, compromises. Our
latest actions regarding Georgia are not aimed at its plans to join
the NATO or something else. Any state is sovereign and it determines
how to secure itself. Our actions are aimed at the sole goal of
preventing bloodshed."

FREEDOM TO VAHAGN CHAKHALIAN SIT-DOWN STRIKE PARTICIPANTS SEND OPEN LETTER TO ARA ABRAHAMIAN

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. On October 25, the participants of
the Freedom to Vahagn Chakhalian sit-down strike sent an open letter
to Chairman of the Union of Armenians in Russia, Ara Abrahamian,
proposing him supporting release of member of Presidency of the the
United Javakhk democratic bloc, Vahagn Chakhalian, from "clutches
of violence ruling in Armenia." Emphasizing A.Abrahamian’s rich
experience of releasing and returning to the homeland Armenia’s and
Russia’s citizens sentenced on the charge of "taking part in armed
coups" in African countries, the letter authors propose "also using
such approach" towards Vahagn Chakhalian, Presidency member of the
United Javakhk democratic bloc arrested in Yerevan with the absurd
accusation of "illegally crossing the Armenian state frontier" and
releasing the national figure from clutches of violence ruling in
Armenia." The participants of Freedom to Vahagn Chakhalian sit-down
strike ask Ara Abrahamian to take into consideration the fact that
"the efforts of RA National Assembly 17 Deputies, a number of parties
and organizations to release V.Chakhalian from custody are perceived
by RA law enforcement body heads and their chiefs as "a voice in the
wilderness," the letter read.

MEMORANDUM OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING SIGNED BETWEEN UNDP AND HAYASTAN ALL ARMENIAN FUND

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. A memorandum of mutual understanding
was signed between UNDP and Hayastan All Armenian Fund on October
25, by which the sides express readiness to cooperate within the
framework of programs aimed at poverty reduction in rural populated
areas. As UNDP Resident Representative to Armenia, Consuelo Vidal
said, reduction of rural poverty is the subject of anxiety of both
RA government and UN. In her words, UNDP has worked out development
plans of 20 border villages. Currently work is being done on providing
financial assistance for these programs. "We are convinced that we
will be able to achieve great results thanks to uniting our efforts
with the Hayastan All Armenian Fund and the whole Diaspora," C.Vidal
said. Fund’s Executive Director, Naira Melkumian said that rural
communities development programs, in which local authorities will also
take part, will seriously improve the situation in the regions. She
informed that the Fund’s all local structures and Diasporan benefactors
are interested in implementation of these programs. It was also
mentioned that the Hayastan All Armenian Fund implemented programs
amounting to 160 mln USD during 14 years, including construction of
220 km roads, 130 km water lines, 36 schools, 3 electric conductivity
stations, 210 residential houses and 14 health institutions.

IGOR MURADYAN: NAGORNO KARABAKH FACED WITH POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHOICE

Regnum, Russia
Oct 24 2006

"Ice is broken" in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The considerably
long period of relatively peaceful existence has refined the interests
of different social groups and sections and has put quite fundamental
questions to the society: What kind of statehood should NK have? What
principles and values should it be based on? What role and place
should NKR have in the Armenian reality? What social priorities
should it have? Having pinned so many hopes on the "restless status"
of the Karabakh idea, the Karabakh society have suddenly found out
that, from now on, they will have to live and assert their rights "on
common ground." They have found out that, besides foreign challenges,
there are no less dangerous internal threats. Limited in quantity and
space, the civil society of NKR feel a steadily growing collective
responsibility for the fate of their country. The negative innovations
they see in the capital of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, look to
them as a major threat to traditional society. Of course, formerly,
they could hardly think about such problems – in the pre-Gukasyan
period NKR had little room for any social dynamics. Arkady Gukasyan has
brought tolerance and non-violence in the political life and has laid
the foundations of civil society. However, the parliamentary elections
2005 revealed some democracy and law problems, and responsible for them
was not only the president – but all those groups who sought power.

In fact, they in NKR are already preparing for a new political and
social situation. After a long and unproductive period of stupor and
confusion, they are finally forming an opposition. This is not the
"opposition" of the traditional parties who have lost the game and
have dropped off the political arena, but quite a new and interesting
construction of politically active groups. It is almost known who are
those people seeking the presidency, but the most interesting point
is that they represent not only the opposition as such but also the
opposition inside the current administration.

Local politicians from different parties are actively "turning their
coats." It is quite noteworthy that already today there are some
ambitious people in Yerevan and Moscow who say they seek presidency
in NKR and, probably, have legal grounds for so doing. Of course,
this may disorganize the political processes, but, at least, this
will bring some diversity and a chance of wider choice.

Unfortunately, what we see now is recruitment and re-recruitment of
functionaries and basic forces, especially, in the province, but in
Stepanakert, too, we can see the surplus of choice: various groups
are actively consulting, the ruling regime is fermenting as Gukasyan
is no longer able to control his own functionaries.

In any case, those functionaries seem to be more interested in the
presidential than parliamentary elections – though both may prove
to be early. This inspires little enthusiasm as this proves that the
ambitious "politicians" do not see the tasks NKR is facing.

Meanwhile, one of the urgent state-building tasks in Karabakh today
is to restore the republic and to strengthen the political role of
the parliament through restriction of the president’s authority. This
must be done, first of all, because NKR is an unrecognized state,
and it is absolutely clear that its "sovereignization" will take
place in several stages in line with the general revision of the
international law. The analysis of this problem shows that for the
concerned part of the international community the parliament of an
unrecognized state is more adequate than its president. Of course, much
depends on the personality of the president, but NKR, just like all the
unrecognized post-Soviet states, has no advantage here. Furthermore,
the Karabakh society do not have enough self-control and political
and social culture for ignoring collegiality institutions.

Besides, wide parliamentary powers promote political culture and, most
importantly, imply collective responsibility for crucial decisions. The
political practice has shown that the NKR Parliament should have the
authority to carry out foreign political functions.

The NKR authorities and politicians also realize that, but it was
exactly the lack of foreign policy as such that has resulted in the
present political crisis.

The NKR authorities are presently considering draft Constitution and
are, seemingly, tailoring it to specific situational goals. They
act typically for "transitional" societies. In any case, they
must revise the Constitution – they will hardly avoid this loss of
time. It seems that they in Stepanakert will get big money soon,
and the post-traditional society may fall under it charm – though
new politicians seem to be rather well-educated people, who realize
their responsibility and tasks. What is more important is that the
new elite must draw appropriate conclusions from the past NKR history.

Otherwise, the Karabakh society will not wait so long this time.

Undoubtedly, the political processes in NKR will not develop in vacuum
but will be "adjusted" to Yerevan – something certain politicians in
Stepanakert really hope for. However, in Yerevan, too, the situation
is changing quickly. Most probably, the Armenian authorities will
prefer not interfering in the developments in NKR and just accepting
the reality they will face in their historical homeland. That would
be quite an acceptable scenario as the Karabakh resource can be
effective only if given more freedom. However, this situation is far
from strong-willed decisions or varying moods and ambitions. Simply,
the political processes in Yerevan and Stepanakert are becoming
increasingly autonomous from each other. Whose merit and whose idea
it is, does not matter much – though it must be given its worth. What
really matters is that it is becoming a reality.

SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: PROTESTS IN FRONT OF FRENCH EMBASSY

Turkish Press
Oct 24 2006

ANKARA – Two separate groups of protestors from Turkish Labour Party
(IP) and True Path Party (DYP) reacted to France in front of French
Embassy in Ankara, regarding the bill which aims to criminalize
denial of so-called Armenian genocide that will be voted in the French
parliament (on October 12th).

Chanting slogans as "stop France, boycott is on the way" and "we
did not commit genocide, we defended our country", protestors laid
a black wreath in front of French Embassy.

-A DELEGATION OF DEPUTIES FROM CHP DUE TO PARIS-

Meanwhile, a delegation of MPs from main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) will go to Paris to attend the French Parliament’s session
on October 12th.

CHP delegation will consist of Haluk Koc, Onur Oymen, Sukru Elekdag
and Gulsun Bilgehan.

" Not only our friends will watch French Parliament but also 70 million
people will watch; history will watch," said CHP leader Deniz Baykal
on Tuesday.

SUCEESSFUL PROCESS OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS IS IMPORTANT FOR MAINTAINING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMEMT, WB REPRESENTATIVE SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly Speaker
Tigran Torosian on October 24 received the Director of the World
Bank Armenia Office Roger Robinson who completes his term of
office in Armenia, NT was informed from the RA National Assembly PR
Department. T. Torosian said that much importance was attached to
economic development in the countries in the post-Soviet territory
during the first years of their independence, but the logical
process of development made people realize that the social life
should be reformed as well, and a country’s success is conditioned by
political, social and economic reforms. In the words of T. Torosian,
the improvement of political mechanisms is of particular significance
for implementing reforms in the social life. He expressed confidence
that by making reforms in the social life, it is possible to reach
success in Armenia in two-three years and create opportunities for
people to live a dignified life. Expressing gratitude to the NA
Speaker for the successful joint activities over the last 4.5 years,
Roger Robinson noted that during this period Armenian has registered
a serious economic success and a sustainable growth, which is no less
important. He underlined the importance of three factors – political,
economic and social – for the development of any country. In his words,
these factors are hardly ever present at the same time: the economic
development is the first one to appear, while political and social
developments take more time as the mentality and perception of people,
as well as their relations with each other and the state change.

He pointed out that the World Bank does not interfere in politics
but the successful course of the upcoming elections is important for
maintaining the economic development.