Author: Jagharian Tania

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| 21:31:32 | 22-06-2005 | Politics | PACE SUMMER SESSION 2005 |

THE AZERI PECULIARITY

As always, the Azeri delegation, passing over the discussed matter, referred
to the land problem. Member of the Azeri delegation Rafael Huseynov
mentioned that for the years after membership to the COE Azerbaijan has
proved that it spares no effort to establish democracy in the country and to
honor its obligations and commitments.

Mr. Huseynov spoke about the `peculiarity’ of Azerbaijan. `Azerbaijan is the
only member country of the COE, 20% of the lands of which are occupied’. We
hope that the PACE will take corresponding steps to call aggressor Armenia
to responsibility and will give Azerbaijan the possibility to become member
of COE with all its territory.

Head of the Azeri delegation Samed Seyidov also made speech. He asked
everyone to be tolerant to Azerbaijan and claimed that Azerbaijan takes
steps to solve all the problems.

New York Times, NY
June 22 2005

Verse Film Pits Love Against the Clash of Cultures

By ANNETTE GRANT
Published: June 22, 2005

Sally Potter – a dancer, choreographer, actress, singer, composer,
writer, poet and filmmaker – has a new movie, “Yes,” opening on
Friday. It follows “Orlando” (1993), “The Tango Lesson” (1997) and
“The Man Who Cried” (2000) and several short films and documentaries.
“Yes,” stars Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian and Sam Neill. It is written
in verse (iambic pentameter), one of the few films to use an unusual
form of dialogue. (Two others are “Force of Evil,” 1948, in blank
verse, and “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” 1964, which is sung
through.) “Yes” has two main characters, She (Ms. Allen), an
Irish-American, and He (Mr. Abkarian), an Arab from Beirut, who begin
an affair in London and end it in Havana. Mr. Neill plays She’s
husband. On a recent visit to New York, Ms. Potter talked to Annette
Grant about making “Yes.”

Skip to next paragraph

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
The writer and director Sally Potter.

Movie Details: ‘Yes’ | Trailer

Forum: Hollywood and Movie News

Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures Classics
Simon Abkarian and Joan Allen, who play the main characters in “Yes,”
a new film by Sally Potter. Written in verse, the film concerns an
affair between an Irish-American, called Her, and an Arab, called
Him.
Annette Grant “Yes” was your response as an artist to 9/11?

Sally Potter It was a visceral necessity, the very next day. I wanted
to contribute something affirmative in the face of such disruption,
when it seemed that the seeds of greater destruction had been
planted. The answer I found is “Yes,” a tender, erotic love story
played out against a backdrop of the clash of fundamentalisms, East
and West.

Q How did you decide to write it in verse?

A In my 20’s I was an improvising singer and I wrote many, many
songs. And at various stages, every screenplay I’ve written has been
in verse. But they’ve all been locked away in a drawer. Somehow it
seemed like the moment had finally come to let that idea play itself
out. I wanted this film to be like a river of voice. “Yes” just came
out that way, like a long poem or song.

Q So there was no opportunity for improvisation?

A No, it had to be the words as written exactly. Of course there were
many rewrites if something wasn’t working in rehearsal. The writing
and the directing of this film were so intertwined they became
inseparable. But the mode of delivery within the structure of what
was written was very free, so the actors never felt trapped in it.
They were word perfect. It was very easy for them to memorize,
because of the rhyme.

Q What was the first part you wrote?

A The car park scene in which He breaks up with She. I made it into a
five-minute film. Rewrote it, rewrote it, rewrote it, rewrote it,
again and again – partly because the world situation kept changing.
When we went into rehearsals the United States and England had just
gone into Iraq. So the script felt extremely prophetic, or pertinent
anyway.

Q Was this a hard film to raise money for?

A Really hard because it was perceived as very, very risky. People
found it difficult to believe that it would work.

Q Did you do a lot of research?

A I went to Beirut with Simon Abkarian, who is Armenian from there.
He was involved for about a year. I talked with him a lot, listened
to him a lot, about his life growing up there and his friends. I
often find that I need to write something first and then research it
afterwards because it’s as if the research has already been done
somewhere in my imagination, based on accumulated knowledge and
experience over the years. But then I fact check everything in
whatever way is relevant for fiction. I mean, you can’t – it’s not
“fact” by definition, but to make sure that the voice is authentic.

We were going to shoot in Beirut, but when the war broke out, the
insurers would not let us go. So we decided to shoot Beirut in
Havana, while we were there shooting the Havana scenes. We had to
shoot Havana in the Dominican Republic, because as an American, Joan
Allen couldn’t travel to Cuba.

But we obviously couldn’t take all the extras into Cuba, so we went
to the Arab Union in Havana, and I think the entire Arab population
of Cuba was in one scene. But I had Simon and the two friends come to
a meeting with all the extras and tell me is this a believable face
for this situation.

Q You cast yourself in “The Tango Lesson.” Were you ever tempted to
play She, the Joan Allen role, yourself in “Yes”?

A It crossed my mind and, of course, in the early days when I was
writing it I was reading it aloud to find out how it felt in the
mouth. But I think the experience of “The Tango Lesson,” taught me
that being in a film that you also direct can kind of hijack it away
from its intention to some degree.

Q If “Yes” is poetry, the real language of that film was dance.

A But also the language of whose eyes are looking – so it’s about
filmmaking. Every filmmaker makes a film at some point about the
process of filmmaking.

Q Joan Allen describes “Yes” as an extremely emotional adventure for
her. She has talked about rehearsals at which everyone was crying.
What were these emotions arising from?

A A combination of things. The script gave permission to feel,
through the vehicle of the story, the horrors of the global
situation. In rehearsal you need to arrive at the most profound level
of emotional contact with the material, partly in order to discharge
some of it to achieve the necessary transparency to play it. So that
the viewer doesn’t see a kind of therapeutic process going on on the
screen, but sees something many, many stages beyond that. But you
have to have gone through that first.

It wasn’t just the actors who would cry in rehearsal, but I would
turn around and the crew was also crying during the shooting. And now
audiences are crying at screenings. So some nerve is getting, I
think, usefully pushed. People are being allowed to feel; feel what’s
hard to feel or is amorphous and unfocused or it’s too threatening to
feel. And precisely because the film ultimately is affirmative, and
is joyful and is a celebration of love.

Q Isn’t this what art means to do, to make people feel through it?

A Yes. And to feel therefore themselves in it. I think that’s the
key.

The US war with Iran has already begun

(MT Edit — “The road to Tehran leads through Baku”)

Aljazeera.net
Sunday 19 June 2005

By Scott Ritter

Americans, along with the rest of the world, are starting to wake up to
the uncomfortable fact that President George Bush not only lied to them
about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (the ostensible excuse for
the March 2003 invasion and occupation of that country by US forces),
but also about the very process that led to war.

On 16 October 2002, President Bush told the American people that “I have
not ordered the use of force. I hope that the use of force will not
become necessary.”

We know now that this statement was itself a lie, that the president, by
late August 2002, had, in fact, signed off on the ‘execute’ orders
authorising the US military to begin active military operations inside
Iraq, and that these orders were being implemented as early as September
2002, when the US Air Force, assisted by the British Royal Air Force,
began expanding its bombardment of targets inside and outside the
so-called no-fly zone in Iraq.

These operations were designed to degrade Iraqi air defence and command
and control capabilities. They also paved the way for the insertion of
US Special Operations units, who were conducting strategic
reconnaissance, and later direct action, operations against specific
targets inside Iraq, prior to the 19 March 2003 commencement of hostilities.

President Bush had signed a covert finding in late spring 2002, which
authorised the CIA and US Special Operations forces to dispatch
clandestine units into Iraq for the purpose of removing Saddam Hussein
from power.

The fact is that the Iraq war had begun by the beginning of summer 2002,
if not earlier.

This timeline of events has ramifications that go beyond historical
trivia or political investigation into the events of the past.

It represents a record of precedent on the part of the Bush
administration which must be acknowledged when considering the ongoing
events regarding US-Iran relations. As was the case with Iraq pre-March
2003, the Bush administration today speaks of “diplomacy” and a desire
for a “peaceful” resolution to the Iranian question.

But the facts speak of another agenda, that of war and the forceful
removal of the theocratic regime, currently wielding the reigns of power
in Tehran.

As with Iraq, the president has paved the way for the conditioning of
the American public and an all-too-compliant media to accept at face
value the merits of a regime change policy regarding Iran, linking the
regime of the Mullah’s to an “axis of evil” (together with the newly
“liberated” Iraq and North Korea), and speaking of the absolute
requirement for the spread of “democracy” to the Iranian people.

“Liberation” and the spread of “democracy” have become none-too-subtle
code words within the neo-conservative cabal that formulates and
executes American foreign policy today for militarism and war.

By the intensity of the “liberation/democracy” rhetoric alone, Americans
should be put on notice that Iran is well-fixed in the cross-hairs as
the next target for the illegal policy of regime change being
implemented by the Bush administration.

But Americans, and indeed much of the rest of the world, continue to be
lulled into a false sense of complacency by the fact that overt
conventional military operations have not yet commenced between the
United States and Iran.

As such, many hold out the false hope that an extension of the current
insanity in Iraq can be postponed or prevented in the case of Iran. But
this is a fool’s dream.

The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak,
American over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless
drones and other, more sophisticated, capabilities.

The violation of a sovereign nation’s airspace is an act of war in and
of itself. But the war with Iran has gone far beyond the
intelligence-gathering phase.

President Bush has taken advantage of the sweeping powers granted to him
in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, to wage a global war against
terror and to initiate several covert offensive operations inside Iran.

The most visible of these is the CIA-backed actions recently undertaken
by the Mujahadeen el-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group, once
run by Saddam Hussein’s dreaded intelligence services, but now working
exclusively for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations.

It is bitter irony that the CIA is using a group still labelled as a
terrorist organisation, a group trained in the art of explosive
assassination by the same intelligence units of the former regime of
Saddam Hussein, who are slaughtering American soldiers in Iraq today, to
carry out remote bombings in Iran of the sort that the Bush
administration condemns on a daily basis inside Iraq.

Perhaps the adage of “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s
terrorist” has finally been embraced by the White House, exposing as
utter hypocrisy the entire underlying notions governing the ongoing
global war on terror.

But the CIA-backed campaign of MEK terror bombings in Iran are not the
only action ongoing against Iran.

To the north, in neighbouring Azerbaijan, the US military is preparing a
base of operations for a massive military presence that will foretell a
major land-based campaign designed to capture Tehran.

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld’s interest in Azerbaijan may have
escaped the blinkered Western media, but Russia and the Caucasus nations
understand only too well that the die has been cast regarding
Azerbaijan’s role in the upcoming war with Iran.

The ethnic links between the Azeri of northern Iran and Azerbaijan were
long exploited by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and this vehicle
for internal manipulation has been seized upon by CIA paramilitary
operatives and US Special Operations units who are training with
Azerbaijan forces to form special units capable of operating inside Iran
for the purpose of intelligence gathering, direct action, and mobilising
indigenous opposition to the Mullahs in Tehran.

But this is only one use the US has planned for Azerbaijan. American
military aircraft, operating from forward bases in Azerbaijan, will have
a much shorter distance to fly when striking targets in and around Tehran.

In fact, US air power should be able to maintain a nearly 24-hour a day
presence over Tehran airspace once military hostilities commence.

No longer will the United States need to consider employment of Cold
War-dated plans which called for moving on Tehran from the Arab Gulf
cities of Chah Bahar and Bandar Abbas. US Marine Corps units will be
able to secure these towns in order to protect the vital Straits of
Hormuz, but the need to advance inland has been eliminated.

A much shorter route to Tehran now exists – the coastal highway running
along the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan to Tehran.

US military planners have already begun war games calling for the
deployment of multi-divisional forces into Azerbaijan.

Logistical planning is well advanced concerning the basing of US air and
ground power in Azerbaijan.

Given the fact that the bulk of the logistical support and command and
control capability required to wage a war with Iran is already forward
deployed in the region thanks to the massive US presence in Iraq, the
build-up time for a war with Iran will be significantly reduced compared
to even the accelerated time tables witnessed with Iraq in 2002-2003.

America and the Western nations continue to be fixated on the ongoing
tragedy and debacle that is Iraq. Much needed debate on the reasoning
behind the war with Iraq and the failed post-war occupation of Iraq is
finally starting to spring up in the United States and elsewhere.

Normally, this would represent a good turn of events. But with
everyone’s heads rooted in the events of the past, many are missing out
on the crime that is about to be repeated by the Bush administration in
Iran – an illegal war of aggression, based on false premise, carried out
with little regard to either the people of Iran or the United States.

Most Americans, together with the mainstream American media, are blind
to the tell-tale signs of war, waiting, instead, for some formal
declaration of hostility, a made-for-TV moment such as was witnessed on
19 March 2003.

We now know that the war had started much earlier. Likewise, history
will show that the US-led war with Iran will not have begun once a
similar formal statement is offered by the Bush administration, but,
rather, had already been under way since June 2005, when the CIA began
its programme of MEK-executed terror bombings in Iran.

Scott Ritter is a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, 1991-1998, and
author of Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of America’s Intelligence
Conspiracy, to be published by I B Tauris in October 2005.

The opinions expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily
reflect the editorial position or have the endorsement of Aljazeera.

You can find this article at:

Karabakh polls ‘more democratic” than Armenia’s – opposition leader

Noyan Tapan news agency
21 Jun 05

YEREVAN

The [parliamentary] elections held in Karabakh were more democratic
than those in Armenia, Viktor Dallakyan, secretary of the Armenian
parliament’s Justice faction, has said.

“The first impression is that the elections were normal as a whole,”
Dallakyan said, quoting reports by international monitors. If the
elections qualified as being in keeping with the democratic
principles, this will be of great importance to Karabakh in terms of
its international recognition and reputation. Otherwise, this may
have negative ramifications for Karabakh he said.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

AMIC’s Newsletter, Montreal, Canada
AMIC’s Info-Flash
2340 Chemin Lucerne, # 30
Ville Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada
H3R 2J8
Tel : (514) 739 8950
Fax : (514) 738 2622
Web:
Email: [email protected]

June, 2005

1. Article 1: ” 9th AMIC World Medical Congress”
2. Article 2: “AMIC General Meeting”
3. Article 3: “AMIC-AUA database”
4. Article 4 : « What is AMIC?”
***************************************

Article 1: 9th AMIC WORLD MEDICAL CONGRESS

At the end of this month, the Congress starts with a cocktail party on
Wednesday, June 29. From June 30 to July 3, a very interesting scientific
program has been prepared for you, as well as social events for accompanying
persons.

If you have not yet registered, you still have the time. You can either go
to the Congress website (mentioned above), or call the president of the
organizing committee: Dr. Jerry Manoukian (650) 940 1006, or e-mail him at:
[email protected]

For any question/information concerning the Scientific Program, please call
Dr. Krikor Soghikian, chairman of the Scientific Program: (510) 339 6002 or
e-mail him at: [email protected]

“Info” herein provides the Congress program in two parts: the plenary
sessions and the concurrent breakout sessions.

PLENARY SESSIONS:

Plenary Session 1

Thursday June 30:

9:15 to 10:00 a.m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
” Hypertension: A Worldwide Epidemic
Aram V. Chobanian, MD
President, Boston University
Former Dean, Boston University School of Medicine
10:15 to 11:00 a.m. OSTEOPOROSIS:

” Osteoporosis, 2005: Diagnosis and Therapy”
John Bilezikian, MD
Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology
Chief, Division of Endocrinology
Director, Metabolic Disease Program
College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University, New York

11:00 to 11: 45 a.m. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:

“An Overview of Alzheimer’s Research:
Prospects for Preventing Dementia”
Zaven S. Khachaturian, Ph.D.
Consultant, lecturer and author on Alzheimer’s
disease, neurodegenerative disorders, aging.
Editor in chief, “Alzheimer’s and Dementia:
Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association”. Formerly
Director, Office of Alzheimer’s Disease Research,
National Institute of Aging, National Institute of
Health.

Plenary Session 2

1:30 to 2:15 p.m. MENTAL HEALTH 1

“Generational Impact of War and Genocide:
Psychological Trauma Transmitted Generationally”
Anie Kalayjian, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Fordham University, New York
President, Armenian American Society for Studies
On Stress and Genocide

2:15 to 3:00 p.m. “Drugs, Diet, Herbs: Interactions in the Management
of Depression”
Talia Puzantian Atkinson, PharmD, BCPP
Associate Clinical Professor
School of Pharmacy
University of California, San Francisco

Plenary Session 3

3:15 to 4:00 p.m. DIABETES

“Pharmaceutical Advances in Insulin Therapy”
Arshag Mooradian, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director of Endocrinology, Diabetes and
Metabolism,
Saint Louis University

4:15 to 4: 45 p.m. SURGERY AND ORTHOPEDICS

“The Armenian nose”
Arnold Tchakerian, MD

“Prostatic Cancer treatment on community level”
Hagop Dikranian, MD

“Eastern Armenian DASH Questionnaire for Outcome
Mesurement in Hand Surgery”
Abrahamyan , MD et al.

« Express-Splinting Essential Part of Upper Extremity
Rehabilitation »
GV Yaghjyan, MD et al.

« Vertebroplasty »
Lazik Der Sarkissian, MD

” BAFA’s Support in the Development of Orthopedics
in Armenia in the Last 15 Years”
Hayk Avagyan, MD

Friday July 1

Plenary Session 4

8: 30 to 9:15 a.m. TRANSPLANTATION

“Transplantation- An overview”
April Zarifian, ANP, DNSc
Nurse Practitioner
Tulane University

9:15 to 10: 00 a.m. CHILDHOOD OBESITY

“Obesity and Comorbitidies in Youth: The Ticking
Bomb of the Millenium”
Silva A. Arslanian, MD
Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology, Metabolism
and Diabetes Mellitus
Children’s Hopital of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

10:15 to 11: 00 a.m. PLASTIC SURGERY

“My Most Unhappy Patients and What they
Taught Me”
Mark B. Constantian, MD
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Nashua, New Hampshire

11: 00 to 11: 45 a.m. RADIOLOGY

“New Imaging Technologies”
Ara Kassarjian, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Harvard Medical School, Boston

Plenary Session 5

1: 30 to 2:15 p.m. MENTAL HEALTH 2

“New Understanding of Depression: Biologic and
Public Health Aspects for the Medical Practitioner”
Hagop Akiskal, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
Director, International Mood Center
University of California, San Diego

2:15 to 3: 00 p.m. “Depression in childhood and adolescence, diagnosis
and treatment: the SSRI saga”
Elizabeth Boghossian Weller, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Plenary Session 6

3: 15 to 4: 00 p.m. CARDIOLOGY

“Current and Future Trends in Interventional
Cardiology-Balloons, Stents, Devices, and Beyond”
Vicken Aharonian, MD
Director, Regional Catheterization Laboratory
Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Los Angeles

4: 00 to 4: 45 p.m. “The Role of Stem Cell Therapy in Cardiac Disease-
Present and Future”
Yerem Yeghiazarian, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Interventional Cardiology
Director, Cardiac Translational Stem Cell Program
University of California, San Francisco

Saturday July 2

Plenary Session 7

8: 30 to 10: 00 a.m. HEALTH AND MEDICINE IN ARMENIA
TODAY

Norayr Davidian, MD., Minister of Health of
Armenia
Zoya Lazarian, MD., Minister of Health of Artsakh

10: 30 to 12: 00 STRATEGIC PLANNING:

Zareh Ouzounian, DDS

12: 00 to 12: 30 p.m. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Jerry Manoukian, MD
Chairperson of the Congress Organizing
Committee

CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Concurrent breakout session 1

Thursday June 30

1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. DENTAL PROGRAM 1

“Dental Implants”
Edmond Bedrossian, DDS

“Dental Emergencies”
Raffi Margosian, DDS

1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

“Weight Loss and Healthy Living”
Arpi A Simonian, MS, ScM

“Impact of Diabetes Education Classes on
Control of Hemoglobin a 1 c”
Zarmine Naccashian RN, MN

“Folate Supplementation Lowers
Homocysteine Levels in Young Men with
Stroke”
Sarkis Nazarian, MD

“Repatriation, Repopulation, Socioeconomic
Betterment, and Stabilization of Border
Regions of the Republic of Armenia and
Karabagh”
Vicken Arabian

“The Diabetic Foot”
Hermoz Ayvazian, DPM
1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. GENETICS AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE

“Decidual Endothelial Cell Interactions with
Peripheral Blood Monocytes in Normal and
Type 1 Diabetic Human Pregnancy”
Karime Bidal, MD

“Histamine and Histamine Receptors in Human Tumors”
G. Badalienvery, MD et al.

“Successful Treatment of Acute Leukemia Patients by
Bone Marrow and Peripheral Stem Cell Transplantation
Mihran Nazaretyan, MD et al.

« Upregulated MMP-2 and MMP-3 in Melanoma Cell
Lines with Different Invasiveness by Interaction with
Soluble Elastin Peptides »
Pocza et al.

« Molecular Analysis of Iranian Families with Sickle Cell
Disease »
M. Ayatollahi, MD

” A Previously Unidentified MECP2 Open Reading Frame Defines A New Protein
Isoform Relevant to Rett Syndrome”
GN Mnatzakanian, MD

Concurrent Breakout Session 2

3: 15 to 4: 45 p.m. NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH 1

“Emotional Intelligence”

Mary Konyalian, RN, PhD
Ruzanna Ohanjanian, PhD

3: 15 to 4: 45 p.m. DIASPORAN ARMENIA PROJECTS 1

“AMIC Database”
Zareh Ouzounian, DDS

“Women’s Health Clinic in Stepanakert, Karabagh”
Avedis Bogosyan, MD

“From Nowhere to Everywhere-Bone Marrow Donor
Registry- A Window of Opportunity for Global
Integration”
Sevak Avagyan, MD

“Armenian American Medical Society of California-20 Years of Service”
Armen Cherik, MD, MBA

“An Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology Center in Armenia”
Smbat Jamalyan, MD

3: 15 to 4: 45 p.m. PUBLIC HEALTH IN ARMENIA

“Perspectives for Development of Children’s
Epileptology in Armenia”
Nune Aghababian, MD et al.

« Morbidity of Acute Leucosis in the Capital of Armenia, Yerevan. The Role
of Air-Polluting Substances”
Yelizaveta Amirkhanyan

“A Stress Center in Armenia – a History and a Future”
Adel Tadevosyan, PhD

“The Situation of Reproductive Health in Armenia and the Main Strategies”
Razmik Abrahamyan, MD

“ISTC: Achievements and Advantages for Armenian Public Health”
H. Navasardyan

“Breast Reconstruction-Current State in Armenia”
Artavazd Sahakyan, MD

Friday July 1:

Concurrent Breakout Session 3

1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. DENTAL PROGRAM 2

“Advanced Bone Graft for Maxillofacial Defect”
Martin Chin, DDS

“Achieving Optimum Esthetic and Functional Results Using Gingival Colored
Ceramic”
Jack Koumjian, DDS, MSD

1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. DIASPORAN ARMENIA PROJECTS 2

“Armenia Eye Project”
Roger Ohanesian, MD

“AECP Support in Creation of Cornea and Uveitis
Department in Armenia”
Anna Hovakimyan, MD

“Cochlear Implant: Armenia Regional Center”
Salpy Akaragian, RN, MN

“Armenian Dental Society of California Projects in
Armenia and Karabagh”
Nishan Odabashian, DMD, MS

“Fighting Infectious Diseases in Armenia-Our
Experience”
Daniel Stamboulian, MD

“The Shengavit Medical Center – Fruition of Labor of
Love and Cooperation”
Bedros Kojian, MD

1: 30 to 3: 00 p.m. PEDIATRICS

“Pediatric Urolithiasis in Armenia : Etiology in 312
Patients Observed 1991-2004”
Ara Babloyan, MD et al.

« Frontiers of Palliative Care »
John Saroyan

“Regional Peculiarities of Bronchial Asthma (BA) Morbidity Among the
Children of the Armenian Population”
Vardan Akunts

“HPA-1a Induced Neonatal Thrombocytopenia”
H. Bessos, PhD

“PTSD Symptoms, Depression, and Separation Anxiety Disorder Among Bereaved
Adolescents and controls”
Haig Goenjian, BA, Ida Karayan PhD

“Strategies in Child and Adolescent Health in Armenia”
Karine Sirabekian, MD et al.

Concurrent Breakout Session 4

3: 15 to 4:15 p.m. COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

“Noraluys-Homeopathy Project in Armenia”
Haritoun Kurtcuogly, MS

“Armenian Foods, Beverages, and Recipes in the 15th
Century Recorded by Amirdovlat Amasiatsi”
John Gueriguian

“Narek as a Means of Bibliotherapy”
Armen Nerisisan, MD et al.

“Intestinal Microflora, Probiotics, and Human Health”
Harout Bronozian

4:15 to 4: 45 p.m. FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER

“Process of Biosynthesis and Cleavage of
Phosphatdylcholines in FMF in Children During Pre-
and Post-Application of Colchicine Comnbine with Hypothalamic Polypeptide
PRP”
Petros Ghazarian, MD et al.

« The role of Somatoform Disorders in Case Aseptic Inflammations Observed
During the FMF »
Armen Nersisian, MD et al.

3:15 to 4: 45 p.m. NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH 2

“Evidence Based Practice”
Lucine Daderian Huckabay, RN, PhD
Salpy Akaragian, RN, MN

3:15 to 4: 45 p.m. SURGERY

“Reconstructive Mammoplasty with Autologous
Tissues”
AB Sahakyan, MD et al

« Hand Port-Assisted Laparoscopic Aortic Surgery »
Garo Yerevanian, MD

“The Role of Palmaris Muscle Tendon in Mitral Valve Annulus Reconstruction:
A Novel Technique for Mitral Valve Repair”
JH Shuhaiber, MD et al.

« Snoring Surgery in 2005 »
Walker Regina P, MD

“Sounding Like a Good Idea: The Endoscopic Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and
Management of Malignancies”
Eric Esrailian, MD

“The Neurosurgical Service in Armenia”
Arshak Zohrabyan, MD

3:15 to 4: 45 p.m. PHYSICIAN EDUCATION

“The Basics in Outcomes Research Process Development”
Chris Arslanian, PhD

“Hypothyroidism and the Internet”
Edward Paloyan, MD

“Armenian Medical Society and Foundation for
Education and Research-a New Perspective for Old
Friendships”
M. Zeveyan, MD et al.

« Evaluation of AAMSHA’s Mentorship Program »
Raffi Tashdjian, MD

“Actuality of Preparation of Nurses with Bachelor Degree in Republic of
Armenia”
Alina Koushkyan, MD

“Medical Equipment and Supplies for hospitals in Armenia and Karabagh”
Berge Minassian, MD

We encourage all our readers who have not registered yet, to do so quickly.
Don’t miss such an outstanding scientific program!!

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Article 2: AMIC General Meeting

AMIC General Meeting will take place on Saturday July 2 from 2 to 5.00 p.m.

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Article 3: AMIC-AUA database

The AMIC-AUA database lists health related projects undertaken by the
Diaspora in Armenia since the earthquake of 1988. It is posted on AMIC’s
website (). After a period of interruption, we inform our readers
that it is now functioning.

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Article 4: What is AMIC?

The Armenian Medical International Committee was created fifteen years ago.
It is an umbrella organization that unites Armenian medical associations
throughout the Diaspora, creating thus a large network through which
information and data are exchanged.
AMIC organizes Armenian Medical World Congresses. So far eight have been
held in different cities of the Diaspora. In 2003, “The First International
Medical Congress of Armenia” organized by Armenia, was held in Yerevan from
July 1 to July 3. The 9th AMIC Congress will be held in 2005 (from June to
July 3) in San Francisco (USA). We gave in this issue of the Info-Flash the
scientific program of this coming Congress (Website: )
AMIC publishes since 1998 an online newsletter and sends it freely to all
Armenian Health Care professionals. If you are a health care professional
and are interested in receiving Info-Flash, please send us your e-mail
address ([email protected]). To all those who already receive the Info, please do
not forget to send us your new e-mail address when you change it. For
further information, visit our website:
A useful information to remember: you can send freely from wherever you are
located, medical equipment/medicine through the services of the United
Armenian Fund; President Mr. Harout Sassounian ([email protected])

STATE DUMA DEPUTY GIVE HIGH ASSESSMENT OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN NKR

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 20. ARMINFO. Deputy of Russian Sate Duma, Director
of CIS Institute Konstantine Zatoulin, who observed the parliamentary
elections in NKR, gives a high assessment to them.

According to ARMINFO’s special correspondent to Stepanakert, at a
press conference K.Zatoulin says that yesterday the people voted for
various political forces, hereby solving their tasks and the issues
connected with state development, which is of great importance. He
says there are states in the world which are called unrecognized, and
the recognized states feel a temptation to not only deprive them of
statehood, but also to refuse their rights to self- determination. In
the current situation, when Nagoprny Karabakh is an unrecognized
state, it could easily slip to authoritarianism arising doubts of the
international community in the Karabakh people’s right to vote. The
elections held on June 19 showed that the standards they were
organized on were higher than in the neighboring state which does not
recognize it “in spite of all my respect for the Aliyevs Senior and
Junior,” Zatoulin says. In this connection he asked: “How one can make
the people of Nagorny Karabakh to enter into or withdraw from anything
in such situation?”

The Russian MP thinks the elections not only a way to solution of
NKR’s problems, but also confirmation of the country’s adherence to
democracy and right to independence to the world. He emphasized the
high activity of voters and calmness of the elections. Zatoulin
personally visited 6 electoral districts and observed no violations.
He emphasized the electoral registers on the walls of polling
stations, which is not done even in Russia. He called this elections a
step forward as compared to the previous ones. Zatoulin announced his
intention to raise the issue of revision of the funds “for support of
democracy outside Russia” at the State Duma, hereby NKR can take
advantage of it. As regards the influence of the elections on the
process and final result on the settlement of Karabakh conflict,
Zatoulin answered positively. He says he sees no possibility of
participation of the Azerbaijani community in the parliamentary
elections in NKR. Having lost the war, the Azerbaijani authorities
continue it in a virtual regime, Zatoulin says.

Pro-government party in Karabakh urges unity

At Artsakh, Stepanakert
14 Jun 05

One of the leaders of a pro-government party has called for unity
as Karabakh begun voting in parliamentary elections. In an interview
with a Karabakh newspaper, Ashot Gulyan said: “As we are at war with
Azerbaijan, we have no alternative but be together and fight together
both in happiness and sadness. Any other way would be destructive.”

He said that after the 19 of June elections Karabakh will “move
up in terms of politics… because of the fact that democracy has
taken solid roots here”. The following is an excerpt from Svetlana
Khachatryan report by Nagornyy Karabakh newspaper Azat Artsakh on 14
June headlined “We will win, because the bases of democracy are solid”

Interview with the co-chair of the Democratic Party of Artsakh
[Nagornyy Karabakh], Ashot Gulyan.

[Correspondent] Mr Gulyan, the election campaign is nearing its end,
what do you think of the current stage of the campaign?

[Gulyan] I think, people will give their comprehensive assessment on
the day of the elections: 19 June.

As to my attitude to the current stage of the election campaign in
terms of both the logic of law and the due conduct of the campaign,
it is positive. Equal conditions have been created for all the blocs
fighting for parliamentary seats and the principles of democracy
were widely applied. I think it is very important to ensure that our
elections are free, fair and transparent.

[Passage omitted: on the election campaign and calls for responsibility
in the formation a new parliament]

Party history

The NKR authorities and the Democratic Party Artsakh (DPA) have
concrete programs in all the spheres. The predecessor of the DPA,
the Democratic Union of Artsakh [DUA], became a parliamentary
fraction in 2000. It drafted the programmes which are now being
implemented. Our economic and political programmes look to the future
and ensure solutions. Unfortunately, we have not received alternative
programmes from any of the other parties. At the same time, we are
far from saying that the DPA had made no mistakes during its five
years of work. We might have made some mistakes, but we are working
on eliminating them gradually as envisaged in our programmes. We
would have preferred for the criticism to be more targeted and factual.

[Correspondent] In the criticism voiced, we often hear the opinion
that the former DUA, which was founded by the authorities and renamed
the DPA, has not changed. Do you agree with this view?

[Gulyan] I am sure that people have not forgotten the situation of
1999, when the state was under threat of division into two poles,
the ramifications of which could have been damaging for the NKR.

Also the military dictatorship that rose at the time should not be
forgotten. The direct result of it was the assassination attempt
on 22 March 2000. There was a need for a force that could take
the responsibility for the state into its hands. [Passage omitted:
recaps history]

A revolutionary movement is one thing and quite another is to take
responsibility for the fate of people. It is in that situation
that the Democratic Union of Artsakh was founded. We did not call
ourselves a party, we stayed away from populist actions and empty
promises. We became partisans of a public movement. If we are to
look at the successes of the DUA , it is first of all the freeing
the people’s minds form fear. It is thanks to its role that we have
democracy today. From 2000 onwards all the elections in the NKR were
qualitatively better than the previous ones. I don’t think all that
has been forgotten. Why don’t we compare the level of social welfare
of the people with the one we had five years ago?

Why was the DUA renamed. That is another issue which some used
for manipulation. It was as a result of our parliamentary activity
that the law on parties was adopted. The renaming of the DUA became
imperative. Even the name is very much in place here.

[Passage omitted: reiterates the point]

Plea for “common” language

The DPA was not formed by the authorities. It is not fair to describe
as pro-government a party that was formed at such a difficult time
and that managed to take the state out of the crisis. The authorities
could not find a way out of that alone. And since all other political
parties did not back the government, the DUA supported it. It is a
positive example of mutual cooperation and trust between the government
and a serious socio-political organization.

[Passage omitted: more of the same]

Independent of the results of the elections we will continue to work
in the same fashion and try and find a common language with all the
political forces. That is a new imperative. As we are at war with
Azerbaijan, we have no alternative but be together and fight together
both in happiness and sadness. Any other way would be destructive.

Democracy in Karabakh has “solid” roots

[Correspondent] The 2005 election differs in terms of a comparatively
large number of candidates. Do you think this is normal?

[Gulyan] Certainly, the fact that not only political parties, but also
a great number of individuals expressed interest in becoming a member
of the legislative branch of power proves the presence of democracy
in its broadest form. [Passage omitted: talks about observers]

We have to show to the world that we are a state which observes
the internationally-recognized democratic principles. I believe,
that after the 19 June elections, Karabakh will move up in terms of
politics. And not because of the saviours of the country from the
opposition, but because of the fact that democracy has taken solid
roots here. And this will be our common victory.

Al-Jazeera, Qatar
June 19 2005

Turkey apprehensive over EU crises

Turkey is uneasy over EU failures to ratify a constitution

As the European Union becomes embroiled in one integration crisis
after another, prospective member Turkey’s EU accession path is
looking more troubled than ever.

The latest blow to European unity – the failure to agree on a 2006-2013
budget – came quick on the heels of founding members France and
Holland’s rejection of the EU constitution.

The failure to agree on the constitution revealed deep anxieties in
both countries over future Turkish membership.

The constitution’s author, former president of France Valery Giscard
d’Estang, went so far as to blame the Turkish membership issue for
the double rejection of the constitution.

At the same time, the German opposition Christian Democrat Union
(CDU) – who are on course to win September’s early elections – have
said they are opposed to Turkey’s membership.

Recent debate on enlargement has also caused anxiety in other
prospective EU member countries Romania and Bulgaria -which are set
to join in 2007 – and in Croatia.

A Christian club?

However, “Turkish membership has always been different from the other
candidates,” Sedat Laciner, director of the Ankara-based think-tank,
the International Strategic Research Organisation, told Aljazeera.net.

“This is because the other European countries don’t really consider
Turkey a European country, as Turkey is the only Muslim candidate.”

Such a view has often led in the past to allegations from Ankara that
the EU is a Christian club. Now, some argue, Europe’s basic prejudices
are coming out as the union faces a crisis.

But this is a view denied by European leaders, who decided last
December to give Turkey a 3 October 2005 date to begin accession
talks – more than 40 years after Turkey first applied to join.

“The EU has to stick to its existing commitments,” European Commission
spokesperson Krisztina Nagy told Aljazeera.net on Friday.

“The talks will begin on October 3 provided Turkey fulfils the
necessary conditions.”

Difficult conditions

However, these conditions are already proving difficult for Ankara
to meet.

Turkey undertook last December to extend the Ankara Agreement –
a deal between the country and the EU over customs and trade –
to include all the EU’s latest members. Since May 2004, the new EU
countries have included the Republic of Cyprus, which Turkey does
not recognise and with which it has long had hostile relations.

Turkey has recognised Cyprus as part of a customs agreement

Many Turks resent the idea of having to include the Greek
Cypriot-dominated Republic in any official relationship -preferring
instead to champion the cause of the internationally unrecognised
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the isolated breakaway state in
the north of the island.

“The EU has to take some steps on Cyprus too,” says Zeynep Ersahin,
research fellow at the Bosphorus University-TUSIAD Foreign Policy
Forum.

She points to the fact that Brussels promised to assist the Turkish
Cypriots, who voted last year in favour of the last United Nations
plan to reunify the island, while the Greek Cypriots voted against it.

“After the referendum, however, the EU did not take any action,” she
says.

Revamped penal code

At the same time, Turkey also agreed as a precondition for accession
talks that it would enforce six pieces of legislation that would bring
the country more in line with EU norms. These included a revamped
penal code, which went through parliament in Ankara on 1 June.

“The EU is always emphasising that legislation adopted has to be
implemented,” says Nagy. This, too, is a major sticking point, as it
requires potentially open-ended-on-the-ground evaluation.

Recent violence in southeast Turkey worries the EU

Recent heightened violence in Turkey’s southeast between the army and
Kurdish separatists has also called this implementation into question.

Dutch ambassador to Ankara Sjoerd Gosses said earlier this week
that the EU stood for “the integration, not … disintegration” of
its future members, backing calls from the European Commission for
Turkey to find a civil alternative to its military campaign against
the separatists.

The EU argues that the southeast is effectively run by the Turkish
military, rather than civilian authorities.

Armenian haunting

Then there is the long-running Armenian question. On 16 June, the
German parliament passed a resolution acknowledging the massacres
of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire back in 1915 by Ottoman
troops and irregulars.

Stopping short of labelling these events ‘genocide’, the Germans called
on Turkey to acknowledge the massacres -something it has always been
wary of doing.

While the EU itself has made no such demand on Turkey, it has called
for a normalisation of Turkey’s relations with neighbouring Armenia,
a process which inevitably involves the events of 1915.

Relations with Armenia have been a thorny issue for Turkey

“This was almost 100 years ago,” says Laciner. “And the EU makes no
mention of the current Armenian occupation of Azeri territory.”

In the conflict over the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh in the early
1990s, Armenian forces took a swathe of land from Turkish ally
Azerbaijan, linking the enclave to their border.

“People in Turkey see this as an example of Christian solidarity.
Just focusing on the events of 100 years ago shows the EU is not
sincere,” Laciner told Aljazeera.net.

Cautious optimism

However, despite this range of disputes, some Turks remain optimistic
about their EU chances.

“I don’t think Turkey’s EU membership can be looked at from the
perspective of the recent referendums on the EU constitution,” says
Ersahin, pointing to the recent Eurobarometre poll which found that
only 6% of French respondents voted against the constitution because
of Turkey.

In Holland, the figure was even lower, at only 3%. Most voted ‘no’
because of concerns over unemployment and the local economy.

“The EU has to deal with its own economic and social problems first
and Turkey later,” Ersahin says. “Accession is a process, which can
go up or down.

“Turkey has made great strides on many issues, and while there will
be many discussions on the shape of the EU in the future, the EU is
the most successful integration process of the century. It may take
10 to 15 years, but Turkey will become an EU member.”

“Yes, there are many problems here in Turkey,” acknowledges Laciner.
“But the EU has already said Turkey is a candidate and that these
problems can be solved. Up to now, Turkey has done what the EU wanted
in terms of reforms and the Europeans have acknowledged this.”

The pressure, however, is likely to be growing not just on Turkey
to fulfil its commitments, but on the EU to carry through with its
obligations.

“The EU is a community of commitments,” says Nagy, “and those that
have been taken have to be met.”

Zaman, Turkey
June 19 2005

‘Ankara Should Show US It is not Alone’
By Suleyman Kurt
Published: Sunday 19, 2005
zaman.com

Professor Georgi Derlugiani, of Armenian-origin, of the Northwestern
University, US, claimed that US need for Turkey in possible operations
against Iran and Syria in addition to pressure policies it implements
on them after Iraq is “very clear”. Derlugiani said if Ankara wants
to resist against this, it should show it is not alone.

Attending the Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Security last week,
Professor Derlugiani answered Zaman’s questions. He described rejection
of the March 1 deployment motion, which aimed to permit US troops pass
to Iraq, as a “brave and brilliant decision that showed Turkey was an
independent country even in the most difficult situation”. The Armenian
academic suggested to Turkey that it belonged to Europe and should
form more close relations with countries such as Russia, Eurasian
countries, Armenia, China, even Brazil, Mexico, and South African
countries through a “strong balance policy”. He said this would show
that Turkey is not alone when a super power applies pressures on it.

Expressing his approach to the Armenian issue, Derlugiani drew to
the attention to difficulty of a solution. Stressing that academic
discussions should be continued, Derlugiani urged forming of close
connections between the two peoples as well.

Turkish PM Erdogan rebukes Germans over Armenian decision

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jule 18 2005

ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday
criticized the German Parliament’s decision this week urging Ankara
to examine its role in the so-called Armenian ‘genocide’.

Accusing the German Parliament of “sacrificing” this serious issue to
“simple lobbyists,” without making any meaningful investigation of it,
Erdogan called the decision “politically wrong and ugly.”

The German Parliament on Thursday urged Turkey to examine its role in
the so-called Armenian genocide, an issue that could thwart Ankara’s
hopes of joining the European Union. German lawmakers adopted a
cross-party resolution asking the Berlin government to press Turkey
to reexamine the so-called Armenian genocide.

“The word ‘genocide’ was not used in their decision,” Erdogan said,
speaking to reporters about the German Parliament’s decision on his
arrival to Turkey from Lebanon late Thursday. “They chose to use the
word massacre. But still, I think that it’s politically wrong and
ugly to make this decision without investigating or negotiating on
it. We opened our archives, but they showed no interest.”

Erdogan said that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s “attitude is
opposite to this decision.” He continued, “We expected the chancellor
to move on this and try to persuade some deputies to voice their
reservations about the decision.”

During the Armenian Riot, more than 520,000 Turks were masscred by
the Armenian armed groups. The Armenian Tashnaks aimed to establish
a separate state while the Ottoman Empire was struggling the Russians
during the First World War.