Author: Kafian Jirair

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
April 28 2005

Bennett keeps eyes on Armenia

By Joanne Hartunian/ Guest Columnist
Thursday, April 28, 2005

Eleven years ago, I consulted with Dr. Linda Bennett concerning a
young girl in the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association youth
exchange program from Yerevan, Armenia who needed eyeglasses. Dr.
Bennett said she’d do what she could. She’s been doing what she could
since then, and 100 times over.

Over the years she saw exchange educators and students with
various stages of vision problems, including one boy who had
malnutrition blindness. As she treated the Belmont High School
visitors in her Cushing Square office, Dr. Bennett would tell them,
“Don’t forget to get come and get your eyes checked again.” The
participants would try to explain that they were on a U.S. Department
of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs funded youth
exchange program and that it would be impossible to come to American
again. Dr. Bennett always told the students and teachers, “You never
know when I’ll see you again!”

Belmont High School is partnered with School #65 in Shengavit
region of Yerevan, Armenia. Year after year, as educators and
students arrived on the doorstep of Belmont High School, Dr. Bennett
and her office staff cleared the office to accommodate the groups
that the Cambridge Yerevan Sister City Association brought to the
Boston area. Dr. Bennett’s office visit became a living legend where
she showed the students a children’s video, treated them to lunch,
and let them play games for an afternoon, in addition to giving eye
exams and, where necessary, eyeglasses. In one instance, an educator
needed specialized eye surgery, which Dr. Bennett arranged.

Year after year, Dr. Bennett would call me and inquire, “When
are the Armenian students and teachers coming to Belmont High School
this year?”

Armenian students and educators are unable to come to the United
States with the Secondary School Partnership Program to Promote Civil
Society any longer, due to State Department budget cuts. So she
decided if the children couldn’t come to her, she would go to them.

Dr. Bennett spoke at an annual optometric convention last April and
told them about the children in Armenia. Her efforts mobilized an
18-person mission team through Volunteer Optometric Services to
Humanity (), which went to Armenia this month to conduct
six all-day school clinics.

Local optometrists who accompanied Dr. Bennett on the trip were
Dr. Joseph D’Amico, Worcester, team leader; Dr. Christine Russian,
Lahey Clinic; Dr. James Fantazian, Billerica; Dr. Karen Koumjian,
Watertown; and Dr. Taline Farra, New England College of Optometry.
Kimberly Balfour of Belmont Day School, a registered nurse, ran a
blood pressure clinic on site, because high blood pressure may be
indicative of eye care issues.

We were assisted by logistics coordinator Peggy Hovanessian,
Lexington; and site coordinator Anna Karakhanyan of Armenia. AMARAS
Arts Alliance of Watertown is the United States sponsoring
organization and Yerevan Cambridge Sister City Association is the
Republic of Armenia’s inviting organization.

The team was registered with the Republic of Armenia’s
Humanitarian Commission and Ministry of Health and the 18
participants took eye equipment, eyeglasses, candy, children’s
clothing, and school supplies with them, weighing close to one ton.

While in Armenia they were hosted in a government guest house
and had dinner in the homes of the many people Dr. Bennett has
treated.

Belmont High School, the Armenian Memorial Church, Watertown;
Armenian Church of the Holy Translators; Framingham; Knights and
Daughters of Vartan, New England; United Armenian Calvary
Congregational Church, Troy, N.Y.; St. Vartanantz Church, Chelmsford;
Mt. Holyoke College Chaplains Office; General Optical, Cambridge; and
Armenian Library and Museum of America, Watertown, contributed toward
the project’s eyeglass goals. Rev. Joanne Hartunian is program
manager for the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association, and
project manager for the Armenian vision clinics.

Persian Journal, Iran
April 28 2005

FIRST IRANIAN WOMEN WHO ESTABLISHED THE GIRL SCHOOLS IN IRAN
Manouchehr Saadat Noury
Apr 27, 2005

Introduction: Women’s challenge for an improved lifestyle in general
and to obtain a better education in particular has a long history.
The Industrial Revolution (IR) of the 18th and 19th Centuries and the
materialization of machinery to the work force sparked the women’s
movement in Britain. In the 19th Century the IR spread throughout
Western Europe and North America, and it eventually impacted the rest
of the world. In fact the excuse of the physical difference between
male and female was no longer legitimate and women could easily enter
the work force. This was a turning point for women’s socio-political,
educational, and cultural roles. The financial independence resulted
by this development led women to gain more confidence in society and
created a condition for breaking the barriers towards freedom and
more advanced lifestyle. Those social changes of the IR together with
the Bolshevism Revolution in Russia in October 1905, and the
Constitutional Revolution in Iran during 1905-1911 had a great
influence on history of the women?s movement for a better status in
Iran.

Early Efforts: In1848, American Presbyterian missionaries opened one
of the first girls school in Orumieh, the capital city of West
Azarbaijan (a northwestern province of present-day Iran), and the
religious minorities, mainly Christians, attended the school. Similar
schools had opened in Tehran, Esfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Rasht, Hamden
and other cities of the country. Muslim girls, however, were not
allowed to attend the missionary schools by the religious authorities
and public pressure. Coincidentally, these girls schools established
in Iran almost on the same time of the Declaration of Sentiment (DS)
in the USA. (The DS is a document signed in 1848 by sixty-eight women
and thirty-two men, delegates to the first women’s rights convention,
in Seneca Falls, New York, now known to historians as the 1848
Women’s Rights Convention. The Sentiments followed the form of the
United States Declaration of Independence. The principal author of
the Declaration of Sentiments was Elizabeth Cady Stanton).

Girls and boys at Maktab-Khaaneh during Qajar period. Source

Apart from those schools opened by the missionaries, there was not
any systematic schooling in Iran until Mirza Taghi Khan-e-Amir Kabir;
the premier of Iran during Nasser-e-Din Shah (the fourth Shah of
Qajar dynasty) founded the educational institution of House of
Sciences (in Persian: Darolfonoon) in 1851. On those days until the
establishment of relatively modern primary-school (in Persian:
Dabesstaan or Madresseh), Iranian girls and boys used to attend the
Learning Traditional Centers (in Persian: Maktab Khaaneh) where
pupils between 4 to 14 years old could sit next to each other on the
floor (sometimes covered by rug or mat) and listen to the teacher.
There was not any age limitation for boys. Girls were only allowed to
attend these centers till age 7. They had then to stay home to help
the family or get a private female mentor to continue their
educations. In the course of Constitutional Revolution some Iranian
reformists started to open separate schools for girls and boys in
different cities of Iran. These reforms were led by a couple, Tooba
and her husband Hassan Roshdieh, with the first Dabestans, using
blackboards, instruction books and maps, opening in Tabriz (in 1887)
and in Tehran (in 1898). Some documents also reveal that in 1902
Tooba Roshdieh opened a girl school in her own house in Tehran and
named it as Training School (in Persian: Madresseh-e-Parvaresh). This
school lasted only for four days and it was closed upon the order of
some clergies. Similar schools in other cities were also closed.

The radical fraction of clergies considered these schools as
undermining Islam and the schools were routinely attacked by thugs
dispatched by the clergies burning and destroying the books and
supplies and shutting down the schools. It is documented that in 1902
Zainel-Aabedin Taghizadeh, an Iranian businessman in Tabriz and Baku
and possibly a friend of Roshdieh family, send one of his employees
to Najaf (in Iraq) to ask if Iranian Muslim girls could enroll at the
newly established schools. High spiritual authorities there, after a
long four days discussion issued a positive religious verdict (in
Persian: Fetwaa). Upon this positive verdict, the establishment of
the new schools became popular among a certain segment of urban
households, notably the middle classes. A group of radical clergies
who were against Constitutional movement were also against the new
schools establishments. Shaikh Fazlullah Noorie issued a Fetwaa
saying that girl schools were against Religious Laws and Regulations
(in Persian: Shar-e-Yat). Another clergy, Shaikh Shushtari organized
protests, which included women from the least privileged classes
against women’s education and distributed a leaflet entitled “Shame
on a country in which girl schools are founded”!

New Girls Schools: Disappointed with the outcome of the Constitution
(since it did not support the right of women to vote and also to
facilitate the establishment of girl schools), Iranian women decided
to organize by themselves and the issue of education became the
priority. On January 20, 1907, a women’s meeting was held in Tehran
where ten resolutions were adopted, including one that called for
establishing girl schools and another that sought the abolition of
dowries so that the money could be spent on educating the girls
instead. Dowry (in Persian: Jahaaz) is an amount of money or property
which the woman’s parents give to the man she marries, and it is a
tradition in many countries. In 1907, Tooba Roshdieh opened a girl
school in Tehran and named it as Chastity School (in Persian: Efaaf).
Also in 1907, Bibi Khanom-e-Vazir Zadeh, who was one of the
intellectual women of the time, opened a girl school and named it as
Mademoiselle School (in Persian: Madresseh-e-Dooshizegan). At the
same time Tooba Azmoodeh opened a girl school in her own house
located in Hassan-Aabad Square of Tehran, and named it as Chastity
School ( in Persian: Madresseh-e-Namoos). Despite threats and abuse
by the mobs and some clergies the efforts continued. The opening of
another girl school named Chastity and Modesty School (in Persian:
Madresseh-e-Effatieh) by Safieh Yazdi, the wife of the
pro-constitution clergy, Mohammed Yazdi in 1910 encouraged other
women and more schools were opened. In 1911 Maahrukh Gohar Shenass
started Progress School (in Persian: Madresseh-e-Taraghi). In the
same year Maah Sultan Amir Sehei opened Training School (in Persian:
Madresseh-e-Tarbiyat).

In 1912 Banoo Attaaey and Mozayanol Saltaneh opened Sun School (in
Prsian: Shamssol-Madaaress) and Adorned School (in Persian:
Madresseh-e-Mozayanieh) respectively. (Mozayanol Saltaneh was the
daughter of Dr Razi Khan Tabatabaa-e-Semnani Raissol Atteba, and she
was also possibly the first woman who published the first illustrated
daily publication dedicated to women in 1915.

Her publication was called as Blossom (in Persian: Shokufeh). By 1915
there were 9 Women’s Associations and 63 girl schools in the city of
Tehran and about 2500 students were enrolled. The curriculum of these
schools consisted of Persian Literatures, Foreign Language, Sport and
Physical Education, Music, Painting, Calligraphy, Sewing, Knitting,
Cooking, History, Geography, Mathematics, Holly Book of Koran,
Jurisprudence (in Persian: Fegh?h) and Religious Laws and
Regulations. Among interesting things about these schools were the
speeches delivered by students and teachers during the examination
periods and other occasions. In the text of the speeches, the role of
GS to educate those mothers of future who will bring up and train
zealous and patriotic female and male Iranians was highly emphasized.

Two Special Schools: During Reza Shah (reigned 1925-1941) several
girl schools were also founded by some Iranian-Christians, and among
them two should be recalled:

1. Yelena Avedisian, an Iranian citizen known as Madame Yelena,
opened a School of Dance first in Tabriz and then in Tehran in 1927.
She was actually born in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 25, 1910. She
then emigrated from Turkey to Armenia and after her marriage, in
1927, she moved to Iran to settle in the city of Tabriz, and she
established her own school of dance where many girls attended. She
then moved to Tehran in 1945, and started her new school of dance,
which was officially recognized by the country’s Ministry of Culture
and Fine Arts. A large number of graduates of Madam Yelena’s School
of Dance followed in her footsteps by teaching dance at various
schools. At the same time, several other graduates established their
own dance schools in Tehran. In 1979 shortly after the Islamic
Republic took over, Madame Yelena emigrated from Iran to the USA and
resided in California. (She passed away on July 2, 2000 in Glendale,
Los Angeles). It should be noted that Madame Yelena was one of the
eminent dance teachers in Iran and trained more than thirty thousand
dancers during her 65 years of teaching career. Here are a few lines
that one of the students wrote about her: “I remember a lady who was
simply called Madame Yelena?She affected our lives by her natural
grace and encouraging attention, which prepared us for our future
artistic careers.”

2. Bersabeh Huspian, a Christian lady born in
Chahar-Mahaal-e-Bakhtiari (a southern province of Iran), established
Bersabeh Kindergarten (in Persian: Koodakestan-e-Bersabeh) in 1930 in
Tehran. Later, the Kindergarten was expanded to a complex including
primary- and high-schools where all Iranian girls regardless of their
faiths could be admitted. The official language of Bersabeh complex
was Persian and its curriculum was similar to the schools already
mentioned. Bersabeh Huspian closed her educational premises and
emigrated from Iran to the USA when the Islamic Republic took over in
1979. (She died in the USA in 2000). Shireen Bakhtiar who attended
the Kindergarten described online how she was doing in that play
school: “I walked to my kindergarten, Bersabeh, in the early morning
sunlight?.Bersabeh was an old walled palace that now was my
kindergarten across from the iron grill-gated Parliament (in Persian:
Majlis)…Bersabeh would stand on the second floor balcony and look
down on us. Always dressed in black like a black bird watching over
her flock? In the sewing class we embroidered handkerchiefs with
colored silk thread pulling the needle into shapes of rose?s violets
and knots of blue bells.”

In contemporary Iran governed by a system that legally permits sexual
apartheid and misogyny, women are still seeking their human rights
for equality and respect. Many women in Iran now get caught,
regrettably, in a web of conflicting forces as their looks,
activities, and behavior become closely monitored. The momentum of
the demographic changes that are taking place in the country,
however, strongly suggests that the situation may alter in the days
to come. After all, approximately two-thirds of the population is
under 30, and more than half the country’s university students are
now females. If and when they become politically active, these
educated women could whole-heartedly struggle to affect the
substantial reforms.

AND IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED THAT ANY PROGRESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
IN IRAN IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE WOMEN’S RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE FREELY
IN ALL SOCIO-ECONOMICAL, CULTURAL, AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.

Manouchehr Saadat Noury

Eurasianet Organization
April 26 2005

A REAL FIX: ARMENIA’S ENERGY SITUATION
Paul Rimple 4/26/05
Photos by Sophia Mizante

It was 19 years ago on April 26 that a reactor at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, spewing radiation across
Europe. The anniversary of the tragedy helps to focus attention on
Armenia’s energy dilemma, in which the country depends heavily on an
antiquated nuclear facility to meet its power needs.

Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, situated near geological
fault lines, is responsible for generating about 40 percent of the
electricity used by Armenians every year. A lack of access to
alternate power sources is a major factor in the country’s ongoing
dependence on the nuclear facility. The economic blockade maintained
by two of Armenia’s neighbors — Turkey and Azerbaijan – hampers the
large-scale import of fuel, while the country’s lack of water
resources limits hydro-electric power-generating capacity.

The only nuclear energy source in the South Caucasus, Metsamor lies
just 28 kilometers outside of Yerevan, 16 kilometers from the Turkish
border, 60 kilometers from Iran and less than 150 kilometers from the
Georgian and Azerbaijani borders. Built in mid 1970s, the
twin-reactor station was closed in early 1989 following the
earthquake late the previous year that left an estimated 25,000
people dead. The plant itself withstood tremors measuring 5-6 on the
Richter scale. The Metsamor reactors are of the Soviet design known
as VVER, considered marginally more structurally sound than the
Chernobyl-type reactors, or RBMKs. Still, Armenian officials felt
compelled to take no operational chances following the 1988
earthquake.

Immediately following the closure, Armenia fell into a period known
as “the dark years,” when an energy shortage became acute. To heat
their homes during the winter, residents stripped the capital Yerevan
of virtually everything made of wood, leaving few trees standing.
Meanwhile, Lake Sevan, which was already suffering from Soviet-era
ecological damage, was further drained to compensate for energy
shortages.

In October 1996, Unit 2 at Metsamor, a 440-megawatt reactor, resumed
operation with Western financial assistance for safety upgrades. In
2003, Russia’s state-run power monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems
(UES) assumed responsibility, through a subsidiary, for running the
Metsamor plant in return for Moscow’s cancellation of $40 million in
debt. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The city of Metsamor, four kilometers from the plant, was built
essentially to house the power station’s employees. When the plant
closed in 1989, the majority of the population suddenly became
unemployed, and many people were forced to leave the area to search
for work elsewhere. Today, roughly 20 percent of Metsamor’s 10,000
residents work at the nuclear plant. Locals have mixed feelings about
the risks; some feel there is no danger at all and are grateful for
the economic opportunity that the nuclear plant provides; others
mistrust authorities’ safety assurances and worry about the radiation
risks. Still others accept the risks, while desiring compensation for
assuming them, including free electricity.

One added hazard, not only for locals, is that nuclear waste must be
stored on site because of the Turkish-Azerbaijani blockade.
Additionally, fuel must be flown in from Russia – over Georgian
airspace. At the same time, Georgia indirectly benefits from
Metsamor’s operation, as the nuclear facility’s generating capacity
enables Armenia to export up to 150 megawatts of electricity daily
from the Razdan thermoelectric plant to Georgia.

European diplomats remain concerned about Metsamor’s operation. The
European Union — along individual Western governments, the World
Bank and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — have
pressed the Armenian government to shut Metsamor down. While the EU
had originally given millions of euros in aid for safety upgrades,
the grouping of European states froze a 100 million-euro energy grant
in June 2004, citing Yerevan’s continuing reluctance to close the
plant.

Shutting down is not so simple. Besides the exceedingly high cost of
closure, estimated by some as high as $1 billion, Armenia has lacks
the natural resources and the funds to fully develop alternatives.
Meanwhile, local and Russian experts believe Metsamor can safely
function until 2016, due to strengthened security systems that take
into account the possibility of another earthquake. Some experts,
citing upgrades made at similar Russian nuclear facilities, suggest
that Metsamor could remain operational until 2031.

Despite a funding shortage, Armenia has made some progress in
securing energy alternatives, including an agreement on the
construction of an Armenian-Iranian pipeline project. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The government has also set aside
funds in the state budget to promote the use of solar energy. Panels
can be randomly seen on Yerevan rooftops, including the American
University in Armenia. Meanwhile, recent surveys suggest that wind
power could potentially generate 400-500 megawatts of electricity –
about one-third of Metsamor total output. The first wind power
station, built with Iranian financial assistance, is scheduled to go
into operation in the Pushkin Mountain Pass in 2005. It will have an
estimated annual capacity of 5 million kilowatt/hours.

Editor’s Note: Paul Rimple is a freelance writer based in Georgia.

A1plus

| 18:49:33 | 25-04-2005 | Politics |

WE ARE SORRY TO DEPRIVE YOU OF ELECTRICITY

The RA Justice Ministry and the «Armenian Electrical Nets» LTD inform that
for the purpose of transporting the high-voltage wires in the Shengavit
community Court of First Instance on April 27 from 12:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m.
the consumers connected to the 110kw Central station will be deprived of
electricity.

The Arshakounyants avenue, from the State circus till the cinema `Hayreniq’
streets of Christapor, Sevan, Grigor Lousavorich, Tigran Mets, and the
district Noragyux will be deprived of electricity. The RA Justice Ministry
apologizes for the inconvenience.

Armenians gather to remember Open wounds.
After 90 years there is still no closure

ROBERTO ROCHA
The Gazette

April 24, 2005

Kartine Divanian was 4 when Ottoman soldiers burst into her home, chained up
the men and took them away to be shot. The soldiers then came back to burn
her house and everything else in the Turkish village of Marzevan.
Her mother, fearing for her life, sent her to Greece with 16,000 other
Armenian orphans. They never saw each other again.
Divanian’s wounds haven’t healed over the past 90 years, wounds she passed
on to her children and grandchildren now living in Canada.
And none of the 60,000 Armenians in the country will feel healed until they
get the closure they seek: for the Turkish government to recognize what many
historians and governments agree was a genocide in which 1.5 million
Armenians were killed or disappeared.
Last night, Montreal Armenians filled St. Joseph’s Oratory to capacity to
observe the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide.
But they were also observing 90 years of denial by the Turkish government.
“It’s time for closure. We still have to fight the fight,” said Taro
Alepian, president of the Congress of Canadian Armenians.
Last night’s event was a deeply devotional, multi-denominational service
exalting martyrdom and denouncing indifference.
“Our ancestors fell knowing that 90 years later we would be meeting in
churches,” said Azad Chichmanian, an Armenian community leader who began the
service.
“They knew that kind of life could not be taken away, no matter how
organized the killing or how much the Turkish government denies it.”
A choir ushered in the handful of survivors from that era, most of whom rely
on wheelchairs and are at a loss for words when
describing what they witnessed.
“Your wounds are my wounds,” said Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim of the Malkite
Greek Catholic Church of Montreal to the survivors. “The blood of your
martyrs is immortal.”
Officials from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths followed with
their own sympathies and condemnations.
Last year, Canada became the 17th government to recognize the genocide, and
other countries followed.
Alepian said that’s a good start.
“We want Canada to join Europe to pressure the Turkish government to
recognize the genocide,” he said.
“They need to face the truth like Germany did, and it’s a better country for
it,” he added. “Just like today’s Germans aren’t Nazis, today’s Turks aren’t
the killers. Why can’t they see this?”
For Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, last night’s service transcended
politics.
“I’m here to pray for our future, to recognize that tragic things happen,”
Tremblay said. “If every leader in our society took the time to do the same,
they would adhere to our true job, which is to respect the values of the
people who vote for us.”

[email protected]
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005

A1plus

| 16:34:37 | 24-04-2005 | Politics |

COMMEMORATION OF GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Today Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan visited Tsitsernakaberd to commemorate the Armenian Genocide
victims.

RA NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan, Prime Minister Addranik Margaryan,
Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Harutyunyan, state and spiritual
figures, high rank clergymen, delegations and diplomats were present at the
ceremony.

Bishop Paren Avetikyan chanted a liturgy in Holy Echmiadzin.

Turkish Press
April 23 2005

Press Scan:

LETTER OF COMPROMISE

TURKIYE- Wexler and Whitfield, U.S. congressmen who are the members
of Turkish Friendship Group, sent a letter to other U.S. congressmen.
In their letter, Wexler and Whitfield asked U.S. congressmen to exert
efforts to persuade (Armenian President Robert) Kocharian to accept
(Turkish PM Recep Tayyip) Erdogan’s proposal to “open archives and
solve the problem”.

CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE HELD IN KRASNODAR

A1plus

| 15:27:31 | 19-04-2005 | Politics |

The Chair of the History of Ancient World and Middle Ages of the Kuban
State University will hold a conference entitled «Armenian Genocide:
humanitarian comprehension of the tragedy of the 20-th century». As
reported by Yerkramas newspaper, the event is dated to the 90-th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Representatives of national,
cultural and religious societies, teaching staff and students of
the Krasnodar scientific and educational institutions as well as all
those who wish will take part in the conference to be held April 23.

The conference will start with joint pray of Christian, Muslim and
Judaic Dioceses. Reports titled «First World War and the Armenian
Genocide in Turkey: cultural aspect», «Armenians of Western Armenia
in 1915», «Anthology» by Valery Bryusov, «Armenian Architectural
Monuments in Krasnodar and Adygea», «National Issue in the Ideology
of Armenian Political Parties at the beginning of 20-th century»
and others are to be given.

A documentary «I accuse» shot by Yerkir Media TV Company will be
shown. The conference will end with a round table, upon completion
of which a Resolution will be adopted.

–Boundary_(ID_DzIMWSMnSdIiTVOuE05RDg)–

ARMEN AMIRKHANYAN – DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHQ

A1plus
| 19:40:12 | 18-04-2005 | Official |

By the order of the Georgian President Mikhail Sahakashvili
Armen Amirkhanyan has bee appointed first deputy governor of
Samtskhe-Javakhq. The information has been provided by the agency
«A-info».

Before this appointment 30-year-old Amirkhanyan was the responsible
of the Akhalqalaq office of the Minorities Issues European Center.

Amirkhanyan, who has replaced Shota Beroujanyan in this post, took
the post on April 18.

–Boundary_(ID_4/1KM2LLzp8dkMBW9MzS1Q)–

A1plus

| 14:01:50 | 18-04-2005 | Official |

LET US RE-APPRECIATE THE PAST

Today Leonidas Pantelides, the Cyprus ambassador extraordinary and
plenipotentiary, has given his credentials to Robert Kocharyan. The
sides have discussed issued about the enhancing of the Armenian-Cyprian
relations.

The ambassador has mentioned that an important means of the
development of relations can be the raise of the cooperation level
in the international structures.

Robert Kocharyan has mentioned the importance of the re-appreciating
the links of the countries and of making the best of the given
opportunities.