Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Harika wins gold in World Youth Chess

Sify, India
Nov 14 2004

Heraklion (Greece): Dronavalli Harika’s virtuous performance in the
Under 14 girls section of the World Youth Chess Championship won her
the gold medal at Creta Maris Hotel in Heraklion.

Thanks to her last round draw with Guramishvili Sopiko of Georgia,
Harika ensured the gold to add one more feather to her cap.

Like Harika, Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia also scored nine points out
of a possible 11 but her inferior tiebreak score was enough only to
get her the silver medal.

Another Indian medal came in the Under 12 boys section as former Asian
(Under-10) Champion Parimarjan Negi crashed through the defences of
Ter Sahakyan Samvel of Armenia in quick time.

The Under 12 section was one of the most interesting of all the 10
championships organised simultaneously and eventually the gold went
to 120th seed Zhao Nan of China while his compatriot Ding Liren got
the silver after both had scored 9.5 points apiece, half a point more
than Negi.

Poland was the biggest gainer from these championships as they pocketed
three golds, one silver and one bronze in the overall haul of five
medals out of 30 at stake.

Closely behind were China and Georgia, who won two gold medals each
while India, Russia and Israel bagged one gold each.

NATO Chief Affirms Expansion Of Security Force In West Of Country
By Nikola Krastev

Radio Free Europe, Czech republic
Nov 12 2004

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has affirmed that the
alliance plans to expand its operations into western Afghanistan in
advance of the next round of elections. Yesterday, de Hoop Scheffer
told the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent policy
institute, that extra NATO battalions will be committed to help
safeguard parliamentary elections due to be held in the spring. There
are currently about 9,000 NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, most of
them in the Kabul area. De Hoop Scheffer did not say how many new
forces would be committed to the country.

New York, 12 November 2004 (RFE/RL) — NATO Secretary-General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer said yesterday that the current situation in
Afghanistan makes it logistically viable for the alliance to expand
its operations there.

“We have lived up to our promises, and at the moment the signs are
good that NATO is going to expand ISAF — the International Security
Assistance Force — into the west of Afghanistan,” de Hoop Scheffer
said. “We have covered the north now with a number of so-called
Provincial Reconstruction Teams. We will now go west, setting up what
we call a ‘forward support base’ in Herat, and then we want to move
counterclockwise to the south and the southeast of Afghanistan, as
well.”

De Hoop Scheffer said that NATO’s forces in the country have, in
general, been received well by the Afghan people. Asked why NATO,
originally created to provide security for Western Europe, is now
operating in Afghanistan, the secretary-general said the terrorist
attacks of 11 September 2001 brought about a major shift in NATO
policy.

“What is NATO doing in Afghanistan? Defending values at the Hindu
Kush in the present day international climate,” Scheffer said. “We
have to fight terrorism wherever it emerges. If we don’t do it at the
Hindu Kush, it will end up at our doorstep. In other words, this
perception gap in the long run must be closed and must be healed —
that is, for NATO’s future, of the utmost importance.”

Another priority for NATO in Afghanistan, he said, will be providing
additional security during parliamentary elections, scheduled for
April. The secretary-general said that extra NATO battalions will be
committed.

De Hoop Scheffer described NATO’s operations in Afghanistan as a
“moderate success.” But he warned that without deeper involvement by
the international community in the fight against drug production and
drug trafficking in Afghanistan, NATO’s ability to ensure the
country’s stability will be limited.

Referring to Afghanistan’s neighbors, de Hoop Scheffer underlined the
strategic role the Central Asian states play in the fight against
terrorism. Having just returned from a trip to Central Asia and the
Caucasus, de Hoop Scheffer said he envisions closer cooperation with
these states.

“We need, by the way, Central Asian nations, and the Caucasian
nations [to] play an important role in supporting the ISAF operation
because we need the lines of communication — to say in military
terms — [and] transit agreements with the Central Asians, to see
that we can adequately run the ISAF operation in Afghanistan,”
Scheffer said.

De Hoop Scheffer said Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia have all
expressed interest in closer cooperation with NATO in its Partnership
for Peace program.

“They all want to extend their partnership with NATO. Even Armenia
has now applied for the so-called Individual Partnership Action
Program, which means that we are going to develop a tailored,
Armenia-tailored partnership program with that country, with
Yerevan,” Scheffer said. “That goes for the Central Asian nations, as
well. So that partnership is developing very well.”

De Hoop Scheffer stressed that Turkey is playing a particularly
active role in the Partnership for Peace program.

STRIKERS OPPOSED ARMENTEL COMPLETE MONOPOLY IN IP TELEPHONY

A1 Plus | 14:36:19 | 11-11-2004 | Economy |

Some 100 enterprises will go on a one-day warning strike on Thursday.

From 17:00 local time IP telephony will halt their operations
protesting Armenian government’s recent decision to give ArmenTel
Armenian-Greek company sweeping control over IP telephony services.

The number of protesting enterprises is increasingly growing.

A series of protest actions including rallies and marches are planned
to be staged soon.

The Michigan Daily, MI
Oct 9 2004

Film exposes life of juveniles in adult prisons

Leslie Neal, director of “Juvies,” a documentary on the juvenile
prison system, answers questions after a screening of the film at the
Michigan Theatre yesterday. (Shubra Ohri/Daily)

By Alex Garivaltis, Daily Staff Reporter

Sixteen-year-old Michael Duc Ta was driving with two friends near Los
Angeles five years ago when his friends started shooting at another
car. Although no one was injured, Ta stood trial as an adult for
first-degree attempted murder and received a sentence of 35 years to
life.

Ta is profiled in “Juvies,” a documentary by filmmaker Leslie Neale
screened yesterday in the Michigan Theater. The film was an outgrowth
of a video production course Neale taught at Los Angeles Central
Juvenile Detention Hall. It chronicles the experiences of 12
adolescents charged with violent crimes.

The adolescents featured in the documentary were all involved in
violent crimes. As a result of toughened criminal laws, the teenagers
are forced to stand trial as adults in the film. Every one has been
convicted and sentenced to serve in an adult prison.

Neale, who answered questions after the screening, said in the past
few years violent crime has decreased nearly 40 percent. Juveniles
are increasingly required to stand trial as adults, and media
coverage of such events has intensified.

Neale said officials at the California department of corrections told
her that state law officially bars them from offering rehabilitation
programs to prisoners. When asked by an audience member why the film
had little emphasis on rehabilitation, she responded, “That’s the
point – there is no rehabilitation.” She said she thinks the criminal
justice system has “swung to a punishment model.”

At the beginning of the film, California pedestrians are asked
whether they believe teenage criminals should be sentenced as adults.
The consensus among those interviewed was that adolescents who commit
adult crimes should be forced to stand the consequences as adults.

Anait, a 14-year-old Armenian immigrant and one of Ta’s juvenile-hall
classmates, was sentenced to seven years for having inadvertently
driven the getaway car for two boys that had murdered another boy at
their high school.

Most of the characters in “Juvies” have lived childhoods of abuse,
poverty and molestation, and they are disproportionately people of
color. Many of them began abusing drugs at an early age, and several
have children of their own. A number of them ran away from home at an
early age.

Ta, who was physically abused by his father from an early age,
refused to allow his father visitation while he was in prison. Ta’s
father, a Vietnamese immigrant, acknowledged that he often beat his
son, but argued that such behavior was cultural. Once his father put
a gun to Ta’s head and threatened to kill him because he had been
suspended from school.

“Juvies” catches up with the kids in Ta’s juvenile hall class three
years after their convictions. The characters, now young adults,
reflect on what prison life has done to them. Several female inmates
remark that prison has had the opposite effect of rehabilitation.
They said they had turned to drugs to deal with prison life.

Los Angeles district attorney Gil Garcetti said he thought sentences
like the one Ta received are unfair and should have never been handed
down. Garcetti said this although Ta’s 35-year sentence was handed
down during his tenure.

Neale discussed the disparity in sentencing, even among the 12 youth
featured in the film. Several were convicted of identical crimes but
were given sentences that differed by decades.

She also noted that recently a Michigan teen who was tried as a
juvenile and convicted of murder will be freed at age 21.

Neale said she thought taxpayers would prefer to have their money
spent rehabilitating and educating citizens, not incarcerating them.

“Every warden I have talked to has said juveniles are the most
rehabilitatable group among violent criminals.” She then made an
analogy between sending adolescents to adult prison and “feeding coal
to a furnace.”

She emphasized the financial implications of sending young people to
prison as opposed to rehabilitating them and letting them return to
society.

“It costs one million dollars to lock a kid up for life,” she said.

LSA student John Smith, said the film was illuminating. “It’s
absolutely shocking what they did to those kids – the sentences are
egregious,” he said. He blamed the phenomenon on overzealous
politicians and a public that has been confused by an alarmist media.

At the film’s end, the pedestrians who said they were in favor of
juvenile criminals standing trial as adults were told what Ta had
done and asked what punishment he should received. The pedestrians,
who seemed to agree on a sentence of several years, were in disbelief
when informed that he had been given 35 years.

Neale, who has won several awards for previous films, will be on the
Montel Williams show later this week. Mark Wahlberg, the narrator of
“Juvies,” spoke about the film this January on Good Morning America.
The screening was hosted by the University chapter of Amnesty
International.

–Boundary_(ID_CVUR1AsjS66M+p6CdcUz9Q)–

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CANADA
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montréal, Québec
H4J 1L5
Tél. (514) 334-1299 Fax (514) 334-6853
——————————————————————————–

PRESS RELEASE
08 November 2004

Contacts: Shant Karabajak 514-334-1299

Roupen Kouyoumdjian 514-336-7095

Aris Babikian 416-497-8972

For immediate release:

THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CANADA HONOURS SEN. MARCEL PRUD’HOMME

Montreal – The Armenian National Committee of Canada hosted a cocktail event at
the Armenian Community Center of Montreal in honour of Sen. Marcel Prud’homme’s
40th anniversary of political life. Among the guests were the Senator’s close
circle of friends and colleagues, as well as representatives of the Armenian
organizations who had known the Senator for a long time.

The Senator was presented with a picture from Armenia, made entirely with flower
petals, depicting an Armenian scene. Presenting the present was Dr. Girair
Basmadjian, president of the Armenian National Committee of Canada who said
“When our community was still young Sen. Prud’homme was our only friend in
Parliament, and was always present at all our events and commemorations of the
Armenian Genocide.”

Deeply moved by this display of gratitude, Sen. Prud’homme, in his speech,
thanked the members of the community as well as his family members who have
always supported him in his endeavours. He then added, commenting on the
sizeable representation of the Armenian Youth Organization of Canada present at
the event, that it is important for the youth to be prepared to lift the torch
and continue the struggle for justice.

At the end of the evening, the honourable Senator was also presented with a
large poster congratulating his 40 years of service and bearing the signatures
of all who were present, including municipal councilors Ms. Noushig Eloyan, Mrs.
Hasmig Belleli and Mrs. Marie Deros.

-30-

Comité National Arménien du Canada
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montréal, Québec
H4J 1L5
Tél. (514) 334-1299 Fax (514) 334-6853

——————————————————————————–

Communiqué de Presse

08 Novembre, 2004

Contacts: Shant Karabajak 514-334-1299

Roupen Kouyoumdjian 514-336-7095

Aris Babikian 416-497-8972

Pour diffusion immédiate:

Le Comtié National Arménien du Canada honore le Sen. Marcel Prud’Homme

Montr̩al РLe Comit̩ National Arm̩nien du Canada a organis̩ une r̩c̩ption au
Centre Communautaire Arménien de Montréal, à l’honneur du 40ième anniversaire de
la vie politque de l’honorable Sen. Marcel Prud’Homme. Parmi les invités étaient
présents les proches et la famille du Sénateur, ainsi que les représentants des
diverses organisations arméniennes ayant travaillé avec le Sénateur pendant
plusieurs années.

Le président du Comité National Arménien du Canada, Dr. Girair Basmadjian,
présenta au Sénateur un tableau d’un peintre arménien symbolique de la culture
arménienne. Dr. Basmadjian ajouta que “Sen. Prud’Homme, fut notre premier ami
sur la scène politique canadienne à l’époque où notre communauté était encore
jeune. Il était toujours présent à tous nos évènements et à toutes les
commémorations du Génocide Arménien.”

Visiblement ému, Sen. Prud’homme a pris la parole en remerciant la communauté
ainsi que les membres de sa famille qui l’ont toujours encouragé. Touché par la
présence des jeunes en grand nombre Hon. Marcel Prud’homme souhaita que ceux-ci
prennent la relève et luttent toujours pour la justice.

À la fin de la soirée, l’honorable Sénateur a recu aussi une grande affiche,
recouvert par les signatures de tous les invités incuant les conseillères
municipales Mlle Noushig Eloyan, Mme Hasmig Belleli et Mme Marie Deros,
félicitant ses 40 ans de vie politique.

-30-

–Boundary_(ID_Oaqeh61qOYjgcqC8xZAhEg)–

The Winchester Star
Friday, November 5, 2004

Ethnic Folk Music Concert Set at SU
Star Staff Report
The Shenandoah University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Scott
Nelson, will present a concert at 7 p.m. today in Armstrong Concert Hall.

Andrew Keen (left) is a member of the French Horn Section of the Shenandoah
University Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
(Photo Provided by Shenandoah University)
It will feature concert band settings of folk songs from Greece and Armenia.
The concert will also include band settings of Armenian folk songs
transcribed and arranged by composer Alfred Reed.
Armenian Dances Part I will be conducted by guest conductor David Zerull,
and Part II features four movements based on authentic Armenian folk songs
from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935), the founder of
Armenian classical music.
Two marches of John Philip Sousa and Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich
will also be performed.
The concert is free and open to the public.

Prove Hitler wrong

Remember Ottoman Turkey’s slaughter of Armenian Christians

WORLD Magazine
October 23, 2004
Page 52

By Marvin Olasky ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)

Editor’s warning: This article contains graphic material.

VAN, Turkey — As Turkey moves toward eventual membership in the
European Union (see Madisonian Turkey from this week’s issue), this
Muslim nation should also come to grips with a terrible crime that has
gone largely unpunished.

Armenians, many of them Christian, lived in this area of what is now
eastern Turkey for about 2,000 years. Despite suffering massacres in
1894 and 1895 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, they still numbered
well over 1 million in 1914. Ten years later only scattered handfuls
were left.

Adolf Hitler used what is now called the Armenian holocaust as his model
for an even greater holocaust. Ottoman Turks developed techniques later
used by the Nazis, such as piling 90 people into a train car with a
capacity of 36, and leaving them locked in for days, terrified,
starving, and often dead.

Hitler was even more impressed with how the Turks got away with
genocide. When Hitler on Aug. 22, 1939, explained that his plans to
invade Poland included the formation of death squads that would
exterminate men, women, and children, he asked, “Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

In recent years some have. Books such as Peter Balakian’s The Burning
Tigris (HarperCollins, 2003) tell of the Armenian tragedy in a way that
also helps us to understand radical Islam. That’s because the key
incitement to massacre came on Nov. 14, 1914, when Mustafa Hayri Bey,
the Ottoman Empire’s leading Sunni authority, urged his followers to
commence a jihad: One pamphlet declared, “He who kills even one
unbeliever . . . shall be rewarded by Allah.”

The jihad proclamation received wide dissemination. When a priest asked
a Muslim army officer how he could participate in killing several
thousand Armenian women, Captain Shukri’s answer was simple: It was
jihad time, and after the murders he could “spread out my prayer rug and
pray, giving glory to Allah and the Prophet who made me worthy of
personally participating in the holy jihad in these days of my old age.”

The Ottoman Turk government set up and paid special killing squads. The
Ministry of the Interior gave instructions to “exterminate all males
under 50, priests and teachers, leave girls and children to be
Islamized.” Historians and journalists have estimated that Turks killed
800,000 to 1 million Armenians in 1915 alone, and an additional 200,000
to 500,000 over the next seven years.

Here in Van 89 years ago, provincial governor Jevdet Bey gained the
nickname “the horseshoe master” because he nailed horseshoes to the feet
of Armenians. Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador to Turkey,
described in 1918 testimony of torture he had heard: “The gendarmes
would nail hands and feet to pieces of wood–evidently in imitation of
the Crucifixion, and then while the sufferer writhes in his agony, they
would cry, ‘Now let your Christ come help you.'”

Aurora Mardiganian, the only member of her family to survive, told of
killing squads that planted their swords in the ground, blade up, at
intervals of several yards. Killers on horseback each grabbed a girl,
rode their horses at a controlled gallop, and tried to throw the girl so
she would be impaled on a sword: “If the killer missed and the girl was
only injured, she would be scooped up again until she was impaled on the
protruding blade.”

The silent film Ravished Armenia, based on Aurora Mardiganian’s account,
caused a U.S. sensation–but British officials demanded before showtime
in London the deletion of a scene of Armenian women being crucified.
Miss Mardiganian agreed that the scene, which showed the women being
crucified on large crosses with their long hair covering their nude
bodies, was inauthentic.

The scene was inaccurate, she said, because the crosses in the film were
large, but in reality they were little and pointed: “They took the
clothes off the girls. They made them bend down. And after raping them,
they made them sit on the pointed wood, through . . .” Americans, she
said, “can’t show such terrible things” (and I can’t write about them in
full detail).

After the World War ended in 1918 several Turks, including “the
horseshoe master,” were executed for war crimes. Hundreds of
perpetrators went free, and to this day Turkish textbooks cover up the
slaughter of Armenians, as they also cover up the slaughter of Greek
Christians in western Turkey during that same era.
Prove Hitler wrong. Governments are to wield the sword to bring justice,
so remember Armenian and other victims of governments that killed their
own people, and thank God that the United States has worked to protect
innocent people in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan.

Le Figaro
26 octobre 2004

Le Parlement hausse le ton sur la Turquie;
Les députés plus critiques que la commission sur les conditions de
négociations avec Ankara

Alexandrine BOUILHET

Les députés européens se montrent bien plus critiques que la
commission Prodi sur la candidature de la Turquie à l’Union
européenne. La commission affaires étrangères du Parlement discutera
aujourd’hui, à Strasbourg, du rapport rédigé par le député
néerlandais Camiel Eurlings. Une fois adopté, ce texte sera transmis
sous forme de « recommandation » aux chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement
avant le sommet du 17 décembre.

D’après le rapporteur, l’ouverture des négociations avec la Turquie
doit être « le point de départ d’un long processus qui, par nature,
doit rester ouvert, c’est-à-dire ne pas conduire a priori et
automatiquement sur l’adhésion ».

Ce point de vue frileux ne reflète pas celui de la commission, qui
considère l’adhésion comme le seul objectif valable des négociations.
Le Parlement exige également que les opinions publiques européennes
soient « consultées » sur l’entrée de la Turquie, ce qui n’avait pas
été le cas pour le dernier élargissement. Pour le reste, il s’aligne
sur la recommandation de la commission qui estime impossible, pour
des raisons budgétaires, de faire entrer la Turquie dans l’Union
avant 2014. Le Parlement approuve aussi le processus « d’arrêt
d’urgence des négociations », en cas de violations graves et
persistantes des principes de liberté et l’Etat de droit. Estimant
que la Turquie ne remplit pas encore suffisamment les critères de
Copenhague, les députés veulent durcir encore le processus de
négociations, en y ajoutant une étape inédite.

« Le Conseil ne doit recommander l’ouverture des négociations que si
ces dernières se concentrent d’abord sur le respect des critères
politiques de Copenhague, note le document, avec un accent sur le
respect des droits de l’homme et des libertés, en théorie et en
pratique, et, ensuite seulement, commencer l’examen chapitre par
chapitre. » Le rapporteur estime qu’Ankara doit se montrer plus
intraitable encore dans sa politique de lutte contre la torture, la
corruption et les violences conjugales. Il demande à la Turquie de se
mettre « sans délai » en conformité avec les décisions de la Cour
européenne des droits de l’homme et lui suggère même de rédiger une «
nouvelle Constitution », entérinant la Turquie moderne et européenne.
Il appelle la Turquie et l’Arménie à commencer un processus de
réconciliation afin de dépasser « les expériences tragiques du passé
», et demande à Ankara d’avoir une attitude « plus constructive »
pour le règlement de la question chypriote.

Autant de questions qui montrent que là où la commission voyait le
verre à moitié plein, le Parlement voit le verre à moitié vide,
invitant les Vingt-Cinq à se montrer bien plus vigilants le 17
décembre prochain.

Interfax
Nov. 3, 2004

Karabakh criticizes Azerbaijan’s UN discussion initiative

Stepanakert. (Interfax) – Foreign Minister Ashot Gulian of the
self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic has harshly criticized
Azerbaijan’s initiative to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in
the UN, calling it “a propagandist trick.”

“This initiative fully fits Azerbaijan’s policy whose aim is to
distract the international community’s attention from the essence of
the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh by using propagandist tricks,” Gulian
told journalists in Stepanakert on Tuesday.

“Azerbaijan is fully aware that these territories are under the control
of Nagorno-Karabakh forces and Armenia has nothing to do with them,”
Gulian said.

Nagorno-Karabakh is equally concerned by what is “going on in the
Nagorno-Karabakh territories, which are still under Azerbaijan’s
occupation,” he said.

Nagorno-Karabakh is willing to discuss any difficult questions with
Azerbaijan, Gulian said. The shortest way to reach a compromise is to
restore the negotiating process in its full format, involving Nagorno-
Karabakh as a full-fledged party in the negotiations, he said.

Baku lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh in a bloody conflict with Armenia
in the 1990s. The OSCE Minsk Group represented by the U.S., Russia, and
France is mediating in the settlement of the problem.

ARKA News Agency
Nov. 3, 2004

Armenian president meets chairman of Russian Railways OJSC

Opening of direct railway communication between Armenia and Russia in
economic interests of Russia

NKR President signs a number of laws

Benevolent concert of chamber orchestra Camerton to be held in Yerevan
on November 7

NKR President receives members of `Protestant Solidarity of France and
Armenia’

Exhibition of young artists of applied art opened in Yerevan today

Catholicos of All Armenians receives the members of crew of Cilicia
sailing vessel

Armenia to expand and improve international youth cooperation

President of Russian Railways JSC to arrive in Armenia

***********************************************************************

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS CHAIRMAN OF RUSSIAN RAILWAYS OJSC

YEREVAN, November 03. /ARKA/. Armenian President Robert Kocharian met
the Chairman of Russian Railways OJSC Gennadi Fadeev. As Armenian
President Press Service told ARKA, Kocharian mentioned that the volume
of transport operations in Armenia grows. He added that there must be
undertaken all possible measures in order communications not to remain
obstacle for further economic development.
The side mentioned Russian Railways OJSC and Armenian Railways CJSC
will declare on establishing of a cargo operating JV. He touched upon
details of the initiative. T.M. -0–

***********************************************************************

OPENING OF DIRECT RAILWAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA IN
ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF RUSSIA

YEREVAN, November 03. /ARKA/. Opening of direct railway communication
between Armenia and Russia in economic interests of Russia, as Gennadi
Fadeev, President of Russian Railways said during his meeting with
Armenian PM Andarnik MArgarian, Armenian Government Public and Press
Relations Department reports. He said that during his visit to Yerevan
he plans signing a joint statement with Ararat Khrimyan, Head of
Armenian Railways on establishing of a joint Russian-Armenian cargo
operating company. They also reached agreement on establishing a
working group that will be in charge of financial, economic and other
issues. Later in Fadeev’s words there will be prepared a document on
cooperation in the field of cooperation in sphere of railway
communication between Armenia and Russia.
In his words, Margarian said that stimulation of railway communications
is an important factor in development of trade and economy and
increasing of cargo transportations between Armenia and Russia.
The sides mentioned important role of re-operation of transport
communication in establishing peace in the region and settlement of
regional conflicts. T.M. -0–

***********************************************************************

NKR PRESIDENT SIGNS A NUMBER OF LAWS

STEPANAKERT, November 03. /ARKA/. President of NKR Arkadi Ghukasyan
signed laws on minimal consumer basket and minimal consumer budget, on
legal and social-economic guarantees for deported from Azerbaijani
Republic in 1998-1992 and received NKR citizenship, on encashment
activity, on information freedom.
As NKR President Press Service told ARKA, Ghukasyan also signed law on
amending the law on salary. The laws were passed by NKR Parliament on
October, 2004. T.M. -0–

***********************************************************************

BENEVOLENT CONCERT OF CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CAMERTON TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN
ON NOVEMBER 7

YEREVAN, November 03. /ARKA/ The benevolent concert of chamber
orchestra Camerton to be held in Yerevan on November 7. As Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund Press Service told ARKA, the concert will be
dedicated to annual TV campaign, all funds received from which will be
directed to construction of highway `North-South’. The concert is
organized by Camerton NGO with support of Center prefecture of Yerevan
and Ashtarak -Kat company.
On the eve of TV campaign the secondary schools of Armenia organized
collection of money for the highway.
The total length of North-South highway that is constructed in NKR
under auspices of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is circa 170 km. It cost
is USD 25 mln. T.M. -0–

***********************************************************************

NKR PRESIDENT RECEIVES MEMBERS OF `PROTESTANT SOLIDARITY OF FRANCE AND
ARMENIA’

YEREVAN, November 03. /ARKA/. NKR President Arkadi Ghukasyan received
members of `Protestant Solidarity of France and Armenia’ (SPFA) headed
by Samuel SAhakyan. As NKR President Information Department told ARKA,
Sahakyan presented to Ghukasyan the main priorities of its activity. He
said that the organization plans implementation of a number of projects
particularly establishing of a children’s library. Arkadi Ghukasyan in
his turn mentioned the importance of implementation of SPFA projects in
NKR especially for popularization of the French language and culture
there.
SPFA implements various humanitarian projects in Armenia since 1990. In
1997 it opened its representation in NKR. T.M. -0–

***********************************************************************

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS RECEIVES THE MEMBERS OF CREW OF CILICIA
SAILING VESSEL

YEREVAN, November 3. /ARKA/. Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II
received the members of Cilicia sailing vessel crew. According to the
Press Chancellery of Holy See of St. Echmiadzin, Catholicos highly
appreciated the courage of the Cilicia crew, displayed `during this
long navigation, which kept high the dignity of their Homeland’. He
noted that `the navigation was in the center of attention of all
Armenians, who are grateful and proud of it’.
During the meeting, the members of the crew told the Catholicos about
the memorable meetings and mentioned the hearty welcome rendered to
Cilicia in all countries it visited. They also spoke about the future
plans of the sailors. In the end of the meeting, Garegin II noted that
similar initiatives promote the strengthening of unified spirit and
sense of the Armenian nation. L.V. – 0–

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EXHIBITION OF YOUNG ARTISTS OF APPLIED ART OPENED IN YEREVAN TODAY

YEREVAN, November 03. /ARKA/. Exhibition of young masters of applied
art opened in Yerevan today. As Lilit Asatryan, Armenian Deputy Culture
and Youth Affairs Minister told, the exhibition aims at encouraging of
creativity of young artists. 4-17 years old 28 graduates of Center of
Armenian Applied Art presented 113 works. She also mentioned that this
is already the forth exhibition of graduates of the Center that
functions around one year. She also said that by the end of 2004 there
will be held another several exhibitions in the frames of `Creation of
global cooperation for development of the Millennium’.
The exhibition is dedicated to International Day of Youth and was
organized by UN Yerevan Office and Armenian Culture and youth Affairs
Ministry.
The exhibition is held in the frames of the 12th meeting of
International Council of Heads of State Bodies on Youth Affairs from
the CIS participated by delegations from Russia, Ukraine, milodaova,
Tajukistan, Belarus and Georgia. T.M. -0–

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ARMENIA TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH COOPERATION

YEREVAN, November 3. /ARKA/. The RA Government confirms its wish to
expand and improve international youth cooperation, as stated Andranik
Margaryan, the RA Prime Minister, in his message to the participants of
the 12th meeting of Council of Heads of CIS State Institutions for
Youth Affairs, which was read by Lilit Asatryan, the RA Deputy Minister
of Culture and Youth Affairs. The message also says that Armenia is
ready to develop cooperation taking into account the increasing role of
youth on the contemporary stage of society and state development in
general. At that, the cooperation should be based on principles of
equality, through extended contacts between government bodies and NGOs,
which carry out and assist the implementation of state youth policy. `I
believe that cooperation in the sphere of youth is called to promote
the strengthening of mutual understanding and friendship between
peoples and establishment of all-human values ‘, the message states.
As a significant achievement of the Council of Heads of CIS State
Institutions for Youth Affairs, the Prime Minister mentioned the draft
of Agreement of CIS member-countries on cooperation in the area of work
with the youth and project on establishment of inter-branch council on
youth affairs of states-participants of CIS, prepared for approval by
the Council of Presidents of CIS countries.
12th meeting of the International Council of Heads of CIS State
Institutions for Youth Affairs opened today in Yerevan. Delegations
from Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Tajikistan, Belarus and Georgia take
part in the current session of the Council in Yerevan. L.V.–0

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIAN RAILWAYS JSC TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, November 3. /ARKA/. The President of Russian Railways JSC
Gennady Fadeev arrives today in Armenia. According to Konstantin
Pashkov, the Head of Public Relations Department of Russian Railways
JSC, in frames of Fadeev’s visit, working meetings are scheduled with
RA President Robert Kocharian and RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,
authorities of RA Ministry of Transport and Communications and Armenian
Railways.
To mention, President of OJSC Russian Railways Gennady Fadeev and
Ambassador of Armenia to Russia Armen Smbatyan met on October 21.
During the meeting, the issue of restoration of railway communication
between Armenia and Russia through rehabilitation of Abkhaz railway
sections was discussed. Armenia supported the suggestion of Russian
party regarding restoration of communication. The sides agreed that the
implementation of this problem (restoration of direct communication
with Russia through Georgia) may be implemented by private companies,
unless the territorial and political problems of the region are solved.
During the talks, the sides also discussed issues of creating a direct
railway communication in the North-South international transport
corridor considering the construction of the new line
Kazvin-Resht-Astara. L.V.–0–