Author: Karabekian Emil

Versatile actress takes to challenge
BILL BRIOUX, SUN MEDIA

Edmonton Sun, Canada
Oct 12 2004

TORONTO — Claudia Ferri is far more worldly than her Ciao Bella
character, Elena. And stylish, too, sporting exotic rings and jewelry
with cool stories to match. She is Elena on the other side. So much
so, that it was painful to watch her character in the early episodes,
she told the Sun over lunch last week.

“There will be a tendency for Canadians who haven’t been exposed to
Italians or Italian families in their daily context to say, ‘Aw, c’mon,
she’s being pushed around too much. How come she doesn’t rebel? This
is ridiculous.’

“It was even hard for me,” says Ferri, who landed the lead after
impressing the same producers when she played feisty Anna in Mambo
Italiano. “That was the old me,” she says of Elena. “I hated seeing
myself like that.”

Ferri loves the way Ciao Bella explores the universal theme of becoming
an individual. That it is based on a tight-knit Italian family just
adds oregano to the mix.

“It’s all about responsibility and duty and a certain code,”
she says. “I can very much relate to her and her need to push the
boundaries and find her own individuality.”

While there are parallels to hers and Elena’s upbringing, there are
important differences, too.

Ferri is familiar with Montreal’s Little Italy (especially after Ciao
Bella’s six-month shoot), but she grew up in rural Quebec where she
faced a great deal of intolerance due to her multi-ethnic background
(Italian father, French-Canadian mother, Armenian and native-Canadian
roots).

The exotic mix is paying dividends as an actress. Ferri and the rest
of the cast shot Ciao Bella in two versions, French and English.
Besides Italian, she can also get by in Spanish.

Her challenging early years also made her stronger, and not just in
resolve. Farm work gave her strong muscles, Ferri boasts, telling an
eye-opening tale about fending off a real-life attacker.

Unlike Elena, Ferri has lived life and tasted both bitter and sweet.
She also rebelled, and early. She left home at 16 and had her own
family (three children. She brought photos).

Her relationships with parents and siblings continue to be both rocky
and adventurous.

So, yes, she relates to the colourful clan in Ciao Bella. “It is a
comedy and we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves,” she says.

Moscow Times, Russia
Oct 10 2004

News In Brief

Border Closed

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The closure of a Russian-Georgian border
crossing following the Beslan hostage-taking raid last month has
halted hundreds of vehicles headed for Armenia, choking off a key
supply line to the country, officials said Friday.

More than 1,500 cars and trucks going from Russia to Armenia
via Georgia have been stopped by the closure of the Verkhny Lars
crossing point, said lawmaker Vladimir Badalyan, a co-chairman of an
Armenian-Georgian business group.

Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd , UK
Evening Mail
October 5, 2004

WHAT’S ON: REVIEWS: MASTERFUL MUSICIANS ON SHOW

by DIANE PARKES

BIRMINGHAM’S Symphony Orchestra celebrated the centenary of the birth
of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak with a rousing performance of his
Symphony No 7.

Pushed firmly into the background by Dvorak’s more popular works,
this evening gave this piece a well-deserved airing.

It shows Dvorak’s deep connection with the traditional music of his
homeland but reveals his success in fusing it with the symphonic
expectations of his time. Dvorak’s mastery of musical form was also
celebrated in his Carnival Overture. In less than ten minutes it took
the audience through a whirl of emotions, catching the party
atmosphere of the carnival.

Sandwiched inbetween was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Here Armenian
soloist Sergei Khacatrian showed incredible mastery of the piece –
the maturity of his performance belying his teenage years. The CBSO,
under the baton of visiting conductor Walter Weller, proved a more
than able counter to the soloist.

And its lively performance of the two Dvorak pieces hopefully
convinced us there is a lot more to this composer than the New World
Symphony.

Office for National and Ethnic Minorities
Budapest, Hungary

Solymosi Judit <[email protected]>

Selection of news on
national and ethnic minorities in Hungary

July – September 2004

The register of forenames of national and ethnic minorities in Hungary
has been completed

With the involvement of experts, by January 2004, twelve out of the
thirteen national self-governments of minorities compiled their lists of
forenames based on their traditions. The Armenians, due to internal
dispute, failed to come to a consensus on the matter. As a consequence
of this, in August 2004, the book containing the complete list of
eligible minority forenames was published without the Armenian names.

Simultaneously, the Ministry of Interior has compiled the forms of
bilingual birth-certificates. A person declaring minority affiliation
may choose the forename of his or her child from the above mentioned
list. The decision whether he or she chooses the option of a Hungarian
certificate with the phonetically written version of the name, or rather
goes for the bilingual document, lies with him or her.

JOINT POSITION IS NECESSARY OVER KARABAKH ISSUE
A1 Plus
07-10-2004

Resignation of Robert Kocharyan, Serj Sargssyan and Vardan Oskanyan is
the only possible way to avoid settlement of Karabakhi conflict in a
manner unfavourable for Armenia and they have a few months for
that. Aram Sargssyan, Chairman of Democratic Party of Armenia, has
today announced this in `Azdak’ Club.

‘Now Armenia has to resume the negotiations with minus. Azerbaijan is
ahead in the propaganda aspect’, Aram Sargssyan reminded adding the
worldaccepts the arguments of Azerbaijan regarding the territorial
integrity.

DPA Chair Aram Sargssyan, ex Defence Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan
and Vice-Chair of Constitutional Right Union Hayk Babukhanyan together
with NKR representatives and Azerbaijan’s delegation have partaken in
Dortmund 7th conference. It was held under the chairmanship of
American and Russian co-chairs.

At the conference the stage-by-stage and package version for the
conflict settlement was suggested, in other words, to find a package
solution which will be implemented step-by-step. Azerbaijan side even
agreed to negotiate over the intermediate status of NKR. But at the
end of the conference the Azeri part started dwelling on the same old
subject on `returning the territories’, and the meeting ended without
reaching any results.

Aram Sargssyan finds that the Armenian side has 6 versions for
Karabakhi conflict settlement to start negotiations with each and to
reach the solution favourable for Armenia – political, legal, military
and economic variants, reservation of status quo and establishment of
a common union. Mr. Sargssyan is surprised why the Authorities have to
protect or justify themselves insteadof appearing at the position of
initiators.

Aram Sargssyan thinks hearings must be held in Parliament, joint
position and state conception must be formed. We asked if Opposition
having 23 MPs was ready to share responsibility with Authorities in
the present conditions unfavourable for Karabakhi conflict
settlement. Aram Sargssyan said if Authorities don’ t share the same
standpoint with Opposition, no joint stance will be set and Opposition
won’t accept responsibility.

PRESS RELEASE
Fund for Armenian Relief’s Fellows Alumni Association
9-38 Tumanyan Street,
Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Armine Gasparyan,
Coordinating Assistant
Tel: (3741) 53-58-68
Fax: (3742) 53-48-79
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

`OUTCOMES RESEARCH’

Lecture

Yerevan, October 1, 2004

FARFAA – Salzburg Medical Seminars Program, in cooperation with the
Armenian Medical Association, organized an `OUTCOMS RESEARCH’ meeting
on the first of October at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
(Yerevan, Armenia). About 50 medical specialists from a various
hospitals throughout Armenia participated in the lecture.

At the focus of the meeting was a lecture given by Chris Arslanian,
PHD, RN, the Director of Outcomes Research International, Inc (USA)
who stressed to Armenian physicians that outcomes research should be a
part of good clinical practice. Contrary to Arslanian’s lecture,
there are many practitioners who believe that outcomes research is too
much work for too little reward. It was stressed that conducting
outcomes research in clinical practice can be valuable and that by
learning and using the process and using it frequently it becomes much
less burdensome.

Additionally, several outcomes research case presentations were
presented by the representatives of AUA, YSMU Clinical Hospital No 1
and the Center of Genetics. Dr. Arslanian followed-up with her own
scholarly opinion and valuable advice regarding the design and methods
of the outcome research project.

The lecture was highly regarded by both the participants and the
organizing committee, most applauding the quality of the
presentations, interesting discussions and opportunity for networking.

The organizers are especially grateful to the Institute of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology, with whom this event would not have a success
without.

Utilizing the theories and discussions offered at the meeting, we hope
that the presentations will help to enhance the practice of local
specialists and that we can continue such programs like this in the
future.

FARFAA is a non-for-profit non-governmental organization of medical
professionals, aimed at improving the health care system and advancing
the medical sciences in Armenia.

Armenian Medical Association is a professional non-governmental
organization of physicians and medical students which aims to better
medicine in the Republic of Armenia. The organization has made it one
of their paramount goals to consider progressive ways in approaching
medicine in Armenia, as well as bringing global perspectives to
Armenian physicians. For more information on the Armenian Medical
Association please visit their website at

Turkey, EU clash over northern Cyprus’s participation in OIC-EU forum

Anatolia news agency
30 Sep 04

Ankara, 30 September: European Union (EU) Acting Presidency offered
Turkey that observer countries including also [self-declared] Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) should take their place at the
table in the OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference] – EU foreign
ministers’ Joint Forum without their name plates. Dutch Ambassador to
Turkey Sjoerd Gosses replied to questions of reporters, after the
luncheon hosted by Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Abdullah Gul in honour of EU countries’ ambassadors to Turkey.

Stating that Turkey did not accept the offer made by EU Acting
Presidency on Wednesday evening [29 September], Gosses said that
Turkish side insisted that name plates should be on the table.

Gosses said that he would convey this response to Dutch authorities,
noting that EU Acting President’s Office asked all EU countries to
give information about their participation in the forum. [Passage
omitted]

Expressing his sorrow over this problem, Gosses noted that it could
not be said that this name (‘Turkish Cypriot State’) was accepted by
the OIC so EU should also accept it.

Gosses stated that many countries said that if TRNC attends the forum
under the name of ‘Turkish Cypriot State’, they would not take part in
the forum. Gosses said that they also proposed that they could issue
a statement saying that “they don’t recognize TRNC” before the forum,
but this proposal was not accepted by a significant part of new
members of the EU. [Passage omitted]

Asked whether the Dutch foreign minister would participate in the
forum, Gosses said that he could not say for sure, adding he was
doubtful whether foreign minister would attend under these
circumstances.

Foreign Minister Gul said that he considered that EU Acting
Presidency’s offer that observer countries should attend OIC-EU Joint
Forum without their name plates was not normal.

Answering a question on participation of EU countries in the forum,
Gul said that EU authorities would decide on this issue, adding that
they expected foreign ministers to attend it. “OIC and EU are
different organizations. TRNC is an observer member of the OIC, and it
will attend the forum with this status,” he added.

Other issues

Sources said that Greek Ambassador to Turkey Micheal Christides asked
Gul to inform them on his meetings in the UN General Assembly and his
meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan.

Gul said that he had many meetings in New York, stating that his
meeting with Oskanyan was very fruitful, stating that they would
continue to contribute to solution of problems between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

British Ambassador to Turkey Peter Westmacott mentioned attacks on
HSBC branches and asked what measures Turkey has taken.

Gul said that both intelligence and security departments were paying
great attention to this issue, noting that they would not allow such
attacks. Gul added that they were in touch with British authorities
and acting together on this issue.

Russian energy group plans expansion drive
By Stefan Wagstyl and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow

FT
September 29 2004

Unified Energy System, the Russian electricity monopoly, is considering
politically sensitive moves to supply power to Iran, Turkey and China
as part of an international expansion drive.

The group is planning investments in power generation and/or
distribution in the countries of the former Soviet Union on Russia’s
southern borders, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,
which would complement existing UES investments in Georgia and
Armenia. Once these are in place, UES will be in a position to build
connecting links to Iran, Turkey and China and use an existing link
between Armenia and Iran.

Anatoly Chubais, UES chairman, said the moves would make sense
commercially in spite of the political challenges involved in dealing
with several different countries lying in a politically sensitive
region. “There’s a business logic. There’s a good price for electricity
in Iran, China and Turkey,” he said.

The planned investments by the state-controlled UES might be seen
in some of the former Soviet republics as a new form of Russian
imperialism.

But Mr Chubais, a leader of Russia’s liberal Union of Right Forces
party, said UES’s plans were in tune with his programme of “liberal
imperialism” in which businesses, not governments, took the initiative,
acting out of commercial, not political, motives. Mr Chubais said the
proposed Kazakh investment was a stake in a large power station but
he declined to give details of the plans in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan,
as talks were at a sensitive stage.

The group’s existing investments in the region include about 20
per cent of Georgia’s generating capacity and 35 per cent of its
distribution network. In Armenia, it controls 85 per cent of generation
through its management contract for the Metsamor nuclear plant. Mr
Chubais said these investments could open doors to larger markets.

Earlier Mr Chubais told an investment conference that the company was
preparing for reform of the domestic electricity market, in spite of
the fact the government postponed key decisions this year.

Under the plan, UES would be broken into distribution, transmission
and generating companies which would mostly be privatised. But
Mikhail Fradkov, the prime minister, delayed implementation, saying
he needed more time to study the mechanism of deregulation and its
impact on households.

The government is now due to reconsider the reforms on December 2.

Mr Chubais said yesterday that UES had proposed new plans under
which prices would be liberalised only slowly – over 3 to 5 years –
to protect vulnerable consumers.

ARMENIA WILL ASPIRE TO BRING POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH CHINA INTO
ECONOMIC FIELD: ROBERT KOCHARIAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25. ARMINFO. Armenia will aspire to bring high
level of the political relations with China to the economic field,
including the scientific and agricultural branches. President of
Armenia Robert Kocharian told journalists during his visit to Gyumri.

According to Armenian leader, China is a very important partner for
Armenia. Besides, this country may come out as a market of Armenian
products.

It should be noted that President of Armenia will pay a five-day state
visit to China on Sept 26. In the delegation staff – representatives
of the government, public, science and business circles of Armenia.

Georgia Straight, Canada
Sept 23 2004

Arts Choices

Talking Turkey

Perhaps we’ve been chewing on the Armenian massacre long enough that
we can finally struggle to make some kind of response. Attempts are
under way. Atom Egoyan sallied forth with Ararat in 2002, Diamanda
Galás is finally touring her Defixiones, Will and Testament, and
Louis de Bernières–he of a little thing called Captain Corelli’s
Mandolin–is latest to testify. De Bernières’s massive–and massively
complicated–new novel, Birds Without Wings (Knopf Canada, $36.95),
is set in and around the oft-conquered region during the first
decades of the 20th century. Catch de Bernières in a Vancouver
International Writers Festival reading Monday (September 27) at 7
p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard Street).