Author: Karakhanian Suren

Maltamedia Daily News, Malta
July 30 2004

Women’s team to fight for bronze medal in Promotion Cup
By MM Sports

Malta will be playing for the bronze medal in the FIBA European
Promotion Cup for Women which is being held in Andorra.

On Thursday, Malta managed to beat Scotland 57-39. The Maltese won
the four sessions 16-15, 13-8, 12-9 and 16-7.

This win gave Malta the right to play in the qualifying phase for the
2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne. The qualifying phase
will be held next year in the form of a triangular tournament between
Malta, England and the best placed team between Cyprus and Scotland
in this year’s Promotion Cup. The two best placed teams in the
qualifying phase will earn the right to play in the final phase to be
held in Melbourne in March 2006.

On Friday, the Maltese team was again in action but this time, Malta
was on the losing end as Iceland won 84-58. The top scorers for Malta
were Josephine Grima 18, Sandra Schembri Wismayer 16 and Dorianne
Galea 10.

This was the first loss during the Santino Coppa reign as coach, the
first one in two years. The Icelandic players found the Maltese on a
very bad day collectively especially in the first two sessions. The
Maltese performance improved in the second half but the contest
proved to be more than over.

Malta will now meet Armenia on Saturday in the match for the bronze
medal. But no matter the result, Malta is surely to obtain its best
ever placing in the Promotion Cup.

AGGREGATE ASSETS OF ARMENIA’S BANKING SYSTEM DECREASED TO 310.9 MLN
DRAMS IN SECOND QUARTER OF 2004

YEREVAN, JULY 28. ARMINFO. Aggregate assets of Armenia’s banking
system decreased by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2004, totaling 310.9
mln drams. The press-service of the Armenian CB told ARMINFO that it
was accounted for by a decline in the investments in other securities
by 81.4%, which totaled 3.4 bln drams on July 1, 2004. Besides, other
assets decreased by 14.6% in the quarter under review, totaling 2.6
bln drams. Demands to banks and other financial orgnaizations also
decreased by 14%, totaling 28.3 bln drams. In the structure of assets,
a 15.4% and 10.2% growth was registered in the crediting of natural
persons and legal entities, which made up 41.7 bln drams and 70.9 bln
drams respectively. A 7.6% growth was registered in investments in
state securities (36.3 bln drams), a 6.8% growth in correspondent
accounts at banks (63.4 bln drams), a 5.3% growth on the calculated
interests (1.9 bln drams).

In the second quarter of 2004 in the crediting portfolio, a 23.4%
growth was registered in investments in the sphere of transport and
communications (crediting totaling 1.02 bln drams on June 30), a 7.7%
growth in the trade sector (24.9 bln drams), 7.4% (8.9 bln drams)in
the agricultural sphere, a 12.3% (32.9 bln drams) in the financial
sector, a 18% growth (32,9 bln drams) in the volume of consumer
credits. At the same time, a 4.7% decline was registered in the
construction sector (5.1 bln drams).

Credits and receivables classified on risk groups decreased by 1.3% in
the second quarter of 2004, totaling 213.3 bln drams. As a result, on
June 30, “standard” credits totaled 97.7% or 208.5 bln drams,
“controlled” credits – 1.4% or 2.9 bln drams, “nonstandard” credits –
0.7% or 1.5 bln drams and “doubtful” credits – 0.2% or 379.9 mln
drams. In the quarter under review, some decline was fixed on all the
groups, with the most significant being on “doubtful” credits (64.7%).

According to the ranking of Armenian’s commercial banks drawn up by
ARMINFO news agency, in the first half of 2004 the general assets of
13 commercial banks increased, the highest growth was fixed on 3
banks, including Artsakhbank (40%). As to the remaining 6 banks, their
assets decreased, with one bank showing the lowest indicator (37.6%).

According to data of the Armenian CB, by June 30, 2004, 20 banks and
221 branches operated in the territory of Armenia, with one operating
in the special administrative regime of the Armenian CB. The results
of the activity of the country’s banking system were summed up on July
1, 2004 on the basis of data of 19 normally operating commercial
banks.

Le Télégramme
28 juillet 2004

Jazz à Vannes démarre en fanfare

Le festival de jazz semble vouloir mettre le paquet pour fêter ses 25
ans.

Le festival de jazz semble vouloir mettre le paquet pour fêter ses 25
ans.

La soirée de lundi a été superbe sur la place de l’Hôtel de ville,
avec notamment le groupe Captain Mercier qui a fait longuement danser
le public venu nombreux. La fête s’est finie tard dans la nuit, sur
le port avec les fanfares. La première soirée à l’Hôtel de Limur hier
était consacrée au blues, avec la prestation du grand Buddy Guy. Ce
soir, place au prodige arménien Tigran Hamasyan et un hommage à
Claude Nougaro qui promet d’être émouvant.

La 25 e édition de Jazz à Vannes est bien partie pour être
inoubliable.

Times of India
July 27 2004

You ain’t well? Suffer and die
SHIVANI SINGH & AMIT MUKHERJEE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2004 08:55:08 PM ]

NEW DELHI: Here is a shocking nugget of information: in terms of
public spending on health, India ranks 171st out of 175 countries for
which data is available in Human Development Report 2004.

In contrast, it ranks an impressive 18th in terms of private spending
on health. It is hardly surprising then that the doctor ki dukan is
thriving. Nor should it be a secret any longer why the poor have not
bought the argument that reforms are about pulling public money out
of unproductive investments and deploying it in the social sector.

Public spending on health in India is a mere 0.9 per cent of the GDP.
There are only four countries – Nigeria, Indonesia, Sudan and Myanmar
— which spend less. In China, with which India is often compared,
the government spends two per cent of GDP on health and even Nepal
(1.5%) and Bangladesh (1.6%) spend more on health. Only Pakistan (1%)
in this region does almost as badly as India.

The picture is quite different when it comes to private spending on
health. Only in 17 countries does private expenditure as a percentage
of GDP exceed the 4.2 per cent figure for India. Those who spend more
than Indian include the US, Switzerland, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya,
Cambodia, El Salvador, Armenia, Bosnia and Cyprus.

The Economist
July 24, 2004
U.S. Edition

King Mikhail the good?;
Nationalism

The persistence of nationalism in ex-communist hot spots is a puzzle

Georgia’s leader may succeed as a nationalist who believes in law

CAN there be such a thing as a good nationalist, in regions where
violent chauvinism – asserting the interests of one nation, ethnic
group or faith at the expense of all others – has already taken a
terrible toll in blood? In the wilder bits of the ex-communist world,
that is something more than just a brain-teaser for political
scientists.

Mikhail Saakashvili, the charismatic young president of Georgia, is
trying to persuade the world that this question has an affirmative
answer (see page 33). Since taking power half a year ago, he has
tugged hard on his people’s patriotic heart-strings. He has devised
new state symbols and displayed them prominently; and he can deliver
thumping nationalist speeches when the occasion demands.

But in fairness, Mr Saakashvili has also been quite careful to tell
the world, and his compatriots, what his gestures do and do not mean.
He does want to extend the writ of Georgian government to the whole
of its territory, including the breakaway South Ossetia region; but
he has pledged to deal generously and inclusively with non-Georgian
minorities, amounting to at least 30% of the population. That is in
healthy contrast to the early years of Georgian independence.

Boris Tadic, the new Serbian president, is another pro-western
politician who knows how to beat the patriotic drum. At his
inauguration this month, he caused a sensation by playing Serbia’s
monarchist anthem, “God of Justice” – not heard in official places for
many decades – and pointedly kissing the Serbian flag. Nobody suspects
Mr Tadic of being an ultra-nationalist, but he clearly feels he must
assuage his compatriots who do lean in that direction.

For the western institutions that have spent billions of dollars
trying to exorcise the demon of chauvinism from the Balkans and the
Caucasus – and to promote the idea that nations and ethnic groups must
co-operate to solve their post-communist problems – the persistence of
nationalism is a puzzle and a disappointment. Bosnia’s protectors are
frustrated by the fact that after eight years of foreign tutelage,
politics there is still dominated by parties which assert the
interests of one ethnic group – Muslim, Serb or Croat – rather than the
whole country. Meanwhile, Kosovo’s protectors would rejoice if
Albanians and Serbs merely stopped killing each other; a wave of
anti-Serb violence in March was a severe setback. In the Caucasus,
years of international mediation have brought the conflict between
Armenians and Azeris no closer to a solution, and there is a powerful
lobby in Azerbaijan which favours going back to war.

Given that nationalism shows no sign of disappearing, can there be a
meaningful distinction between the “good” and “bad” varieties? Here
is one possible litmus test: is nationalism being used to promote the
rule of law, or to defy it?

At its mildest, nationalism can be a galvanising force, and perhaps a
necessary device, for any leader who is struggling to construct a
law-based state in places where government of any kind has all but
collapsed. That is what Mr Saakashvili says he wants: if he can turn
his ramshackle polity into a minimally efficient machine for
collecting tax, providing services and guarding its citizens, then it
should automatically earn people’s loyalty – whatever their ethnic
background.

At the other extreme, nationalism has often been a cover for exactly
the opposite: policies which stir up hatred both inside and outside a
country’s borders, and use the resulting conflict as a smokescreen
for behaviour which mocks the rule of law – stealing from the public
purse, robbing the victims of war and maintaining irregular armies
which live off larceny. In the chaos, and above all uncertainty over
property rights, which followed the collapse of communism, the
anti-law variety of nationalism was an irresistible temptation for
politicians who wanted to play on people’s fears and grab a share of
the loot. Serbia’s strongman, Slobodan Milosevic, was perhaps the
prime exponent of this tactic – but by no means the only one. From the
Adriatic to Central Asia, the politics of the ex-communist world have
been marred by warlords who steal or smuggle while exercising
authority in the name of tribal, national or ethnic sentiment.

If Mr Saakashvili can prove that his nationalism is of the
law-promoting, rather than the law-scoffing kind, then he will have
performed a valuable service – not just for his own country, but for
all the hard-pressed policymakers who are wondering how to put
conflict zones together again.

Turkish PM in France, says joining EU not only option

NTV television, Istanbul
21 Jul 04

[Announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey’s
ambition to join the EU is not its only option. Evaluating his visit
to France in a news conference, Erdogan stated: If necessary, we will
rename the Copenhagen criteria the Ankara criteria and implement
them. The prime minister also said that the Progress Report to be
issued by the EU Commission will be decisive in determining France’s
stand.

A large group of journalists attended Erdogan’s news conference
following his contacts in France. Most of the questions posed to the
prime minister were about Turkey’s reaction in the event it receives a
negative response or a conditional negotiation date from the EU in
December.

[Erdogan] There is no provision in the EU acquis or in the rules
outlining the way to become a member on giving a date for a
conditional negotiation process or granting the right for full
membership. Moreover, Turkey’s ambition to join the EU is not its only
option. We have only one issue. We adopted the Copenhagen political
criteria with the aim of raising our citizens’ standard of living. If
the EU accession process proceeds positively, all well and good.
Failing that, we will rename these criteria the Ankara criteria and
proceed on our path.

[Announcer] Underlining the fact that the EU summit to be held on 17
December 2004 is not a summit for full membership as far as Turkey is
concerned, Erdogan said that the allegations of Armenian genocide,
which is a problem between Turkey and France, do not constitute a
criterion for EU accession.

Asked by a journalist how Turkey will implement the resolutions of the
European Parliament, Erdogan recalled the EU stance on Cyprus.

[Erdogan] Turkey will implement all the decisions that can be
implemented and it will not implement those that are impossible to
implement, in the same way as other countries fail to implement such
decisions. Those who are calling on us to withdraw from Cyprus should
have said the same thing at the time to those who should have
withdrawn from southern Cyprus. Under the EU acquis, a country that
has a border problem cannot become a full member of the union.
Cyprus, however, has become a full member under the name of Cyprus.

[Announcer] The prime minister also contended that the EU should give
Turkey a negotiation date in order to prove that it is not a Christian
club.

[Erdogan] Still approaching Turkey with apprehension shows that one is
driven by Turkey’s culture and concept of civilization. The date of 17
December 2004 is very important and I believe that this date will
exonerate the EU from such a charge.

[Announcer] At his news conference, Erdogan also made important
statements in connection with foreign policy. Pointing out that there
is no crisis between Israel and Turkey, Erdogan said: It was wrong of
Israel to bomb Rafah, and we warned Israel. Friends tell the bitter
truth. Erdogan also warned about developments that could trigger a
civil war in Iraq.

Foreign journalists in particular asked Erdogan questions about
Turkey’s foreign policy. He was asked if the crisis between Turkey and
Israel has been overcome.

[Erdogan] There is no crisis between Turkey and Israel. Any stance or
any mistake is open to criticism. I, for my part, criticized a mistake
that was made, that is the bombing of the Rafah refugee camps in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was a friendly statement about a
stance and a mistake. In Turkey we have a saying: Friends tell the
bitter truth, but they tell the truth.

[Announcer] Even though Erdogan denied the existence of a crisis with
Israel, he stood behind the phrase of state terrorism.

[Erdogan] As you know, 14 members of the UN Security Council condemned
this. Why is this condemnation not disturbing Israel? In this case,
Israel should ask itself where it went wrong and what mistake it made
to evoke the condemnation of so many countries. Only the United States
abstained. If we question ourselves, I believe that we can attain
peace much more quickly.

[Announcer] Erdogan was also asked to comment on the allegations that
Israel is conducting secret operations in northern Iraq, allegations
that caused tension in Turkish-Israeli relations.

[Erdogan] We are not a country that acts on rumours. We conduct our
business on the basis of negotiations and intelligence and we take
steps when necessary.

[Announcer] Assessing the developments in Iraq, Erdogan warned that
developments are occurring that could trigger a civil war.

[Erdogan] At present, the developments in Iraq are not satisfactory or
cheerful. There is no one that does not have an account to settle over
Iraq. It would be wrong to say that only Iran has such
calculations. There are many designs over Iraq. It is difficult to
estimate the extent of each country’s calculations, but it appears
that everyone has an account to settle over Iraq.

Laksamana, Indonesia
July 17 2004

Bush Names New Ambassador to Indonesia

Laksamana.Net – US President George W. Bush plans to nominate B.
Lynn Pascoe, a deputy assistant secretary of state and former
ambassador to Malaysia, as the next US ambassador to Indonesia, the
White House announced Friday (16/7/04).

If the US Senate approves the nomination, Pascoe will replace
incumbent Ambassador Ralph L. `Skip’ Boyce, who has held the position
since October 2001.

Pascoe currently serves as deputy assistant secretary in the European
and Eurasian Affairs Bureau at the State Department. His areas of
responsibility include countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, the
Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Prior to that position, he was ambassador to Malaysia from January
1999 to August 2001.

He earlier served as US co-chair of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group that sought to resolve the
dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

>From 1993 to 1996, Pascoe was director of the American Institute in
Taiwan. He has also served as principal deputy assistant secretary in
the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau.

Born in Missouri in 1943, Pascoe received his bachelor’s degree from
the University of Kansas and his master’s degree from Columbia
University. He has also attended the US National War College. He
speaks Chinese and Russian.

Albany Times Union, NY
July 16 2004

Ex-priest pleads guilty to tax fraud
Albany– Former pastor avoids prison time, again told to repay Troy
church

By BRENDAN LYONS, Staff writer
First published: Friday, July 16, 2004

A former priest who took more than $90,000 while he was pastor at an
Armenian church in Troy was sentenced on federal charges this week to
six months of home confinement and three years of probation.
Megerdich Megerdichian, 48, who now lives in Cranston, R.I., was a
priest at Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church for about 16 years
until January 1998. In the mid-1990s, Megerdichian opened a bank
account in which he deposited thousands of dollars in checks made out
to the congregation.

The deposits were made without the knowledge of a four-member church
finance board, and Megerdichian withdrew money from the account for
several years, beginning in 1995, to pay personal expenses.

In federal court Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn
heard from a church member who urged him to sentence Megerdichian to
life in prison, according to federal authorities. But Megerdichian
faced a maximum punishment of only about three years in prison and a
fine of up to $250,000. In addition to home confinement and
probation, Kahn fined him $20,000 and ordered him to repay the
embezzled money to the church.

Megerdichian was removed from ministry in 1998 and was required in
2000 to repay the parish. It’s not clear from court records if the
money has been repaid. It totaled more than $93,000, including
$82,000 in checks made out to the church.

Megerdichian pleaded guilty to a single count of filing a false and
fraudulent income tax return. The charge, which was part of a plea
agreement, was based on his not having declared the income or having
reported it to the Internal Revenue Service. Megerdichian paid
$10,293 in restitution to the IRS, authorities said.

Church finances were controlled by a four-member board during
Megerdichian’s tenure, officials said. They were signatories on all
church accounts and were required to approve church expenditures.

But from at least May 1995 until sometime in late 1997, those board
members had no idea that the priest had established a private account
at a Fleet Bank in Troy in which he deposited the thousands of
dollars.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

“ARCHBISHOP SCOTT SERVED THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT WITH A CLEAR VISION OF THE
UNITY OF THE CHURCH”

Said His Holiness Aram I

Antelias, Lebanon – Archbishop Edward Ted Scott, the 10th primate of the
Anglican Church of Canada and former Moderator of WCC Executive and Central
Committees, died Monday afternoon in a car accident near Parry Sound, Ont.,
north of Toronto. He was 85. On this occasion His Holiness Aram I sent the
following condolences to the Most Rev. Archbishop Andrew S. Hutchison, the
Primate of the Anglican Church.-

His Grace
Most Rev. Archbishop Andrew S. Hutchison
80 Hayden Street
Toronto, ONM4Y 3G2
Canada.

Your Grace ,

I just learned, with deep sorrow, the passing away of Archbishop Ted Scott.
Indeed, he was a gifted minister and a strong church-leader. He served his
church with firm commitment and profound love. Archbishop Scott also served
the ecumenical movement in general and the World Council of Churches in
particular with a clear vision of the unity of the church. As Moderator of
the Central Committee of the WCC from 1975 to 1983, through his reports and
reflections, Archbishop Scott emphasized the centrality of the local church
and the critical importance of the pastoral di – mension in our ecumenical
engagement. The ecumenical movement owes a great deal to the ecumenical
contribution of Archbishop Scott.

May God accept his soul in His eternal kingdom.

Prayerfully

ARAM I
CATHOLICOS OF CILICIA
&
MODERATOR OF THE WCC

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

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

PRAVDA, Russia from RIA Novosti
July 9 2004

Russia wants relations with CIS to be more practical

In his interview to Rossiiskaya Gazeta published Friday, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised that Russia would make its
relations with the CIS more practicable and less declarative. “I see
a clear-cut recent tendency toward abandoning slogans in relations
with the CIS nations for the benefit of vitally-important
activities,” said the minister.

In his opinion, the chief priority is to examine all the outstanding
problems with each of the CIS countries in a complex.

“They want our fuels; we want them to level the economic models, to
create favorable conditions for people-to-people contacts and for
business exchanges, to develop joint economic projects and to enable
the CIS countries that are prepared for advanced integration to
progress without being dependent on those who are not yet ready for
such integration,” noted Lavrov.

He claims this logical basis was meant when establishing the CIS and
is reflected in its charter.

“Therefore forming a common economic space (to include Russia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine), developing the Eurasian economic
community (incorporating Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan as well as Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine as observers),
promoting work on the establishment of a Union of Russia and Belarus
as part of a common European economic space are extremely pertinent
for pulling down the barriers that have been artificially erected to
dismember the once single economic organism,” thinks the Russian
foreign minister.

“The necessity of uniting efforts is also caused by matters of
security, protection from common threats, from terrorism and drug
trafficking in our Southern borders, which is the responsibility of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia),” he added.

Dealing with the presence of the United States in the region, the
minister made a point of Russia’s unwillingness to let the CIS become
an area of confrontation.

“If the U.S. presence helps settle conflicts and thus crush breeding
grounds of terrorism and tensions around Russia with the prospect of
its being surrounded by friendly states, we welcome such
developments. But when the aims of such presence are unclear for us,
we seek answers to our questions,” said Lavrov.