ARMENIAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS’ BID TO PRESERVE GREEN TERRITORIES
A1 Plus | 14:27:52 | 19-05-2004 | Social |
A real battle for land has broken out in Armenian capital’s Zeytun
district. The district residents are trying to prevent construction
of apartment blocks in the district’s green area.
Many trees have been recently cut here.
Coalition for Preservation of Green Plantations, Armenian environmental
union, intends to stage a protest action on coming Saturday.
Azeri pressure group pickets British embassy over BBC reports on Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
18 May 04
The Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) has staged a picket outside
the British embassy in Azerbaijan to protest at the activities of
BBC employees, Azerbaijani TV station ANS reported on 18 May.
The pickets were protesting at the visit by a BBC journalist, without
the consent of the Azerbaijani authorities, to the self-declared
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, which remains de jure Azerbaijani
territory. ANS reported that they were also protesting at the “abuse
of power” by another BBC employee and “promotion of the so-called
Armenian genocide”.
The deputy head of the KLO, Barat Imani, was received by the British
consul, ANS reported. He passed to her a letter for the British
ambassador.
Burbank Leader
LATimes.com
May 19 2004
YWCA honors women of heart
Mary Lou Howard, Burbank’s first woman mayor, will be feted at
luncheon for life of public service.
By Lauren Masters, The Leader
Burbank’s first woman mayor will be honored for her work helping
women expand their role in local government at this year’s YWCA Legacy
Award luncheon.
Mary Lou Howard, who served as mayor from 1982 to ’83 and again in
1985 and ’86 and now serves on the Burbank Civil Service Board, will
join four Glendale women to be honored for their work as community
leaders at the organization’s seventh annual luncheon Thursday.
“It is a way for us to recognize women in the community who are
making a difference and creating a legacy for other women through
the work they are doing today,” said Mary Boger, chairwoman of the
YWCA Awards Luncheon.
The YWCA committee chose this year’s honorees from 12 women nominated
by local civic organizations for their work, leadership and ability
to be a role model for other women.
Howard, nominated by Chris S. Carson, president of the League of Women
Voters of Glendale/Burbank, was the first female on Burbank’s City
Council and paved the way for other women to enter local government.
“She has a very forward- thinking approach to governance,” Boger
said. “She encouraged her council to have an open stance, initiated
town council meetings and imple- mented long-range planning.”
During her two terms, Howard encouraged the city manager to include
more women on the city’s management teams.
“The time was right and I felt I should go for it,” Howard said of
her first City Council bid. “In those days, women were on the library
board but never elected to office. I’m so honored by this award and
to be among these other women.”
The other award recipients include Wanda Bistagne, a longtime volunteer
in the Glendale community; Frieda Jordan, founder of the Armenian
Bone Marrow Donor registry in Glendale and Armenia; Louise Lewis,
a volunteer at Glendale Memorial Hospital who has logged in more than
30,000 hours; and Jean Maluccio, executive director of the Crescenta
Valley Chamber of Commerce. Erika Solomon is this year’s Jane O’Connor
award recipient for her work teaching mentally challenged students
to ride horses.
“It’s the role of the YWCA to empower women,” said Susan Hunt,
president of the YWCA board of directors. “These women have left
a legacy on the lives of others. They have compassion and high
expectations.”
Event proceeds will benefit the YWCA’s Domestic Violence programs
and ENCOREplus, a program that provides breast- and cervical-cancer
screenings to low-income women.
The cost to attend is $75, and reservations can be made by calling
Debbie Hinckley at 244-9183.
Courts not independent yet – Armenian justice minister
Noyan Tapan news agency
17 May 04
Yerevan, 17 May: “It is early yet to speak about the complete
independence of the Armenian courts,” Armenian Justice Minister David
Arutyunyan told journalists on 14 May. The key aim of the judicial
reforms in Armenia, the minister said, is to set up an independent
legal system, which depends on many circumstances and personalities,
and steps in this direction are already being taken.
[Passage omitted: some minor aspects]
Asked whether the political situation in Armenia has an influence
on the legal process, the justice minister said that the political
situation affected independent courts.
Warning on NATO
The Moscow Times
Monday, May 17, 2004. Page 4.
MINSK (AP) — Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko accused
other former Soviet republics on Friday of violating the spirit of a
post-Soviet security agreement by conducting individual negotiations
with NATO.
“If these individual negotiations are going on, what kind of treaty is
this?” Lukashenko said, referring to the Collective Security Treaty
Organization, which comprises Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“Russia is moving toward cooperation with NATO, and this we learned
about through the media,” he said.
EU: Concentrate on Implementation from Now on
Zaman, Turkey
May 15 2004
A document that outlines the European Union’s (EU) position for
next week’s Partnership Council meeting calls on Turkey to focus on
implementing its reforms.
Zaman acquired the document that states the stance of Europe for
the 43rd Partnership Council between Turkey and the E.U. that will
be held on May 18. The document points out serious interruptions
in the implementation phase of the reforms even though it expresses
pleasures about the reform process. “Implementations have a drawback,”
states the document as it acknowledges the progress Turkey has made
in many areas; however, first steps in harmonizing with the acquis
communitaire have yet to be taken.
Some of the positive points the document specifically mentions are
the abolishment of the State Security Courts, the removal of military
representatives from the Council of Higher Education, as well as the
latest Constitutional package that extends the freedom of the press.
The 19-page document emphasizes that ending the isolation of Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has already been determined;
however, Turkey is requested to end sanctions on Greek Cypriot ships.
The E.U. also devotes importance to improving the mutual relations
between Armenia and Turkey.
The meeting of the Partnership Council next Tuesday (May 18)
constitutes the most important juncture prior to the critical
progress report on Turkey that is expected to be released both at the
E.U. June summit and on September 29. The document states all E.U.
member countries have adopted the E.U. standpoint for the Partnership
Council, and it is unlikely to change.
“Thorough and effective implementation of the reforms is essential,”
states the document while heavily criticizing bureaucracy. It
points out in addition that despite the fact three schools have begun
education in Kurdish, significant difficulties in implementation still
remain. Local officials in some regions have not been satisfactorily
informed about the reforms.
While there are a few practical results of the reforms concerning
non-Muslims, Ankara is urged immediately to make a detailed law that
would solve several of these issues, especially non-Muslims’ rights
of property ownership.
The document states that ill treatment, torture, and other prohibitions
still go on in some prisons. It requests that the government increase
its efforts to punish those responsible for tortures.
The document also touches upon the profound disappointment about the
verdict handed down in the Leyla Zana case. It emphasizes that the
result violates the spirit of the reforms. It is also noted that the
case is already in the appeals phase.
05.15.2004 Selcuk Gultasli Brussels
Change in the air
The Georgian Messenger
14 May 2004
After success in Adjara, President Mikheil Saakashvili promises that
he will return Abkhazia in the near future. The government is working
on various plans to resolve the conflict, which has been frozen for
more than a decade. Tbilisi is ready to take “extraordinary” steps
to achieve this dream.
The unexpectedly sudden and bloodless overthrow of Aslan Abashidze’s
regime in Batumi left a big impression on the Georgian population, as
well as the separatist government’s in Georgia’s breakaway provinces
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Sukhumi and Tskhinvali maintain that
“events in a neighboring coun-try” do not effect them and that enacting
Rose Revolutions 3 and 4 on their territory is impossible for two
reasons: 1.Tbilisi will not be able to find support-ers among the
remaining population of these territories. 2. In contrast to Adjara,
Moscow will not concede these crucial separatist allies.
However, life is full of surprises. Recently, a few flaws appeared
in the sepa-ratists’ logic. On May 12, a small group of residents
of Abkhazia held a protest in downtown Sukhumi. The demonstration
featured five-cross flags and pictures of the Georgian president. The
protesters appealed to President Saakashvili with the slogan “Misha,
reconcile us!” The protest was forcefully crushed by separatist law
enforcement bodies. According to reports, sixteen persons of various
ethnic-ities were arrested, most of them Armenian.
The small group of citizens gathered in Sukhumi called on President
Saakash-vili to speed up the process of resolving the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict and to reconcile Abkhazians and Georgians, as well as all
people living on the territory of Abkhazia.
Sukhumi’s de-facto government is quiet about this demonstration and
its rep-resentatives continue to insist that not a single Abkhaz
political group is willing to hold any dialogue with Georgia on this
matter. Reportedly under the guidance of Abkhazia’s separatist prime
minister, Raul Khajinba’s, controls on the Abk-haz- Georgian border
will be beefed up and urgent measures will be taken through-out
Abkhaz territory.
As the Georgian media reports, the Saakashvili administration, which
enjoys astronomical popularity among the population, will be ready
to take “extraordi-nary steps” and will sign on to Russian conflict
resolution proposals that She-vardnadze never agreed to for fear that
a wave of protests would follow.
Russia proposes to Moldova and Georgia a “confederation” model
for solving the separatist conflicts plaguing these countries. This
proposal is quite similar to the United Nation’s “Boden Document.” The
plan for structuring Georgia as a confederation foresees the weakening
of the Tbilisi government and the mainte-nance of Russian influence
on the now-separatist regions. But now, Adjara no longer figures into
this scheme. It maintains autonomous status, though the ma-jority of
the powers that Aslan Abashidze usurped from the central government
over the years have been returned to Tbilisi.
According to some sources, the Georgian government’s Abkhazia strategy
is likely to be as follows: they will agree to the confederation
model offered by Russia, but with the condition that the 300,000
Georgian refugees from Abkha-zia be allowed to return to their homes
throughout the region. These people will change the political reality
in Abkhazia and will express their will during elections.
Afterwards, Abkhazia’s status as part of Georgia will be determined.
Russian political circles expect Saakashvili to take active steps
towards the return of the separatist regions in June or July. They
are predicting “bloody con-flicts,” but then again, they said the same
thing about Adjara and reality turned out to be entirely different.
There is also speculation that Saakashvili and Putin will hold a
meeting soon, where the president will try to convince his Russian
colleague of the necessity to resolve the conflict. Saakashvili
emphasizes that the despite the ousting of Abashidze’s strongly
pro-Russian regime, Russian economic interests in Georgia are not
in danger and he plans specifically to invite Russian businessmen
to the country to calm their fears. He will likely present the same
argument in regard to Abkhazia, where Russian capital has “got its
foot in the door” thanks to the separatist government. However,
the Georgian government continues to regard this investment as illegal.
Recent experience has shown that Saakashvili likes to make unexpected
moves and take risks. He seems to be ready to accept the Russian
conditions about the status of Abkhazia that were most likely posed
so that the Georgian side would find them unacceptable. Still,
the decisive word belongs to Russia, which must fully reject the
imperialistic policy it has pursued in the south Caucasus in the
1990’s. A fundamental element of this policy has been considerable
support to the separatist regimes. As the Abashidze situation shows,
however, there may be change in the air.
Boston Herald, MA
May 12 2004
Martin could leave indelible mark on `Tattoo’
By Terry Byrne
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
The passions of Serafina, Tennessee Williams’ heroine in “The Rose
Tattoo,” range from grief and anger to joy and discovery. But reaching
from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other isn’t such a
stretch, says actress Andrea Martin.
“You can’t be afraid of your emotions,” says Martin, who opens in “The
Rose Tattoo” at the Huntington Theatre on Friday. “Americans tend to
be ashamed of their emotions, but although I was raised in Portland,
Maine, my heritage is Armenian and my family is very expressive.”
Martin’s work is always characterized by her physical expressions of
emotion, whether in her Tony-nominated performance as Aunt Ella in the
Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!,” the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,”
“Betty’s Summer Vacation” (her last outing at the Huntington) or her
legendary years as part of SCTV. Her ability to make her emotions
readily available, says Huntington director Nicholas Martin, made
him want to produce the play with her.
“`The Rose Tattoo’ rarely is performed because it’s so difficult
to find the right actor and actress for the roles,” says Nicholas
Martin. “It’s hard to find someone who can play this many colors. But
Andrea has a sexuality about her that’s not conventional, but very
grounded in her personality, in her absolute focus on the work. She
has all the makings of a star except the bitchiness.”
Despite the play’s rich dramatic tale, the director says it’s essential
to see Williams’ sense of humor.
“The first act is tricky,” he says, “because you’re in and out of
so many emotions, but it really pays off because it prepares you for
the journey.”
“The Rose Tattoo” follows Serafina as she struggles with the grief of
her husband’s death. She has made him into a hero and does everything
she can to protect his image, even as she and her teenage daughter
discover he was not what he seemed.
“She’s fascinating to play,” says Andrea Martin, “because she’s trying
so hard to hold onto her dream of what she calls perfection. And
perfection, her whole world in fact, is defined by the man she
married. I understand it, because my mother was married at 17, Serafina
was only 14, and my mother never looked at my father realistically. If
she ever believed there was imperfection, it would destroy her world.”
In the play, Serafina tries her best to shut out the world,
until she meets a man who unexpectedly opens her heart back up to
life and her own desires.
“I wear a blue dress for her meeting with Alvaro,” says Martin,
“because blue is such an expansive color. Listen to me,” she says
with a laugh, “I’m getting to be just like Serafina, I’m believing in
signs. But I think you have to believe in what she believes in. To
make this play effective, you can’t drive it by a style of acting,
you have to drive it by the truth and dignity of the characters.”
Perhaps it’s Martin’s ability to find the truth behind every character
that has made her a mainstay on TV, on Broadway, in films (she’s in
the new Olsen twins film “New York Minute”) and now at the Huntington.
“It’s funny,” she says, “my career has never had momentum, but it’s
had consistency, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. My career path went
backwards, starting with TV, then film and legitimate theater. It used
to bother me that I was only seen as a comedic actress, but people will
peg you as anything unless you prove you can do something different.”
In fact, Martin’s ability to move beyond expectations keeps her in
demand. After the run of “The Rose Tattoo,” she’s in discussions
to star in Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” in Washington, D.C.,
in September and later in the musical version of that play, “Hello,
Dolly,” at the Stratford Theatre Festival in Canada.
( “The Rose Tattoo,” at the Huntington Theatre, Friday-June 13.
Tickets: $41-$69. Call 617-266-0800. )
ArmenPress
May 5 2004
ARMENIA MAY CEASE RECEIVING PRIVILEGED LOANS FROM WORLD BANK IN 4
YEARS
YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenia has received so far some $788
million in loans from World Bank for implementation of 33 projects.
World Bank Armenia Resident Representative, Roger Robinson, told a
news conference today that cooperation between the Bank and Armenian
government encompasses education, health, road-building, agriculture
development and other sectors.
He said loans are allocated to Armenia with a 35 year maturity
period, 10 year grace period and 0.5 percent annual interest rates.
Robinson said if the current economy growth rate continues into next
four years, the country will no longer be eligible to privileged
loans from World Bank, which are given to poor countries. Robinson
said Armenia has enough resources to utilize World Bank loans
effectively. He also said Armenia will not feel the lack of
development funds in upcoming years and that the main problem will be
to efficiently use them.
He said on June 10 World Bank Board of Directors will discuss a
set of credit projects for continuing health and other reforms. Some
$20 million are expected to come for implementation of a long-term
health project.
Another loan in the amount of $5 million may be released to
Armenian employment and social issues ministry to improve employment
services. This will be followed by another loan for improving the
security of water reservoirs. Overall, the anticipated amount of new
loans may amount to $30 million.
In conclusion Robinson said that despite a substantial progress in
improvement of business environment Armenian authorities still have a
lot to do to bring it in compliance with international standards.
Workday Minnesota, MN
April 29 2004
St. Paul passes ‘INS separation’ ordinance
By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota editor – April 28, 2004
ST. PAUL – Saying that St. Paul values all people, the City Council
Wednesday night unanimously approved an ordinance that keeps
responsibility for enforcing immigration law with federal
authorities.
The proposal limits situations in which police and other city workers
can be required to enforce federal immigration laws. A similar
measure was passed last year in Minneapolis and has been approved in
several communities around the country.
`It’s a historic moment for St. Paul,’ Council Member Jay Benanav
said after the 7-0 vote. `This ordinance really recognizes the
diversity and the richness that all immigrant groups have brought to
St. Paul and continue to bring to St. Paul.’
Council Member Pat Harris, author of the ordinance, noted his
Irish-Armenian-German heritage and the fact that his ancestors were
victims of the genocide in Armenia in the early 20th century.
`I’m very proud to do something like this today,’ he said.
St. Paul City Council members and staff listen to testimony on the
immigration ordinance.
Before the vote, several people testified in support of the
ordinance, often referred to as a `city/INS separation ordinance.’
They said the measure was needed, especially in light of intimidation
of immigrants since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the
passage of the Patriot Act, which gives federal authorities vast
powers to arrest and detain people.
Representatives of immigrant Latino, Asian and African communities
said many people are afraid to deal with public workers, especially
police, for fear their legal status will be questioned.
Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian-Pacific
Minnesotans, cited the case of a young Filipino woman, brought to the
Twin Cities as a `mail-order bride.’ Although she became a victim of
domestic violence, `her fear kept her from seeking help,’ Her said.
Through the ordinance, `the city of St. Paul will say there are
certain rights we will protect . . . a right to safety and medical
help when you need it,’ she said.
Hassan Muhammed, vice president of the Minnesota chapter of the
Moslem-American Society and president of the Somali Families and
Youth Association of Minnesota, said many East Africans have a
well-founded fear of law enforcement. In their home countries, `the
police is the military, is the immigration officer,’ he said.
`We can remove that fear through this ordinance,’ he said.
A number of unions supported the proposal, saying it allows police,
firefighters, public health nurses, housing inspectors, librarians
and other city employees to do their jobs and provide city services
without being forced to unnecessarily investigate a resident’s
immigration status.
Shar Knutson, president of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly,
AFL-CIO; and Amy Bodnar, a representative of the Service Employees
International Union, both testified in favor of the ordinance.
`Over 30 citizen groups have signed onto this,’ Bodnar noted.
None of the speakers at the public hearing opposed the measure. After
the vote, the ordinance was laid over for final passage at the City
Council meeting on Wednesday, May 5.