Author: Nahapetian Lilit

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF YOUTH PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF ARMENIA BLAMES
OPPOSITION FOR POPULISM

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21. ARMINFO. “Lately the Armenian opposition instead
of representing the interests of the population in the National
Assembly, is engaged in populism”. Deputy Chairman of the Youth
progressive party of Armenia Sargis Haroutunian expressed such an
opinion during the press conference today.

According to him, the aspiration of the opposition for the change of
the power has reached that the opposition deputies are ready even to
discredit the country abroad. At the same time Haroutunian reminded
that the opposition deputies of Armenia had left the hall in
demonstrative way during the speech of Armenia’s President Robert
Kocharian at PACE session. “The boycott of the activities of the
parliament by the opposition has resulted in that the electors already
do not trust it and require from the opposition deputies to return to
law-making activities”, deputy chairman of the Youth progressive party
said. However, the opposition prefers to communicate with its
electors during the rallies and demonstrations, he added.

ArmenPress
Aug 18 2004

NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR OF GERMANY HANDED OVER HER CREDENTIALS TO
PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS: Newly appointed ambassador of
Germany to Armenia Mrs. Haikei Renatei Paichi handed over her
credentials to president Kocharian today. According to president
press services, the sides praised the present level of
Armenian-German relations noting that they are developing rather
dynamically especially in recent times. The newly appointed
ambassador voiced her belief that bilateral relations will further
develop. She conveyed friendly greetings of German president Horst
Kohler to president Kocharian.
Congratulating the ambassador, Robert Kocharian said that Armenia
attaches special importance to partnership with Germany. The
president of the republic assessed highly the assistance of German
government to reforms in Armenia. Economic ties play special place in
bilateral relations, according to the president. He praised relations
especially in energy and financial-technical fields.
Both sides attached importance to cooperation between different
regions of Armenia and Germany.

ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736
E-mail: [email protected]

CONTACT: George Shirinian
August 16, 2003

Prof. Vahakn Dadrian’s Books Published Abroad

Milan, Italy – The renowned Italian academic publishing house, Edizioni
Guerini, has just come out with an Italian-language edition of Dr. Vahakn
Dadrian’s now classic History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict
from the Balkans to Anatolia and the Caucasus.

In translating this massive study into Italian, Dr. Alessandra Flores
d’Arcais not only had to deal with some 500-pages of scholarly text, but
also 1,085 footnotes, some of which extend to a full page in length.

In addition to the regular edition, Guerini also produced a limited edition
deluxe version, as the book has great sentimental, as well as intellectual
appeal.

The Italian edition is based on the latest revised English edition,
published by Berghahn Books, dated 2003. The English language edition has
gone through six printings, so far, and last year appeared in a soft cover
edition, making it more readily accessible to students. The book is a
prescribed text in the Genocide and Human Rights University Program held in
Minneapolis and Toronto, and is required reading for all who take that course.

A significant portion of the book is based on a study that appeared in the
Yale Journal of International Law. In commenting on the singular value of
this study, prominent international law expert, Prof. M. Cherif Bassiouni,
President of the International Human Rights Institute, and also President
of the International Association of Penal Laws, wrote,

Of all the conflicting and contradictory literature on the subject,
including many Turkish publications denying, justifying or explaining what
happened, Dadrian’s article is the most legally convincing and from other
accounts, the closest to historical accuracy with such debated facts.

The French edition of History of the Armenian Genocide is now in its second
printing, and a slightly abridged Arabic-language version of the book has
been published in Damascus, Syria. A Greek-language edition was published
in Athens two years ago by the Stokhasis Publishing House, under the title,
Historia Tis Armenikan Genoktonias. A Bulgarian-language translation of the
article, “The Armenian Genocide and the Evidence of German Involvement,”
which originally appeared in the West Los Angeles Law Review in 1998, was
made recently by Mr. Boghig Mesrob and distributed to the Bulgarian media
and major governmental agencies, where it received widespread interest.

According to recent reports from Turkey, the release of volume one of a
collection of articles on the Armenian Genocide by Dadrian in Turkish
earlier this year by Belge Yayinlari is enjoying brisk sales through three
academic bookstores there: Dost in Istanbul, Kabile in Izmir, and Imge in
Ankara. The unusual interest by Turkish academics and intellectuals in this
subject is reportedly sparked by a review of the book by Dr. Taner Akçam,
who is currently Visiting Associate Professor in the History Department at
the University of Minnesota. To the surprise of many specialists, the
prestigious Turkish newspaper Radikal, which is comparable to the New York
Times, published Akçam’s detailed review in its entirety, and without any
editorial change.

In the review, Akçam pays high compliments to the author and describes the
book as “a priceless contribution.” He emphasizes the fact that the book
affords Turkish audiences a rare chance to acquaint themselves with this
hitherto taboo subject and to be able to engage in an informed debate and
discussion on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. He also observes that the
official denial of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey is unbecoming to a
country aspiring to genuine democracy and eventual accession to the
European Union. Even though Akçam has been conducting in-depth research on
the Armenian Genocide for more than a decade, he still expressed shock at
the scope and intensity of the atrocities surrounding the Genocide as
revealed in Dadrian’s various studies.

Dr. Vahakn Dadrian is Director of Genocide Research at the Zoryan Institute
and is currently working on several new publications.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
August 13, 2004, Friday

FEATURE: Being the first Olympic champion is special at the Games

By

John Bagratuni, dpa

Athens

The first Olympic gold medal awarded is special at any Olympics, and
like four years ago in Sydney it will be the winner of the women’s 10
metres air-rifle event on Saturday. At the first modern Olympics in
1896, by contrast, it was the men’s triple jump. The first winners in
1896 and 2000 were Americans, James Connolly and Nancy Johnson, and
they both created plenty of interest. Connolly quit Harvard
University after having a request for leave of absence for the
Olympics turned down. Legend has it that the 27-year-old spent his
life savings for a ticket aboard a German freighter to fulfil his
Olympic dream in Athens. It was well worth the investment as
Connolly, one of 12 children of Irish-Catholic parents from Boston,
won the triple jump Olympic title with 13.71 metres, finished second
in the high jump and third in the long jump. “I breathed into my
palms and waited, taking time to measure the path with my eye while
doing so. “But more than everything else, I was waiting for that wave
of high energy which will come to the man who is gathering himself
for a big try, if he will but wait for it,” the NBC Olympic website
recalled him as saying. The triple jump victory made him the first
Olympic champion in 1,527 years since Varesdates, Prince of Armenia,
who won the boxing event in 369 AD. The ancient Olympics were
outlawed in 393 AD by Roman Emperor Theodosius because he considered
them pagan. Connolly did not return home until May 1896, alone and
unnoticed. He later became a famous journalist and writer. In 1949,
he turned down a Harvard honorary doctorate. He died at the age of
88. Johnson, meanwhile, claimed a surprise air-rifle gold in Sydney
four years ago after miraculously overcoming a muscle-wasting illness
at the age of 17. “The doctors talked me up as a medical mystery
because they never really found out what happened apart from severe
nerve damage and muscle atrophy in my left arm and left side,”
Johnson said. “They indicated that they thought it was MS (multiple
sclerosis) and that I would be in a wheelchair within six months.
“They said ‘forget shooting, forget anything that requires you to use
both hands’,” she said. But six months later Johnson started
regaining feeling on her left side and was back in full health after
intensive physical therapy. The gold in Sydney was the icing on her
recovery. On Saturday, another air rifle athlete will make history as
the first Olympic champion of the 2004 Athens Games. dpa jb adh

Armenians free Azeri POW

ANS TV, Baku
13 Aug 04

Azerbaijani national army soldier Anar Samadov, who was taken prisoner
by the Armenian armed forces, has been released.

The state commission for prisoners of war, hostages and missing
persons said in a statement that following intensive measures taken
under the strict control of the president and negotiations with the
mediation of the ICRC, Anar Samadov was released from Armenian
captivity today.

We should say that Anar Samadov was taken prisoner in unknown
circumstances from a military unit in the village of Qapanli in Tartar
District on 2 August.

ABS CBN News, Philippines
Aug 12 2004

Celebrating Warsaw

On August 1, 1944, the people of Warsaw rose up against their Nazi
occupiers on what they thought was the implicit signal of the arrival
of an Allied army (Soviet) on the opposite bank of the Vistula river
bordering the Polish capital on the east. Overhead US and British
warplanes flew sorties that would suddenly stop as the Warsaw
uprising was slowly, relentlessly and meticulously exterminated. Nazi
Germany was losing the war, but it had in the Polish capital some of
the best and most brutal fighting units of its war machine.

Half a century later, another people, the Kurds, rose up against
another oppressor, Saddam Hussein, on the explicit signal of an
Allied army (US) stationed across the border (Kuwait). To be sure,
the Kurds, as a race, were not as noble as the Poles, for they had
joined in the rape and slaughter of Armenian women and children.

But, like the heroic agony of the Warsaw uprising, that of the
Kurdish revolt would only be watched and never helped by those most
strongly positioned to save it and even make it prevail.

The Soviet Army in 1944 preferred to stay on its side of the river,
until the German war machine had ground Warsaw to rubble — making it
the most devastated city in World War II, followed only by Manila
which was destroyed by the American war machine — and cut down the
flower of the Polish nation so that no natural leader would arise to
oppose the Soviet occupation of that sad country.

Thus did Saddam Hussein in 1991 devastate the lands of the Kurds and
exterminate the Kurdish uprising which the United States encouraged
and then abandoned. So brave were the Polish militants — of whom
200,000 were killed — that even the Nazis could not forbear but to
render them honors, calling their resistance one of the bravest acts
they had ever witnessed.

Now, the greatest war machine since the fall of Nazi Germany stands
poised to devastate the city of Najaf, where scores of Iraqi
militants have vowed to make a final stand against the invaders of
their country. Like the Poles in Warsaw before them, the Iraqis in
Najaf have been urged by the US to lay down their arms or face
extinction. Like the Poles before them, the Iraqis have accepted
their doom.

The Polish uprising lasted two months; the Iraqi resistance continues
one year after the defeat of the country was proudly announced on the
deck of an aircraft by the American commander in chief. Two months,
one year — but then US armed forces in Iraq pack far more wallop
than the Nazi armies in Poland. The US is fighting a pre-World War I
colonial war with the weapons of World War IV, having improved its
weaponry exponentially since the end of World War III, otherwise
known as the Cold War.

The anniversary of the Warsaw uprising was barely noticed and was
marked only by the publication of an exhaustive but finally
exhausting and unreadable volume by the British historian Norman
Davis. But now comes a more fitting memorial to hopeless bravery: the
forthcoming extermination of Najaf. The only irony would be that the
Poles are with the Nazis this time, so to speak, except that the
Poland of today bears no resemblance to yesteryear’s sad and noble
country of the same name.

ARKA News Agency
Aug 12 2004

RA Foreign Minister receives the head of the U.S. delegation in OSCE

NKR NA gets ready for the first plenary session in September

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

RA FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES THE HEAD OF THE U.S. DELEGATION IN OSCE

YEREVAN, August 12. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
received the Head of the U.S. Delegation in OSCE, the Ambassador
Steven Manikes, RA MFA told ARKA. The parties discussed the activity
of OSCE structures and departments, OSCE Yerevan Office and wide
spectrum of issues related to regional security. The parties also
discussed Karabakh conflict, developments in settlements and
perspectives. Both parties expressed hope that Armenia-OSCE
cooperation will continue and expand. L.D. –0 –

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

NKR NA GETS READY FOR THE FIRST PLENARY SESSION IN SEPTEMBER

STEPANAKERT, August 12. /ARKA/. NKR NA Vice Speaker Moushegh
Ohanjianian held a session with the participation of the
representatives of NA Standing Committees and the responsible staff
of the administration services. According to NKR NA Press Service
Department, the subject of the session was the program of NA 9th
session legislative activity, as well as preparatory work to the
first plenary session in September. The Chairmen of Standing
Committees informed about the completion stage of the bills being
developed. Corresponding recommendations and orders were given. A.H.
-0–

ARKA News Agency
Aug 11 2004

RA Defense Ministry delegation participates in bilateral
Armenia-American consultations in defense sphere

American college considers the possibility of teaching its programs
in NKR through internet

The exchange rate of AMD to get stable making AMD 530-550 per USD
till the end of 2004, according to experts of RA commercial banks

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

RA DEFENSE MINISTRY DELEGATION PARTICIPATES IN BILATERAL
ARMENIA-AMERICAN CONSULTATIONS IN DEFENSE SPHERE

YEREVAN, August 11. /ARKA/. The delegation of RA Ministry of Defense
participated in Armenian-American defense consultations in State
Kansas. According to the RA Defense Ministry Information and Press
Service Department, the Head of the delegation, RA Deputy Minister
Arthur Aghabekyan, the Armenian Ambassador in the US Arman Kirakosyan
and the Military Attache of the Embassy, Colonel Arman Sargsyan took
part in the discussions.
In course of the consultations the Vice Deputy of US Defense Minister
James MacDougall, current situation and further perspectives of
Armenian and US military and military-political cooperation were
discussed, as well as issues of mutual interest.
The members of Armenian delegation visited Kansas capital Topeka in
frames of their visit, where had meetings with Ron Thornburgh,
Secretary of State, Adrian Polanski, Minister of Agriculture, Tod M.
Banting, General-adjutant of Kansas, Head of National Guards. Issues
of cooperation between Armenia and Kansas were discussed at the
meetings regarding the military and civil areas. The Armenian
delegation also visited several military units of Armed Forces and
National Guards of the US, as well as industrial units and places of
interest, in particular Harley Davidson factory, home museums of USA
Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman. Besides, meetings were
held with representatives of Armenian Diaspora.
Partnership program between RA armed forces and National Guards of
Kansas was developed in 2003. L.V. – 0–

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

AMERICAN COLLEGE CONSIDERS THE POSSIBILITY OF TEACHING ITS PROGRAMS
IN NKR THROUGH INTERNET

STEPANAKERT, August 11. /ARKA/. NKR President Arkadi Ghukasian
received the secretary of Mt. Sierra college (California, USA) Vardan
Harutyunyan. According to NKR President’s Press Service Department,
in the course of the meeting Harutyunyan noted that he studied the
possibilities of teaching the programs of the college through
internet in NKR. According to him, the modern level of broadcasting
in Artsakh simplifies the problem and creates perspectives for the
development of this cultural area.
In his turn Ghukasian noted the importance of higher education
development in NKR and assured Harutyunyan that the authorities of
the republic would contribute to the realization of any practical
offer in that area. –0–

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

THE EXCHANGE RATE OF AMD TO GET STABLE MAKING AMD 530-550 PER USD
TILL THE END OF 2004, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS OF RA COMMERCIAL BANKS

YEREVAN, August 11. /ARKA/. Till the end of 2004 the exchange rate of
AMD will get stable making AMD 530-550 per USD. According to the
survey held by ARKA, such an opinion was expressed by representatives
of some Armenian commercial banks. Conversebank anticipates that per
USD will cost AMD 540, Ardshininvestbank anticipates appreciation of
AMD to 540 + 5 drams, and ACBA – from AMD 540 to 550 per USD. According
to the representatives of ACBA, such fluctuation of AMD exchange rate
will be conditioned by an abrupt increase of the volume of import in
the end of the year, as well as by the expectations of the
population. This will also contribute to inflation, which will make
about 8%, according to the specialists of the bank.
With regard to the reasons of AMD appreciation, then according to the
specialists from Conversebank, this is the reason of the increase of
inflows from abroad not only in form of private transfers, but also
in the form of various state grants. According to the specialists of
the bank, also the means gained from the increase of loans of the
banking system for the 2nd Q amounting to AMD 21 bln. and lent in
foreign currency mainly should betaken into consideration.
According to Ardshininvestbank’s specialists, considering the fact
that the drop of USD exchange rate didn’t affect prices, favourable
conditions were created for importers and obstacles for exporters.
So, exporters expected just the opposite, and the importers- the
further drop of USD rate. Among the reasons of USD depreciation to
AMD is the currency policy of the majority of the biggest banks of
Armenia, the wait-and -see tactics of importers and wide-scaled
inflows of USD to the country through transfers, grants, means gained
from the export of goods, and tourists presence in the country.
According to the appraisals of Iinternational Trade Bank (ITB), the
common tendency of AMD appreciation is conditioned by the development
of economy and changes in the payments balance of RA. At that,
according to the experts of the bank, at present, it’s quite
difficult to define the reasons and consequences of high fluctuations
of the exchange rate recently.
According to experts of ACBA, such fluctuations of USD exchange rate
make the further prognosis of the dynamic of USD exchange rate quite
vague, so banks will possible reduce gradually their adherence to
foreign currency.
ARKA’sreference: The exchange rate of AMD fixed on July 21, 2004 by
CBA was set to be AMD 512,02 per USD, which corresponds to the
exchange rate set on June 5, 1997, when the exchange rate was AMD
512,18 per USD. The market price of AMD at that period was AMD 495
per USD. As of today, the official exchange rate of AMD makes AMD
519.10 per USD.
As ARKA, referring to the info provided by CBA Chairman Tigran
Sargsyan, informed before, for the first 6 months of 2004 AMD
appreciated by 6% to USD. A.H. –0–

Agence France Presse
8 août 2004

Elections municipales et locales au Nagorny Karabakh

EREVAN, 8 aout

Les habitants de la republique auto-proclamee du Nagorny Karabakh ont
vote dimanche pour des elections municipales et locales pour la
troisieme fois depuis 1991, un scrutin qui a suscite des critiques du
Conseil de l’Europe et de l’Azerbaiedjan qui revendique toujours son
autorite sur l’enclave.

“Les elections se sont deroulees dans le calme sur tout le territoire
du Nagorny Karabakh, et la situation est egalement restee calme aux
frontieres avec l’Azerbaiedjan”, a declare dimanche soir par
telephone a l’AFP l’un des responsables de la Commission electorale,
le “vice-ministre” des Affaires etrangeres Massis Maielian.

La participation devrait depasser 60% des inscrits, selon des donnees
preliminaires citees par ce responsable.

Ce scrutin devait permettre de designer le maire de la “capitale”
Stepanakert et les autres responsables des pouvoirs locaux.

Enclave a population majoritairement armenienne en Azerbaiedjan, le
Nagorny Karabakh a ete le theatre d’un conflit sanglant au debut des
annees 90 au moment de la desintegration de l’Union sovietique. Il
reste depuis un cessez-le-feu en 1994 sous le controle des Armeniens,
qui l’avaient emporte sur le terrain.

Les quelque 87.000 electeurs ont a leur disposition 260 bureaux de
vote dans les huit regions du Nagorny Karabakh.

Le scrutin a ete critique par le ministere azerbaiedjanais des
Affaires etrangeres et par le Conseil de l’Europe. Repondant a ce
dernier, le “ministere des Affaires etrangeres” du Nagorny Karabakh a
declare que “la tenue d’elections pour former les organes du pouvoir
a tous les niveaux constitue un pas tres important vers la creation
de la societe civile”.

“Le developpement et le renforcement des processus democratiques au
Nagorny Karabakh et dans tous les pays voisins permettront a coup sur
d’instaurer une paix durable et la stabilite dans la region”, ajoute
la declaration du “ministere”.

SECOND TOUR OF ELECTIONS OF STEPANAKERT MAYOR TO TAKE PLACE ON AUGUST
22

YEREVAN, August 9 (Noyan Tapan). On August 8, the third elections of
local self-government bodies took place in about 200 NKR communities.
61% of the population having the right of voting participated in the
elections in the whole territory of the republic and 41% of population
took part in voting in the capital. The second tour will be held for
electing the Stepanakert Mayor. The elections will take place on
August 22. According to the Central Electoral Committee of NKR, Pavel
Najarian and Eduard Aghabekian will be the candidates of the second
tour. They received 42.8% and 34.5% of votes, respectively. To recap,
the National-Labor Union public-political organization supports the
first candidature and the Artsakh Central Committee of ARF supports
the second candidature.