Author: Tamamian Anna

SYRIA CONDOLES ARMENIA OVER PLANE CRASH

SANA – Syrian Arab News Agency, Syria
May 3 2006

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad sent on Wednesday a
cable of condolences to his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian
over crash of an Armenian airplane and the killing of all passengers.

” On behalf of the Syrian people and me I express to you and to the
Armenian friendly people my heartfelt condolences wishing God would
avert the friendly people of Armenian ay trouble,’ the President said
in his cable. An Armenian passenger plane crashed in stormy weather
Wednesday off Russia’s Black sea coast while readying to land,
killing all 113 people on board most of them Armenians.

GETASHEN WAS THE BEGINNING OF UNDECLARED WAR
By Kim Gabrielian in Stepanakert

AZG Armenian Daily
02/05/2006

These very days 15 years ago the forced eviction of Armenian population
in Getashen (northern Nagorno Karabakh) began. Supported by the Soviet
Army, Azerbaijani OMON (Special Purpose Detachment of Militsiya)
forced the Armenian population of the region out of their homes. The
Armenians were deprived of all possibility for self-defense, and
only thanks to a group of martyrs the number of victims did not
increase. That was the beginning of genocidal actions, which grew
into a bloody war against the freedom-loving people of Karabakh.

On occasion of this anniversary NK parliament factions Democracy and
Fatherland and leaders of ARF Movement-88 called a news briefing.

Head of Democracy faction, Vahram Atanesian, stated that the Getashen
events were the response of Soviet leadership to Armenia’s refusal
to participate in the referendum to decide USSR’s future.

As a response to Soviet Armenia’s April 24 statements on situation in
Getashen, Mikhail Gorbachev sealed off this Armenian region banning
even sanitarian helicopters to enter Getashen. On May 6, Russian
soldiers bundled 4.000 Armenians off to Armenia.

The April 6 visit of Russian general Boris Gromov to the epicenter
of ethnic tensions and his meeting with illegal lord of Karabakh,
Viktor Polyanichko evidence that eviction was conducted by direct
order from Soviet leadership.

On May 15, Azerbaijani authorities made a decision to transport their
citizens who had settled in Armenian houses in various Azeri towns to
Getashen. This was an unprecedented act of ethnic cleansing in the
Soviet history. This notorious Soviet-Azeri campaign named “Koltso”
(circle) continued in Shahumian and in Nagorno Karabakh itself.

Presenting the events at large, Vahram Atanesian said that the NK
parliament is going to organize hearings on 15th anniversary of tragic
events in Getashen and Shahumian. They plan to invite Russian deputies
also as still in 1991 a group from Russian parliament arrived in the
region and after seeing what had happened they held hearings back
home. Shorthand report of the Russian hearings in the State Duma
archives will certainly shed light on the events of 1991 confirming
the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan in late 20th century.

Head of Fatherland faction, Artur Tovmasian, added that the eviction of
Getashen triggered in fact an undeclared war against Nagorno Karabakh.

Armen Sargsian, head of ARF Movement-88, said that though the Getashen
events took place under Bolshevik rule, Azerbaijan anti-Armenian
policy has not changed with the regime shift, and the lesson of
Getashen teaches that we have to rely only on ourselves.

PRESS RELEASE

Armenian Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Microsurgery
58, Abovyan St.
Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Gevorg Yaghjyan MD, PhD
Secretary General
Tel: (37410) 560636
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Microsurgery Center Resident Library

The Resident Library of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and
Microsurgery University Centre was established in February 2001,
by the Republican Scientific Medical Library (RSML), through a grant
from the Yerevan office of the Open Society Institute, an affiliation
of Soros Foundation.

The library’s first steps were amazing. The residents, quite interested
in having their own library just a few meters away from their offices,
were happy to support this initiative. They helped the RSML staff
to bring the books from a warehouse, install in places and set up
the computer and Internet connection. Since than the library has
been their favorite place at the hospital. If one is unable to find
a resident anywhere else, he or she would be there, at the library,
doing a search in medical databases or browsing through the pages of
thick-volume books. Some of residents are staying up to late at night
even on non-call days, to have a chance to use the library resource
over and over again.

Our residents now routinely spend time at the library searching
medical abstracts, getting news in their field of specialization,
preparing papers and presentation for seminars and rounds at our
hospital. The recent presentation prepared by one of our rotating
graduate students has been presented at Nork Marash Medical Center
(also known as the Yerevan Cardiosurgery Center under the leadership
of Dr Hrair Hovagimian). Dr Hrair was present at the presentation
himself, and showed great interest in the topic. Later, he sent us a
thank you letter with a copy addressed to the Rector of the Yerevan
State Medical University describing the unique style and western
standards of the presentation.

Observing this as the Residency Training Director in Plastic Surgery,
I saw that the residents take the library as their own creation. That
is why we call it the Residents’ Library at University Hospital # 1.

Besides, I can feel how much our residents have “grown” using their
library. This good feeling of ownership makes them routinely take
care of the library.

Since its establishment, we have put efforts to improve the library.

Those of us, who are traveling abroad, try to bring medical books and
journals for the Library. We have applied to several organizations,
individuals and libraries asking for donation of books and journals.

To learn about the success of our mission, you are welcome to visit
our website’s library section at

Several individuals and organizations have helped us to growth the
library. Significant help was provided to us after a visit to the
USA. We have received donations from several individuals, as well as
several dozens of books from the libraries of Cornell University and
Yale University (a private donation by Dr. Stephane Arian).

Dr. Artur Gevorgyan, one of our residents, currently in training in
Canada, has also succeeded in the same mission. He was able to secure
a donation of a 1 year subscription to a hand surgery journal from a
private donor. As well, he helped to organize and ship to us a donation
of crucial plastic surgery manuals from the Queens University Library
and Dr. Wyllie Alfred Kenneth. This donation totaled over $6,000
based on Amazon.com prices. Multiple books, journals, educational
CDs and DVDs were also collected and shipped to our library.

A friend and collaborator with our centre, Dr. Aram Gazarian from
Lyon Clinique du Parc purchased a subscription for the Journal of
Hand Surgery from 2002 to 2005. In 2005-2006, the subscriptions
to the Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volumes) and
International Journal of Surgical Reconstruction was made by Shant
Korgirian, an individual donor.

Dr. Edward Athanasian from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New
York helped as with subscription to the Journal of the American
Society for Surgery of the Hand from 2003 and several books devoted
to hand surgery. Dr. Athanasian continues his help in 2006.

Dr. Arthur Grigoryan, a neurosurgeon from Virginia and an alumnus of
the Yerevan State Medical University, subscribed our library to the
Annals of Plastic Surgety and Microsurgery Journal for 2006.

The Fund for Armenian Relief (via the United Armenia Fund) has provided
us with an incredible opportunity to ship the donated items free of
charge from New York to Armenia.

Besides the improvement in books and hard copies of journals, we
aim at getting subscriptions to the professional journals and online
resources, such as free access to MEDLINE and OVID. A significant move
in this direction was our subscription to the Health InterNetwork
Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) project of the World Health
Organization, which provides us with access to over 3,000 biomedical
journals online. This subscription was made possible due to research
done by our friends at the Armenian Canadian Medical Association
of Ontario.

Overall, we are sure that our continuous efforts will make our
Residents’ Library the best hospital library in Armenia in forthcoming
years.

The Armenian Association of Plastic Surgery and Microsurgery
is a non-for-profit organization of plastic surgery health care
professionals, aimed at improving the specialty care system provided
to the community and advancing medical sciences in Armenia.

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 29 2006

Armenia’s foreign trade turnover in 1Q06 hits $606.4 mln, up 7%
13:20 | 29/ 04/ 2006

YEREVAN, April 29 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) – Armenia’s
foreign trade turnover in January-March 2006 was at $606.4 million,
up 7% on 2005, the National Statistics Service said Saturday.

Exports were worth $184.4 mln and imports $422 mln.

Armenia’s foreign trade deficit in January-March 2006 was $237.6 mln.

Germany accounted for the largest share of Armenian exports (18.3%),
followed by the Netherlands (15.5%), Belgium (13.1%), Russia (10.3%),
Israel (9%), Georgia (6.5%), and the United States (6.47%).

Most of Armenia’s imports came from Russia (13.2%), followed by
Ukraine (9.7%) Turkmenistan (7.8%), Germany (6.9%), Belgium (6.5%),
Israel (5.7%), and the United States (4.9%).

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 28 2006

Human Rights Watch reports become more subjective – Ali Hasanov

Source: Trend
Author: R. Abdullayev

28.04.2006

Human Rights Watch reports on Azerbaijan became more subjective
during the last several years, the head of the public affairs
department of the presidential apparatus, Ali Hasanov told Trend.

`For example, we all perfectly know about processes taking place in
Armenia, in particular about relations between opposition and
government in that country,’ Hasanov said, reminding, that `in the
near past Armenian oppositionists have been gathered in the National
Council hall and shot dead.’

Despite all that Armenia occupies leading places in the South
Caucasus in the Human Rights Watch reports, he said. `Azerbaijani
government already complained about it to representatives of the
organization,’ he assured.

Representative of the president administration emphasized that
Washington foreign policy is not formed upon NGO opinion but rather
on position of the official structures. `However, position of this
organization definitely influences the formation of social opinion in
US we don’t want Americans receive negative information about us,’ he
concluded.

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND RUSSIA DISCUSS TOPICAL ISSUES OF
ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN COOPERATION

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the initiative of
the Armenian side, a telephone conversation took place on April 28
between the Presidents of Armenia and Russia, Radio Liberty reported
referring to a press release of the Kremlin’s press service.

According to the press release, Vladimir Putin and Robert Kocharian
“discussed some topical issues of Armenian-Russian cooperation.”

“As part of regular exchange of opinions, the leaders of Russia and
Armenia also addressed partnership issues in multilateral formats,”
the press release says. No details were reported.

ARMENIAN ARYAN UNION EXPECTS RESOLUTE MEASURES FROM RF PRESIDENT AND STATE DUMA FOR PUTTING AN END TO “ANTI-ARMENIAN HYSTERIA”

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Aryan Union sent a letter
to RF President Vladimir Putin and to the State Duma, in which it calls
attention to the increase of the wave of murders and violence towards
Armenians in Russia and especially in Moscow, in St Petersburg, in the
Krasnodar territory. “What is taking place in the state headed by you
by means of the so-called skinheads, causes serious anxiety. These
skinheads, being guided by Hitler Nazi (that has nothing in common
with the Russian nationalism) ideas receive state assistance from
certain (known to us) forces and purposefully and with impunity commit
terrible crimes. In the recent years the target of these gangs become
especially Armenians, and we resolutely protest against it and express
our indignation,” the document read. The Armenian Aryan Union also
cannot understand some steps, which are far from being pro-Armenian,
undertaken by RF authorities, the “unintelligible and non-friendly
treatment to the Republic of Armenia – the “property for debt”,
the uzurpation of the energy system through raising the tariff for
gas, the political “ban” on making the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
transit. “We express the hope that resolute steps aimed at putting an
end to the anti-Armenian hysteria will be undertaken, otherwise we do
not exclude that willy-nilly, maybe by the instigation of a third side,
an anti-Russian wave will rise in Armenia that will endanger not only
the interests of Russians of Armenia but also those of RF general
policy,” the Armenian Aryan Union declares. As the party affirms,
such a policy will also question the necessity of existence of the
Russian military bases, “which cannot be considered as a reliable
structure in the context of these anti-Armenian manifestations”.

ZIYAFET ASKEROV MEETS WITH YOUTH ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY’S RULING PARTY

Today, Azerbaijan
April 26 2006

Ziyafet Askerov, first deputy chairman of Milli Majlis, received a
group of members of Youth Associaiton with Justice and Development
Party of Turkey.

Mr Askerov said Turkish-Azeri relationships are progressing rapidly
and informed the youth on activities of Azeri parliament. Further
he said Turkey always supported Azerbaijan in vital questions; to,
he informed the guests of the scheduled construction of railroad
between the two countries.

Speaking of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, vice-chairman also touched
the theme of Armenians’ groundless claims to Turkey about so-called
“Armenian genocide”, Trend reports with reference to press service
of Milli Majlis.

Head of Turkish delegation Hakan Tutunchu said Turkish Youth
organization considers significant the development of relations with
NAP’s youth organization and does its best to give these relationships
a permanent status.

URL:

TO CRACK THE MAZE: SCIENCE IS ABOUT PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE, SAYS KHACHIGIAN.

By Jamie Pandaram

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
April 27 2006

Photo: Quentin Jones

Award-winning medical researcher Levon Khachigian compares his work
to a game of Pac-Man.

As a schoolboy, Levon Khachigian, born in Lebanon to Armenian parents,
stood out in the predominantly Anglo-Saxon North Shore suburb of
Naremburn. “I obviously spoke Armenian at home, and took to school a
lunch of Lebanese bread containing all sorts of exotic delicacies,”
he says.

A leading member of the Centre for Vascular Research at the University
of NSW, Professor Khachigian now turns heads by making medical
discoveries.

The 42-year-old violin enthusiast specialises in heart-related
illnesses, working to find links that could uncover the mysteries
of diseases.

In March, his team uncovered a complex network of molecules that
use multiplying “middle men”, or transcription factors, to block
arteries. The find was music to the medical world’s ears, raising
the possibility of preventing common heart diseases.

Khachigian hopes to soon unveil – once testing is complete – a drug
that could be used to treat heart attacks, prevent solid tumour
growths and potentially treat common inflammatory diseases.

“It has the potential to be a super drug … that can be applied to
multiple disease settings,” he says.

It is for work such as this that Khachigian received the Commonwealth
Health Minister’s Award for Medical Research and the University of
NSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research, both in 2003.

He knows that accolades only recognise what he has done, while millions
of people stand to benefit by what he can do next. “In Australia,
one person dies every 10 minutes from a heart disease.

Clearly more research needs to be done to try and improve the quality
of life for people, to keep them out of our hospitals and having a
long and productive life.

“I felt that heart research – or cardiovascular research – had multiple
benefits that would spruce up not only our health and productivity
but also our economy.”

His parents migrated to Sydney and started the first Protestant church
in Naremburn in 1966. The family is still heavily involved with the
parish, which has moved to Ryde; Khachigian plays the violin and his
mother the piano, while his father preaches.

“My parents were missionaries in the Middle East in the 1960s and
they were doing the Lebanon, Syria and Jordan route as part of their
Christian outreach … and they had me while they were in Beirut.

“It was towards the end of year 9 that I became interested in science
because I was encouraged to ask questions. I jumped up to 10S1 [the
top science class in year 10] because I was given the opportunity to
ask questions, and that curiosity never left me. I got into science
to do research. It was a means to an end.”

After a science degree and a PhD, Khachigian was awarded a doctorate
of science in vascular pathobiology.

He is also the president of the Australian Society of Medical Research,
a position he is using to lobby for more funding.

“If we invest in health research, the Australian economy and our
social fabric benefits. It is an investment that has few parallels.”

But like all scientists, he knows only too well the “one step forward,
two steps back” method.

“It is kind of like Pac-Man. You go down a path eating away at certain
questions, and there comes a certain point where you know you’re not
yielding productive answers, so you basically come out of that avenue
and press on and ask different questions or tackle another problem.

“Science is about patience teamed with persistence, and flavoured by
wisdom to know what is likely to yield productive results and what
will not.

“I feel enormously privileged to be a part of the family of health
and medical research in this country.”

Photo:
-disease/to-crack-the-maze/2006/04/26/114586141639 6.html

INAUGURATION SANS HEURTS DU MEMORIAL ARMENIEN DE LYON

La Croix , France
26 avril 2006

L’inauguration du memorial du genocide armenien a Lyon, lundi en fin
d’après-midi, s’est finalement deroulee sans heurts, en presence de 3
000 a 4 000 personnes. Ce memorial avait fait l’objet de nombreuses
polemiques et d’une profanation durant sa construction (lire La
Croix du 24 avril). Un dispositif de securite important, mais juge
“classique” par la police pour une manifestation de ce type, avait
ete deploye. Après les discours – dont ceux du senateur et maire
socialiste de Lyon Gerard Collomb et du ministre des transports
Dominique Perben – et des depôts de fleurs, le memorial a ete beni
par Mgr Norvan Zakarian, eveque armenien de Lyon (Lire aussi page 27).

–Boundary_(ID_6TF1R1S+UqRiK1dRm0MtZQ)–