Author: Tashjian Arbi

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 11 2005

SENATOR FIORELLO PROVERA: `I WILL DO THE BEST TO BRING UP TO THE
WORLD TRUTH ON NAGORNO KARABAKH’
[June 11, 2005, 11:54:54]

As is informed from the press-service of the State Committee on Work
with the Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, at the meeting of chairman of
the Committee Nazim Ibrahimov carried out on June 10, with the
chairman of foreign relations and migration affairs standing
committee of the Senate of Italy Fiorello Provera, it was noted that
the relations between Italy and Azerbaijan have friendly and partner
character. During conversation, it has been underlined, that this
visit of the Italian visitor to Azerbaijan would serve further
strengthening of ties between two countries.

Then, the visitor has been informed on the steady reforms conducted
in the Republic under the guidance of President Ilham Aliyev, and the
achieved successes, economic progress, improvement of social welfare
of people, democratic development of Azerbaijan.

In detail informing about the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, chairman of the State Committee has told that in Azerbaijan
with feeling of gratitude perceive the work done by F. Provera in
PACE.

F. Provera has expressed satisfaction with the visit to Azerbaijan,
has noted, that the country develops day-by-day. The senator has
stated that the meeting with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
has made on him pleasant impression, and has expressed hope for
intensive development of the country in the future.

The visitor also has emphasized, that does not wait for gratitude
from somebody for protection of the position of Azerbaijan in PACE.
Further he told: `I simply defend the truth. But everything, that I
have made, I did in the name of truth and I think, that Azerbaijan
people deserves it’.

F. Provera has noted that the international public still does not
have full and clear representation about Azerbaijan and the Nagorno
Karabakh problem, and that he aspires to carry out larger work in the
said direction. In his opinion, it is connected with this factor that
the international organizations do not take in many cases a resolute
position in the cause of settlement of the conflict. He told: `It is
a question of aggression against independence, territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan’. The Italian senator said he would do the best to
bring up to the world of the truth about Nagorno Karabakh, that is
ready to cooperate with corresponding state structures of Azerbaijan,
its embassies in foreign countries, delegation at PACE.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383, x137
Fax 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, June 10, 2005

AGBU PARIS CO-SPONSORS CONFERENCE ON FRENCH EU CONSTITUTION VOTE

Paris France – On May 24, 2005, with the support of Le Conseil de
Coordination des Organisations Arméniennes de France (CCAF), AGBU
Paris and French publication Nouvelles d’Arménie co-sponsored a
conference delineating the pros and cons of the pending ratification
of the European Constitutional Treaty and the consequences of the
French referendum on the matter.

Two guest speakers, Sylvie Goulard, teacher and author of “Le Grand
Turc et la République de Venise” (The Great Turk and the Republic of
Venice), and Catherine Kessedjian, professor of European and
international law, debated topical issues including the impact of the
Constitutional changes on the building of a true, political European
Union (EU) and the admission of Turkey to the EU. Both Goulard and
Kassedjian advised that to prevail on the Turkish question, Armenians
must take an active political role in Europe, notably in Germany, and
in the upcoming 2005 French Presidential elections.

All 25 member states of the EU must unanimously approve the European
Constitutional Treaty prior to its taking effect. On May 29, 2005, 55%
of French voters rejected the Treaty.

AGBU Paris is dedicated to preserving and promoting the Armenian
heritage and culture through humanitarian, educational and cultural
programs in France and Armenia. For more information on AGBU Paris,
please visit , e-mail [email protected] or call (33) (1)
45-20-03-18.

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide chapters, please visit

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 9 2005

PAC AND LINKS HOST CONFERENCE ON GEOSTRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF
AZERBAIJAN
[June 09, 2005, 19:15:00]

Public Association Civilization (PAC) and British non governmental
organization LINKS have hosted a conference on the theme
`Geostrategic Importance of Azerbaijan’ at the International Press
Center in Baku. Participating local political scientists, MPs,
experts from the Great Britain, Russia and Georgia, as well as
representatives of governmental bodies and NGOs have exchange views
on the factors determining Geostrategic importance of Azerbaijan, and
interests of the largest states in the region.

Speaking Chief of the International Relations Department at the
President’s Administration Novruz Mammadov noted Azerbaijan had
extremely significant geostrategic location, and was a recognized
leader in the region. As graphic evidence of this, Mr. Mammadov cited
the recently opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export pipeline. `The
pipeline is a product of joint activities by Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkey, USA and Great Britain. Apart from that, construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline is in progress,’ he said.

The speaker continued that a number of countries, in particular,
Greece have expressed a desire to join the gas transportation to
Europe. `This is an indication of how important role Azerbaijan will
be playing in the future of Eurasia. The country is a crossroad of
transport and communication routes connecting the West and East, and
the North and South, and is playing the role of the gate for
transportation of the Caspian hydrocarbons to the world market,’ he
said.

`Azerbaijan stands for cooperation in the region,’ Novruz Mammadov
continued, but `the unsolved Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is a sticking point.’ He called on the global community to
show political will to solve the problem in accordance with the
international law norms.

Ambassador of Great Britain to Azerbaijan Laurie Bristow was present
at the conference.

Boston Globe

Berge Avadanian; hero kept fellow soldiers in his heart

By Tom Long, Globe Staff | June 9, 2005

Berge Avadanian was a World War II hero who threw out the opening ball for
the Red Sox fifth-game victory over the Yankees in last year’s American
League Championship Series. He was 86.

Mr. Avadanian, who was born on Flag Day 1918, the year of the Red Sox World
Series victory, died in his Watertown home on June 6, the 61st anniversary
of the day he parachuted into France during the D-day invasion of France.

”I wonder if he was just waiting for the anniversary of D-day. It was a
wonderful thing in some ways,” Mr. Avadanian’s daughter, Sandra A. Starck of
Watertown, said yesterday.

Although he worked for the Coast Guard and later dealt in antiques, Mr.
Avadanian never forgot his fellow soldiers. Each year in the days before
Memorial Day he would visit cemeteries in Belmont, Newton, Watertown, and
Waltham and place a flag and a personal letter on the graves of about 150
veterans.

”Dear old friend Tom,” read one of the notes, according to American Veteran
magazine. ”I will always remember you. Your great-grandchildren visited me
last week. They are beautiful.”

A native of Lynn, who grew up on a farm in Bellingham, Mr. Avadanian joined
the Army shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As a sergeant in
the 82d Airborne Division, he participated in seven major campaigns,
including the invasion of Italy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the D-day
invasion of France.

Mr. Avadanian remembered D-day in a story published in the spring 2003 issue
of American Veteran: ”Enemy antiaircraft fire was intense,” he said of his
jump into France with 150 pounds of equipment strapped to his body. ”And I
could see cows but at first, no people and no Germans. That changed in a
hurry. I can recall a fine young lieutenant who had gotten a haircut from
our company barber a couple of days prior to D-day, just as I had done. The
next time I saw him he was still in his parachute hanging from a tree near
the churchyard at St. Mere Eglise with his throat cut. The Germans who had
bivouacked in and around the town were merciless.”

During the 34 days of intense combat that followed, the 82d Airborne
suffered heavy casualties. ”Wherever we fought, those once-quiet little
Norman towns became intense rubble within days, sometime hours,” Mr.
Avadanian recalled. ”The airborne division spearheaded inland of those
beaches with almost 13,000 men and returned to England with only 5,800 —
all the rest were missing, wounded, or dead.”

Mr. Avadanian was wounded twice. He was awarded a number of decorations,
including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Croix de Guerre.

After the war he was a procurement officer for the Veterans Administration
in Boston for several years and principal contracting officer of the US
Coast Guard’s North Atlantic Region for decades.

Mr. Avadanian held a number of posts in AMVETS and was the national
commander of the service organization in 1973 and 1974.

He never regretted his military service and said he would be happy to do it
all over again.

”If God would allow me to be born again, I would pray to God to put me on
that same road to Normandy,” Mr. Avadanian said in a story published in the
Boston Herald in 2004. ”It was the most gratifying thing I have ever done.
I was so proud to be fighting for my country.”

Mr. Avadanian was also a lifelong Red Sox fan.

”I listened to them on one of those homemade radios on the farm when I was
a little boy,” he said in a story published in The New York Times in 2004.
”I was in Paris listening to them on a shortwave radio when they played the
World Series in 1946. And when I jumped out of a plane in Normandy, one of
the last things I said before I went out the door was, ‘I wonder what the
Red Sox are doing,’ and a wise guy from New York said, ‘They probably lost
as usual.’ ”

When Mr. Avadanian threw out the first ball for the fifth game of the
championship series last October at Fenway Park, it was like a dream come
true. ”He had a wonderful time,” said his daughter. ”They picked him up in
a limousine.”

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Avadanian leaves his wife, Rose Marie
(Bazarian); a son, Paul B. of Waltham; a sister, Mary Kachichian of
Stoneham; and two grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow in St. James Armenian
Apostolic Church in Watertown. Burial will be in Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge.

Pan Armenian News

6 PILOTS CONVEYED TO ARMENIAN PARTY IN MALABO

08.06.2005 07:46

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today 6 Armenian pilots were conveyed to the Armenian
party in the Ministry of Justice of the Equatorial Guinea, RA MFA press
center reported. Secretary General Javier Aseko Abeso read out the
President’s decree on pardoning. Minister of Justice Angle Masii also
delivered a short speech. Then representative of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry Gevorg Petrosian thanked the President and the Government for
showing mercy to the Armenian pilots. On behalf of Chairman of the Union of
Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamian his representative Andrakik Migranian
also expressed gratitude. Gevorg Petrosian was handed the documents on the
pardoning, after what the Armenian pilots were released and taken to a
hotel. It is supposed that the pilots will return to the homeland by
Malabo-Zurich-Moscow-Yerevan flight.

A1plus

| 18:22:34 | 08-06-2005 | Official |

FORCED TO ADOPT THE BUDGET EARLIER

Today Robert Kocharyan has had a working meeting with the Minister of
Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatryan.

The course of realization of Robert Kocharyan’s order to adopt the 2006
budget earlier than the present date has been discussed. It is conditioned
by the necessity to carry out the preliminary works of state purchases
better and more quickly. According to it, the preliminary draft budget will
be prepared in August, the discussions will take place in September, and in
October-November it will be represented in the National Assembly.

The President and the Minister have also spoken about the allotment of means
from the budget to the education, health and social fields. According to
them, in 2008 the wages of the teachers will be 70 000 drams, and the social
pensions will be 19 000. And starting from 2006 the hospital services will
be free.

Robert Kocharyan has also referred to the social problem of the military
servicemen assigning the Minister to envisage means for that purpose in
2006. In particular, in order to solve the housing problem of the families
of the dead soldiers more quickly, this year instead of 200-400 million
drams 1 billion 700 million drams will be envisaged.

Pan Armenian News

VOICE OF EUROPE LAUNCHED CAMPAIGN AGAINST TURKEY ACCESSION TO EU

07.06.2005 08:06

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Voice of Europe Slovakia-based NGO has launched a campaign
of collection of signatures for not admitting Turkey’s accession to the
European Union, the Yerkir newspaper reported. Slovakian citizens can
express their attitude to the possible EU enlargement by the joining of
Turkey. Similar rallies are organized in Germany, Poland, Hungary and the
Czech Republic.

The Mercury , South Africa
June 8 2005

Armenian mercenaries to be freed
June 8, 2005

Malabo (Equatorial Guinea): A senior Armenian diplomat has arrived in
the oil-rich African nation of Equatorial Guinea as authorities
prepare to hand over six Armenians accused of being mercenaries and
granted a presidential pardon after being convicted in a coup plot.

Ponciano Mbomio, a lawyer for the six, said they could be released
soon.

On Sunday, the eve of his birthday, President Teodoro Obiang granted
amnesty to the six who had been sentenced to 14 and 24 years in
prison.

On Monday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry expressed satisfaction at the
move, saying a diplomat was headed to Malabo to collect the men.

At a trial in Equatorial Guinea in November, an Armenian pilot was
jailed for 24 years. Five other crew members were sentenced to 14
years each. The leader of the group, South African arms dealer Nick
du Toit, and six other South Africans are still in jail.

Du Toit was sentenced to 34 years in prison. – Sapa-AP

PRESS RELEASE
June 6, 2005
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian To Visit Washington, DC

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will visit Washington, DC on June
9-10, 2005. Minister Oskanian is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and other U.S.
government officials, as well as Members of Congress to discuss issues of
mutual interest and regional developments in South Caucasus, including
Nagorno Karabakh peace process and Armenian-Turkish relations.

Armenia has excellent relations with the United States, and the two nations
cooperate closely in political, economic, and security areas. This January,
Armenia deployed forces to Iraq within the multilateral coalition.

Pan Armenian News

BSTDB BOARD OF GOVERNORS SITTING HELD IN YEREVAN

06.06.2005 02:52

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The seventh sitting of the Board of Governors of the Black
Sea Trade & Development Bank (BSTDB) and the Black Sea Business Forum
started in Yerevan on Sunday. High rank officials of the Black Sea regions
as well as of a number of international and financial organizations – the
European Union, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
International Monetary Fund, World Bank and International Financial
Corporation – have been invited to the Business Forum. The delegation of the
Russian Federation headed by the Russian branch of the BSTDB, director of
the department for investment policy of the RF Ministry of Economic
Development Svetlana Ganeyeva is taking part in the BSTDB sitting. The
participants of the sitting held under the aegis of the Armenian President
and Government are considering the annual report on the bank activities in
2004 and the key issues of the BSTDB development. The election of the new
chairman is also on the agenda. To remind, presently the post is occupied by
Armenian Minister of Economy and Finance Vardan Khachatrian. The discussions
of the forum will focus on the realization of the investment potential of
the Caucasus and the role of international organizations of the process as
well as the assistance to small business in Armenia and other states of the
Black Sea region. To remind, the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank was
founded in 1994 by members of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization – Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece,
Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. The BSTDB promotes the economic
development of the member-states by financing the programs of state and
private enterprizes, RIA Novosti reports.