Author: Tashjian Arbi

PanArmenian News
January 23, 2005

OSCE MG NEW FRENCH AMBASSADOR ARRIVING IN YEREVAN

24.01.2005 17:56

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bernard Facie, the new French Ambassador to the
OSCE Minsk Group for settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, is
arriving in Yerevan tomorrow. As reported by the Armenian Foreign
Ministry, in Yerevan B. Facie will meet with President Robert
Kocharian, as well as hold meetings in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. It should be noted that on the post Bernard Facie has
replaced Henry Jackolin, who had retired.

US official’s Karabakh remarks not directed against Armenia – aide

Iravunk, Yerevan
21 Jan 05

Excerpt from Piruza Meliksetyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk
on 21 January headlined “‘It is clear to the president that nobody has
any privilege,’ Garnik Isagulyan is sure”. Subheadings as published:

An interview with the Armenian president’s advisor on national
security issues, Garnik Isagulyan.

“The US Department of State comment is important”

[Iravunk correspondent] Armenian political circles have not accepted
the latest statement by US Assistant State Secretary Elizabeth
Jones. Many public organizations expressed their protest. Some
officials ignored the statement and some described it as the final
failure of the government’s diplomacy.

[Garnik Isagulyan] Let us specify that Elizabeth Jones’s statement was
made in the run-up to the Russian-American high-level meeting. Before
making any statement of the sort, every state tries to make maximum
use of its resources to settle relations with the negotiating party
and put forward its viewpoint in the negotiating process. From this
point of view, Jones’s statement was made in the context of
Russian-American relations. The US Department of State’s comment on
Jones’s statement means that US policy regarding the Karabakh issue
has not changed and remains the same. And this means that Jones’s
statement is not directed against Armenia or the settlement of the
Karabakh issue.

[Correspondent] I am sorry, but your calm and silence are not clear.
Elizabeth Jones is not just one of a million people, she is an
assistant to the US State Secretary and represents her president and
state.

[Isagulyan] I would like to note once again that she made this
statement in the context of the Russian-American high-level meeting.

[Correspondent] Is that it?

[Isagulyan] Let me give you an example. As you remember, a Putin-Bush
meeting was to take place in 2001. The Key West agreement, which also
caused a big stir, was signed before that meeting. But in fact, it was
signed before the Russian-American high-level meeting. After that, no
American top official spoke about Key West any more. I am sure that
after the forthcoming negotiations, nobody will speak about Elizabeth
Jones’s statement any more. That will remain just a statement made by
somebody.

[Correspondent] In fact, you deny the fact that by describing the NKR
as an unstable, corrupt and criminal country, the Washington
administration gave [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan, who has
always said that he represents the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] in
the talks, a slap in the face by means of Jones who is leaving the US
Department of State.

[Isagulyan] I do not think you should comment on the issue in this
way. When the Department of State, ignoring Jones’s statement, says
that their policy has not changed and that the Karabakh issue is a
special problem, when the two states are trying to name names before
their talks and mention Dniester, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it would
have been wrong if they had not mentioned Karabakh.

But there was no specific mention of the NKR authorities. One should
take into account that the USA is well aware of the situation in the
NKR. It is aware of the democratic processes in the NKR. It is aware
that the NKR authorities are not corrupt or criminal and that the NKR
is not a transit route for drug trafficking. And the fact that the USA
allocates money to the NKR means that it is well-aware of the
situation there. Naturally, there will be various comments on this. It
is very good that public and political organizations respond to such
statements very quickly. This proves once again that our society is
sensitive about the Karabakh issue and does not accept any unjust
statements irrespective of their context. This also means that the
position the Armenian authorities have been taking, especially
concerning the Karabakh issue, is correct.

“We have to wait for the processes to enter a specific phase”

[Correspondent] The statements of the Washington administration
regarding Iran have recently become harsher and do not rule out a
deterioration in US-Iran relations. In which situation will Armenia
find itself in the event of a US-Iran conflict? Is Armenia protected?
Does it have a concept of security?

[Isagulyan] Any process developing in our region is important to us
and we pay attention to it. As for the US-Iran relations, we have to
wait for the processes to enter a specific phase. I do not think that
this is the first time that Bush has touched on Iran. So there is no
need to conclude that certain actions will start tomorrow. If there
are other developments, I am sure that Armenia will find its bearings
and take relevant steps.

[Passage omitted: An Armenian peacekeeping contingent is in Iraq;
Details of Kocharyan’s recent meeting with tax and customs officials]

Dismal scores

Malaya (The Philippines)
January 14, 2005

By Ellen Tordesillas ([email protected])

Dean Jorge Bocobo shared with us the results of the third Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted in 2003
and released last December.

The good news: Asian countries dominate in student math and science
achievement.

The bad news: The Philippines is not one of those Asian countries at the
top. We are, in fact, in the bottom five.

The official TIMSS release said Singapore students were among the top
performers in both mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth
grade levels. Students from the Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and
Hong Kong also performed very well across the two subject areas.

“Specifically, in mathe-matics, at both the eighth and fourth grades,
Singapore was the top performing country, having significantly higher
average achievement than the rest of the participating countries.

“At the eighth grade, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Chinese
Taipei also had significantly higher achieve-ment than other
participating countries. At the fourth grade, Hong Kong, Japan and
Chinese Taipei outperformed the rest of the countries.

“In science, at the eighth grade, Singapore and Chinese Taipei were the
top performing countries, having significantly higher average
achievement than the rest of the participating countries. The Republic
of Korea and Hong Kong also performed very well.

“At the fourth grade, Singapore was the top-performing country with
higher average science achievement than all other participating
countries. Chinese Taipei, Japan, Hong Kong and England out-performed
the rest of the countries surveyed.”

In both mathematics and science, grade eight, the Philippines shares the
bottom with Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, and South Africa. At the
fourth grade, the Philippines is in the lowest three with Morocco and
Tunisia.

But there is one interesting finding in the study where the Philippines
figured positively. Under “gender differences in achievement”, the
results showed in mathematics that gender difference was negligible.
“However, girls had significantly higher achievement than boys in
Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Armenia, Moldova, Philippines, Cyprus,
Jordan and Bahrain.”

In science, fourth grade level, the average gender difference in
achievement was negligible “although girls had significantly higher
average achievement in Armenia, Moldova, the Philippines and Islamic
Republic of Iran.”

What is TIMSS? It’s the most recent in a very ambitious series of
international assessments conducted in nearly 50 countries to measure
trends in mathematics and science learning.

TIMSS, aims to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and
science by providing data about students’ achievements in relation to
different types of curricula, instructional practices, and school
improvements.

TIMSS is a project of the International Association for the Evaluation
of International Achievement (IEA), an independent international
cooperative of national research institutions and government agencies
that has been conducting studies of cross-national achievement since 1959.

Conducted first in 1995 and then in 1999, the regular four-year cycle of
TIMSS studies provides countries with an unprecedented opportunity to
obtain comparative infor-mation about their students’ achievement in
mathematics and science.

More than 360,000 students in 49 countries participated in TIMSS 2003.

TIMSS is major under-taking of the IEA, together with Progress in
International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) developed to assess
students’ reading achievement at fourth grade. The TIMSS and PIRLS
International Study Center at Boston College had overall direction of
the project.

The test touched on home and school environment and the findings were:

*Across subject area and grade level, higher levels of parents’
education were associated with higher student achievement in almost all
countries. Also students expecting to finish university had
substantially greater average mathematics and science achievement.

*Students from homes where the language of the test was always or almost
always spoken had higher average achievement than those who spoke it
less frequently.

*There was a clear relationship between the number of books at home and
achievement.

*Achievement was positively related to computer use.

*Students with higher achievement attended schools with positive
climates for learning, with fewer students from disadvantaged homes,
where teachers and students felt safe.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Jan 12 2005

Nagorno-Karabakh: No Breakthrough Reported In Talks Between
Armenians, Azerbaijanis

By Jean-Christophe Peuch

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met yesterday in Prague
with his Azerbaijani counterpart to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Officially, the discussions achieved no breakthroughs, but
both men agreed to meet again in the near future. In an interview
with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Oskanian said a lot remains to be
done before both sides can agree on the basic principles of a peace
settlement.

Prague, 12 January 2005 (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan met for three hours in Prague in a bid to move the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process forward.

The discussions took place behind closed doors. Both ministers also
met separately with representatives of the Minsk Group of nations —
France, Russia, and the United States — mandated by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to mediate in the
conflict. OSCE Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk also attended the
talks.The main result achieved this week in Prague is that both
ministers agreed to meet again in the coming weeks.

The Karabakh conflict dates back to 1988, when the predominantly
Armenian enclave seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan. The move triggered a
six-year war that claimed thousands of lives and drove an estimated
800,000 Azerbaijanis from their homes.

Both sides signed a cease-fire agreement in 1994 but remain
technically at war.

As a prerequisite to any peace deal, Azerbaijan demands that Armenian
troops withdraw from the adjacent territories they have been
occupying since 1993, thus paving the way for the return of displaced
populations. Only once this is achieved, Baku says, can the status of
Karabakh be discussed.

Addressing reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s Prague meeting,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov reiterated that his
country will not compromise on the issue: “Our main objective is to
achieve a result. Such a result must be that Armenian forces withdraw
from the occupied territories and that refugees return home. This is
our fundamental approach. What we are discussing here is how to
possibly achieve that result.”

Yesterday’s meeting was the fifth held by Mammadyarov and Oskanian in
the Czech capital in the framework of what is known as the “Prague
process.”

As in previous cases, neither envoy divulged details of the
discussions.

Azerbaijan’s pro-government “525-ci Qazet” newspaper said today that
the main result achieved this week in Prague is that both ministers
agreed to meet again in the coming weeks.

More optimistically, Azerbaijan’s “Zerkalo” (Mirror), a
Russian-language daily, reports both sides agreed on the fundamental
principles of a peace settlement and are now ready to examine
“concrete issues and details.”

But in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service yesterday,
Oskanian said the basic principles of a peace agreement remain to be
worked out: “I wish I could say that there is a full agreement on the
principles. But we are still not there. There is a general framework
of issues [to be discussed] but, as this [last] meeting showed, they
need to be further consolidated.”

Citing recent remarks attributed to Yuri Merzlyakov, Russia’s envoy
to the Minsk Group, Azerbaijani and Armenian media have been
speculating that Armenia might soon drop its demands for a so-called
“package” solution to the conflict — that is, stop insisting that
the liberation of Azerbaijani territories and the political status of
Karabakh be negotiated simultaneously.

Oskanian flatly denied those claims yesterday. However, he said the
peace process has become so intricate that, in his view, there is no
longer a clear distinction between Armenia’s “package” and
Azerbaijan’s “step-by-step” approach: “The ‘Prague process’ is fairly
difficult and complex, and it will remain such at further meetings.
On the whole, I consider the overall mood and atmosphere [of the
talks] as positive. It is still too early to disclose any details.
But once we achieve concrete results on specific issues, we will
release them gradually.”

The Baku-based Turan news agency yesterday quoted Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Metin Mirza as saying the Minsk Group had
discussed with both envoys the possibility of sending a fact-finding
mission to Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s Armenian-held territories.

In the meantime, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
will discuss a draft resolution on the Karabakh conflict later this
month (25 January).

In it, the Strasbourg-based assembly urges country members Armenia
and Azerbaijan to foster political reconciliation. It also calls on
Yerevan to comply with past UN resolutions calling for the liberation
of all occupied territories of Azerbaijan and reaffirms the right of
displaced populations to return to their homes “safely and with
dignity.”

AFSHAR SULEYMANI: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRAN AND ARMENIA ARE NOT AIMED
AT DAMAGE TO AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10. ARMINFO. The relations between Iran and Armenia
are existing, however, they are not directed to the detriment to
Azerbaijan, says Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan
Afshar Suleymani in the interview with Day.Az.

According to him, the level of present relations between Iran and
Armenia is often exaggerated. The ambassador noted that there is an
agreement between Iran and Armenia concerning laying of gas-pipeline,
which will last till 2007, and some changes could be taken place
during this time, particularly, the conflicts between Azerbaijan and
Armenia could be settled. At the same time, he emphasized that even in
the case of implementation of the gas-pipeline project, Iran will not
use this argument against Azerbaijan. “These relations would be in the
interests of Azerbaijan as Iran, having relations with Armenia, may
support the settlement of the conflict”, – said the ambassador. -R-

A mixed bag of wishes for the new year

EDUCATION MATTERS

Glendale News-Press
January 7, 2005

BY DAN KIMBER

I’m a great one for new beginnings, although I’m not crazy about the
word, “resolution.” “I resolve,” sounds too much like, “I’ll do this or
else.” When “or else” happens, as it often does, there is a sense of
failure, which makes succeeding more difficult. Hopes, wishes and good
intentions make more sense for people like me who are easily led astray
from resolutions.

The following is a real mixed bag of hopes and good intentions for a new
year. If some of it seems petty, trivial, mean-spirited or
short-sighted, know that it comes from an imperfect human being whose
hopes for a better world spring eternal, especially as a new year
approaches.

. I hope that Naira Khachatrian, whose self-anointed public crusade is
to denounce our school district, takes a broader view of the situation.
Her only audience seems to be non-English- speaking parents who have not
yet availed themselves of the services our district generously offers.

I can’t help but think that Khachatrian should bless the day that she
chose to come to this country, where her children’s needs would be so
well attended, rather than always speak about how much better things
were in Armenia. Instead, she accuses Glendale schools of failing to
reach out to its immigrant students and compares the district’s
negligence to atrocities committed during the Armenian genocide. This
woman’s breathtaking lack of knowledge is surpassed only by her lack of
gratitude for a school district that has undergone revolutionary change
to accommodate its immigrant population.

And while on the subject of village cranks, I seem to have awakened one
myself. Let me reiterate that divergent viewpoints are welcome, but I’m
not real keen on having my words taken out of context. I will continue
to believe that words like “liberal” and “conservative,” while
occasionally useful, are usually misleading. They invariably freeze
people in motion, sacrificing intelligence for the convenience of
mindless labels.

“The far-left views of Mr. Kimber.” What more does one need to know
about Mr. Kimber?

And just a final note on the above. What I write in this space and what
I say in my classroom are, with few exceptions, separate. I thought that
was rather obvious.

. I hope that cigarette companies will abandon their bold-faced lies
about wanting to dissuade teenagers from smoking. Why on Earth would
major corporations, whose profits depend on cultivating an addiction to
their product among, specifically, teenagers, do anything to interrupt
that profit?

People don’t start smoking in their 20s. The allure of tobacco begins
years before. That these corporations entice adults to their killing
products is one thing — it can always be argued that smoking is a
personal choice, and that we are free to choose. But to present a
benign, caring image to the public by advocating a “responsible” use of
their product — combines blatant hypocrisy with a callous disregard for
the suffering their product ultimately causes.

. I hope that people will soon rise up and say “enough” to theaters
that advertise products to a captive audience that has just paid $10 for
a seat and about the same for popcorn and a drink.

I mean, really, what’s next? Commercial breaks during the movie?

There are, no doubt, advertising executives speculating just when that
might be introduced to a docile public, but if enough people call to
find out whether their local theater subjects its patrons to ads, and
then make a conscious decision to go elsewhere to theaters that don’t,
owners might be persuaded to drop the ads.

. On a lighter and decidedly personal note, I’m hoping to encounter
fewer people in 2005 who violate that face-to-face space during
conversations. For those who seem to want to bring our noses together
when we talk, here’s a suggestion: When I back away — let me. When my
glasses fog up — back off. Ditto for people who pick their teeth or
clean their nails or … who want to share their body maintenance with
the world.

. One can only hope that reality programs on TV will go away, much as
one might hope that hemorrhoids are a passing thing.

I am, however, less than hopeful when I consider that professional
“wrestling” is still popular in our country.

. My cat has amazingly bad breath. I mean really bad breath. I’m
wishing in the new year that he will cease yawning in my face when I am
asleep. I really like this cat, but the breath thing is coming between
us. He has jolted me out of a sound sleep more than once. Only my piano
teacher when I was 10 had worse breath. We shared a piano bench for one
hour each week for two years. A lovely, gentle lady she was, but someone
I always thought had eaten bad food before our lessons.

There’s more, but I’ll spare you. Do let me know what you think.

DAN KIMBER is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District, where
he has taught for more than 30 years. He may be reached at [email protected].

,1,7472610.story

Newsday (New York)
January 7, 2005 Friday
CITY EDITION

NEWS & NOTES;
An Armenian surprise waits in Flushing

BY JOSH OZERSKY. Josh Ozersky is a regular food reviewer for Newsday.

When you think of Flushing, if you’re anything like me, it is the
Orient that comes to mind: Korean places on Northern Boulevard,
Chinese regional near Main, the Mutton Man on 41st Street. But Sevan,
21-607 Horace Harding Expy., 718-281-0004, brings the cuisine of
Armenia to the mix.

Among the ethnic specialties are lahmajun, a kind of spiced,
thin-crust pizza with ground beef, onions, tomatoes and spices; the
dried beef called basturma; sujukh, spiced cured ground beef;
khinkali, Armenian meat dumplings; and a number of other Armenian
treats along with the hummus and kebabs.

There is also a big menu of entrees, all less than $9, including
grilled quail, marinated pork chops, sweetwater trout in “specialty
seasoning,” and a steak the owner tells me has been marinated for 20
days.

Sripraphai, 64-13 39th Ave., 718- 899-9599, everyone’s favorite Thai
restaurant, is closed for kitchen renovations until Jan. 19. Since
the place has been touted in the press, the tiny kitchen has been
overtaxed. The new kitchen will be faster and more convenient for the
staff in the restaurant that has beguiled the city.

The Modern, Danny Meyer’s long-awaited restaurant in the Museum of
Modern Art, is finally set to open – sort of. While the formal dining
room won’t start serving until later this winter, the more casual Bar
Room, 9 W. 53rd St., 212-333-1220, opened Wednesday with its own
menu. I would expect that the Bar Room, like the “tavern” section of
Meyer’s celebrated Gramercy Tavern, will be a fine restaurant in its
own right, and “casual” relative to the full-dress dining area. Meyer
hasn’t created a bad restaurant yet (Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, 11
Madison Park, Blue Smoke, etc.) so why should he start now?

Calla Larga, 247-63 Jericho Tpke. in Bellerose, 718-343-2185, is
worth a visit just for its fine, Istrian-inflected Northern Italian
cooking. But on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for $25, you can also have a
psychic reading for dessert, courtesy of his-and-hers mediums Gerald
and Rita. Reservations are suggested, although Gerald and Rita know
you are coming.

Carnivore alert! Anyone with a love of meat deep in their hearts will
want to mark Feb. 8 on their calendar. That is when Beacon’s, 25 W.
56th St., 212-332-0500, fifth annual Beefsteak will be held. What is
a Beefsteak? As immortalized by Joseph Mitchell in his 1939 essay
“All You Can Hold for Five Bucks,” a beefsteak is a wild, Dionysian
revel, an orgy of beef-eating where happy patrons can down endless
steak, lamb chops, kidneys and hamburgers to the merrily flatulent
sounds of a German oom-pah band. As in the classical tradition,
silverware will be optional – but satiation is mandatory. Call for
reservations; Beefsteak admission is $95, plus tax and tip.

Rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated. It’s the Plaza
Hotel’s Oyster Bar that’s closing, not the 92-year-old Grand Central
Oyster Bar & Restaurant, as feared by loyalists.

GRAPHIC: Photo – The Bar Room is open at the Museum of Modern Art.

Azeri pressure group publicizes war plan to retake occupied territories

ANS TV, Baku
4 Jan 05

The Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] has prepared a unified
platform to liberate Azerbaijani territories from Armenian
occupation. The platform is going to be submitted to the presidential
administration, political parties and non-governmental organizations
starting from 4 January.

The chairman of the KLO, Akif Nagi, believes that Azerbaijan should
abandon the Karabakh talks. All the political forces have to accept
the imminence of a military way. Mobilization must be declared and the
territories must be liberated from occupation through a war.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

Armenia increases military expenses by 35%

After the discussions on the 2005 state budget the Armenian
parliament passed a decision last week to increase military expenses.

Although the military expenses earlier made up 13% of the state
budget ($98m), the figure was increased up to 18% by the parliament
to total the military expenses 35% of the next year’s state budget.
Thus, the funds scheduled to be allocated for education will be spent
on defense.
In 2004, Armenia’s military expenses constituted $82 million.
The military expenditures of Georgia will total $65 million in 2005.
In Azerbaijan, the government has decided to raise military expenses
up to $250 million next year. The figure stood at $180 million in
2004.
Commenting on Armenia’s unexpected move to increase military
expenses, political analyst Rovshan Novruzoghlu explained the fact
with the new aggressive position of Armenia in the South Caucasus
region and the country’s unsuccessful foreign policy pursued in the
international arena over the recent years.
Novruzoghlu said that the Armenian lobbyists in the United States
have appealed to the Congress with regard to allocation of $75
million to Armenia and $15 million to Upper Garabagh in military
assistance. Armenia intends to use financial assistance provided by
Diaspora and other foreign sources for military purposes, the
political analyst underlined.*

Armenian parliament approves sending military specialists to Iraq

Itar-Tass, Russia
Dec 24 2004

YEREVAN, December 24 (Itar-Tass) – The Armenian parliament has ratified
a bill on sending military specialists to Iraq.

The decision was made after seven hours of closed-door debates.
Ninety-one deputy supported the bill, 23 voted against, and one
abstained. The Justice opposition bloc and the Dashnaktsutyun party,
which is a member of the ruling coalition and holder of ministerial
portfolios, objected to the bill.

Thus, Armenia joined the memorandum on mutual understanding in the
formation of the South-Center multinational division led by Poland
and stationed in Iraq. The document signed between Poland and another
19 countries last July regulates relations in the division.

Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said they would send up to
50 military drivers, sappers and medics to Iraq. Their mission will
be purely humanitarian and voluntary. Contracts will be signed with
the Armenian servicemen, he said.

Armenia will make several reservations before sending its personnel to
Iraq, Sarkisyan said. Firstly, they must not take part in operations
together with Azerbaijani units. Secondly, they must be engaged only in
defensive and humanitarian actions. In case of demining handmade bombs,
America must supply Armenian sappers with robots, the minister said.