Author: Tigranian Ani

Dallas Morning News , TX
Aug 20 2005

1,000-year-old church is being restored

04:37 PM CDT on Friday, August 19, 2005

By SELCAN HACAOGLU

AKDAMAR ISLAND, Turkey – Rainwater seeps through the conical dome of
Akhtamar’s thousand-year-old church, washing away biblical frescoes
from one of the finest surviving monuments of ancient Armenian
culture. Bullet holes pock the sandstone walls.

After a century of neglect and decades of political wrangling,
Turkey has begun to restore the church. The renovation comes as
Turkish leaders face pressure from the European Union to improve
their treatment of minorities.

The $1.5 million restoration, ordered and paid for by the Turkish
government, began in May. It is raising hopes that a small, cautious
thaw in relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia could expand.

The church is the lone building on a tiny island in a lake. It is
covered in scaffolding, as masons replace fallen roof stones to stop
rainwater and rebuild the basalt floor dug out by treasure hunters.
Experts also will try to restore the frescoes in the interior.

“This is our positive approach, our message,” said Turkey’s prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has staked his rule on winning
membership in the EU.

The European Union urged Turkey last year to consider registering
Akhtamar in UNESCO’s World Heritage List and is urging the country
to reopen its border and re-establish diplomatic ties with Armenia.

Turkey has taken cautious steps toward improving connections with
Armenia, and a member of Mr. Erdogan’s political party visited its
capital this year. But relations remain cool because of animosities
over ethnic bloodletting a century ago.

Eastern Turkey was once a heartland of Armenian culture, and more
than a million Armenians lived there at the turn of the 19th century.
They were driven out – Armenia says it was a policy of genocide by
Turks, the Turkish government denies that was the case.

Akhtamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was one of
the most important churches of those ancient Armenian lands.

It was built by Armenian King Gagik I of Vaspurakan and inaugurated
in A.D. 921. Gagik’s historian described the church as being near
a harbor and a palace with gilded cupolas, peacefully surrounded by
the lake. Only the church survived.

By 1113, the church had become the center of the Armenian Patriarchate
of Akhtamar and an inspiration to mystics in the area. The island
was the center of a renowned school of scribal art and illumination.

The region was a thriving center of Armenian culture but was engulfed
in ethnic conflict as the Turks’ Ottoman Empire splintered at the
end of World War I.

Akhtamar has been empty for decades. Some of its reliefs are stained
with paint and eggs thrown by vandals. Bullet holes, apparently from
shepherds who used the site for target practice, mar the walls.

The church is considered one of the most important examples of
Armenian architecture.

Elaborate reliefs project up to 4 inches from brownish-red sandstone
walls, almost like sculptures. Some depict biblical stories, such
as Jonah being swallowed by the whale and Daniel in the lion’s den.
Others show cows, lions, birds and other animals to remind worshippers
that the church is an image of paradise.

Mr. Erdogan’s government asked the Armenian Christian patriarch in
Istanbul, where nearly all of Turkey’s remaining 65,000 Armenians live,
to name an architect to help with the restoration.

Zakarya Mildanoglu, the architect picked, said he hopes the restoration
helps improve relations between Armenia and Turkey, but he added:
“We need to be patient. Things that happened a century ago cannot be
healed overnight.”

TWO-DAY CONGRESS OF CLERGYMEN AND CHURCH COUNCILS OF ARMENIAN DIOCESE
OF TEHRAN FINISHES

TEHRAN, AUGUST 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A two-day Congress
of Clergymen and Church Councils of the diocese took place at the
national primacy of the Armenian diocese of Tehran on August 16-17.
Archimadrite Nshan Topuzian, the Primate of the Aterpatakan Armenian
Diocese, and the complete group of the clergymen of the Tehran Armenian
Diocese participated in the Congress held under the patronage and
chairing of Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian, the primate of the Armenian
diocese of Tehran. According to the “Alik” daily, during the discussion
of the second day, His Holiness explained comprehensively clergymen’s
obligations, summing up: “Pastor’s constant and warm relation with his
parishioners, his sermonizing and celebrating, stimulated by a prayer,
are the best data for success and only success.” The second lecture
delivered by Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian on the theme “Clergyman – Church
Council – People Relation” touched upon modern issues and agendas. At
the end, members of the Church Councils were given opportunity to make
a speech. At the closing of the Congress, among his final practical
advice and estimations, His Holiness expressed his double happiness
and anxiety on the occasion of agendas came out of the Congress,
and said: “I believe that, working together, thinking and planning
together, and especially, carrying out our activities, we can serve
our people wider.”

EXIM BANK CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR FINANCING STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES OF ARMENIA AS WELL

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 12 meeting of the
Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatul Margarian and the President and
Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of the US EXIM Bank (Export
and Import Bank) James Lambright, the sides discussed the prospects
for using the Bank’s programs for the further development of trade
and economic relations between Armenia and the US. T. Margarian
presented the current process of reforms in Armenia and the measures
taken by the country’s authorities to encourage domestic and foreign
investments and promote the foreign trade. J. Lambright expressed
satisfaction at the process of the reform implementation in Armenia
and the positive dynamics of the economic indices, noting that in
March 2005, EXIM Bank opened an opportunity for financing enterprises
of the Armenian state sector as well. According to the RA MFA Press
and Information Department, during the meeting, the sides reached an
agreement to carry out joint activities aimed at implementing the
EXIM Bank-financed programs in Armenia and most appropriately
reflecting the risk classification of Armenia’s current economic
state at international organizations.

TWO AZERBAIJANI SOLDIERS STRIKE IN A MINE
2005-08-17 13:45

Azerbaijan News Service
Aug 16 2005

Armed forces of Armenia in occupied Seyidsulan village of Terter region
shelled at positions of Azerbaijan army in Qapanli and Qaradaghli
villages of the same region at night from August 16 to 17.Meanwhile
two Azerbaijani soldiers stroke in a mine in contact line of the two
armies in Qapanlivillage of Terter region. Zamiq Aslanov, the wounded
was taken to Sarijali hospital. The other soldier Ilqar Nureliyev,
19, enlisted from Azizbeyov Military Enlistment Office on April 1
2004 passed away at the spot informs ANS Qarabaq bureau. Ministry of
Defense affirms the news as well.

CITIZEN OF TURKEY INSISTS ON FINDING HIMSELF GUILTY ONLY OF ATTEMPT
OF SMUGGLING

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Ektan Turkylmaz, a citizen of Turkey
charged with having made an attempt of smuggling, gave evidences
at the Court of First Instance of the Malatia-Sebastia community,
Yerevan, on August 15. The defendant stated that, on the whole, he
bought 109 or 110 books in Armenia. 4 of them are books published
before 1750, others are ones published from 1850 to 2004, about
50 books from which are of the publications of 1900-1924. He again
stated that he finds himself guilty only of an attempt of smuggling,
what, according to him, is a result of his not knowing laws of
Armenia. But, prosecutor Koryun Piloyan quoted a statement made by
witness Armen Khorenian during the later’s confrontation-examination
with Y.Turkeylmaz during the preliminary investigation. According
to the statement he forewarned of the spetial order on export of
incunabular books from Armenia. The defendant flatly disproved the
accusation of smuggling, according to which, with the help of his
sister, Y.Turkylmaz exported from Armenia Ghevond Alishan’s book
“Sisvan and Cilicia: Levon Metsagorts.” According to the defendant,
this book and, in general, any other has not been exported from
Armenia. And Y.Turkylmaz presented the above-mentioned book to a
person living in Armenia, whose name he did not want to mention. The
hearing on the case continues on August 16.

Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
August 10, 2005 Wednesday
Community World – Midtown Edition

Conservatory builds on kids’ musical abilities

Annie Gasparro World Staff Writer

As auditions for Barthelmes Conservatory’s music school begin,
executive director Aida Aydinyan hopes to take the program to a
new level.

Aydinyan, who was raised in Armenia and became executive director last
summer, said she wants to incorporate the Armenian model of education
into the conservatory by focusing on the history and theory behind
the music her students perform.

“I brought with me a system of knowledge and a vision,” she said.
“Music is much more than learning how to play a song.”

Aydinyan organized the conservatory into two components: the music
center and the music school.

The music center provides private music lessons to students of all
ages and abilities.

“This area is more community-oriented — no auditions or exams. We
have all ages come in, children and adults,” Aydinyan said.

However, the music school is reserved for second- to sixth-graders
who demonstrate high musical aptitude.

The audition process consists of written and audio tone and rhythm
tests, an interview with the student and an interview with the parents.

“It is not based on skill,” Aydinyan said. “It is based on initial
musical giftedness.”

Aydinyan said the student does not need to know how to play an
instrument to audition.

“We are not performance oriented, but we’re concentrating on the
process and enjoying the process,” she said.

Selected students receive a full scholarship for a twice-weekly
after-school program where they learn music theory and receive
instrumental instruction.

“The whole idea of music school is that we can give an opportunity
to someone who would never otherwise be given musical instruction,”
Aydinyan said.

Last year, the school accepted 13 students.

This year, Aydinyan plans to expand by introducing a more advanced
program for second-year students that offers extra classes such as
music literature and orchestra.

But the school needs the funds to do so.

“The instructors recommended 10 of the students to continue, and we
will also have a new pool of students,” she said. “So we are looking
for the general public to support us.”

She said the conservatory receives grants from the Barthelmes
Foundation and will hold fundraisers.

Aydinyan said she hopes to start an “adopt-a-gifted-student” program
to get the rest of the community involved.

Christina Hardin, mother of two music center students, said the
instructors get the community involved by taking the students to play
at venues such as restaurants and nursing homes.

Hardin’s children, Emma, 12, and Zac, 10, are taking weekly lessons
from music instructor Kevin Jackson.

“The key is learning when they’re young, because whether you want
to play more seriously or for fun, it builds a foundation for high
school and anything after that,” Jackson said.

Emma and Zac are auditioning for the music school.

Emma, learning the cello, and Zac, playing the double bass, have
influenced other children with their interest in music.

“Their friends came kind of snowballing once they saw that Zac and
Emma like it,” Hardin said.

The conservatory also provides free string and drum instruction
to students at three Tulsa elementary schools as part of a talent
development program.

While at the schools, the instructors often find students who are
musically gifted and can encourage them to audition for music school.

For auditions or private lessons at Barthelmes Conservatory, call
794-0330.

Karabakh Republic registers 22-per-cent GDP growth in six months

Mediamax news agency
8 Aug 05

YEREVAN

The GDP of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] grew by 22.6 per cent
in the first half of 2005 as against the same period of 2004 totalling
20.1bn drams [38.9m dollars].

The GDP mostly grew due to the output of industry (8.4 per cent),
transport and communication (3.3 per cent) and construction (1.7 per
cent), the NKR National Statistics Service told Mediamax today.

In January-June 2005, the volume of the NKR ‘s foreign trade was
28.1bn drams [54.5m dollars], which is 18.2 per cent higher than in
the same period of the last year. Meanwhile, the volume of export was
8.8bn drams [17.1m dollars] (growth 8.5 per cent) and the volume of
import – 19.3bn drams [37.4m dollars] (growth 23.2 per cent).

The Times, UK
Aug 8 2005

>From rags to riches to ruined reputation
>From James Bone in New York and Michael Theodoulou in Nicosia

BENON SEVAN, a United Nations official who served in Afghanistan and
Iraq, allegedly took kickbacks after losing money in a stock fraud.

The investigation of the Oil-for-Food scandal, chaired by Paul
Volcker, blamed Mr Sevan’s `precarious personal financial condition’
yesterday for his decision to accept almost $150,000 (£84,000) in
1998 and 2002.

Mr Sevan earned $129,524 (£72,600) when he took over the Oil-For-Food
programme in 1997. His wife, Micheline, made $69,243 (£38,800) as an
assistant at the UN’s department of economic and social affairs.

The couple owned a house in Long Island, rented a flat in Manhattan
and had savings of less than $5,000 in their New York bank accounts.

But in 1996 Mr Sevan bought shares worth $180,000 using money from an
equity line of credit and taking a cash advance on his credit card.
His investment lost more than half of its value, partly because of a
stock fraud that led to the conviction of four brokers. From December
1996 to October 1998, Mr Sevan’s bank account was overdrawn 45 times
and his wife’s account was in the red 153 times.

A Cypriot-Armenian, Mr Sevan is in Cyprus, which does not extradite
its citizens.

Mr Sevan’s mother, Verginia, was a teenager when she gave birth out
of wedlock. She was cast out by her family and his father is
understood to have refused to recognise him.Mr Sevan was supported by
his mother’s three sisters as he studied at the prestigious Melkonian
Educational Institute in Nicosia.

He went on to win a scholarship to Columbia University in New York
before joining the UN.

Mr Sevan maintains his innocence and claims to have received $160,000
in cash gifts from an aunt, Berdjouhi Zeitountsian, a retired civil
servant. She died last year aged 84 after falling down a lift shaft.

PanArmenian News Network
Aug 8 2005

RA DEPUTY FM MET HIS CHINESE COUNTERPART

08.08.2005 07:45

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakosian met with his Chinese counterpart Qiao Guanhua, RA MFA
press center reported. During the meeting the parties highly
appreciated the possibility of political dialogue on the urgent
issues and noted the high level of bilateral relations. Qiao Guanhua
presented the priorities of China’s foreign policy, relations with
other states of the region, China’s approaches towards UN reforming.
When touching upon the enlargement of the UN Security Council, Qiao
Guanhua noted that Beijing views the problem within the U reforming
as a unified structure. In his turn Arman Kirakosian stressed the
necessity of coordination principle. He also presented the
developments of the region, Armenia’s relations with the neighbor
states and the Karabakh conflict settlement process.

The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 8 2005

Baku: Kars-Akhalkalaki railway to be built by 2007
By M. Alkhazashvili

The Kars-Akhalkalaki railway project connecting Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan via rails has been a long lasting topic for discussion,
but only recently became an issue of serious proposals.

Now the Azerbaijan Ministry of Transport has stated that
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway will be opened in a year and a
half and will cost USD 400 million, the paper Rezonansi reports.

Project feasibility studies will be ready by the end of the year and
Turkey has announced a tender on the studies. Within the framework of
the project Azeri, Georgian and Turkish transportation officials will
meet in Istanbul in August.

Already officials say that connecting Turkey’s railway with the South
Caucasus railway system will be profitable not only for Turkey,
Georgia and Azerbaijan, but also for the countries that could use the
line for transit. And despite the profitability of the line, the
construction of the small length of track (98 km, 68 in Turkey and 30
in Georgia) has been delayed for many years.

The main reason for this is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
fact that an operating line once existed between Turkey and Armenia.
A group of U.S. congressmen are arguing that ignoring this line would
be a major setback for the treatment of Armenia and for the peace
process.

As a result, they have proposed a bill titled South Caucasus
Integration and Open Railroads Act of 2005. The U.S. Congressmen who
submitted the bill, Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
and George Radanovich (R-CA), argue that no U.S. aid should be given
to the rail project precisely because it excludes Armenia from the
East-West corridor.

The stated goal of the bill (H.R. 3361) is “To prohibit United States
assistance to develop or promote any rail connections or
railway-related connections that traverse or connect Baku,
Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Kars, Turkey, and that specifically
exclude cities in Armenia.”

Despite the censure by the American legislators, officials in Baku,
Tbilisi and Ankara appear unfazed. At present, the railway
construction is slated to be conducted in two rounds. First one track
will be built and later when the railway starts operations, a second
track will be constructed.

Georgian papers state that according to estimates over the first year
of operation, 10 million tons of cargo will be transported and later
the figure will rise to 50 million tons. It is also forecast that the
line could be used for oil shipping that is today is transported by
sea through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.