Author: Tigranian Ani

CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCHATE STRIVES TO PREVENT ABOLITION OF MELKONIAN

ISTANBUL, March 11 (Noyan Tapan). Patriarch of Armenians in
Constantinople, most reverend master, Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian
answers the questions of Noyan Tapan information agency.

Q. – Patriarch Lord. Armenians worldwide are concerned with the dispute
on the Melkonian Educational Institute evolved between the Armenian
Patriarchate in Constantinople and the Armenian General Benevolent
Union (AGBU). Please, present the background of this issue briefly.

A. – Here is the outline. In 1921, Karapet Melkonian transferred a
donation of 400,000 Egyptian pounds (3,5 million dollars at that time)
to the Patriarchate in Constantinople. In 1924, blissful Patriarch
Zaven Yeghiayan established a school and an orphanage in the city
of Nicosia, Cyprus, by the income arisen out of this donation. He
named it Melkonian Educational Institute. In 1925, Zaven Patriarch
transferred the Cyprus MEI and the entire fund got from Melkonian
to AGBU. It is to be mentioned that AGBU gets everything from the
Constantinople Patriarchate. In 1926, with the court’s decision an
agreement was signed between Karapet Melkonian, Zaven Patriarch
and AGBU. According to the agreement, AGBU has to keep open the
Melkonian Educational Institute, provide it with necessary supply,
pay annually 1,000 Egyptian pounds to the Jerusalem Patriarchate,
1,500 Egyptian pounds to the Constantinople Patriarchate, as well
as open a kindergarten for Armenians living in Alexandria. In 2004,
however, the AGBU announced about its decision to close the Melkonian
Educational Institute, which is the only 12-year Armenian school in
the European Union. I, painfully, followed for-and-against opinions on
this matter published in the Armenian media. And, on December 26, 2004,
I saw for the first time the official copy of the 1926 agreement. It
was clear that the legal successors of Zaven Patriarch were competent
to interfere these circumstances. Therefore, in January, we sued a
judicial act against the AGBU in the Californian high court to withdraw
the decision about closing the Melkonian Educational Institute.

Q. – How do you assess the AGBU announcement on having an intention
to establish a similar institution in Armenia, instead of Melkonian
Educational Institute?

A. – What does “similar” institution mean? How may the only Armenian
school operating in the European Union be replaced with a new school
in Armenia? Opening a new school in Armenia will cost, at the highest
estimates, 2-3 million US dollars. The AGBU elite or satellites can
easily build such a school in Armenia, and closing another school
operating in Europe is not required at all. People will think,
whether they want or not, that if the territory and the buildings of
the Melkonian Educational Institute are sold, the AGBU will earn,
according to Cyprus Armenians, more than 120 million US dollars.
There is also the fund from the Melkonian will, which according to
the experts would comprise not less than 20 million US dollars if
reasonably administered. What are they going to do with this money?
Any member of our nation has the right to be educated. Karapet
Melkonian was patriot and he left his wealth to his nation through
the Patriarchate. Thus, in the words of the Gospel, today we all have
the right to say to the AGBU “Be accountable for your actions.”

Q. – So, may we conclude that the primary goal of the Patriarchate is
maintaining the Melkonian Educational Institute, rather than getting
funds from the will of patron Melkonians?

A. – Certainly. Every year, the Patriarchate gets certain amounts
of allocations. In 2004, I think we got 1,600 US dollars. I do not
know the numbers by heart. Not much will be changed in our annual
budget with more or less allocations. The following is important: Like
every charitable institution, the AGBU also must be accountable to
our people. What happened to the 3,5 million US dollars of 1920s? How
much money is available in the Melkonian will today? The nation has
to be informed about these.

Q. – In the critical opinions addressed to you, there were, among
others, accusations that before suing at court you did not try to
settle the dispute with the AGBU by negotiations. Please comment
on this.

A. – We would be satisfied if only critical opinions were heard. Prior
to the Catholicos Elections in 1999, when there was a view that I
would announce about my candidacy based on recommendations of some
leading clergymen, the Armenian mercenary media started to stick me
in the mud with slanderous accusations and abuse. Other potential
candidates too, were subject to the same treatment??. The wicked
and immoral people behave this way merely when they are anxious that
their interests are damaged. Today again, the same people take up the
same dirty methods to use the Melkonian will, because unfortunately,
they are broke from moral and ideological points of view. Sin!

A. for the negotiations: the current successor of Zaven Patriarch is
the guarantor of the Melkonian will. Why have not the AGBU applied
to the Patriarchate yet? That is because the AGBU did not want to
negotiate. We shall not forget that up to now no reply was given
to the letters and critics addressed to the AGBU. In other words,
accusation shall be re-directed to the AGBU.

Q. – Do you see any perspective today to avoid the judicial act and
achieve an agreement with the AGBU?

A. – Two months ago, we expressed readiness to host one of the
AGBU delegations in Constantinople, in response to the Californian
mediators. Thus, it is hard to understand the purpose of nasty
announcements and other forms of attacks of Ramkavar Azatakan Party
through media. They may think that negotiating after “beating” will
be more beneficial for them. They are mistaken.

Rstakian: withdrawal would be a catastrophe for Javakhk Armenians

11.03.2005  

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Davit Rstakian, a Georgian Armenian politician,
voiced his concern over the Georgian parliament’s Thursday decision
to speed up the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Georgia,
including the military base stationed in Armenian-populated Akhalkalak,
Armenpress reported.

Speaking to Radio Liberty, Rstakian said that over 300 Armenians work
for the Russian military base at Akhalkalak, and withdrawing the base
would be a catastrophe for them.

Besides, he added, such withdrawal would change the balance of forces
in the region and breach the stability.

–Boundary_(ID_jyTkBLTGKkkTMFuGXQ0V3A)–

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (E.)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

March 9, 2005
____________________

VARTAN GREGORIAN, STEPHEN FEINSTEIN, AND PETER BALAKIAN TO BE FEATURED
AT BANQUET HONORING GENOCIDE SCHOLAR VAHAKN DADRIAN

Major Figures Will Address Gala “Lifetime Achievement Award” Banquet at
Diocesan Center, NYC, on Apr. 2

* * *

Carnegie Corporation president Vartan Gregorian and Holocaust specialist
Stephen Feinstein will be the keynote speakers, and author Peter
Balakian will be Master of Ceremonies, at the upcoming “Lifetime
Achievement Award” banquet honoring Dr. Vahakn N. Dadrian, the eminent
scholar of the Armenian Genocide.

The Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America will bestow a
special Lifetime Achievement Award on Dr. Dadrian during a gala banquet
on Saturday, April 2, 2005. His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,
the Diocesan Primate, will preside over the event and present the award
to Dr. Dadrian.

In addition, the banquet guests will view a multi-media presentation on
Dr. Dadrian’s life and work, by the Zoryan Institute. (For reservation
information, see below.)

Dr. Vahakn N. Dadrian is recognized as the world’s foremost authority on
the Armenian Genocide. Over the past 35 years, he has laid the
scholarly groundwork for the study of the Genocide, and with his mastery
of five languages and his ability to integrate the disciplines of
history, law, and sociology, Dr. Dadrian is uniquely qualified for the
work of piecing together related facts from scattered sources.

In addition to his success in placing the Armenian Genocide in the
mainstream of international scholarship, Dr. Dadrian is one of the
pioneers in the field of comparative genocide research. His multi-level
methodological framework for the field of comparative genocide studies
is considered a major contribution to an ultimate “theory of genocide.”

Biographical sketches of the three major featured guests appear below.

* * *

VARTAN GREGORIAN is the 12th president of Carnegie Corporation of New
York, a grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911.
Prior to his current position, which he assumed in June 1997, Dr.
Gregorian served for nine years as the 16th president of Brown
University.

He was born in Tabriz, Iran, to Armenian parents, receiving his early
education in Iran and later Lebanon. In 1956 he entered Stanford
University, where he majored in history and the humanities, graduating
with honors in 1958. He was awarded a doctorate in history and
humanities from Stanford in 1964.

Gregorian has taught European and Middle Eastern history at San
Francisco State College, the University of California at Los Angeles,
and the University of Texas at Austin. In 1972, he joined the
University of Pennsylvania faculty and was appointed the Tarzian
Professor of History and professor of South Asian history. He was
founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1974, and four years later became its 23rd provost,
serving until 1981.

For eight years (1981-1989), Gregorian was president of the New York
Public Library, an institution with a network of four research libraries
and 83 circulating libraries. In 1989 he was appointed president of
Brown University.

Gregorian is the author of The Road to Home: My Life And Times; Islam: A
Mosaic, Not A Monolith; and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan,
1880-1946. A Phi Beta Kappa and a Ford Foundation Foreign Area Training
Fellow, he is a recipient of numerous fellowships, and is a Fellow of
the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, and the American Philosophical
Society.

He serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study at
Princeton, Human Rights Watch, and the Museum of Modern Art. He served
on the boards of J. Paul Getty Trust, the Aga Khan University, the
McGraw-Hill Companies, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He
has been decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian, and Portuguese
governments. His numerous civic and academic honors include some 56
honorary degrees.

In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal.
In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the
nation’s highest civil award.

* * *

STEPHEN C. FEINSTEIN is Emeritus Professor of History at the University
of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he has taught history and art history
since l969. Dr. Feinstein received his bachelor’s degree from Villanova
University, and a doctorate in Russian history from New York University.
He has taught courses on Russian art and architecture and lectures on
Western European art.

He was guest curator for the 5,000 square foot exhibition, Witness and
Legacy: Contemporary Art About the Holocaust, at the Minnesota Museum of
American Art. The exhibition was on tour through the year 2002 at 16
other museum sites across the United States. In 1999, Dr. Feinstein was
curator of a 7,000 square foot exhibition at the University of
Minnesota’s Nash Gallery, Absence/Presence: The Artistic Memory of the
Holocaust and Genocide.

Dr. Feinstein has been a frequent lecturer at universities in the U.S.
and Europe on artistic responses to the Holocaust and problems of
representation. He was an invited scholar to the Stockholm
International Conference (2000), and the European Union Conference on
Holocaust Education through the Arts (2002). He is also a curatorial
consultant for the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, and a
member of the board of directors of the Association of Holocaust
Organizations (AHO).

He served recently as the Ida B. King Distinguished Professor of
Holocaust Studies at New Jersey’s Richard Stockton University. A book
edited by Dr. Feinstein, Absence/Presence: Critical Essays and
Reflections on Art of the Holocaust, will be published by Syracuse
University Press in 2005.

Since September 1997, Dr. Feinstein has served as director for the
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of
Minnesota, whose purpose is to provide a resource for teaching about the
Holocaust and other forms of genocide. Since the establishment of CHGS,
issues surrounding the history and memory of the Armenian Genocide have
been a central part of both the program and the center’s website
().

* * *

PETER BALAKIAN holds a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University, and a
doctorate in American Civilization from Brown University. He teaches at
Colgate University, where he is a Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar
Professor of the Humanities; he specializes in American poetry, poetry
writing, American literature, modern Irish poetry, and genocide studies.

His dramatic 1997 memoir, Black Dog of Fate, told the story of his
awakening to the Armenian Genocide, and its unspoken effects on his own
family. The book proved to be a milestone in the popular recognition of
the Genocide, and has gained worldwide notice through its numerous
translated editions. It was listed among the New York Times and Los
Angeles Times “Notable Books,” and won the PEN/Martha Albrand Prize for
memoirs.

In Dr. Balakian’s recent book, The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide
and America’s Response (2003), he returns to the theme of the tragedy of
1915–this time from the perspective of contemporary humanitarian
responses to the widely reported annihilation of Turkey’s Armenian
population. The book spent a number of weeks on the New York Times
bestseller list, and was a “Notable Book” for both the Times and
Publishers Weekly.

Beyond his roles as scholar, memoirist, and advocate, Dr. Balakian’s
first vocation is as a poet; collections of his arresting poems include:
June-tree: New and Selected Poems, 1974-2000 (2001), Dyer’s Thistle
(1996), a translation of Siamanto’s Bloody News From My Friend (1996),
Reply From Wilderness Island (1988), Sad Days of Light (1983), and
Father Fisheye (1979). He has contributed his poetry and essays to The
Nation, Art in America, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Partisan
Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Poetry, among other periodicals.
He is the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.

* * *

The Lifetime Achievement Award banquet honoring Dr. Vahakn Dadrian will
take place on Saturday, April 2, 2005, at Haik and Alice Kavookjian
Auditorium of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (630 Second
Avenue, New York City). A reception starting at 6:30 p.m. will precede
the dinner and program at 7:30 p.m. The donation for this event is $125
per person, and tables of ten can be reserved for $1,250. Proceeds will
be used to establish a special fund in Dr. Dadrian’s honor.

Reservations for the event are still being taken, and may be made by
calling the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), at
(212) 686-0710, ext. 36.

–3/9/05

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

(1) PHOTO CAPTION: Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation
of New York, will be one of two keynote speakers at the Lifetime
Achievement Award banquet honoring Genocide scholar Dr. Vahakn Dadrian,
on April 2, at the Diocesan Center in New York City.

(2) PHOTO CAPTION: Stephen C. Feinstein, director for the Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, will also
deliver a keynote address during the Dadrian banquet.

(3) PHOTO CAPTION: Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate and The
Burning Tigris, both of which deal with the Armenian Genocide and its
aftermath, will be Master of Ceremonies at the April 2 Dadrian banquet.

# # #

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

ARAM I MEETS WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS
On Saturday the 5th of March, His Holiness Aram I held a meeting with the
president of the Republic of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulus. Archbishop
Varoujan Hergelian, Catholicosal Vicar of the Diocese of Cyprus, Bedros
Kalaidjian, representative of the Armenian Community of Cyprus, Archbishop
Nourhan Manougian of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and
representatives from the Diocese of Cyprus accompanied the delegation led by
His Holiness.

Various issues were discussed during the meeting, which lasted over an hour.
His Holiness commended the president for his desire to hold the meeting even
though the day was a holiday. Aram I, who was meeting the president for the
first time, congratulated Papadopoulus for his election as president and
expressed the support of the Armenian Community of Cyprus and the
Catholicosate of Cilicia. The president spoke about the centuries-old ties
between Cyprus and the Catholicosate of Cilicia. He highly praised the
loyalty and hard work of the Armenian Community, one of the important
communities of Cyprus.

His Holiness praised the president and the people of Cyprus for adopting a
brave stance against Turkish pressures and defending the rights of the Greek
and Christian communities of Cyprus. Referring to the UN-led effort to
reunify Cyprus, Aram I said that although the proposed plan included certain
positive terms, some of its aspects presented a potential threat to the
integrity, security and sovereignty of Cyprus.

His Holiness informed the president of the public statements made by the
World Council of Churches in the last few years in favor of the unity and
sovereignty of Cyprus.

The Cypriot president welcomed the approach of His Holiness Aram I and spoke
with detail about the danger posed by the proposed reunification plan. He
stressed that he will at all times defend the principle of protecting the
security and integrity of Cyprus. The president added that he is closely
acquainted with the efforts of His Holiness Aram I in favor of the Cyprus
issue, especially in the ecumenical spheres and praised those efforts.

His Holiness and Papadopoulus also spoke about the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. Aram I said that the Greeks and Armenians, subject to
persecution and genocide by the Turks in the past, are also subjected to
different pressures by the Turks today.

“The cause of our two nations is a cause of justice. Therefore, we should
continue our cooperation and support in a more organized manner,” said His
Holiness. He emphasized the importance of better-organized cooperation
between the Armenian and Greek lobbies of the United States and Europe. The
president welcomed the proposal and highlighted the importance of working
together to overcome Turkish pressures. His Holiness Aram I pointed out that
Turkey’s entry into the EU can cause serious problems for Europe in the
future and concluded that it is essential to cooperate in this sphere as
well.

Issues related to the Armenian Community of Cyprus were also discussed
during the meeting. His Holiness commended the president for the Cypriot
government’s support of the Armenian community, especially in the
educational sphere. He welcomed the plan to construct a monument in Larnaca,
expressing gratitude for the Greek-Cypriots’ support of the Armenian people.
His Holiness brought to the attention of the president the current situation
of the Armenian prelacy and the church in the part occupied by Turkish
forces. He emphasized the importance of their restoration through UN
efforts. The president expressed his willingness to further support the
Armenian communities in Nicosia, Larnaca and Limasol.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) Canada
March 7, 2005 Monday
Final Edition

Strong language and strong stories are on ‘The Shield’

by Alex Strachan, Special to The Leader-Post

The Shield, one of television’s most intense, violent and profane
dramas, returns for a third season, with Michael Chiklis reprising
his back-to-back Emmy Award-winning role of ethically enabled inner
city police detective Vic Mackey, last seen liberating millions of
carefully stacked greenbacks from the Armenian mob while fending off
yet another internal affairs investigation.

Mackey is one of the great characters on TV at the moment, a
personality so unremittingly awful he’s compelling to watch.

It’s also a sign of the TV audience’s maturity that The Shield can
run on a mainstream network virtually unedited — if you’re easily
offended, please, please heed the viewer advisories –without
prompting a stream of complaints.

Tonight’s season opener features music by Rupert Holmes and Kings of
Leon, but that’s just background. The foreground is Mackey’s world
and the people who inhabit it, and it’s unlike any other cop show
you’ve seen.

As for the violence, The Shield’s creator Shawn Ryan has this to say:
“There are far more violent shows on television, but they tend to be
cartoonish and big and you dismiss the violence. The problem some
people have with our show is that our violence doesn’t feel
cartoonish. It’s real. It’s visceral. We don’t flinch from it, and
that makes some people uncomfortable.”

You’re supposed to be uncomfortable, in other words. It’s one of the
things that makes The Shield what it is. CH

n Despite running off the rails in the final 10 minutes with F-words
and crude, scatological humour, Fat Actress is a promising new
hour-hour series in the vein of Curb Your Enthusiasm that combines
inside jabs at the TV industry with a broad overview of
larger-than-life social issues, such as self-image and the way
overweight people are perceived in a diet-obsessed society.

Kirstie Alley plays herself as an overweight, former sitcom star
hoping to land a prime-time gig in a comeback TV show. She’s
surrounded by sycophants and hangers-on, and when she meets a network
executive, played by actual NBC/Universal Television president Jeff
Zucker, she’s filled with unrealistic expectations.

Fat Actress is both funny and true when it riffs on the double
standard separating actors from actresses — “Jason Alexander looks
like a fricking bowling ball, and James Gandolfino is like the size
of a whale; he’s way, way, way fatter than I am,” she yells at her
agent on the phone, while chowing down on a cheeseburger — and when
it lampoons celebrity self-obsession.

Take a good look at Zucker, by the way. His scenes are meant to play
as comedy, but they’re more real than you might imagine. And if
you’re looking for who to blame –for cancelling Boomtown, moving
Scrubs all over the schedule, “super-sizing” Friends and Will &
Grace, running some shows long by a couple of minutes and shortening
others, and subjecting viewers to a slew of reality programs like Dog
Eat Dog, For Love or Money, Meet My Folks, Who Wants to Marry My
Dad?, Next Action Star and The Biggest Loser — that’s your man right
there. Movie Network, Movie Central

n George Findlay (Ken Finkleman) is invited to talk to a class of
journalism students in a typically wry outing of The Newsroom. As bad
ideas go — for the students, not for you — that’s a doozy.

The episode is called Lolita, by the way, so you can fill in the
blanks yourself. When things go wrong — and they do — watching
George try to weasel his way out of yet another jam, oozing a slime
trail wherever he goes, is a delight.

The Newsroom is having arguably its strongest, most consistent season
yet. The rumour is this will be the show’s last, but the last few
weeks have shown there’s life in the old saw yet. Provided Finkleman
stays away from the dream sequences and Fellini allusions, that is.
CBC

Kazinform, Kazakhstan
March 4 2005

Paris meeting of foreign ministers cancelled

Baku. March 3. KAZINFORM. Scheduled for March 3 in Paris, the meeting
between Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Varan
Oskanyan of Armenia on finding peaceful solution to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has been canceled
because of the Armenian Minister’s health problems, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced, Kazinform has learnt from
Azer-TAj.
According to the Ministry, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov now visiting
Prague has met with co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Head of
the organization’s mission recently visited Azerbaijan to check the
facts of settling ethnic Armenians in the occupied territories.

Sport.telegraph
Friday 4 March 2005

Top stars could skate for Ireland

By Simon Crosse
(Filed: 04/03/2005)

Ireland take part in the World Championship next week knowing that some of
the biggest stars in the world could end up skating for the lowly-ranked
nation in the future.

Detroit Red Wings forward Brendan Shanahan has declared his interest in
managing the team in the future, hoping to recruit some of his fellow
National Hockey League players with Irish heritage to the squad.

Shanahan, whose mother is from Belfast and father from Dunmanus, said: “In
past tournaments I have played for Canada and I’ve seen countries such as
Italy and Great Britain and they’re all using North Americans, so why not
Ireland? I’d definitely like to get involved after I quit playing in the
NHL.”

The present members of the Ireland team have virtually no professional
experience and are ranked 44th out of 45 nations.

They have the chance to improve on that next week, when they compete in the
World Championship Division Three tournament in Mexico. The newly formed
team, made up of equal numbers of players from Northern Ireland and the
Republic, open their series against Armenia on Monday.

Meanwhile, Great Britain’s women beat Hungary 5-0 in their opening World
Championship game in Cape Town. Great Britain move on to face Belgium later
today before playing Slovenia, Australia and the hosts, South Africa.

La Croix
23 février 2005

Oecuménisme.

Le COE demande aux Églises de commémorer le génocide arménien. Les
communautés chrétiennes du monde entier sont invitées par le Conseil
oecuménique des Églises à célébrer, le dimanche 24 avril 2005, le 90e
anniversaire de la mort de centaines de milliers d’Arméniens dans
l’Empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1917.

1.118 BILLION FROM PRIVATIZATION

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
21 Feb 05

Privatization of the state property in our republic began in
1995. According to the head of department for management and
privatization of state property A. Abrahamian, the program of
privatization is perhaps the only long-term program of reforms. He
informed that since the beginning of privatization the state budget
has received 1 billion 118 million drams. In ten years privatization
of outlets, public food places, other services and rented area was
completed. By January 1 of the current year 829 such establishments
and lots were privatized and 629 million drams were paid to the state
budget. This is not a final result because there is not a fixed
deadline for payments. Payments for 773 privatized establishments were
made completely. A. Abrahamian said, of the above-mentioned 829
establishments 168 were privatized by the members of the staff, 413
were privatized by the renters. 180 establishments were sold at
auction, 23 were granted. In 1998 the government launched the
privatization of state companies, and since then 57 companies were
privatized. 27 companies were sold at auction (the assessed value
totaled 1 billion 104 million drams, the sale price was 548.3 million
drams). 18 companies, the assessed price of which totaled 853.3
million drams and the sale price was 241.7 million drams, were put out
to tender. 12 companies were granted. Their assessed value was 855.6
million drams. In case of tender the government maintains the minimum
price and the buyer tenders a sum which cannot be lower than the price
maintained by the government. By the way, the law on privatization of
state property allows privatization at a price higher or lower than
the assessed value. A. Abrahamian said, the price is reduced taking
into account the investments made by the buyer, debts owed by the
company, the fixed assets of the company and depreciation of fixture,
the prospect of creating new jobs. In 2004 83 lots were privatized of
which 13 are companies and 8 are structural units separated from the
inventory of companies. 61 small and half-ruined buildings and one
unfinished building were privatized as well. Last year the state
budget received 272.5 million drams from privatization of the state
property. Privatization is carried out within the framework of the NKR
law on the 2004-2006 plan of privatization of the state property
adopted last year. According to the plan there are 62 companies to be
privatized, of which 13 were already privatized. There are companies
the privatization of which was not carried out for years. These are
involved in the plan of the next year. Presently there are 12 such
companies (including the factories of wine, condensers, electrical
appliances, furniture).

SRBUHI VANIAN.
21-02-2005

Armenian foreign minister describes talks with Lavrov as fruitful
By Kseniya Kaminskaya, Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday

YEREVAN, February 17 — Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
has described his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
as fruitful.

Oskanyan told reporters that an entire range of issues concerning
Russian-Armenian relations had been discussed with the Armenian
president, prime minister and at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Firstly, “they concern bilateral relations, which are rather deep
and substantive. They cover political and economic spheres, military
cooperation, culture and education,” Oskanyan stressed.

Secondly, they include regional problems that are particularly
important in view of the events unfolding in the region, in the
direct vicinity from Armenia and Russia. “All this provides for more
intensive Armenian-Russian relations and private consultations,”
Oskanyan went on to say.

Thirdly, there are global problems and cooperation in international
organizations. “The United Nations and the OSCE are undergoing serious
structural reforms, we have common interests and tasks whose solution
calls for cooperation and clarification of positions,” he stressed.

Finally, it is the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. Oskanyan said that
he had informed Sergei Lavrov about the Armenian side’s approach
“directed at achieving shifts in the settlement process.”