Author: Toganian Liana

MICKAEL, WOUNDED IN BESLAN, TO UNDERGO MEDICAL TREATMENT IN GERMANY

Azg/am
5 Oct 04

The leading news agencies of the world still speak about unprecedented
brutal terrorist act in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. More than 300
innocent people were killed in Beslan.

There were 33 Armenians among Beslan hostages. Nine of them, including
children, were killed.

At present, many of the former hostages undergo medical treatment in
various cities of Russia. Mickael Mkrtchian, pupil at Beslan school
N1, and Tamar Galstian, his grandmother, undergo medical treatment in
Moscow, at Children’s Hospital after Morozov.

The four members of the Mkrtchian’s family were among the participants
of September 1-th ceremony. Unfortunately, the mother and the small
sister of Mickael were killed as a result of the terrorist act.

When Mickael was transferred to the Moscow hospital, he was in quite
hard state, but after the operation, according to the physicians, the
health of the boy improved. We were informed that by the suggestion of
German physicians, Michael will undergo medical treatment in
Germany. From the very first day,when Michael and his grandmother were
moved to Moscow, they were in the center of the attention of the
representatives of Union of the Armenians in Russia. Several times a
week, the members of the union visit the Mkrtchians. According to Ara
Abrahamian, Chairman of the World Armenian Congress, they have already
accumulated half a million rubles for the fond of the Victims of
Beslan Terrorist Act.

By Hamlet Khushian

Yerevan to host meeting of CIS IPA Defence, Security Committee

TASS
October 1, 2004 Friday

By Lyudmila Yermakova, Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

The Defence and Security Committee of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary
Assembly (IPA) will hold its meeting in the Armenian capital on
October 5, the head of the IPA Council Sergei Mironov told reporters
on Friday.

Mironov, the speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of the
Russian parliament) said the session would discuss a model law on the
struggle with terrorism. The parliamentarians will recommend the CIS
lawmakers to use this law in drafting their national anti-terrorist
legislation.

The theme of terrorism was discussed at length and very emotionally at
a meeting of Armenian lawmakers and their Russian counterparts at the
National Assembly on Friday. The Armenian legislators offered deep
condolences over the latest acts of terrorism, including the
hostage-taking raid in Beslan.

They stressed that “strategic partnership” was needed to effectively
confront this evil of the 21st century.

Mironov and Armenian parliamentary speaker Artur Bagdasaryan signed a
joint statement condemning acts of terrorism as incompatible with
morality and humanism.

Major drill starts at Russian nuclear power plant

NTV, Moscow
30 Sep 04

A leak of radioactive sodium at a nuclear power plant in Sverdlovsk
Region is the scenario of large-scale exercises at the Beloyarsk
nuclear power plant. Rescue workers have evacuated residents of the
town of Zarechnyy. Over 1,000 people and 100 units of equipment are
involved in the drill.

An emergency rescue team has arrived in Zarechnyy from Moscow. The
organizers say that the exercises scenario envisages the most
unexpected coincidences that may occur only once in 100,000 years in
real life. Observing the exercises are foreign experts from the USA,
France, China, Ukraine and Armenia.

HUNTING AND FISHING TOURISM PLANNED TO DEVELOP

ArmenPress
Sept 28 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: Conditions for hunting of moufflons
and wild goats are created in Vayots Dzor which is possible due to
increased reproduction rates, Natural Resources Management Agency head
Artashes Ziroyan told Armenpress. “We should think about providing for
reproduction and sale of international demanded species,” he said,
adding that in case of a desired level of reproduction is secured,
hunting of bears, especially of old males, may also be organized.

According to A. Ziroyan, the initiative aims to create preconditions
for development of hunting tourism in Armenia, supported by an
Italian company. In his words, hunting tourism is becoming a matter
of discussion for the Armenian government.

“There are some animals in Red Book which may be put under limited
hunting in case their reproduction is properly secured. The money
collected from hunting will be re-directed back to their reproduction
and natural protection,” the agency head said, saying that the price
of one moufflon ranges from $4-6,000 in international market.

The ecotourism development project envisages also conditions for funs
of fishery who would like to travel to Armenia.

Russian Gazprom to participate in Iran-Armenia gas pipeline project

IRNA, Iran
Sept 27 2004

Moscow, Sept 27, IRNA — Inter-parliamentary commission of Russia-
Armenia in economic cooperation is to consider next month the
participation of Gazprom firm in construction of the gas pipeline
between Iran and Armenia.

An informed source in Armenian government told Interfax News Agency
on Monday that the Russian Gazprom company intends to offer its
cooperation for construction of 41 kilometers of the pipeline in the
Armenian territory.

According to the aforementioned source the expenditure of construction
is around 30 million dollars which will be financed by a loan from
Iranian Bank of `Export promotion `.

Interfax News Agency said Iran and Armenia signed an agreement
on May 2004 to establish a consortium to provide gas for Armenia.
According to the agreement Iran will provide 36 billion cubic meters
of gas for Armenia in 20 years period.

Meanwhile, it is possible that the agreement be renewed for another
5 years and the amount of gas be increased to 47 billion cubic meters.

The construction work in Iran side started in mid-July and in Armenia
side will start by the end of October.

ARMENIA SUPPORTS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF CHINA

ArmenPress
Sept 28 2004

BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: Talks between Armenia’s president
Robert Kocharian and China’s president Hu Zintao ended today by signing
a joint declaration, by which Armenia recognizes China’s territorial
integrity. “Armenia recognizes the government of the People’s Republic
of China as the lawful representative of all China and Taiwan as an
integral part of China,” the declaration runs.

It also says that Armenia shall not establish official relations
with Taiwan and will not seek such contacts. “Armenia is against the
attempts to create two Chinas,” it says.

Kocharian arrived in Beijing Sunday evening, starting his five-day
state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President
Hu Jintao. It’s the first state visit to China by Kocharian as
president. Kocharian will hold talks and meet with Chinese top leaders
during his stay in China’s capital. Besides Beijing, he will also
visit China’s financial hub Shanghai.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS MUST PARTICIPATE IN NATO PA ASSEMBLY
SEMINAR IN BAKU

PanArmenian News
Sept 27 2004

27.09.2004 17:36

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian parliamentarians must participate in NATO
Parliamentary Assembly Rose-Roth seminar in Baku,” Armenian National
Assembly Vice-Speaker Vahan Hovhannisian stated in an interview with
Armenpress news agency. The organizers of the seminar will have to
seriously take care of securing the Armenian deputies, he said. In
the Vice-Speaker’s words, “if the Azeri party does not provide
entry permits, the NATO will have to continue the chosen practice by
canceling the seminar, too.” Everything might have been in a different
way, if such extremist approaches “were not under the auspices of
the top leadership – the country President,” he stated, adding the
Parliament will consider the question within the coming three days. It
should be reminded that the NATO leadership canceled Cooperative Best
Effort – 2004 exercises due to official Baku refusing to issue entry
visas to Armenian officers, who were to participate in the maneuvers.

Fleeing, but to What?: Iraqi Armenians face difficulties making a new home
in Armenia

By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmenianNow Reporter
Sept 24, 2004

Armenians fleeing Irag to their motherland leave behind what had been a
unified community for the uncertainty of life as a “refugee”.
“Armenians need at least one to two years of support until they can start
life themselves in Armenia,” says the Deputy Head of the Iraqi Armenians
Union Yervand Minasyan. Thought it is their official designation, he doesn’t
agree with calling the Iraqi-Armenians “refugees”.

The Magarayans fled to Armenia two months ago.
”Armenians are not refugees as Armenians come back, they return to their
homeland,” he says.
By any label, however, Minasyan says the newly arrived are also trying to be
quickly departed.
“People who came to Armenia during this year, are looking for ways and
possibilities of leaving this place again, despite our efforts to persuade
them to settle in their homeland,” says Minasyan, who himself fled Iraq for
Armenia more than 30 years ago.
Since war broke out, about 200 Iraqi Armenians have emigrated to Armenia.
Four families have recently returned, choosing life in a war zone over life
as a refugee.
This summer Minasyan organized meetings to try to unite the community here.
”Many Armenians in Baghdad know each other,” Minasyan says “but they don’t
know that they are already in Armenia. The Emigration Committee used to
function before. It was dealing with issues of people who returned to their
native land. I think that committee must be created again.”
Before the war the community of Iraqi Armenians (about 25,000) was united.
There were active relations with the homeland, different meetings were
organized and relations with other nations were discussed.
But now . . .
”Armenians face terrible days there,” Minasyan says. “Churches are mainly
closed. There’s only one small church functioning, however, Armenians don’t
gather there as they don’t want to become a target for acts of terror.
“The Armenians are horror-stricken. The majority of them wishes to go to
Armenia. Some of them managed to sell their houses, others simply left their
houses and went to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Most of the Iraqi Armenians
are now in these countries. They have no visas for coming here.”
The Head of the Department on Migration and Refugees, Gagik Yeganyan ,admits
that necessary assistance is not rendered to Iraqi Armenians.
”It costs money to establish people and in case of hundreds of people the
government has no possibility like that simply for the reason that it cannot
provide for its citizens,” Yeganyan says. “The important thing is the
question concerning the right for residence and the fact that they will not
be sent back against their will.”
In 2003 the Government of Armenia adopted a special resolution concerning
settlement of Iraqi Armenians in Armenia. The plan was to place them in
hotels in Sevan and Vanadzor. But those hotels were privatized, so the
Department on Migration and Refugees gave them certificates of asylum
seekers for three months and after that refugees were provided with one-year
certificate of provisional asylum.
The neediest refugees are provided asylum for three months in a special
quarter, but it has only 10 beds. Most must fend for themselves to find
accommodations, and most have no jobs.
”They rent an apartment for $120-$150 and as they don’t get any help they
become desperate and take other measures looking for different ways for
leaving Armenia,” Minasyan says. “They have to do so as no attention is paid
to them and they don’t get state care. Our organization can only render
moral assistance to these families.”
Iraqi Armenians are getting to Armenia mainly through Syria where they are
given entry visas.
”With the help of our embassy in Syria special conditions and visa regime
were created so that Armenians could go to Armenia,” says Press Secretary
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Hamlet Gasparyan.

In Iraq, insurgents warned the Margaryans they’d be harmed if they met again
with US soldiers.
”Why are they coming here?” asks Minasyan. “How can a family, which pays
$150 of rent and has no work, live in Armenia? They are given only one
document of one-year temporary residence. During that one year they are
trying to find jobs but they cannot, then they call to their relatives
living abroad asking for help. The treatment is inhuman here.”
Majority of Iraqi Armenians are artisans such as jewelers, and specialists
of Arabic language. Minasyan says that they are not provided with
opportunities to use their abilities and they are not supported.
”Employers dictate their terms, which is not physically possible to
realize,” Minasyan charges. Those who have jobs are working since morning
till night. People cannot work for 16 hours without having a rest. And if
someone wants to create his small business he cannot as both tax inspection
and district ”authorities” takes money from them. Law doesn’t function.”
Last year discussions were held with Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan
Oskanian over issues of settlement.
”They can even be sent to Karabakh. There are many free houses there and
Iraqi Armenians themselves agree to go there, however, nothing has been
done,” says Minasyan.
The nine-member Margaryan family is among those who have fled the war to
Armenia. When they arrived four months ago, the were given a temporary
residence by the immigration services. Now they must find another place, as
their time for staying there has expired.
”Where should we go? What are we going to do? We don’t know,” says mother
of the family Jenivil Margaryan. “The boys go and look for jobs but they
don’t find any.”
This family doesn’t complain about the times of prewar Iraq. Authorities
were not against Armenians those days.
”We had two houses in Baghdad. One was burnt by Muslims, and we had to sell
the second one. We had two cars and a big workshop, however, we couldn’t
sell them. We had to leave everything and come here as there was a threat
not only to our lives but also my grandchildren could be kidnapped,” says
father of the family Aram Margaryan.
For a chance meeting with US soldiers they were warned by Arabs that next
time they will be killed for that. The Margaryans are anxious about Armenia’s
intentions to send troops to Iraq.
”It could be dangerous for Armenian community,” says Aram Margaryan. “They
don’t tolerate Christians anymore.
“In Baghdad you cannot go outside after 6-7 o’clock. If someone gets sick
then he has to die at home as it is impossible to get to hospital. It is a
normal thing to kidnap boys and girls. Now it is extremely dangerous to stay
there. We could leave for Germany or any other European country but we
preferred to go to our homeland.”
They want to settle in Armenia, but have no prospects.
”We just want to have jobs and our own place to live. And if we get that
then we won’t have any other problems. And we will finally settle down in
our homeland,” Aram Margaryan says

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Sept 23 2004

Turkey: EU Commissioner Says ‘No More Obstacles’ To Entry Talks
By Jean-Christophe Peuch

The EU and Turkey today resolved differences that threatened to
derail Turkey’s bid for membership in the bloc. Addressing reporters
after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, EU
Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said there were no more
conditions for Turkey to fulfill before the European Commission make
its recommendation on Turkish accession, expected in early October.

Prague, 23 September 2004 (RFE/RL) — Verheugen told reporters in
Brussels that the compromise would enable the EU executive to
recommend that the bloc begin entry negotiations with Ankara.

“We have been able to find solutions to the remaining outstanding
problems,” Verheugen said. “So my conclusion is that there are no
more obstacles on the table now. From my point of view, there are no
further conditions which Turkey must fulfill in order to allow the
[EU] commission to make a recommendation.”

Reports said as part of the compromise Turkey would act quickly to
approve a series of penal code reforms — and would drop a
controversial clause that would make adultery a criminal offense.

The European Commission is expected to issue a report on Turkey’s
progress toward democracy on 6 October and decide whether a summit of
the bloc’s leaders should set a date for the beginning of entry talks
when it convenes in mid-December.Turkey has been knocking on Europe’s
door for decades. Although it applied for membership in 1987, it did
not obtain candidate status until 1999 — a delay mainly due to EU
concerns over human rights issues.

Turkey has been knocking on Europe’s door for decades. Although it
applied for membership in 1987, it did not obtain candidate status
until 1999 — a delay mainly due to EU concerns over human rights
issues.

Since taking office two years ago, Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice
and Development party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, or AKP) has pushed through
reforms aimed at bringing national legislation into line with the EU.
Turkey’s AKP-dominated parliament has taken steps to curb the
influence of the military on politics, reform the judiciary and ease
pressure on the country’s 12 million-strong Kurdish minority.

Speaking to journalists late yesterday in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey
had done its share and now expected a positive reaction from
Brussels: “We’ve already gone beyond the critical threshold required
for adjustment to the [EU] Copenhagen criteria. Actually, what
happened with these EU adjustment reforms is a civic revolution.”

Ankara’s recent decision to shelve key legal changes aimed at
liberalizing its penal code had triggered EU critics and sparked what
Turkish media had described as a “crisis of confidence” between
Turkey and the bloc. The EU Commission made it clear that failure to
adopt the much-awaited reforms within the next two weeks could affect
its conclusions on Turkey’s democracy progress.

At the origin of the delay was a controversy over Turkey’s plans to
reintroduce prison sentences for adultery.

Extramarital relationships were decriminalized by Turkey’s
Constitutional Court in 1996. But Turkey’s conservative AKP cabinet
argued that reversing the decision would help better protect family
values and strengthen women’s rights.

The controversial plans caused a furor in Turkey, with women’s groups
accusing the government of seeking to impose Islamic law and the main
opposition party blaming Erdogan for being under the influence of
“religious sects.”

Erdogan did not give any details on today’s meeting. He simply said
the Turkish parliament would convene in emergency session on 26
September to quickly pass the penal code reform.

But an EU official who attended the talks told the Reuters news
agency that the Turkish prime minister pledged not to include the
controversial adultery bill in the package.

The row had added fuel to the arguments of those who oppose Turkey’s
accession into the EU. Opinions among European leaders and the
general public remain divided over the issue.

Speaking on behalf of representatives of French President Jacques
Chirac’s Union for a Popular Movement in the European legislature,
parliamentarian Jacques Toubon said he believed Ankara should remain
outside the bloc.

“We do not believe accession talks with Turkey should begin. The
European Council should not make such a decision when it meets on 17
December because we believe that to let Turkey become a member of the
EU would contradict our views on the European project and would not
be good for Europe,” Toubon said.

As evidence that Turkey does not qualify for EU membership, Toubon
cited its uneasy relations with its Arab and Iranian neighbors, human
rights violations, the military occupation of Northern Cyprus, and
its reluctance to recognize the massive killings of Armenians at the
beginning of the 20th century as genocide.

He also cited security concerns: “What I believe would be good for
both the European Union and Turkey would be to have a relationship
that would allow Turkey to retain its political autonomy in order to
really be the center, the pivot, and the engine of a Black
Sea-Caucasus stability pact — and God knows if the Caucasus and
neighboring areas need stability. [Turkey] will not be in a position
to achieve this if it is integrated into the EU. It can achieve this
precisely if it is in the intermediary position offered by a
privileged partnership [with the EU].”

But European Commission president-designate Jose Miguel Durao Barroso
today gave Turkey’s EU aspirations a cautious boost. Addressing
reporters after talks with Chirac, Durao Barroso said that provided
the commission issues a favorable recommendation, nothing should
prevent the EU from giving Turkey a date for entry talks.

“It is obvious that the EU’s [possible] enlargement to Turkey poses
an important challenge,” Barroso said. “This is a very important
problem that must be examined in all it various dimensions. I believe
that if Turkey abides by the same criteria that have been set by the
EU, we should support [its] accession [bid]. But this must be
achieved through genuine negotiations. This must not be a mere
formality.”

In an interview with France’s “Le Monde” newspaper earlier this week,
Durao Barroso however warned that Turkey must still make progress to
fully qualify for membership.

Agence France Presse
21 septembre 2004 mardi 7:34 AM GMT

Rendez-vous européen: Dimitri Konstantinidis, l’art sans frontières
(PORTRAIT)

STRASBOURG (France)

“Je suis grec, français, alsacien mais je me sens bien aussi à Prague
ou ailleurs”: pour Dimitri Konstantinidis, installé depuis 25 ans à
Strasbourg où il a créé l’association européenne d’art contemporain
Apollonia, les frontières sont avant tout destinées à être dépassées.

“L’envie de partir, de voir ailleurs est presque devenue une
obsession au collège et le déclic s’est produit au lycée”, se
souvient cet homme de 44 ans, chaleureux, né à Kavala (nord-est de la
Grèce), sur les bords de la mer de Thrace.

“Je suis issu d’un milieu très modeste et pas du tout cosmopolite”,
dit-il, avant de se reprendre en évoquant ses ancêtres installés à
Trébizonde (Turquie), où “Grecs, Turcs et Arméniens cohabitaient sans
problèmes”, et qui ont dû fuir au début des années 1920, lors de
l’échange des populations grecques d’Asie mineure et turques de
Grèce.

Pour assouvir sa soif de découverte, le jeune homme d’alors, qui
souhaite passer un diplôme d’histoire de l’art, songe à poursuivre
ses études en URSS avant d’opter en 1979 pour Strasbourg, où une amie
grecque vit déjà.

Tout en préparant son doctorat sur “le concept spatial pictural des
icônes byzantines des 5e et 6e siècles”, il commence à travailler
pour une association culturelle lorraine basée à Saint-Avold
(Moselle), dans une région où vivent “beaucoup d’immigrés polonais,
italiens et portugais”.

A cette occasion, Dimitri s’immerge dans l’art contemporain en
organisant notamment des expositions avec des artistes des pays de
l’Est, alors que le mur de Berlin est toujours debout.

Un travail mis entre parenthèses en 1989, pendant deux ans, afin
d’effectuer son service militaire en Grèce, “pour ne pas me couper de
mon pays”, raconte-t-il. De retour en France, il prend rapidement la
direction du Fonds régional d’art contemporain (FRAC) d’Alsace.

Créés en 1983, ces fonds publics collectionnent les oeuvres d’art
contemporain, dans un but essentiellement pédagogique.

“Je me suis rendu compte que l’Alsace, Strasbourg avaient une
position particulière au niveau géographique et par la présence des
institutions européennes. Je me suis dit qu’il fallait faire quelque
chose”, poursuit-il.

Ce “quelque chose” prend la forme d'”un projet d’inventaire de la
culture contemporaine des pays de l’Est”, soutenu en 1995 par le
Conseil de l’Europe et qui aboutit, après la rencontre de plus de 250
artistes de 17 pays, à l’édition d’un guide puis à des expositions.

Cette volonté de “donner une dimension européenne” au FRAC d’Alsace,
ne séduit pas tous les élus locaux. En 1998, Dimitri préfère
“abandonner” son poste pour créer Apollonia, “une plate-forme
d’échanges artistiques européens” tournée notamment vers “l’Europe
centrale et orientale, les Balkans et le Caucase du sud”.

Depuis, il ne cesse de parcourir ces contrées pour dénicher les
artistes et leur permettre d’exposer à Strasbourg et ailleurs, à
l’image de l’exposition en cours dans les locaux d’Apollonia: des
créations polonaises autour de la “Quête d’identité” qui partiront
ensuite en Grèce et en Pologne.

Son dernier cheval de bataille: la mise en place d’un statut
associatif européen, avec des cadres juridique et administratif
identiques dans tous les pays de l’Union qui facilitent “le
pluralisme culturel en Europe”.