Author: Toneyan Mark

PanArmenian News
March 17 2005

KOCHARIAN MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF LYCOS GERMAN COMPANY

17.03.2005 06:37

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
representatives of Lycos German investment company, operating in IT
sphere, the Press Service of the Armenian leader reported. In the
course of the meeting the parties discussed issues referring to
widening of training specialists, meeting international market
demands. The company representatives reported they intend to
implement programs here in the coming 6 years. Now Lycos implements
educational programs at State Engineering University of Armenia and
Yerevan State University. The parties also touched upon problems of
components of telecommunication market – infrastructures, legal
framework development and reducing communication expenses in the
country.

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 17 2005

IN MOSCOW MCC FIXES PROCEDURE FOR DEMILITARIZATION OF GEORGIA-SOUTH
OSSETIA CONFLICT ZONE

MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – The co-chairmen of the Mixed Control
Commission for settling the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict have
agreed upon a procedure for demilitarizing the conflict zone,
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Settling Georgi Khaindrava said
at the RIA Novosti news conference on Thursday.

The first stage intends the elimination of trenches and
fortifications, he said. “When there are no trenches, there will be
no place to sit in and look at each other through the cross-hairs.
This will provide an opportunity for start of the second stage,
economic cooperation”, Mr. Khaindrava believes.

Later on, the sides will withdraw their armed formations illegally
found in the conflict zone and concentrate them in one place, he
said. Both the places of concentration should be accessible for
monitoring by peacekeepers and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, Mr. Khaindrava said.

To him, Russia and Georgia can in May go for the conclusion of a big
treaty of friendship and cooperation, he said.

“In spring, in May we may go for concluding a comprehensive treaty of
friendship and cooperation. It will help in resolving the issues of
problem zones”, he noted.

Mr. Khaindrava said that Georgia hopes for resuming active dialog
with Russia. To quote: “We hope that a breakthrough in our relations
will be made”.

Mr. Khaindrava believes that a withdrawal of the Russian military
base from Akhalkalaki (on the Georgian-Armenian border) will not
affect the economic situation of the town’s residents. That was his
comment on the March 13 meeting in Akhalkalaki. Its participants
(mostly Armenians) insisted on being in no hurry with the withdrawal
of the Russian bases from Georgia (another Russian base is in Batumi
in Adzharia).

“Life of about 300 residents of Akhalkalaki is connected with
Russia’s 62nd military base. People were alarmed by the prospect of
losing their jobs. From the economic point of view, there can be no
talk of a serious importance of the base withdrawal”, Mr. Khaindrava
said.

He recalled that problems of the region were recently discussed in
Tbilisi. Just before the discussion, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili promised jobs to local employees of the Akhalkalaki and
Batumi bases at installations of the Georgian Defense Ministry. They
will all have jobs and “no cardinal changes in their lifestyle will
happen”, Mr. Khaindrava promised.

The meeting of the MCC co-chairmen with the involvement of the
Russian and Georgian sides, as well as representatives of South and
North Ossetias, took place in Moscow on March 16 to 17.

Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR) blames Azerbaijan for violating truce

Mediamax news agency
16 Mar 05

YEREVAN

The press service of the Defence Ministry of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic (NKR) has totally denied yesterday’s statement by the
Azerbaijani Defence Ministry that the Karabakh forces fired at the
Azerbaijani positions in Agdam District.

“This obvious misinformation disseminated by Azerbaijan aims to turn
everything upside down and blame Nagornyy Karabakh for the violation
of the cease-fire,” a source at the NKR Defence Ministry told
Mediamax. The source said that Azerbaijan is responsible for the 7 and
9 March shootouts on the contact line, in which both sides sustained
casualties.

“The Azerbaijani side regularly breaches the cease-fire along the
entire contact line, moving its posts closer to the forward defence
lines of the NKR defence army and provoking shootings,” the source
said.

IWPR – Institute for War & Peace Reporting
March 16 2005

ARMENIA’S INERT GAS SERVICE

Shoddy installation and lack of government oversight means using gas
at home is a risky business.

By Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoyan in Yerevan

Energy-starved Armenia is turning to gas, but there are now concerns
that the uncontrolled conversion process is costing lives and causing
chaos.

This winter alone, around 30 people died because of poisoning, fires
and explosions caused by defects in the domestic gas system.

Gevork Danielian, Armenia`s deputy general prosecutor, told IWPR that
figures held by his office show that the number of gas-related
accidents has been growing over the past five years as the country
converts to the use of natural gas. The prosecutor’s office is now
investigating several such cases.

Karine Stepanian, a Yerevan housewife, complained that, “The
long-awaited gas installation has brought a load of problems: there’s
a constant smell of gas in the house, yet the gas service people
insist it’s all OK. If, God forbid, there is some kind of accident, I
bet no one will take responsibility.”

As complaints mounted about the government’s failure to regulate the
changeover, President Robert Kocharian announced he would take
action. Admitted recently that the rapid pace of the switch to gas use
had caught officials, he said, “I have been forced to intervene
personally and put things in order, using extreme measures.” It is not
yet clear what those measures will entail.

The president also said much of the blame should be apportioned to
careless members of the public, and suggested there was an urgent need
for education to tell people how to use gas safely.

Armenia has suffered a severe energy crisis since 1990-91 when the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict resulted in the closure of the border with
Azerbaijan, the traditional route source of were closed off. There was
little or no gas available until 1997 and many people cooked on
primitive stoves.

The controversial re-opening of the Metsamor nuclear power station in
1995 improved the electricity supply, and currently covers 40 per cent
of the country’s energy needs. (See CRS 271, January 26, 2005,
“Armenian Atomic Dilemma.”)

The ArmRosGazprom firm is now re-introducing gas as an energy source,
following the renovation of the decrepit gas network. Company Shushan
Sardarian, a press secretary of the company predicts that by 2007 the
company will have more than half a million customers, even more than
Armenia had in the Soviet period. ArmRosGazprom is 45 per cent owned
by the Armenian government, 45 per cent by the Russian gas giant
Gazprom and 10 per cent by another Russian company, Itera.

ArmRosGazprom is only laying pipelines as far as buildings as a whole,
and other companies are doing the connection to individual
apartments. Experts worry that the connection process is being carried
out in a hurry, without the proper care or coordination. Mkrtich
Abelian, an engineer, told IWPR, “There is no programme for tackling
the problems associated with gas installation in a systematic and
organised manner. There is no scheme that sets out how the gas should
go from the supplier to the consumer.”

Ordinary citizens have little confidence in the installation work.
“The dozens of organisations that install gas supplies within
buildings do the same job for varying prices,” said Ashot Mkrtchian, a
40-year-old teacher. “Each of them works out its own routing for the
pipes.”

Moreover, because the pipes are being laid above ground, many
buildings are now disfigured by webs of metal tubing. This, according
to architect Artsvin Grigorian, is “the most flagrant breach of
building regulations and practices”.

Officials from ArmRosGazprom say the problem is being corrected.
“Even if there have been breaches of construction practice in some
places, ArmRosGazprom will soon switch to using polyethylene pipes
which will be laid underground,” said Sardarian.

In the meantime, the rate of accidents almost doubled in 2004.
According to Nikolai Grigorian, press secretary at the government
department for emergency situations, 29 cases of gas poisoning were
recorded in just the first two months of 2005.

Grigorian urged consumers not to use unauthorised gas stoves to heat
their homes because of the grave risk they pose. “The market is full
of Turkish and Iranian-produced heaters that don’t even have smoke
flues”, he said.

In neighbouring Georgia, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania died in January
apparently as a result of poisoning from a faulty Iranian gas stove.

Sardarian said consumers are responsible for many of the accidents
because they use cheap, home-fitted appliances without ventilation,
all in the name of saving money.

However, Danielian of the prosecutor’s office says there is a more
fundamental problem of governmental oversight which is now being
looked into.

“In this sector, as in any other, there should be state officials
responsible for monitoring the situation,” he said. “But it is not an
easy matter to work out exactly who is responsible for safety in the
sector, as the state energy watchdog was abolished in 2000 without a
replacement body being put in place…. A state body responsible for
coordinated supervision of the gas sector is essential.”

Twenty four criminal investigations into gas-related accidents are now
under way. No prosecutions have yet been started.

“No state official will shoulder responsibility for the dozens of
deaths,” said teacher Mkrtchian. “But that doesn’t mean they are not
to blame. The government is passing the buck. There is nothing
surprising about that – it happens all the time here. We ordinary
citizens are the ones who suffer.”

The World Bank is now taking an interest in the issue. Gevork
Sarkisian, director of the bank’s programme for heating provision in
Armenia, said that following talks with the government, his bank has
allocated one million US dollars to assist with safety measures in
Yerevan.

“The main aim of the programme is to test – ahead of implementation –
the most effective and least environmentally harmful methods of
heating multi-storey buildings,” said Sarkisian.

Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoian are freelance journalists in
Yerevan.

“The Shield” gets Close for its fourth season
BY KATE O’HARE Zap2it

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
March 13, 2005 Sunday

Glenn Close stands on the front walk of a house on a corner in Los
Angeles’ Silverlake district, today’s location for the FX police drama
“The Shield.”

Wearing a neat gray suit, dark striped blouse and shades, gun on her
hip, she’s waiting for Michael Chiklis to work out camera angles for
his arrival at the location and his trip up the steps to meet Close.

Finally the sequence is sorted out, and Close smiles patiently at
Chiklis, then calls out, “I forgot it was all about you.”

Starting with the fourth-season premiere on Tuesday, Close, a five-time
Academy Award nominee, joins “The Shield” as Capt. Monica Rawling,
new commander of the Barn, a precinct in LA’s fictional Farmington
district. She steps in because former Capt. David Aceveda (Benito
Martinez) has been elected to the city council.

Chiklis’ character, Detective Vic Mackey, has spent three seasons
butting heads with Aceveda while simultaneously fighting crime and
lining his own pockets as the head of the elite Strike Team. After a
particularly lucrative scheme — robbing an Armenian “money train” —
went seriously south last season, the Strike Team broke apart. With
only Detective Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell) still at his side,
Vic is stuck reviewing videotapes as part of a sting operation.

Rawling’s arrival could mean a new beginning, if Vic can control his
worst impulses.

“Certainly, in the short term, he will,” Chiklis says on the street
between shots. “He realizes there are some great opportunities to be
had by having a great rapport with this woman, but you can’t change
the spots on a leopard. She’ll give him a foot of leash, and he’ll
probably take nine.”

Close, digging into Mexican food during her lunch break, says,
“I don’t know if she’s out to reform anybody. She’s out to motivate
people. I’d like to think she’s a leader, but she’s a leader by example
and smarts. She would be very good at psychology, so certainly the
worst thing to do would be to set out to reform Vic. She’s trying
to redirect him, and it’s a huge risk. I don’t think she can afford
to trust him.”

In the season premiere, Chiklis meets Rawling when she visits a
crime scene. After she dispatches the situation with grace and humor,
he watches her depart, and the shock and awe on his face raise the
question: Does he want her?

“Sexually?” Close says. “On some subliminal level, there’s a
fascination. I don’t know if the writers have something up their
sleeves.”

While Mackey sorts out this new relationship, it’s time to mend
fences with former Strike Team cohorts Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins)
and Curtis “Lemonhead” Lemansky (Kenneth Johnson).

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Chiklis says. “Look, they
all have an innate understanding that if they don’t fix it somehow,
what’s the alternative? One of them steps in (excrement). They know
the other’s going to give the other up. There’s that constant fear.

“No matter what transpires between these men, there is that bond, when
you have fought next to each other and killed next to each other .. “.

And they were part of a criminal conspiracy. Chiklis smiles and
continues, ” … fought and killed and lived through certain things.
You can overcome a helluva lot to preserve that. They need each
other, and that’s going to ultimately win out. It has to go that way,
otherwise they have to end up killing each other.”

And by the way, Strike Team Detective Tavon Garris (Brian J. White)
is still recovering from a brutal beating by Vendrell, which led to
an auto accident.

“Tavon’s not dead,” Chiklis says.

But will he talk? Chiklis grins. “We’ll see.”

Arab News, Saudi Arabia
March 14 2005

UN Delegates Meet in Bahrain – Sort Of
Rula Abdul Qadir, Arab News

MANAMA, 14 March 2005 – Slovenia spearheaded a drive to pass a UN
children’s rights resolution enlisting support from a powerful voting
block consisting of Armenia, El Salvador, Palestine and France. Of
course, all the delegates were high school students from Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia, but it all happened at the Bahrain Model United Nations
Conference held March 10-11.

Eight Dhahran Ahliya Girls School students took part in Bahrain’s
largest high school simulation of the United Nations. In this event,
held at Abdul Rahman Kanoo School, students are educated about
environmental, humanitarian and economic issues. They debate their
resolutions and analyze other students’ resolutions.

The Saudi girls were assigned to the Human Rights Committee and made a
great impression with passionate opening speeches full of relevant and
important facts. After the opening speeches, the delegates proceeded
to lobby and merge their resolutions in true diplomatic fashion.

The delegates representing El Salvador, Abeer Arjah and Yasmine
Al-Dawsari, mustered seven co-signers for their resolution on Internet
abuse, which reached the floor for debate.

Model UN Resolution “Issue of Protecting the Rights of Children in
War-Torn Countries,” was presented by the Slovenian delegation of
Neda Sunaid and Lulu Al-Qahtani. The two honed their diplomatic
skills while building a consensus, merging their resolution with
the strongest clauses from the resolutions of Armenia, El Salvador,
Palestine and France. It was passed by an overwhelming vote of 25-5.

Alternative energy sources were discussed along with the Kyoto Protocol
and problems with nuclear energy. France, Belgium and El Salvador
teamed up to submit “Reducing the Costs of Lifesaving Medicines for
People Living in Underdeveloped Countries.”

The Belgian delegation, represented by Dhia Al-Mutairi and Dina Zeitoun
from Dhahran Ahliya Girls School, played a key role in advancing the
resolution, which also was passed with a large majority.

An excellent resolution on this same issue was submitted by Rotana
Tarabzouni and Maha Al-Namari. It gained many co-signers, and though
the resolution was not debated or voted upon due to time constraints,
it was submitted to the table, reviewed and passed by the committee
chairpersons.

The Model United Nations gives students a chance to develop leadership
skills and voice their concerns while providing a valuable learning
experience for all involved. The youthful diplomats may not be going
to the UN headquarters any time soon, but with a little negotiation,
a few concessions and a lot of lobbying – who knows?

EVENT DEVOTED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90TH ANNIVERSARY TO BE HELD IN CAPITOL HILL APRIL 20

10.03.2005 06:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Co-Chairs of the US Congressional Caucus for
Armenian Issues Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
have announced that an event devoted to the 90-th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey will be held in the Capitol
Hill, the Armenian Assembly of America reported. The event will be
held under the aegis of the Congressional Armenian Caucus and the
Armenian Embassy in US April 20. As noted by Congressmen, the measure
will remind the world of the victims of the tragedy and will gather
together 25 large Armenian American organizations.

OSKANIAN: WE ARE ON FAVORABLE GROUND IN KARABAKH ISSUE

Azg/arm
11 March 05

At the March 9 press conference foreign minister of Armenia, Vartan
Oskanian, called “absolutely non-realistic” last press publications
saying that Baku and Yerevan are going to sign a versatile document
on Karabakh issue in Prague on May 2. “There is no need to delve into
this; there is nothing like that,” Vartan Oskanian cut short.

The so-called Prague process, according to Oskanian, is to discuss
all issues concerning refugees, territories and the status of Nagorno
Karabakh but “it is not true that we reached an agreement”. “No
document was created during the talks to lie as basis for future
negotiation process”, minister said.

Vartan Oskanian disagreed with the idea that the Armenian diplomacy is
losing ground in the conflict settlement process. “We are on favorable
ground in Karabakh issue”, minister said adding that Yerevan and
Stepanakert have no discords in settlement issue.

Oskanian assured that Nagorno Karabakh is not left out of the talk
process. “Though representatives of Stepanakert are not directly
engaged in the talks, they are well aware of their content”, he said.

The foreign minister of Nagorno Karabakh said lately that “the
negotiation format is distorted because of which Baku manages to
present the issue as a result of Armeniaâ~@~Ys aggression”. “I
canâ~@~Yt say that Nagorno Karabakh is left out of the talks but if
you want the issue to be settled then Karabakh and Azerbaijan should
talk to each other”, he said.

Vartan Oskanian said that the issue of Karabakh peopleâ~@~Ys
self-determination is still key for Yerevan. He said that “the
territory where Karabakh people made its choice never was part of
independent Azerbaijan.

Vartan Oskanian noted that the wording “occupied territories”
circulating in last reports on Armenia is not something new as it has
always been there since 1993. Moreover, minister thinks that such
wordings do not mean that Armenia is an occupant. “Cannot Karabakh
army occupy territories?”, Oskanian posed a rhetoric question.

By Tatoul Hakobian

–Boundary_(ID_kmwlkUSfXZsvAG936pWIOQ)–

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: SENSELESS TO SPEAK OF PRESIDENT’S RESIGNATION

09.03.2005 02:54

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ â~@~There is no pressure exerted upon the
President by outer forces presently and such is not expected
in future. Consequently it is senseless to speak about the
Presidentâ~@~Ys resignationâ~@~], Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian stated. When commenting on the possible collapse of the
ruling coalition, the Prime Minister expressed assurance that there
are no preconditions for it, so it is groundless to create artificial
clamor around this issue. A. Margarian noted that during the period
of the coalition activity no single item of the Memorandum has been
violated. At the same time the Premier stressed that independently
of the positions occupied all the coalition parties are responsible
for the parliamentary activities. As for the statements of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun and Orinats Yerkir parties on the â~@~joining of
authorities and crimeâ~@~], Andranik Margarian offered the parties
to present him the data available â~@~especially regarding such
kind of unions in the ministries and departments headed by them.â~@~]

–Boundary_(ID_BdeoQoWCaf6ntDIXBVLUlg)–

Honest George
By John McCaslin, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Washington Times
March 7, 2005 Monday

“The Wounded Warrior,” a new documentary produced by X-Back Pictures,
presents a strong parallel between the visions of Abraham Lincoln and
George W. Bush.

According to director Yervand Kochar, grandson of
communist-persecuted Armenian artist Yervand Kochar Sr., the film
proves Lincoln was the first president to lay down the doctrine of
spreading freedom throughout the world as a means for national
defense – “the doctrine known and revived today as the ‘Bush
Doctrine.’ ”

By a strange twist of destiny, the filmmaker adds, Lincoln expressed
his line of thinking on September 11, 1858.

Finally, the docudrama reminds that Lincoln was one of the most
despised presidents, was falsely accused of stealing elections,
divided and dragged the country in a war over the economy and
tariffs, and was proclaimed a social tyrant who violated the
Constitution and civil liberties.