Armenian president dismisses envoy to Jordan
Mediamax news agency
7 Apr 05
Yerevan, 7 April: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has signed a
decree dismissing Levon Sarkisyan from the post of Armenian ambassador
to Jordan, the presidential press service told Mediamax news agency
today.
“IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHOOSE NEIGHBORS, ONE MUST BE ABLE TO LIVE ALONG WITH THEM:” HERMAN DE CROO
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia is a ship, that has had a
difficult and hard life on waves of history, Herman De Croo, the
Chairman of the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Belgium
stated at the end of his official visit, at the press-conference
held in Yerevan on April 5. According to the high rank guest,
during the two days of being in Yerevan, the delegation headed by
him came to the conclusion that Armenians realize the fact of their
being Armenian with great pride. “But no matter what kind of beliefs
we have, no matter what religion we have, no matter what kind of
religious beliefs and culture we have, no matter how much we are
proud of ourselves, we cannot live alone, we live in the society,” he
mentioned. Armenia must come to that to be able to become a flexible
and prospering country. Presence of high quality workforce, human
potential can greatly contribute to that. The delegation is in Armenia
with the goal to assist, to help, “sometimes even to give advice ,”
he emphasized. Attaching importance to the South Caucasian region,
the high rank guest mentioned that he was on a visit in Turkey three
months ago, and he will also visit Azerbaijan soon. He expressed a hope
that it will give an opportunity to understand what the situation on
the region is like and what kind of solutions may be reached. Touching
upon the hard relations present among Armenia and its two neighbouring
countries, Turkey and Azerbaijan, De Croo mentioned that, just as in
one’s life, it is impossible to choose neighbours, one must be able
to live along with them. According to him, one may figuratively say
that doors of three neighbouring houses must usually be opened to
a street, but the specifity of the Armenian house is that, during
different historical periods, the door of the last one has been
opened to a neighbour’s garden, and one must be able to come out
to a street through it. He is sure, on the example of his country,
that settlement of issues like this is possible. Belgium has twice
been conquered by Germany only in the 20th century. In 60 years
after the World War II, Belgium and Germany are EU members today,
the use a single currency, and Brussels is presented as the capital
of Europe. According to him, the meetings with authorities of Armenia
showed that they want to solve all issues present in the region by
means of dialogue. Summing up the results of the visit, Herman De
Croo and RA NA Chairman Artur Baghdasarian expressed confidence that
the visit will stimulate cooperation between the two countries both
in the sphere of parliamentary diplomacy and economy, health care,
cultural spheres.
DELEGATION HEADED BY RA PRIME MINISTER AND CATHOLICOS OF All ARMENIANS TO ATTEND FUNERAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian governmental
delegation headed by the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian
will be in Italy on April 7-9 in order to attend the funeral of
Pope John Paul II. According to the Government Information and
PR Department, the delegation is composed of the RA Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Italy Ruben Shugarian, the
RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France and
Vatican Eduard Nalbandian and the RA Deputy Foreign Minister Armen
Baiburdian. Catholocos of All Armenians Karekin II will also depart
for Rome with the governmental delegation.
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CONGRATULATED WOMEN OF REPUBLIC WITH DAY OF
MOTHERHOOD AND BEAUTY
06.04.2005 07:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian congratulated
the women of the republic with the Day of Motherhood and Beauty
celebrated in Armenia on April 7, the Presidentâ~@~Ys press service
reported. The congratulation message says in part that sturdy family
is the basis of the soundness of the society and eternal existence
of our nation. â~@~Congratulating you with this spring holiday
I would like to wish you love and warmness in your familiesâ~@~],
the Presidentâ~@~Ys message says.
–Boundary_(ID_Zxc6N1a9PDwHPQLzv0ioMQ)–
President of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] says “strong” army guarantees peace
Artsakh State TV, Stepanakert
4 Apr 05
Text of report by Nagornyy Karabakh’s Artsakh Public TV on 4 April
On 4 April the president of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] visited Martakert
Region. In the town of Martakert, Arkadiy Gukasyan met local
residents and officials. President Gukasyan talked about problems in
the region, stressed that the authorities would do everything
possible to solve the most important issues in the region and also
talked about recent developments in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
settlement. After meetings in Martakert, the president visited the
front line and presented bravery awards to soldiers and officers who
had shown honour on the field of battle during the latest Azerbaijani
attempts to forward their positions.
In an interview to Artsakh Public TV, the president said the
following: [Gukasyan] Our army is the best guarantee of our security.
To secure peace we must have a strong army. I am proud to have such a
strong army. I would like to assure our people that there is no
threat to our republic because our army is strong.
As to the growing Azerbaijani military rhetoric, the NKR president
said that Azerbaijan pursues two main goals. The first one is to
convince its own population that the authorities are very active in
their attempts to return the lost territories.
The second and the most important reason is to blackmail the
international community and to demand the restoration of its
territorial integrity. Azerbaijan will gain nothing from launching a
military campaign against Nagornyy Karabakh. I think that the
Azerbaijani authorities realize that the Nagornyy Karabakh army
cannot be beaten by them. However, one has to be prepared for war in
order to avoid it.
[Video showed the president talking to people, meeting members of
regional administration, and awarding medals]
EBRD TO IMPLEMENT PROJECTS IN ENERGY SPHERE OF ARMENIA
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Prior to the creation of the restored
energy fund in Armenia, the European Bank of Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) will implement sprecific projects in the country’s
energy sphere. The EBRD regional director Michael Dave stated at the
April 5 press conference that the bank will carry out work in this
direction together with businessmen and investors. It is envisaged
that the fund will start operating this year. Its capital will make
10-12 mln dollars, 50% of which will be invested by EBRD.
Improbable American psycho
Irish Times
Apr 02, 2005
Eileen Battersby
Fiction A mother attempts to make sense of the ongoing horror of a
life perverted by her remorseless monster of a son. This book,
certainly the most repellent and easily one of the least convincing I
have ever read, could be seen as a cautionary tale about parents and
children, and most specifically the ambivalence of motherhood, if it
wasn’t so crassly and aggressively presented.
Its sensationalism, as well as its theme, that of the high-school
massacre phenomenon across the US, may grip some readers, but far more
seriously, it will also exploit them. That such a book is on the
longlist for this year’s Orange Prize, the aim of which is to
celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s
writing, galls.
So evil stalks well-heeled suburbia as relentlessly as it does the
tenements of big cities. Sometimes the offspring of the wealthy are
simply so satiated by all they have, they just have to rebel, or in
the case of Kevin, insult and kill.
No doubt Lionel Shriver’s grotesque narrative is intended as a
profoundly candid expose of US consumerist society’s culpability in
the creation of misfits. The concept that we reap what we sow has
seldom, if ever, been presented quite as graphically.
After all, this is a family in which a little girl is given an exotic
zoo animal as a pet and a dangerous boy is presented with his very own
crossbow.
For all the praise that has been directed at the all-too-topical We
Need To Talk About Kevin, which may well be a serious sociologically
based satire presented in the form of a novel, the sheer viciousness
of narrator Eva, a successful businesswoman who had been happily, nay
smugly, married to Franklin before deciding to have a late first baby,
dilutes the impact. Shriver is a wordy writer; Eva, her narrator, is
equally wordy – and caustic with it. She is opinionated and
intolerant, smart-alec but not funny – as her horrible son remarks:
“Is there anything, or anybody, you don’t feel superior to?” – and she
is also rather taken with her confessional self-analysis.
All of which unfolds through contrived, retrospective letters written
to her husband, a caricature doting father who can see no wrong with
their obnoxiously insolent son. The ridiculous Franklin defends the
brat child who develops into a dangerous adolescent and mass
killer. Even more unbelievably, this same doting father consistently
jeers at the couple’s second child, the nervous little Celia, to whose
birth he had objected.
The couple consistently divide on the subject of Kevin. Early in the
book, it is obvious that Eva is not writing to her husband, she is
writing to herself – and in this technical weakness lies the failure
of Shriver’s relentless narrative. Eva is the daughter of Armenian
emigrants. She has made a fortune through writing travel guides; she
may know the cheapest ways to travel the world, but such is her
arrogance that she knows no one.
Kevin the problem baby does not like his mother, and remains in
diapers until he is six years old. It is a form of protest. No
childminder can tolerate him. His snide utterances belie his tender
years and as he grows older he begins to express himself with the
gutter eloquence of a hardened gangland veteran. He is also presented
as a cunning genius who conceals his intelligence.
Nothing is believable. No man, not even a determinedly loving father
weary of his arrogant, wealthy wife and her scathing anti-American
rhetoric, could possibly tolerate a son like Kevin. The boy sneers,
lies, dresses in clothes several sizes too small for him, and
eventually takes to masturbating in full view of Eva. Then there is
the blinding of Celia, left in Kevin’s care because dad believes the
young thug is sufficiently mature to mind her. Does Shriver honestly,
albeit simplistically, reckon that mass killers are the products of
weak dads and vain, ageing mothers possessed of too much mouth? Even
as Kevin’s crimes against other people multiply – the sabotage of a
bike, which injures a boy; the rocks hurled from a bridge on passing
cars; the harassment of female classmates; the accusations of sexual
abuse against a female drama teacher – dad stands by his boy, accusing
Eva of not loving poor little Kevin. It is sickening stuff. This is
not due to Shriver’s rather crude narrative skills but solely to the
voyeuristic, conversational nastiness of her novel, which is far more
offensive than Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, an infinitely
better book.
After 400 pages of abnormal recall, recalled at length, there are few
answers and little feeling – just Kevin in prison, playing with his
sister’s glass eye. It is a repulsive story, as much for its “I kid
you not” quasi-reportage narrative voice as for its content.
Eileen Battersby is Literary Correspondent of The Irish Times
We Need To Talk About Kevin By Lionel Shriver Serpent’s Tail,
400pp. GBP9.99
‘SOONER OR LATER THE US WILL RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’
Azg/arm
2 April 05
Abdullah Gul, Turkish foreign minister, said during the meeting with
his Swiss counterpart, Micheline Calmy Rey, that the accusations of
the genocide are unacceptable statements made by the representatives
of the Armenian Diaspora that try to spoil Turkey’s relations with
other countries.
Gul meant the EU states and the US. It is known that the EU countries
demand from Turkey to take steps for recognition of the Armenian
Genocide to get EU membership. As for the US it expresses readiness to
recognize the genocide. Paul Wolfowitz, the US secretary for defense,
touched upon the readiness of America to recognize the Armenian
Genocide.
On March 31 Turkish Miliet published the interview of Ross Vartian,
chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America, where he touched upon
the steps taken by their Assembly and the members of the
Armenian-American Friendship group at the House of Representatives at
the US Congress. The interview was given in Washington to the
correspondent of Miliet Yasemin Congar.
In response to the question about the new formula of the genocide’s
recognition, Mr. Vartian emphasized its similarity with the formula
that was excluded from the agenda of the House of Representatives on
October 19, 2000 by the instruction of Bill Clinton. He said that the
formula will be submitted to the US Congress on April 20. Vartian
added that the new formula will be published at Conference of “90th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.” The conference will be held by
the American Armenian Organizations, the US embassy to Armenia and the
Armenian-American friendship group at the House of Representatives at
the US Congress.
Vartian touched upon the Turkish-Armenian contradictions and pointed
out the notorious article by Robert Pollock. He said that sooner or
later the US will do what other states did in the issue of the
Armenian Genocide, adding that “France recognized the Genocide but
that didn’t spoil the Turkish-French relations at all.”
He found the suggestion of the Turkish officials to discuss the issues
of the genocide, explaining that with the fact that the historians had
done it long ago and come to certain conclusion. As for the
correspondent’s question about statement Vigen Chitechian’s, RA
ambassador to CE, statement, Vartian said: “Let him ask about that
from Yerevan. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is one of the
primary issues of Armenia’s foreign policy. Every year on April 24
over 1 million of people visit the Monument to the Armenian
Genocide. We, the Armenian Diaspora, do not feel hostility against the
Turks.”
In response to the questions concerning Turkey’s territorial
integrity, the Armenian-Turkish relations, Vartian didn’t exclude that
the recognition may cause certain consequences for Turkey. “But the
consequences of the recognition doesn’t concern Diaspora. This is up
to Yerevan and Ankara to decide. As for the territorial claims, the
Armenian authorities have unilaterally stated about respecting the
territorial integrity of Turkey. Armenia and Turkey should be able to
discuss all the existing issues. It is necessary to open the border.
The recognition of the Armenian Genocide can be no precondition for
the improvement of the relations between Yerevan and Ankara. The
recognition ofthe Genocide will take place when the Turkish people
want that and when they make the Turkish government do that. The
external pressure will yield no results. Turkey is gradually changing,
questioning the history, otherwise Orhan Pamuk would not be able to
publicly speak about the massacre of 1 million 500 thousand of
Armenians,” Vartian underscored.
By Hakob Chakrian
Messenger.ge, Georgia
Friday, April 1, 2005, #059 (0833)
American teachers share experience in Georgia
By Anna Arzanova
Tim Blauvelt (second from left) and
Nebraskan teachers Thomas Cardwell
and Nancy Grant-Colson listen to
Bela Tsiporia (r)
Two American teachers from the state of Nebraska, Nancy Grant-Colson and
Thomas Cardwell, are currently in Georgia for two weeks within the framework
of the Partnership in Education program (PiE), a teacher and pupil exchange
program which ends this summer.
The two teachers, both of whom are winners of a national civic education
outstanding specialists competition, have so far visited schools in Rustavi,
Kakheti, Sagarejo, Zugdidi and other Georgian regions to observe the work of
schools and meet with teachers and school management.
Speaking at a press conference on March 31, representatives of American
Councils said that the Partnership in Education program, together with a
Development of Civic Education program, is helping to promote a long-term
partnership between American and Georgian schools and teachers.
Within the framework of the program, Georgian teachers visit American
schools, while American teachers like Grant-Colson and Cardwell travel to
Georgia to share their experience.
“We have several programs organizing the exchange of school teachers and
directors, as well as children in grades 9, 10 and 11,” the coordinator of
the PiE program Nana Bilashvili told The Messenger.
“Four competition-winning directors, including one who is the director of a
school in Gudauta, Abkhazia, will visit the United States in the near
future,” she said, adding that they would be joined by teachers from other
parts of the Caucasus, including from Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“This program is interesting for us because when directors or teachers or
children go to the United States for education reasons, they bring back new
education approaches and methods to Georgia,” she stated.
Bilashvili said that the impact of a visit to the U.S. was particularly
noticeable on students, who, she said, after traveling to the United States
“as a rule return absolutely changed – they are disciplined and what is most
important they have the ability to make decisions.”
Commenting on student exchanges, Coordinator of the Future Leader Exchange
Program (FLEX) Irina Rekhviashvili explained to The Messenger that her
program, which is financed by the Culture and Education bureau of the U.S.
State Department, provides one year’s education for Georgian pupils
absolutely free of charge.
“The winner pays nothing except for their passport and visa,” she stated.
Bilashvili thinks that “this provides great stimulus for everybody, and
especially for those who work in this sphere, because when we visit schools
in Georgian regions, we see that the U.S. government is doing a lot to
improve the Georgian school system.”
“Of course, this is great assistance for educational reform. As a result of
this reform, we see that the attitude [in society] toward education and
teachers has significantly changed,” she said, adding that as well as the
U.S. government, volunteers from the U.S. Peace Corps also render
assistance.
Bilashvili hopes that this will give Georgia the possibility to resolve all
of the problems in the education system in the near future and that the
current reforms in education will be decisive in raising the level of
education to international standards.
Deputy Minister of Education Bela Tsipuria told The Messenger that “Reform
envisages the establishment of various educational possibilities in the
country. Reform is not focused on any one method and principle,”
Tsipuria told The Messenger that these programs, which are financed by the
U.S. government and administered by American Councils, are a great and very
important source for the professional development of Georgian teachers and
pupils alike.
“These programs are interesting because they give specialists of any age the
possibility to develop their professionalism,” Tsipuria stated.
Commenting on Grant-Colson and Cardwell, the deputy minister said they were
in Georgia to share their experience with Georgian teachers. She thinks that
such meetings are very important.
At the press conference Tsipuria expressed her happiness regarding the
arrival of these teachers in Georgia. “We highly appreciate your activities
in our country and our schools. I am really proud to be a kind of
representative and connection between American Councils and the Georgian
educational system,” Tsipuria said, adding that such activities can have
very important results.
She expressed her hope that as a result of the cooperation a new and diverse
atmosphere would be created in Georgian schools. “This is a very important,
necessary and urgent task for everybody,” she added.
Country Director of American Councils Timothy Blauvelt stated that over the
past few years a number of teachers and school directors from Georgia have
participated in such programs.
“They have gone to the United States for seven weeks and they have come back
to Georgia and participated as trainers or teachers for other teachers.
Unfortunately, this program is coming to an end,” he said, explaining that
the final stage of this program will be the summer PiE workshop.
Teacher Nancy Grant-Colson stated this was her first trip outside her own
country and she was very pleased that last fall she had an opportunity to
host teachers from Georgia. “My family as well as my colleagues were very
excited for me to have such an opportunity,” she said. According to her, the
teachers have not only visited schools; they have also visited cultural and
historic places in Georgia.
“I am very appreciative to American Councils for providing me with the
opportunity to really grow as a person and as an educator. After being in
the classrooms, and meeting with teachers, professionals and educators and
principals, I am excited to get back to my students,” she stated.
Thomas Cardwell also thanked American Councils for the opportunities and
said that he was a little nervous about coming in Georgia because it is over
six thousand miles from Nebraska. “I am not a secondary school educator, I
am an administrator of the university and I am married and have three
children that have also passed through secondary school. So, I am very
interested in the state of public education,” he said.
According to him, it is very important to have good education for children
so that “they can become productive adults. In terms of people, I have been
very impressed by the dedication of teachers and administrators in schools,
sometimes working under adverse condition with limited supplies.”
He said that he was very impressed by those schools they had visited and
thought that they should continue cooperation in the future as well.
American Councils for International Education is an international
not-for-profit organization leading the development and exchange of
knowledge between the U.S. and Eastern Europe/Eurasia. Its mission is to
foster independence and democratic development by advancing education and
research, cultivating leadership, and empowering individuals and
institutions through learning.
Today.Az » Politics »
Yuri Merzlyakov: “Participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the process of talks
might be needed”
01 April 2005 [15:24] – Today.Az
“OSCE Minsk Group has already determined some components of the regulation
of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In the last talks this is being looked into
and the sides generally do not object the suggested plan. But enough
difference is seen in the positions of the sides of conflict within various
details”.
This was stated by the co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group from Russia Yuri
Merzlyakov in his exclusive interview to APA.
“The sides should come to an agreement, without that the matters of
improvement in the process of talks as well as the regulation of the
conflict will not be achieved”. Merzlyakov evaluated the offers about the
participation of separatist regime activating in Nagorno Karabakh in the
process of talks.
“Once, three-sided format of the talks might be needed to be returned to.
There are some details the solutions of which are impossible without the
participation Nagorno Karabakh”. Concerning the participation of Azerbaijani
community of Nagorno Karabakh in the talks as the side, Russian diplomat
considers that, this community in the talks is represented by Azerbaijan.
Co-chairman of Minsk group also expressed his attitudes about the listening
within the regulation of Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the Parliament of
Armenia. It must be mentioned that, Minister of Defense making a speech in
the parliament Serj Sarkisyan used attitudes like “The independence of
Nagorno Karabakh is the greatest compromise that Armenia does not accept,
the next compromise will be permission for holding referendum in Nagorno
Karabakh”.
Yuri Merzlyakov stated that, such opinions do not have so great importance
for them. “We cooperate with supreme authority structures of the sides of
conflict in the matter of the regulation of conflict, the attitudes of the
presidents are important for us”. Regular violation of ceasefire in contact
line seriously worries the cochairs of OSCE Minsk Group. Y.Merzlyakov called
the application of both Azerbaijan and Armenia to UNO with the accusations
of ceasefire violation the rights of the sides and stated that possibilities
for stabilizing the situation are still present.
“The mandate of the representative of OSCE chairman Anzhei Kaspshik is not
to find out the ones violating the ceasefire, but to help the stability to
be achieved. It is not possible to hold permanent monitoring in the contact
line of forces. This may be realized by international observers. But in that
case, first of all, the sides must come to an agreement on the placing
international peace-loving forces in the contact line if one of the sides
does not let it happen, placing peace-loving forces in the front line will
be impossible”. It must be mentioned that, state leader Ilham Aliyev stated
that, whether the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will
happen or not, depends on the meeting of MFA leaders.
Yuri Merzlyakov stated that, co chairs of OSCE Minsk group keeps great hope
to the results of the meeting of Azerbaijan and Armenia presidents to be
held in Moscow. “Ministers can’t solve everything, some times political
decisions must be made in supreme level for moving some distance. The
purpose is that, the presidents should give impulse to the talks to be
continued, orders to ministers, direction to mediators, should show the
direction of the works to be done by us.This meeting to happen is very
important for co-chairs”.
According to Y.Merzlyakov, co chairs visited Lyublyana on March 18, met with
the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, current chairman of OSCE Dmitri
Rupel. The meeting happened some time before visit of Rupel to South
Caucasus. “We agreed with the visit of OSCE chairman to Azerbaijan and
Armenia. We asked OSCE chairman especially to stress the importance of the
coming talks during his meeting with the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia”.
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