Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
February 5, 2005 Saturday
Final Edition

Annan tries to limit oil slick damage to UN: Action threatened
against oil-for food managers; Iraqi government wants money returned

by Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service

UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan scrambled Friday to
limit the damage from a report that says “unethical conduct” by top
UN managers helped Saddam Hussein skim huge sums from the
organization’s $67-billion US oil-for-food program in Iraq.

He said he would “take action promptly” against the managers — one
of them the former head of the aid program, and a man Annan has
described as a friend.

But in Baghdad and at the UN, Iraqi government officials demanded a
return of stolen funds, saying the program had done more to prop up
Saddam’s regime than help ordinary Iraqis.

In Washington, Annan faced a mixture of criticism and praise. Some
Republicans in Congress said the report will lead to the downfall of
both Annan and the UN. But the Bush administration said it showed
Annan was committed to making the organization accountable.

The 200-page report by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul
Volcker amounted to a damning indictment of the UN’s management of
the world’s largest humanitarian aid program.

It said oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan had “undermined the integrity”
of the UN by bargaining with Saddam on behalf of an oil company run
by an Egyptian relative of former UN secretary general Boutros
Boutros-Ghali. It also criticized UN senior manager Joseph
Stephanides for manipulating a UN contract.

Volcker added at a press conference that the report is only the “tip
of the iceberg” of what was wrong with the program, saying two
subsequent reports would focus not only on additional activities by
Boutros-Ghali, but also roles played by Annan and his son, Kojo, who
worked for a company that landed a lucrative oil-for-food inspection
contract.

Launched in 1996, the oil-for-food scheme was meant to get food and
medicine to ordinary Iraqis at a time when sanctions against the
country aimed at forcing Saddam and his regime to comply with UN
disarmament demands.

“We are as determined as everyone to get to the bottom of this,”
Annan said Friday. “We do not want this shadow to hang over the UN,
so we want to … take appropriate measures to deal with the gaps.”

But it remained unclear what disciplinary measures could be taken
against the retired Sevan, and Stephanides, who is five months from
retirement.

While both men are Cypriots, Sevan is of Armenian heritage, and his
success in his 40-year career at the UN has seen him hailed as a hero
on Armenian websites, alongside tennis star Andre Agassi and
entertainers Charles Aznavour and Cher.

But he, Stephanides and others named in the report were accused of
having “not an iota of shame” Friday by Iraq’s human rights minister,
Bakhtiar Amin.

“They profited as parasites on the misery of an impoverished nation,”
he said in Baghdad.

He said Saddam had been able to manipulate the oil-for-food program
to “fund terrorism,” adding Iraqis should now be compensated.

“These people shouldn’t get away with the money and live the rest of
their lives in luxury,” he said. “A lesson needs to be made of them.
They benefited by stealing the bread of others.”

Iraqi officials are particularly angry that the UN is using $30
million US raised from the sale of Iraqi oil to fund the Volcker
inquiry.

The UN has turned over to Iraq $9.3 billion US of remaining
oil-for-food money since the program ended with the fall of Saddam in
2003, but has retained $37 million for “administrative” spending on
Iraqi matters, in addition to the money to pay for the Volcker
commission.

Anger over the UN’s failure to back the war in Iraq led to increasing
criticism of the organization by some U.S. Republicans, who saw the
report as more reason for the United Nations to be closed down.

“I am reluctant to conclude that the UN is damaged beyond repair, but
these revelations certainly point in this direction,” said Rep. Henry
Hyde, chairman of the House international relations committee.

Alcatel’s Tchuruk seeks closer Thales ties to gain
access to defence market

AFX News
Thursday, February 3, 2005

PARIS (AFX) – Alcatel wants to build up its defence communications
business by strengthening its relationship with Thales, in which it
holds a 9.1 pct stake, and is open to every option, said chief
executive Serge Tchuruk.

‘Defence is an important market for Alcatel,’ Tchuruk told daily Le
Figaro in an interview, adding: ‘We now want to build ourselves up
more clearly in the defence communications market beyond our (current)
position in satellites.

‘But it is difficult for us to do this with things as they are… That
is why we want to to develop our relationship with Thales.

‘We are open to every possible option other than the current status
quo,’ he said, reiterating his position on the future of the Thales
stake.

‘I have always said our stake in Thales is too much or not enough.’

He said Alcatel is also open to transatlantic acquisitions ‘and why
not in France?’ where he feels there are ‘too many players.’

The company this morning announced it will permit ‘flexibility’ in its
2005 gross margin to allow growth.

But Alcatel is not seeking a major merger ‘as we are already one of
the big boys.’

Christianity Today
Feb 4 2005

Christian History Corner

Losing Jesus’ Language

The Assyrians, Iraq’s main Christian population, struggle to keep
their heritage and their ancient language.
posted 02/04/2005 9:00 a.m.

The Assyrians are the major Christian group in Iraq, where they
participated, with some hindrances, in last week’s election. A native
Assyrian herself, cultural historian Dr. Eden Naby has a great
concern for the survival of her community, which has suffered from
persecution throughout the 20th century. She has published
extensively on the Assyrians, as well as the Afghans, Turkmens,
Uighurs and Kurds, and has conducted NEH seminars for teachers at
Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on
religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East. She is currently
editing a book about the Assyrian diaspora worldwide and preparing a
monograph on Assyrians in the Middle East.

CT Online Assistant Editor Rob Moll spoke and e-mailed with Dr. Naby
about the Assyrians and their struggle to maintain their heritage.

ROB MOLL: Assyrians have been in Iraq for a long time. Could you tell
us about their history in the region?

EDEN NABY: Iraq is a recent term. Assyrians were in the region long
before the British, the Ottomans, the Arabs, and the Kurds. For
Assyrians, the term Mesopotamia makes better sense since that Greek
word – meaning “land between the rivers” – expresses where they have
lived historically, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The
combination of an increasingly minority ethnicity and language plus
the problem of being Christian under Muslim rule has driven Assyrians
into the hinterlands of Iraq – the natural refuge areas of the
marginalized (either deserts or mountains). The Assyrians went into
the mountains, although significant numbers remained on the Nineveh
plains where churches date to the 4th and 5th centuries or earlier.

When Iraq was cobbled together through conquest and negotiations with
the successors to the Ottomans, many Assyrians ended up in Iraq.
Others lived in Turkey, Iran and Syria. After the Islamic Revolution
in 1979, Assyrians left Iran in such numbers that only about 15
percent of the post-World War II community remains.

What forces caused Assyrians to emigrate?

Persecution of Assyrians during the past several centuries has
centered around their Christianity, not their ethnicity. It is only
in the 19th and 20th centuries that ethnicity has come to play a role
in the Middle East as a source of friction.

Records from the 19th century are plentiful and clear: Islamic
governments treated all “people of the Book” as tolerated
second-class citizens. The Assyrians were subjected to poll taxes
levied against non-Muslims and the oppressive feudal system prevalent
in the Middle East, which combined to keep the Assyrians poor and
starving.

But more immediately, they were the victims of Kurdish tribes often
appointed as “tax farmers” for the Ottoman rulers in the areas where
Assyrians lived. Kurds therefore became accustomed to abusing
Assyrians both as a different, non-Kurdish speaking minority, and as
Christians with no recourse to authority. Most egregious was the
regular abduction of Assyrian girls and women.

The opportunity to emigrate came with the advance of Tsarist Russia
southward and the entry of Western diplomats and missionaries. The
first big emigration was to Russia, which is still a thriving and
educated community that has retained its Aramaic languages since
1828.

The second emigration was to America, the Christian-friendly land
that was able and willing to take a hardworking laborer or a good
student. In the late 19th century, men began coming to work in cities
with industrial jobs.

But persecution increased, as did opportunities to emigrate. The
years 1895-6 were particularly severe as were 1905, 1909, 1912, 1914
and finally 1915, the Year of the Sword. By 1918, nearly all
Assyrians were refugees somewhere. Until 1924, when the U.S.
immigration law became more restrictive, Assyrians poured into the
U.S.

During times of persecution, even with the backing of British and
American diplomats and missionaries, there was little the Assyrians
could do to defend themselves except make appeals, have the
missionaries buy back their sisters and daughters, and study hard to
improve themselves. Medicine and technical fields became their
strength. As doctors, they passed the well-developed art of healing
from ancient practice, plus Greek knowledge, to the rest of the
Middle East.

There is a strong emphasis on education in the Assyrian community in
America.

In minority communities, especially from the Middle East where under
Islam there is little economic opportunity, education is the key.
Medicine is a long-standing tradition among Assyrians.

Medicine is transportable across cultures. Most of the intellectuals
who came over and were trained in the ministry, education, or
something else ended up doing factory jobs.

Assyrians are concentrated in certain areas of the U.S. Why?

Mostly because of factory jobs. Also missionaries helped to send some
boys to school. Ohio Wesleyan, Springfield International College in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and Colombia University, were a few
schools Assyrians attended. At Colombia, Professor Abraham Yohannan
came to help translate the New Testament into Syriac – not the ancient
language, but they Assyrian vernacular in Iraq.

The pre-WWI immigrants came to work. Only after 1912 did permanent
residence in the U.S. dawn on the community as it saw waves of
persecution build against them. After WWI, our community was either
killed or scattered. Two-thirds of our people were killed or died of
disease.

How has the Assyrian community stayed connected, both within America,
and with Assyrians in the Middle East?

The basic connection is family. People in our community, as in most
Middle Eastern communities, remain closely connected to extended
family. When people immigrate from Iraq or Syria, part of the family
stays behind. This is a plus and minus because when you have your
great uncle still living in Baghdad you’re very careful about what
you say about Saddam Hussein or anyone who could turn around and harm
your people.

The second connection is through religious organizations or cultural
institutions. But it’s not easy holding on to a second and third
generation because of the language issue.

How important is keeping the language to maintaining the culture?

It is possible to be an Assyrian and not know the language. Certainly
there are people who are Jews, Armenians, Native Americans, who don’t
know the language of their community. We have people who feel
strongly that they are Assyrian, but the basis for their being
Assyrian has diminished considerably because of the loss of language.

The Passion of the Christ was in Aramaic. Could Assyrians watch
without the subtitles?

Many people could understand much of it. If I didn’t want to see the
subtitles and just listen, I had to close my eyes, which I didn’t
want to do. I understood about 50 percent, and I’m not as well
acquainted with our written language as some.

Is there a larger interest in Aramaic because of the movie, and has
it affected your community?

I’d like to say that Mel Gibson had an effect on the community, but I
don’t think it’s Mel Gibson at all. In terms of the visibility of
Aramaic, it certainly created a lot of visibility outside of our
community.

We simply do not have facilities to propagate our written language.
We had greater literacy in our community in 1920 than we do today.
The reason is that before 1920 the West had an enormous interest in
our language. There is a story about the 50th celebration of the
American presence in northwest Iran, which was in 1884. They had
invited some Persian dignitaries and a missionary was sitting next to
one of the Persian officials. The official noticed a lot of women
sitting together with books in their hands, and the official turned
the missionary and said, “what are those women doing with those
books. Women in your community can read?” and they asked for all the
women who could read to stand up. 600 women stood.

I don’t think we have 600 women in Iran today who could read our
language. We have a population of 15,000. There has been no
opportunity for our people to study our language.

Can you maintain it in America?

We have social institutions and church institutions that teach and
propagate the language. One of the problems we have is that some
churches insist that the vernacular should not be written [for
services], and that the only language should be Syriac, which died
out as a spoken language in the 14th century. Other churches, the
Chaldean and the Church of the East, pushed for the vernacular. Using
the vernacular means the church, when it teaches the language,
teaches the vernacular. That helps to preserve the language.

Rob Moll is online assistant editor for Christianity Today magazine.
More Christian history, including a list of events that occurred this
week in the church’s past, is available at ChristianHistory.net.
Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazine are also available.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 2, 2005

OSCE CHAIRMAN HOLDS DISCUSSIONS IN MOSCOW
[February 02, 2005, 14:42:23]

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij
Rupel, discussed OSCE reform, the Organization’s election-monitoring
activities and a range of regional issues in talks with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

The Chairman-in-Office said he was encouraged by the open and candid
discussions and by the commitment of the Russian Federation to making
the 55-nation security organization more effective.

He said the Slovenian Chairmanship took Russia’s concerns about the
future of the Organization very seriously.

Regional issues discussed included Kosovo, Georgia,
Moldova/Transdniestria and Nagorno-Karabakh.

On elections, the Chairman-in-Office said he was open to a discussion
on ways of making OSCE election-monitoring even more effective, but
this should build on the excellent existing achievements of the
OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, ITALIAN PREMIER DISCUSS TIES, RELATIONS WITH TURKEY

Mediamax news agency
28 Jan 05

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi in Rome today.

Kocharyan and Berlusconi discussed issues of bilateral relations,
putting special accent on the necessity to extend and boost trade and
economic relations, Mediamax’s special correspondent reports from
Rome.

The sides also considered political issues, noting good contacts
between the Armenian and Italian Foreign Ministries.

The Armenian president and the Italian prime minister also exchanged
opinions on regional and international problems and discussed the
process of Armenia’s European integration. Robert Kocharyan and Silvio
Berlusconi touched upon the issue of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations, viewing it in the context of the forthcoming beginning of
talks on Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU).

p;type=story#
*ESPN.com:* Men’s College Basketball

* Thursday, January 27, 2005
* Tarkanian replaces recalled councilwoman
————————————————————————
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — The wife of former basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian won a
City Council seat in a special election that turned out an indicted
first-term councilwoman. Lois Tarkanian, a former three-term Clark
County school trustee, drew almost 42 percent of the 6,902 votes cast in
Tuesday’s recall of City Council ward representative Janet Moncrief.
Tarkanian, 70, will be sworn in Feb. 2 to fill the remaining two years
of Moncrief’s term. “I’m going to try very hard to be as effective as I
can be,” Tarkanian said. Moncrief, a registered nurse and political
novice, drew about 30 percent of the vote. She faces campaign finance
charges stemming from her June 2003 election. An advocate for the
disabled placed third in the recall vote. Jerry Tarkanian coached at
UNLV and Fresno State before retiring in 2002.

NEWS Press
25 janvier 2005

ONU – Conférence de presse du Ministre des affaires étrangères de la
France, M. Michel Barnier

ONU Organisation des Nations Unies

24 janvier 2005 – Au cours d’une conférence de presse donnée
aujourd’hui à la suite à son intervention à la session extraordinaire
de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies pour commémorer le 60ème
anniversaire de la libération des camps de concentration nazis, le
Ministre des affaires étrangères de la France, M. Michel Barnier, a
insisté sur le devoir de mémoire et de vigilance de la communauté
internationale. Précisant qu’il allait être aux côtés du Président
Jacques Chirac, jeudi 27 janvier, pour commémorer à Auschwitz le
60ème anniversaire de la libération de ce camp, il a souligné la
nécessité d’être intransigeant contre toutes les formes de racisme et
d’antisémitisme qui guettent toujours. Il a souhaité, dans le cadre
unique du droit international que sont les Nations Unies, que nous
gardions toujours les moyens d’agir. Il a indiqué qu’il saisirait
l’occasion de sa présence à New York pour continuer le dialogue qu’il
a entrepris depuis quelques mois avec toutes les organisations juives
américaines, qu’il rencontrera cet après-midi.

Répondant à une question sur la situation au Darfour, et sur la
possibilité d’imposer des sanctions et d’envoyer les responsables
d’atrocités devant la Cour pénale internationale, M. Barnier a
rappelé sa conviction que l’on ne règlerait pas ce drame sans le
Soudan ou contre le Soudan, mais avec lui. Nous attendons le rapport
du Secrétaire général qui qualifiera lui-même la nature des crimes et
exactions commis, a-t-il ajouté, et il faudra que ceux qui ont commis
ces crimes ou exactions soient punis. Il a dit qu’en tant que
Ministre des affaires étrangères de la France, pays ayant toujours
soutenu la Cour pénale internationale, il n’avait pas de difficultés
à dire que ceux qui commettent des crimes jugés au niveau
international comme des crimes contre les droits de l’homme et la
dignité des personnes, devront être jugés par cette Cour.

Répondant à une question sur la possibilité de demander une session
extraordinaire en mémoire du génocide arménien à l’instar de ce qui a
été fait aujourd’hui en direction de l’holocauste, M. Barnier a
rappelé que le Parlement français avait voté à l’unanimité une loi
reconnaissant le génocide arménien. Alors que nous avons entamé un
processus de possible adhésion de la Turquie à l’Union européenne,
a-t-il précisé, il est utile que ce grand pays fasse ce travail de
mémoire. À cet égard, il a rappelé que le projet européen auquel la
Turquie souhaitait adhérer était fondé sur l’idée même de la
réconciliation, la réconciliation avec les autres et la
réconciliation avec soi-même.

S’agissant de l’application de la résolution 1559 (2004) du Conseil
de sécurité demandant le retrait de l’armée syrienne du Liban
soulevée par un journaliste, il s’est déclaré soucieux de sa mise en
oeuvre et de son respect par tous ceux qu’elle concerne, pour que le
Liban retrouve progressivement sa pleine souveraineté. Nous en aurons
une première preuve au printemps, a-t-il ajouté, lors des prochaines
élections générales.

Répondant à une question sur cette commémoration alors que continuent
les discriminations dont sont victimes les Palestiniens, M. Barnier a
indiqué que tout le monde était d’accord pour que ce moment de
commémoration ne soit pas lié à d’autres situations. Il a dit son
espoir et celui des Européens pour que 2005 devienne l’année de la
paix, avec la création d’un État Palestinien et la garantie pour
Israël de vivre en sécurité, en estimant que cela passerait par la
relance de la Feuille de route et le renforcement de la légitimité de
l’Autorité palestinienne. Il a ajouté qu’il y avait un sentiment
d’urgence et une disponibilité assez unanime et assez rare en
souhaitant que le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient soit mis au coeur
du nouvel état d’esprit entre Européens et Américains.

S’agissant tout particulièrement de la situation en Iraq, il a
rappelé toute l’importance de la résolution 1546 qui fixe le chemin
d’une sortie politique de ce trou noir avec la tenue d’élections et
le retrait des troupes étrangères à la fin de 2005. Il a souhaité que
les élections du 30 janvier 2005 soient le plus crédible possible, en
rappelant que la France a dit au Président iraquien, en visite à
Paris la semaine dernière, qu’elle participera à la reconstruction
politique et économique de l’Iraq si le climat de sécurité soit
rétabli. Il a également précisé que même si la France avait proposé
de participer à la formation de forces de gendarmerie iraquiennes en
dehors de l’Iraq, elle ne souhaitait pas, ni aujourd’hui ni demain,
envoyer des troupes en Iraq.

Concernant la perception de certaines selon lesquelles les Nations
Unies seraient antijuives, anti-Israël, M. Barnier a répondu qu’il ne
comprenait pas cette critique. Il a noté que les Nations Unies
appliquent le droit et respectent les principes et qu’elles n’avaient
pas de positions anti-israéliennes. Il a estimé qu’il ne fallait pas
transiger avec l’existence d’Israël avec sa sécurité. Et en même
temps, il faut aboutir à la création d’un État palestinien, le plus
vite possible. C’est la condition de l’avenir des jeunes palestiniens
qui ont droit à un futur pacifique. C’est la condition de la
stabilité au Proche-Orient. Il est de notre responsabilité, a-t-il
insisté, de mettre fin à ce conflit dans l’intérêt de la paix au
Moyen-Orient. Répondant à une question sur la possibilité de comparer
la situation des Palestiniens en Israël et dans le Territoire occupé
et celle des Juifs durant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, M. Barnier a
souligné le caractère unique de l’holocauste en appelant à faire
attention aux mots que l’on utilisait.

Répondant à une question sur la possibilité de mettre en oeuvre la
Feuille de route alors que se poursuit la construction du mur de
séparation, le Ministre des affaires étrangères français a déclaré
que les Nations Unies et les Européens s’étaient exprimés sur le
tracé de ce mur. Il a souhaité que l’on saisisse les opportunités du
moment et notamment l’engagement, qu’il a qualifié de courageux, de
M. Sharon de se retirer de Gaza en espérant que ce retrait soit un
succès dans les semaines et mois à venir. Parallèlement, il a
souligné qu’il fallait réussir la réorganisation de l’Autorité
palestinienne en précisant que cette question allait être au centre
d’une prochaine conférence à Londres, à laquelle il participerait. Il
faudra prêter attention aux élections à venir, afin de s’assurer de
la légitimité du pouvoir en place. En conclusion, il a souhaité que
l’on prenne les choses l’une après l’autre, en rappelant que la
Feuille du route du Quartet diplomatique restait le cadre de
référence pour parvenir à la mise en oeuvre de deux États vivant côte
à côte en toute sécurité au sein de frontières internationalement
reconnues.

SERGO YERITSIAN VISITS “MARIAM” EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT AND MEETS
WITH IRANIAN COUNTERPART

TEHRAN, January 19 (Noyan Tapan). RA Minister of Education and Science
Sergo Yeritsian and a delegation headed by him, which is in Tehran
now, visited the sections of boys and girls of the “Mariam”
establishment on January 17 morning. Eduard Babakhanian, the Chairman
of the Educational Council of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran,
Khoshdast, a representative of the Ministry of Education of Iran,
members of the Parents’ Councils of the two sections received them at
the school. Eduard Babakhanian spoke about the Armenian schools of
Tehran. Minister Yeritsian considered the Armenian schools as small
isles contributing to the protection of the Armenian nation, the
Armenian spirit, friendship of the two peoples. Students of the
elementary classes of the girls section performed during the
meeting. According to the “Alik” (“Wave”) daily newspaper of Tehran,
the same day, the Armenian delegation visited the National Scientific
and Research Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering of
Iran, where Director Dr. Sanatin and specialists of the Scientific and
Research Institute presented the work of different
departments. Minister Yeritsian attached importance to cooperation of
the two countries in this sphere, and Yervand Sahakian, the Pro-Rector
of the State Medical University of Armenia on Foreign Relations,
briefly presented the medical researches in Armenia. After midday the
Armenian delegation headed by the RA Minister of Education and Science
and accompanied by Garnik Badalian, the Envoy Extraordinary of the
Embassy of Armenia in Iran and the Charge D’Affaires of Armenia to
Iran, had a meeting with Minister of Education of Iran Morteza
Haji. At the meeting Sergo Yeritsian, attaching importance to
cooperation between the two countries in the educational sphere and
stressing the attention concentrated on the Iranian Studies and the
Persian language in Armenia, said that in many schools of Armenia
Persian is taught as a foreign language together with several foreign
languages, and Persian is the language of entrance examinations. He
added that 300 students study at the Department of Oriental Studies of
the Yerevan State University. Morteza Haji mentioned that the two
countries, Armenia and Iran, have close relations, and it is necessary
that they should also have good cooperation in the educational
sphere. According to the Minister, they may cooperate in the
pedagogical sphere, the holding of scientific and sport competitions
and the sphere of the exchange of teaching technique. Minister Haji
highly estimated the role of the Iranian Armenians in the Iranian art,
craft, in the scientific and cultural life. On January 18 morning, the
delegation departed to Rasht, where it also visited with the Armenian
Community of Rasht.

SUMMER 2005 ARMENIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA

University of Michigan
January 21, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan Armenian Studies Program is
pleased to announce this year’s Summer Language Institute to be held in
Yerevan, from June 24 through August 22, 2005. This Program is open to
all undergraduate, graduate and professional school students attending
any North American or European Universities or colleges, who wish to
learn Classical Armenian or Modern Eastern, or Modern Western Armenian.
Lectures on Armenian culture and history, as well as various excursions
and cultural events supplement the courses. North American
undergraduate students may take the course for credit (8 credit hours).
U.S. graduate students may enroll for a non-credit certificate for
Eastern or Western Armenian, or may take Classical Armenian for credit
(6 credit hours). European students may take any of the courses for a
non-credit certificate only. The same academic and program criteria
will apply to credit and non-credit students alike.

In addition to high quality intensive language instruction, the Program
offers the opportunity to live and study in Armenia. The Program is
directed by Dr. Kevork B. Bardakjian, Marie Manoogian Professor of
Armenian Language & Literature and Director of the Armenian Studies
Program at the University of Michigan. Deadline for the receipt of
completed applications is Tuesday, 15 March, 2004.

For more information and/or for an application packet online:

Or, please contact:

Professor Kevork B. Bardakjian
Department of NES
2068 Frieze Bldg.
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
Tel.: 734/763-7655
Fax: 734/936-2679
Email: [email protected]

PanArmenian News
Jan 20 2005

RALLY AGAINST US ASSISTANT STATE SECRETARY STATEMENTS ON KARABAKH
HELD IN ARMENIA

20.01.2005 17:04

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday in Yerevan representatives of a range of
youth and student organizations held a rally procession towards the
building of the US Embassy in Armenia. The action, in which over 200
took part, aimed at expressing protest against the statement of US
Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones that “establishment of
stability in Pridnestrovye, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno
Karabakh proceeds from interests of Russia and corruption should be
ended and ruling criminal separatists taken away there.” In the words
of action participants, their goal was to demonstrate to the
civilized world and Elizabeth Jones that Nagorno Karabakh people and
authorities cannot be considered separatists, as Nagorno Karabakh has
never been and will never be part of Azerbaijan. The action
participants also reminded that Karabakh Armenians are guided by the
principle of self-determination. “The conflict in Nagorno Karabakh is
not a small change for political games between the US and Russia,”
Chairman of the Student Council of Yerevan State University Mihran
Hakobian stated. It should be noted that the action participants
conveyed a respective statement to the Embassy.