Author: Zakarian Garnik

PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2005

Junior Achievement of Armenia
1102 North Brand Blvd. #61
Glendale, CA 91202
Contact: Beth Broussalian Tel/Fax: 858-792-4656
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Street Beat Armenia to Promote SOAD’s “Mezmerize”
JAA Alumni Group to be Exclusive Promoter of New Album in Armenia

YEREVAN, ARMENIA – Raging with its hypnotically dark, dense and arty
style, System of a Down (SOAD) recently released Mezmerize, its third
album and perhaps its hardest-hitting effort to date. Reviewed by
critics as “intense,” “progressive” and “thrillingly original,”
Mezmerize challenges the senses. With their newest album already topping
the music charts in the United States, members of the band,
guitarist/singer Daron Malakian, singer Serj Tankian, bass player Shavo
Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan, are looking to unleash Mezmerize in
Armenia.

SOAD approached Street Beat Armenia, comprised of members of Junior
Achievement Alumni of Armenia, to take the lead in promoting Mezmerize
in the homeland. Armed with SOAD CDs, t-shirts, posters, signs, stickers
and stencils, Street Beat Armenia will be the exclusive promoter of
Mezmerize in the Republic and is currently preparing to launch a media
blitz of Armenia’s television and radio stations.

Robert Shahnazarian, Manager of Core Production at Sony BMG Music
Entertainment, is working with Tankian to record a series of exclusive
interviews that will be distributed by Street Beat Armenia to major
radio and television stations in Yerevan. The interviews will feature
Tankian speaking in Armenian and discussing details of the band’s most
recent venture and future plans. Promotion efforts also will include
distributing printed materials in towns and cities in each region of the
Republic as well as college and university campuses.

“We truly appreciate the opportunity that the band is giving our alumni
to utilize the lessons learned in our classes through this real-life
experience in marketing and teamwork. System of a Down is very popular
in Armenia and have worked hard to gain recognition of the Armenian
Genocide,” comments JAA Executive Director Armine Hovannisian.

In 2002, Ani Movsisyan, President of Junior Achievement Alumni of
Armenia, spearheaded an effort modeled after Streetwise in the US, to
bring the extraordinary music and unique message of SOAD to the
forefront in Armenia. With guidance from Shahnazarian and underwriting
from JAA Founder Cynthia Tusan, Movsisyan and other JAA graduates
together formed Street Beat Armenia. They toured radio and television
stations in Yerevan, distributing information, CDs and posters of the
band. The stations quickly embraced SOAD and began giving more airtime
to its music. Street Beat Armenia’s biggest break came when it was
interviewed on Armenia’s public television station.

“It was such a challenging and, at the same time, exciting task. Being
novices at promoting, we were quick to learn the great art of
persuasion. We worked hard to reach our target audience and developed a
message that was engaging and informative. Getting in contact with radio
and TV stations, scheduling and conducting meetings, and relating
SOAD’s history and international popularity were all thrilling and
rewarding experiences,” shares Movsisyan.

Tusan points out that “Junior Achievement’s mission is all about
providing our youth in Armenia with meaningful entrepreneurial
experiences.” She goes on to say, “The formation of Street Beat Armenia
is exactly that. This year, Margrit Shahnazarian, who originally came up
with the name `Street Beat Armenia’ in 2002, is our volunteer
Project Coordinator. She will maintain close contact with the team to
provide guidance in executing the media blitz and to facilitate
communication with the band.”

Established in 1992, Junior Achievement of Armenia is dedicated to
promoting free market economics, democratic governance, social
responsibility and ethical business practices in the Republic of Armenia
through economic and civic education. With courses in every high school
in the country, JAA-trained educators now reach 170,000 students in
Armenia each year. Nearly 20% of the total population of Armenia has now
taken a JAA course. For additional information, call (818) 753-4997 or
visit

Pan Armenian News

SERGE SARGSYAN VISITED BALTIC MILITARY COLLEGE IN TARTU

09.09.2005 02:51

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the Armenian Portal
in Estonia, on September 8 the Armenian delegation headed by Defense
Minister Serge Sargsyan and Armenian Ambassador to Estonia Ashot Hovakiamyan
visited the Baltic Military College in Tartu. Afterwards they attended the
Khachkar, which was brought in 1978 from Armenia as a token of friendship
between the Estonian and Armenian people initiated by outstanding Armenian
enlightener Khachatur Abovyan, who studied in the Tartu University. The
Armenian Defense Minister also met with the members of the Armenian
Diaspora, who expressed hope that the friendship between the two nations
will renew and the visits of the Armenian delegation to Estonia as well as
the visit of the Estonian President to Armenia will convey an impulse to the
Armenian-Estonian relations. To remind, the RA Defense Minister is visiting
Estonia with the framework of the NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan
(IPAP). Segre Sargsyan is scheduled to meet with Estonian Defense Minister
Jaak Joeruut and Chief of the Headquarters of the Estonian Defense Forces
Colonel Alar Laneman to discuss the military reform carried out in both
states, regional partnership and participation of the Armenian and Estonian
military in the international peacekeeping operations. Today the Armenian
Defense Minister will sign a memorandum on the development of military
cooperation. Before leaving the country he will visit the Armenian Church in
Tallinn.

NATIONAL STRATEGIC PROGRAM FOR EXPORT ENCOURAGEMENT PRESENTED IN YEREVAN

Yerkir
06.09.2005 15:51

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The concept of the National Strategic Program
for Export Encouragement was presented on Tuesday at the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau in Yerevan, ARF Armenia Supreme
Body press service reported.

The concept emphasizes that the economic growth at this stage is
only possible if the export volumes are greatly increased. Initiated
by the ARF, the program has been developed by Armenia and Diaspora
economists, experts and specialized organizations over a one-year
period. The concept was published in the Yerkir Weekly and its web
site:

Scientific and educational institutions as well as other interested
organizations have submitted their opinions — mostly positive —
over the project. The program includes the analysis in the export
area as well as the goals and principles of the export encouragement
policies. The program also touches upon such aspects as the need for
political will and formation of institutional mechanisms among others.

The ARF will submit the program to the Armenian government and
will pursue that the program is included in the priorities of the
government’s economic program.

SLOVENE FOREIGN MINISTER GOES TO AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TO DISCUSS KARABAKH

STA news agency, Ljubljana
4 Sep 05

Baku/Yerevan, 4 September: [Slovene] Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,
the incumbent OSCE chairman, is travelling on a two-day visit to
Azerbaijan and Armenia on Sunday evening [4 September] after he visited
these two OSCE members in conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh this spring.

Ways of finding a peaceful solution to and securing a lasting peace
in the autonomous region of Nagornyy Karabakh, will be the main topic
Rupel will discuss there. [Passage omitted]

The Foreign Ministry said that Rupel will meet on Monday Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev, PM Artur Rasizade and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov as well as representatives of political parties and NGOs.

Rupel will also use his stay in Baku to meet CoE [Council of Europe]
Secretary General Terry Davis, as well as the head of the OSCE election
monitoring mission Geert Ahrens. [Passage omitted]

Arriving in Armenia on Monday evening, Rupel is to visit Nagornyy
Karabakh’s permanent office in Armenia and meet the leader of the
unrecognised Nagornyy Karabakh, Arkadiy Gukasyan. Next day, he is
to meet Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan, PM Andranik Margaryan and representatives of NGOs. [Passage
omitted]

Rupel is travelling to the region after some encouraging news were
broken in late August following a Moscow meeting of the Russian, Azeri
and Armenian foreign ministers. Azeri Foreign Minister Mammadyarov
said that certain progress was made at the meeting. [Passage omitted]

JEW SPITS AT GREEK PRIESTS IN JERUSALEM
By Etgar Lefkovits

Jerusalem Post
Sept 5 2005

A young religious Jew spat at a procession of Greek Orthodox priests
in the Old City of Jerusalem on Monday, police said, in the third
such incident in the mixed city in the last year.

The skullcap-wearing assailant, Amitai Shashar, 20, told police that he
spat at the procession near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher because
he saw the cross that participants in the ceremony were carrying,
Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

The attacker, an Old City resident, was taken into custody by police
officers who were escorting the religious procession.

A Greek Orthodox Church spokesman said that the Jewish extremist
had spat in the face of the head of ceremonies, after getting into
a heated verbal altercation with the priests at the procession.

Church officials declined to lodge a complaint with police, the church
spokesman said.

The assailant was later released on NIS 2,500 bail by a Jerusalem
court, and ordered to stay out of the Old City for the next thirty
days, except to go to and from his Old City home.

The incident was the third such assault in the Old City in the
last year.

Earlier this year, an Armenian priest was attacked by four yeshiva
students in the Old City of Jerusalem, an altercation that began when
one of the yeshiva students spat on the black-robed priest in front
of the Armenian Monastery where he lives.

In a separate incident last year, a yeshiva student spat at a Sunday
morning procession of Armenian clergymen in Jerusalem’s Old City and
then scuffled with a priest. He later apologized.

INTERVIEW: RUSSIA NEEDS TO INVOLVE DIASPORAS TO RESOLVE

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 5 2005

Nagorny-Karabakh – political scientist
15:49 | 05/ 09/ 2005

MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Malyshkin) – A prominent
political scientist said Monday that Russia had to take a new
approach in its efforts to resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
one of the bloodiest territorial and ethnic disputes to affect the
former Soviet Union.

Sergei Markedonov, the deputy head of the department of international
relations at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis,
said Russia must involve its Armenian and Azerbaijani Diasporas to
increase trust between the two sides in the conflict.

“The main problem in the resolution of the Nagorny Karabakh issue
is the restoration of trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he
said. He added the problem could not be decided by the mediators in
the conflict: Russia, the United States, Turkey or the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group.

The expert said Azerbaijan wanted Armenia first to withdraw its
troops from Nagorny Karabakh, UN-recognized Azerbaijani territory
with an Armenian majority, and then decide on the status of the
disputed territory.

“Armenia in its turn doubts that Azerbaijan will honor its promises and
that Nagorny Karabakh will not become a province within Azerbaijan,”
Markedonov said.

The expert said new models were needed to resolve the conflict,
which reached its height in the early 1990s.

Speaking about potential initiatives from Russia, the expert said,
“There must be a clear-cut Caucasus strategy, which we do not have
currently, to make such statements.”

“There is no perception that Armenia and Azerbaijan need Russia,”
he added.

He said, taking into account the large Armenian and Azerbaijani
Diasporas, Russia could establish contacts between their
representatives and make them regular. After that Russia could
“relay” the experience onto Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the
South Caucasus.

“I would put the accent on the Diasporas,” the expert added. “This
is a very rich resource in all senses and Russia needs to organize
contacts within its borders. With the huge financial and political
influence of Diasporas on Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia could use
it as a resource for informal reconciliation.”

COUNCIL OF EUROPE HEAD URGES AZERBAIJAN TO HOLD FAIR ELECTION

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
5 Sep 05

[Presenter] The Council of Europe secretary-general, Terry Davis, is
in Azerbaijan. In an interview with journalists at the Heydar Aliyev
international airport, Terry Davis said that the main purpose of his
visit is to familiarize himself with the preparations for the November
parliamentary election. The secretary-general said that hopes are
high that the election will be held more professionally than before.

[Terry Davis, in English with Azeri voice-over] The election is
extremely important for Azerbaijan and we will discuss the pre-election
situation first. This is the basic aim of my visit to Azerbaijan. I
hope that this election will be held more professionally than before.

I shall discuss this issue at meetings with the Azerbaijani
authorities. I am not here to give my support to a political
organization or an individual. I support a just and fair election in
Azerbaijan. I am sure the election will be in full compliance with
Azerbaijan’s interests. I think citizens will vote for individual
candidates. As for the Karabakh issue, I have always paid attention
to this problem.

Persian Journal, Iran
Sept 2 2005

FIRST IRANIAN QUEEN REGNANT WHO RULED IRAN OVER SASSANID EMPIRE
Sep 2, 2005
Manouchehr Saadat Noury – Persian Journal

INTRODUCTION:
A Queen Regnant is a female monarch, who holds all the imperial
powers that a King would have, without regard to gender. This is in
contrast with a Queen Consort, who is merely the spouse or the mother
of a ruling King, and each one on her own has no official powers of
the country. During the Sassanid Dynasty (224-651), Iran had two
Queen Regnants, Pourandokht (PRD) and Azarmidokht (AZD), who ruled
for about three years (629-632). In Ferdowsi’s epic Book of Kings or
Shahnameh, there is also a mythological reference to yet another
Queen Regnant named Homa Shahrzad who ruled over 32 years. In this
article, the information available on First Iranian Queen Regnants,
PRD and AZD, are presented and discussed.

Iranian army of Sassanid Empire included women as fighters

THE STUTUS OF IRANIAN WOMEN IN SASSANID ERA:
In the Iranian tradition, women have always had special respect and
equal treatment. Throughout history, researchers have come across
references to the special role of women in the traditional Iranian
society. According to Plutarch, the Greek historian and biographer,
[Iranian women used to participate in social affairs and fight in the
battlefield]. It is also known that the Iranian army of Sassanid
Empire included women as fighters, and Roman sources have described
them a group of excellent fighters. There are, however, some reports
indicating in Sassanid Empire women were not considered as
independent individuals and were completely under the custody of the
patriarch (in Persian: Pedar-Shahi, Pedar-Saalari) of their family.
On the one hand, those reports are most unlikely because there is no
ample evidence to support them. On the other hand, the study of
Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book, indicates that women in Iranian
society were to some extent equal to men and enjoyed a number of
legal and social freedoms. As is described in Din Kard, an ancient
religious text, women could manage their property, could represent
their husbands at court, could become judges, and could perform
religious ceremonies. It should be also noted that due to the
significant role (s) of women in the society, the ancient Iranian
coins show the queen on one side of the coin.

CONDITIONS WHICH MADE PRD TO BE SELECTED AS A QUEEN:
Since the reign of Khosrow I or Khosrow Anoshirvan (ruled 531-579),
each General (in Persian: Spahbod) or Governor (in Persian:
Ostandaar) in Sassanid Empire regrettably considered his province as
something like a hereditary fief or property. Such Generals or
Governors were tempted more and more to play the part of kingmakers.
For example, Bahram Chobin, and Farrukhan Shahrvaraz (Shiruyeh) made
themselves kings with temporary success. The fatal example was set by
Bahram Chobin and was followed by Shiruyeh with disastrous results
for the unity and independence of the Empire. But the assassination
of Shiruyeh in 629 convinced the nobles of the country that the game
of assuming the throne was too dangerous, and one, which the country,
devoted as it was to the Sassanian dynasty, was not likely to
tolerate. It is documented when Shiruyeh and his son, Ardeshir, were
also murdered, it seemed as if neither a man nor even a male child of
the king’s family survived the bloody rivalries for the throne to
become the king, so the courtiers, though reluctantly, went for PRD,
the daughter of Khosrow Parviz (591-628).

PRD AS A QUEEN REGNANT OF IRAN:
PRD started her ruling as the first Iranian queen regnant in
Ctesiphon (in Persian: Tyssfoon) on May 20, 629 and tried to revive
the sovereignty of Sassanid dynasty. The reign of PRD, whose name
means [successor girl] and it is also synonymous to [a girl with a
rosy face], become contemporary to Abu-Bakr and Omar caliphates. In
ancient books and resources she is described as a wise, just, and a
good-natured woman. PRD is quoted in a letter to her army writing, [A
monarch, regardless of being a queen or a king, must defend his or
her land and treat the people with justice].The outstanding
characteristics of PRD were even undeniable to the first Iranian epic
poet, Ferdowsi (935-1020). Despite his patriarchal attitudes,
Ferdowsi, in his masterpiece of the Book of Kings or Shahnameh, noted
PRD’s justice and the welfare that farmers enjoyed during her reign.
Sadly, after 16 months, when preparing for the deployment of her army
to confront the invader Arabs, PRD got sick and passed away in
Ctesiphon in 631.

HER SUCCESSOR:
AZD, the sister of PRD, ruled Iran as the second queen regnant from
631 to 632 when Hormuz V took over. There is not much information
available on the life story of AZD. It is, however, reported that
General Farrukh-Hormuzd (GFH) who was the governor of Khorassan,
according to historian Tabari, or prince of Azarbaijan, according to
Armenian sources, aspired to the crown and attempted to secure it by
proposing a marriage to queen AZD who refused the proposal. GFH was
the father of Rostam-e-Farrokh Zaad (590-636), who became the first
Iranian famous commander-in-chief few years later.

TODAY, IRANIANS REMEMBER [PRD], [AZD], AND ALL THOSE WHO SERVED THE
COUNTRY DURING A TURBULENT TIME, AND STOOD UP AGAINST INJUSTICE AND
TYRANNY, AND WHO DIED OR SUFFERED FOR HUMAN DIGNITY, THE FREEDOM OF
SPIRIT, AND A FREE CONSCIENCE.

REQUIEM IN THE BUZAND STREET

A1+
| 19:57:19 | 02-09-2005 | Social |

“1830-2005”: under the mourning poster with this title the residents of
the Buzand street organized a requiem this evening. Every passer-by
could approach the table in the middle of the street and raise a
glass in memory of the historical street which is being destroyed
before our eyes today. Approaching the table many people mentioned
that they are drinking not to the memory of the Buzand street but to
that of the RA Government.

In the evening the Buzand street represented another scene. There were
already posters near the barricades: “Deport”, “Fight, fight…”. As
for the equipment destroying the houses of the street, the residents
have drawn the fascist swastika which is a symbol of barbarism.

The residents of the streets are discussing their future steps as
to what they must do to meet the policemen. By the way, today no
one has made any attempt to enter the street and to free it from
the barricades.

The residents of the street do not exclude the possibility of the
policemen to visit them at night. “All the same we have nothing to
lose. We will lie on the ground”, they said.

Azerbaijan able to free occupied land – Defense Minister

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 2 2005

Baku, September 1, AssA-Irada — Azerbaijan is able to liberate its
territories from under Armenian occupation and will do so in the
future, Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has said.

“Armenia is an aggressor country. All countries should confirm this and
take steps aimed at freeing Azerbaijani land”, Abiyev said in a meeting
with the British ambassador to Azerbaijan Laurie Bristow and military
advisory and training group commander Hugh Persley on Thursday.

The Minister said that if the problem is not resolved soon, the
Azerbaijani people will ‘make a decision on the conflict settlement
on their own’.

The ambassador said that over two years of his activity in Azerbaijan,
he became well-versed on the gist of the conflict.

“President Ilham Aliyev’s participation in the talks is rational.

Azerbaijan is successfully working to settle the conflict. Great
Britain supports the strategic course pursued by President Aliyev and
believes the conflict should be settled based on international legal
norms. Its fair resolution is in the interests of official London
as well.”*