Category: News

Kars Treaty on protecting Ajaria expired long ago – ambassador

Interfax News Agency
16.03.2004

Moscow. (Interfax, 15.03.2004) – Ajaria cannot count on protection from
Turkey under the Treaty of Kars, Georgian Ambassador to Russia
Konstantin Kemularia said at a Monday press conference at the Interfax
main office.

“It is senseless to make any comments on the treaty. Its validity
expired long ago. Things are completely different nowadays.
International relations are based on the realities of the 21st century.
Relations between Russia and Turkey, Georgia and Turkey, Georgia and
Russia have changed,” he said.

“Those who want to reanimate the past and pin hopes on problems in
international relations between our ancestors stand no chance,”
Kemularia said.

“Russia simply must protect Ajaria,” Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze told
Interfax earlier. “There is the Treaty of Kars, which stipulates that
Turkey will protect the Ajarian autonomous republic. There is also the
Moscow Treaty, which entails the same commitments. Russia must [protect
Ajaria] under those treaties,” Abashidze said.

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRESS RELEASE +++ PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: March 17, 2004

Contact: Ardashes Kassakhian 818.500.1918

EAST SAN FERNANDO VALLEY ANC URGES CONGRESSMAN HOWARD BERMAN TO CHALLENGE
GENOCIDE DENIERS IN CONGRESS

Van Nuys, CA– Members of the East San Fernando Valley Armenian
National Committee and the ANCA-Western Region met with United States
Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) to discuss issues of concern to the
Armenian-American community and to urge the Congressman to challenge
Genocide deniers in Washington, D.C.

The meeting took place in Congressman Berman’s district office and
included the participation of East San Fernando Valley (ESFV) ANC
members Alice Chalian, Aram Kaloustian, Avo Ovayan and local ANC
chairman Garbis Hindoyan. ANCA-WR Chairman Raffi Hamparian, ANCA-WR
staff Ardashes Kassakhian and Kris Demirjian also participated in the
meeting.

`We were pleased to share with Congressman Berman the concerns of the
tens of thousands of Armenian-Americans who live in his Congressional
District,” commented ESFV-ANC Chair Garbis Hindoyan. `I am also
pleased that the Congressman understands that we are a major and
growing political presence in the San Fernando Valley,’ he added.

The ANC activists thanked Congressman Berman for his support of
Armenian issues. ANCA-WR Chairman Raffi Hamparian briefed Congressman
Berman on current legislation that would permanently normalize
U.S. trade relations with the Republic of Armenia and discussed the
importance of challenging Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide.
During the meeting, Hamparian voiced the ANC’s concerns about the
influence and access that the Republic of Turkey has through hired
lobbyists in Washington, DC. The Congressman acknowledged this fact
and assured the ANCactivists that he would stand up to lobbyists who
denied the Armenian Genocide.

The Congressman accepted an invitation to visit the Ferrahian Holy
Martyrs Armenian School, which is located in the Congressman’s
District, for a breakfast with community leaders.

ESFV-ANC Chair Garbis Hindoyan presented Congressman Berman with a
copy of Peter Balakian’s best selling book `The Burning Tigris:
TheArmenian Genocide and America’s Response.’ The book chronicles the
greatest humanitarian aid effort by the United States, during which
millions of dollars were raised to help the victims of the Turkish
massacres of Christian Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

In addition to receiving the book, Congressman Berman added his name
to the growing list of elected officials who are participating in the
ANCA Nationwide Genocide Prevention Postcard Campaign.

Congressman Berman represents California’s 28th Congressional
District, which spreads from the northern San Fernando Valley, where
it takes in the small city of San Fernando and includes the
communities of Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, Van Nuys, and North
Hollywood.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughoutthe United States and affiliated
organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the
concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

Editor’s Note: Photo Available Upon Request
Photo Caption: (From Left to Right: Avo Ovayan, Kris Demirjian, Raffi
Hamparian, Garbis Hindoyan, Rep. Howard Berman, Aram Kaloustian, Alice
Chalian and Ardashes Kassakhian)

Tennis: Henman crushes Corretja while Hewitt tumbles out

The Independent – United Kingdom
Mar 16, 2004

Matthew Cronin in Indian Wells

TIM HENMAN looked full of confidence as he won his Pacific Life Open
third-round match with Alex Corretja 6-4, 6-4 here yesterday.

Corretja lost his serve in the second game, at the end of which his
trainer was called on to treat what looked like a graze on the
knee. The Spaniard played on, and broke back in the seventh game with
a backhand passing shot down the line. Henman, however, broke back in
the 10th game to claim the first set as Corretja was wayward with
three forehands.

At deuce in Corretja’s first service game in the second set, the
Spaniard struck a shot down the line which caught the highest part of
the net and carried over the baseline to put Henman 2-0 up. The
Briton’s hopes of another three-game lead evaporated as he sent an
overhead smash into the net to give his opponent an instant break
back. After another deuce game on the Corretja serve, the Spaniard won
out to level at 2-2.

The fifth game was nervy for Henman on his serve but it went in his
favour at deuce and he edged 3-2 ahead. The match went with serve to
5-4 and Henman closed out the second set.

The Australian two-time defending champion Lleyton Hewitt lost to Juan
Ignacio Chela, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 as the Argentinian put up a determined
performance to end Hewitt’s 13-match unbeaten run. “Even when I felt
like I had him on a stretch a couple of times, he came up with good
defensive shots,” Hewitt said. “I didn’t feel like I played too badly,
but I felt like he didn’t miss a lot of shots.”

Roger Federer, of Switzerland, made light work of Chile’s Fernando
Gonzalez in the third round, his 6-3, 6-2 victory taking 62
minutes. Federer, the top seed here, had breezed through the previous
round with a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Romania’s Andrei Pavel.

Also in the third round, Tommy Haas, of Germany, beat Spain’s Albert
Costa 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.

Andy Roddick beat his former doubles partner Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6,
6-2 late on Sunday to set up a meeting with the recent Australian Open
finalist Marat Safin, of Russia.

Roddick, who faced Gambill for the first time last week in Scottsdale,
hit 21 aces in the thin desert air and was never broken. The US Open
champion last met Safin in the Australian Open quarter-finals, where
the Russian won a titanic five-setter.

The fourth seed, Guillermo Coria, made a good first appearance on
American hard courts this season, beating the Armenian Sargis Sargsian
6-3, 6-4.

The seventh-seeded Carlos Moya, of Spain, hit a double-fault on match
point and fell to the Russian Irakli Labadze 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. The 11th
seed, Nicolas Massu, of Chile, retired with a sinus infection while
trailing 6-3, 1-0 to Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

l Greg Rusedski is expected to confirm today whether he intends to
pursue a compensation claim against the Association of Tennis
Professionals following his acquittal on doping charges last week. The
British No 2 and his legal team are believed to have examined the
possibility of pursuing a claim against the ATP.

Armenian leader hopes for peaceful solution to Ajaria crisis

Mediamax news agency
16 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today expressed the hope that the
leaders of Georgia and Ajaria will succeed in resolving their
disagreements through negotiations.

According to Mediamax news agency, Robert Kocharyan said this in
Yerevan today, speaking to journalists after his visit to the Defence
Ministry’s Vazgen Sarkisyan Military Institute.

Robert Kocharyan stressed that “Georgia at large and the Black Sea
ports of that country are of extremely special importance to Armenia”.

The president noted that Armenia’s wish for a peaceful settlement to
the situation in Ajaria was expressed during Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili’s official visit to Yerevan at the end of the last
week.

Armenian president praises army

Mediamax news agency
16 Mar 04

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan announced in Yerevan today that
“the Armenian army is improving year by year”, Mediamax news agency
quoted Robert Kocharyan as telling journalists this after his visit to
the Vazgen Sarkisyan Military School. He said that “this applies both
to the Armenian army’s combat readiness and level of discipline”.

[A separate Arminfo report quoted him as saying: “The level of
training of the military is now sufficiently high, nevertheless we
discussed with the leadership of the institute steps aimed at
developing further the quality of military education in Armenia.”]

Useful advice to Misha

Aravot, Yerevan
13 Mar 04

On the eve of his visit to Armenia, Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili gave an interview to Armenian journalists and said that he
wanted very much to learn Armenia’s experience in the law-enforcement
agencies and especially, in fighting corruption in the police, as the
level of corruption in Georgia is incomparably higher than in Armenia,
according to Saakashvili. So the Georgian president wants Kocharyan to
explain how he manages to do this and in addition, how our president
has managed to establish law and order in the state service system. We
are also eager to discuss this issue with Kocharyan. To be short, the
young president of Georgia has come to Armenia not only for
establishing friendly relations with the Armenians, but also for
learning our country’s experience that will be applied in Georgia
afterwards.

If, for example, the police in Georgia do not simply take bribes as
they do in our country, but demand money from drivers threatening them
with a gun, then Kocharyan may give really good advice. The same
concerns the state system, as nobody is being robbed in our country,
and people and private companies “pay taxes” of their own volition. In
this case, Kocharyan will teach Saakashvili how to create a system
under which people will give bribes to officials and policemen of
their own volition.

But corruption is not the most important issue. The newly-elected
president of Georgia should be thinking of gaining victory in the next
presidential elections, when the people’s euphoria ends and most of
social problems are not resolved. Our president will really become an
inestimable adviser for Saakashvili on the issue of “being re-elected”.
For example, Kocharyan may give very valuable advice about how to
revoke the licence of any undesirable independent TV company, about
how to turn the parliament into a puppet, about the laws that the
parliament should be forced adopt in order to restrict freedom of
speech and the press and about how to fight the opposition that
irritates them from time to time. Saakashvili may get advice about how
to stuff ballot boxes and rig the results of elections. And remember,
my friend Misha [meaning Mikheil Saakashvili], opposition activists
should be definitely arrested. The people should be kept in an
atmosphere of fear. To be honest, Saakashvili will learn all these
skills without his counterpart’s advice in a year.

Senior US official comes to Azerbaijan with “concrete” proposals, analyst
says

Sarq, Baku
16 Mar 04

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is expected to visit the
South Caucasus countries in a few days. The US official is also
expected to hold talks with the presidents of the three countries of
the region during his visit. It is also said that the goal of the
visit is to discuss bilateral relations and regional problems.

This visit by Armitage can be assessed as yet another step by the West
and the USA which have recently increased their interest in the
region.

The director of the Centre of Political Innovations and Technologies,
political analyst Mubariz Ahmadoglu, thinks that the major goal of the
US official’s visit to the region has to do with Azerbaijan.

“There is an issue that the USA has always kept in the focus of
attention. At the moment it is the settlement of all regional
conflicts. Apart from the conflicts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, the USA
is also interested in regional integration. There are almost no
uncertainties in Georgian-US relations. What is not certain is that it
is difficult to predict [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s
steps. But this is not of great concern for the USA. So, Georgia is
not a problem,” Ahmadoglu said.

He said that interestingly, ahead of Armitage’s visit, US officials
had made several statements in connection with the settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that Richard
Armitage will address regional leaders, in particular the Azerbaijani
and Armenian presidents, with concrete proposals on the settlement of
this problem.

“He will also try to get more precise answers to his proposals from
the sides,” Ahmadoglu said.

[Passage omitted: there might be other proposals on regional
integration]

Ahmadoglu believes that the USA is interested in the strengthening of
Azerbaijan. “There can be statements on human rights and
democracy. But the USA accepts the incumbent authorities. The White
House will boost both economic and geopolitical and military
cooperation with Azerbaijan,” the analyst said.

PRESS RELEASE
Noah’s Landing, LLC
PO Box 22168, Cleveland, OH 44122 USA
CONTACT: Anita P. Kazarian
Phone: 216.932.8100
[email protected]

ARMENIA FORMING TEAMS TO COMPETE IN THE 2004 INTERNATIONAL CHILDRENS
GAMES

The 2004 International Children’s Games, a five-day celebration of
athletic competition and cultural festival taking place for the first
time in the United States this summer is looking forward to Armenia’s
participation.

In all, 3,000 children, aged 12-15, from around the world will compete
in International Olympic Committee endorsed games in Cleveland Ohio from
July 29 to August 2.

Coaches in Armenia are assembling the best athletes to compete in
tennis, table tennis, gymnastics, swimming, water polo, track & field,
soccer, baseball, volleyball and basketball. The opening ceremonies will
be held in the Cleveland Browns Football Stadium where it is hoped
Armenia will also be there to raise her flag along with other nations.

Dr. Sebouh Setrakian, of Cleveland Ohio, believes “it is of utmost
importance for Armenia to participate in these Games with qualified
competing athletes.” As a tireless contributor for Armenian cultural
preservation in NE Ohio, and a galvanizing force for this small
community, Dr. Setrakian said, “the children of Armenia cannot
participate and compete without the help of American Armenians.”

Anita Kazarian, of Noah’s Landing, arranged for donations to be
tax-deductible through a 501 (c) 3 organization. Checks made out to the
Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, the organizing body for the Games,
should be mailed to PO Box 22168, Cleveland, OH 44122.

The youth of Cleveland joined forces to help make Armenia’s
participation a reality. Gregory Andonian of the Cleveland ACYOA and
Sosi Pounardjian, of the Cleveland ARS have calculated $2,000 will
sponsor one child. This will cover round-trip airfare from Armenia to
Cleveland, hotels, food, and visa for the one week.

The all-volunteer Armenia Task Force of the International Children’s
Games is asking you to donate any amount. Please mail checks to PO Box
22168, Cleveland, OH 44122. Anita Kazarian will answer any questions on
a special Hot Line 216.932.8100.

###

PRESS RELEASE
March 12, 2004
Noah’s Landing LLC
CONTACT: Anita P. Kazarian
PO Box 22168
Cleveland, OH 44122
216.932.8100
[email protected]

ARMENIAN TEAMS GOING FOR THE GOLD!
Cost? $1.00

Three Armenian cities filed papers to participate in the Olympic
sanctioned 2004 International Children’s Games in the United States this
July. This will be the first time since the Games started in 1968 that
Armenia will compete.

Yerevan, Armavir and Artashat are forming teams of up to 30 children
each. If all 90 children come, “Going for and getting the Gold” is a
sure bet according to the ICG – Armenia Task Force.

Carmen Policy, the President and CEO of the Cleveland Browns football
team is the Chairperson of the Competitions. With the colorful opening
ceremonies taking place in the Cleveland Browns Stadium, media coverage
will be the largest in the history of these Games.

With three Armenian teams, the Tri-Color will wave proudly from July 29
to August 2 in the United States of America. The ICG -Armenia Task
Force is made up of volunteers from around the country to help bring the
children to the US for these Games.

They are confident that if each Armenian in the United States makes a
tax deductible donation of $1 all the three teams will be here to raise
the Armenian Tri-Color at the opening ceremonies and go home with gold.
And each Armenian American can proudly say ‘I made it happen!’

Once here, the ICG will house, feed and provide local transportation for
the children, their coaches and delegation head for the full time they
are in Cleveland for the Games.

All donations and expenses will be posted on a special link to
for further information telephone 216.932.8100 or
e-mail [email protected] To become a volunteer on the ICG – Armenia
Task Force for your community, write or call the above.

###

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

A CANADIAN CHURCH DELEGATION IN ANTELIAS

ANTELIAS, LEBANON – 13 March, 2004 – A Canadian high ranking church
delegation was received by His Holiness Aram I at the Center of the Armenian
Catholicosate of Cilicia, in Antelias, Lebanon. The delegation was
representing the Kairos a Canadian Ecumenical Organization, and the purpose
of its visit to the Middle East was to get a better understanding of the
situation in the region, and to know more about the actual problems and
challenges facing the churches, and express their ecumenical partnership.

The Kairos has been ecumenically involved in the region in the last years,
particularly in the areas of justice, peace, advocacy and accompaniment.

His Holiness Aram I by welcoming the delegation appreciated this important
ecumenical initiative considering it “a concrete sign of growing ecumenical
partnership” between the Churches in the Middle East and the Churches in
Canada. He said: “our mission is one wherever we are; we must together take
the gospel to the world. Our witness to Jesus Christ becomes more credible,
reliable and relevant when we stand together against all forms of injustice
and violence. Christian faith is not a sheer of reflection or meditation. It
is spirituality expressed through action. It is prayer translated into
concrete work. It is mission manifested through committed engagement. The
church cannot be passive in view of the kind of situations and developments
and realities that endanger God’s image in human being and destroy the human
dignity and moral and spiritual values”.

His Holiness than identified those areas of concern in the life of the
churches in the Middle East which require serious attention.

At the end of the meeting reference was made to the Armenian community in
Canada and particularly its growing participation in the life of the
Canadian society in general and in inter-church and inter-religious
participation in general.

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View printable picture here:

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.