Courts not independent yet – Armenian justice minister

Noyan Tapan news agency
17 May 04

Yerevan, 17 May: “It is early yet to speak about the complete
independence of the Armenian courts,” Armenian Justice Minister David
Arutyunyan told journalists on 14 May. The key aim of the judicial
reforms in Armenia, the minister said, is to set up an independent
legal system, which depends on many circumstances and personalities,
and steps in this direction are already being taken.

[Passage omitted: some minor aspects]

Asked whether the political situation in Armenia has an influence
on the legal process, the justice minister said that the political
situation affected independent courts.

OVERCOMING POVERTY

A1 Plus | 15:58:56 | 18-05-2004 | Social |

“No policy is worked out for rural manpower in “Poverty Reduction in
Armenia” strategic program”, Hranush Kharatyan, head of Governmental
Department on National Minorities and Religion, announces.

Mrs. Kharatyan was instructed to make an analysis on occupation and
unemployment of villagers in particular, the reasons and volumes
in Armenia.

Hranush Kharatyan has today introduced her study during the seminar on
“Implementation of Projects Supporting Job Increase and Revenue Rise
for Poverty Reduction and in Armenia”.

The analyst stated there are about 200.000 unemployed in the Armenian
villages. She says occupation issue is rather passively represented in
“National Program on Poverty Reduction in Armenia”.

“Unemployment will hardly decrease soon, on the contrary, it may grow”,
Kharatyan forecasts.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSKANYAN: COMMITMENTS TOWARD CE MUST BE FULFILLED

A1 Plus | 17:58:06 | 17-05-2004 | Politics |

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said upon returning from
the CE Ministerial Committee session that he had confirmed Armenia’s
readiness to fulfil the PACE demands listed in its latest resolution.

It is known that President Kocharyan speaking recently on PACE demands
expressed his opinion that differs from Oscanyan’s one and contained
not such a willingness to comply with PACE demand. Kocharyan said
the CE isn’t politbureau, the soviet-era governing body.

Vardan Oskanyan said: “Yes, the CE is not politbureau, that’s why
commitments toward it must be fulfilled”.

Answering the question our journalist put to him about one of the
PACE demand of releasing political prisoners, Oskanyan said those
detained illegally must be released. Status of these people should
be specified and then it’ll become clear whether the demand applies
to them or not, he said.

In his opinion, the PACE was ill-informed about the seditious calls
made by the opposition activists.

HOW TO PREVENT DEFORESTATION?

A1 Plus | 19:44:56 | 17-05-2004 | Social |

A five-day practical seminar for 12 journalists started Monday
in Caucasus Media Institute. The seminar is focused on covering
environmental problems.

Karine Danelyan, the chair of For the Sake of Stable Development
association, finds Armenian laws not so bad saying it would be very
well if we can observe the existing laws.

Armenia’s top environmental concern is Sevan Lake and the country’s
second biggest worry is deforestation. Armenian Environment Ministry
says areas covered with forests make 11,2 percent of the republic’s
territory. Environmentalists say only 7-8 percent. It means 0,1
hectare of green area per capo.

Armenia’s Forests organisation chair Nazeli Vardanyan says it is 2,7
times less comparing with other countries.

A decade ago deforestation was due to energetic crisis and used as
fuel to heat homes, now forests are being cut for woodworking needs
and other purposes and even exported.

Customs Service says 80,000 cubic meters woods were exported to Turkey,
France, Germany, Italy and Iran last year.

Besides, illegal cutting is widespread in Armenia. Environment Ministry
says 700,000 cubic meters has been illegally cut last year.

Nazeli Vardanyan thinks woods should be imported in the republic
instead of exporting.

Armenian National Committee of America
Eastern Region
80 Bigelow Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: 617-923-1918
Fax: 617-926-5525
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
May 17, 2004
For Immediate Release

Contact: Arin Gregorian
617-923-1918; [email protected]

GRANIAN BENEFIT CONCERT A SUCCESS

— New York City Show Held in Support of Armenian Genocide Recognition
Efforts

WATERTOWN, MA–On Friday, April 16, Granian performed a concert in New
York City at CB’s 313 Gallery to support continued efforts to raise
awareness and gain recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Proceeds of
the show were donated to the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) Eastern Region.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the ANCA Eastern
Region, I would like to thank Granian–and all of its fans–for this
special benefit concert,” remarked ANCA Eastern Region Chairman Dikran
Kaligian. “As we continue to work towards gaining international
recognition for the Armenian Genocide, we will utilize all avenues
to raise public awareness of this great crime against humanity,”
continued Kaligian.

During the concert, Armenian National Committee activists had an
opportunity to distribute background information on the Armenian
Genocide. Individuals also had an opportunity to participate in the
ANCA nationwide postcard campaign. The postcards urge legislators to
“help end the cycle of genocide” by taking swift action in support
of the Congressional Genocide Resolutions, H.Res.193 and S.Res.164.
Specifically, they call on House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to schedule a vote on the
measures in their respective chambers.

“I’ve wanted to put together a concert to promote the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide for a long time,” stated Garen Gueyikian of
Granian. “The benefit was to highlight the importance of recognizing
past crimes against humanity in an effort to avoid future atrocities.
It was also held to support the Armenian National Committee of
America, an organization whose tireless work cannot be overstated,”
continued Gueyikian.

“I urge all Granian fans to contact the Armenian National Committee
of America or visit to see what each one of us can do
to help bring an end to genocide,” concluded Gueyikian.

The Armenian National Committee of America is the largest
and most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the 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.

####

COLUMBIA ARMENIAN CENTER ANAHID LITERARY AWARD COMMITTEE
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michael Haratunian <[email protected]>
May 17, 2004

COLUMBIA ARMENIAN CENTER AWARDS 2003 ANAHID LITERARY PRIZE

New York City, NY — The Armenian Center at Columbia University is
pleased to announce that Patricia Sarrafian Ward has been chosen as
the recipient of the 2003 Anahid Literary Award.

Patricia Sarrafian Ward’s debut novel, The Bullet Collection,
was published in May of 2003 by Graywolf Press to great critical
acclaim. Booklist hailed the work as, “A startlingly insightful tale
of female coming-of-age in a time of war.”

In lyrical, dreamlike prose, The Bullet Collection describes the
embattled landscape of Beirut through the eyes of a young girl,
and shows the devastating effects of war on both the city and the
child. Excerpts from the novel, which in an earlier version was the
recipient of a Hopwood Award at the University of Michigan in 1995,
appeared in Jusoor: Post Gibran Anthology of New Arab American Writing
and in ARARAT Literary Magazine.

Patricia Sarrafian Ward was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1969 and
moved to the U.S. in 1987. She now lives in New Jersey.

The Anahid Literary Award was created by an anonymous patron to
recognize the achievements of American writers of Armenian descent to
encourage the development of their careers and to foster publication
of their work. A stipend of $5,000 is given to each recipient. The
awards committee consists of Peter Balakian, Marjorie Housepian Dobkin,
Nancy Kricorian and Peter Sourian.

Former FA Aide: Peace Talks Aren’t Worth Of 2 Kopeks

Baku Today
May 17 2004

While high-ranking officials in Baku still seem committed to ending
a decade-old occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories through peaceful
means, a prominent foreign policy expert says the peace process
is worth of nothing as long as there is no change in the region’s
geopolitical situation.

“The current negotiations are not worth of two kopeks,” says Vafa
Guluzade, a former presidential aide who now heads the Baku-based
Caspian Political Researches Foundation. The former diplomat points
to Russia as the country behind the aggression against Azerbaijan,
and contends that the key to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict lies not
in Yerevan, but in Moscow.

“Armenia is a puppet in the hands of Russians,” Guluzade says in an
interview with a correspondent of Baku Today, adding: “I myself have
repeatedly witnessed that Armenians don’t have their own position on
the Karabakh problem. Moscow dictates them on everything that relates
to the settlement of the conflict.”

Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region of Azerbaijan
that is home to about 100,000 ethnic-Armenians, and also seven Azeri
administrative districts surrounding it in 1991-94 war. Despite a
cease-fire agreement reached in May 1994, no final settlement has
been found to the conflict.

Guluzade said the recent happenings in Georgia’s defiant autonomous
region of Ajara showed that Moscow had no choice but to bow to heavy
pressures by Washington.

“Russia will withdraw from Armenia, too,” Guluzade said.

Those hoping for a peaceful resolution of the conflict were once
more disappointed when a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
ministers in Strasbourg on May 12-13 gave no result, with Aremnia’s
Vardan Oskanian deeming the idea to withdraw from Azerbaijan’s seven
occupied districts “absurd and meaningless.”

Meanwhile, President Ilham Aliyev sent one more warning against the
arch foe Armenia while on a visit to his home region of Nakhchivan
late last week.

“Azerbaijan’s army can resort to using force any time to free the
occupied territories. It is our natural right,” Aliyev stressed.

But the former foreign affairs aide Guluzde believes Azerbaijan has
to get ready for a political isolation, if it decides to take guns
to fight back the territories.

He says the isolation might come from Russia, as well as from the
United States and Europe.

“We also have to be three to five times stronger than the enemy is,
because we’ll suffer more human casualties if we begin to attack,”
Guluzade underlined.

Asked if another war could bring any positive results for Azerbaijan,
Guluzade said: “It may, but it must be based on a very well thought
over plan.”

Armenian Asylum-Seekers Begin Hunger-Strike In Baku

Baku Today
May 17 2004

The two Armenians, who arrived in Baku early April, began hunger-strike
on Monday in protest against international organizations’ reluctance
to help them find asylum in Europe.

Roman Terian, 38, and Artur Apresian, 48, said they will hold the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) responsible for
any negative results the hunger protest may bring about. The Armenians
appeared in Azerbaijan’s private ANS television on April 8, relating
their departure from Armenia with hardships they claimed they faced
in their home country.

Speaking to local and foreign reporters in a press conference staged
by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security on May 14, the Armenians
said they left Armenia because of “Kocharian’s dictatorship,” with
one of them likening the Armenian president to Osama ben Laden.

The asylum seekers were born in Baku.They left for Armenia after the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, but have not received
Armenian citizenship. Terian and Apresian married to Armenian
citizens. Both have two daughters.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Gevor and Tatevosyan to battle it out live on the internet

EastsideBoxing.com
May 17 2004

17.05.04 – Exciting action is coming up live on the internet. On
Tuesday Armenian Koren Gevor, 17-2 (10), will face Russian Sergey
Tatevosyan, 21-4 (13), at Hansehalle of Lübeck, Germany, in an 8-round
non-title fight. The battle of the two strong European middleweight top
contenders will be broadcast live on the internet on …

Gevor is coming off a six fight winning streak since suffering his two
losses due to unlucky injuries. Tatevosyan who knocked out former world
champion Armand Krajnc in 2002 is coming fresh of a European title
fight against Howard Eastman where he dropped a twelve round decision.

“I’ve seen videos on Tatevosyan. I know he is beatable”, the small
but powerful Gevor said. “He is running a lot to the left and to the
right. My biggest concern is that I can’t land my punches because he
moves so awkward.”

It’s Gevor’s third fight on a Spotlight Boxing event in a row. His last
contest where he stopped Dmitro Gotovskiy on March 30 at Saaltheater
in Aachen, Germany, by disqualification was also broadcast live on

“His knockout win over Armand Krajnc doesn’t impress me”, Gevor said.
“Armand was an easy target that night and at the end he landed his
punches almost by accident.”

Gevor moved to Germany in May 2000 and is now living in Hamburg
(Gevor: “I like this city a lot!”) with his young wife. His coach
is Magomed Shaburow. He was born in Edshmiadsin, a city close to
Armenia’s capitcal Erivan.

Gevor is a stable mate of WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm who
is fighting against Oscar de la Hoya on June 5.

“I’ll put money on Felix”, Gevor said. “De la Hoya will underestimate
him and I believe Felix will win a decision. This is his chance of
a lifetime and he will use it.”

In three other fights live on , Guzmil Perdomo will
fight Gringo Mandache at super middleweight, Egon Roth will fight
Pavel Vanacek and Valeri Tschetschenev celebrates his professional
debut against Roman Kaloczai (both heavyweight).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sarkissian Deems Azerbaijan’s Offer Unserious

Baku Today
May 17 2004

Armenian defence minister Serge Sarkissian said his country is still
sticking to all of its three principles on peaceful resolution of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turan reported on Monday, citing Armenia’s
Ayots Ashkhar newspaper.

They principles are; Nagorno-Karabakh in no way can be subordinated to
Baku, it has to have an overland border with Armenia and the region’s
security has to be guaranteed. Sarkissian also called Azerbaijan’s
suggestion to release seven occupied districts in return for opening
of communication lines unserious one, claiming Baku may break its
promise any time.

The defence minister said Armenia is against stage by stage settlement
of the conflict because it could prove to be dangerous for Yerevan.

“The option is dangerous because while the parties can agree in the
first stage, they may not come to an agreement in the second one,”
Sarkissian said.