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Russian and Armenian Interior Ministers to meet today
RosBusinessConsulting Database
March 22, 2002 Friday
Five issues will be discussed at a joint meeting of the boards of the Russian and Armenian Interior Ministries, which is to be held in Yerevan today. Representatives of the ministries will discuss
issues of cooperation between the two countries in preventing illegal weapons and explosives trade, cooperation in struggle against terrorism and some other problems, the press service of the Armenian Interior Ministry reported.
ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ARE TEN YEARS OLD
YEREVAN, April 2 (Noyan Tapan). Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Armenia Anatoly Drukov highly appreciated the level of the Armenian-Russian relations at the April 2 solemn meeting devoted to the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia. The arrangement organized by the Armenian Society of Cultural Ties, was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Shugarian, officials of the Russian Embassy, as well as representative of the scientific and cultural spheres of Armenia. "We are, in fact, strategic partners. Testifying to this is the fact that our positions over various issues are almost identical at all the international forums," the Russian Ambassador said, emphasizing that such a position is dictated by the national interests of the two countries. He pointed out that in 2001 Armenian-Russian units stepped in the anti-aircraft defense system for joint combat duty, within the Collective Security Treaty a joint command of the Armenian and Russian armed forces was created in the direction of the South. As regards the trade and economic relations, according to the Ambassador, the level of trade turnover increased by 30% and reached . last year. The traditionally high level is also maintained in the sphere of culture and the scientific relations are developing. "The future of Armenia and Russia depends on us," the Ambassador stated, expressing confidence that the next jubilee will be marked by a new level of development of the Armenian-Russian relations in all spheres.
ArmenPress news agency
March 27 2002
US SENATOR MEETS ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, ARMENPRESS: On the fourth day of its official visit, the Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region California delegation, led by State Senator Jack Scott
(D-Glendale/Pasadena), and accompanied by his wife Lacreta Scott, as well as ANCA-WR representatives Berdj Karapetian and Artin Manoukian, met with Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian.
US Senator was quoted by government press office as saying that he was willing to help promotion of US-Armenian trade and economic,
political and other relations, particularly, to help establishment of Yerevan office of California Commerce Chamber.
He singled out high technology, agriculture, education and seismic protection as possible areas for beneficial cooperation.
For his part the prime minister reminded of a memorandum of understanding signed by Armenia and California last year. A set of exhibitions and other events are foreseen by it.
Armenian Interior Minister Aik Arutyunian and his Russian counterpart Boris Gryzlov will chair the meeting. During the visit to Yerevan the Russian Interior Ministry also plans to meet Armenian President Robert Kocharian.
VARDAN OSKANIAN: RELATIONS WITH GREECE ARE IMPORTANT ALSO FROM VIEWPOINT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
YEREVAN, March 29 (Noyan Tapan). It was mentioned on March 29 at a meeting of Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanian with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia Antonios Vlavianos that the Armenian-Greek relations during 10 years of independence were of great progress and have strong basis: there are considerable achievements both in the political, economic and military spheres. According to the RA MFA Public Relations Department, Minister Oskanian stressed that the relations with Greece are important for Armenia not only from the viewpoint of bilateral development but also from the viewpoint of European integration. Greece is also a major partner of Armenia in the Council of Euro-Atlantic partnership. The ambassador highly estimated the progress of Armenia in the issues of human rights protection. Participants of the meeting also touched upon regional problems, relations with neighbors, the Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Greek relations as well as the latest processes in the settlement of the Karabakh and Cyprian conflicts and the progress of the latter in the issue of entrance to the EU. This was the first meeting of the new ambassador of Greece with the head of the Armenian Foreign-Policy Department.
ACCORDING TO "IN DEFENSE OF LIBERATED TERRITORIES" INITIATIVE, ARMENIA'S FOREIGN POLICY IS OF REFLEX CHARACTER
YEREVAN, March 29 (Noyan Tapan). The press conference of the "In Defense of Liberated Territories" initiative on March 28 was dedicated to the current stage of the Karabakh settlement as well as regional and global processes impacting it to some extent. Igor Muradian and Eduard Simoniants, the members of the initiative, shared the opinion that there is no foreign policy of Armenia, or at best it is of a reflex nature. In their opinion, Armenia accepts any offer no matter who it is made by. The participants in the press conference expressed confidence that the so-called soonest settlement at any price will inevitably result in a war. In Igor Muradian's opinion, "hope to establish control over Karabagh rekindled in Azerbaijan because of these liberal peace-makers." The speakers analyzed the world processes and drew a conclusion that Armenia is facing a threat of turning from a political factor into an object of politics. According to Muradian, Georgia and Azerbaijan are sham states, only Armenia is capable of ensuring security in the region. In a statement made publish during the press conference, it is, in particular, said that the "In Defense of Liberated Territories" public initiative find that not only the authorities but also the entire political spectrum of the country are responsible for the position of official Armenia "ready for unilateral concessions" and "cartography ignoring the strategic interests of the Armenian people." The initiative urges parties to present their attitudes towards the Karabakh settlement in the context of establishing durable peace in the region and say whether they support such concessions, including territorial. Stressing that they attach great importance to greater transparency in the negotiating process, all-national discussions of the Karabakh problem, the authors add that this is "the only guarantee excluding treacherous actions behind the people's back."
TRAINING FOR WOMEN-POLITICIANS HELD WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF "WOMEN FOR PEACE BUILDING AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION" UNIFEM'S PROGRAM
YEREVAN, March 29 (Noyan Tapan). A training for women-politicians and women - representatives of refugee organizations was held in Yerevan within the UNIFEM's "Women for peace building and conflict resolution" program. The "Millennium", Association of Women with university education, Armenian committee of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly non-governmental organizations will hold the rainings. The purpose of the program is that representatives of different social and rofessional circles were involved in the peace-making process of people's diplomacy in one of the conflict regions - in the South Caucasus. The participants of the training are taught the skills of behavior in the conflict in order that the conflict becomes not destructive but a stage in the development of relations. It is suggested that trainings should also be organized for other groups of women: in particular, for representatives of national minorities, doctors, teachers, journalists, etc. Similar trainings are also held in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Swiss VP plays down Armenian genocide recognition bid
Agence France Presse
March 26, 2002 Tuesday
ANKARA, March 26 -- Swiss Vice President Pascal Couchepin on Tuesday played down a proposal submitted to parliament for the recognition of the killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule as
genocide.
"It is only a statement," Couchepin told a press conference here at the end of a two-day visit, during which he met Turkish government officials, including Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, and business
leaders. The proposal was submitted on March 18 and signed by a majority of deputies in the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament.
It said that "the National Council recognizes the Armenian genocide of 1915" and asks the Swiss government to make its position on the Armenian genocide known through diplomatic means.
The proposal is expected to be debated before summer.
Couchepin, who is also the economy minister, recalled parliament had rejected a similar proposal last year by a slight majority and said that "MPs generally sign various propositions without really
knowing their content."
The new proposal has a less binding wording than last year's proposal and demands recognition from only the lower chamber of the parliament and not from the Swiss government.
"We are aware of the Turkish public opinion's sensibilities on the issue. I think that the issue should be left to historians and not to political bodies," Couchepin said.
Armenia says Turks systematically killed 1.5 million Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey's predecessor.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide and says thousands of Turks also died in fighting as the empire broke up.
RIA OREANDA All rights reserved
Economic News
April 1, 2002 Monday
Armenian National Committee of America to Strive for Preservation of Annual Aid to Armenia
Erevan. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) intends to strive for preservation of the annual aid to Armenia by the USA of at least. As RIA Oreanda correspondent informs, executive
director of ANCA Washington office Aram Amparyan said this at the press conference today.
In his words, the committee intends to strive for direct aid to Nagorny Karabakh by the USA. "Besides, we are working at the elaboration of the documents for economic co-operation between the
USA and Armenia," said Aram Amparyan. He stressed that the agreements of trade co-operation between Armenia and some US states will help to attract investments and establish work places in Armenia. Aram Amparyan reminded that Armenia and the state of California had signed an agreement of co-operation and informed that a commission for
elaboration of the co-operation lines with Armenia had been created in the state of Virginia.
PUTIN CALLS FOR PEACE IN CAUCASUS
Interfax News Agency
Diplomatic Panorama
April 01, 2002
SOCHI. April 1 (Interfax)- Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for preventing "possible military actions along the Georgian- Abkhaz border immediately close to Russia's frontier." He made this call on Saturday, hosting at his Sochi residence Security Council Secretaries of the four Caucasian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia."
"We will look after the refugees in that region the best we can but we also cannot be deaf toward the plight of 50,000 citizens of Russia," said the president.
He believes that the Georgian-Abkhaz problem could be moved out of the deadlock through a document that would divide constitutional powers between Sukhumi and Tbilisi.
Concerning Armenia and Azerbaijan, he stressed that Russia was paying much attention to their problem. He said, "a settlement formula should be found and the main prerequisite in this is the good will the heads of Azerbaijan and Armenia have."
"This is a complex but feasible process, requiring a compromise."
"Russia wants to develop full-scale relations with these countries and in the current situation this is difficult to do," said Putin.
He noted that tensions were running "high" in Caucasus.
To ensure peace, friendship, and prosperity there, a number of principles should be observed, in particular "unconditional respect the sovereignty of regional states and the choice of foreign and domestic policy."
The president said, local conflicts could be settled only on the basis of international law documents by preventing military and political rivalry.
Putin called for a consistent and long-term struggle against terrorism on all fronts.
In this connection, he deems "to close the channels of financing terrorists and battle them ideologically."
He said cooperation in this respect is highly significant since all the states are in touch and a situation in one cannot help affecting the others.
Putin Tells Caucasus Leaders To Settle Conflicts Peacefully
By Mara D. Bellaby
Moscow Times
Monday, Apr. 1, 2002. Page 5
The Associated Press President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Saturday that tension is running high in the Caucasus region, but he called on Russia's neighbors there to step up efforts to settle disputes politically.
"Unconditional respect for the sovereignty of regional states and their choice of foreign and domestic policy," must be observed, Putin said during a meeting with the security chiefs of Russia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Georgia has fought separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, while Armenia and Azerbaijan battled over the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which is located inside Azerbaijan but is populated largely by ethnic Armenians.
Putin said Russia was concerned about "possible military actions along the Georgia-Abkhaz border close to Russia's frontier." Tensions have risen in recent months between Russia and Georgia, particularly with the announcement that the United States planned to send troops to help train the Georgian military in anti-terrorist maneuvers.
Putin also said that Armenia and Azerbaijan's continued failure to agree to a settlement to the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, which resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people, makes it difficult for
Russia "to develop full-scale relations" with either country.
"This is a complex but feasible process, requiring compromise," Putin said.
Meanwhile, Putin called on Russia's three neighbors to work harder to combat terrorism.
The security chiefs from the four nations, who met separately as part of a two-day summit before briefing Putin, resolved "to step up joint efforts in combating new challenges and threats."
"This concerns first of all international terrorism, organized crime, the illegal arms trade, illegal migration and illegal drug-trafficking in the Caucasian region," they said in a joint
statement.
The next meeting of the security council chiefs will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the fall.
Memorial set for Armenian genocide
The Detroit News
Monday, April 1, 2002
DEARBORN -- Speeches, mourning and remembrance will mark the 87th anniversary of the Armenian genocide 1:30 p.m. April 21 at the Armenian Community Center, 19310 Ford. U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., will give the keynote address. Other events include a talk by Levon Marashlian, a history professor at Glendale Community College, and the showing of a PBS documentary. The afternoon is sponsored by the Detroit United Committee for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, April 1, 2002
FRESNO TRANSFORMS INTO SAROYANVILLE
Huge festival honors writer and native son
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, April 1, 2002
Fresno -- In the time of his life, William Saroyan, the writer, lived in Paris and New York, San Francisco and Malibu. But he always came back to
Fresno, the place where he was born and died.
"Fresno is Saroyan country, the way the Salinas Valley is Steinbeck country," said Kevin Starr, the historian who is also California's state librarian.
"Saroyan used to say, 'Roxie, why should we go to Europe when we have all this?' " said Araxie Moradian, whose late husband, Frank, grew up with
Saroyan.
Now through May 5, Fresno is throwing a huge Saroyan Festival, with events nearly every day to celebrate the life and times of its favorite native son.
Saroyan was bigger than Fresno in his prime. He was bigger than life: He won a Pulitzer Prize and turned it down. He won an Academy Award for a
screenplay in 1943, and the Oscar ended up in a Sixth Street hockshop in San Francisco.
He wrote "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," "My Name Is Aram," "The Human Comedy," "My Heart's in the Highlands" and his masterpiece, a
play called "The Time of Your Life."
It is impossible to escape Saroyan in Fresno these days: His pictures are everywhere, there are exhibits of his art and writing at the airport, at the city hall, at the Metropolitan Museum and the Fresno Art Museum.
The local radio stations are broadcasting snippets of Saroyan lore several times a day. There is a walking tour of his old haunts and a bike ride to
his favorite part of the San Joaquin River. It is all Saroyan, all the time.
UNBELIEVABLY BIG
It's the biggest cultural thing maybe in the history of Fresno, bigger even than the great Raisin Festival of Saroyan's youth.
Saroyan and Fresno were made for each other: He was big, brash, loud, delighted with himself and life, a man with talent and big problems, including gambling and drinking.
In the 20 years since Saroyan's death, Fresno has doubled in size. Now it's a big city -- it has more people than St. Louis and has many problems,
including crime and sprawl.
But it has a sort of an offbeat vitality; it has a 15.9 percent unemployment rate and an excellent philharmonic orchestra; big, faceless shopping
centers; and the wonderful William Saroyan Theater, the largest auditorium in the San Joaquin Valley.
Most of the Fresno that Saroyan knew has been paved over in the name of progress, including his boyhood home and the old Emerson School, but a lot of it is still there, including the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, and portions of the old Armenian Town, tucked away between downtown and a freeway.
One can still get fresh lahmoonjoon (a kind of meat pie) at the Hye Quality Bakery, or Peda bread up the street, or go in the back door of the Asbarez
Club and watch the old men smoking cigars and gambling under a sign that prohibits both.
Ben Amirkhanian, an old friend, conducts walking tours. Amirkhanian, who is 86, said Saroyan was always drawn to Fresno.
"I think it was the weather that drew him back, or the pomegranates," he said. "Or the apricots."
But the real reason was that Fresno was home.
It was his hairenik, an Armenian word that means homeland, the place of his heart.
Saroyan, whose immigrant father died when he was 3, who did time in an Oakland orphanage, who came back to Fresno to live in what he called "the most amazing and comical poverty in the world," was shaped by Fresno.
SIMPLE TRUTH
He wrote simply, of being alive, of being a kid: "One day back there in the good old days, when I was nine and the world was full of every imaginable
kind of magnificence . . . ."
His family had fled Armenia and the first ethnic cleansings of the bloody 20th century -- "the Genocide," Armenians still call it. So he wrote about the immigrant experience -- "how the immigrants came to this country and became part of America," said Jacquelin Pilar, curator of the Fresno Art Museum.
"He wrote as an American, as a Californian," said Starr, "with his own voice and a deceptively simple style."
It is hard to believe how this young man, who dropped out of school in the eighth grade, streaked over the literary scene, like a meteor, in the years
of the Great Depression.
His first book, "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," was a literary sensation in 1934. Dark and handsome with a wonderful baritone voice,
Saroyan was "the literary equivalent of a movie star," said his son, Aram.
He wrote of his childhood, of his family, of people in a San Francisco bar. His play "My Heart's in the Highlands" was a hit on Broadway. "The Time of
Your Life," his 1939 play, won both the New York Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer for drama. He refused to accept the Pulitzer on grounds that
commerce had nothing to do with art.
His screenplay for "The Human Comedy" won an Oscar.
Saroyan knew everybody -- John Steinbeck, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, all the bartenders in all the best bars in the world.
"He was like a tornado," said Starr. He never had a writer's block, "he wrote, he wrote and he wrote," Starr said. Saroyan wrote 60 books, and there
are manuscripts for many more.
He also painted -- abstract art, interesting-looking things, on hotel stationery, even sandwich paper. He loved paper. When he died, he left
behind 7,000 of his paintings and drawings. The best 90 or so of them are on display at the Fresno Art Museum.
SUCCESS, THEN STRUGGLE
It would be wonderful to say that Saroyan had a wonderful life. He married the same woman twice. It was a two-time disaster and for her third marriage,
she wed Walter Matthau, the late actor.
His literary reputation went into a sharp decline in the 1950s. Some of the 60 books -- in fact most of them -- were of uneven quality.
"He was buried alive in the sheer volume of his work," said Starr. "But his plays, 'The Time of Your Life,' 'My Heart's in the Highlands,' are as good as anything on the American stage," said Starr.
"He fell out of favor, but in time his work will come back. The same thing happened to Robinson Jeffers, the poet."
Jeffers wrote so much that the quality suffered, Starr said, "but he's revered now. The same will happen to Bill."
Starr knew Saroyan from an encounter when Starr was the city librarian in San Francisco and Saroyan dropped by to see him. Starr had just written
"Americans and the California Dream," the first of an acclaimed series on California, and Saroyan hailed him in his booming voice as a fellow author.
The two men had many conversations on life and writing. "I was very flattered," said Starr.
In his later years, Saroyan rode around Fresno on an old bike, like some mad Old Testament prophet. He lived in two side-by-side tract houses; one for
him, and one full of stuff: pieces of rock, paintings, scraps of paper, books, books he wrote, books he was writing.
He fell off his bike more than once. "I took a spill into water as if I were a 13-year-old telegraph messenger and not a writer in his 66th year. . . .
I didn't break a bone in my body and I was back up on my bike in a flash. Isn't that what counts? You bet your life it is."
Even years after his death, he has an appeal. "I never met him," said Paul Chaderjian, an AT&T executive who moved to Fresno after Saroyan died. "I
only learned about him from courses at Fresno State University. But what I liked was his whole idea of seizing the moment and being alive."
Five days before Saroyan died of cancer in the spring of 1981, he sent a statement to the Fresno office of the Associated Press; he wanted to be sure
they appreciated him properly. "Everybody has got to die," he wrote, "but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?"
He died in Fresno on May 18, 1981, at the age of 72. Half of his ashes were taken to Armenia; half stayed in Fresno. They were reburied last month at
the Ararat Cemetery on the west side of Highway 99 and the railroad tracks.
On his black granite tombstone is the epitaph he wrote:
"In the time of your life, live -- so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world but shall smile to the
infinite delight and mystery of it."
Saroyan Festival
Here's a sampling of the Saroyan Festival events in Fresno. For details, call (559) 259-9999 or visit www.saroyanfestival.org.
-- Today: Saroyan readings and discussions on radio station KFCF, 88.1 FM,
6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
-- April 5-7: 12th Annual William Saroyan Writers Conference, Picadilly Inn
Airport, Fresno.
-- April 27: Walking tour of Saroyan's neighborhood, Fresno Convention
Center, noon.
-- April 27: Saroyan Open House at Riverview Ranch, and bike ride, San
Joaquin River Parkway.
-- Through May 5: exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum, the Fresno Art Museum
and other venues.
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