"The visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki was neither a surprise nor was it planned," was the non-standard response we received from Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to our question last Friday during his joint press conference with European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
Grandmother Siranush (the last names of most of the elderly in this article have been omitted at the request of the staff) is the only resident of the retirement home who has higher education.
"Hello, do you speak English?"
The new UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Consuelo Vidal, who started working here in November 2005, has frozen some UN programs and sent the majority of the staff on a two-month vacation.
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