Month: June 2005

Turkmen capital hosts regional nuclear conference
Interfax news agency, Moscow
6 Jun 05
ASGABAT
A regional conference of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Organization [CNTBTO] was opened in Asgabat [Turkmen capital] on
Monday [6 June].
“The treaty, which meets the interests of the whole world community,
is an efficient factor in preventing attempts to develop nuclear
weapons and in promoting nuclear non-proliferation, which in many
respects serve to reduce global and regional tensions,” a CNTBTO
representative, Moshen Ashtiani [Dr Moshen Chafuri-Ashtiani the
Iranian President of the International Institute of Earthquake
Engineering and Seismology, he is involved with the CNTBTO Preparatory
Commission], stressed during the opening of the conference.
The three-day forum is being held with the support of the Turkmen
government.
The theme of the conference is “The Significance, Advantages and the
Current State of Work on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in
Central Asia and Caucasus”. Specialists from Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
are participating in the conference.
The Turkmen side is represented by specialists from the National
Research Institute of Seismology at the Supreme Council on Science and
Technology under the Turkmen president, and specialists from the
Defence Ministry and the Turkmengeologiya [Turkmen geology] state
corporation.
Turkmenistan jointed the CNTBTO in September 1996, and this document
was ratified by the country’s parliament in February 1998.

Xinhua, China
June 6 2005
Russia to enhance military capacity if Ukraine joins NATO: Ivanov

2005-06-06 21:51:07
MOSCOW, June 6 (Xinhuanet) — Russia will make more investments
in enhancing its military capacity to safeguard the country’s
sovereignty and security if Ukraine joins NATO, Russian Defense
Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday.
“The military-industrial complexes of Russia and Ukraine have
been closely integrated up till now,” Ivanov said at a press
conference in St. Petersburg.
But if Ukraine joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), Russia will have to channel additional financial resources
into its military-industrial complex, including its high-technology
sectors, he was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
Ivanov added that Ukraine is a sovereign country, and it is for
the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people to decide what
organization to join in.
On the withdrawal of the two Russian military bases from Georgia,
Ivanov said two light mountain infantry brigades will be formed along
the Russian-Georgian border to enhance protection from terrorist
penetrations after the withdrawal.
“The decision has been made already at all levels and billions of
rubles have been allocated for the creation of the two brigades,” he
said.
Following months of wrangling, Russia agreed last month to begin
pulling its two Soviet-era bases out of Georgia by the end of this
year and complete the pullout over 2008.
In the next four years Russia will withdraw 2,500 personnel,
2,500 pieces of heavy military equipment, 80,000 tons of ammunition,
and other military assets from Georgia.
Most of the military hardware will be shipped back, while some
will be redeployed to the Russian military base in Armenia, said
Ivanov, who explained that the bases in Georgia has long lost their
importance.
The equipment to be relocated to Armenia will not be handed over
to the Armenian side, but deployed at the Russian military base,
Ivanov said, adding that “Georgia will take over all fixed assets
vacated by the Russian military.” Enditem

KRQE, NM
June 6 2005
Albq. Holocaust museum wants better space

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico’s Holocaust and Intolerance Museum in
Albuquerque is housed in a modest storefront in the city’s downtown.
The museum wants to move to a much large location downtown —
although no site has been selected.
Museum president Andrew Lipman says the goal is to move in two years.
Lipman says the museum will soon receive $985,000 that was approved
by the 2005 Legislature.
That will help plan, design, buy and equip a new museum.
Museum founder Werner Gellert says exhibits reflect American Indian
genocide and Armenian and Greek genocide as well as the Holocaust and
the Bataan Death March of World War Two.
Gellert hopes the new site will have room to honor the five million
non-Jews also killed by the Nazis.

Armenian economy minister calls on international banks for active cooperation
Arminfo
6 Jun 05
YEREVAN
International financial organizations are not so active in Armenia as
in neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan, Armenian Minister of Finance
and Economy Vardan Khachatryan told the Black Sea business forum,
which took place after the 7th meeting of the Board of Governors of
the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank in Yerevan today.
Armenia is mainly working with such international financial
institutions as the World Bank [WB] and the International Monetary
Fund, which allocate loans under state guarantees, Khachatryan
said. He described their cooperation with the Armenian government as
successful and noted that the share of government loans in Armenia is
even higher than in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
He said that in the meantime, the Armenian government has created a
favourable investment environment and expressed hope for an inflow of
investments.
The minister said that he expects the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development [EBRD] and the International Finance Corporation
[IFC], which makes up the World Bank group, to step up their
activities in Armenia. He noted that there are two unsuccessful cases
of the Armenian government’s cooperation with the EBRD, which concern
credits for the thermal power station in Razdan and the construction
of a cargo terminal at Zvartnots airport.
Nevertheless, the minister noted some successful projects by the EBRD
in the country’s banking system and industry and welcomed the bank’s
direct investments in Armenian enterprises.
The IFC allocated a small loan back in 2000 and Armenia has not been
cooperating with this bank since then, the minister added.
[Passage omitted: Khachatryan speaks of the need for investment in the
South Caucasus]

Armenia thanks Equatorial Guinea for pardoning jailed pilots
Mediamax news agency
6 Jun 05
YEREVAN
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has thanked the authorities of
Equatorial Guinea and personally President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for
“showing humanity and understanding”.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said this today in a statement on the
decision of Equatorial Guinea’s president to pardon the six Armenian
pilots who had been imprisoned in Malabo since the beginning of 2004,
Mediamax news agency reports.
The Foreign Ministry statement says that diplomat Gevorg Pogosyan flew
to Malabo today to arrange the Armenian pilots’ return home.

Russia has no plan to hand over arms to Armenia – defence minister
Radio Mayak, Moscow
6 Jun 05
[Presenter] Some of Russia’s hardware from its military bases in
Georgia will be sent to the Russian base in Armenia, Russian Defence
Minister Sergey Ivanov has confirmed. At a news conference in St
Petersburg the minister stressed that no-one intends to hand over
weapons to Armenia, it is a matter of transferring them to another
Russian base. Ivanov recalled that earlier Russia and Georgia agreed
that the withdrawal of the bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki will
begin this year and be completed in 2008.
[Ivanov] We have to move 2,500 servicemen, not counting their family
members, and 2,500 pieces of heavy equipment to Russian Federation
territory. We are faced with moving 80,000 tonnes of ammunition,
military equipment and various types of cargo. The withdrawal of
equipment, and men of course, will mainly take place by sea from
Batumi via the base there.
Some pieces of equipment will be sent to the Russian military base in
Gyumri, which is located on Armenian territory. I stress that this
will be only some [of the hardware], because we respect and will
observe all the conditions of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed
Forces in Europe. This contains the flank restrictions and we will
strictly observe these flank restrictions, including with regards to
equipment sent to our base in Armenia. I repeat once more that these
weapons will not be given to Armenia, as some reports suggest. They
will remain Russian property and will simply be kept at a different
Russian base, that’s all. [Passage omitted]

Monsters and Critics.com, UK
June 6 2005
Iran-Armenia ties look rosy – envoy
Jun 6, 2005, 12:41 GMT

6 June: “The major problem in relations between Iran and Armenia is
the unsettled issue of borders,” the Iranian ambassador to Armenia,
Ali Reza Haqiqian, has said.
An Iranian-Armenian commission on border issues has been set up,
which given the intensification of its activities, could play an
important role in the resolution of this problem, he said.
Speaking on trade and economic relations, the ambassador said that
they are at the highest level and look rosy. The annual commodity
turnover between Iran and Armenia is growing by 30 per cent. Last
year the commodity turnover totalled 180m dollars.
Haqiqian described the construction of the export gas pipeline from
Iran to Armenia as the most important joint project.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Lookout News, CA
June 6 2005
As New Chamber Chair, Jeweler Hopes to Help Polish a Gem of a City
By Menaka Fernando
Special to The Lookout
June 6 — At a small desk in the back room of a popular jewelry store
in downtown Santa Monica, an accomplished businessman with humble
beginnings divulges the secret of his success.
“Be true to yourself and do what’s really right. Always think what
the other people need or what it takes to make other people happy,”
says Eddie Guerboian, the owner of Reader’s Fine Jeweler’s on
Wilshire Boulevard.
Or maybe, he says, “just be married to my wife, Evelyn.”
The several family pictures scattered on his desk and the ebullience
he exudes when he speaks of his loved ones makes it clear that
Guerboian is a family man.
With his son working the register, his wife directing the finances,
his mother volunteering as the “food-runner” and five generations of
Guerboian blood behind it, to say that Reader’s is a family-run
business is an understatement.
And so, when Guerboian took the reins as the new chairman of Santa
Monica’s Chamber of Commerce last week, he planned to turn in part to
the leadership skills he’s learned from his family to help him move
the city’s business community forward.
Like parents who guide their kids by good example, Guerboian plans to
lead members of the chamber by exuding passion and positivism every
step of the way.
And he hopes to use his small business perspective to help build
partnerships and encourage all businesses to participate in the
decision-making process of their community.
But Guerboian acknowledges that boosting membership and participation
— two of his key goals — will require making the chamber relevant
to some businesses.
“From talking to some of the members I hear they are asking ‘Oh, what
the chamber does for me?’ and they expect benefits right away,” he
said.
“But the chamber does so many things that is not tangible… in the
long-run, to benefit the members, but the result is not right away,”
Guerboian said, citing advocacy as an example.
Guerboian plans to talk to these businesses and be “truthful” about
the benefits the chamber can provide, mainly as a collective
political voice in a city that is widely seen as “anti-business.
“I’m not shy to ask people to do things,” he said.
Guerboian’s directness may stem from the confidence that comes from
success. His rags-to-riches story is a testament to America, he says,
calling it “still, the land of opportunity.”
As a 17-year-old boy, Guerboian immigrated to the United States from
his native country of Armenia in 1968. His father had just died, and
he left his mother and siblings to conquer the unknown thousands of
miles away.
Guerboian speculated that his father died from the stress incurred
when Armenia’s Communist government nationalized the country’s
businesses in 1967, including his father’s jewelry store.
In America, the only contact Guerboian had was to an Armenian
Orthodox church in New York. There, he was given the choice of
staying in Manhattan or coming to California.
The choice was easy, he said: “Who doesn’t want to come to
California?”
While juggling two jobs, Guerboian took evening classes and got a
degree in business from Santa Monica City College. He lived in a
one-bedroom apartment on the corner of 4th and Strand streets. It had
a folding bed, he recalled.
Within five years, he had brought the rest of the family to Santa
Monica. He married his wife Evelyn — whom he calls the “love of his
life” — 29 years ago and opened the jewelry store in 1977.
Currently, Guerboian lives with his wife, son, two daughters and
mother in his Tarzana home.
Over the decades, Guerboian has watched the Santa Monica business
community evolve from “good to better.” The biggest change, he
believes, is that most businesses no longer survive as individuals —
there’s more collaboration, and that’s a good thing.
Guerboian is passionate about the need to work with the city’s
developers and lawmakers to solve the specific problems facing Santa
Monica’s business community.

The chamber’s priority will be to deal with traffic, parking and
homelessness, issues that have caused much friction between the
chamber and City Council.
Though he glossed over specific proposals to tackle these problems,
Guerboain said he feels he is working with the City and not against
it and plans to meet soon with City officials. “The future looks
bright,” he said.
Guerboian’s optimism reflects his nature, Evelyn Guerboian said.
“He’s always in a very positive mood,” she said.
Still, her husband tends to take a lot on his plate, Evelyn said,
joking that the family rarely sees Eddie at home.
In addition to owning the jewelry store, Guerboian coaches two
basketball teams in an Armenian Youth league and serves on the board
of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica, among other activities.
On the rare occasion that Guerboian has free time, he likes to cheer
on his favorite basketball team, the Lakers, though he was
disappointed with their showing this season.
While excited about the prospects for Santa Monica businesses during
his one-year tenure, Guerboian’s enthusiasm is more apparent when
speaking about a different prospect.
Recently, Avo informed his father that he would like to take over the
family business when he gets older.
“Since I’ve grown up with it, I’ve been in the store since the age of
five, I feel an obligation,” Avo said, and he added, “I like it too.”
Guerboian said he considers himself a wealthy man, not because of the
money he has in the bank, but because of his family and his community
which he treasures.
“Santa Monica is the gem of the community, and like a gem, there are
a lot of faces,’ the jeweler said. `Santa Monica has a lot of faces
and it won’t sparkle unless all the faces are polished.”

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
June 6 2005
Police seeking Armenian recruits
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
GLENDALE — The city has the largest Armenian population outside of
Armenia itself, but Glendale’s police are struggling to add Armenians
to their ranks to better reflect the community’s makeup.
The search recently led officials to Jackpot, Nev., where not only
did they find and hire an Armenian records clerk, but they’re also
considering hiring her husband as a mechanic helper at the
department’s garage. And the couple’s two children are now cadets.
“We have a heightened sensitivity in not only hiring but recruiting
potential Armenian employees, so when a golden opportunity like this
presented itself, we jumped all over it,” said Lt. Bruce Fox of the
department’s professional standards bureau.
“To get the department to be representative of the community is a
pretty large task, but we’re going to keep heading toward that goal.”
About 35 percent of Glendale’s population of 200,000 is estimated to
be of Armenian descent. But just 5 percent — or 13 — of the
department’s 257 sworn officers are Armenian.
Officials — also struggling with hiring amid a general nationwide
shortage of qualified officers — said the department has scant
applications from Armenians, stemming mainly from a negative cultural
perception of the profession: It’s dangerous and it doesn’t pay well.
In an effort to dispel such perceptions, the Police Department has
begun actively reaching out to the Armenian community and local youth
organizations.
Starting June 26, officers will set up recruitment booths once a
month at Sidewalk Cafe on Glenoaks Boulevard, with officers and
information to engage youths and teach them about law enforcement
careers.
“I just want to convey to the youth that this is a respectable career
that a family can be proud of — that a career in law enforcement
means good pay, a three-day workweek and good benefits,” said Sgt.
Scott Johnstone, supervisor in charge of recruitments and
backgrounds. “We have to break the barrier right now where police and
fire careers are last on the list of professions for these kids. It’s
a fantastic career and something to be proud of.”
Glendale police will emphasize financial security, including benefits
and retirement plans. The Glendale Police Department offers a
starting salary between $4,881 and $6,376 a month.
Neighboring Burbank — which has three Armenian officers out of 159
sworn personnel — said its focus is overall hiring for its leanly
staffed department.
An estimated 8 percent of Burbank’s 100,000 population is of Armenian
descent.
“At this point, we’re low on officers and we’re looking for the best
candidates,” said Officer Vee Jones of the Burbank Police Department.
“Obviously, we do want the department to reflect the community, and
we make every effort to do that, but now we’re just targeting
qualified candidates.”
Detective Petros Kmbikyan, 28, who was born in Armenia and moved to
the United States when he was 13, said his parents had reservations
about his career choice, but they eventually understood.
“It’s going to be a hard process to recruit Armenians, but also a
rewarding one at the end if they find qualified applicants,” Kmbikyan
said. “There are a lot of Armenians in Glendale so it makes it easier
to interact with them and there’s an understanding of the community
and the culture.”
Officer David Lerian, 39, has been with the Glendale Police
Department for nearly seven years and frequently is called upon by
other officers to translate.
“They’re always needing translators and there aren’t always Armenian
officers available, so it would benefit the department,” he said.
And members of the Armenian community are convinced that changes are
on the horizon.
“The first 10 will be very difficult but after that you’ll get this
huge rush because the community will feel comfortable with the idea,”
said Michael Issakhanian, owner of Sidewalk Cafe. “It’s just a matter
of time that they see law enforcement as an acceptable career.”

Armenpress
REPUBLICAN PARTY WINS LOCAL ELECTIONS IN THREE YEREVAN DISTRICTS AND IN
SPITAK
YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS: Mayors of three Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia,
Nork-Marash and Davidashen districts were reelected in June 5 community head
elections. In Nork-Marash Varazdat Mkrtchian from prime minister’s
Republican Party was reelected by 5,040 ballots while his non-partisan rival
Mikael Arushanian received only 11 votes.
In Davidashen Surik Ghukasian beat his rival Ruben Gevorkian receiving
ballots of 6,311 voters. Gevorkian received 5,396 votes.
Aghvan Grigorian won the election in Malatia-Sebastia community with
21,220 ballots, his non-partisan rival Samvel Hovsepian received 4,675
votes.- Another member of the Republican party, Vanik Asatrian, was
reelected mayor of Spitak town in Lori province in June 5 polls. He received
4,272 votes and his main rival, Varazdat Danielian collected 1,807 votes.