Month: October 2005

THE RICH PRESIDENT OF THE POOR COUNTRY

Pan Armenian
03.10.2005, “PanARMENIAN Network” analytical department

Ilham Aliev’s salary is 20 times as much as the salary of Robert
Kocharyan and 4 times as much the salary of Vladimir Putin.

>>From now on the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev will receive
a salary of 90 million manats or approximately 19600 US dollars,
which makes 239 thousand dollars per year. With this increased salary
Ilham Aliev becomes the highest-paid president in CIS and one of
the highest-paid presidents in the world. Meanwhile, it is worth
mentioning that by living standards Azerbaijan is behind the half of
African states.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Formally, the rise of the president’s salary was
caused by the rise of the minimal salary in the country. According
to the law, the president has to be paid for his job with a sum which
is 600 times more than the minimal salary in the country. For today,
this is an unsurpassed record.

There is no country in the world where the president thinks that he
has the right to receive 600 times more than a pensioner. Maybe it’s
because of the voracious appetite of Azerbaijan rulers that more than
40 percents of Azerbaijan population live in deep poverty.

Coming to power in autumn, 2003 Aliev junior made a populist
gesture, demanding from the parliament to decrease his salary as if
to promote social justice. The parliament of Azerbaijan obeyed the
request of Aliev and decreased the presidential salary to 5,500 US
dollars. However, after half a year Aliev started increasing his
salary. In the course of two years of Aliev junior’s governance
the presidential salary was increased from 27 million to 90 million
mantas, that is by more than three times. Is it much or not? Perhaps
it will be easier to understand comparing with the salaries of other
presidents. According to Baku published “Novoye Vremya” newspaper,
the current salary of Ilham Aliev is equal to the salary of the US
president before 2001 when it was doubled by the decision of the
Congress. USA is an extremely rich country, but in Azerbaijan one
third of the population lives in poverty.

Excluding monarchs, George Bush is today the highest-paid leader in
the world. Last year his income was estimated 785 thousand dollars,
400 thousand of which was his salary. But it should be noted that
George Bush pays a tax of 80 thousand and makes other donations to
the church and charity organizations. So, if we compare the financial
abilities of George Bush and Ilham Aliev, the latter will hardly stay
back because in contrast to the US president who accurately declares
his incomes from dividends, Aliev junior does not declare his shares
from oil contracts. Baku journalists claim that Aliev’s clan takes
every fifth dollar from oil export incomes.

Taking into account the mentioned facts, the rise of the salary looks
simply provoking. Aliev has appointed a salary which is four times more
than the salary of Vladimir Putin and three times more than the salary
of Jack Shirak. The president of China Hu Jintao will perhaps feel
uneasy if he learns that his salary is 8 times less than the salary
of Aliev. The president of Check Republic must be proud to have shaken
hands with Ilham Aliev, because his salary is only 1500 US dollars. The
salaries of Ilham Aliev’s GUAM partners are also much less than their
Azeri colleague. Victor Yushenko receives 4700 US dollars and Michael
Sahakashvili – 2180 US dollars. Byelorussian president Alexander
Lukashenko, who earns only 300 dollars per month, can be sure that
that the price of his birthday gift from Ilham Aliev can be more than
the whole salary fund of the Byelorussian president’s administration.

Latvian president may also envy the salary of Ilham Aliev. Vaira
Vike-Freiberga had to keep her Canadian citizenship not to lose
her pension.

In her interview to a Latvian radio station she confessed that if
she had to live only on her salary, she would appear in the same
dress almost all the time. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
Salome Zurabishvili has also decided to save the funds of Georgian
state budget. Thanks to her French citizenship she receives a special
payment from the Elisey palace and her salary is higher than that of
Michael Saakashvili.

As compared with Ilham Aliev, Robert Kocharyan looks more than
modest. His salary is only 400 thousand drams which is equal to
approximately 890 US dollars. Ilham Aliev has not still increased the
military budget of Azerbaijan, making it equal to the whole budget
of Armenia, as promised.

However already today he puts 20 times higher taxes than his Armenian
colleague. By the way, Azeri journalists claim that the President
of Armenia earns only 380 dollars and is the least-paid president in
Eurasia. The journalists of course say what is wished instead of what
exists, but as it is said, money is not the thing that makes people
happy. Anyway, it should be added that there is hardly a president
who does not know ways to live without salary…

FRENCH INSURANCE CO. AGREES TO PAY $17 MILLION TO GENOCIDE HEIRS
By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier

AZG Armenian Daily #179
06/10/2005

Armenian Genocide

The French Insurance Company Axa agreed to pay $17 million to
descendants of life insurance policyholders who perished during the
Armenian Genocide.

This announcement was made by Mark Geragos, a prominent Los Angeles
attorney, during the Oct. 2 banquet of the USC Institute of Armenian
Studies honoring Federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian.

Geragos, along with attorneys Vartkes Yeghiayan and Brian Kabateck,
had filed a class action lawsuit in a California federal court against
Axa for failing to pay death benefits for the insurance policies
purchased by Armenians in Turkey prior to the Armenian Genocide. Judge
Tevrizian mediated the $17 million settlement which will be disbursed
as follows: Up to $11 million for the heirs of close to 11,000 life
insurance policyholders; $3 million for various Armenian charities;
and $3 million for attorneys’ fees.

A French-Armenian charitable group will process and pay the claims. Any
funds leftover after all claimants are paid would be turned over to
the French-Armenian charity.

The Axa settlement follows a similar agreement with New York Life
Insurance Company in early 2004. New York Life agreed to pay $20
million which was to be disbursed as follows: Up to $11 million for the
heirs of 2,400 life insurance policyholders who perished during the
Armenian Genocide; $3 million for nine Armenian-American charitable
and religious organizations; $2 million for administrative expenses;
and $4 million for attorney’s fees.

In a lengthy interview with the French Armenian magazine, Nouvelles
d’Armenie (September 2005 issue), Yeghiayan provided several intriguing
details regarding the activities and irresponsible conduct of L’Union
insurance company which was purchased by Axa in 1996.

L’Union started selling insurance policies in the Ottoman Empire
in the 1870 ‘s and continued to do so until 1931. Simon Kayserlyan
was the Director of the 51 offices of the firm in Turkey. According
to a letter sent by L’Union to the French Foreign Ministry in 1922,
the company had sold 10,899 life insurance policies by the time of
the Armenian Genocide.

In that 1922 letter, L’Union disclosed that it risked losing 42 million
French Francs or $8 million as a result of the deaths of its Armenian
policyholders. The letter also said that not meeting its obligations
to the perished Armenians would tarnish the company’s reputation
and prestige.

While New York Life made some attempts in the aftermath of the Genocide
to locate and pay those entitled to receive death benefits, L’Union
categorically refused to make any payments. In the early 1920’s when
French-Armenian refugee centers in Paris wrote to L’Union asking
to see the list of Armenian policyholders, the company reportedly
refused, saying that such private information could not be divulged
to outside parties.

In 1928, the High Commissioner for Refugees of the League of
Nations asked several insurance companies to disclose the list of
their Armenian clients, explaining that the heirs of some insurance
policyholders were children living in extremely destitute conditions
in refugee camps and that funds from the insurance benefits would
considerably ameliorate their situation. L ‘Union reportedly responded
by saying that it could not comply with the request, as it was unable
to tell which of its clients were Armenians.

Furthermore, the company made impossible demands from the families
of perished individuals in order to avoid paying them. For example,
in a June 18, 1925 letter, L’Union told an Armenian claimant
to provide a death certificate and a notarized document from the
Turkish Consulate in Athens proving his relationship to the deceased
policyholder. Whereas New York Life accepted the documents provided
by the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, L’ Union refused to accept
such documents, demanding that the survivors of the Genocide return to
Turkey to obtain the necessary certificates from Turkish courts. As
a result, not a single Armenian policyholder got a penny from this
company. After 1945, the company came up with a new argument for
refusing all requests for payment. It said that due to the 30-year
statute of limitations, it was no longer obligated to make any payments
for policies written prior to 1915.

The Axa settlement has a significant advantage over the one with New
York Life. Thanks to the efforts of the three Armenian attorneys,
Judge Tevrizian and Axa executives, there is a clear reference to
the Armenian Genocide in the text of the Axa settlement, whereas in
the New York Life agreement, the Armenian Genocide is merely referred
to as “the tragic events of 1915.”

The October issue of the French magazine, L’Expansion, reported that
the next insurance company to be sued by the Armenian lawyers for
non-payment of Genocide era insurance claims would be the German firm,
Victoria. There is also talk of a lawsuit being filed against the
British insurance company, Gresham, and various German banks that
operated in Turkey and had taken deposits from Armenians in that
country prior to the Genocide.

The next legal step would be to sue the Turkish government for its
illegal confiscation of the personal and real properties of Armenians
in Turkey after the Genocide.

ARMENIAN-ITALIAN BUSINESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN OCTOBER 6

Pan Armenian
05.10.2005 13:58

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met
today with Italian Minister of Foreign Trade Adolfo Urso, who is in
Yerevan on the occasion of the Days of Armenian-Italian friendship,
RA MFA press office reported. In the words of the RA FM, the Armenian
people will have a perfect opportunity to get familiarized with the
Italian culture and the Armenian-Italian cooperation. The parties noted
the dynamic development of the Armenian-Italian economic relations
and the importance of the Armenian-Italian business forum to be
held October 6. By Mr. Urso’s request Vartan Oskanian presented the
latest regional developments and the process of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement.

LENNMARKER: TURKEY SHOULD OPEN ARMENIAN BORDER

Pan Armenian
05.10.2005 13:44

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Goran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, met on Tuesday with
the members of the Armenian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly.Speaking during the meeting, Vahan Hovhannisian, National
Assembly vice speaker and the head of the Armenian delegation to the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, mentioned that Lennmarker’s report at
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Washington session stirred great
interest in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Due to the campaign we launched,
Hovhannissian said, the report was admitted positively in Armenia,
where there are no political forces that do not realize the need
for mutual concessions in order to reach a final solution to the
conflict. However, he added, it would be hard to find a political
force in Azerbaijan willing to agree to similar concessions, so it
is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s task to find one. He also hailed
Lennmarker for initiating direct talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan
in Brussels and Washington. Hovhannisian proposed that Lennmarker head
an ad hoc working group comprised of members from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
as well as OSCE Parliamentary Assembly members well-informed of the
conflict to work on a joint resolution. Mr. Lennmarker expressed his
agreement with Hovhannisian’s proposals and noted that this golden
opportunity should be grasped by the parliamentarians. Speaking of
the Armenian-Turkish relations, Lennmarker said Armenia would benefit
from the EU-Turkey negotiations. As for Turkey’s blockade of Armenia,
Lennmarker said Turkey must open its border since EU policies are
those of open borders.

DAYS OF ITALIAN-ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP STARTED IN YEREVAN

Pan Armenian
05.10.2005 13:05

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Today we are opening Days of Italy in Armenia. In my
opinion it is the best manifestation of the Armenian-Italian friendship
and age-old ties”, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated
during the opening ceremony of the Days. He also expressed gratitude to
the Italian government, the Italian Embassy in Armenia and specifically
to Ambassador to Armenia Marco Clemente for his contribution to the
organization of the events. He also thanked Mkhitarians for their
devoted work, which will allow the Armenian people to get acquainted
with the treasurers of the St. Lazarus Island. Vartan Oskanian noted
that the events will be held under the aegis of the Presidents of
two states. As RA MFA Spokesman Hamlet Gasparian stated earlier the
exhibition of the treasures of St. Lazarus Island, which will last
till the end of the year, will become the core of the events. In his
words, this cultural event has a political ground as well, since
Armenia is engaged in the EU New Neighborhood Policy. Tom remind,
Italian Ambassador to Armenia Marco Clemente stated that the Italian
government did its best to make the events accessible for the Armenian
people. “Italy will fill whole Yerevan with its love, friendship and
the desire to strengthen relations. We should take every opportunity
to bring together our national and cultures,” he said.

RA FM MET PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Pan Armenian
05.10.2005 11:57

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
met with President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe Giovanni Di Stasi, RA MFA press center
reported. During the meeting Mr. Di Stasi informed of the principal
functions of the CoE Congress. The interlocutors also discussed the
constitutional reform process and the role of the local governing
bodies. The RA FM noted that the reforms will contribute to Armenia’s
honoring the commitments to the CoE.

URUGUAY ARMENIANS PROTEST AGAINST TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU

Pan Armenian
05.10.2005 14:30

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Members of Uruguay’s Armenian community joined in the
protest demonstration on October 3 outside the European Union mission
in Montevideo, organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s
“Armenia” Youth Union. Protesters held up Armenian tricolors and
posters reading “Historic truth cannot be hidden,” “Turkey, admit to
your crime – the Armenian Genocide,” and “No to Turkey’s accession to
EU unless Armenian Genocide recognition.” Ethnic Armenian member of the
Uruguay Parliament Lilian Keshishian, accompanied by MP Ivan Posatas,
joined the protesters. A delegation of the protesters handed to the
EU representative a petition signed by 30,000 people, demanding that
EU denies Turkey’s bid unless that country recognizes the Armenian
Genocide, Yerkir online reported.

DESTINATIONS: BIRD ON A WIRE: MISSIN’ MY ROTISSERIE
By Johnny Angel

LA Weekly, CA
Oct 6 2005

L.A.’s many immigrants may well have been lured here by our
Mediterranean-like climes, and, if so, one of their greatest gifts
to us has to be the proliferation of that underlooked SoCal staple,
the rotisserie chicken. Lebanese, Armenians and Greeks scarf down much
of the slow-turning fowl on a spit, and that specialty now forms as
big a part of the local (and protein-heavy) diet as the more visible
enchilada.

>>From the sturdy if unspectacular birds of California Chicken and
KooKooRoo, to the exotic mom-and-pops extolled below, rotisserie
chicken truly is a local phenom. Residencies and trips to San Fran,
Boston and other points inland have reminded me how their local
variations lack the crispiness and flavor found in our homegrown
restaurants. My last sojourn to New England revealed that their
version was more like dry wall than white meat. Sure, there are
gyro joints and shawarma places and kebab palaces everywhere there
are immigrants from lower Europe and Asia Minor, but somehow, these
greasy and gloomy joints seem to belong to the rainy parts of the
map. The L.A. chicken shack is clean and lean and not too mean –
just as we’d like to imagine ourselves.

There are too many to name, so I have to stick with those that are
at the top of my list – that is, the ones currently draining my
wallet/slaking my palate.

First and foremost is Al Wazir (6051 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood,
323-856-0660), a pit stop midway between my home and workplace,
lauded by me many years ago as the dopest of falafel joints extant.

Forget the chickpeas (for the time being) and grab a whole bird
plus extra garlic sauce, pink turnip pickles and brain-frying green
peppers. Because of the foot traffic from the Gower/Paramount studios,
these birds don’t sit long enough on their vertical perch to dry
out. Simply unbeatable for goodness, convenience and price. (A whole
chick plus a tub of hummus as dip or side dish is under 13 bucks.)

My second favorite, TiGeorges Chicken (309 N. Glendale Blvd.,
Filipinotown, 213-353-9994), is an anomaly. Not Middle Eastern but of
Haiti born, this chicken is marinade-laden, deeply smoky from wood-chip
smoke and an avocado-lime brining process, and fall-off-the-bone
amazing. Not of the crisp variety, but served in their own sauce
plus ti malis (a particularly brutal Caribbean hot sauce), the birds
of this unassuming joint have a positively Pavlovian effect as you
approach Glendale Boulevard.

This being L.A., one must bow to the O.G., the little old Zankou chain,
the first most famously at the corner of Sunset and Normandie.

The old L.A. Weekly, ensconced in deep Silver Lake, might never have
made a printing deadline without its staff chowing down on the fast
‘n’ potent bird and garlic-sauce combo. Now there are at least five
of these in L.A., with a sixth in the O.C. The place’s chicken is so
deeply embedded in the Angeleno consciousness that an anguished fellow
traveler, having spotted me wearing Zankou’s trademark yellow T-shirt
outside Boston’s Copley Square, told me he’d been craving it all day,
thanks a lot! 5065 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 665-7842.

Call for other locations.

Forget the taco ‘n’ burrito stand – rotisserie chicken is the real
mish-mosh nosh, the true definer. Chicken removed from its metal
stick and served with exotica – that’s the taste of L.A. I always
come back to, whenever I’m gone too long. And only we know this,
so let’s keep it that way, okay?

ENCOUNTERS: FINDING COMMUNITY IN A STARBUCKS
By Ellen Slezak

LA Weekly, CA
Oct 6 2005

East of Western, North of Hollywood
I do most of my errands on my bike. Just last week, I rode to the
Laundromat with three loads of laundry bungee-corded to its basket.

More often, I travel lighter and with less purpose. I’ll pedal
somewhere and stop for a cup of coffee.

I like coffee. The stronger, the better. No foam or sugar or half this
or that. Just black and hot. I’m a stereotypical liberal (and proud
of it), who often moans and groans about the loss of the mom-and-pop
storefront, the standardization of towns and cities and suburbs. I’ve
never been in a Wal-Mart – on principle. I’ve never crossed a picket
line – that’s an even bigger principle. But Starbucks – so big,
so corporate, so the same the same the same everywhere? I count on
it. Its coffee and service and pervasiveness have been very good to
me. I have different favorite locations for different times of day,
days of the week.

For the past year or so, this has been my Sunday-morning routine. Get
up at 6. Drink a couple of inches of coffee – enough to jolt me out
the door. Ride my bike three miles to Fern Dell. Hike up to Mount
Hollywood. Hike back down. Get back on bike. Stop at the Armenian
Starbucks at the northeast corner of Hollywood and Western for a
proper cup.

This is a good Starbucks. It has a lot of character, though you might
not think so, driving by. (It’s in a development with a Ralphs and a
Blockbuster and a Ross Dress for Less.) The staff at this Starbucks is
unexcitable, steady. They don’t give the bum’s rush to the old lady who
comes in only to use the bathroom and talk loudly to herself. They
don’t give the bums the bum’s rush. The men, dressed in black,
who sit at the outside tables, smoke with focus. The mentally ill
homeless guy who drinks leftover coffee cadges cigarettes from them;
so does the 50-something-crapped-out-in-Hollywood groupie who talks
loud and fast to a tall, expressionless black guy who nods, but says
nothing in response to her stories about Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger
and various security guards who let her sneak into these superstars’
orbit. Her voice is wrinkled, and the skin around her eyes is, too. I
quit smoking 20 years ago, but I love the smell of a cigarette,
so I sit outside with them all. The open-air eavesdropping is bracing.

A few weeks ago, when a middle-aged Latino guy, pushing a Ralphs cart
filled with three 12-packs of Miller and three bags of chicken thighs
and legs, stopped near our Starbucks tables and began to unload his
cart, we all assumed he was going to load it into the minivan nearby.

It took us a beat before we realized we had it wrong. He was on foot.

The loudmouthed groupie, the black guy, one Armenian smoker and I
stood up and offered to help him. I pointed at my bike and basket and
pulled a bungee out of my backpack. He shook his head no. The groupie
persisted, loudly, but he still refused, waving her off. We watched,
disbelieving and admiring, as he hoisted and adjusted his bounty and
walked off, a perfect balance of grace and strength.

It’s another Sunday morning at the Armenian Starbucks, and when I
leave L.A., as I imagine I one day will, I’m going to miss it.

LIBERATION OF OCCUPIED LAND POSSIBLE ONLY WITH POWERFUL MILITARY – ALIYEV

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2005

Baku, October 5, AssA-Irada
Azerbaijan is seeking a peaceful settlement of the Upper Garabagh
conflict but no results have been achieved in this area yet,
which prompts the country to continue strengthening its military
power, President Ilham Aliyev said at the ceremony of opening a
new administrative building of the Special State Guard Service on
Wednesday.

Aliyev pointed out the need for establishing a strong military
potential. “Only powerful Azerbaijan army will achieve liberation
of the country’s territories. If the peace talks turn out fruitless,
the occupied lands will be freed through military action,” he said.

President Aliyev said the government is increasing military spending
every year. Whereas military expenses made up $175 million in 2004, the
figure is $300 million this year and will reach $600 million in 2006.

The President also praised the activity of the State Guard Service.

“The employees of the Service ensure my security. This means that the
stability and security of Azerbaijan is reliably protected,” he said.

Aliyev said the national guard plays an important role in ensuring the
security of oil and gas pipelines, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
main export pipeline to take Azeri oil to world markets.

In conclusion of the ceremony, President Aliyev awarded several
military men, presenting them with keys to new apartments.*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress