Month: October 2006

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN MAY RUN FOR PRESIDENCY IN 2008

Yerevan, October 20. ArmInfo. First president of Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrosyan will run for presidency in 2008, said Ararat Zurabyan,
Chairman of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) party Board, at the
Discussion Clob "Pastark."

He made a slip in speaking: "it is by personal opinion." A. Zurabyan
thinks participating in the presidential election, L. Ter-Petrosyan
will "radically change the situation of disorder reigning the country
at present." He noted that if L. Ter-Petrosyan refuses to run for
presidency, ANM will advance its candidate for presidency. For
instance, the candidature of Babken Ararktsyan, the former speaker
of the Armenian parliament.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was elected president of Armenia in 1991. In
1996, he was officially declared the winner of the presidential
elections that were called rigged by many international authoritative
organizations and the country’s opposition. In the February of 1998,
L. Ter-Petrosyan resigned under pressure of some influential political
forces. Since then, he refuses to give interviews to the media. He
"appears in public" twice or trice in a year at official receptions
and congresses of the party.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BATTLE FOR LEVON TER-PETROSYAN?

Lragir.am
20 Oct 06

The first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan will run in the
presidential election 2008, stated Ararat Zurabyan, the chair of
the administration of the All-Armenian Movement. "I believe that
the appearance and activity of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and his word
will have more importance than the activities of several political
forces of Armenia," says Ararat Zurabyan. However, he says, his
confidence is not the result of his talk with Levon Ter-Petrosyan
but his personal impression. Perhaps, it is not worthwhile to mention
that the All-Armenian Movement will nominate Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Thereby the figures of the previous government appear in a curious
state, when two forces representing the former government consider
Levon Ter-Petrosyan their candidate. The point is that Babken Ararxyan,
the informal leader of Alternative, a union created several days
ago, expressed his personal opinion that Levon Ter-Petrosyan is his
candidate. Ararxyan announced, of course, that if Levon Ter-Petrosyan
is not nominated, they will go on to think what to do.

Meanwhile, Ararat Zurabyan knows what to do. He stated that the
All-Armenian Movement will propose another candidate, and according
to Zurabyan, it could be Babken Ararxyan.

This statement, which appears innocent at first sight, acquires an
absolutely different shade when we consider that Babken Ararxyan
and other former members of the All-Armenian Movement set up a new
political union, which was criticized by Ararat Zurabyan one or
two days ago. In fact, Ararat Zurabyan has a milder opinion now and
says he does not want to say anything negative about Alternative,
adding that this force has been set up recently, and it takes time
to evaluate their activities.

"We are a political force which works. If say two, ten or one hundred
figures choose to follow another path, we do not try to prevent them,
or to join, or not to join. The All-Armenian Movement is a separate
unit, I think it is serious enough to work, to act and unlike others
we alone can do more," says Ararat Zurabyan. He tries to find out that
his criticism was determined by the worry that the establishment of
Alternative can give rise to a number of problems.

"When there is something, definite, there is a political party.

Generally, the political party is the place of political activities,
in normal societies, I think it is wrong to set up another unit.

People have set up a unit which they think is the right way. I think
it is not. I do not battle this unit, I have no wish and have no such
intentions. I am ready to cooperate, I am ready to do everything.

Maybe the problem is different. Nobody put the question differently:
why is this unit set up or why Babken Ararxyan did not want to become
the chair of the administration of the All-Armenian Movement and
preferred to lead 18 persons rather than a political party," says
Ararat Zurabyan. And though he states that there is no need to seek
controversies between Alternative and the All-Armenian Movement,
he nevertheless, displays these controversies. And when he says it
is unnecessary to seek, he probably means that there is no need to
look for them because the controversies are evident.

These controversies can be settled by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, in other
words, the nomination of Ter-Perosyan can bring together Alternative
and the All-Armenian Movement. But this is highly hypothetical because
for the time being Ter-Petrosyan divides these forces. For instance,
Ararat Zurabyan states that in 1996 Ter-Petrosyan’s election campaign
was badly coordinated, and the candidate, who had 70 percent of votes,
hardly won the election. One may ask what relation Alternative has
with this. The relation is that in 1996 the headquarters of Levon
Ter-Petrosyan was led by Babken Ararxyan.

"Do you think the election in 1996 was the result of good
coordination? If there is anyone who thinks that Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
team was coordinated correctly in the election 1996, which produced
an outcome, you are mistaken," says Ararat Zurabyan, which allows to
conclude that the member of the administration of the All-Armenian
Movement is simply joking when he says that after Ter-Petrosyan the
next candidate, the reserve, will be Babken Ararxyan, who hindered the
absolute victory of Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the presidential election,
making it appear doubtful. However, Zurabyan’s words allow concluding
that his criticism is directed against the coordinator Ararxyan,
because Zurabyan says maybe he was a bad coordinator but he will make
a good candidate. And why not? Especially that Ter-Petrosyan could
lead Babken Ararxyan’s election headquarters.

Adoption of the bill by the French Parliament reinforces Armenia’s security
(Analysis)

20.10.2006 16:40
Armen Manvelyan
"Radiolur"

As it was expected, the adoption of the law penalizing the
denial of the Armenian Genocide in the French Parliament brought
forward controversial comments and even criticism. No one had the
slightest doubt that it would be discussed by Turkish h media and
society. Criticism came also from the bureaucratic system of the
European Union, which is not surprising, either. The latter consider
issues proceeding from political interests of their structure,
rather than from the perspective of revelation of the historic truth
and correct assessment of events. Yet, it is understandable that
adoption of such a law will seriously hamper the process of EU-Turkey
talks, and it will disturb them more than a similar law adopted by
the European Parliament. Nevertheless, turning to the core of the
question, let’s try to discuss it from the standpoint of Armenia’s
interests in order to understand what it will give us. It’s not a
secret that the Republic of Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno
Karabakh Republic are surrounded with the hostility of Turkey and
Azerbaijan, and this is the reality we cannot escape. The situation
was created in the first half of the past century in the result of the
genocide perpetrated by Turks, when the Armenian people was deprived of
the right to live on its historic land. As it is known the reason of
such policy was the national aspiration of Turks who wished to unite
all Turkic nations and move to Central Asia and Siberia to conquer
all the lands inhabited by Turkish-speaking peoples. A considerable
part of the Armenian nation fell victim of these political ambitions
called Panturkism. Although 90 years have passed after these events,
Turkish ambitions and priorities have not changed, and unfortunately,
today we cannot say we are safe from attacks and aggression of this
kind. One of the reasons is that up to now the Armenian Genocide has
not been condemned by the international community and has not been
acknowledged by Turkey. No one will refute the danger of reoccurrence
of an uncondemned crime. Therefore, we can say that the step of the
French Parliament was the first attempt to prevent any possible future
anti-Armenian crimes of Turkey and Turks in general. Anyway, the time
will come to answer for everything. It is clear that the activity of
the French Parliament is not enough, decisions of the whole Europe and
especially the US Congress are necessary here. To put it different,
French legislators promote the rise of Armenia’s security level in
the region. And it is from this very perspective that the adoption
of the bill penalizing the Armenian Genocide is to be considered.

Chahe Keuroghelian promises to listen to his voters

20.10.2006 17:35
Alisa Gevorgyan
"Radiolur"

In 2007 Armenians will be engaged in active electoral process not
only in Armenia but also in distant California, since our compatriot
Chahe Keuroghelian is going to run for Glendale Mayor.

He told "Radiolur" that there is essential difference between
pre-election promises in Armenia and the United States. In Armenia
future officials promise prosperous life to the voters, while Chahe
Keuroghelian promises his Glendale voters something very rare –
to listen to them.

Born and grown up in Beirut, Chahe Keuroghelian moved to the US in
1991 at the age of 21. After graduating from the university he started
working in an Armenian school as a teacher of journalism and American
history. Later he got engaged in politics. For two years he has been
engaged in organizing election campaigns.

Having a broad circle of interests, once out compatriot got interested
in the work of the Public Relations Department of the Glendale Police,
which is comprised of not only revelation of crimes and execution
of punishment, but also taking diverse measures for prevention
of felonies. Thuus, an application was submitted, and after some
training and several exams Chahe Keuroghelian became an employee of
the above-mentioned departmenet.

Simultaneously he was continuing his education in the Department of
political science and Political Administration.

"This lasted for one year. Later, familiarizing with may capacities
and emphasizing the importance of my knowledge of five languages, the
Chief of Police transferred me to his Department, where I was working
under his direct control. I was entrusted the position of Head of
the Press and Public Relations Department," Chahe Keuroghelian noted.

Mr. Keuroghelian occupied this position for 13 years. In 2001
he resigned from the position and after taking law courses, he
established a legal advisory office and started his own business. In
2005 he suggested his candidacy for membership in the Glendale City
Hall Council and with the minimum budget among all 15 candidates he
received a surprisingly great number of votes.

"Inspired and encouraged with this success and giving in to the request
of numerous representatives of the Armenian community I decided to run
in the elections for Glendale Mayor in 2007," Chahe Keuroghelian said.

It should be noted that Chahe Keuroghelian is not the only Armenian
running for Mayor. However, unlike Mr. Keuroghelian, the other
candidate is a member of a party and member of the current City Hall
Council. However, Chahe Keuroghelian is not concerned about the fact,
since the party label is not particularly welcomed in Glendale.

"I’m not a member of any party and it gives me a greater advantage to
speak for the defense of rights of the whole people, present programs
to serve not only local Armenians but also the whole population
of Glendale. Naturally, there is nothing condemnable here, but his
approaches will be that of his party. And his programs will not serve
the whole population of the city," Chahe Keuroghelian noted.

80 thousand out of the total of 209 thousand of Glendale population
are Armenians, but Chahe Keuroghelian’s pre-election promises are
not addressed only his compatriots. The promises are as follows:
"I do not promise to work wonders, but my whole professional career
evidences that I’ve always kept my promises. And if I promised
something I always made it true. Naturally, it will continue this
way in case I’m elected Mayor of Glendale."

Like everywhere, one of the most complex problems of Glendale voters
is to be heard by authorities. Therefore, the most attractive of Chahe
Keuroghelian’ s promises is the following: "Our elected representatives
have great difficulties with listening. They tend to speak rather than
listen. I have no problem with speaking, but I promise to listen too."

EU does not want Armenia to stand apart from regional projects

ArmRadio.am
20.10.2006 11:35

"Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, who are included in the TRACECA,
support the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalak-Kars railway project. However,
the European Union does not support the idea, " National Secretary of
TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission of Azerbaijan Akif Mustafaev said,
Azeri APA agency reports. In his words, the EU does not want Armenia
to stand apart from regional projects. The EU demands to continue
construction of the railway passing through Armenia instead of the
Baku-Tbilisi- Akhalkalak-Kars. "It is, however, impossible before the
settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The fact that separate
countries do not wish to finance the project will have no impact on its
accomplishment. Countries participating in the project have already
expressed willingness to provide means for implementation of works,"
Mustafaev declared. To remind, the project costs about $350 million.

WHY AAM DID NOT PUNISH SERGE SARGSYAN?

Lragir.am
20 Oct 06

The regime set a goal of reproduction, and the opposition must prevent
this, stated the chair of the administration of the All-Armenian
Movement Ararat Zurabyan October 20 at the Pastark Club.

"I think this is possible. I think there were such possibilities in
2003. The opposition should have been more determined, and everything
would end quite normally," says Ararat Zurabyan answering the question
on the mechanisms of preventing reproduction.

Ararat Zurabyan thinks that the government hardly gets 15 percent
in elections, and it is necessary not to allow the government to get
more votes. Naturally the news reporters asked the advocate of fair
elections if electoral fraud was not established in the period when
his political party was government. It became clear that electoral
fraud had been established earlier, "In the early 20th century,"
says Ararat Zurabyan, adding that it would be very difficult for
their government to battle this traditions, when the public was used
to unfair elections.

Besides, Ararat Zurabyan says in the years when they were government,
Andranik Margaryan, Serge Sargsyan were also in the government
and they falsified the results of the election to the degree that
their power enabled. "At that time they had 10 percent of power,
and their fraud was 10 percent, now they have 100 percent of power
100 percent of fraud," says Ararat Zurabyan. In that case, it would
be interesting to know why the All-Armenian Movement government did
not punish Andranik Manukyan and Serge Sargsyan for electoral fraud.

Ararat Zurabyan does not know the answer to this question, because
first he pretended having perceived the question differently, saying
that in the years of government of the All-Armenian Movement he was
the head of Armenian Press, whereas Serge Sargsyan was the minister
of National Security, and naturally he could not punish him. But we
certainly gave Ararat Zurabyan additional explanation that not he
was supposed to punish and did not punish but the political force he
represented, which was supposed to punish but failed to punish.

"The force I represent is people, and perhaps people got the
punishment," says the present chair of the administration of the
All-Armenian Movement, the former head of the Center community and the
former director of Armenian Press. If there is someone who understood
from his words why the All-Armenian Movement did not punish Serge
Sargsyan and Andranik Margaryan who had falsified the election for its
favor, we have probably reached our goal, but if nobody understood,
it means it remains unclear why the All-Armenian Movement did not
punish electoral fraud, but handed power to these people and quitted,
enabling them to expand electoral fraud.

PROTEST IN FRONT OF HOME OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Lragir.am
20 Oct 06

The members of United Javakheti started a sit-in in front of the
building of the National Security Service demanding to set free Vahagn
Chakhalyan, one of their leaders, who had been arrested October
11 for illegal crossing of the Armenian border. The participants
of the sit-in say the real reason for arresting Chakhalyan is the
effort of the Armenian government to support the Georgian government
in repressing the Armenian movement in Javakheti. The news agency
Regnum informs that the protestors consider Chakhalyan’s arrest an
"Armenian and Georgian plot". They announce that they are ready to
start a hunger strike for releasing Chakhalyan in case the Armenian
government fails to release Vahagn Chakhalyan within three days.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Armenian Ceramics of Old Jerusalem

By Sylvia Bourdjian-Matta

Azad-Hye, Dubai, 20 October 2006: The Balian Family of Jerusalem has been
producing exclusive hand painted ceramic tiles and pottery since 1922. This
makes them the oldest business in existence in Jerusalem.

The business is currently operated by Neshan Balian Jr., whose grandfather
Neshan Balian, a master potter, came to Jerusalem in 1917 from Kutahya,
Turkey. He was brought by the British government to renovate the ceramic
tiles of The Dome of the Rock.

We contacted Mr. Neshan Balian Jr. and asked him the following questions:

– What is remarkable in the Balian pottery and why do you call yourself
‘Ceramics of Palestine’?
There are quite a few so called Armenian ceramics artists in Jerusalem
nowadays. Apart from the Karakashians, they all started about 10-15 years
ago when the word "Armenian Ceramics" started to become a common term in the
tourist and designer market in Israel/Palestine.

I think the most remarkable aspect about Balian pottery is that we produce
all of our pottery ourselves. We do this from scratch; meaning we import the
plastic clay from Italy and then form it ourselves on the wheel (or press it
on special ceramic presses for items such as plates, trays etc) and fire it
for the first stage which is called the "biscuit" stage. At this stage the
pottery is white and porous and the girls hand-paint the pottery which is
then re-fired with a coating of glaze to give the final glossy product. No
other so called "Armenian Pottery" studios in Jerusalem produces their own
biscuit pottery. They all buy it from the Hebron potters which produce the
imitation mass produced Armenian pottery in the souk and then paint those
pieces and fire them in their small kilns. How can you call yourself a
potter or a ceramist when you are not producing your own original pieces and
just painting on ready made objects?

The reason the place is called Palestinian Pottery is that when the studio
was established by my grandfather Neshan Balian and Mr. Karakashian senior
in 1922, it was called Palestine Pottery. When the Balians and Karakashians
separated, my father changed the name from ‘Palestine’ to ‘Palestinian’. We
did not change the name when the Jordanians came in 1967 to Jordanian
pottery and did not change it to Israeli Pottery when the Israelis came. At
the end of the day, we are Palestinians of Armenian roots so we have to
respect the community that opened their arms and took us in during the
Genocide. That was the Palestinian Arab community. That is also why we have
two websites where we do most of our work now. One is the
and the other is the
website. We are proud of both of our heritages.

– How can somebody recognize the Balian pottery? Do you have any sign on
your products?
We have distinctive inscriptions behind all of our pottery. The name
‘Jerusalem’ is written in English and – given space considerations – either
the letter ‘B’ (in Armenian) or a full ‘Balian’ (in Armenian) is written
under each piece.

– Is there any Balian ceramic piece of art used in a world-known monument,
apart from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?
I can mention a beautiful meditation center in Holland, a church in Lyon-
France, "Zahran Palace" in Jordan and hundreds of other installations in
hotels, palaces, residential villas, swimming pools, fountains etc.

– What is remarkable in Armenian pottery (color, form, design.etc)?
I think the question should be what is remarkable about "The Armenian
Pottery of Jerusalem" rather than Armenian pottery. Armenian pottery is an
identity of Jerusalem rather than that of Armenia or anywhere else. Sure my
grandfather came from Kutahya and that 70% of the artists there were of
Armenian roots but the whole industry was known as Turkish or Kutahya
Pottery. It is only in Jerusalem that this art truly took its own identity
and this was true the hard work of such people as the Ohanessian,
Karakashian and least but not last the Balian family. I know you are going
to think I am being biased over here, but what truly gave Armenian Pottery
its true identity was the unique artistic influence of my mother Marie
Balian. She gave new life to the designs which my grandfather and Mr.
Karakashian Sr. were reproducing from the Kutahya influence. With her French
Beaux art training and talent she introduced gazelles, birds and the animals
which were never an important part of the Kutahya repertoire. Her loose and
free floral curves and patterns is what started attracting Israeli artists
and journalists to the factory, and slowly some of them started realizing
that this really is a unique form of art very different form anything else
and with its own identity. Once articles started being written, books about
us being printed and museums exhibitions opening then the "Armenian Ceramics
of Jerusalem" term was coined. Once the fame started, then a lot of young
people around the Armenian convent started to take advantage of this fame by
setting up small studios and using the Armenian Ceramics name. Some were
talented and evolved their different styles but most just copied our work.

– What are your future plans and goals?
There are two choices you can make; either stay small as a two person studio
as most others or expand to become a much larger operation. I have chosen
the latter and have studios in Amman, Jordan and yes Beirut, Lebanon. We are
soon going to open in Dubai and a new one in Armenia proper. We are second
to none in terms of technical and artistic knowledge and I am applying both
to come up with new products and ideas to make our work fresh and appealing
to a wider range of an audience. We sell mostly to the United States through
our unique websites. We are slowly moving to the Gulf countries to take
advantage of the huge markets there.

Photos and full article at:
Id=734shs67

GOVERNMENT OWES 186 M DRAMS TO AIRLINE WORKERS

Lragir, Armenia
Oct 19 2006

The former state airline workers did not get their salaries between
October 2003 and March 2004. The government owes salary debts to
343 workers, 39 died without getting their salary. "Why, are they
waiting until we die too?" they stated at the Union of Journalists
on October 19.

The former pilots have appealed to the government and the president of
Armenia for several times but the government put a soft pillow under
their heads and promised to solve the problem. "The government paid our
salary and we worked for the government, let them pay our salaries,"
complain the former pilots and add, "We will go all the way until they
pay the money." And the size of the debt to each worker is different,
from 8 thousand to 4 million drams. The former pilots say they want
to get their money as soon as possible because they are afraid of
losing their last hope, which is 200 million dollars from the sale
of the property of the state airlines. The money, which appears to
be unattainable for them, is with the manager, who is waiting for
the decree of the government of Armenia to pay the salaries. And
before that blessed day they are going to publish a book entitled
"Aviagenocide". And for the time being they are likely to go to the
Constitutional Court.

WILL ARA ABRAHAMYAN BACK VAZGEN MANUKYAN?

Lragir, Armenia
Oct 19 2006

During his recent visit to Yerevan the president of the Union of
Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan announced that in 2003 he backed
a number of political forces running for parliament. And since Ara
Abrahamyan also announced that he would back a political force in 2007,
and recently he has been often seen with the leader of the National
Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan, we tried to find out during the
October 19 news conference if Ara Abrahamyan backed him in 2003 and
if he is likely to support him in 2007.

"For me, Ara Abrahamyan is first of all the brother of my close
friend. He is Gagik Abrahamyan’s brother. Gagik Abrahamyan’s family
and my family became close at the time of the first parliament. In
this sense, we have always been close, but you could have judged by
the results if there was backing or not. As for 2007, I do not know
what plans Ara Abrahamyan has," says Vazgen Manukyan. The impression is
that Ara Abrahamyan does not pursue political aims but national aims,
therefore Vazgen Manukyan finds it difficult to say something definite.