Month: October 2006

SHEN YANG AND ZAVEN ANDRIASIAN WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS

Chessbase News, Germany
Oct 17 2006

17.10.2006 Both are seventeen and have won the girls’ and the open
section of the World Under 20 World Championship that was held in
Yerevan, Armenia, from October 2nd to 17th 2006. Shen Yang was just
a couple of tiebreak points ahead of one of the greatest talents in
chess today, Hou Yifan, who is just twelve! Report and games.

Junior World Championships in Yerevan

For our younger readers: a "demo board" is a large wooden or vinyl
chessboard attached upright to the wall or supported by a stand. The
pieces attach to the board with magnets, or are cleverly inserted
into slits at the bottom of the squares. Sometimes, when the boards
are very large (as in the above pictures) rods are used to move the
pieces. The transmission of the moves from the game to the board is
done by non-electronic means – a human agent is used instead.

World Junior Championship top finishers The open section was won
by 17-year-old Armenian super-talent Zaven Andriasian, who last
year won the Boys’ Under 16 section of the Youth Championships in
Herceg Novi. Zaven started as the 29th seed in this event. Second was
19-year-old IM Nikita Vitiugov of Russia, who was the fourth highest
rated player in the tournament.

Photos & score table
id=3432

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THEY DEMAND TO MAKE A FAIR DECISION

A1+
[12:39 pm] 18 October, 2006

The advocates of soldiers Razmik Sargsyan, Musa Serobyan and Arayik
Zalyan turned to Court of Cassation on June 9, 2006, but the Court has
not yet made a decision. According to the advocates, it contradicts
the European convention on Human rights, the RA Criminal Code and
the Constitution.

The advocates sent an application to the Court of Cassation to
investigate the case within the defined period of time. Many RA
citizens, public and political figures and NGOs have also sent an
open letter to the Court demanding to make a fair decision.

At present Razmik Sargsyan is in the hospital of Noubarashen prison
with tuberculosis. According to his doctor, Razmik’s situation is
not dangerous.

OUR WEAPON IS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Oktay Eksi

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 17 2006

Has France really surprised us, or has it shown us that the
"freedom-loving" France whose image we have carried for years in
our minds is not the real thing, replaced instead by this fanatic,
anti-freedom of expression, "one truth," despotic country we now
face? It seems that we have seen the king naked for the first time.

And because of this, we are surprised.

France doesn’t see what an embarassment it is to tell people "If
you say that the Armenian genocide didn’t happen, you get 5 years
in prison and up to 45 Euro in fines." What they are saying is,
"even if you know another truth, you may not express it." What an
embarassment this is to civilization.

Look, we are not even saying "There was no slaughter of Armenians."

We do not believe that there was, but we are not going to get into
this subject right now. We are right now just looking at this incident
from the perspective of freedom of expression, and maintaining from
this moment that this bill-if accepted, which it most likely will
be-will not only be a great shame for France, but for the entire EU.

And while on the subject of the EU, I would like to draw your
attention to words spoken this week by the EU’s Commissioner in
charge of Expansion, Olli Rehn: "If this French Parliament votes
to accept this bill, I fear it will create a very non-constructive
atmosphere." Why, I ask, does Olli Rehn, who arrived in Turkey two
weeks ago demanding in no uncertain terms that Ankara remove article
301 from its penal code, water-down his words so blatantly when it
comes to France? Couldn’t he find it in himself somewhere to say
"This bill is completely opposed to freedom of expression"? Or is
the game played differently once a country is already inside the EU?

And by the way, where are the intellectuals who crow so often "Europe
is a union of culture and values"? Where is former President Giscard
d’Estaigne? Why aren’t the columns in Le Monde dealing with this
subject? France is showing that they are no longer of this age,
but have returned to being the French of the age of Inquisition,
the times when Galileo was forbade from saying that the Earth moved
around the Sun.

Don’t think that I am exaggerating. We are obliged to emerge successful
from this fight, which began with the slander about the "Armenian
genocide." This is because if we don’t, the accusation will never
be removed from our official records. And what this means-as I wrote
yesterday in this space-is that we must direct our side of this fight
very well. As Taha Akyol wrote yesterday in his column, what makes
us strong in this fight is the "freedom of expression" weapon.

But Turkey must be careful, before telling others about the shame
of their infraction against freedom of expression, to clean up its
own shames. Firsy and foremost in this realm comes our very own
Turkish Penal Code, and its article 301, forbidding the "insulting
of Turkishness."

In the end, as you can see, "freedom of expression" will be our
salvation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EARTHQUAKE IN KARABAKH

A1+
[12:51 pm] 18 October, 2006

Today at about 06:00 a.m. an earthquake took place 20 km from Martakert
on the border line of Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The force of underground
shocks was 4.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sunday, October 15, 2006
*******************************************
NOTES / COMMENTS
*************************************
Where the power of the few is dependent on the ignorance of the many, ignorance will be subsidized and knowledge censored.
*
To brag is to expose one’s limitations.
*
From ideas I disagree with I have a better chance to learn.
*
The most important thing that a master can say to his disciple is: “If you think of me as your master, I have taught you nothing.”
*
You can’t learn to ride a bike on a mattress.
*
There is more wisdom in silence than in speech. Sermons and speeches are delivered by charlatans to an audience of fools.
*
You cannot step into the same river twice not because the river has changed but because your perceptions run swifter than the fastest current.
*
Overheard on the radio: “A pessimist is a better informed optimist.”
#
Monday, October 16, 2006
*****************************************
THIS HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE
*********************************************
It is said of Confucius that because he was honest he failed in politics. You may now draw your own conclusions.
*
Is there anything I can say that hasn’t been said before at least a thousand times by far better men than myself? And I don’t just mean Greek philosophers, Indian mystics, Jewish rabbis, and German metaphysicians, but our own writers.
*
“I don’t give a damn about the people,” one of our academics once said to me. “I care only about my children!” What if they grow up to be selfish monsters? I didn’t say that. I too can be diplomatic once in a long while, when I set my mind to it.
*
In whatever I write I do not say I am right and you are wrong. What I say and what I have been saying all along is that, since I was wrong most of my life, it is conceivable that in the near or distant future you too may reach the same conclusion. Again, I am not saying or implying this is what will happen. What I am saying is that there is a very remote possibility.
*
When you hear someone speaking of tolerance, be careful not to react with violent hostility.
*
Diogenes (404-323), Greek philosopher: “The smart slave rules his master.”
*
Muhammad (570-632): “Trust in God, but tie your camel.”
They now trust their camel and tie God. But that’s the way it is with men whenever they try to put theory into practice.
*
In YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US: THE TRUTH ABOUT BULLSHIT by Laura Penny (Toronto, 2005), I read: “Bullshit is all about getting away with something, or getting someone to buy something in the broadest possible sense, which means covering arses or kissing them.”
Crude, my style.
Further down: “Nobody leaves office because they f***ed up; no, they want to spend more time with their families. No mogul says, I do it all for the money, suckers. They blah-dee-blah on about the company, or some magnificent abstract idea the company embodies.”
*
There are poor people because there are wealthy people, in the same way that there are slaves because there are masters. If the wealthy are not ashamed of their wealth it’s because they support publishers, teachers, and preachers all of whom conspire to misrepresent greed as one of the seven cardinal virtues.
#
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
****************************************
MORE ON B.S.
*******************************
In her book, YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US: THE TRUTH ABOUT BULLSHIT (Toronto, 2005), Laura Penny speaks about b.s. as if it were a recent development. She ignores the fact that b.s. existed even in the Golden Age of Greece (5th Century B.C.). Socrates lived (and died) exposing it.
*
One of Laura Penny’s endnotes reads:
“Ben Bagdikian has been studying media consolidation since the early 1980s, and his latest book is THE NEW MEDIA MONOPOLY (Beacon Pres, 2004). He has a Web site at http: /”
*
To the perpetrators, a million deaths is not even a statistic, it is victory. If the Nazis had won, the Holocaust would be remembered today as the ultimate triumph of good over evil.
*
When propaganda is confused with knowledge, it becomes worse than ignorance.
*
“Is it possible to be a writer in this day and age?” a young poet wants to know. My answer: “If you place survival over literature, choose survival.”
*
“Speak truth to power!” Armenian translation: Tell them what they want to hear and if necessary swear on a stack of Bibles.
*
With the connivance of the State, organized religions preach truth but practice lies. To put it more bluntly: when two sets of wheeler-dealers conspire, the result will be war and massacre.
*
When during an argument I quoted Nikol Aghbalian to a fellow Armenian, he said: “I knew Nikol Aghbalian and I don’t think he was a great man.” Why look for greatness in honesty? Is not honesty in an Armenian greater than greatness?
#
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
**********************************************
FROM MY NOTEBOOKS
*************************************
Whenever I read self-help or how-to books I note that I have been breaking all their rules, which can mean only one thing: I must be doing something right.
*
A true disciple surpasses his master because he begins where the master ends.
*
The aim of philosophy is to expose b.s., including the b.s. of philosophers.
*
Know thyself also means to know that the self is invisible, unpredictable, unprintable, and unknowable.
*
A blunder can be either a springboard (if we learn from it) or a cage (if we refuse to acknowledge it).
*
A favorite Armenian technique of counter-argument is to be so shamelessly arrogant and brazenly absurd as to reduce the adversary to a pulp of helpless disgust, hopeless despair, and silence.
*
“Try to be more like Mark Twain,” I have been advised on more than one occasion. “A touch of humor may make your ideas more palatable to the average reader.” And I can imagine friends advising Mark Twain to be more like Emerson if he wanted to be taken seriously.
#

TURKEY : CONSUMERS GIVE COLD SHOULDER TO FRENCH PRODUCTS

Fibre2fashion.com, India
Oct 17 2006

Following French parliament’s decision to pass the Armenian bill,
some Turkish consumers are refusing to buy products manufactured by
the French.

Consumer associations have launched a boycott of French goods while
some chain stores are putting labels on French goods to inform
consumers of their French origin.

Afra Shopping Center, a supermarket chain operating in Konya has
labeled 100 items stating them to be French products.

French store Carrefour, a partnership in Turkey with Sabanci Holdings,
has been receiving fewer customers everyday.

A 30 percent decrease in sales of total oil was observed.

Kiler Retail Chain, with 130 stores in Turkey, has shunned sales
of French products, cancelled its contracts with Danone and French
cosmetics companies and removed other French goods from their shelves.

Clothing company LC Waikiki announced that it wasn’t French as it had
been purchased from French DDKA Company by Tema Textile Corporation
in 1997, hence it is Turkish.

Regular customers of Danone products have been returning them after
learning that Danone was a French company.

ARMENIA COULD BE HURT BY RUSSIAN SANCTIONS TOO
By M. Alkhazashvili (Translated by Diana Dundua)

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 17 2006

Russian sanctions targeted to hurt Georgia might also damage a
strategic partner of Russia- Armenia.

According to Armenian analysts, the Georgian-Russian confrontation
will create problems for the delivery of natural gas to Armenia. It’s
highly probable that as of January 2007, Russia will increase (some
analysts predict even double) the price of natural gas for Georgia.

It is likely Georgia will try to recuperate some of this money by
increasing the transit price of the gas to Armenia, leading to a
price increase for them as well.

The paper Rezonansi reports that Yerevan predicts that Georgia will
increase the transit price of 1000 cubic metres of gas from USD 30
to USD 75. The Georgian Energy Minister declines to discuss the issue.

Georgia increased the transit price to Armenia in 2006 from USD 10
to USD 30, when Russia increased the cost of natural gas to Georgia.

According to Armenian analysts, one of the biggest threats to the
country’s energy security is the Baku-Erzurum natural gas pipeline
(also known as the South Caucasus pipeline). If this pipeline becomes
fully operational, Armenia talks about the possibility of the pipeline
from Russian serving Georgia and then Armenia closing completely.

Some Armenian analysts believe that after receiving the Shah-Deniz
natural gas (through the South Caucasus pipeline) Georgia might not
need Russian natural gas any more. But this is highly unlikely in
the near future as the Baku-Erzurum natural gas pipeline will not
likely be able to satisfy Georgia’s needs right away, and furthermore,
Azerbaijan itself still relies on Russia for some four million cubic
meters of gas annually.

Yerevan optimistically awaits construction of the Iran-Armenia natural
gas pipeline which will be controlled by Russia’s Gazprom.

According to Russian analysts, after this pipeline comes on stream,
Armenia will no longer have natural gas problems. The pipeline should
come on stream within two years and its power will be 1.2 billion
cubic metres annually.

This pipeline worries some in Georgia, who point out that the gas
currently coming from Russia could be easily turned off without
affecting Armenia, making the possibility of ‘terrorist attacks’
of the kind that happened last winter much more likely.

DEBATE NEEDED
By Tulin Daloglu

Washington Times, DC
Oct 17 2006

Today’s Columnist

A few months ago, I came across an article in the Middle East Quarterly
entitled "Armenian Massacres: New Records Undercut Old Blame." Its
author, Edward J. Erickson, a retired U.S. Army officer, categorically
dismissed the claims of genocide perpetrated against the Armenians
by the Ottomans during World War I. "In bitter internecine fighting,
many civilian Turks, Armenians, and other ethnic groups were massacred
indiscriminately," Mr. Erickson wrote.

The claim of Armenian genocide is an incredibly emotional subject,
fraught with political and violent undertones. Only a small number
of scholars dare to question the notion that what happened was
genocide. When Stanford Shaw, a pioneer scholar and former UCLA
professor, disputed it in 1977, a bomb exploded in front of his house.

Recently, two researchers have debated the nature of World War I
Armenian massacres, Dr. Erickson wrote. The first, Vahakn Dadrian, is
director of genocide research at the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary
Armenian Research and Documentation. Mr. Dadrian wrote that Stange
(a Prussian artillery officer known in records only by his last name)
was the "highest-ranking German guerrilla commander operating in the
Turko-Russian border" area and the Ottoman government ordered him to
deport Armenians. Stange and his soldiers became principals in the
Armenian massacres, Mr. Dadrian found.

But last year, Guenter Lewy, a professor emeritus of political science
at the University of Massachusetts, challenged Mr. Dadrian’s claim,
concluding that Stange’s unit did not even operate in the area. "Tribal
Kurds or Circassians may have deported the Armenians in the spring
of 1915," Mr. Erickson wrote.

The debate over the historical record goes on, and Turkey has finally
begun to allow its citizens to engage in controversial debates. This
makes one wonder what the members of the French Parliament were
thinking last week when they made it a crime to question the claim
of Armenian genocide. The lower house decided that the punishment
for denying the genocide would be one year in prison and a fine of
45,000 Euros. It would only take effect if it passed the upper house
and was agreed to by French President Jacques Chirac.

According to Turkish media reports, Mr. Chirac called Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said he would do his best to keep
the legislation from becoming law.

Making it a crime to dispute the idea of an Armenian genocide is so
outrageous that senior European Union officials sided with Turkey.

"This is not the best way to contribute to something we think is
important," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European
Commission. Oli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement, agreed,
saying, "We don’t achieve real dialogue and real reconciliation by
ultimatums, but by dialogue. Therefore this law is counterproductive."

Indeed it is. This law displays the aggressive tactics of the Armenian
diaspora to prevent any objective re-examination of history.

They demand that Turkey accept that what happened was genocide. But
is the goal to find the truth, or to make political arguments? Mr.

Erdogan offered to open the Turkish archives to study the matter,
and called for Armenians to do the same. They denied his request. The
other side can’t stand the idea of questioning whether what happened
was genocide.

Turks have done a poor job in dealing with the claims. They let one
narrative dominate the world’s understanding of the incident.

They did not write about the Armenian attacks on Muslim villages. But
now Turks are paying attention. They are angry. But they are not
hateful like the Armenians who killed almost four dozen Turkish
diplomats over "history."

I sat down with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy in Washington,
and asked him whether the French Parliament’s vote will make it
more difficult for him to deal with the resolutions likely to be
presented this year in the U.S. Congress, calling for recognition of
Armenian genocide. Sixteen countries have already passed legislation or
resolutions to recognize the Armenian genocide, he said. "The Congress
has never been affected by the decisions of the foreign parliaments,"
he said. "The U.S. knows to think independently in its own democracy,
and they know their own responsibilities."

The French Parliament’s law is even more absurd than the section of
the Turkish penal code that calls for Turkish citizens to be punished
if they insult "Turkishness" — by accepting the genocide claims, for
example. Orhan Pamuk, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature,
was charged under that law. The charges were dropped, and no one has
been punished.

But even the existence of such a law is embarrassing to a country
wrestling with how to deal with freedom of expression. What Mr. Pamuk
said about the Armenian genocide claims is irrelevant. What’s important
is that he should feel free to say whatever he thinks. But historians
should have the definitive say on the issue — and they haven’t
written the final chapter yet.

Tulin Daloglu is a free-lance writer.

ARMENIA HAS NEW VOICE IN DEARBORN
By David Crumm – Free Press Religion Writer

Detroit Free Press, MI
Oct 17 2006

U-M research center appoints scholar as director

Ara Sanjian, 38, of Dearborn speaks at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn last week. His doctorate is in Middle Eastern
history. "Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world,"
he says. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press) An internationally
influential center for Armenian studies in Dearborn is changing
the guard this week and installing only the second director in the
center’s nearly two decades of scholarship.

This week, the Armenian Research Center’s founder, Dennis Papazian,
officially retires as he welcomes Ara Sanjian, an Armenian
historian from Lebanon, to run the facility at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn.

"It’s wonderful that we’re finally making this move in a formal way,"
Papazian, 74, said last week. "My wife and I moved to New Jersey
two years ago and I’ve been running the center since then by e-mail,
telephone and frequent visits. But now I’m formally leaving it to this
first-class scholar who we actually searched around the world to find."

Sanjian, 38, was born in the large Armenian community based in
Beirut. He studied in Lebanon and Armenia, then earned a doctorate in
Middle Eastern history from the University of London in England. He
moved to Dearborn from Beirut earlier this year. He is fluent in
English and also works professionally in Armenian, Arabic, Russian,
Turkish and French.

"In coming to the center, I do represent a kind of bridge in a number
of ways," Sanjian said last week. He is settling into Dearborn,
the heart of Michigan’s Arab-Muslim community, already familiar with
Middle Eastern issues from his many years in Lebanon. Plus, he has
dedicated his scholarly life to bringing cross-cultural lessons from
Armenian-Christian history to the larger world.

"Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world," Sanjian
said. "Armenians have been around as an identity for more than 2,500
years, as a Christian nation for 1,700 years and as a written language
for 1,600 years."

However, the future of Armenia was in doubt for much of the 20th
Century from the Turkish government’s massacre of Armenians in the
early part of the century, through decades of domination by the
Soviet Union.

Papazian recalled, "When I founded the center for Armenian research
in the late 1970s, I really was helping with the worldwide effort
to preserve Armenian heritage and prepare for the day when Armenia
could reemerge onto the stage of world history.

"Since 1991, Armenia has been an independent state. Now, Armenia’s
economy is growing. We’ve just built a new American embassy in Armenia
and it’s become a very pleasant place for tourists."

Plus, Papazian said, Armenia will continue to play a small but crucial
role in global politics because "Armenia walks a tightrope between
the United States, Russia and Iran."

The country, which is about the size of Vermont, is on the eastern
border of Turkey and the northern border of Iran. To the north of
Armenia are Georgia and Russia.

"We estimate there are about 1 million Armenians now living in the
United States, most of them concentrated in California," Papazian
said. "No one has an exact count in the Detroit area, but we think
there are 30,000 Armenian Americans living there."

More than 60 students have enrolled in history courses taught by
Sanjian, including general Middle East history classes. But the center
reaches scholars far beyond campus.

At this point, Sanjian said, the center’s nearly 40,000 books, maps,
articles and artifacts related to Armenia are drawn upon by people
around the world.

Showing a visitor through the rows of steel bookshelves in the center’s
archive, Sanjian said, "People do come here regularly to do research
in person. But constantly, we’re also getting e-mail inquiries, too.

"So, Armenia and our center now are an important part of the virtual
world, too."

icle?AID=/20061017/NEWS05/610170399

FRENCH GENOCIDE LAW A ‘BAD MISTAKE’ SAYS FINNISH FM
Helena Spongenberg

EUobserver.com, Belgium
Oct 17 2006

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The French law criminalising the denial of
the Armenian genocide during the first world war is a "bad mistake"
says the Finnish foreign minister, explaining that historical truths
should not be up to politicians to decide.

"Legislators should never interfere with this kind of open and
introspective soul-searching and the debates it fosters," Erkki
Tuomioja writes on his internet blog, as Finland currently holds the
rotating EU presidency.

"Unfortunately the French National Assembly has not respected this,"
he said.

The socialist-drafted law was passed by 106 votes to 19 in the lower
house last week and found favour on both sides of the political
divide although president Jacques Chirac’s conservative government
is against it.

The legislation – which must still go through France’s upper house
before it comes into force – follows on the heels of a 2001 National
Assembly resolution which recognised the massacre of Armenians by
the Ottoman Turks as genocide.

But the new bill proposes making Armenia genocide denial punishable
by up to one year in prison and a fine of ~@45,000.

"This legislation is a bad mistake and it should be quickly revoked,"
Mr Tuomioja wrote. "Parliaments and governments should not … ever
attempt to legislate on what historical truths are allowed and which
are declared illegal."

"For the record I do not consider genocide an exaggerated description
for what happened, and I wish the Turks were more ready to recognise
this by now," he added.

Orhan Pamuk The minister explained that the EU has repeatedly called
on Turkey to repeal the notorious article 301 of its criminal code,
which has been used to bring charges against Nobel-prize winner
Orhan Pamuk along with scores of less well-known Turks for expressing
opinions deemed insulting to the Turkish state.

"Now the conservative forces in Turkey can dismiss these calls and
question the right of the EU to demand this, as France has just
adopted comparable legislation," the Finnish minister stressed.

Both Brussels and Ankara have condemned the law, saying the move
is likely to hinder open dialogue on Armenia in would-be EU member
state Turkey.

Mr Tuomioja is also against laws criminalising the denial of the
Jewish Holocaust during the Second World War, which many EU countries
put in place years ago.

"Such legislation is not defensible either. While Holocaust-denial is
almost exclusively associated with anti-Semitism, other laws on the
statute books criminalising racist incitement against and defaming
of any and all ethnic groups are sufficient to deal with this,"
he pointed out in his online diary.