Month: November 2006

RA AMBASSADOR HANDED CREDENTIALS TO CZECH PRESIDENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2006 17:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ November 7 newly appointed Armenian Ambassador to
Czechia Ashot Hovakimian handed his credentials to Czech President
Vaclav Klaus, reported the RA MFA press office. During the meeting
the interlocutors assessed highly the friendly relations established
between the two states and remarked that there is still much to be
done in political, economic and cultural fields. They also touched
upon the cooperation with using the possibilities provided by the
Armenia-EU Action Plan within the New Neighborhood Policy. Completing
the meeting President Klaus wished every success to the newly appointed
Ambassador in performing his high mission. Ashot Hovakimian also met
with a number of top officials to discuss the Armenian-Czech bilateral
relations and approve some measures for their encouragement.

ARMENIA STATE WITH AVERAGE RISK RATE FOR BUSINESS
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2006 15:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is a state with average risk rate for
business, says the annual report issued by Control Risks consulting
group. According to the experts Armenia refers to the category of
states where political situation causes risks of “average level.”
Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan are
included into the same category. The U.S., UK and Japan are described
as states with sustainable political foundation but “tending to
negative changes.”
The annual report contains the analysis of the situation in 198 states
and determines the degree of risk for business proceeding from the
political situation and security. In the opinion of the analysts,
the atmosphere in 49% of the countries is not favorable for business
development, reports IA Regnum.

RA DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO PA SESSION IN QUEBEC
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2006 18:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian delegation led by chairman of the standing
parliamentary commission on defense, home affairs and national security
Amarais Grigoryan will take part in the upcoming session of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly in Quebec (Canada) November 13-17. According
to Grigoryan, among the other issues the session will debate on
British parliamentarian Frank Cook’s report on NATO’s role in the
South Caucasus. He also informed that the Armenian side has already
submitted a number of remarks and proposals that can bring the report
“closer to objective reality”. “We support further strengthening of
ties between Armenia and NATO. Our cooperation can be described as
full and lasting,” he said. He also added that the NATO Information
Center that opened in Yerevan not long ago is the evidence of Armenia’s
interest in expanding and deepening tires with NATO, reports Mediamax.

OSKANYAN TO MEET MAMMADYAROV TOMORROW
A1+
[01:11 pm] 13 November, 2006
RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan leaves for Brussels in order to
participate in the 7th session of the RA-EU Cooperation Council.
On November 13 the Foreign Ministers of the three South Caucasus
countries and the representatives of the EU presidium will render a
joint press conference.
On November 14 the 7th session of the RA-EU Cooperation Council will
take place and the sides will sign the EU New neighborhood policy
Action plan for Armenia.
On the same day RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan will meet Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov accompanied by the OSCE Minsk
group co-chairs.

MINISTRY RE-EXAMINES GENOCIDE DEFINITION l?siteSect=105&sid=7249487
November 12, 2006 – 1:13 PM
A senior justice ministry official says the current anti-racism law
needs to be re-examined to modify a clause on genocide.
The head of the Federal Justice Office, Michael Leupold, argues that
a judge is not in a position to decide on the definition of genocide.
The debate on Switzerland’s anti-racism legislation came to the fore
after Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, a member of the rightwing
Swiss People’s Party, announced during a visit to Turkey in October
that he wanted to change the law.
Any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation
of Swiss anti-racism legislation.
The law prompted investigations against two Turkish citizens, including
a historian, for allegedly denying the 1915 Armenian massacre.
In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, Leupold said
there could be no question of abolishing the anti-racism law but
certain changes were necessary.
For Leupold it is up to historians and not judges to decide on the
definition of genocide. He added that it was not clear whether the
current law infringes on the freedom of speech.
However, Boël Sambuc, vice-president of the Federal Commission on
Racism she was shocked by Leupold’s comments.
“The law is very clear and Switzerland also signed an international
convention aimed at preventing genocide,” she told public radio.
One expert group
Leupold added that judges should seek assistance from an international
institution or that the relevant clause be struck from the law
altogether.
His comments echo a statement by Justice Minister Blocher who said
the anti-racism law needed to be clearer and less ambiguous.
A working group re-examining the legislation is made of one person
so far, according to Leupold.
He added the he had not been asked to exclude the president of the
Federal Commission against Racism from the group.
The controversial head of the government-advisory committee has
publicly accused Blocher of telling lies.
Geneva prison
In a separate issue, Leupold announced that the justice ministry was
ready to consider a financial contribution to upgrade the overcrowded
prison of Champ-Dollon outside Geneva.
He said the federal authorities were willing to pay just over a
third of the planned costs estimated at SFr68 million ($54.8 million)
which the Geneva cantonal parliament is due to consider next year.
Champ-Dollon is notorious for being Switzerland’s most overcrowded
jail. It contains more than 500 inmates, but its normal capacity is
set at 270.
A series of hunger strikes over alleged police brutality and slow
justice, suicides, and a fire in the prison have caught media attention
over the past few months.
In April human rights campaigners described the situation in the
prison as potentially explosive.
swissinfo with agencies
CONTEXT
Swiss anti-racism legislation was adopted in 1994, among other things
to prevent revisionist views about the Holocaust.
In 2005, Swiss authorities launched criminal investigations against
the historian Yusuf Halacoglu, the president of the Turkish History
Organisation, and the politician Dogu Perincek for allegedly making
comments in Switzerland denying the 1915 Armenian massacre.
Armenians say around 1.8 million of their people were killed. Turkey
disputes this, putting the figure closer to 200,000.
Under Swiss law any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide
is a violation of the country’s anti-racism legislation.
–Boundary_(ID_qdJPme8FXWh1N7fwEw0mg g)–

Armenian victims’ heirs to get checks
Some will see payment as the result of an insurance suit related to
genocide.
By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee
11/12/06 05:53:14

Some heirs of Armenian genocide victims will get a surprise in their
Fresno mailboxes this week: a hefty check.
More than 30 descendants in Fresno might each receive a payment of
between $1,000 and $44,000.
The money comes from a $7.9 million settlement reached between New York
Life Insurance Co. in New York and heirs of genocide victims under the
Turkish Ottoman empire. Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians
died at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman empire. The settlement was
reached in 2004.
Anahid Eleazarian of Fresno is among those expecting a check. Her father
was a college professor who had a New York Life insurance policy.
Eleazarian was 3 years old when her father was captured and killed
during the genocide. Surviving family members moved to Lebanon, where
four of the six siblings stayed. She left Lebanon in 1947 for the United
States and settled in Fresno in 1949.
Now 94, Eleazarian said she doesn’t know how much money she’ll get but
she will share it with her brothers’ and sisters’ children. She says
she’s the only one among her siblings to see this day come. In her eyes,
the money is secondary.
Most important, she said, is that “they are acknowledging” the genocide.
The Turkish government says the deaths were the result of civil unrest,
not genocide.
William Werfelman, a spokesman for New York Life, said: “New York Life
has made many friends in the Armenian community as a result of the
positive outcome of this case. It is great to see another milestone
reached in the process.”
The class-action lawsuit alleged the company owed unpaid life insurance
benefits. New York Life agreed to resolve more than 2,000 insurance
policies issued to Armenians before 1915 and contribute $3 million to
Armenian civic organizations.
Of the thousands of claims reviewed, only 2,515 could be traced to
Armenians who purchased policies before 1915. Payments depend on the
amount of the policy purchased. Armenians in Armenia will receive more
than half of the settlement ‘ $3.4million. Armenians in the United
States will share $2.6 million, and Armenians in France will split
$656,413.
More than 600 policies were not claimed because there are no heirs, said
Glendale-based attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. That money will go toward
Armenian charitable organizations. Yeghiayan said it took a long time to
distribute the settlement money because documents had to be translated
from seven languages, including Arabic, Armenian and Turkish.
New York Life provided a list of names that was placed on a Web site so
families could determine whether their ancestors had purchased policies.
Only 11 heirs had a copy of the policy. The rest found out through the
Web site:
Documents such as birth certificates, death certificates and marriage
certificates were used to trace family lineage.
Following the New York Life case, the same lawyers reached a $17 million
settlement in 2005 between heirs of Armenian genocide victims and French
life insurance company AXA, Yeghiayan said. The lawyers are waiting to
get a list of names from AXA so families can find out who’s eligible to
receive money.
Earlier this year, the same attorneys filed a class-action suit against
two German banks, he said. They are seeking to recover millions of
dollars of alleged bank deposits of Armenian genocide victims.
Yeghiayan said of the New York Life settlement: “It’s nice to get one
out of the way.”
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6313.

Turkey and Europe
Pulling the rug out from under?
Nov 9th 2006 | ANKARA AND ISTANBUL
>From The Economist print edition
Another European Commission report, another crisis in the European Union’s
relations with Turkey
“THE reform demands of the great powers never end.” So wrote Abulhamid II, a
sultan who ruled the Ottoman empire in its dying days. This belief, shared
by millions of citizens of modern Turkey, will have been strengthened by the
European Commission’s latest progress report on Turkey’s membership,
unveiled in Brussels on November 8th.
The document may not lead instantly to a “train wreck”, the term coined by
the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, for a decision to
suspend EU membership talks with Turkey. But it leaves the threat on the
table unless Turkey meets EU demands to open its ports and airports to
Greek-Cypriot ships and aircraft by mid-December, when European leaders hold
a summit in Brussels.
Scrambling to avert a complete breach, Turkey’s moderate Islamist prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hinted on November 6th that he might amend
(but not scrap) the infamous article 301 of the penal code that has allowed
the prosecution of scores of Turkish academics and writers on charges of
“insulting Turkishess”. The law was harshly criticised in the commission’s
report, as was continued repression of non-Muslim minorities and Kurds, and
inadequate civilian control over meddlesome generals. Indeed, praise for
Turkey’s broader reforms was noticeable chiefly by its absence.
Despite the looming crunch in December there are few signs that Mr Erdogan
will budge on Cyprus. Even as the report was being published, he repeated
that, so long as the economic isolation of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus
continues, there can be no change in Turkish policy. He added that a
solution to Cyprus could be reached only through United Nations mediation.
This seems to brush aside last-ditch attempts by Finland, which currently
holds the EU presidency, to forge a compromise deal before the summit.
Such a hardline stance provides fodder for Turkey’s detractors. Chief among
these is France, whose foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, told the
French parliament this week that the timetable for Turkey’s membership talks
should be “rethought” unless it recognised Cyprus by the end of the year.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, also declared that, if Turkey refused
to shift on Cyprus, the situation would be “very, very serious”.
So are Turkey’s hopes of becoming the EU’s first mainly Muslim member buried
for good? Turkish and European officials have long acknowledged that the
negotiations may never lead to actual membership. But both sides have
stressed the importance of maintaining the process, as the best way of
fortifying Turkey’s wobbly democracy, keeping it on the path of reform and
anchoring it firmly to the West.
Yet these goals are starting to look shaky. Some pundits say that the
membership talks, launched a year ago, have in effect ground to a halt
already. Only one of the 33 “chapters” that Turkey must negotiate with the
EU (on science and technology) has been closed. Turkish intransigence over
Cyprus could prompt the Greek-Cypriots to wield their veto at any moment to
block talks on other chapters.
Some diplomats in Ankara blithely play down the latest crisis as a mere
“time out” that may help European leaders to win over domestic public
opinion, which is hostile to Turkish membership, and also let Mr Erdogan
court nationalist votes ahead of a parliamentary election next November.
Once the election is out of the way, the argument runs, a new government
will pick up the EU baton once again. Yet this is a risky strategy.
The prickly nationalism that has engulfed Turkey has sapped support for EU
membership. One poll suggests that it is down to a low of 32%, compared with
67% two years ago. At the same time, damping the hopes of 14m Turkish Kurds
for a better deal as citizens of an EU member might lead some to shift their
gaze longingly over the south-eastern border. There, under American
protection, the Iraqi Kurds have achieved near-independence, much to the
annoyance of Turkey. A pause in the EU process might also tempt Turkey’s
generals to try to reclaim the power they have lost in a wave of EU-inspired
reforms. And it could threaten the economic growth of recent years.
So long as Mr Erdogan displays the right kind of leadership, such doomsday
scenarios can still be avoided. Encouragingly, he declared this week that,
despite the ructions over Cyprus, his government remained committed to full
membership of the EU. But he is also considering his own future, and
especially whether to run for president when the incumbent, Ahmet Necdet
Sezer, retires in May. The lure of the country’s top post may prove
irresistible to a man whose first job as a teenager was selling stale buns
to help his family get by.
General Yasar Buyukanit, the hawkish chief of the general staff, and most
pro-secularists among Turkey’s business elite think this is a dreadful idea.
For them the presidency is the last secular check on Mr Erdogan and his
fellow Islamists in the ruling AK party. Upsetting this delicate balance
could, they fear, spell an end to Ataturk’s secular republic.
Such fears are surely exaggerated. But even some of Mr Erdogan’s closest
allies agree that the country would be better served by a more neutral
figure, whose spouse does not wear the Islamic headscarf. This would allow
the AK party to win re-election in November, keep the generals at bay and
let Mr Erdogan press ahead with his reforms. He would also need to avoid
pre-electoral populism and stick with the IMF’s austerity programme.
Speculation that, if spurned by Europe, Turkey would embrace the likes of
Iran and Russia is so far proving wrong. Indeed, Mr Erdogan and the top
brass are competing to repair Turkey’s strategic relationship with its
strongest ally, America. General Buyukanit is expected to travel to
Washington in February, where he will press the Americans to act against
separatist PKK Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq. America’s refusal
to drive out the rebels, who have been fighting the Turkish army for more
than two decades, is the biggest source of anti-American feeling in Turkey.
It remains unclear whether the Bush administration can respond positively to
such demands, though it may be easier with a new defence secretary in place
of Donald Rumsfeld. What is certain is that America will continue to lobby
for Turkey’s EU membership. American pressure has played a crucial role in
keeping Turkey’s EU aspirations on track. It may prove just as necessary in
future.

PRESS RELEASE
Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress
Dr. Anie Kalayjian Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Fordham University
President, Association for Disaster & Mass Trauma Studies
Board of Directors, United Nations, NGO Human Rights Committee
Treasurer, American Psychological Association International Division
President, Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress & Genocide
139 Cedar Street
Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-1003
Phone: 201 – 941-2266
Page: 917 – 269 – 2803
Fax: 201 – 941- 5110
ternationalpsychology.net/
“Democracy is not about words, but action.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Dr. Kalayjian was one of the invited guests on Oct 16, at the Eleanor
Roosevelt Legacy luncheon Honoring Hillary Clinton. The Eleanor
Roosevelt Legacy Committee has become one of the most effective
grassroots political organizations in America – to help continue the
important work of funding, training, and electing pro-choice
Democratic women to state and local office. They honored the memory
of one of America’s finest First Ladies while building a new
generation of leadership for a better future.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy is a political resource and meeting
ground for women involved in New York politics and, in addition,
raises funds dedicated solely of New York Democratic women
candidates. Eleanor Roosevelt had a profound and lasting influence on
the New York State Democratic Party in which she was an active
reformer during critical times. She forged new roles for women in
government and politics and we wish to honor her historic legacy by
building a new generation of New York women candidates and informed
voters and activists.
The goals include:
* to raise funds to elect women to state and local offices;
* to provide political training and leadership development to the women of
New York;
* to increase women’s participation in the political process, both as
activists and as candidates;
* to establish a statewide network of women community leaders, elected
officials, and activists;
* to promote policies that reflect women’s priorities; and
* to communicate the Democratic message to women.
Ms. Hillary Clinton gave a moving presentation on the needs to
move this nation to a healthier future. Dr. Kalayjian and Ms. Clinton
had an opportunity to talk and share common goals and future plans to
collaborate.

INSTANT COMPENSATION – CEMENTO MORE
10-11-2006
LRAGIR.AM
The Armenian government sold the fifth generating unit of the thermal power
plant of Hrazdan to direct 250 million dollars at subsidizing gas for
producers and the population. It is clear that thereby the government tried
to relieve the consequences of expensive gas and appear to the public as a
committed government. Perhaps the government had better spend this money on
plastic surgery and had at least a pair of angel’s wings attached to each of
the ministers. It would be at least interesting and amusing for the public,
and people would appreciate the sense of humor of the government. In the
meantime, subsidizing gas is not only uninteresting but also useless,
pointless and ineffective. Several days ago Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan announced that the mechanism of subsidizing needs to be revised.
Yet several days before Karen Karapetyan, CEO of ARG, had announced about
the ineffectiveness of this subsidy. The culmination was Michael
Baghdasarov, who described a situation which made it clear that the
government does not subsidize but gives about 20 million dollars to some
companies.
The owner of the factory of cement said the cement factories of Armenia
hardly manage to supply the foreign demand. Baghdasarov said the demand
caused the price of the cement to go up. Nevertheless, the Armenian cement
is cheaper than the cement produced in other countries. It appears that
there are almost perfect conditions for the Armenian cement factories:
demand they hardly manage to supply, a cheap price. In this case, it is
strange that the government susidizes Ararat Cement owned by Tsarukyan and
Hrazdan Cement owned by Baghdasarov, and the subsidy totals 20 million
dollars. They may say that the subsidy keeps the price low, which causes
demand to go up. However, Michael Baghdasarov the cement producer says they
increased the price because the demand is high. In other words, it is
pointless to subsidize these companies because the cement producers could
increase the price and the price of gas would not affect the production of
cement. Only the profit of these companies would be concerned. It would
decline, of course. But if the government can say that they gave immense
subsidies to these companies to sustain their profit, it is not clear where
this profit goes. Of course, to the state budget. Let us suppose, the amount
set down legally. How about the rest? The owners, in fact, put the profit in
their pockets. Meanwhile, it is not the government who should think about
the profit of these companies but their owners.
If one of them, Michael Baghdasarov states that they hardly manage to supply
the demand, it means these companies do not boost their capacity and
production. Meanwhile, a factory which produces a competitive product, which
is highly demanded, should think about boosting production to get more
profit. However, why should Michael Baghdasaryan and Gagik Tsarukyan think
about increasing their profit if the government has assumed this function
and sells the state property to subsidize private giants for them not to
disturb themselves and display management skills to boost their profits.
In this respect, the action of the government is far from logic but is
closer to morality. It does not want to load its faithful and committed
businessmen who have more serious problems to tackle. Only
economist-theorists think that a businessman should invest profits in
production. There are countries where the goal of the businessman is far
from production, although it is defined by the same root – reproduction. Not
that of cement, of course, but power.
JAMES HAKOBYAN

U.S. DEFENSE MINISTER DOES NOT ATTEND TO WATER PIPELINES
10-11-2006
LRAGIR.AM
“A financial document cannot be magnificent, it is another survival budget
and pursues pre-election aims,” stated Member of Parliament Victor Dallakyan
November 10. He thinks the estimation that the collections in 2007 will be
up by 70 billion drams are not realistic. If they are likely to fight black
economy, why they failed before, asks the member of parliament. Meanwhile,
with regard to the proposal of the government to allocate 710 million drams
to raise the salary of high-ranking officials in 2007 the member of
parliament does not ask questions but puts forward evaluations and
proposals. According to Victor Dallakyan, “This is electioneering, pledges
of the corrupt government to the officials, who will need to be highly
active in the election. This is an effort to use the administrative and
financial levers in electioneering, and immoral. The average pension is 12
thousand drams, and the high-ranking official’s salary may mount to 350
thousand drams.”
Victor Dallakyan suggests saving this 710 million, cut the 860 office cars
twice, add this 2.5 billion drams and spend this 3.2 billion on social
policies, namely raise pensions, return the lost savings, medicaid, etc.
Victor Dallakyan announced in joke that even his wife is asking her not to
act against the proposals on raising the salary or pension of members of
parliament. The member of parliament resists.
Victor Dallakyan is worried by the disbalance of our budget and the
Azerbaijani budget, the comparison of other economic indexes. “The
settlement of Nagorno Karabakh has moved from the military to the economic
sphere, if the country is in a better political and economic state, it will
eventually dominate. Patriotism will be replaced by economic factors,” he
thinks and speaks in numbers. Their military budget totals 1 billion
dollars, ours is 263 million. Our state budget is 1.2 billion dollars, their
economic growth is 34 percent, ours is 12.5 percent. From 2003 to 2007 their
state budget grew 8 times, ours grew 4 times. Azerbaijan’s oil revenues may
mount to an annual 7 billion dollars.
If we had built an Iran-Armenia transit pipeline, we could get 250 million
dollars from transit. But we will not because Russia used its “energy
truncheon” and a small-width gas pipeline is built. Unlike Serge Sargsyan,
Victor Dallakyan knows cases when Russia has used investments in the economy
for political tension. “The government is vulnerable because it is not
legitimate. And it is vulnerable in the relations with Russia. These
relations are vertical,” stated Victor Dallakyan.
Victor Dallakyan also noticed that it is hard to imagine the U.S. defense
minister open a water pipeline in the state of Arizona.