Month: November 2006

FREEDOM HOUSE URGES MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE NOT TO PROVIDE AID TO ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2006 14:20 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A leading U.S. human rights organization urged
the U.S. Administration on Friday to withhold promised economic
assistance to Armenia and six other developing countries which it
believes fail to meet “reasonable standards” for democracy and civil
liberties. “November 8 the Board of Directors of the Millennium
Challenge Corporation has to choose governments of those countries,
which can appeal for assistance in 2007,” the Freedom House remarks
and urges to leave out countries, which have low marks in political
rights and civil liberties. These include Armenia, Bhutan, Egypt,
Jordan, Maldives, Tunisia and Vietnam, says a Freedom House statement
released November 3.
This September the Millennium Challenge Account was officially
launched in Armenia. According to it the US will provide $236 million
to Armenia within 5 years – basically for agriculture. “The Freedom
House urges the Corporation to follow countries like Armenia, with
which agreements are signed but which do not ensure promised indicators
in democratic government. Armenia is the major one, as it was among
the first countries to sign the agreement this year. However, Armenia
registered regress in implementation of the reforms,” concludes the
Freedom House, reports RFE/RL.

AZERI SNIPER WOUNDED ARMENIAN VILLAGER
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2006 14:43 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ November 3 an Azeri sniper wounded resident of
Aygepar Armenian village Maxim Poghosyan, born in 1978, Spokesperson
of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan told
PanARMENIAN.Net. Poghosyan is delivered to the medical detachment of
Berd town. His state is assessed as average heavy.

LEFT OUT IN THE COLD – ‘LIBERATION MOVEMENTS: A NOVEL’ BY OLEN STEINHAUER
By Paula L. Woods
The Los Angeles Times
Calendar Live
Nov 4 2006
Beginning with 2003’s “The Bridge of Sighs,” Olen Steinhauer has
followed detectives from the People’s Militia as they’ve investigated
three decades’ worth of murders in a fictional Eastern Bloc country.
In the process, readers have been privy to the frustrations, betrayals
and backstabbing they’ve endured (and sometimes instigated). These
men include “Bridge’s” idealistic rookie Emil Brod’s investigation
of a songwriter’s murder, a doomed detective-novelist caught up in
1950s Soviet repression (“The Confession”) and devious Brano Sev,
who does double duty as a spy for the country’s KGB-like Ministry of
State Security (“36 Yalta Boulevard”). Brano has always cast a pall
over the series, and his actions have driven the stories into morally
ambiguous territory, earning Steinhauer favorable comparisons with
Graham Greene, John le Carre and Alan Furst. Yet his novels retain
enough elements of classic detective mysteries so that he can, more
or less, keep a foot in both camps.
Now comes “Liberation Movements,” which expands Steinhauer’s literary
landscape in a number of important ways. He juxtaposes two very
different locales and stories – that of Peter, a hapless student caught
trying to escape Czechoslovakia during the failed 1968 reform movement,
and the story of the explosion of a hijacked commercial airliner bound
for Istanbul, Turkey, in 1975. As if the dual story lines and locations
weren’t difficult enough to juggle, readers familiar with the series
will find that one of the militia squad’s members, Libarid Terzian,
is on that flight en route to an Interpol conference. The Armenian’s
presence on the plane raises intriguing questions: Is he a secret
sympathizer with the Army of the Liberation of Armenia, who hijack
the plane? Is it a coincidence that he encounters Zrinka Martrich,
who may or may not be a militiawoman but certainly seems to know more
about him than she should?
Seeking answers, Emil Brod, now head of the People’s Militia, sends
Brano Sev and his new partner, 29-year-old Gavra Noukas, to Istanbul
to investigate. Even though the case is not in their jurisdiction,
the two men decide that, since the hijackers boarded in their capital,
the best way to honor their comrade Terzian’s memory and fulfill their
duty is to reconstruct the hijackers’ last days in their homeland
and turn the information over to Turkish officials.
The combination of old spymaster and younger detective energizes a
series whose characters, on the job for almost 30 years, one feared
could be getting a little long in the tooth. Part of the charge comes
from the pair’s very different personalities – Brano is a cold,
calculating mentor while Gavra is a passionate man who is “always
falling victim to that word Brano enjoyed harping on – sentimentality.
” ‘It is,’ Brano had told him numerous times, ‘the demise of all good
operatives, resulting in the most fatalities. But you’re young. You
just don’t understand yet.’ ” Another young addition to the militia
and integral part of the team is Katja Drdova, 24 and the only woman
in the unit. Driven by a tragedy in her early life, Katja is obsessed
with being successful and painfully aware of “the condescension from
[her] workmates.” She too is mentored and manipulated by Brano in ways
too intricate to reveal here but diabolical and effective nonetheless.
“Liberation Movements” also goes beyond the tighter point of view
of the previous novels to give readers five different perspectives,
three of them from the militia plus the young woman Zrinka, who plays
a pivotal, if incredible, role in the action. But Steinhauer saves
some of the most unsettling chapters for Ludvik Mas, a ruthless yet
memorable character whose tradecraft and surprising connections to
the events of 1968 as well as to Brano, Katja and even Zrinka are
doled out in deliciously suspenseful doses.
Beyond the expanded relationships of these principal characters,
Steinhauer does a good job of evoking Istanbul’s bars and bazaars,
hotels and churches, which form the backdrop for the team’s search for
the men who set the hijacking in motion. He also provides just enough
background information on the genocide of a multitude of Armenians by
the Turkish militia in 1915 to understand why the crimes still feel
so personal to these young terrorists more than 60 years later –
and why they could spur the real-life assassination of two Turkish
consuls by an Armenian American in Santa Barbara in 1975.
And the echoes Steinhauer creates between the motives of terrorist
groups like the fictional Army of the Liberation of Armenia, the
real-life Red Army Faction and others of that day (and, by extension,
those of our own) are unexpectedly chilling. Perhaps it is, as one
character says, that “[t]he political, in fact, is really only the
personal dressed up in more flamboyant clothes.”
With its plots and counterplots, secret identities and tradecraft taken
straight from the Soviet playbook of the day, “Liberation Movements”
is an entertaining, if sometimes implausible, read that should put
Steinhauer squarely in the front of the pack of today’s espionage
writers. And with complex, engaging characters like Gavra and Katja
carrying on the work of Emil, Libarid, Brano and the older hands,
it is an exhilarating and enjoyable ride.
Paula L. Woods is the author of the Charlotte Justice mystery series,
including “Strange Bedfellows.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.00.03, 27.16.00 (temporary)
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46 (temporary)
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
October 30, 2006
HERITAGE: OPEN LETTER TO THE ARMENIAN PUBLIC
Yerevan–The forcible March closure of the Heritage Party’s headquarters,
the subsequent surreptitious and illegal break-in at the already-sealed
office, the criminal theft of information from its main computer, and the
campaign of political pressure and persecution unleashed against members,
supporters, and local chapters of a duly-registered political organization
compelled Raffi Hovannisian and the leadership of Heritage to seek justice
amid the tribunes of the legal system.
In spite of incontrovertible evidence attesting to the commission of
criminal acts, the multiple levels of the judicial branch have repeatedly
rendered capricious rejections of the legal claim to reopen the offices.
This series of unfounded judgments supports the conviction that we have
come
up against different links in a single chain of criminal conduct that is
guided by the highest echelon of executive authority.
As for the scandalous reproduction of the “Watergate” precedent–the
unlawful break-in to party headquarters and the presidential theft of
information therefrom–the Armenian police department and then Yerevan’s
prosecutor have refused our legitimate demand to file criminal charges,
evidently in an ill-disguised attempt to cover up the crimes in question.
Accordingly, as a measure of final recourse, we have petitioned–and expect
a just determination from–the Republic’s prosecutor general to institute
criminal proceedings and commence a full investigation by November 10, the
deadline set by law.
All this is taking place against the backdrop of the administration’s
recently repeated “oaths” to guarantee the absolute fairness of the
parliamentary elections scheduled for Spring 2007.
Without further interpreting Heritage’s recent “experiences,” we submit that
the party enters the pre-election season–which de facto has already been
launched and is overflowing upon the country’s television screens–(a)
locked out of its central offices, (b) with its database broken into and
compromised, (c) being systematically and unlawfully deprived by relevant
state bodies of the right to rent meeting space and thus to exercise the
freedoms of speech and association, and (d) on a presidentially-conceived
“black list” wholly forbidding access for Heritage, its founder and
officials to the electronic media, which all are under strict supervision
and vertical control.
We appeal to the Armenian public with these key queries for the national
agenda:
– Can this constant course of illegalities and blatant violations of
civil rights assume, under any circumstance, the mantle of
fundamental legitimacy for the upcoming elections?
– Is it possible that the failure to launch court proceedings–or
their dismissal once instituted–against individuals, both officials
and others, who have committed or commissioned crimes will serve
to rein in the perpetrators of thousands of instances of electoral
fraud?
– Does Armenia’s leadership have, in the first place, the moral right
and legal standing to speak in the name of democracy and justice?
– In the sum total of the foregoing, isn’t the prospect of the
parliamentary elections already prejudiced, and its fairness breached
in advance?
We demand answers, expect justice, and will continue our nation’s quest for
liberty and the rule of law, the triumph of equal rights for all, and the
achievement of an Armenia for and of the people.

ARMENIAN REPORTER
PO Box 129
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
Tel: 1-201-226-1995
Fax: 1-201-226-1660
Web:
Email: [email protected]
November 4, 2006
1. Armenia will invite long-term election observers, President
Kocharian confirms
2. Former Pentagon official: Azerbaijan’s oil revenue will not make a
military difference
3. President Kocharian confirms details of Russia-Armenia pipeline deal
4. Vincent Lima is the new editor of the “Armenian Reporter”
5. Editorial: Vote
******************************************** *******************************
1. Armenia will invite long-term election observers, President
Kocharian confirms
YEREVAN–President Robert Kocharian confirmed on October 27 that
Armenia would invite Western monitors to observe the 2007 National
Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in May. The
invitation would include “both long-term and short-term international
monitoring missions,” the president told a meeting of the ambassadors
of European Union countries in Yerevan.
Long-term monitors generally arrive up to 100 days before an election
to meet with local and national officials and observe electoral
campaigns. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), which observes elections through its Warsaw-based Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, sends observers six to eight
weeks before election day.
According to National Assembly chairperson Tigran Torosian,
observation missions have not yet been invited because no date has
been set for the elections.
An elections expert at one of the international organizations in
Yerevan told the Armenian Reporter that Armenia does not need to issue
formal invitations before January. Timing is more critical in the
reform of the electoral code, which is now underway. Amendments to the
law on elections are likely to be signed into law in January, which
will put training and implementation on a very tight schedule, the
expert noted.
****************************************** *****************************
2. Former Pentagon official: Azerbaijan’s oil revenue will not make
military difference
by Emil Sanamyan; special to the “Armenian Reporter”
WASHINGTON, D.C.–“Outlines of a settlement in Nagorno Karabakh are
very clear…. The Armenians get Karabakh and Lachin corridor and the
Azeris get the surrounding territories.”
E. Wayne Merry, a former State and Defense Department official who
dealt with the conflict, said this in a lecture on Wednesday, October
25, 2006, titled “Diplomacy and War in Karabakh: An Unofficial
American Perspective,” hosted by the Johns Hopkins University’s
Central Asia Caucasus Institute.
Speaking in an unofficial capacity, Mr. Merry said that in the case of
Karabakh it makes no sense for the U.S. to cling to Soviet-era
administrative borders drawn up by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
In the end, Mr. Merry stressed, “The solution is to recognize reality
and redraw the borders.”
In 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh used existing laws and international norms
to secede from Soviet Azerbaijan following years of brutal
anti-Armenian pogroms and Soviet government-enforced crackdowns and
violence against the population of Karabakh. Azerbaijan subsequently
launched a full-scale war, trying to expel Karabakh’s Armenian
population. The war eventually resulted in Azerbaijan’s defeat and a
cease-fire agreement in May 1994. While Armenian-Azerbaijani talks
have continued since then, Azerbaijan’s government has grown
increasingly bellicose, demanding control over Armenian-populated
Karabakh and threatening renewed use of force.
But the Pentagon’s former Caucasus expert argued that Azerbaijan’s
growing oil revenue would not give it sufficient advantage to resolve
the issue militarily. Mr. Merry said there were five main reasons for
this: geography, firepower, reserves, military art, and strategic
depth.
According to Mr. Merry, Armenians have a clear geographic advantage,
with their forces dug in on higher ground along most of the Line of
Contact. This in turn creates an opportunity for a more effective use
of firepower–even if both sides have similar military hardware.
Armenians can also count on ample reserves of both combat veterans and
ammunition.
“To put it bluntly, Azerbaijan would run out of young men before
Armenians run out of ammunition,” Mr. Merry explained.
Further, the Armenian side has a proven ability to conduct military
operations. “Azerbaijan has armed forces, Armenia has a military” Mr.
Merry noted. In terms of strategic depth, only Turkey is likely to
support Azerbaijan. The four other major players, including Russia,
Iran, United States, and the Europeans, have no interest in imposing
an Azerbaijani solution on Armenians.
According to Mr. Merry, Azerbaijan would need to overcome all of these
obstacles to claim victory. “I doubt they could overcome any…. If
Azerbaijan resumes armed conflict, it will be defeated,” Mr. Merry
warned. “People [in Azerbaijan] who say ‘let’s go to war because we
won’t be any worse off’ are very dangerous people, because wars always
make things worse–often unpredictably and catastrophically worse.”
Mr. Merry argued that there are three major forces in international
affairs: demography in the long term, economics in the middle term,
and war in the short term. “Diplomacy is not a force, it is a
mechanism,” he said. “This is a mechanism for ratifying, not reversing
the battlefield.” But, Mr. Merry said, most of the diplomatic effort
around the Karabakh conflict focused on management of the conflict
rather than resolving it. The major reason for this is that a
continued status quo is politically an easier option for each side,
while a solution would require difficult compromises.
Mr. Merry’s remarks were welcomed by two former U.S. ambassadors to
Armenia in the audience. Retired ambassador Harry Gilmore (1993-95)
noted that a “great opportunity” was missed in April 2001, when
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents met under the mediation of the
U.S. secretary of state at the time, Colin Powell, in Key West, Fla.
According to credible reports, a deal discussed at the time also
entailed Karabakh’s formal unification with Armenia.
Ambassador John Evans (2004-06), speaking in a private capacity, noted
that a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process remains unlikely.
Ambassador Evans noted in a February 2005 lecture that placing
Karabakh within Azerbaijan, as the latter demands, would be “a
disastrous step.”
During his 26-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service, Mr. Merry
dealt with the Karabakh conflict while serving as a political officer
at the U.S. Embassy in Russia (1991-94), during a tour with the
Department of Defense as its regional director for Russia, Ukraine,
and Eurasia (1995-97) and as senior adviser to the U.S. Commission on
Security and Cooperation in Europe (1997-98). Merry is currently a
senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council, a D.C. think
tank.
************************************* **************************************
3. President Kocharian confirms details of Russia-Armenia pipeline deal
YEREVAN (Combined sources)–President Robert Kocharian confirmed on
Monday, October 30, 2006, that Russia’s state-run Gazprom monopoly
would gain a controlling stake in Armenia’s national gas distribution
company that will likely own the incoming gas pipeline from Iran.
Mr. Kocharian gave the information as he met with Russian president
Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. “I would like to immediately inform you
that all of our serious agreements on energy projects with Gazprom are
entering the implementation phase,” he said in remarks posted on the
Kremlin’s website. “Just a few days ago, they were finally approved by
the Gazprom board.”
On the previous Friday, Gazprom’s board had approved and announced the
issuance of additional shares in the ArmRosGazprom (ARG) operator,
saying that it will buy all of them and thereby raise its ARG stake
from 45 percent to 58 percent. Karen Karapetian, director general of
the ARG network, said Tuesday that Gazprom will pay $118.8 million to
increase its shares.
The Armenian government has until now owned another 45 percent of ARG,
with the remaining 10 percent belonging to ITERA, a private Russian
gas exporter.
The pipeline deal was among the economic issues on the agenda of Mr.
Kocharian’s talks this week with Mr. Putin. The latter described as
“shameful” the fact that Russia is only the third largest foreign
investor in Armenia. “I say ‘shameful’ because it is odd that Russia
does not occupy the first place in terms of investments in the economy
of its strategic partner,” Mr. Putin said.
******************************************* ********************************
4. Vincent Lima is the new editor of the “Armenian Reporter”; Aris
Sevag steps down
Minneapolis, Minn.–Vincent Lima has been appointed the editor of the
“Armenian Reporter,” CS Media Enterprises, LLC, the newspaper’s
publisher, announced. Aris Sevag stepped down last week, after 15
years as the paper’s managing editor.
Mr. Lima joined the senior management of CS Media in March. He has
worked closely in that capacity with Mr. Sevag and Sylva Boghossian,
publisher of the “Armenian Reporter.”
“Vincent brings a wide range of skills and experience, as well as
energy and excellent judgment to the ‘Reporter,'” said John Waters,
vice president of CS Media. “He is charged now with making the
‘Reporter’ a resource that can inform, entertain, and inspire ever
more readers.”
Mr. Lima has long had a high profile in the Armenian-American
community as an editor and public intellectual. He edited the
scholarly journal “Armenian Review” from 1989 to 1996. He then started
“Armenian Forum: A Journal of Contemporary Affairs” with his colleague
Ara Sarafian. He served also as director of the Gomidas Institute,
which has published dozens of books in the last few years.
“As editor, I hope to build on the strengths of the ‘Armenian
Reporter,'” said Mr. Lima. “One of these strengths is our coverage of
Armenian-American community affairs and advocacy. Next week, we will
start introducing new talent that is joining us to bring greater depth
to this coverage.”
Asking readers to be vocal about their opinions, Mr. Lima said, “We
have ambitious plans for the newspaper, both in print and online. We
will roll out many innovations over the weeks, months, and years to
come. As we do so, we will be listening closely to what our readers
have to say.”
“The ‘new’ ‘Armenian Reporter’ is going to be true to its roots and
loyal to our faithful readers,” said Sylva Boghossian, publisher of
the “Armenian Reporter.” “But we are also reaching out to a new
generation of readers. I am looking forward to working closely with
Vincent as we make this happen together. I also want to take this
opportunity to wish Aris the best at his new job. I will miss the
close collaboration we have had over the years, and credit him with
helping make the ‘Armenian Reporter’ such a vital part of our
community.”
Before joining CS Media, Mr. Lima worked in the testing industry,
where he developed content for high-stakes tests. For the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, he worked on innovative
products (such as auditing simulations) for the Uniform CPA
Examination; prior to that he wrote and reviewed questions for the
Analytical sections of the GRE and the Critical Reasoning sections of
the GMAT.
Mr. Lima is a graduate of the New School for Social Research in New
York City. He did graduate work there under Eric J. Hobsbawm; he
continued his graduate studies in history at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, under Ronald Grigor Suny and Juan Cole. He has
taught at the University of Michigan and Tufts University. He recently
moved to Yerevan with his partner Martha Boudakian and their two
daughters.
********************************** *****************************************
5. Editorial: Vote
Day in and day out, American citizens of Armenian descent reach out to
their elected representatives by letter, by e-mail, by phone, and
through their lobbying and advocacy organizations. We give generously
to the campaigns of our friends.
That is every day. But November 7, Election Day, is the moment of truth.
Will we show up at the polls and elect the candidates who best
represent our values and our interests? Will we display the collective
might that our lobbying efforts claim on our behalf? We believe so.
We urge our readers to vote on Election Day.
* * *
Voters in Armenia, meanwhile, will get to exercise their right to vote
in just over six months.
We welcome President Kocharian’s announcement this week confirming
that Armenia will invite international monitors to observe the
elections. An important element of the announcement was that the
invitations would encompass long-term observers. These observers will
follow the campaign season closely. Their presence will help
discourage violations and ensure that voters are aware of all their
options on Election Day.
Indeed, while our focus today is on Election Day, we must not lose
sight of the ongoing nature of democratic participation. There is no
question that Armenia’s elections must be free and fair. But the
hallmark of a true democracy is a culture of vigorous and thoughtful
debate on the issues that matter to the country and its people.
Still, it is on Election Day that the people make their choices. And
it is then that they gain–or lose–faith that their voice counts.
***************************************** **********************************
Direct your inquiries to [email protected]
(c) 2006 CS Media Enterprises LLC. All Rights Reserved

Heidenheimer Zeitung – Germany
l&cat=16&open=1&open_u=&minDate=&a mp;s
_id=7b91eba8a03cef2c677c86524fb156c1&iden t=&id=254064#
ARMENIEN / Mit Unterstutzung der Landesregierung eroffnet das Rote
Kreuz ein “Haus der Hoffnung” in
Die Dankbarkeit hat ein Gesicht
Die armen Rentner in Eriwan konnen sich auch weiterhin auf Hilfe aus
dem Sudwesten Deutschlands verlassen. Mit Spenden aus Schwabisch
Gmund und einem Zuschuss der Landesregierung hat das Rote Kreuz in
Armeniens Hauptstadt ein “Haus der Hoffnung” eingerichtet.
“Welcome to Armenia – Willkommen in Armenien”, dieser Gruß prangt auf
einem riesigen Schild am neuen Terminal des Flughafens der
armenischen Hauptstadt Eriwan. Die Delegation aus dem Sudwesten
staunt uber das neue Abfertigungsgebaude und fuhlt sich wie in einer
europaischen Großstadt. Wer schon einmal in Eriwan war, erinnert sich
an den noch im Vorjahr vorhandenen Hauch von Sozialismus bei der
Ankunft am damaligen Terminal mit langem Warten aufs Gepack und
langer Schlange bei der Visakontrolle. Die Besucher aus
Baden-Wurttemberg sind nach Armenien gekommen, um das “Haus der
Hoffnung” zu eroffnen, ein vom Landesverband des Deutschen Roten
Kreuzes und dem armenischen Roten Kreuz errichtetes Sozialzentrum.
Die Idee, ein solches Haus mit Suppenkuche, Kleiderkammer und
Sozialstation zu bauen, geht auf Gerhard Maier zuruck. Sechs Jahre
nach dem großen Erdbeben im Norden Armeniens startete der Schwabisch
Gmunder CDU-Stadtrat und ehrenamtliche Rot-Kreuz-Mitarbeiter 1994 die
erste Suppenkuche, getragen von Spenden aus der Burgerschaft seiner
Stadt. Im Jahr 2002, nach Maiers Tod, fuhrte der Gmunder Pfarrer
Karl-Heinz Scheide die Hilfsaktion fort. Die Leser dieser Zeitung
wahlten ihn dafur 2004 zum Mensch des Jahres. Zu erleben, wie aus
einer Naturkatastrophe eine lebendige Freundschaft entstehen kann,
ist fur Lorenz Menz, den Prasidenten des Landes-DRK, der erstmals in
Armenien weilt, eine beeindruckende Erfahrung. “Wie hilfreich das
alles ist, sieht man, wenn man den alten Menschen gegenubersteht und
ihnen ins Gesicht schaut”, sagt er. Die Freundschaft sei nicht nur
Geben, sondern auch ein Bekommen. Noch immer im Container Dies sieht
auch Willi Stachele so, als Minister im Stuttgarter Staatsministerium
zustandig fur europaische Angelegenheiten. Baden-Wurttemberg hat das
“Haus der Hoffnung” mit 75 000 Euro unterstutzt, ein knappes Viertel
der 350 000 Euro Kosten. Stachele hat das Erdbebengebiet von 1988
besucht. Er traf dort Familien, die 18 Jahre danach noch immer in
Containern leben. Hier Abhilfe zu schaffen, darum habe er den
armenischen Sozialminister gebeten, sagt Stachele. Armenien stecke 15
Jahre nach dem Herauslosen aus der ehemaligen Sowjetunion auch
außenpolitisch in einer schwierigen Situation. Das Land kann nur im
Suden uber den Iran und im Norden uber Georgien und Russland Handel
treiben. Die Grenzen zum westlichen Nachbarn Turkei und zum ostlich
gelegenen Aserbaidschan sind dicht. Hier musse europaische Politik
ansetzen und auf die Turkei einwirken, um die Grenzen zu offnen.
Armenien selbst soll, so der CDU-Politiker, auch mehr fur sich
werben, etwa durch eine Kulturwoche in Deutschland ahnlich dem
Armenien-Jahr, das in diesem Jahr in Frankreich stattfand. “Hoffnung
zu geben”, dafur steht fur Stachele das eingeweihte “Haus der
Hoffnung”. Mit Stolz habe ihn erfullt, “dass eine Stadt in
Baden-Wurttemberg mit großem Engagement auf Dauer angelegt hilft”.
Ein Burger dieser Stadt ist der Gmunder Varujan Karajan. Seine
Vorfahren stammen aus dem fruheren Westarmenien, das heute zur Turkei
gehort. Er ist einer von sieben Millionen Diaspora-Armeniern, die das
Land verlassen haben, um im Ausland Arbeit zu finden. Denn von den
nach wie vor drei Millionen Armeniern – etwa 1,5 Millionen leben in
der Hauptstadt Eriwan – sind nach inoffiziellen Schatzungen bis zu 60
Prozent arbeitslos. Und die Rente der alten Menschen, die in der
“Kuche der Barmherzigkeit” taglich mit einer warmen Mahlzeit versorgt
werden, reicht oft nicht einmal fur die elementarsten Bedurfnisse
oder die einfachsten Lebensmittel. Die Einrichtung, die wahrend der
kalten Jahreszeit weit mehr als 500 000 warme Essen ausgibt, ist
daher langst zu einer angesehenen Einrichtung geworden. Ein Schock
Den ersten Besuch in der alten Heimat erlebt Karajan zunachst als
Schock: Die nachtliche Ankunft in der karg beleuchteten Stadt, die
riesigen Locher in den Straßen, die maroden sozialistischen
Wohnblocks. Erst am nachsten Morgen bessert sich sein Eindruck beim
uberwaltigenden Blick auf den 5165 Meter hohen Berg Ararat, auf dem
der Bibel nach die Arche Noahs gelandet ist. Doch liegt das
Bergmassiv fur die stolzen Armenier, deren Land sich vor gut 2000
Jahren bis zum Mittelmeer erstreckte, unerreichbar hinter
Stacheldraht auf turkischem Gebiet. Karajan, der mit seiner Familie
aus der Ostturkei nach Istanbul und dann nach Deutschland gezogen
ist, sagt nach wenigen Tagen Aufenthalt, dass er fruher nach Armenien
hatte kommen sollen. “Mal dachte ich, ich bin Armenier, dann auch
wieder nicht”, erzahlt er. Aber: “Wenn man hierherkommt, weiß man, wo
man hingehort.” Dabei weiß der Gmunder Zahnarzt aus seinem Alltag in
Deutschland, wie schwierig es ist, auch nur uber die historisch
belasteten Beziehungen zwischen Armenien und der Turkei zu reden.
Sein Großvater ist dem turkischen Massaker in den Jahren 1915 bis
1918 entkommen, sein Urgroßvater hat wie mindestens eine Million
weitere Armenier den Volkermord nicht uberlebt. Der Genozid ist ein
Thema, das Armenier aller Altersgruppen umtreibt, wie eine junge
Dolmetscherin beim Spaziergang uber den fruheren Lenin-Platz – heute
Platz der Republik – erzahlt. Die Alten meinen, sagt sie, dass in der
Sowjetunion alles besser war. Junge Leute wie die Dolmetscherin
selbst aber bauen in einem sich seit 15 Jahren mal langsamer, mal
schneller verandernden Land auf ein anderes Leben. Ein von Freiheit
gepragtes, trotz hoher Arbeitslosigkeit, trotz eklatantem Unterschied
zwischen Arm und Reich, trotz Korruption. Die junge Frau verweist auf
ihren Namen: Nadja, die Kurzform des russischen Namens Nadeschda – zu
deutsch Hoffnung. Spenden fur die “Kuche der Barmherzigkeit” konnen
auf das Konto 440 752 987 der Kreissparkasse Ostalb (BLZ 614 500 50)
einbezahlt werden.
MICHAEL LÄNGE
–Boundary_(ID_o0OvkUJEzu6g3kotS81mwA) —

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Government House # 2, Republic Square
Yerevan 0010, Republic of Armenia
Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
04-11-2006
Minister Oskanian Comments on
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s Recent Remarks
We remain amazed that a letter sent by President Kocharian to Prime
Minister Erdogan in April 2005 remains ignored, simply because the Turkish
authorities did not like the response contained therein, and do not wish
to broaden the scope of discussion beyond history.
President Kocharian clearly said to Prime Minister Erdogan that the
“suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects from
addressing the present and the future. In order to engage in a useful
dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive political
environment. It is the responsibility of governments to develop bilateral
relations and we do not have the right to delegate that responsibility to
historians. That is why we have proposed and propose again that, without
pre-conditions, we establish normal relations between our two countries.”
In that context, President Kocharian said, “an intergovernmental
commission can meet to discuss any and all outstanding issues between our
two nations, with the aim of resolving them and coming to an
understanding.”
Foreign Minister Gul’s recent comments to RadioLiberty, insisting that the
existence of flights between Armenia and Turkey, and of Armenian citizens
in Turkey, is evidence that ‘the borders are essentially open’ is
disingenuous. First, the number of Armenians from Armenia living and
working in Turkey do not approach the numbers he claims. Second, open
borders assumes direct contacts between peoples, unobstructed relations
across the border and a functioning transport infrastructure.
We stand by our response which we consider to be a positive one and we
wonder whether the Turkish insistence on a historical commission is
genuine. After all, we have in fact agreed to discussions on all issues,
in the context of open borders.
Further, so long as Article 301 which criminalizes mere discussion of the
genocide topic remains on the books in Turkey, an invitation to open
dialogue cannot be taken seriously. Finally, outside Turkey, scholars –
Armenians, Turks and others – have studied these issues and have reached
their own independent conclusions. The most notable among these is the May
2006 letter to Prime Minister Erdogan by the International Assn of
Genocide Scholars wherein they collectively and unanimously affirmed the
fact of the Genocide and called on the Turkish government to acknowledge
the responsibility of a previous government.
In light of these complex realities, we can only repeat our readiness to
enter into dialogue and normal relations with our neighbor.

ARKADY GHUKASYAN OFF TO THE UNITED STATES
ArmRadio.am
04.11.2006 15:06
November 4 NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan left for the United States
to participate in the preparation of the annual Telethon to be held
November 23 in Los Angeles.
In the framework of the visit NKR President is expected to have a
number of meetings with business, political, public and religious
circles of Armenian communities of West and East coasts of the
United States.

CHARITY WORK FROM ARMENIA’S 1ST ENTRY: ANDRE PERFORMS IN TELETHON
esctoday.com, Netherlands
Eurovision Song Contest
Nov 4 2006
Andre, the first representative of Armenia at the Eurovision Song
Contest this year, has decided to do some work for an humanitarian
cause. He will be performing at the 12 hour telethon to raise money
for the Armenian Fund.
The Armenian Fund, an humanitarian corporation, had the honour
to announce Andre’s participation at the 9th annual international
Telethon, to be aired worldwide on Thanksgiving Day, November 23,
8:00AM-8:00PM PST.
As part of the Rebirth of Artsakh project, proceeds from the live 12
hour program will benefit the regional development of Hadrut, Nagorno
Karabakh (Armenia). The funds will go towards building new drinking
water pipelines as well as reconstructing healthcare facilities and
schools that fell victim to the devastating war.
A winner of many international music contests and awards as a solo
artist, Andre has performed in the United States, Russia, China,
Europe, Lebanon, Iran, United Arab Emirates and countries of the
former Soviet Union.
Andre’s successful achievement in Athens reaching the 8th position
provided to Armenia a secure place to the final of the 2007 Eurovision
Song Contest in Helsinki.

ARMENIAN BILL MIGHT BE PASSED IN NEXT US CONGRESS
By Cihan News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Nov 4 2006
An Armenian bill that will recognize the killings of Armenians during
World War I as genocide is likely to be passed in the U.S. House of
Representatives, said Clyde Wilcox of Georgetown University.
Democrats are expected to have the majority in the in the upcoming
congressional elections in the United States, which are scheduled to
be held next Tuesday.
Wilcox, a political science professor at Georgetown, stated that
Democrats had a chance to take Congress in the elections.
Since the prospective chairman of the House of Representatives pledged
to vote on an Armenian bill, it is likely that such a bill would be
passed in the House, Wilcox told the Turkish press in Ankara, where
he arrived at the invitation of the American Embassy.
Wilcox said even if the House of Representatives adopted a bill
recognizing the so-called the Armenian genocide; America’s foreign
policy would not change. He added that the bill was less likely to
be passed in the U.S. Senate.
Professor Wilcox also noted that the bills passed in the House were
not binding; therefore, they would not reflect the U.S. government’s
polices and opinions