Month: November 2006

WHAT IS THE GUILT OF HOAGLAND
Panorama.am
18:07 22/11/06
The decision on appointment of Richard Hoagland as U.S. ambassador
to Armenia is frozen, Kiro Manoyan, head of Armenian Cause Office
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun), told
a press conference today. Unlike U.S. executive, which does not
question the fact of genocide but prefers not to speak about it in
order not to hurt the feelings of Turkey, Hoagland questions the
fact of genocide, Manoyan said. “That is the guilt of Hoagland,” he
said. “Under such conditions, it would be better to appoint another
person as an ambassador to Armenia,” the head of Armenian Cause office
says.

GALUST SAHAKYAN FOR INCLUSION OF ALL UPLAND REGIONS WITHIN REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
Panorama.am
18:19 22/11/06
Galust Sahakyan, head of Armenian Republican Party (HHK) faction,
said he is for inclusion of all upland territories within the Republic
of Armenia. Sahakyan said so in a response of a provocative question
by a reporter about handing over the lands to Azerbaijan.
At the same time he said we must be realistic and consider the
opportunities and the created situation.
In the opinion of Sahakyan, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will not
be settled by 2012.

GROUP OF ARMENIAN STUDENTS WIN COMPETITION IN RUSSIA
Panorama.am
18:55 22/11/06
A group of Armenian schoolchildren, who participated in an
international contest in Moscow, came back with certificates
today. Yelena Adamyan was among the 5 best in a competition at
Russian Language Institute after Pushkin in the Russian capital
which gives her the chance to be accepted at the institute without
examinations. Adamyan said she did not know whether she would take the
chance. Total of 14 schoolchildren have brought 21 certificates of
honor. Russian embassy in Armenia made book-gifts to children. The
embassy will also organize a party on Tuesday to celebrate the
victory.

KOCHARYAN AND ALIEV TO MEET
A1+
[11:53 am] 23 November, 2006
On November 22 Yuri Mezlyakov and Bernard Fassier, the Co-Chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
met with Ilham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan. The latter agreed
to meet with his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan during the
meeting with the Co-Chairs.
Reminder: on November 21 the Co-Chairs met with Robert Kocharyan and
the latter also agreed to meet with Ilham Aliev.
The next meeting of the two presidents is scheduled on November 28 in
the framework of the meeting of the CIS memebr countries’ heads. The
venue of the meeting will be Minsk.
In this conncetion a striking article appeared in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”
newspaper on the Karabakh issue.
Citing the diplomatic sources, the newspaper writes that according
to the draft framework agreement which is still under consideration
in the negotiation procedure, “Armenia will return the seven occupied
territories to Azerbaijan, and Karabakh will be united with Armenia via
40-kilometer corridor”. This corridor will be guided by peacekeepers,
“Nezavisimaya Gazeta” reports.
It is also supposed that Armenia will take its troops from Azerbaijan,
the refugees will return to their permamnent dwelling places, the
economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries will be resumed
and a referendum will be held to state the NKR status.

LONG HAIR COST LARGE SUMS OF MONEY
A1+
[02:27 pm] 23 November, 2006
Recently, a new type of business, hair sale, has emerged in
Armenia. One can come across the following advertisement on the
windows of almost all hairdressers’; “If you have high-quality long
hair, we are ready to buy it at a high price”. The most striking is
the fact that a lot of people apply for it.
67-year-old Seda Petrosyan lives with her disabled spouse in the
village of Aramous, Kotayk marz. They can hardly make both ends meet
with the 11 000 AMD, Mrs. Seda’s pension. But Mrs. Seda doesn’t sit
with her arms crossed. She finds a new source of income every month.
“I used to made baskets. Then I started sewing and knitting. But
unfortunately my sight became poor now and I have given up knitting”,
says Mrs. Seda.
It is already two years Mrs. Seda has earned money in a new way. “As
I have neither dyed my hair nor used a hair-drier in my life, my hair
has high quality. Last year I sold it. I don’t complain as I got 50
000 AMD for it and we were able to live on the sum. Now I am going
to sell my hair again”.
Thousands of women like Mrs. Seda go to the hairdressers’ of Abovian
city. But the salons receive only part of them as the quality of
the hair does not always meets the required criteria. One of the
hairdressers said that young ladies have never applied to them with
suchlike request. How do the salons charge for hair? And how do they
use it later on? The hairdressers claim that they charge the costumers
according to the weight and length of the hair. The average price is
30 000 – 120 000 AMD.

ICG CALLS ON GEORGIA TO DO MORE FOR ITS NATIONAL MINORITIES
Armenpress
Nov 22 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: The Georgian government must take
significant steps to avoid conflict in the country’s ethnic Armenian
and Azeri areas, says the latest report from the International Crisis
Group, that examines the grievances of these two communities.
Titled ‘Georgia’s Armenian and Azeri Minorities’ the report says while
there is no risk of the situation becoming Ossetian- or Abkhaz-like
threats to Georgia’s territorial integrity, tensions are evident in
the regions of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo-Kartli, where the two
predominantly live. There have been demonstrations, alleged police
brutality and killings during the past two years.
Georgia has made little progress towards integrating these minorities,
who constitute over 12 per cent of the population. Armenians and
Azeris are underrepresented in all spheres of public life, especially
government, and a lack of dialogue between them and Tbilisi adds to
perceptions of discrimination and alienation. This is aggravated
by economic problems, including high unemployment and decaying
infrastructure.
“Tbilisi needs to do much more to build confidence and to encourage
minorities to address their problems through state structures
rather then in the street”, says Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s
Caucasus Project Director. While the government denies there is any
inequality, many minorities claim they are treated as second-class
citizens. Feeling betrayed by the Abkhaz and Ossetians, who declared
independent states on Georgian territory, Tbilisi has a deeply rooted,
if unfounded, fear that others may do the same. More sensitive and
effective minority policies would dampen such demands and might even
help build trust with the Abkhaz and Ossetians.
Some steps have been taken to improve the lives of minorities. With
donor support, Georgia has invested in road and infrastructure
rehabilitation in minority regions and created a ministry for civic
integration, established a public administration institute to train
minorities and ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities.
None of this is likely to appease minorities’ political
grievances without policies that increase inclusion and
participation. Implementation of local government reform after the 2006
elections provides a new platform for minorities to affect decision
making through municipal bodies. More consultation by Tbilisi when
drafting legislation can also help.
The government needs to establish a comprehensive education system
to teach Georgian as a second language to minorities, but while a
new generation is educated, minorities should not be discriminated
against, especially in hiring for state jobs. The state should also
implement its international commitments, particularly allowing use
of minority languages for state affairs in municipalities with large
numbers of minority citizens, as is standard throughout Europe.
“Only by acting on both tracks will Georgia succeed in reducing
tensions and increasing minority integration”, says Nicholas Whyte,
Crisis Group’s Europe Program Director.

DEFENSE MINISTER LEAVES FOR BELARUS
Armenpress
Nov 22 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian defense minister Serzh
Sarkisian and a group of senior military officers have left today for
Belarus capital city Minsk to attend a regular gathering of defense
ministers from the CIS and CSTO that kicks off on November 23.
Armenian defense ministry said while in Minsk Serzh Sarkisian will
have a number of meetings with his counterparts. He will sign also
military cooperation agreements with Russian, Belarus and Ukrainian
counterparts. Before going aboard the plane Sarkisian told reporters
in Yerevan he saw no conflict between Armenia’s membership in the
CSTO and its active cooperation with NATO within the frameworks of
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).
“I think it is time to get rid of an idea that military and political
cooperation of a group of countries is directed against another country
or an alliance. This idea is no longer viable under new geopolitical
realities,” he said.
Serzh Sarkisian also shrugged off what he described as ‘negative
opinions about his habit of frequent wearing military uniform,” saying
‘to wear the military uniform of the victorious army is great honor
which one has to earn.”
Sarkisian told journalists that the people who criticize him for
wearing military uniform forgot that he was wearing it since the
early 90-s, when he was head of self-defense forces.
“I wore military uniform both on the frontline during the war and
in other occasions when defending our country’s independence and
freedom,” he said, adding that people who want to wear now military
uniform ran away form it in early 90-s as if it were a devil’s uniform.

SENIOR REPUBLICAN MEMBER ‘DISTRIBUTES’ NEXT PARLIAMENT SEATS
Armenpress
Nov 22 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: A senior member of the governing
Republican Party predicted today that his own party and the Prosperous
Armenia of a millionaire businessman Gagik Tsarukian will win seats
in the next parliament.
Galust Sahakian, head of the Republican Party’s parliamentary faction,
also predicted that two opposition parties-the National Unity of
Artashes Geghamian and the People’s Party of Armenia of Stepan
Demirchian will win seats in the legislator.
Sahakian said, ‘irrespective of everything, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF) will also be represented in the National Assembly,
as its political ‘visitor card’ is embracing.”
“As regards the Armenian National Movement (the party of ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrosian), I think it is represented in this current
parliament. Let us wait and see whether they will assume a constructive
approach or not,” Sahakian said giving no chances to the Orinats
Yerkir party of former parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasarian,
saying this party was in the process of changing its image.
Sahakian said all political forces spoke in favor fair and transparent
elections.. He further said that on the eve of the polls all forces
contesting parliamentary seats should announce publicly what sort
of resources they possess and in which polling stations they will be
able to secure that polls be held in just atmosphere.

EAFJD CALLS ON DEUTSCHE BANK TO RETURN ASSETS TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS’ HEIRS
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.11.2006 18:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Armenian Federation calls the
descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors, defenders of human rights,
European leaders, and all Euro citizens to protest Deutsche Bank’s
refusal to accept responsibility for the crimes it committed in 1915
and continues to profit from today. In a manner consistent with the
U.S.-based New York Life Insurance Company and the French AXA Life
Insurance Company, Deutsche Bank illegally appropriated funds and
property from genocide victims and, as such, played a unconscionable
role in Ottoman Turkey’s destruction of the Armenian population
between 1915 and 1923. Recent estimates by experts in the field
show that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were, at the time of the
Genocide, owned more than 20 million dollars that were held in trust
by the German company. Deutsche Bank never returned these amounts
to the heirs of genocide victims. As EAFJD told PanARMENIAN.Net,
compounding Deutsche Bank’s intransigence was its use of Armenian
deportees as slave workers on the construction of its Berlin-Baghdad
road works. Following their slave labor, these Armenians were
exterminated during deportations into deserts of Syria.
The Federation notes that the current president of Deutsche Bank
congratulates his company for fulfilling “its social responsibilities,”
a statement that stands in sharp contrast to both its genocidal
complicity in 1915 and its refusal to accept responsibility for its
crimes today. The European Armenian Federation, noting that New York
Life and AXA have been condemned for their crimes, welcomes the fact
that similar proceedings are under way against Deutsche Bank.
Consequently, the Federation calls on all EU citizens to call
on Deutsche Bank to live up to its own standards by accepting
responsibility for its wrongdoing and fairly compensating those whose
families it has stolen from.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN CYPRUS
Armenpress
Nov 22 2006
NICOSIA, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: The President of Armenia Robert
Kocharian arrived late Wednesday for a three-day state visit to Cyprus,
the first visit of Armenian leader since it gained independence 15
years ago.
The Armenian President, accompanied by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
and a 30-member delegation, was welcomed at Larnaca airport by Acting
Foreign Minister, Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the
Environment Photis Photiou.
Kocharian will begin his official program on Thursday, with a meeting
with President Tassos Papadopoulos at the Presidential Palace. The
official talks will include an agreement on co-operation in combating
organized and other forms of crime that will be signed by Cyprus
Minister of Justice and Public Order Sophocles Sophocleous and the
Minister of Justice of Armenia Davit Harutunian.
Kocharian will later meet House President Demetris Christofias, while
Foreign Minister George Lillikas will host a lunch in honor of the
President of Armenia. After that Kocharian will meet with Archbishop
Chrysostomos II and the day will end with a state banquet to be hosted
by President Papadopoulos.
Armenian Central Bank Chairman Tigran Sarkisian is also expected to
have meeting with officials at the Central Bank of Cyprus, while
Deputy Culture Minister Gagik Gyurjian will sign a memorandum of
cooperation that renews a bilateral education and culture program
for the years 2006-2008.
On Friday, Kocharian will visit Nicosia Town Hall where he will meet
with the Mayor of Nicosia Michalakis Zampelas who will present the
Armenian president with the golden key to the city and will accompany
him to a visit to the old part of town and the cease-fire line.
Later on, Kocharian and his delegation will visit the Nareg Armenian
elementary school in Nicosia and meet with the Armenian Archbishop. In
the afternoon he will lay the foundation stone of the monument to
commemorate the survivors of the Armenian genocide at the Larnaca
Promenade. Kocharian will fly back home on Saturday morning
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress