Month: April 2007

WE DARE NOT MURDER MEMORIES OF GENOCIDE
By Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis

The Jewish Journal of greater L.A, CA
April 19 2007

Amnesia of the past foreshadows amnesia of the future. Forget
yesterday’s tragedy and the threat to tomorrow is denied. Forget
the first genocide of the 20th century — the murder of 1.5 million
Armenians in 1915 — and the memory and atrocities of the first
genocide of the 21st century in Darfur turn invisible, and the world
response is muted.

The Polish Jewish jurist, Raphael Lempkin, who coined the term
"genocide," defined it in large part by what happened to the Armenians
in 1915. Armenia was the cautionary record of a mass murder of a
people, which tragically and shamelessly the world has and continues
to repress.

Amnesia is a sickness and feigned amnesia is a blasphemy. To choose to
forget what happened to the martyrs is an insult to their memory and
a danger to our children. As the philosopher Cicero sagely observed,
"Not to know what happened to you before you were born is to remain
forever a child."

Infantilizing ourselves and our progeny is dangerous, and silence is
lethal. We dare not murder memory.

The Hebrew term for remember (zachor) appears 169 times in the Bible.

Memory is a sacred mandate. Jewish World Watch, founded almost three
years ago and comprised of over 50 synagogues of every denomination
throughout Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Orange counties, was formed
to use its energies to make people aware of and stop genocide. Its
initial focus has been on the ongoing genocide of the persecuted
people of Darfur.

It continues its work in Darfur and Chad by building and supporting
medical clinics; creating water wells; sending solar cookers for
women intimidated, branded, tortured and raped by the Janjaweed in
the fields where they have to forage for scraps of firewood to cook;
providing educational materials to children desperate for any sense of
normalcy, and a social worker dedicated to providing grief counseling
to a population where every single family has lost at least one of
its members.

No two dyings are the same. No two holocausts are the same. Darfur
is not Rwanda; the killing fields of Cambodia are not the crematoria
of the Nazi death camps.

Every genocide is singular. But a kinship of suffering unites us all.

To play the shameless game of "one-downsmanship" is an invidious
sport. My blood is not redder than yours, my suffering not more
painful than yours. Hatred consumes us all indiscriminately.

We have enough tears to shed for others. Our tear ducts are not
dried up. Our hearts are not so small that they cannot beat for and
with another.

We join together to remember and to bind each other’s wounds. In
memory, we together raise our collective conscience and act out
our resolve. "Never again" will we allow the threat of genocide
to terrorize any nation, religion or ethnic community. Together we
demonstrate our solidarity and mutual support.

On Friday, April 27, at Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd.,
Encino, Jewish World Watch will honor Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North
America, a joint service of memory, including Armenian and Jewish
choirs, liturgy, song and reflection. Prior to the 8:15 p.m. service,
an Armenian Sabbath dinner will be served at 6 p.m. (by reservation
only). For more information visit jewishjournal.com.

Harold M Schulweis is a rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino and
founder of Jewish World Watch.

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TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, SERBIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSS KOSOVO

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
April 19 2007

Belgrade, 19 April: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had several
bilateral talks in Serbian capital of Belgrade on the sidelines of
the 16th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).

Romanian FM Adrian Cioroianu, Serbian President Boris Tadic, Russian
FM Sergey Lavrov were the executives with whom Gul had talks.

Meanwhile, Gul had a brief talk with Armenian FM Vartan Oskanyan.

According to sources, Gul exchanged views about developments regarding
Kosovo with Tadic. Tadic said that Kosovo is important for them while
Gul said that Turkey attaches great importance to the Balkans and
stressed that everybody should refrain from acts that may destabilize
the region.

Gul noted that Turkey is taking joint action with the international
community regarding Kosovo. "What is important is to ensure a model
in which the majority has the right to speak but the minority rights
are also protected," he stated.

During their meeting, Lavrov said that Russian President Vladimir
Putin will most probably attend the BSEC Heads of State and Government
Summit to be held in Istanbul in June 2007.

ARAM SARGSIAN DOES NOT RULE OUT POSSIBILITY OF CARRYING OUT REVOLUTION

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. "Armenia does not have an evolutionary
path because the country is undergoing a regress in all spheres,
including the spheres of democratization, economy and foreign
policy." Aram Sargsian, Chairman of the political board of the
"Republic" party, former Armenian prime minister, stated this during
the April 19 meeting at Charles Aznavour Square.

According to him, "Republic" is inclined to use the parliamentary
elections to be held on May 12 as a political means for making a
shift of power. He called on people to "carry out a revolution in
their hearts" until May 12. He said that if the authorities falsify
the results of these elections, they will carry out a real revolution.

MEMORANDUM ON HOLDING DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN ELECTORAL DISTRICT NO 4 IS VIOLATED

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Contrary to the memorandum on holding
free and fair elections, which was signed by the candidates proposed by
the majoritarian electoral system at electoral district No 4, a number
of violations have already been registered in this district. This was
announced at the April 19 press conference, in which 5 out of the 7
candidates registered in this electoral districts took part.

Representative of the Orinats Yerkir party Suren Mamikonian said that
some candidates give electoral bribes, while representatives of some
electoral headquarters collect citizens’ passport data, as well as
misinform local residents, telling them that only one candidate will
be voted on in their electoral district.

In the words of the RA National Assembly ARF faction’s head Hrayr
Karapetian, the terms of the memorandum are partly violated. He said
that he is going to make public facts about it on May 5.

Representative of the "Prosperous Armenia" party Hayrapet Hayrapetian
expressed an opinion that the instruction to tear advertising posters
could not come from the headquarters of any of the candidates because
posters of all candidates are being destroyed. He also indicated many
inaccuracies in electoral rolls.

Candidate of the Republican Party of Armenia Zohrab Zohrabian called
on to refrain from making anonymous accusations and to make public
the names of those guilty in case of revealing electoral violations.

According to member of the Armenian National Movement’s board Aram
Manukian, passports of citizens are being collected in order to prevent
then from participating in the elections. He noted that electoral
bribes are given not to some voters but to persons responsible for
buildings – in return for the obligation to ensure a certain number
of votes.

The candidates for deputacy participating in the press conference
agreed to hold joint meetings with voters.

2 BRUTALLY STABBED TO DEATH IN APPARENT HATE CRIMES
by Carl Schreck, Staff Writer

The Moscow Times
April 19, 2007 Thursday

A Tajik citizen and an ethnic Armenian were brutally stabbed to
death in separate attacks that appear racially motivated, authorities
said Wednesday.

Five suspects have been detained in connection with the stabbings,
one of which was recorded by a video surveillance camera.

Khairullo Sadykov, 26, a street sweeper from Tajikistan, was stabbed
35 times on Monday evening outside an apartment building on Ulitsa
Metallurgov, near the Perovo metro station in eastern Moscow, said
Sergei Vasilovsky, chief investigator at the Eastern Administrative
District prosecutor’s office.

He died on the spot.

Vasilovsky did not have information about arrests in connection with
the death. But a law enforcement source told Komsomolskaya Pravda that
two teenagers resembling skinheads had been detained thanks to video
footage from a surveillance camera installed near a building entryway.

The footage showed two young men of Slavic appearance with shaven heads
stabbing Sadykov, and both were wearing "high, laced-up, army-style
boots," the source said, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Wednesday.

The report identified the suspects as Pavel Skachayevsky, a 17-year-old
student at the Russian State Physical Education University, and
Artur Ryno, a 17-year-old art student. The clothes they were wearing
when detained were covered in blood, and they closely resembled the
attackers on the surveillance video, the report said.

Prosecutors have opened a murder investigation. If charged and
convicted, the two suspects face up to life in prison.

In the other attack, Armenian businessman Karen Abramyan, 46, was
stabbed 20 times by three assailants at around 10 p.m. Monday in
southwest Moscow, police said.

Abramyan was taken to a hospital, where he died of his wounds.

A law enforcement source told Interfax that three young men had been
detained. The source said the trio had shaved heads and were wearing
army-style boots.

"After he was taken to the hospital, the victim said he was attacked
because of his ethnicity, saying the young men were shouting racial
epithets," the source was quoted as saying.

The source said the detainees had admitted to stabbing the businessman.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the detentions.

3 EVANGELICALS FOUND SLAIN IN EAST TURKEY
By Sabrina Tavernise; Sebnem Arsu Contributed Reporting.

The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
April 19, 2007 Thursday

Three people were found with their throats slit in a publishing house
in eastern Turkey that printed Bibles and other Christian literature,
the authorities said Wednesday. One victim was a German citizen.

Turkish authorities detained five men for questioning, three
19-year-olds and two 20-year-olds; the five were not identified. The
publishing house, in Malatya, a town with a reputation for nationalism,
has had trouble in the past over a shipment of Bibles, and it seemed
likely that the attackers had a nationalist agenda.

Change is opening up Turkish society, and the country’s nationalist
fringe, for whom the ethnic and religious purity of the Turkish state
is worth killing for, has been turning to violence more often. Hrant
Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, who was killed in
January in Istanbul, was one of the victims. A Roman Catholic priest
was another.

The trend worries the government, whose prime minister, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, has been pushing hard for Turkey’s entry into the European
Union. Some European politicians have opposed membership, arguing
that Turkey does not fit in culturally or religiously.

The three victims in Malatya were found seated in chairs, their hands
and feet bound, Halil Ibrahim Dasoz, a government official there, said
in comments on NTV, a Turkish news channel. One did not die from his
wounds until later; he had also been stabbed in the back and stomach.

The state-run Anatolian news agency identified the victims as Tilman
Ekkehart Geske, 46; Necati Aydin, 35; and Ugur Yuksel, whose age was
not given. The German ambassador to Turkey, Eckart Cuntz, said through
a spokesman that one victim was a German citizen but he declined to
give details.

The victims were evangelical Protestants, said an evangelical pastor
in Istanbul, Carlos Madrigal, who said he knew them, Reuters reported.

The killings took place in the building where the publishing house
was based, the Turkish interior minister, Abdulkadir Aksu, said at
a news conference.

Several of the suspects were carrying weapons when they were
apprehended, the authorities said. One had broken his leg in a jump
or fall. NTV broadcast images of authorities rushing several young
men down the stairwell of a building.

The recent nationalist attacks are ghosts from Turkey’s past. Malatya
once had a heavy Armenian population. But in eastern Turkey, Armenians
were driven out or killed in a series of purges culminating in the
1915 genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians died.

Subsequently, nationalists were urged to settle in the area to preserve
a Turkish identity there.

Mehmet Ali Agca, who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981,
was from Malatya, as was Mr. Dink, the outspoken journalist.

"Nationalism is on the rise in Turkey," said Ali Bulac, a Turkish
newspaper columnist in Istanbul. "It stands against the U.S. and
the E.U."

The publishing house had changed its name recently after trouble
with nationalists who had forcefully blocked a shipment of Bibles,
said Meftun Kilinc, a reporter from ERTV, a station in Malatya, who
spoke in a telephone interview. She said the new name was the Zirve
Publishing House.

Turkish nationalists boast of their Muslim identity, but often have
just as much in common with the secularists of the state elite as with
Islamists. So it was not clear whether the suspects were motivated
more by a dedication to Islam or a longing for a pure Turkish state.

The distinction is important because of the broad debate over the role
of religion now roiling Turkish society. The discussion has become
more shrill in recent weeks because the country faces an election to
its presidency, the single most important post safeguarding secularism.

Prime Minister Erdogan, a former Islamist who has moderated his views
considerably, may try to compete for the presidency, a possibility
that has thrown some secularists into a panic.

MAIN GOAL OF PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF ARMENIA IS PARTICIPATION IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS AND OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT POWER SHIFT

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The Progressive Party of Armenia
takes part in the upcoming parliamentary elections with the motto
"Don’s Elect Us" and the main goal of the party considering itself
as centripetal is participation.

Chairman of Progressive Party of Armenia Tigran Urikhanian taking
part in the parliamentary elections by proportional system explained
the party’s motto in the following way at the dispute organized at
the Hayeli (Mirror) club on April 19: vacancies were announced and
the party submitted an application and if the people employs them
they will work. He said that in case of appearing in the parliament
the Progressive Party is going first of all to initiate elaboration
of bills on removing night clubs from tenement houses, as well as on
compensation of moral damage.

T. Urikhanian also stated that he has always held the opinion that
today the Republican Party of Armenia "can ensure country’s stability
and progress, success and gradual development."

Another participant of the dispute, member of Armenian National
Movement Board, Head of party’s youth wing Karen Karapetian, in his
turn, presented the main goal of ANM’s participation in the elections,
that is power shift and not getting over 5% barrier.

In his words, getting over 5% barrier and receiving several mandates in
the parliament is not sufficient for fulfilment of ANM’s main goal. In
the issue of power shift the party sees as its allies representatives
of right liberal wing of political field, with which it has political
communities. Besides, ANM is ready to cooperate with any political
force, which will announce that the current authorities "are illegal,
it can be said, are a criminal regime."

In K. Karapetian’s words, ANM realizes very well that they need to
"give an "ideological force to the current parliament almost deprived
of ideology," as the current parliament has been turned into "the
adjunct of two figures, Robert Kocharian and Serge Sargsian."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BREAKING THE BLOCKADE: STRONGER STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ARMENIA
by Alexei Matveyev
Translated by Elena Leonova

Source: Voenno-Promyshlennyi Kurier, No. 15, April 2007, p. 2
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
April 19, 2007 Thursday

Senior Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov visits Armenia; Armenia has
moved into one of the most crucial phases of its political development:
a parliamentary election is scheduled for May 12, with a presidential
election to follow in March 2008. This country is Russia’s most
important military-strategic ally in the South Caucasus.

Moscow and Yerevan are continuing to develop their strategic
partnership – as evidenced by the results of Senior Deputy Prime
Minister Sergei Ivanov’s visit to Armenia last week. Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov also visited Armenia recently. The Russian leadership’s
increased interest in Armenia is entirely understandable.

Armenia has moved into one of the most crucial phases of its
political development: a parliamentary election is scheduled for
May 12, with a presidential election to follow in March 2008. Of
course, the Kremlin is by no means indifferent to the question of who
will hold power in Armenia. This country is Russia’s most important
military-strategic ally in the South Caucasus. When Sergei Ivanov met
with Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian in Yerevan, he noted: "Armenia is
our strategic partner, and this is not measured by military-political
interest alone." Ivanov emphasized that Russia and Armenia are linked
by centuries of shared culture and historical roots that have much
in common.

Moving on to military issues, Ivanov noted that the Russian military
base in Armenia "feels comfortable here and is defending the interests
of both Armenia and the Russian Federation." Ivanov said: "Its action
plan and scale are obviously and objectively non-aggressive and not
aimed against any other states, but they are effective in safeguarding
our common security."

The withdrawal of a Russian military base from Akhalkalaki (Georgia)
should be completed this year. Some of the arms and military hardware
from that base will be relocated to Armenia: to the 102nd Russian
military base at Gyumri. This will soon be Russia’s one and only
military facility in the South Caucasus. The Gyumri base, equipped
with S-300 air defense missile systems and MiG-29 fighter jets, is
also part of the CIS Unified Air Defense System. In December 2005,
after Russia and Armenia signed a number of bilateral agreements,
they announced that this base would be expanded. Armenia gave the
102nd base with additional land and property.

It’s also worth noting that Sarkisian said at his meeting with Ivanov
that any deployment of NATO bases in the South Caucasus would lead
to new dividing lines in the region, and this would not facilitate
improvements in regional security. Sarkisian emphasized that Russia
is reducing its military presence in the region, and it would be
inappropriate for any other force to increase its presence at the
same time.

Judging by the results of Ivanov’s visit to Yerevan, military-strategic
partnership between our countries is being actively supplemented by
economic relations. Ivanov described the trends in Armenian-Russian
economic relations as positive, "as objective figures indicate." Trade
turnover has increased by 70-80% in recent years. Russia is the
leading source of investment in the Armenian economy. Ivanov went on
to say that this growth is not "ethnic investment," but investment
by substantial Russian businesses: "This applies to many sectors and
branches of the economy, especially the energy sector, including
nuclear power, as well as transport and communciations, including
mobile communications. These areas of the economy are showing the
strongest growth in terms of Russian investment in Armenia."

He also expressed confidence that Armenia’s economic problems are being
solved, despite all the difficulties in Armenia’s position due to
the transport blockade. The new Caucasus-Poti rail ferry is already
in operation; it can hold up to 50 train carriages. Ivanov said:
"This is a full-fledged rail transport element, already offering a
solution to one of the key problems: the transport blockade against
Armenia, in effect for many years. This Gordian knot has been partially
cut." Ivanov added that a second ferry of this kind is likely to be
ready by the end of summer, thus increasing potential cargo turnover
between Armenia and Russia. In discussing cooperation plans, Ivanov
emphasized that Russia and Armenia also have long-term plans concerning
rail transport development and free movement of goods. Indeed,
transport is a key aspect of bilateral relations; as Ivanov noted,
"without transport, everything else becomes pointless."

As we see, Moscow and Yerevan are actively expanding contacts in the
military technology area and the economy. Ivanov’s visit to Armenia
showed that the potential is there, and a new phase of mutually
beneficial cooperation is expected in Russian-Armenian relations.

RUSSIA’S VIMPELCOM GETS FULL CONTROL OF ARMENTEL

Prime-Tass Business News Agency, Russia
April 19, 2007 Thursday 11:53 AM EET

MOSCOW, April 19 (Prime-Tass) – Russian mobile company VimpelCom
has gained full control of Armenian telecom operator ArmenTel
after acquiring a 10% stake in the operator from the government of
Armenia for 38.6 million euros, VimpelCom said in a press release
late Wednesday.

Russia’s second biggest mobile company has also agreed to pay an
additional amount equal to 10% of ArmenTel’s retained net profit for
the period between November 2006 and April.

In November 2006, VimpelCom bought 90% in the operator from
Greece-based Hellenic Telecommunications Organization for 341.9
million euros, and assumed ArmenTel’s debt of about 40 million euros.

ArmenTel is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia with licenses
in the GSM 900 and CDMA standards. ArmenTel’s subscriber base
includes approximately 608,500 fixed-line subscribers and 452,000
mobile subscribers.

MOSCOW MAYOR YURI LUZHKOV VISITS TWO OPENING CEREMONIES

SKRIN Market & Corporate News
April 19, 2007 Thursday 5:28 PM GMT

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov visited two opening ceremonies of a new
clinical block of Botkin Hospital and a family shopping center Yerevan
Plaza on March 24, the stroi.ru website said. Corporation Glavstroi
has completed construction of a new block of Botkin City Clinical
Hospital (2 left pics). The construction ran under the Moscow City
Government order and was financed by the municipal budget. It ought
to be mentioned that designing and construction of the object had
been started in the Soviet period already, but the true work began
on May 2004.

An opening ceremony of the block with a total area of 92,200 sqm was
held at the hospital area where representatives of the medical staff,
members of the Moscow City Government, heads and leading specialists
of a number of the city departments had gathered. The builders of
Glavstroi and JSC Glavmosstroi presented to the hospital doctors a
symbolic key to the block named "the biggest modern clinical building
in Moscow" by the Moscow mayor.

On the same day Mr Luzhkov took part in the opening ceremony of a
new family shopping center Yerevan Plaza (2 right pics) in downtown
Moscow. It’s a so-called twin construction towards Moscow House
that was opened in Yerevan on March 23. (Read the article Moscow
mayor opens Moscow House in Yerevan .) The Armenian delegation led
by Yerevan Mayor Ervand Zakharyan and Armen Smbatyan, Armenia’s
Ambassador in Russia, as well as Alexander Maksimenko, Deputy Head
of Moscow City Construction Policy Department, and the Moscow City
Government members also participated in the commencement meeting on
Bolshaya Tulskaya Street.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress