Month: April 2007

PARUYR HAYRIKIAN: RPA HAS CHOSEN THE MOST VICIOUS WAY BLAMED BY FATE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The opposition forces taking part
in the forthcoming parliamentary elections cannot counteract to
power levers on their own. As Paruyr Hayrikian, leader of National
Self-Determination Union, not taking part in the elections stated
on April 10 at the Urbat (Friday) club, everybody realizes this with
the exception of some "super-happy ones."

In his words, opposition’s hope to change something will die away
soon when the opposition is no better off than at the start. As
P. Hayrikian affirmed, parties not having a possibility to get over 5%
barrier of votes can come to agreement on making appeal for renouncing
the electoral struggle and giving their votes to opposition parties
having a possibility to pass. And some responsibility should be also
reserved for forces having come out of electoral struggle in the
staff of the government to be formed in case of opposition’s victory.

He also said that as long as the council coordinating opposition
forces is not created, the National Self-Determination Union does not
officially support any party, but "to some extent it has given freedom"
to its territorial structures permitting the members of the latters
to promote activity as individuals, but not on behalf of the party.

P. Hayrikian also declared that the main force interested in forcing
the National Self-Determination Union out of active politics is
RPA. He blamed the latter for being engaged in political pillage,
in particular, for proclaiming RPA, the "son," during the lifetime
of the "parent," National Self-Determination Union, as inheritor of
conservative wing of the National United Party, while, "the hiding
wing" of National United Party is represented in RPA.

"RPA has chosen the most vicious way blamed by the fate and RPA
as a force bearing ideology, which yesterday was tseghakron and
today pseudo-conservative, did not do and cannot do a good thing,"
P. Hayrikian stated.

CIS COUNCIL OF BORDER TROOPS COMMANDERS MEETS IN ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS Agency, Russia
April 12 2007

YEREVAN, April 12 (Itar-Tass) — The 57th meeting of the CIS Council
of the Border Troops Commanders, which opened in the Armenian mountain
resort of Tsakhkadroz on Thursday, will consider the situation on
the CIS external borders and topical problems of cooperation of the
CIS border departments.

The meeting is chaired by first deputy director of the Russian Security
Service, head of the Russian Border Service General of the Army
Vladimir Pronichev. Delegations of the border departments of Armenia,
Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, as well as cooperating bodies
of the CIS and other international organizations.

The Council will discuss the pace of preparations of joint special
border operations and preventive operations in the current year. They
are aimed to oppose the penetration of weapons, ammunition, drugs
and illegal migration, stop poaching activities and protect sea
bio-resources in the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas through
the CIS borders from the territory of Afghanistan.

The forum participants will consider a draft agreement on cooperation
in opposing the forgery of documents giving the right to cross
the state border. They will hear information on the beginning of
interaction of the Coordination Service of the Council of Commanders
with the Agency for issues of direction of operational cooperation
on the external borders of the European Union and the Executive
Committee of the Regional Antiterrorist Agency of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization.

The Council of Commanders was created according to a decision of
the Council of CIS Heads of State on July 6, 1992. This is a CIS
collective body on issues of coordination, guarding of external
borders and economic zones of the Commonwealth.

RPA SHOULD STRIVE FOR MAKING ABSOLUTE MAJORITY IN NEW PARLIAMENT, GALUST SAHAKIAN STATES

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. By now the Republican Party of Armenia
had set itself the task to receive a bit more than the mandates
it has at the moment, while henceforth the party should strive
for making absolute majority in the parliament. Galust Sahakian,
Head of National Assembly RPA faction, stated at the April 11 press
conference. In his words, RPA, which has both financial base and
experience of many years, is again "ready to assume the burden of
power and the whole responsibility."

In G. Sahakian’s words, today parties not having a big political
capital "make revelations about the future, turn into story-tellers
and raising people, pave the way for disappointment after the
elections." They try to form an opinion that if the elections are fair,
they will take the first place. While, in G. Sahakian’s words, these
political forces pretending on making absolute majority neither have
sufficient number of figures on the proportional list nor candidates
registered by the majoritarian system.

As regards Bargavach Hayastan, in G. Sahakian’s words, though it
is newly created, nevertheless, figures playing a serious role in
modern Armenia are included in the party. He agreed to the forecasts
that having sufficient number of seats in the parliament after the
elections, Bargavach Hayastan will cooperate with RPA "for the economic
growth to make Armenia prosper."

Touching upon the elections of Armavir Mayor where Bargavach Hayastan
litigated the victory of RPA’s candidate at the court, G. Sahakian
said that this "was formation of new preelectoral culture when the
political force having levers did not intervene into the judicial
procedures." It should be just like this during the whole elections
process, Head of RPA faction assured.

In G. Sahakian’s words, in RPA’s agitation campaign Chairman of Party
Board Serge Sargsian will play the greatest role. It was also mentioned
that the Prime Minister will not take a leave, but will take part in
agitation at non-working hours.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

APOLOGY WON’T LET US FORGET TRUTH
Mary C. Curtis

Charlotte Observer, NC
April 12 2007

I don’t want your stuff. I don’t want your house or car or big-screen
TV.

I have my own stuff.

That’s to clear the air for those who equate an expression of regret
with a demand for payback.

Perhaps now we can have a calm discussion of the N.C. Senate vote to
apologize for slavery, what it means and what it does not mean.

It’s history, not reparations. It’s honesty, not guilt or shame. The
apology started with slavery, but didn’t end there, just as abolition
did not end discrimination.

The apology covered the lynchings and segregated schools, the "whites
only" and "colored" signs, even in the Legislative Building where
laws crippled N.C. citizens.

Critics say an apology is inconsequential. But as anyone who has
nursed a hurt can attest, the words, "I’m sorry," are profound.

The senators — descendants of slaves and slave owners — realized
as much as they movingly acknowledged laws and customs that divided
by race well into the 20th century.

In 2007, it’s not about owning people, but owning the legacy that
slavery spawned — a legacy still echoed in housing, education and
employment. It’s realizing that the greatness of a country isn’t
diminished by its flaws.

It sounds easy, but isn’t, and not just in North Carolina. It’s natural
to speak only of the Constitution and "all men are created equal,"
and forget the decimation of Native Americans or how the government
confined Japanese Americans in camps during World War II.

It’s called selective memory, and it’s a human trait that crosses
national boundaries.

In Turkey, a law that criminalizes insulting Turkish identity can be
used against someone who hints at the country’s role in the deaths
of more than a million Armenians in 1915.

While elderly survivors shouted, cried and told their stories, the
Japanese prime minister continued to deny that Japan’s military had
forced Asian women into brothels during World War II.

Germany is open about its World War II sins. But neo-Nazi attacks on
immigrants prove not everyone’s learned the lessons of the past.

With slavery, the revulsion of human beings owning other human beings
is so great some try to soft-pedal it as a benign institution that was
here one day and gone the next, without leaving indelible footprints.

Slaves helped cast the bronze on the "Statue of Freedom" atop the
U.S. Capitol dome. Those slaves and their descendants own a piece of
this country, too.

John Lewis grew up a sharecropper’s son in Alabama, was beaten in
Montgomery, Ala., Rock Hill, S.C., and other stops on the civil rights
trail and now serves as a United States congressman, representing
the state of Georgia.

The last part of his story is so remarkable because the first part
is true.

Acknowledging our country’s truth — not reparations — is what
the N.C. resolution is about. So you can hold onto your toaster and
your TiVo.

I’m interested in other stuff — the beautiful, horrible, exhilarating
stuff of history.

IMPROVEMENT IS REGISTERED IN ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS, RF FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER STATES

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Some improvement is registered in
Armenian-Russian bilateral relations. RF First Deputy Prime Minister
Sergei Ivanov reported this at the April 11 press briefing. In his
words, the evidence of this is growth of trade circulation between
the two countries reaching 70-80% in the recent period. Besides,
Russia takes the first place by the volume of investments made in
Armenia’s economy. In S. Ivanov’s words, it is gladdening that growth
of those investments is made not only at the expense of "ethnic"
capital, but also purely Russian capital. The investments were mainly
made in spheres of energy (including nuclear energy), transport,
telecommunication (including sphere of mobile communication).

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsian stated that the volume of trade
circulation between the two countries in the recent years is not
sufficient, which was conditioned by transport problems. The Prime
Minister said that this problem has been already solved: Port-Kavkaz
ferry communication was launched on April 10.

In S. Ivanov’s words, ferry communication to some extent will soften
Armenia’s transport blockade. Besides, it is planned to launch the
second ferry at the end of the year. There are also joint programs
regarding railway communication.

In response to the question, whether Serge Sargsian’s appointment to
the post of Prime Minister will give a new stimulus to development of
relations between the two countries, S. Ivanov said: "I have known
Serge Sargsian for a long time, more exactly, from the previous
century." In his words, not only good practical, but also personal
relations were formed in this period, which permits to solve many
prolems openly, freely, without diplomatic procedures. "I am sure
that our relations will continue developing as before," he said.

Touching upon his statement voiced during his interview to
Financial Times newspaper lately that the South Caucasus does
not need NATO bases, S. Sargsian explained: "I think creation of
additional separating lines will add nothing in the structure of our
security. Besides, Russia is reducing its presence in the region."

SHAFAK’S `BASTARD’ OFFERS ZANY WOMEN AND GENIES, STOKES OUTRAGE
By Farah Nayeri

Bloomberg
April 12 2007

April 12 (Bloomberg) — When Elif Shafak’s latest novel, "The
Bastard of Istanbul," came out in Turkey last year, protesters burned
posters bearing her photograph and she went on trial for "violating
Turkishness."

It’s not because her unmarried Muslim heroine, Zeliha, wears a
miniskirt and marches into a clinic seeking an abortion. Nor because
Zeliha’s teenage daughter later beds a married man. No, the reason
Shafak faced charges was that her Armenian characters use the word
"genocide" to describe the killing of Armenians during World War I.

Though the legal charges were quickly dropped, Shafak could have spared
herself the trouble. The Armenian characters in this engrossing novel
surface in a subplot that distracts from the main story, an intense
account of a Turkish teenager’s unwanted pregnancy and its dramatic
consequences.

Recently published in the U.S. and due for release in the U.K. in
August, "The Bastard of Istanbul" opens when Zeliha is just 19. As
she awaits her abortion in the clinic’s crowded waiting room, she
encounters patients including a devout and barren Muslim couple.

Moments later, as the morphine is kicking in, she has a screaming
fit that prevents the doctor from terminating the pregnancy.

Onto this intense beginning, Shafak then grafts an Armenian
connection that is at once contrived and unbelievable, transporting
us to Arizona, where Zeliha’s brother Mustafa has just arrived as a
college student. As he stands clutching canned beans in a supermarket
aisle one day, Mustafa is approached by a chubby American divorcee
with a half-Armenian daughter, Armanoush. Mustafa and the divorcee
marry, forming one of the novel’s studied efforts to connect Turks
and Armenians.

Fortune Teller

We then shuttle back to Istanbul and fast-forward some two decades
to the heart of the story, which plays out in a household inhabited
by four generations of women. The men of the household have either
died or departed, leaving behind a zany matriarchy.

Living under the same roof as their bitter mother and senile
grandmother, we find Zeliha, who now works in a tattoo parlor;
Feride, a collage artist; Cevriye, a widowed history teacher; and
Banu, a fortune teller whose genies reveal the past’s dark secrets
to her (and the reader). Zeliha’s headstrong teenage daughter Asya,
the bastard of the title, calls all of the sisters — her own mother
included — "auntie."

Asya spends her afternoons at Cafe Kundera, a place entirely unrelated
to the Czech writer, with a group of idle Turkish intellectuals
known to her by names such as the "Exceptionally Untalented Poet" or
the "Nonnationalist Scenarist of Ultranationalist Movies." One, the
Dipsomaniac Cartoonist, is Asya’s lover. Shafak renders these vignettes
of Istanbul atmospheric and inviting; she clearly loves the city.

Unspeakable Revelation

The Armenian subplot comes back to life when Armanoush, Mustafa’s
stepdaughter, visits his home in Istanbul and realizes that this is
the place to which Armenians trace their past, their traditions and
their memories. Her visit also prompts Zeliha to recount, for the
first time, the unspeakable circumstances of her pregnancy. The prose
regains its original intensity and the denouement is unexpected.

Shafak has storytelling talent and a sense of humor. Born in France and
raised in Turkey and Spain by her single mother, a Turkish diplomat,
she now splits her time between Istanbul and Tucson, where she is
an assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University
of Arizona.

In this, her sixth novel, Shafak shows great promise. The hope
is that her seventh will stick to telling one story instead of
intertwining two.

"The Bastard of Istanbul" is published by Viking (360 pages, $24.95,
16.99 pounds).

(Farah Nayeri writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are
her own.)

KHACHATUR SUKIASIAN: IT IS HARD TO DISTINGUISH BUSINESSMEN FROM POLITICAL FIGURES IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Formation of family business is
one of the achievements of the Armenian economy over the years of
independence. Chairman of Grand Holding Hrant Vardanian said this at
the April 11 press conference.

According to him, in particular, such families as the Vardanians
and the Sukiasians have various enterprises which are managed by
family members.

Father of two canidates participating in the parliamentary elections
did not subscribe to the opinion that big businessmen enter the
political arena with the aim of getting a "roof" (protection). In
his words, decent attitude to the country’s budget is the greatest
security for a businessman. In this connection it was mentioned that
the companies owned by the Vardanians and the Sukiasians are among
the top five biggest tax payers of Armenia. H. Vardanian said that it
is corrupted businessmen, who are closely linked with the authorities
and get their property illegally, who have problems.

Khachatur Sukiasian, National Assembly deputy, businessman, whose
candidature was registered at electoral district No 10 by the
majoritarian electoral system, in his turn noted that it is hard
to distinguish businessmen from political figures in Armenia. After
examining some income declarations, he revealed that many political
figures have more property than businessmen. In the opinion of
K. Sukiasian, the NA deputies should be literate and intelligent
people who give priority to state interests.

Responding to reporters’ questions, K. Sukiasian said that opening
the Armenian-Turkish border will promote the Armenian economy. In
his words, it is not worth leaving problems with neighbors to the
future generations. Hrant Vardanian said that in case of existence of
unresolved problems between the two countries, the border’s opening
will be dangerous for a country with small economy like Armenia.

ARMENIA MEETS ALL REQUIREMENTS OF IMF DATA DISSEMINATION SPECIAL STANDARD

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Statistics is a science which is
always subject to methodological changes, and there is a constant
need to improve the methodologies used. Head of the RA National
Statistical Service Stepan Mnatsakanian stated this at the April 11
press conference. In his words, the reliability of any statistical
index is determined by the methodology used, whose publication is
one of the requirements of statistics.

S. Mnatsakanian gave the report on implementation of the 2004-2006
three-year program of state statistical work. According to the report,
in the period under review, 99.9% of 5,561 planned units of work
were done. The work was financed from the RA state budget, including
with resources of grants provided by foreign states and international
organizations. S. Mnatsakanian said that out of 1 bln 860.2 mln drams
envisaged by the state budget for implementation of the three-year
program, 1 bln 794.3 mln drams (about 4.8 mln USD) has been allocated.

As the most important result of the work done, S. Mnatsakanian noted
the fact that Armenia has met all requirements of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) Data Dissemination Special Standard and joined
this system of standards.

He said that Armenia is the 54th country to have met these
requirements.

TURKISH SCHOLAR OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TANER AKCAM SPEAKS APRIL 18

UST Bulletin Today, MN
April 12 2007

The Genocide Intervention Network-Minnesota will host a talk by Dr.
Taner Akcam, visiting professor of history at the University of
Minnesota and a scholar of the Armenian genocide. Akcam’s talk,
free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18,
in Room 100, McNeely Hall.

In 1976, Akcam was arrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment
as the editor-in-chief of a political journal. He escaped from
prison a year later, tunneling his way to freedom, and became one of
Amnesty International’s first "prisoners of conscience." He lived in
Germany since 1978 as a political refugee and continued his political
activities, studying at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research and
the University of Hannover in Germany on the topic of the Armenian
genocide.

Dr. Taner Akcam Akcam is under investigation in Turkey for asserting
that the deportations and deaths of nearly a million Armenians in
1915 constituted a genocide, which is denied by the government.

Speaking out against the Turkish government’s policy constitutes the
crime of "insulting Turkishness," for which Nobel laureate Ohran Pamuk,
novelist and professor Elif Shafak of the University of Arizona,
and Istanbul Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, recently murdered for
speaking out about the genocide, also have been targeted.

Akcam is the first Turkish specialist to use the word "genocide"
publicly in this context. The New York Times calls his new book,
A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish
Responsibility, an "impressive achievement … [it] shines light
on exactly why and how the Ottoman Empire deported and slaughtered
the Armenians."

Akcam’s visit is sponsored by the All College Council, University
Lectures Committee, History Department, and the Ohanessian Endowment
Fund for Justice and Peace Studies of the Minneapolis Foundation.

For additional information on the Genocide Intervention Network,
contact:

Jenny Le, president, St. Thomas chapter of the Genocide Intervention
Network Dr. Ellen Kennedy, Genocide Intervention Network-Minnesota
Minnesota Genocide Intervention Network Web site Genocide Intervention
Network Web site, the national organization.

ws/200715/Thursday/Genocide4_12_07.cfm

ACCORDING TO FORECASTS, ABOUT 450 THOUSAND TOURISTS TO VISIT ARMENIA IN 2007

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. According to forecasts, in 2007 the
number of tourists to Armenia will amount to 450 thousand. The RA
Deputy Acting Minister of Trade and Economic Development Ara Petrosian
stated this at the opening ceremony of the 4th two-day conference
dedicated to problems of Armenian tourism’s competitiveness.

According to him, the achievements of the Armenian tourism sector and
the strategical program of tourism development will be presented at
the conference, whose participants will also discuss the key factors
of the sector’s competitiveness.

In the words of Mekhak Apresian, Head of the Tourism Department of
the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, in 2004-2006,
the average annual growth of tourists to Armenia made 20%. He said
that this index is the result of active cooperation of all parties
interested – state and private bodies of the tourism sector.

The event has been organized on the initiative of the RA Ministry
of Trade and Economic Development, the Armenian Tourism Development
Agency (ATDA), and the USAID Competitive Armenian Private Sector
(CAPS) Program.