Month: December 2008

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
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PRESS RELEASE

December 7, 2008
Contact: Michael A Zachariades
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 393-3434

ASSEMBLY COMMEMORATES 20th ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA’s EARTHQUAKE

Washington, DC – On the 20th anniversary of the earthquake that
devastated much of Northern Armenia, the Armenian Assembly of America
(Assembly) once again thanks the private American organizations, U.S.
Members of Congress and Administration officials of the time for
contributing to an unprecedented effort to provide for the needs of the
hundreds of thousands of survivors.

`On this solemn occasion, we pause to remember the victims and the
survivors of the devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of so
many,’ said Assembly Chairman of the Board of Trustees Hirair
Hovnanian. `We also recall the tremendous outpouring of support and
compassion from people in America and abroad. The emergency response of
the U.S. Government was immediate and generous.’

The 1988 earthquake registered 6.9 on the Richter Scale and struck
without warning, resulting in at least 25,000 deaths and an estimated
50,000 injured. The disaster affected 20 cities and over 350 villages,
completely destroying 58 villages and leaving 1 in 7 Armenians homeless.

During this critical time, the Assembly joined other organizations in
providing assistance to the people of Armenia and established a special
earthquake relief fund, swiftly raising over $4 million in
contributions. The Assembly led a delegation of medical personnel to
Armenia to view the destruction firsthand and determine ways in which
the U.S. could provide additional assistance.

With 80 percent of Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia,
destroyed, the U.S. government sent nearly $9.5 million in aid to
Armenia and private U.S. organizations contributed over $40 million.
Damage was estimated to be $16.2 billion.

The Assembly’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees Hirair Hovnanian made
several trips to Armenia after the earthquake to meet with government
officials and assess the needs. The Assembly made the decision to build
a factory complex to construct prefabricated housing for the earthquake
victims and opened its first office in Yerevan on February 4, 1989, to
help coordinate relief efforts.

Hovnanian is in Armenia and will be participating in several
commemorative events in honor of the victims and survivors of the
earthquake. He will be accompanied by Arpi Vartanian, Assembly Country
Director for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. `We can never forget the
massive destruction and despair that rocked Armenia 20 years ago and we
must also look to the future as we continue to support efforts to
rebuild Armenia and to develop its economy,’ said Vartanian. `Since
the earthquake, much work has been done to rebuild the
earthquake-ravaged areas and to heal the trauma of the survivors. While
for many, the rebuilding was not fast enough, and in fact, work still
continues, the worldwide efforts to address the overwhelming and
immediate needs must be commended. Every individual who contributed is a
hero.’

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding
and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
membership organization.

###

Editor’s Note

To read the 1991 Armenian Earthquake Fact Sheet, please follow the link
below:
c/pdf_2008_recent/1988_Earthquake_Fact_Sheet.pdf

December 7, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist

A Killer Without Borders
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

/07kristof.html

YEREVAN, Armenia

As if you didn’t have enough to worry about … consider the deadly,
infectious and highly portable disease sitting in the lungs of a
charming young man here, Garik Hakobyan. In effect, he’s a time bomb.

Mr. Hakobyan, 34, an artist, carries an ailment that stars in the
nightmares of public health experts – XDR-TB, the scariest form of
tuberculosis. It doesn’t respond to conventional treatments and is
often incurable.

XDR-TB could spread to your neighborhood because it isn’t being
aggressively addressed now, before it rages out of control. It’s being
nurtured by global complacency.

When doctors here in Armenia said they would introduce me to XDR
patients, I figured we would all be swathed in protective clothing and
chat in muffled voices in a secure ward of a hospital. Instead, they
simply led me outside to a public park, where Mr. Hakobyan sat on a
bench with me.

"It’s pretty safe outside, because his coughs are dispersed," one
doctor explained, "but you wouldn’t want to be in a room or vehicle
with him." Then I asked Mr. Hakobyan how he had gotten to the park.

"A public bus," he said.

He saw my look and added: "I have to take buses. I don’t have my own
Lincoln Continental." To his great credit, Mr. Hakobyan is trying to
minimize his contact with others and doesn’t date, but he inevitably
ends up mixing with people.

Afterward, I asked one of his doctors if Mr. Hakobyan could have
spread his lethal infection to other bus passengers. "Yes," she said
thoughtfully. "There was one study that found that a single TB patient
can infect 14 other people in the course of a single bus ride."

Americans don’t think much about TB, just as we didn’t think much of
AIDS in the 1980s. But drug-resistant TB is spreading – half a million
cases a year already – and in a world connected by jet planes and
constant flows of migrants and tourists, the risk is that our myopia
will catch up with us.

Barack Obama’s administration should ensure it isn’t complacent about
TB in the way that Ronald Reagan was about AIDS. Reagan didn’t let the
word AIDS pass his lips publicly until he was into his second term,
and this inattention allowed the disease to spread far more than
necessary. That’s not a mistake the Obama administration should make
with tuberculosis.

One-third of the world’s population is infected with TB, and some 1.5
million people die annually of it. That’s more than die of malaria or
any infectious disease save AIDS.

"TB is a huge problem," said Tadataka Yamada, president of global
health programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "It’s a
problem that in some ways has been suppressed. We often don’t talk
about it."

Ineffective treatment has led to multi-drug resistant forms, or
MDR-TB. Scarier still is XDR-TB, which stands for extensively drug
resistant TB. That is what Mr. Hakobyan has. There were only 83 cases
of XDR-TB reported in the United States from 1993 to 2007, but it
could strike with a vengeance.

"We always think we live in a protected world because of modern
medicines and the like," Dr. Yamada said. "But if we get a big problem
with XDR, we could be in a situation like we had in the 19th century
when we didn’t have good treatments."

If we were facing an equivalent military threat capable of killing
untold numbers of Americans, there might be presidential commissions
and tens of billions of dollars in appropriations, not to mention
magazine cover stories. But with public health threats, we all drop
the ball.

Because of this complacency about TB, there hasn’t been enough
investment in treatments and diagnostics, although some new medication
is on the horizon.

"Amazingly, the most widely used TB diagnostic is a 19th-century one,
and it’s as lousy as you might imagine," said Dr. Paul Farmer, the
Harvard public health expert whose Partners in Health organization was
among the first to call attention to the dangers of drug-resistant TB.

In Armenia, the only program for drug-resistant TB, overseen by
Doctors Without Borders, can accept only 15 percent of the patients
who need it. And the drugs often are unable to help them.

"After two years of treatment with toxic drugs, less than half of such
chronic TB patients are cured, and that’s very demoralizing," noted
Stobdan Kalon, the medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders
here. And anyone who thinks that drug-resistant TB will stay in places
like Armenia is in denial. If it isn’t defused, Mr. Hakobyan’s XDR
time bomb could send shrapnel flying into your neighborhood.

I invite you to comment on this column on my blog
, and join me on Facebook at

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Dec 3 2008

Telegram of Condolences to Astsatryans’ Family

RA NA President Mr Hovik Abrahamyan sent condolences to the close
relatives and friends of the state, public, economic prominent figure
Yeghishe Astsatryan on his death. `The development of a number of
branches of Armenia’s national economy is connected with the name of
Yeghishe Astsatryan. He had serious contribution to the sphere of
economics too,’ noted the NA President, expressing grief on behalf of
the National Assembly and on behalf of him on the moment of their
heavy loss.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 3 2008

Armenia wishes to participate in transport projects implemented in
South Caucasus

[ 04 Dec 2008 11:13 ]

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov ` APA. `Armenia wishes to participate in the
transnational transport projects implemented in the South Caucasus,’
said Gagik Grigorian, head of Foreign Relations Department of
Armenia’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, who is attending
the Ministerial Summit of TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission in
Baku, APA reports.
`If we are offered to participate in great projects implemented in the
region, we will consider these issues and be grateful. Regional
projects will help update and improve infrastructure in the region,’
he said.

Gagik Grigorian underlined that Armenia participated in TRACECA
program and the program played an important role in the region’s
integration into Europe.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

, Turkey
Dec 3 2008

Turkish FM to meet Minsk Group co-presidents over Upper Karabakh issue

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has attended NATO Foreign
Ministers’ Meeting in Brussels.

Thursday, 04 December 2008 07:13

NATO’s relations with Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, NATO’s 60th
anniversary summit in 2009, operations, energy safety and the
Alliance’s relations with international organizations were high on
agenda of the meeting.

Regarding Kosovo, ministers welcomed the fact that the security
situation remains stable and acknowledged that NATO and KFOR, bearing
in mind its operational mandate, would continue to support the
development of a stable, democratic, multi ethnic and peaceful
country.

NATO foreign ministers also tackled concerns about the growing threat
of piracy in Somalia. In addition to its counter piracy related
assistance, NATO Allies committed to assist the African Union in other
ways, such as capacity building and airlift support.

They affirmed that Albania and Croatia would become members of the
Alliance during the upcoming summit in April.

Meeting with Rehn

Foreign Minister Babacan also held talks with EU Commissioner for
Enlargement Olli Rehn in Brussels.

Later today, Babacan will leave Brussels for Helsinki where he is set
to attend the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) ministerial meeting.

During his stay in Helsinki, Babacan will hold talks with
co-presidents of the Minsk Group dealing with the Upper Karabakh
issue. He is also expected to meet with his Azerbaijani and Armenian
counterparts.

AA

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan Business Center, Azerbaijan
Dec 3 2008

The Council of Europe Culture Ministers adopted the Baku Declaration

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Today The Council of Europe Culture Ministers’
Conference adopted the Baku Declaration on Assistance to the
Intercultural Dialogue.

An attachment to the declaration says that the Conference participants
agreed to strengthen the co-operation process started in Baku within
so-called the Council of Europe White Book on Cultural Dialogue
adopted in May 2008. The Ministers agreed to encourage signing,
ratification and fulfillment of the UNESCO Convention on Protection
and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Self-Expression Forms as
well as the Council of Europe Convention in the Area of Heritage and
Landscapes. It has been also decided to strengthen co-operation
between the Council of Europe, European Union, OSCE and the UN in
development of the intercultural dialogue and tolerance.

`I think the Conference was a success. It will assist development of
the intercultural dialogue,’ Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture and
Tourism Abulfaz Garayev said.

He expressed confidence in the Baku process to initiate a new coil of
cultural interaction between European countries.

Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Director General of Education, Culture and
Heritage, Youth and Sport and Coordinator for Intercultural Dialogue
of the Council of Europe, noted that the upcoming Culture Ministers’
Conference within ISESCO to be held in Baku city will help to
contribute to implementation of the Baku Declaration.

At the same time the Conference has not involved representatives of
Armenia.

`Azerbaijan has guaranteed security to Armenia, but nevertheless
Armenia decided not to participate,’ Garayev emphasized.

`Armenia has not used an opportunity to attend the conference, but we
hope it will follow the document adopted in Baku,’ Gabriella
Battaini-Dragoni underlined.

Besides the Council of Europe countries, the Conference was attended
by representatives of Islamic countries as well.

Azerbaijan Business Center, Azerbaijan
Dec 3 2008

Armenia and Georgia pollute Kura river on the border with Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The National Environmental Monitoring Department
(Azerbaijan Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources) has conducted
monitoring for the third 10-day period of December to define level of
pollution in the Kura and Arax transborder rivers.

The Ministry’s press service informs that the monitoring revealed
exceeding multi-fold the norm of phenols and copper compounds in the
Kura and Arax rivers adjoining to points under transborder pollutions.

The main water contaminants in Shikhli-2 point of Kura River are
phenols and copper compounds, content of which has exceeded maximum
allowable coefficient 3-5 fold, in Agstafachay River ` copper
compounds exceeded the coefficient 3 fold and phenols ` 2 fold,
Agstafachay water storage ` phenols and copper compounds 2 fold.

Such biogenic matters as ammonium containing in these waters fit the
norms, but content of nitrite in points Agstafachay of Kura river
overtop 3 fold the norm level of thickness.

The cause of that is discharge of water without treatment from
industrial and stock-breeding enterprises on the territory of Armenia
and Georgia.

`It was revealed that content of phenols and copper compounds in Arax
River on the border with Armenia exceed the norm multifold. In
Goradiz, Shakh-Seven 1 and Bakhramtepe points content of main
pollutants – phenols and copper compounds was exceeded 3 fold,’ it was
informed.

Oxygene regime in all points was in norm and ranged 5.95-6.93 mg/l.

Birmingham Star, AL
Dec 3 2008

Azerbaijan balancing strategic interests

Birmingham Star
Wednesday 3rd December, 2008

The newly reelected President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, was sworn
in for a second term last month after winning the October 15th
election with 89 percent of the vote.

Opposition parties boycotted the election, and monitors from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized the
poll’s shortcomings, especially during counting and tabulation.

But whatever the shortcomings of the election, President Aliyev enjoys
enormous popularity in his own country, according to Paul Goble,
Director of Research and Publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic
Academy in Baku. Speaking with host Judith Latham of VOA News Now’s
International Press Club, Goble says, even if the election had been
fully free and fair with all the major parties taking part, the
Azerbaijani President would still have been reelected with a
significant majority.

The Azerbaijan perspective

Mr. Aliyev’s election victory cemented his family’s long grip on power
in Azerbaijan. He was elected in 2003 following the death of his
father, Heydar Aliyev, who himself dominated politics in the country
for 30 years. Paul Goble says that stability has been an important
factor in one of the most dangerous and unstable parts of the world. A
key reason is Azerbaijan’s strategic position on the pipeline carrying
crude oil from the Caspian Sea through Georgia and Turkey. Goble notes
that Azerbaijan sits at a unique juncture of a north-south, and an
east-west, axis of influence. Therefore, he says, Azerbaijan almost
has to pursue what President Aliyev has called a `balanced’ foreign
policy, taking into account the views of Russia, Iran, Central Asia,
Turkey, Europe, and the United States. And as Goble points out, the
recent war in Georgia demonstrated that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline is not absolutely secure.

A Georgian Perspective

Georgian journalist and political analyst Ghia Abashidze in Tbilisi
agrees. Abashidze says the war with Russia in August made the issue of
energy supplies in the Caucasus abundantly clear to
everyone. According to the latest reports, Abashidze says, the
pipeline is not working at its full prewar capacity, and it is unclear
when it will. And that’s not only because of the world economic crisis
but also because of the aftermath of last summer’s war. There are
still Russian troops on Georgian soil, so investors are reluctant to
restart the pipeline at its full capacity, Abashidze says.

Nonetheless, Ghia Abashidze says the Georgian leadership sees
Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s reelection in a positive light. People
there remember how Azerbaijan helped Georgia in recent years when
Russia cut off gas and energy supplies, he says, so Georgians expect
that friendly relations with Azeris will continue.

An Armenian Perspective

However, relations between Baku and Yerevan are fraught with tension
because of a long-standing struggle between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Paul
Goble, Moscow has not played a very helpful role there, despite the
new Russian President’s overtures to both sides.

The reality is that the Russian government has not wanted an agreement
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Goble says. He suggests that President
Dmitri Medvedev may have invited the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to go to Moscow last month for negotiations partly as a way
of demonstrating Russia’s preeminent position vis-a-vis the other
Minsk Group countries. Goble says that, if Moscow decides it is in its
greater interest to back Azerbaijan, there will be in his words a
`possibility of movement.’ But, he adds Russia’s geopolitical
calculations in the southern Caucasus have clearly changed.

Emil Sanamyan, Washington editor of the Armenian Reporter, agrees with
Paul Goble that the Kremlin might have ulterior motives in last
month’s meetings. Sanamyan says Russia’s brokering of talks does not
necessarily aim at resolution and agreement, but rather is an attempt
to recapture the dominance it used to have in the region. And in fact
Armenian President Serge Sarkissian made the point that, after Georgia
failed in its recent attack on South Ossetia, Azerbaijan would
probably think twice about using military options in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Sanamyan suggests that factor alone may improve the
prospects for a peace deal.

U.S. Policy Perspective

According to Paul Goble, Azerbaijan is critically important to
Washington as well as to Moscow. First, he says, there is an interest
in access to oil and gas. Second, he notes there are strategic
considerations and making sure that Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia
understand that the `east-west line’ is more beneficial to them. And
third, Goble cautions, progress toward democracy in the region should
not be sacrificed in the name of geo-strategic or economic interests.

php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/437893/cs/1/

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 3 2008

Babacan to meet with Azerbaijani, Armenian foreign ministers

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan is scheduled to meet separately with his
counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia today in Helsinki on the
sidelines of a gathering of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Officials say there is no formal decision to have three-way talks
similar to the one the three ministers had at this year’s UN General
Assembly in September, though observers still expect trilateral talks
today. In addition to separate talks with Babacan, Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian are expected to have a bilateral
meeting. Representatives from Russia, France and the United States,
co-leaders of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, working for a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, will also be attending the
meeting.

The main item in the talks is the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, which
poisons not only Azerbaijani-Armenian ties but also relations between
Ankara and Yerevan. Turkey severed its diplomatic ties and closed its
border gate with Armenia in 1993 in protest of the occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan by Armenian forces. Ankara is pursuing
a policy of rapprochement with Yerevan but the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute is one of the main obstacles to reconciliation.

04 December 2008, Thursday
SERVET YANATMA HELSINKI

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 3 2008

Final Resolution to Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Hardly be Found in
Helsinki – OSCE Chairman-in-Office
04.12.08 02:51

Finland, Helsinki, 4 December/ corr TrendNews E.Gusatinskaya / `Good
job was done and progress was achieved this year. I believe the
[Armenian `Azerbaijani] Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled
soon. However, it will hardly possible to find final solution to the
dispute tomorrow [4 December] in Helsinki,’ OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Alexander Stubb said at a news conference on 3 December.

The 16th meeting of the OSCE Council of foreign ministers begins in
Finland on 4 December incorporating 50 foreign ministers, 1,200
delegates and over 2500 journalists.

Stubb appreciated work of the Minsk Group calling it `most appropriate
format for settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem’.

According to Stubb, one of main themes of the summit to open in
Helsinki will be lingering conflicts in former Soviet Union, first –
situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as Nagorno-Karabakh
and Transdniestria. `Resolution of lingering conflicts in South
Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestria should not be outsourced,
although OSCE was not able to prevent war in Georgia this summer,’
OSCE chairman-in-office said. `Now chances to reach consensus is
better than they were lately,’ he said.

On 3 December Helsinki hosted first meetings, including meeting
between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia – Elman
Mamedyarov and Edward Nalbandyan, as well as Mamedyarov’s meeting with
co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group – Yuri Merzliakov, Russia, Matthew
Bryza, the United States, Bernard Fassier, France, and personal
representative of OSCE chairman-in-office , Andrzej Kasprzyk.