Month: November 2009

RA MINISTER OF DIASPORA HRANUSH HAKOBYAN RECEIVED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ARMENIAN RELIEF SOCIETY

Noyan Tapan
02.11.2009

YEREVAN: On November 2 RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan
received chairwoman of the Central Board of the Armenian Relief
Society (ARS) Vicky Marashlian, director of the Central Board’s
Boston office Jirair Peotchekian, representative of the Central Board
in Armenia Karine Hovhannisian and Armenia’s regional board member
Flora Aharonian.

As reported by the Department of Press and Public Relations of the
RA Ministry of Diaspora, Minister Hakobyan attached importance to
the role of the ARS in the development of the Armenia-Diaspora
partnership. The sides discussed issues related to events being
organized for the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration. The
Central Board has the desire to create an alley of women members of
the ARS and install the statue symbolizing the ARS at Tsitsernakaberd.

The ARS representatives look forward to the support from the RA
Ministry of Diaspora in organizing the events dedicated to the 100th
anniversary of the ARS.

LITHUANIAN DELEGATION VISITED CIVILITAS FOUNDATION

Civilitas Foundation
Friday, 30 October 2009 16:30

A Lithuanian delegation, headed by the deputy foreign minister
Mr. Evaldas Ignatavicius, member of the European Parliament
Mr. Leonidas Donskis, as well as the Ambassador of the Republic of
Lithuania to the Republic of Armenia, visited the Civilitas Foundation
on October 30.

The guests had a meeting with Vartan Oskanian and discussed
internal and external developments in Armenia. They were interested
particularly in Mr. Oskanian’s views regarding the recent developments
in Armenia-Turkey relations, as well as the Karabakh resolution
process. Mr. Oskanian talked about the obvious links between these two
processes, and stated that judging from the statements that come from
the Turkish side, the Turkey-Armenia process cannot play a positive
role in the Karabakh resolution process. The guests also discussed
other regional issues, as well as the economic situation both in
Armenia and Lithuania.

BRITAIN ACCUSED OF ‘GENOCIDE DENIAL’ OVER ARMENIA
David Leigh

guardian.co.uk
Tuesday 3 November 2009 22.51 GMT

Britain was accused of "genocide denial" today after the disclosure
of Foreign Office documents revealing the government’s refusal to
recognise the so-called Armenian massacre of 1915, in which up to a
million people died.

The documents, dating back over the last 15 years, say Anglo-Turkish
relations are too important to be jeopardised by the issue because
"Turkey is neuralgic and defensive about the charge of genocide".

One Foreign Office briefing for ministers conceded that the British
government "is open to criticism in terms of the ethical dimension",
but goes on to say: "The current line is the only feasible option"
owing to "the importance of our relations (political, strategic and
commercial) with Turkey". The 1999 briefing said: "Recognising the
genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK."

Britain’s stance, stretching back over Labour and Tory administrations,
was called a cynical "genocide denial" by Geoffrey Robertson, the QC
who served as first president of the UN war crimes court for Sierra
Leone. Robertson was commissioned by Armenian expatriate groups in
London to review the foreign office files, obtained in heavily redacted
form from freedom of information requests. He published a report today
which says: "Parliament has been routinely misinformed by ministers
who have recited FCO briefs without questioning their accuracy."

The allegation that the Armenian massacres during the first world
war were a form of genocide, carried out by the Ottoman empire, is a
bitterly contested issue that has soured relations between Turkey and
Armenia. The border between the two countries was re-opened last month
after being closed since 1993, thanks to an accord which includes a
promise to set up a commission of historians to re-examine the affair.

Turkish and Armenian parliaments still have to ratify the accord.

The Foreign Office documents include advice in 1995 to the then Tory
foreign minister, Douglas Hogg, that he should refuse to attend a
memorial service for the victims, and attempts to encourage the idea
that historians were in disagreement over the facts. The government
refused to include the Armenian massacres as part of holocaust
memorial day.

Robertson’s report says: "There is no doubt that in 1915 the Ottoman
government ordered the deportation of up to 2 million Armenians …

hundreds of thousands died en route from starvation, disease, and
armed attack."

The1948 genocide convention was drawn up with the specific case
of the Armenians in mind, he says, and most scholars and European
parliaments have described their fate as genocide. "But recent British
governments … have resolutely refused to do so," resorting instead,
he says, to the legally meaningless expression that "insufficiently
unequivocal evidence" of genocide exists.

Britain is a keen supporter of Turkey’s attempts to join the EU. But
the Armenian question has become a touchstone for critics, who argue
that Turkey should not be allowed into the EU until it admits the
truth about its past. Turkey refuses to allow any of its citizens to
call the Armenian massacres genocide. When Nobel prize-winning writer
Orhan Pamuk did so, he was charged with "insulting Turkishness" in
2005, although the justice ministry refused to let a trial proceed,
following an embarrassing international outcry.

Three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a
journalist, Ali Bayramoglu, published an open letter, inviting Turks
to sign an online petition supporting its sentiments. It reads: "My
conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial
of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to
in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathise with
the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologise to them."

But while academics edge towards openness, Robertson says Britain’s
official policy has merely been "to evade truthful answers, because
the truth would discomfort the Turkish government".

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE APOCALYPSE OF ARMENIA: THE PROTOCOLS, THE COMING GERM/BIOLOGICAL WARFARE BY TURKEY

World Sentinel
w/126928
Nov 4 2009

Armenian Strategic Intelligence Report

The Armenians in The Republic of Armenia and the Armenians of Diaspora
are in turmoil on the question as to accept or to reject the so called
"Swiss Road-map, Protocols" advocated by the President of Armenia,
Serzh Sargsyan. Some valid proposals have been suggested by both the
opposition and the advocates of the Protocols. But, for the first
time it is hereby revealed the danger of physical extermination of
the Armenians in Armenia if the border between Armenia-Turkey and
Armenia-Azerbaijan is opened.

Attached is a map published in 2006, by Communicable Diseases World
Health Organization. Before discussing the map in detail and why
opening of the Armenia-Turkey border is a health hazard to Armenia,
let us look back at history–as history repeats itself.

453 A.D.: Attila the Hun, the Turkish-Tatar, Scourge of Mankind,
crossed the Italian border on his way to conquer Rome. But, an
epidemic brought by his troops from Cntral Asia, ravaged his army
and he retreated. Rome for now was saved from the barbarians.

542 A.D.: An invisible enemey strikes Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor
Justinian´s capital. Within a short period 50% of the population
of Constantinople died a horrible death. The killer was the Bubonic
Plague bacterium, which infected flees living in the furs of rats
which were carried on board of ships traversing the Black and the
Mediterranean Seas and by land across Europe to England and Ireland.

The epidemic killed 50% or over 100 million of the Empire´s
population!

The pandemic was caused by the virus Yesinia pestis, better known
as The Bubonic Black Plague, which infected the flees on the Black
rodents called Rattus rattus. The original homeland of this virus
was and still is Central Asia and present Istanbul. From there the
Mongol-Turkic tribes carried the infectious individuals by land to
the Black Sea and from there by land and by sea to Constantinople.

The Black Plague practically destroyed the European civilization,
depopulated the lands, stopped trade, reduced agriculture and thus
put an end to Justinian´s empire.

During the Dark Ages of the 6th and 7th centuries, Europe was visited
by several outbreaks of the Plague.

1347 A.D.: From the Eastern Mongolia, Central Asia, once again the
world´s destruction arose. The Bubonic Plague first devastated Mongol
villages and moved to annihilate millions across the world. The vast
empire of the Mongols which extended from China to Eastern Europe,
was devastated by the pestilence.

In Crimea, the Italian city of Caffa on the Black Sea,was attacked by
the Mongols. Unable to take the city and they demselves suffering the
plague, the Mongols lifted their siege. But, before going away they
catapulted the diseased bodies of their soldiers over the walls of
Caffa. Soon, the city population died out in large numbers. A few
boarded on boats and sailed for Constantinople. Unknowingly they
carried on their ships the infected rats and people. The pestilence
spread rapidly thuout the city. A few ships harboured in Messina,
Italy. In a matter of days the city died in an agonizing death. More
ships sailed for the coast of France and from here the Black Death
spreads like wildfire.

>From 1347 to 1350, in just four years, more than half of the world
population perished. In England 2 million or 1/3 of the population
died. In Paris 50%, Barcelona 60%, and many places as high as 75-100%
died. In total 15 million of the world population was killed. The
Jews became the scapegoat for the plague. Thruout Europe, especially
Germany, Jews were slaughtered and burned on stakes. By the end of the
14th century no Jews remained in Europe. Except, Poland, whose king
who had married a Jewess, gave refuge and protection to the remnant of
the Jewish race. It was these Ashkenazi Jews, who in comming centuries
were to become a large minority in Europe, especially Germany, whose
descendents perished in WWII holocaust, under the Nazi regime.

1918: After WW I, Europe and the world suffered the most horrendous
epidemic, known as the Sapnish Inluenza. The virus originated in
Mongolia and passing thru China reached the West Coast of America.

>From there it travelled to a military camp in South-east U.S. One
soldier who was infected by the virus, was shipped to Europe with
his army unit. Soon the contagious disease exploded all over Europe
and United States. More than 40 million or as high as 50 million,
twice the casualties of the entire war, died. Again a pestilence
originated in Central Asia devastated the world.

What does this recount of history have to do with the Protocols,
the reader will ask? But before refering to the MAP, a few points
not discussed in the Protocols is to be clarified:

The Protocols, the Swiss mediated bilateral agreements between Armenia
and Turkey, like a Swiss cheese, is full of holes. It is in fact
an American-Turkish ruse in order to subjugate a weak Armenia into
accepting terms which are totally detrimental to Armenians worldwide.

By signing the "Treaty" and accepting the "Territorial Integrity" of
present Turkish Empire and establishing the "Historical Commision",
Armenia will capitulate to Turkey and Armenian Genocide Deniers will
proclaim that not only the Genocide did not take place, Armenia never
existed in history and thus the modern Republic of Armenia will have
no territorial claims for its ancestral homeland.

This is absulutely unacceptable to the Armenians.

By opening the Armenia-Turkish borders a new era of friendly
cooperation will develop between the neibor states, so say the
advocates of the Protocols. But, first of all, in International Law
closing of a border or blockade of one state against another is a
Declaration of War! As such both Turkey and Azerbaijan have declared
war against Armenia! Thus, as first step, Turkey (and Azerbaijan)
will have to renounce their declaration of war and declare that
the borders will be open after negotiations. Until then, Turkey and
Azerbaijan are at war with Armenia and any negotiations are not valid.

The Armenia-Turkey border in question should better be stated as
Armenia-Turkish Occupied Armenia border. The District of Kars-Ardahan,
was an internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia,
in 1918. It was because of the Kemalist aggression and Stalin´s
Communist regime that cut away the district and annexed it to Kemalist
Turkey. Likewise, Karabakh and Nakhidjevan were Armenian territories
cut away by Stalin and given to friendly Azerbaijan. Thus, Armenia
cannot accept opening a border within its own rightfull territory,
albeit partly occupied by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Opening of the borders will bring prosperity to Armenia by opening its
trade roots across Turkey to Europe, so say the pro-Protocols. Simply
ridiculous. From a civilized country like Armenia thru Turkish
territories still living the life of Dark Ages, Armenia will have
no economic or industrial benefits. Europe is too far away and the
road hellish. Armenia has no products–agricultural, industrial or
technological–to export to Turkey and Europe. Air connection will
be faster and cheaper than truck and auto trsansportations thru the
uncivilized, often barbaric Turkish territory.

Just the opposite. Turkey will gain all. It can produce and export
all kinds of goods to Armenia, cheaper and better, and in so doing
destroy the home agriculture and industry. Furthermore, it will flood
and pollute Yerevan by the hated Turkish migrants and business people,
who are already choking the European nations. The floodgates of Turks
will open on both ends–Europe and Armenia.

Turkey will not fully open the border. It will be only a bottleneck for
their exports. The major reason being that by a wide and truly open
border, the Alevis and Kurds of eastern Turkey, after hundred years
of persecution, genocide and oppression will suddenly be exposed
to Western civilization. Smuggling of arms to PKK, and revival
of Kurdish nationalism will tear apart Turkey into civil war and
eventual destruction.

Armenia should strengthen its economic, industrial and military
ties with Iran and Russia. Building a petroleum refinery in Armenia,
financed by Iran will be a salvation for Iran against future blockade
of gasoline via the Persian Gulf. Armenian scientists have decades
of experience in nuclear power plant engineering and technology. A
closer cooperation in building nuclear plants to produce energy will
be beneficial to both countries. Armenia and Iran have over three
thousand years of shared history. Armenia and Iran have certainly
been at war many times before, but neither one has committed genocide
against the other. Both Armenia and Iran have suffered centuries of
ravages by Turko-Tatar-Mongols. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a
haven for the Armenians.

By practically making Armenia as a stepping stone to connect Turkey to
Azerbaijan, all the way to Central Asia, the age old dream of a vast
Turanian Empire will be realized. The Euroepans do not care if Armenia
and Iran are once again terrorized by the genocidal Turks and Tatars.

They are ready to sacrifice both of these Aryan nations for the oil
and gas that can be obtained.

Russia will be rendered a third rate nation by being deprived of its
wealth that comes mainly from its control of Russian oil and gas
deliveries to Europe. And Iran will be isolated from contact with
Armenia and Russia and be defenseless against American and Israeli
attacks.

Thus, agreeing to the Protocols, Armenia will be considered a puppet
state that would be the cause of demise of its only friends–Russia and
Iran. Armenia also will be isolated and surrounded by Turko-Tatars who
would at any opportunate time engage in annihilation of the Armenians.

The "Historical Commission" is a ruse to delay the recognition of
Armenian Genocide and Armenia´s territorial demands from Turkey. Since
1923, the Kemlists have purged, doctored, erazed, destroyed or simply
hidden away any documents that would confirm the guilt of Turks
as individuals and as a nation in committing the heinous crime of
massacres and deportations not only of the Armenians, but the Greeks
and Assyrians.

Furthermore, all such documents, including the Malta and Turkish
Court-Marshals trial documents, are written in Osmanli Turkish and in
Arabic script. Only a handful individuals can read and understand these
documents. As time passes only a few Turkish scholars will be able
to research them. A task that is impossible for a few individuals,
especially when researched by Turks. Therefore, Armenia should say
a resounding NO to the "Historical Commission."

The signing of the Protocols will also allow the infiltration of
Zionis Israel into the economy and politics of the Caucasus. Known,
but hardly talked about is the fact that Mustafa Kemal was a Doenmeh
Zionist Jew, an enemy of both Christianity and Islam. His so called
"National Liberation" movement was the continuation of the Young Turk
policy, most of whom were also Doenmeh Jews. The Republic of Turkey
is today controlled by about 10,000 Doenmeh Zionist Jews–banking,
industry, agriculture, trade and especially the military. It is not a
secret that the last two Chief of Staffs of the Turkish Armed Forces
were Jews!

Thus, a Jewish controlled Turkey, with its fangs plunged against the
heart of Armenia will in a short time dominate the Caucasus. And
the dream of the Zionists will come true who in 1918 attempted to
establish a Jewish state called "HAZARET IZRAELIT " in what was not
yet called Azerbaijan!

The Turko-American created Protocols will further divide the already
stressed Armenian society. Turkey will deliver a masterful blow–divide
and rule the Armenians, pit the Republic of Armenia against the
Armenian Diaspora!

Therefore, the Armenians in the homeland and disapora must reject
the treacherous action of President Serzh Sargsyan!

NOW LET US DISCUSS THE MAP ATTACHED

(You may need a good quality, 28lb paper to reproduce the map. Or
contact us as how to obtain a large size map)

This map was published by Communicable Diseases World Health
Organization, April 2006. It shows where in the world the H5N1 Bird
(Avian) Flu inluenza is confirmed.

The Swine Flu, H1N1, is presently spreading across the world. The
Swine Flu is mild influenza, similar to the regular flu. Worldwide
vaccines are being produced in order to vaccinate first the children
and then the adults. It is unknown what effect this newly developed
vaccination will do–cure or complicate the problem. Death from the
Swine Flu is rare.

But, the case of the Bird Flu is different. If confined to bird
populations–wild or domestic–the virus of H5N1 is communicable
within the birds. If the virus mutates and is able to pass from bird
to human and from human to human, then the epidemic resulting from
this pandemic will be disastrous. There is no vaccine nor there is
any possibility of developing a vaccine. So societies struck by Bird
Flu will have no cure or resistance against it. Death is assured.

This World Map shows that of all places, Turkey is where most of the
cases of Avian Flu have been recorded and where most of the deaths
have occured. In 2006, 61 cases of bird to human, H5N1 type, were
recorded. Of these 27 were in the Far East, spread out on a vast area;
34 in the Middle East; and total of 20 registered in Turkey and Tatar
Azerbaijan. The Avian Flu so far has been infected domestic birds. But
once it evolves (in highly concentrated areas like Turkey) into a type
that can spread from human to human, then an epidemic of catastrophic
degree will result. There are no safe vaccines against the influenza.

Europe and Near East countries, as well as the Americas, are directly
under the threat of Avian Flu which is mostly concentrated in Turkey
(33%)! Will the Turkish Avian Influenza, as "The Balck Death/Plague",
another threat from Turkey, wipe out the European populations?

Look at the Map again. The areas in Turkey with most Bird Flu
concentrations are near Istanbul, south on the Syrian border and
east on the borders of Armenia and Iran. Likewise the concentration
in Azerbaijan is near the border of Karabakh. Thus Armenia is not
only squeezed between genocidal Turko-Tatars, but between the areas
of active Bird Flu regions.

It does not stretch imagination to see what can happen when the
Armenia-Turkey borders are opened. There is a very good chance
that by accident or by deliberate action, the Bird Flu virus will
be transferred to Armenia. While the residents of Eastern Turkey
and Turks in general have developed somewhat immunity towards Bird
Flu virus, H5N1, and the plague carrying virus Yesinia pestis,
Armenians have no immunity towards either one. It will take only
one H5N1 infected Turk to spread the virus across open border of
Armenia. Only one H5N1 infected bird carried to Armenia in trade,
can spread across Armenia. This will be tantamount to Germ/Biological
Warfare. This Turkish Virus will decimate the Armenian as well as
Iranian populations.

Therefore, if for no other reason, but for prevention of annihilation
of the Armenian people, it is hereby demanded from President Serzh
Sargsyan, to indefintely postpone the signing of the Protocols.

Instead, the Armenian Government must require from the World Health
Organization to send its medical experts, find and destroy any traces
of H5N1 infected birds throughout Turkey and quarantine infected
humans. Only then Armenia and even Europe must fully open borders
with Turkey without any preconditions. Until then Armenia should
look at Turkey as the Biblical Valley of Gehena, The Hell, where
in ancient times the trash of the city of Jerusalem was thrown and
occasionally burned.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LULLABIES CLASS ‘ORORS’ INTO OAKLAND
By Caitlin Donohue

San Francisco Bay Guardian
lullabies_class_orors.html
Nov 3 2009
CA

Apparently, perusing the "Lullabies of Armenia" Wikipedia entry did
not leave me skilled in that particular musical school. No matter
how many times I explained that oror means "rock," to my boyfriend
(making repeating the word crucial to any decent sleep-inducing ditty
done in grand Armenian style), he was still loath to let me whisper
it in his ear ad infinitum. Oror oror oror oror…

There is no accounting for taste. I am willing to allow, however,
that there may have been an issue with my tone. Which is exactly why I
need Hasmik Harutyunyan’s Armenian lullaby class, which will be held
Saturday in Oakland as an opener to an evening of music as soothing
as a mother’s womb.

"When I sing, my dreams take wing," says Harutyunyan of her haunting
melodies

Her performances, reinvigorations of the rich Armenian tradition of
lullaby, have taken her all over the world. Harutyunyan has staged
concerts with Yo Yo Ma and more recently, Kitka, a Bay Area women’s
vocal ensemble who will play a concert after her attempts at teaching
us mere mortals the skills we need to lull our partners to sleep
after long days of Bay Area rat race.

In Armenia, the songs people sing to soothe their children to sleep
speak volumes of their life during the day. They’re narratives,
expressions of daily goals and traditional folklore. I am told that
one well known theme is that of giving one’s child over to suckle at
the teat of a mother deer, which I have no grounds for understanding
but trust that the message has something to do with earth and nurture.

The recorded versions of the songs are simple and rich affairs with
soft accompaniment by wind instruments or strings, whose strums pack
even more vibration into the undulating, soaring tones of the singer.

Packaged in an language unknown to most of us, this is the perfect
slide into dream world.

"I learn what I can, and I remember when I sing." Harutyunyan seems
to have a grasp of one of humankind’s elemental needs; comfort. Good
on us, Bay Area, that she’s giving us a chance to share in what
she’s learned.

Armenian Lullabies Workshop Sat/7, 4 p.m. (Kitka concert to follow at
8 p.m.), $15-$25 St. Vartan’s Armenian Apostolic Church 650 Spruce,
Oakland (510) 444-0323

ARMENIAN FEAST: BOYAJIAN PASSES ALONG COOKING HERITAGE
By Mat Schaffer

Boston Herald
ood_dining/food/view.bg?articleid=1209420&srvc =home&position=also
Nov 4 2009
MA

Sundays are for family and food at the Boyajian home on the South
Shore.

That’s when Ann Boyajian cooks Armenian for her entire clan – husband
John, three children (including son John, who owns Boyajian Inc.,
manufacturers of gourmet infused oils), their spouses and five
grandsons ("almost enough for a baseball team," boasts their proud
grandmother).

"I don’t cook Armenian exclusively, but I’m always doing something
that is Armenian," Boyajian said. "When the kids come over on Sundays,
it’s usually Armenian. If not the whole thing, it will be part of it.

Because they appreciate it."

Boyajian, who turns 84 next week, holds up a stack of recipes written
on well-worn index cards.

"These come from my long-lost heritage that I have never forgotten
and will continue to uphold," she said. "They come from my mother,
my grandmother. "

What is Armenian cuisine?

"We use a lot of cumin," Boyajian said. "A lot of garlic. Coriander,
dill and mint. Allspice is a biggie. Bulgur, too – it’s in a lot of
our dishes. Rice. Lamb. Olive oil. Tomatoes. Vegetables. We stuff a
lot of vegetables.

"We have great soups. There are so many different kinds of pilafs
and different kinds of breads and Armenian pastries. It’s a very
healthy diet. The general public doesn’t know about Armenian food,
but once they taste it, they love it."

One recent Sunday afternoon, Boyajian laid out a Thanksgiving-sized
feast for family and friends. A buffet of mezze appetizers included
eatch bulgur salad, spinach and cheese filled boreg turnovers, dried
baby eggplants stuffed with veggies and meat, anise-scented chorag
tea bread, homemade hummus, stuffed grape leaves and an assortment
of olives and feta cheese.

Dinner began with mante – lamb dumpling soup, enriched with garlicky
yogurt. Followed by an 11-pound lamb rib roast stuffed with rice, pine
nuts and currants, ground lamb and bulgur kiba, imam bayaldi (pepper,
onion and tomato stuffed eggplant), bulgur pilaf and stewed string
beans with dill. Dessert was egg custard baked in phyllo accompanied
by tart Morello cherry sauce.

Boyajian says the next generations are already showing interest in
their culinary birthright.

"My children cook Armenian – and that’s a great testimony to its
goodness," she said. "The grandkids love it, too. I’m sure that they
will probably want the recipes so they can give them to their wives
when they get married. It will continue. It will carry on."

ANN BOYAJIAN’S EATCH BULGUR SALAD

1 6-oz. can tomato paste 1 1/2 c. water 1 c. fine bulgur 1 large onion,
peeled and finely chopped 1/2 c. olive oil 5 scallions, finely chopped
3/4 c. fresh parsley, finely chopped 1 t. lemon juice Salt and pepper
to taste Dissolve the tomato paste in water and, in a saucepan, bring
the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the bulgur. Let
sit for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, saute
the onion in the olive oil until it turns golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Set
aside. Combine minced scallions, parsley and lemon juice with the
tomato bulgur mixture. Add onion and the olive oil it was sauteed in.

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 4 to 6 as part of a mezze appetizer buffet.

ANN BOYAJIAN’S KIBA LAMB AND BEEF CIGARS

1 lb. lean ground lamb or lean ground beef or mixture of the two
1 t. salt 1 1/2 T. dried mint Dash cayenne 3/4 c. coarse bulgur In
a large bowl, combine the ground meat(s), salt, mint, cayenne and
bulgur with your hands until it forms a thick mass, adding 1 or
2 tablespoons of cold water if necessary to achieve a dense, raw
meatball consistency. Form the mixture into thick cigar-shaped rolls.

Place the rolls in the bottom of a large pot or kettle. Cover them
with salted water and weigh them down with a plate. Simmer over
medium-low heat for of an hour, or until cooked through.

Serves 4.

ANN BOYAJIAN’S HUMMUS

1 15.5-oz. can chickpeas 3-4 cloves garlic (Boyajian uses 4) 1/2
t. salt 1/4 c. tahini 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice 2 T. olive oil Pour
a half cup of liquid from the canned chickpeas into a measuring cup
and set aside.

Combine the chickpeas, remaining liquid in the can, garlic, salt,
tahini, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor. Process until
smooth, adding some of the reserved can juices should you need to.

Serve with pita bread.

Serves 4 to 6 as part of a mezze appetizer buffet.

ANN BOYAJIAN’S STRING BEANS

1 large onion, peeled and chopped 2 T. olive oil 1 14.5-oz. can diced
tomatoes 1 lb. fresh string beans or pole beans, ends trimmed (frozen
beans can be substituted) 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. pepper 2 T. dried dill
In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion in olive oil
until soft and beginning to turn golden, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add
the diced tomatoes, beans, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook
until the beans are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the dried dill.

Serve hot.

Serves 4.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VETSTAIN TO PERFORM IN YEREVAN

Aysor
Nov 4 2009
Armenia

Swiss violinist I.Vetstain will perform today with chamber orchestra
Serenade at the Yerevan Chamber Music Hall. The concert is organized by
the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia with assistance of Armenia’s
Ministry of Culture and will be conducted by artistic director of the
State Symphony Orchestra, Honored Artist of Armenia Edward Topchyan.

The concert programme comprises Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: A Little
Night Music – KV 525, 1. Satz: Allegro, and Spielplan, Schwebende
Zentren, Wendepunkt by Swiss composer Alfred Knuzeli.

SLOVAKIA REJECTS CHANGE OF RULES IN TURKEY-EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS

Today’s Zaman
Nov 4 2009
Turkey

While extending Slovakia’s full support for Turkey’s bid to become a
full member of the European Union, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav
Lajcak has cautioned that changing preconditions set for accession to
the bloc when Turkey has already started negotiations for membership
is completely out of the question.

Lajcak’s remarks, during an interview with a group of journalists
who were in the Slovak capital of Bratislava for President Abdullah
Gul’s official visit to the city, came as an implicit reference to
Turkey-critics within the EU who are led by France and Germany.

The EU opened accession talks with Ankara — an EU candidate since
1999 — in October 2005, but these have been progressing slowly amid
opposition from France and Germany. The unresolved Cyprus dispute
and a slowdown of reforms in Turkey are other factors hampering the
accession process.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel are the most high-profile European politicians opposed to
Turkey’s accession. Sarkozy claims Turkey does not belong in Europe,
while Merkel promotes a "privileged partnership" that falls short of
membership, a formula Ankara categorically rejects. In Berlin in May,
Merkel and Sarkozy made a joint statement declaring that they shared
a common position regarding Turkey’s accession to the EU, in that it
should be offered a privileged partnership, not full EU membership.

"When it fulfills the required criteria, Turkey should be accepted as
a full member. Conditions should not be changed while negotiations
are continuing," Lajcak said Tuesday. The Slovak minister’s remarks
are reminiscent of the stance displayed by Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan vis-a-vis the leaders of Germany and France,
as he constantly warns the two leaders that the rules of the game
cannot be changed halfway through.

"Turkey is an influential country which plays a constructive role in
its region. It has a deep knowledge of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle
East. As the EU, we want to take advantage of Turkey’s knowledge and
experiences," Lajcak said, noting that he had observed Turkey’s clout
in the Balkans when he served as an EU representative in Bosnia.

Lajcak, whose country entered the EU in 2004, was critical of the
union’s performance.

"The EU should revive persuasiveness of the enlargement process. The
union has recently focused so much on internal reforms, leading to a
negative impact on enlargement perspectives. In the last six-seven
years, the EU has been struggling with its internal matters," the
minister said.

Referring to the fact that during a Brussels summit last week, EU
leaders approved a key concession to the Czech Republic that appears
to clear the way for the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, Lajcak said
the time was now ripe for refocusing on the enlargement process. As of
Tuesday, the Czech top court cleared the EU-reforming Lisbon Treaty,
one of the last hurdles to its ratification.

"Our answer to the question of from where the borders of the EU will
pass is: the Balkans and Turkey," Lajcak went on to say.

The minister, meanwhile, also lent support to Turkey’s efforts to
normalize its relations with its estranged neighbor Armenia, while
urging swift resolution to the Cyprus issue.

Lajcak said he believed that the normalization of relations between
Armenia and Turkey would help in the resolution of other regional
issues in the Caucasus, including the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He noted that his government has
been closely following the government’s democratization initiative,
which is expected to expand freedoms for Turkey’s Kurds.

In Bratislava, Merkel and Sarkozy got their share of criticism from
Gul in a speech delivered at the Turkey-Slovakia Business Council
meeting held on Tuesday. "Some of the big countries of the EU have
forgotten the principle of pacta sunt servanda," Gul said, referring to
a principle of international law in Latin which means that agreements
must be kept. "We haven’t seen support from these countries on our way
to EU membership. Such manners by these countries have been harming
confidence in the EU," he added, in apparent reference to France
and Germany.

A recent survey has revealed the impact of the French and German
leaders’ constant objection to Turkey’s EU bid, with a significant
loss of confidence in these two countries among the public. According
to the survey, conducted in August by the Ankara-based International
Strategic Research Organization (USAK), France is third on the list
of countries regarded as a threat by the public, while there has
been a large decrease in Turkish people’s opinion of Germany as a
friendly country.

MEDVEDEV CONGRATULATES GAREGIN II ON ANNIVERSARY OF DIRECTORATE

Aysor
Nov 4 2009
Armenia

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev sent a congratulatory message
to Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II for
the 10th anniversary of directorate, press-office of Kremlin stated
Wednesday.

"With great respect to the ancient Armenian church which has saved
its Christianity through centuries, we praise good relations between
Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Church. These relations did
and do play an exclusive role in strengthening of friendship and
trust between our countries," said in message.

Russian President stressed that building of Russian Orthodox
Church in Armenia and Armenian Cathedral in Russia makes these
good relations clear and evident. "There is certainly your personal
merit of an authoritative religious doer who pays great attention to
Russian-Armenian contacts."

President Medvedev has also stressed contribution of His Holiness to
consolidation of interfaith dialogue: "I believe your efforts and
activities in the framework of Interfaith Council of Commonwealth
of Independent States, found with assistance of Armenian Apostolic
Church, will promote peace and stability in South Caucasus."

THE KARADZIC TRIAL AND BOSNIAN REALITIES

Agoravox
e.php3?id_article=10930
Nov 4 2009

The trial of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is a test of
justice and accountability over terrible crimes. But the trend of
events in Bosnia itself also demands the international community’s
urgent attention. By Martin Shaw.

he trial of Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Serbian nationalist regime
in Bosnia in the early 1990s, resumed in The Hague on 27 October
2009. The accused initially refused to appear in court on the basis
that he needed more time to prepare his defence, but announced in a
letter to the presiding judge on 2 November that he would indeed be
present to face the court at a procedural hearing the following day.

Karadzic is charged with genocide over the attempt "to permanently
remove Bosnian Muslims [Bosniaks] and Bosnian Croats from the
territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed as Bosnian Serb
territory" between 1992 and 1995, as well as over the infamous massacre
at Srebrenica in July 1995. The other charges include extermination;
murder; persecutions; deportation; inhumane acts; acts of violence
the primary purpose of which was to spread terror among the civilian
population; unlawful attacks on civilians; and the taking of hostages.

These can be seen not as a series of different crimes but as components
of a single campaign of genocide. Indeed the charges potentially
broaden the overall legal assessment of the Serbian genocide in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, which in earlier judgments – like that of the
International Court of Justice in February 2007 – has been restricted
to Srebrenica; the importance of the charges against Karadzic is that
this enables understanding that Srebrenica was only the most murderous
moment in the three years during which Serbian forces systematically
targeted the destruction of the non-Serb population in the areas they
controlled (see "The International Court of Justice: Serbia, Bosnia,
and genocide", 28 February 2007).

The trial – which starts sixteen months after Karadzic’s arrest
in Serbia in July 2008, following thirteen years in hiding there –
is widely seen as the last major case of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is scheduled to begin
winding down from the end of 2009 – despite the scandalous failure
to arrest Karadzic’s fellow indictee Ratko Mladic, who commanded the
Bosnian-Serbian forces at Srebrenica. The ICTY has had considerable
success in arraigning secondary war-criminals of all nationalities,
but no settling of the accounts of the post-Yugoslav wars of the
1990s will be complete until Mladic joins Karadzic in the dock. The
fact that prime architects of Yugoslavia’s ethnic destruction in the
1990s – Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic’s (who died in March 2006, during
his trial) and Croatia’s Franjo Tudjman (who died before he could be
indicted) – escaped justice, means that the tribunal’s record will
appear even more seriously flawed unless Mladic and Karadzic are
successfully tried.

The new trial will doubtless rekindle the deep divisions which Bosnia
opened in western publics in the 1990s. A reminder of these came on
29 October 2009 when Ed Vulliamy, the Guardian reporter who (with
colleagues from the broadcaster ITN, Penny Marshall and Ian Williams,
exposed the Serbian concentration-camps at Omarska and Trnopolje in
August 1992) published an open letter to Amnesty International; this
protests against the NGO’s invitation to the radical academic Noam
Chomsky to give the annual Amnesty lecture in Belfast on 30 October.

Chomsky, says Vulliamy, has encouraged the "revisionist" view which
denied the character of the camps (even if it was others such as
Thomas Deichmann, writing in Living Marxism magazine, who were the
direct authors of this denial [see Ed Vulliamy, "Poison in the well
of history", Guardian, 15 March 2000]).

In 2005, Chomsky told a Guardian interviewer: "Ed Vulliamy is a very
good journalist, but he happened to be caught up in a story which
is probably not true." Vulliamy reminds Amnesty that he directly
witnessed the situation he described, and went on to collect hundreds
of testimonies; he accuses the human-rights organisation of "giving
comfort" to Mladic and Karadzic through its invitation to Chomsky.

The logic of Dayton

The political realities on the ground in Bosnia put some of these
controversies in perspective. Radovan Karadzic may be in the dock
in The Hague, but the Serbian statelet of Republika Srpska (RS)
which he founded is firmly entrenched. The first phase of the Serbian
campaign in 1992-93 left RS in control of a formerly mixed territory,
from which 90% of the non-Serb population (principally Muslims and
Croats) were expelled through the brutal methods described in the
ICTY’s indictment of Karadzic.

The Serb forces failed fully to defeat Bosnian and Croatian forces, but
the diplomatic settlement of November 2005 – the Dayton (Ohio) peace
accords, agreed by Bill Clinton (the United States president), Slobodan
Milosevic, Franjo Tudjman, and Alija Izetbegovic (Bosnia’s president)
– left the Serbian nationalists in control of the RS, even if it was
reincorporated into a nominally unified and internationally supervised
Bosnia-Herzegovina. The international regime was supposed to support
the return of refugees to RS (as to Croatian- and Bosnian-controlled
areas). In the event, the small number of returns achieved have not
altered the outcome of the genocidal war: Serbs today form almost 90%
of RS’s population.

The Dayton settlement thus (in Marko Attila Hoare’s words) "established
a Bosnia-Hercegovina that was more partitioned than united", and
subsequent developments have reinforced the partitionist logic. For
every year that the Dayton settlement persists it brings Bosnia another
step closer (Hoare again) "to full and complete partition. Every
year, Republika Srpska further consolidates itself as a de facto
independent state; the Office of the High Representative [OHR;
Bosnia’s international overseer] declines in power and authority;
the international community’s will and ability to coerce the Republika
Srpska are that much weaker; the already dim prospect of Bosniaks and
Croats returning to Republika Srpska recedes further; and the share
of the Bosnian population that can remember the unified, multinational
country that existed before 1992 becomes smaller."

Even in late 2007 it was possible for Peter Lippman to argue that the
international regime was having some success in integrating the police
and the army into a unified Bosnian force (see "Crisis and reform: a
turnaround in Bosnia?", 18 December 2007). Two years on, the low-key
current international efforts to move Bosnian politicians towards
reform are completely deadlocked. Serbian secessionist impulses –
part-cause and part-consequence of this situation – are never far
from the surface. Moreover the current RS administration of Milorad
Dodik is growing in its defiance of the international regime and
(a linked matter given the statelet’s provenance) its denial of the
very crimes of which Karadzic is accused.

Dodik, who has denied that genocide was committed at Srebrenica,
further provoked the non-Serb population of Bosnia in September 2009
by pointedly denying one of the worst Serbian atrocities of the war:
the massacre of seventy young people in a square in Tuzla in May 1995.

(In this context, Ed Vulliamy is right to say that the questioning of
well-documented atrocities such as the concentration-camps by western
commentators is no academic matter; and that Noam Chomsky’s attitude
to these issues raises questions about Amnesty’s choice of lecturer).

Against this background, even a conviction in the Karadzic trial –
assuming the accused’s spoiling tactics are unsuccessful – will be
a hollow victory for his victims. The danger, Hoare suggests, is
that "however monstrous the injustice that Bosnian partition would
represent, with every year that passes, the injustice is further
forgotten by the world and full partition – like death – draws nearer.

We need only look at the other injustices that have become realities
on the ground: the three-way partition of Macedonia in 1912-13;
the dispossession of the Armenian population of Anatolia; the
dispossession of the Palestinian population of present-day Israel –
these are realities on the ground" (see "Bosnia: weighing the options",
Bosnian Institute, 13 October 2009).

The cost of failure

It is difficult to gainsay this bleak assessment of the historical
record: partitions have always involved appalling injustices which
have rarely been reversed (see Sumantra Bose, "The partition evasion",
23 August 2007). The Indian partition of 1947 is one of the worst
examples. For a century, western "statesmen" have been tempted to draw
lines on maps and consign hundreds of thousands of people to suffering;
all the more reason by now to have learned from these experiences.

If the partition of Bosnia is indeed steadily becoming irreversible,
this should cause alarm across Europe. It should not be assumed that
Balkan politicians’ need for European recognition and funding will
always inhibit radical moves that would once again destabilise the
region. The integration of southeastern Europe into the European Union
and western institutions has not proceeded so far as to provide full
insurance against a new Bosnian – or even wider Balkan – war.

The situation of Bosnia, and especially of its Bosniak majority areas,
is – under the pressure of Serbian separatism – getting more serious.

It is time for western politicians, having accepted responsibility
for Bosnia, to consider and take the steps necessary to prevent this
already divided country from moving towards new and dangerous schisms.

Peter Lippman also argued in 2007 that "nationalist leaders –
Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks" had a responsibility "to show that they
are serious about developing the reforms that would allow Bosnia &
Herzegovina to exist as a functional state that can join the European
Union on its own." But it is even more urgent that "the international
community and the OHR maintain a robust stance with regard to these
reforms, in order to prompt and encourage Bosnian leaders to see them
through." The Radovan Karadzic trial is a reminder of the worst that
could happen if they fail.