Author: Andres-Papazian

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2010

Armenian paid $45 for negatives valued at $200 m

July 30, 2010 | 12:42

Rick Norsigian, California citizen of Armenian origin, luckily
purchased a collection of negatives by renowned photographer Ansel
Adams. He bought 65 negatives for $45 at a garage sale, Asbarez
reported.

According to preliminary calculations, the collection is estimated at
$200 million.

Norsigianhas has been working to prove the authenticity of these
photographs since the purchase, the source says.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2010

Diamond exports up in Armenia

July 30, 2010 | 12:24

The Customs Service of the State Revenues Committee, RA Government,
has released data on the exports of cut diamonds from Armenia. In the
first half of 2010, cut diamond exports showed an annual increase of
567% or 230% in terms of money, Tamognia.ru. reports.

During the period under review, a total of 288,000 carats of cut
diamonds were exported from Armenia against 43,000 carats in the first
half last year. The cost of the exported cut diamonds totaled U.S.
$50.4m.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2010

Georgia detained ship heading to Armenia

July 30, 2010 | 12:05

On July 29, Georgia’s coast guard detained Ukrainian Akkord dry cargo.
Тhe reason for detention was illegal entering the territorial waters
of Abkhazia, the cargo was in Sukhum in June 2010.

The cargo coming from Rostov-on-Don carried grain intended for
Armenia. The ship was dragged to the port of Poti.

The crew, including 11 Ukrainian citizens and a Russian were charged
with violation of navigation rules in Georgian territorial waters.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2010

Irates de facto:Russian community of Armenia discontent with
Ambassador’s activities?

July 30, 2010 | 11:31

The newspaper says that Russian communities of Armenia are discontent
with Embassy’s activities and the work of Russian Ambassador to
Armenia Vyacheslav Kovalenko in particular. `The embassy does nothing
to suppress dispersion and disagreement in many Russian communities,
not to mention its unsatisfactory work. The situation is more
aggravated as Russia in fact cancels Compatriots program,’ the
biweekly writes. According to the newspaper, Russian community
cherished great hopes that the situation would improve after former
Ambassador Pavlov was replaced.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2010

Hayots Ashkharh: Nobody remembers Ter-Petrosyan in Nagorno-Karabakh?

July 30, 2010 | 10:07

`Unlike some circles in Armenia, nobody remembers Armenian first
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan in Nagorno-Karabakh. This is not a
stance of a politician, but rather that of a fan and a scientist
obsessed with his own rightness,’ Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, NKR Parliament Vahram Atanesyan stated in an interview with
the Hayots Ashkharh daily.

`In short, with his speech at the congress of Armenian National
Movement, Ter-Petrosyan ran its course as a politician and remained as
a philologist and historian. Perhaps during these years Ter-Petrosyan
credited himself with a quality of a political scientist. However, I
can say his speech is a historical and political science concept,
which may become a subject of academic dispute,’ Atanesyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Reuters Canada
July 30 2010

Turkey sued in California over Armenian genocide

Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:40pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lawyers for two Armenian men have sued Turkey
and two of its major banks, claiming they and others were victims of
genocide and seeking what could amount to hundreds of millions of
dollars in damages.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in California,
names the Republic of Turkey, The Central Bank of the Republic of
Turkey and T.C. Ziraat Bankasi as defendants.

The suit seeks class action status on behalf of all Armenians and
Turkish citizens “who were deprived of their citizenship, brutally
deported, (and) had their property seized” by the Turkish government.

Los Angeles attorney Brian Kabateck, who filed the suit on behalf of
L.A. resident Garbis Daoyan and Queens, New York resident Hrayr
Turabian, said he believes this is the first lawsuit dealing with the
Armenian genocide that names the Turkish government as a defendant.

The Armenian genocide refers to the death and displacement of many
people who lived in the Ottoman Empire before and after World War I.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces, but
denies the number was as high as the 1.5 million some researchers
believe died. The government has long denied the idea that genocide
occurred.

The U.S. government has never formally called the events a genocide,
but just this past March, a U.S. congressional panel voted to label it
genocide in a non-binding resolution. That act caused the Turkish
government to recall its ambassador.

Kabateck said he has successfully sued companies such as New York Life
Insurance Co. and France’s AXA in the past, getting nearly $40 million
in damages for victims’ heirs.

He said the suit was filed now for reasons that include the
documentation of original land deeds establishing ownership of
property in Turkey.

And he said it was filed in southern California due to the large
numbers of Armenians who live in the area.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

From: A. Papazian

United Press International UPI
July 30 2010

IAEA scheduled for Armenia visit

YEREVAN, Armenia, July 30 (UPI) — International monitors are expected
in Armenia to examine plans to start construction of a nuclear power
plant, a state agency said.

The Armenian nuclear regulatory committee said a team from the
International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to start a four-day
trip Aug. 2 to examine their nuclear work.

Armenia in 2011 has plans to build a nuclear power plant. Ashot
Martirosyan, the head of the state nuclear regulatory committee, said
his agency plans to unveil the results of a multiyear study on the
construction plans to IAEA official during their visit, Russia’s state
news agency RIA Novosti reports.

The $5 billion Armenian nuclear power project is scheduled to go
online in 2017.

Martirosyan added that his country was setting up a joint venture with
Russia to explore uranium reserves in the country, RIA Novosti adds.

Armenia could hold as much as 60,000 tons in uranium reserves.

From: A. Papazian

Newser
July 30 2010

Armenian-Americans Sue Turkey Over Century-Old Slaughter

Class action suit seeks billions in compensation

(Newser) ` The Turkish government and two big Turkish banks are being
sued by the American descendants of Armenians who were killed or
forced out of Turkey between 1915 and 1919. The class action lawsuit
filed in federal court in California charges that Turkish officials
are responsible for the deaths of more than 1 million Armenians in
massacres, concentration camps, and forced marches.

The suit seeks billions in compensation for property seized from
Armenians as they were forced out of the Ottoman Empire, although
attorney Mark Geragos says the main issue is forcing Turkey to
recognize its role in the slaughter. “All of the lawyers involved have
relatives who perished or fled the Armenian genocide, which gives it a
special poignancy for us,” he tells the AP.

From: A. Papazian

Catholic Culture
July 30 2010

Jerusalem officials threaten to cut water supply for Church of the
Holy Sepulchre

July 30, 2010

City officials in Jerusalem are threatening to cut off the supply of
water for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the AsiaNews service
reports.

The city has provided free water service to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre for nearly a century, as a service to pilgrims and a
courtesy to the clerics who administered the shrine. But that
tradition’honored by British and Jordanian rulers, and continued by
Israeli officials’may not be in jeopardy. Church officials say that
the city is now asking for payment not only for current water usage,
but for usage dating back to the Israeli takeover of Jerusalem in
1967.

The status of Christian shrines in Israel’including their tax
treatment and the provision of public services’is not clearly
delineated because Israel and the Holy See have not yet reached
agreement on a long-awaited juridical agreement. The Church of the
Holy Sepulchre poses a particularly knotty case because its
administration is governed by a complicated agreement among the
various Christian denominations that work there: Catholic, Greek
Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian.

From: A. Papazian

Radio-Info.com
July 30 2010

Radio Remembers: Elmira’s “Mr. WENY”, Rhode Island’s Russell Gasparian

Steve Christy began his broadcasting career in 1960 in Upstate New
York on WNIA-AM and then WBUZ-AM in Fredonia before he moved to
WENY-AM (1230) in Elmira, where he was a popular DJ and later became
the PD. When WENY added a TV station, Christy became its first
weatherman, a job he would keep for three decades. Also known for his
work hosting the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon for 36
years, Christy passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 75. The
Star-Gazette newspaper has a tribute to Christy here ¦ Russell
Gasparian came to the US from Syria with his family when he was eight
years old. Without any formal radio training, he established the
Armenian Radio Hour in 1947 on WRIB-AM in Providence, and in the more
than 60 years he put the show together, it aired on a number of area
stations. His show has reportedly become the longest continuously
running ethnic program in the United States. Gasparian passed away. He
was 91.

From: A. Papazian