Author: Antonian Lara

HOUSE ARMENIA GENOCIDE VOTE PUT ON HOLD

St. Petersburg Times, FL
House_armenia_genocid.shtml
By Times Wires
Oct 26 2007

WASHINGTON House sponsors of a resolution that would label as
genocide the 1915 killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks have asked
Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay a vote because they feared the measure
would fail. Support deteriorated this month after Turkey recalled
its U.S. ambassador in protest and several lawmakers said they
feared it would cripple U.S.-Turkey relations. The House resolution
"would really damage our relations with a Democratic ally who is
playing an extremely important strategic role in supporting our
troops," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a House panel
on Thursday. California Democrat Adam Schiff, a sponsor of the
resolution, said it was hard to say when he will try again. Double
budget? No thanks, agency says The chairwoman of the Consumer Product
Safety Commission says a Senate bill that would more than double
the agency’s budget and expand its authority would be too difficult
for the agency to implement and "put the American people at greater
risk." "It is my and the CPSC staff’s assessment that many of our
existing public safety activities would have to be severely curtailed
or would cease entirely in order to attempt to fulfill all of the
bill’s proposed statutory directives," acting chief Nancy Nord wrote
to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. The
Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs is expected to take
up the bill next week. Lawmakers are looking to reinvigorate the
commission after the recall of millions of toys for lead and other
hazards.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, October 25, 2007

New England District Raises $15,000 for AGBU’s Karabakh Repopulation
Project

On September 22, Armenians both young and old put on their dancing shoes
to fundraise for a cause. The AGBU New England District, St. James
Armenian Church, and several donors from a variety of different
organizations teamed up to raise $15,000 for AGBU’s Karabakh
Repopulation Project (KRP) through a very social dance event in the
Boston area.

The AGBU Karabakh Repopulation Project began in 2002 with efforts to
rebuild the war-torn villages that still remain abandoned following the
1988-1994 conflict with Azerbaijan.

After five months of planning, the event brought over 350 people to St.
James Armenian Church in Watertown, Massachusetts for over five hours of
fun. The church provided their venue free of charge as a donation to
KRP.

Robert Chilingirian and his Los Angeles-based band kept the party alive
with a selection of Armenian and American music throughout the evening.
Light appetizers and beverages were served to the energetic crowd.

Raffle donations for an LCD TV, jewelry and gift certificates to local
restaurants and salons were made throughout the evening. The dance
committee reported over $15,000 secured for the Karabakh Repopulation
Project. They plan to earmark this money for new homes in the village of
Norashen. In 2006, AGBU built the Norashen School to attract families to
this region and a community continues to flourish today.

Souren Maserejian, New England District Chairman, said he had never
seen such an active, enthusiastic crowd of young Armenian professionals
in AGBU’s history in Massachusetts. Alexis Demerjian, AGBU Young
Professionals of Boston chairwoman, reflected this passion and
camaraderie in her opening remarks. A letter outlining the Karabakh
projects in Norashen by AGBU President Berge Setrakian was also read,
and Fr. Arakel Aljalian, pastor of the St. James Armenian Church, later
expressed his gratitude to the Boston-Armenian community.

The dedicated New England District Committee worked tirelessly to raise
awareness and funds for this Karabakh project event. AGBU New England
District Committee members are: Chairman Souren Maserejian, Treasurer
Alex Kalaydjian, Secretary Natalie Maserejian, Vartuhi Cholakian, Bedros
Dilsizian, Maro Getzoyan, Michael Gulbankian, Annie Kalaydjian, Lisa
Maserejian, Anahid Salakian, Sarkis Salakian, Gregory Seymourian, and
Garo Yavshayan. The special event committee members were: Linda
Abkarian, Nigoghos Atinizian, Alexis Demirjian, Charlie Minasian, Suzy
Naroian, Karnig Ostayan, Mayda Yetimian, Mourad Yuzlek, and Lisa Yuzlek.
The Knights of Vartan chapter also volunteered its time and energy for
the event.

It was evident at the event that Armenian Americans have an ongoing
interest in aiding post-war Karabakh. Several guests were not aware of
KRP until this social function and now are interested in learning more,
already visiting the AGBU website. Maserejian said that the event’s
cause drew in a variety of different groups, all dedicated to the
repopulation of this region of our motherland.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with an
annual budget of $36 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian
identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
programs, annually serving some 400,000 Armenians in 35 countries.

"ARMECONOMBANK" TO RECEIVE FROM EBRD A LOAN AT THE SUM OF $3MLN FOR FINANCING MICRO- AND SMALL BUSINESS IN ARMENIA

Mediamax Agency
Oct 24 2007
Armenia

Yerevan, October 24 /Mediamax/. "Armeconombank" will receive from
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) a loan
at the sum of $3mln for financing micro- and small business in Armenia.

As Mediamax was told in the press service of "Armeconombank", the
corresponding loan agreement between "Armeconombank" and EBRD was
signed today.

The maximum volume of a credit, provided to micro-business, will make
$10 thousand, with a repayment term of 2 years, and the maximum volume
of credits to subjects of small business will make $100 thousand,
with a repayment term of 3 years. The interest rate of the credits
will make 22% per year.

Within the framework of the loan agreement, it is also planned to
provide the subjects of micro-business, "Express" credits on the
security of personal property.

Aiming at assisting the process of crediting, EBRD will provide
"Armeconombank" consultation service, which will be directed to
the increase of the qualification level of the credit specialists,
as well as the realization of the very process of crediting.

As for today, $4mln from the financial means, received by
"Armeconombank" from EBRD within the framework of loan agreements,
have been directed to crediting of small and medium enterprises,
and $4,5mln – to crediting of large companies.

THE TURKS CAN BE FORGIVEN FOR FEELING WRONGED
By Jeffrey Simpson, [email protected]

The Globe and Mail
October 24, 2007 Wednesday
Canada

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is a grave and serious man,
with much to be grave and serious about.

His country has been attacked by terrorists, aggrieved by a
noisy international lobby, let down by allies and treated badly
by neighbours. No wonder that Mr. Erdogan barely cracked a smile
during a forceful, hour-long presentation Monday night at the storied
Oxford Union.

Police were out in droves, but no protesters showed up from Britain’s
Kurdish or Armenian communities. Instead, the Oxford students listened
intently and responded favourably to Mr. Erdogan. They seemed to
understand, better than some governments, how important Turkey remains.

Turkey has been sorely provoked recently by Kurdish terrorists, who
have launched murderous attacks on Turkish soldiers and civilians
from their redoubts in northern Iraq

These fanatics, whose organization (PKK) has been condemned by every
European country, claim they want Kurdish autonomy within Turkey.

They really want separation of eastern Turkey and likely a union with
the Kurds in northern Iraq. They claim, as terrorists always do, to
speak for the "people," except that in July’s elections Mr. Erdogan’s
party won 53 per cent of the votes in southeast Turkey.

Mr. Erdogan has understandably been under immense pressure from Turks
to respond, and strong pressure from the U.S., Iraq and European
nations to show restraint.

All his government has done so far is secure permission from
parliament to launch attacks across the Iraq border, while trying to
get the Americans, the Iraqis in Baghdad and the de facto independent
government of the Kurdish territory in northern Iraq to stop the
terrorists.

If these attacks don’t stop, there’s no doubt the Turkish military
will cross the border in force, thereby adding another complication
to the Bush administration’s already chaotic predicament in Iraq. The
administration is thus trying what a spokesman called a "full-court
press" to restrain Turkey.

The Bush administration, however, has frittered away previous
goodwill. The Turks are mad at the Americans for a number of reasons,
but especially for the resolution recently adopted by a House of
Representatives committee describing the mass killings of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 with the emotive word "genocide."

Various Western legislatures, including ours, have succumbed
to relentless lobbying by the Armenian diaspora to pass such
resolutions. Eight U.S. secretaries of state, Republican and Democrat,
implored the House committee not to meddle in a historical dispute,
but it paid no attention.

In Canada, the Harper government, in the first flush of its foreign
policy naivete and under the influence of its ethnic-vote chaser, Jason
Kenney, formally recognized this "genocide," thereby compounding the
error of a parliamentary vote of this kind under the Martin government.

Canada wasn’t involved in the Ottoman Empire. It has no national
interest in taking sides, let alone against a NATO partner, in a
92-year-old dispute. We must be careful picking over ethnic disputes
from long ago, given the multiplicity of ethnic conflicts that our
pluralistic society could imported.

The politically inspired Canadian decision infuriated Mr. Erdogan’s
government. It was hailed by the Armenian diaspora that has made the
pursuit of this policy the cause of its collective life. Earlier this
year, Stephen Harper was awarded the Armenian Freedom prize by the
Western region of the U.S. Armenian National Committee. Mr. Harper
couldn’t make the trip to pick up the award in Los Angeles, but
Mr. Kenney did.

The Harper government woke up (a bit) to Turkey’s importance when
the country took in Canadians of Lebanese origin after the Israeli
invasion of south Lebanon. It then said, in a 180-degree turn, that
Canada’s policy would be to urge Turkey and Armenia to study jointly
the events of 1915 – the Turkish position.

Mr. Erdogan reminded British listeners that his government wants
European Union membership, a position Britain supports, though France
and Germany have said Turkey can’t join. And the EU erred by allowing
in Greek Cyprus without insisting the Greek Cypriots accept the United
Nations-sponsored deal endorsed by Turkish Cypriots.

Slapped by the Europeans, let down by the Americans, pursued by the
Armenians and attacked by Kurdish terrorists, Turkey feels justifiably
aggrieved. No wonder the Prime Minister looks so grave and serious.

"SEFILYAN PUNISHED FOR DISRESPECTFUL ATTITUDE," JUSTICE MINISTRY STATEMENT SAYS

Panorama.am
19:25 23/10/2007

"Jirair Sefilyan has been punished and reprimanded for his
disrespectful attitude to the management of the prison and for refusing
to obey the lawful demands of prison employees." Arsen Babayan,
press secretary of justice ministry prison department, informs.

According to the statement, Sefilyan has violated point 19 of internal
rules and regulations in accordance to which the prison employees use
"You" while addressing the prisoners and vice versa, the prisoners
use "You" or use Mr. or Mrs and the family name while addressing the
prison personnel.

A reprimand has been announced against Sefilyan by decision of Deputy
Colonel L. Baghdasaryan, prison chief, as of October 18, 2007.

ARMENIAN SPEAKER URGES EXPANSION OF TIES WITH IRAN

Islamic Republic News Agency
Oct 23 2007
Iran

Chairman of the Armenia National Assembly, Tigran Torossian, here
on Tuesday called for further expansion of parliamentary relations
with Tehran.

In a meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, he also
underscored the need for promotion of political, economic and cultural
ties between the two states.

For his part, the Iranian president said expansion of Tehran-Yerevan
parliamentary cooperation would bring the two nations closer together.

Ahmadinejad, heading a high ranking delegation, arrived in Yerevan
on Monday on a two-day official visit.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and a number of other senior
officials are accompanying President Ahmadinejad in this visit.

The Iranian president conferred with his Armenian counterpart Robert
Kocharian on issues of mutual interest as well as the latest regional
and international developments on Monday.

He also delivered a speech at Yerevan University where he received
an honorary PhD and a medal.

The Iranian president exchanged views with Iranian nationals residing
in Armenia Tuesday morning.

IT IS ENVISAGED TO DEEPEN ARMENIAN-GREEK MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The current state of
military-technical cooperation was discussed at the October 23 meeting
of RA Defence Minister Mikayel Haroutiunian with the delegation led
by General Dimitrios Grapsas, the Head of the General Headquarters of
Greek National Defence, which has arrived in Armenia on an official
visit. The parties mentioned that they have a possibility and, the
most important, willingness to deepen that cooperation.

General Dimitrios Grapsas expressed satisfaction with the high
professional preparedness of the Armenian peacekeeping platoon carrying
out a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. In his turn, M. Haroutiunian,
highly evaluating the Greek party’s assistance to the peacekeeping
mission, presented the programs envisaged in the sphere in the future.

According to the report of the RA Defence Ministry’s Press Office,
at the end of the meeting they touched upon reforms being implemented
in our country’s armed forces.

FOLLOWING CONSULTATIONS, AMBASSADOR SENSOY BACK IN WASHINGTON

Turkish Press
Oct 23 2007

PRESS REVIEW

Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Nabi Sensoy, who was recalled
to Ankara for discussions of an Armenian resolution before the US
House of Representatives, yesterday returned to Washington. Speaking
to reporters in Turkey, Sensoy said that during his contacts in
Washington, he would convey the concerns of both Turkish leaders and
the Turkish people about the issue and urge US officials to block a
possible House vote on the resolution.

FIRST ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S COMING TO POLITICAL ARENA HAS CAUSED DANGER OF SITUATION’S DESTABILIZATION, RUSSIAN DEPUTY STATES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 22, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Russia is anxious about the
possibility of home political destabilization in connection with
the upcoming presidential elections in Armenia. Konstantin Zatulin,
a Deputy of the RF State Duma, the Director of the CIS Institute,
stated this on October 21 at the National Press Club. According to him,
any destabilization in Armenia will seriously damage the Collective
Security Treaty Organization, the only member of which in the Caucasus
is Armenia.

K. Zatulin said that today the current President’s role is reduced
to ensuring elections, and his companions-in-arms, including the
current Prime Minister, assume the responsibility of ensuring
succession of the current President’s course. However, the first
Armenian President’s coming to the political arena has caused the
danger of situation’s destabilization. K. Zatulin is convinced
that Levon Ter-Petrosian’s running for the elections will result in
collision of the Armenia of unfulfilled hopes with the Armenia, which
was fulfilled not only in power, but also in business in the years
of Robert Kocharian’s tenure. "I would like this argument between
two Armenias not to result in a split between them," the Russian
politician mentioned. In K. Zatulin’s opinion, it is difficult to
say what chances the candidates will have during the elections,
but the chances of the current Prime Minister are preferable.

The Russian Deputy said that the personal acquaintance and ties between
the current authorities of Russia and Armenia play an important role in
Russian-Armenian relations, "but it does not mean that Russia intends
to interfere in the Armenian people’s will." Stating that Armenia will
hardly change its home political course after a new leader’s coming
to power, K. Zatulin expressed the hope that the relations between
the two countries will not depend on the outcome of the presidential
elections in Armenia and Russia.

October 21, 2007

Transcript [Excerpt]

The Republican Debate on Fox News Channel

The following is a transcript [excerpt] of the Republican Presidential
debate in Orlando, Fla., as provided by Congressional Quarterly.

PARTICIPANTS:
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER, R-CALIF.
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.
REP. TOM TANCREDO, R-COLO.
FORMER MAYOR RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI, R-NEW YORK CITY
REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS
FORMER GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE, R-ARK.
FORMER SEN. FRED THOMPSON, R-TENN.

MODERATORS:
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS
WENDELL GOLER, FOX NEWS
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS

OTHERS:
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, R-FLA.
JIM GREER, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN PARTY OF FLORIDA

***

CAMERON: Senator Thompson, violence escalated again today on the
Turkish-Iraq border. The terrorist group, PKK, took Turkish soldiers
hostage. If as President Bush says, we are fighting terrorists in Iraq
to protect our homeland, shouldn’t the Turks be able to go into Iraq
to protect their own?

THOMPSON: Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I think the
underlying point here is that Turkey is a friend of ours. We’ve got an
important base there, actually more than one, but one especially
important as far as our efforts in Iraq are concerned.

THOMPSON: They’ve got a right to defend themselves from acts of
terrorism, and PKK are terrorists.

The Kurds in the northern part of Iraq are our friends, too.

So we’ve got to get these people together. It’s one of those
situations where we’ve got friends on both sides. But militarily and
strategically, we have to understand Turkey’s position. I hope that
they don’t invade.

I think that this is one area where diplomacy could work because you
have two people or two countries — or two areas, I should say — that
we’re used to talking to and used to working with.

But Turkey is a NATO ally, and they have helped us as far as Iraq is
concerned. Not everything they do is pleasing to us, and we have some
issues with them.

Now, Nancy Pelosi has brought up an Armenian genocide proposal which
is totally irresponsible. She’s interjecting partisan politics into a
matter of national security.

(APPLAUSE)

CAMERON: Thank you, Senator.

Congressman Tancredo, I saw that you had your hand up.

TANCREDO: That was it. I just wanted to say that we have to remember
why this is happening in Turkey.

TANCREDO: And that is exactly right. It is because the present
leadership of the House of Representatives brought up this bill,
agreed to bring up a bill, a resolution, that we knew would in fact,
if they did that, would cause Turkey to do exactly what they did.

Now, that goes to show you that pandering for votes, which was what
this was partly based upon, and a complete ignorance of the foreign
policy implications of doing such a thing, are the reasons why we are
here now.

And we should take away from this some very important lessons, not the
least of which is that Nancy Pelosi is not a very good speaker of the
House, and she is an even lousier secretary of state.

(LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)

CAMERON: Governor, I saw that you — do you want to weigh in on this, Governor?

HUCKABEE: When, four days ago, the parliament of Turkey indicated that
they would amass those troops, it’s a clear signal — not just
saber-rattling, they’re serious about defending themselves.

It would seem to me that we should dispatch the secretary of state
immediately to do two things. First of all, we need to train and equip
the Kurds to fight the terrorists in their midst.

The PKK is a terrorist organization. Those 3,500 terrorists can best
be dealt with by trained and armed Kurds. We don’t have to put our
military in harm’s way. The Kurds have the capacity to do it against
those in the PKK — but also to try to get Turkey to realize that
there’s nothing to be gained by crossing into that border and creating
yet another hostile situation. None of us need it. None of us want it.

And I would hope that maybe the base in Irbil that was shut down
earlier could become the base in which those operations could be
staged.

(APPLAUSE)

CAMERON: Mr. Paul?

PAUL: This is a — this is a result of a foreign policy of
interventionism. The founders advised non-interventionism. And even
our president won the election in the year 2000 to have a more humble
foreign policy, not to go into nation-building, and not get involved
in the internal affairs of other nations.

And we won an election on that.

But here we are. We’re over there and we’ve invaded this country and
this is just another unintended consequence. The war is spreading, the
war is likely to go into Iran, nobody’s willing to take anything off
the table.

What would it be like if somebody came in here into Mexico and did
some of these things — say, like, putting missiles in Europe? We’re
just looking for trouble. It’s so unnecessary. And we jeopardize
ourselves. And, quite frankly, we’re not able to afford this.

So we don’t need to go looking for trouble. We don’t need another Cold
War. And all we have to do is start talking to people and trading with
people.

We don’t need to assume that the world is going to blow up. Just think of…

(AUDIENCE BOOING)

PAUL: When I was drafted into the military, and I served five years in
the military, the Soviets had 40,000 nuclear weapons.

And here, we’re now learning about agitating and putting missiles in Europe.

PAUL: It’s the Turks’ business. It’s not our business.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

(APPLAUSE)

HUME: Governor Romney, I assume you’re eager to get into this. Go ahead.

ROMNEY: Yes, we spoke — about Russia, we’ve spoken about what’s
happening in Turkey and, obviously, Iraq. As you look around the
world, you recognize that it’s still a dangerous place.

During the Clinton years, the president said we’re going to take a
peace dividend. We got the dividend. We didn’t get the peace.

He reduced the scale of our military dramatically, took 500,000 troops
out, cut back our Navy by 80 ships, knocked our Air Force down 25
percent. Our aircraft fleet today are 28 years old.

The U.N. is failing in its mission to protect the world and to prevent genocide.

(APPLAUSE)

The strategy for America’s safety is not to live in what Charles
Krauthammer called a holiday from history, but to realize America must
be strong.

ROMNEY: We need a strong military to protect us with more troops, more
equipment and better care when our troops come home.

(APPLAUSE)

We also need a strong economy so we can have a strong military, and we
need strong families and values to teach our kids to build a strong
economy and a strong military.

(APPLAUSE)

HUME: Thank you, Governor.

Source: bate-transcript.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1