Author: Ara Felekian

Le Monde, France
14 février 2005
Anticommunisme, nationalisme, goût de l’ordre : les raisons de leur
engagement PATRICK DEVEDJIAN
FRANCE GÉNÉRATION Quarante ans après, les anciens d’Occident
revisitent leur passé
Ministre délégué à l’industrie.
« Je ne me suis jamais caché de mon passé. J’étais d’origine
arménienne et c’était aussi une façon, pour moi, de me sentir
français.
J’étais anticommuniste et, finalement, je n’ai pas changé. Je me suis
engagé pour la cause de l’Algérie française. J’ai quitté Occident en
1966, après avoir découvert Raymond Aron. Ce mouvement n’avait rien à
voir avec l’extrême droite de Jean-Marie Le Pen. C’était une autre
époque, on ne peut pas comparer… »
–Boundary_(ID_aKi0TWyvbEm/0FC24oSrMw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Lunedì Il 7 Febbraio 2005
ITALIA-ARMENIA: GRADIMENTO NUOVO AMBASCIATORE
(ANSA) – ROMA, 7 FEB – Il Presidente della Repubblica Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi ha concesso il gradimento per la nomina di Rouben
Shugarian in qualita’ di Ambasciatore della Repubblica di
Armenia presso lo Stato Italiano. Lo rende noto un comunicato
della Farnesina.(ANSA).
–Boundary_(ID_QhpNxRJdWkTt64z54iGdkA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 1) 517 163
Fax: (374 1) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
January 10, 2005
Christmas Eve Services in Holy Etchmiadzin
On the evening of January 5, the Eve of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of
Jesus Christ, a candlelight Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Cathedral
of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos
of All Armenians, presided as His Eminence Archbishop Datev Sarkissian
celebrated the liturgy and delivered the sermon.
With the joyous singing of “Christ is Born and Revealed!”, the Armenian
Church proclaimed the great tiding of Jesus’ birth to her faithful in
Armenia and the Diaspora. Hundreds of faithful, representatives of sister
Churches and members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin gathered in the
Cathedral to hear the traditional reading from the prophet Daniel, the
readings from the Holy Scriptures concerning the birth of Christ and to
participate in the liturgy.
Following the candlelight Divine Liturgy, His Holiness offered a Home
Blessing service in the Pontifical Residence, and prayed for our Lord to
keep and protect the Armenian Church, her hierarchal centers, her dioceses,
clergy and faithful under the protection of His Holy Cross in 2005 and
always.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Greek shares reverse losses at midsession on selective blue chip buying
AFX Europe (Focus)
Jan 04, 2005

ATHENS (AFX) – Shares recovered from early losses to head higher
midsession on selective blue chip buying as energy monopoly PPC
outperformed, gaining nearly 3 pct, brokers said.
PPC rose 2.87 pct to 21.48 eur, playing catch up with recent gains in
blue chip peers.
The Athens bourse benchmark general edged up 0.18 pct to 2,829.73
points after testing earlier the 2,800 point resistance level.
Europeýs largest betting company OPAP was off 0.39 pct at 20.50
eur. Daily To Vima reported that the governmentn may proceed with a
share placement in OPAP within January cutting the stateýs current 51
pct stake in the company.
Blue chips were 0.11pct. firmer.
Emporiki Bank, 11 pct owned by Franceýs Credit Agricole, gained 0.85
pct to 23.78 eur. Yesterday, a senior Emporiki Bank source said that
the bank intends to sell its subsidiaries in Armenia and Georgia as
part of the groupýs restructuring process.
Brokers described the move as positive, saying that returns from both
markets for Emporiki were marginal.
Bellwether National Bank was unchanged at 24.96 eur.
Index heavyweight OTE Telecom, Greeceýs largest phone company, lost
2.20 pct at 13.34 eur. Subsidiary Cosmote eased 0.13 pct at 14.94 eur.
Small caps were down 0.04 pct and mid caps advanced 0.90 pct.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EUROPARLIAMENT DEMANDS FROM TURKEY RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
STRASBOURG, December 15 (Noyan Tapan). On December 15, the
Europarliament with 407 votes for and 262 votes against made amendments
and adopted a resolution on Turkey’s joining the EU written by a
Dutch deputy Camiel Eurlings.
According to the European Armenian Federation for Justice and
Democracy, the Europarliament addresses the Armenian issues at least in
8 points of the resolution. The amendments proposed in this connection
have been written by parliamentarians who represent 5 factions.
In the final version of the resolution the Europarliament asks Turkey
to be reconciled to the Armenian people by recognizing the Armenian
genocide and calls on the European Council and the European Commission
to demand that Turkey officially recognize the historic reality of
the genocide and lift without delay the blockade imposed on Armenia.
Amendment No.18 on the Armenian genocide, which was written by deputies
Fransis Wurts and Dimitrios Papadimoulids, was adopted with 395 votes
for and 273 votes against.
Amendment No.83 written by Jaques Toubou and some other deputies was
adopted with 332 votes for and 325 votes against and calls on the
European Commission and the European Council to demand that Turkey
recognize the Armenian genocide and lift without delay the blockade
imposed on Armenia “in accordance with the European Council resolutions
adopted in 1987 and 2004.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Dec 15 2004
Dividing the Ukraine, Putin’s imperial dream
Vytautas Landsbergis, Project Syndicate
To divide a people in order to conquer them is an immoral strategy
that has endured throughout recorded history. From Alexander the
Great to Stalin the Cruel, variants of that strategy have been used
to keep nations in thrall to the will of an emperor.
We are now seeing this strategy at work again as President Vladimir
Putin stealthily seeks to restore Kremlin supremacy over the lands
treated as “lost” when the USSR imploded in 1991. In so overplaying
his hand in Ukraine’s recent election, however, Putin clearly
revealed to the world his neo-imperialist designs.
In the wake of the euphoric mass protests in Kyiv, Russia’s president
has since said that he can work with whatever government Ukraine’s
people choose. These are mere words, for in mind and action Putin
does not want anyone to rule Ukraine that he has not put in place. No
price is too high to achieve that end, so traditional threats about
dividing Ukraine have been used.
I speak as someone who has been on the receiving end of Russian
imperialist designs. When Lithuania and then the other Baltic States
— Estonia and Latvia — which were occupied by Stalin early in World
War II, seized their opportunity for freedom in 1990-1991, the
Kremlin did not sit on its hands. It knew that the rest of Russia’s
colonies — the so-called “Soviet republics” — would want to follow
the ungrateful Baltic countries into freedom.
Although Russia’s rulers were by then communists in name only, they
didn’t hesitate to reach for the old Leninist recipes. They began to
foster and incite splits and confrontations. They stoked supposed
resentments among different national or ethnic communities based on
Lenin’s idea that even small groups of villages could demand
territorial autonomy.
Note the word “territory.” The demands were never about normal
cultural autonomy as a means of continued identity and supposed
self-protection. Only territorial autonomy, it seems, would do.
This way, minorities become easily manipulated majorities. Divide
enough, stoke enough resentment, and a nation becomes nothing more
than a ruined society within a national territory. Arm some of these
manufactured minority structures so that they can demand autonomy at
the barrel of a gun, and you get the kind of chaos the Kremlin can
use to reassert its control.
Fortunately, Lithuanians — as well as Estonians and Latvians —
understood this game. It failed also in Crimea when Russia sought to
deploy its old strategy of divide and rule there in 1991. But these
defeats did not inspire the Kremlin to abandon the basic strategy. On
the contrary, Russia’s imperial ambitions persisted, and persistence
has paid off.
Around the Black Sea, Russia has called into being a series of
artificial statelets. Georgia and Moldova have both been partitioned
through the creation of criminal mini-states nurtured by the Kremlin
and which remain under its military umbrella. Indeed, in the very
week that Putin was meddling in Ukraine’s presidential election, he
was threatening to blockade one of those statelets, Georgia’s
Abkhazia region, after it had the temerity to vote for a president
the Kremlin did not like.
Moldova has been particularly helpless in the face of the Kremlin’s
imperial designs. A huge Russian garrison remains deployed in
Transdneister, where it rules in collaboration with local gangs.
Proximity to this lawless territory has helped make Moldova the
poorest land in Europe. To the east, Armenia and Azerbaijan were
pushed into such bloody confrontation at the Kremlin’s instigation
that the only way for them to end their ethnic wars was to call in
the Russians — as in Transdneister — for a kind of “Pax Ruthena.”
Now Ukraine’s people may face a similar test after supporters of
Viktor Yanukovich threatened to seek autonomy should the rightful
winner of the country’s presidential vote, Viktor Yushchenko,
actually become president. Who can doubt that the hand of Russia is
behind this? Would Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzkhov, a loyal creature of
Putin, have dared to attend the rally where autonomy was demanded
without the sanction of the Kremlin’s elected monarch? Indeed, Putin
openly claims this part of Ukraine as a Russian “internal matter.”
It is to be hoped that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens, having
witnessed the economic despair — and sometimes the bloodshed —
caused by the Kremlin’s manufactured pro-autonomy movements, will
realize that they are being turned into Putin’s pawns. The test for
Viktor Yushchenko and his Orange revolutionaries, as it was for
Lithuania’s democrats in 1990-1991, is to show that democracy does
not mean that the majority suppresses any minority. Lithuania passed
that test; I am confident that Viktor Yushchenko and his team will do
so as well.
But Europe and the world are also being tested. Russia is passing
from being the Russian Federation of Boris Yeltsin to a unitary
authoritarian regime under Vladimir Putin and his former KGB
colleagues. Europe, America, and the wider world must see Putin’s
so-called “managed democracy” in its true light, and must stand
united against his neo-imperialist dreams.
The first step is to make Russia honor its binding commitment to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as to
the Council of Europe, to remove its troops from Moldova and Georgia.
Any plans to “defend” Yanukovich and the eastern part of Ukraine by
military force must be confronted.
Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania’s first President after independence
from the Soviet Union, is now a Member of the European Parliament.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VATICAN HESITATES OVER TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP TO EU
Azg/arm
7 Dec 04
Vatican hasn’t made an official statement about Turkey’s membership to
EU but, according to archbishop Giovanni Lacholo, some leaders of the
Catholic Church state that Europe should include “the whole territory
stretching from the Atlantic ocean to the Urals, The Armenian Mirror
Spectator, weekly informed, referring to the news received from
Vatican through Internet.
Vatican External Relations’ official stated in La Stampa newspaper
that in case Turkey enters the European Union, the government of that
country will have to meet all the political criteria that are met in
all the other countries, including freedom of religion and belief. And
this guarantee “should not only be fixed in the constitution and the
legislation, but also protected in the social sphere,” archbishop
added. He emphasized that the Catholic Holly See doesn’t fear from
the enlargement of Europe and supported the applications of many
Easter European countries. “The guarantee that the new Europe will
be deeply united and interconnected should be a decisive factor,” he
said advising the European leaders to pay attention to those European
countries that have already expressed will to join the EU. He included
Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia in the list
of the abovementioned countries. “These countries keep in line with
the European cultural traditions,” he underscored.
By Hakob Tsulikian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVES DELEGATION OF EURASIA FOUNDATION
[October 15, 2004, 19:41:12]
Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Oct 15 2004
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 15 October at
the President Palace has received delegation of the Washington-based
Eurasia Foundation.
Greeting the guests, Head of the Azerbaijan State spoke of the
accomplishments reached last years in political, economic, social
and other fields in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s links with the international organizations, funds
and non-governmental organizations develop day by day, President
Ilham Aliyev noted. “From this standpoint, the visit of the Eurasia
Foundation’s delegation to Azerbaijan serves expansion of these
relations.”
Dwelling on the relations between Azerbaijan and the United States,
the President stressed intensive development of bilateral ties in
numerous fields.
The President of Azerbaijan also informed on dynamic economic
development of the Country, underlining that growth of GDP, volume
of investments and budget revenues is a good example of consecutive
realization of the economic reforms in Azerbaijan.
Touching upon Armenia’s aggression against the country, Head of the
Azerbaijan State said that the Armenian armed forces have occupied 20
percent of Azerbaijan’s lands, over one million people have become
refugees and IDPs in their homelands. He expressed hope that the
United States as one of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair would increase
its efforts for peace settlement of this conflict.
President Ilham Aliyev wished the visit of the delegation of Eurasia
Foundation to Azerbaijan to be successful.
Expressing his gratitude for sincere reception and kind words, the
Eurasia Fundation chair Mrs. Sarah Carey presented the authoritative
executives and politicians to the Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev,
told of success of their visit to Azerbaijan. She said the Foundation
promotes development of private section of economy, including
small and medium business, civil society and public management. The
Foundation is functioning in Azerbaijan since 1996, and currently
has 12 representations in the CIS space. The Foundation, mainly,
is financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
and gives grants to many organizations in Azerbaijan as well.
Mrs. Sarah Carey gave high assessment to activity of the Foundation’s
representation in Azerbaijan and expressed satisfaction with assistance
of Azerbaijan Government to the Foundation’s activities.
Head of the foreign relations department of President Administration
Novruz Mammadov, US assistant ambassador in Azerbaijan Jason Highland
took part at the reception.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WAC STEADILY ACHIEVING ITS GOALS
Azg/am
15 Oct 04
Ara Abrahamian at Yerevan Economic Forum
The World Armenian Congress (WAC) after its creation in October 2003
passes complex process of organizational formation.
However, despite the huge complexities on the way of consolidations of
efforts of the Armenian communities and individuals, our organization
step by step re alizes the purposes put by the Constituent Assembly
of WAC. In May of the current year WAC organized a conference with
participation of leading scientists from all over the world with the
purpose of creation a Commission of Experts on Genocide at WAC, called
to develop uniform pan-Armenian position on all questions connected
with normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. First of all the
Commission should define the period of time within which the Armenian
Genocide was carried out and define the size of indemnifications for
the caused damage and territorial claims to Turkish Republic.
The staff of the Commission experts was confirmed at the Conference
and the work began. It is coordinated by the Armenian Institute of
International Law and Political Science in Moscow under the direction
of professors Barsegov.
However, as we emphasized the Constituent Assembly will fall short
achieving serious successes in the issue of Genocide recognition
and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, to achieve a fair
solution for Karabakh unless Armenians unite all efforts to support
social and economic progress of Armenia. On the one hand, it requires
involvement of Diaspora businessmen in economy of Armenia. On the
other hand, Armenian economy and businessmen should urgently flow
together with international business structures. Armenian economy and
business should find its place in the international economic community.
For achievement these two seemingly different purposes the WAC
has undertaken steps both for establishing ties between Armenian
businessmen in Diaspora itself and Diaspora with Armenia, and for
creation of an international association for establishing direct
business ties between leading companies worldwide. We opened
the Pan-Russia Association for Foreign Economic Relations with the
support of Russian authorities and with participation of Commercial and
Industrial Chamber, together with Russian Union of Industrialists and
Businessmen. Russian-Argentinean, Russian-South Korean Associations
were organized around Pan-Russian. The Associations Russian- French,
Russian-Brazilian, Russian-Italian are undergoing the process
registration. Creation of Russian-Georgian, Russianâ^À^Ó Kazakh
Associations is envisaged.
Thus, WACâ^À^Ùs aim is not only to promote structural registration
and consolidation of efforts of the Armenian businessmen in Diaspora
but also to try to lift the Armenian business on a new qualitative
level of foreign economic relations more appropriate to the present
stage of globalization. Therefore at the forthcoming forum we shall
discuss all issues concerning creation of Russian-Armenian Association
as one of the links of global structure, covering the key figures of
the international business community who are already involved in the
International Association of Foreign Economic Relations.
This Association does not replace but supplements existing functional
mechanisms and successfully working institutes responsible
for adjustment of business ties between businessmen of various
countries. As a matter of fact, the given mechanism allows adjusting
direct contacts between 50 leading companies representing each of
the countries.
Armenian businessmen and public figures of Armenia and Diaspora
as well as members of governments and heads of associations of the
businessmen of number of participating states take part in creation
the global business structure at the Forum.
I want to note, that the key purpose, which the World Armenian
Congress puts before itself by holding the Forum, is developing and
realizing concrete business projects assisting the social and economic
development of Armenia as well as effective use of available political
and economic potential of Diaspora and of international financial
and economic structures.
The Forum anticipates:
1. Information from the Armenian government and local and international
organizations on the current condition and prospects of development
of Armenian economy, on investmentsâ^À^Ù rate and key sectors of
economy that are most attractive for overseas investors.
2. Discussion and formation of a new concept of Armeniaâ^À^Ùs
participation in the system of the international economic relations and
inclusion of Armenia in the global system foreign economic relations.
3. Explanation of the concept, basic tasks and intermediate term
programs of new structures of the World Armenian Congress: he Center
of Strategic Researches and Investmentsâ^À^Ù Fund of Support of
Small and Average Business.
4. Search of the long-term partners for formulation and realization
of the tasks and joint realization of a number of projects.
Would like to look at the abovementioned tasks a bit closer.
a. Participation of Armenia in the system of foreign economic
relations. Transport communications problem and difficult geopolitical
position of the region are the first stumbling blocks on the way of
Armeniaâ^À^Ùs development. It is necessary to compensate these
natural restrictions by more active participation of Armenia in the
system of foreign economic relations. The Pan-Russia Association
of Foreign Economic Relations, which is also the organizer of
todayâ^À^Ùs Forum, can play an extremely important role in
opening transport corridors for Armenia. The Association is called to
systematize and to activate direct contacts in the system of economic
relations between businessmen of various states.
We assume to involve Georgia in the structure of the Association as
well. In my report made recently at the economic forum in Tbilisi the
issue of Yerevan-Moscow railway opening was lifted. I am sure that
this issue can be settled if the interested sides make necessary
efforts in this direction. The issue of railway opening should top
the agenda of the countries bearing loss from the closed railway,
i.e. Armenia, Georgia, Russia.
b. Work of the Center of Strategic Researches of the WAC and
Investmentsâ^À^Ù Fund of Support of Small and Average Business. The
basic task of the Center of Strategic Researches will be defining key
problems of development of Armeniaâ^À^Ùs and Diasporaâ^À^Ùs
political, economic, social and cultural spheres, researches into
these spheres and elaborating of programs and projects for improving
the spheres.
The Investment Fund of Support of Small and Average Business is the
second major institute, which will promote realization of both programs
developed by the Center and separate business projects. Some business
projects will be presented to the Forum to get done by 2005. WAC
hopes to find partners among Armenian and foreign businessmen to
reach this goal.
This Forum is our first step on the way of uniting all efforts
of Armenian businessmen and international financial and economic
structures with the perspective of realization both average and
wide-range economic projects that brace economy of our fatherland. I
am sure that we will not stop here.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian authorities unable to defend Karabakh – pressure group leader
Arminfo
29 Oct 04

YEREVAN
The Armenian authorities cannot defend properly the liberated Armenian
lands in the international arena, the head of the Defence of the
Liberated Territories political initiative, Zhirayr Sefilyan, said at
the National Press Club today.
He said that by fighting for their land, the Armenians proved that the
liberated territories belong to the Armenians, not to the Azerbaijanis.
Nevertheless, the behaviour of representatives of the Armenian
leadership in the international arena is incompatible with the courage
and aspirations of the freedom fighters.
Zhirayr Sefilyan noted that at present, the USA and West are showing
great interest in the liberated territories. As for Turkey, it is more
interested in the valley of the Araz River. Zhirayr Sefilyan explained
why this territory: “This territory is located on the very border and
he who deploys his troops here will have an opportunity to control the
entire region.”
On this basis, West and America are keen to settle here. At the same
time, speaking about Putin’s proposal, Sefilyan noted that “he does
not take it seriously, considering it to be another slap in the face
of our authorities”.
To recap, the mass media reported that Putin’s suggestion was “to
withdraw the Armenian troops from the occupied territories outside the
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] in exchange for holding a referendum
on the status of Karabakh both in Karabakh and in Azerbaijan”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress