Paper: Armenia’s Electric Networks Backs RPA

PAPER: ARMENIA’S ELECTRIC NETWORKS BACKS RPA

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 20, 2012 – 10:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Zhoghovurd paper quotes its sources as saying that
the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has employed in its
election campaign the leadership of Electric Networks of Armenia
(ENA) company.

The paper says general manager of the company Yevgeny Bibin held a
large meeting recently to speak about the forthcoming elections.

“We unanimously support the Republican Party of Armenia,” he told
the branch managers and heads of departments.

According to Zhoghovurd, the management demands that company’s
employees provide their family members’ names and passport data to
ensure votes for RPA at the elections.

However, Electric Networks’ information department head Natalya
Sarajanyan refuted the news to the paper, as expected.

“I’m also a head of department, and I did not attend any such meeting,”
Zhoghovurd quotes her as saying.

Kurdish Politicians To Visit U.S.

KURDISH POLITICIANS TO VISIT U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 20, 2012 – 13:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The co-chairs of Turkey’s Peace and Democracy Party
(BDP) will visit the United States for meetings with officials and
civil society, to try to build support for their position on the
Kurdish conflict.

“The U.S. approach on the Kurdish issue has been based on unilateral
information from the government. They should see the other side of
the coin and lend us an ear as well,” sources close to BDP co-chair
Selahattin DemirtaÅ~_ quoted him as telling his aides.

During the April 22 to 29 trip, DemirtaÅ~_ will be accompanied
by BDP co-chair Gultan KıÅ~_anak, BDP lawmaker Nazmi Gur as well
as independent deputy Ahmet Turk, who heads the Kurdish umbrella
organization, the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).

The delegation is expected to visit several cities, Hurriyet Daily
News reported.

Expert: Genocide Issue Becomes More Intricate For Turkey

Expert: Genocide issue becomes more intricate for Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 20, 2012 – 13:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Head of the Regional Studies Center named several
areas where Armenian Genocide recognition campaign is waged.

As Richard Giragosian told a press conference, the foreign policy
Armenia pursued in recent years yielded tangible progress in Genocide
recognition.

“Turkey spends more resources for promotion of its denial policy as
the number of countries that back it gradually becomes smaller. The
closer Armenian Genocide 100th anniversary is, the more intricate
the issue becomes for Turkey. It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan has
intensified its support for Turkish denial policy,” the expert said,
forecasting tougher Azeri pressures on Armenia and NKR after Azerbaijan
assumes presidency of the UN Security Council.

Mr. Giragosian further stressed the need for considering the problem
of Turkey and Azerbaijan in the context of its interrelation with
other genocides.

Cairo Published Book On Armenian Family Achieving Royal Power In Egy

CAIRO PUBLISHED BOOK ON ARMENIAN FAMILY ACHIEVING ROYAL POWER IN EGYPT

news.am
April 20, 2012 | 04:46

Cairo published Hekayat Osra Aremenia (Stories of an Armenian Family)
by Nabil Hefny Mahmoud, depicting a famous Armenian family in Egypt,
which achieved to royal power, Ahram Online reports.

According to the researcher, the history of Armenians in Egypt dates
back to the age of the Roman Empire, but the time when Armenians
started flooding into Egypt and had their own quarters, schools and
churches was during the Fatimid Islamic period.

Abul-Farag Bin Nekula the Armenian was the father of a family that
had gained much power, whose members reached high positions in the
Egyptian civil service, and even ruled Egypt for some time.

The father started as a banker, and later became a minister. Despite
the Christian origins of Armenians, many converted to Islam retaining
only their surnames. The stories continue until the last mention of
the family, after five generations in the civil service, close to
royal power.

Talaat Pasha In Skirt

TALAAT PASHA IN SKIRT
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:38:39 – 20/04/2012

Why only in skirt, Hillary Clinton often wears pants. The State
Secretary has become the trouble of the U.S. foreign politics.

Her appointment, as we know, was compromising, and, apparently, was the
result of decisions under the masters of the U.S. Democratic Party,
with the clear involvement of the key politicians from the Clinton
administration. A similar trade-off occurred when selecting Joe Biden
for vice-president.

The big three of the current administration, Obama, Biden and Clinton,
is determined by different interests and policy of certain groups in
the Democratic Party and their partners in the U.S. establishment. For
the members of the Big Three the most problematic regions and areas
were reserved. Joe Biden had to deal mostly with the Middle East
and other regions in Asia, Clinton – Eastern Europe and Eurasia,
and Barack Obama – apparently, the rest, that is, global challenges.

With Biden everything came out easy: Obama’s people quickly
threw him off the actual arena and he became what he had to – the
vice-president. It is more difficult with Hillary Clinton, and she,
actually, became the “alternative” to the president. Relying on
the huge group from the Democratic Party, including people, who
gathered in the Brookings Institute, that is in the “brain” of the
Democratic staff, Hillary Clinton, actually usurped the foreign policy,
successfully failing it in all the directions.

Literally, at all the directions of the global repression of China’s
expansion, that it, one of the most important directions of the U.S.
foreign policy, an unconditional failure was registered. China is
successfully strengthening its positions in the South-East Asia, South
Asia and Central Asia, and the most disappointing in the European
direction. We shall also add to this the U.S. failure to neutralize
the China-Russia relations within the SCO.

The new U.S. doctrinaire concept relating to the “shift” of
responsibility on the Arab countries, though it seems a more or less
“pretty image”, in reality, it is destined to failure very soon. In
this region, it was impossible to fulfill effective sanctions in
relation to Iran and force it capitulation. The U.S., despite its
wish to show control on the Arab revolutions, sealed the fact that
these processes appeared and are happening on definite scenarios.

What is happening in Egypt and Syria is becoming a “nightmare” for
the Obama administration. The uncontrollability in the region is
increasing and this becomes a challenge for the U.S..

The current American policy in Europe is based on the “benefits”
which have been gained thanks to the Bush administration. In addition,
European left and liberal forces, as well as the right and conservative
ones are disappointed in the result of the same reasons – extreme
deviance and palliative of their policies, which demonstrate a
“fundamental confusion and lack of discipline”.

Bringing the U.S. into such a deadlock, the Obama administration,
under the sensitive control by H. Clinton, chose the “After us,
the deluge” policy in relation to Turkey, when Clinton’s people
instead of the policy of repression towards Ankara, are leading
the policy of silly and meaningless compromises. At the same time,
with each stage of establishment of relations with Turkey, the Obama
administration understands more that they haven’t achieved anything
in the fundamental aspects and just doomed to fiasco the U.S. policy
in relation with Turkey.

The point is not about the fact that the U.S. has no ideas or
levers to lead policy towards Turkey, but the fact that the State
Department is doing it in an archaic and unprofessional way. All this
is quite natural because the staff of the State Department has not
yet been formed. Has much attention been paid to the assessment and
characteristics of the State Department functionaries in the U.S.
political literature?

It is interesting that even the politicians and experts of the
Republican Party, who in private talks, express radical position on
the current policy of the U.S., don’t express it in a textual form.

It is possible that it has some meaning, but the presidential election
campaign, this way or another, will evidence these vices of the
U.S. foreign policy, and will point out those guilty.

Unfortunately, the Republican Party failed or didn’t want to promote
a more or less convincing candidate for president. We can presume
that it is done consciously since the Republicans are not eager to
assume the responsibility for the current economic situation of the
country. If everything is really this way, then, in historical terms,
Obama is seen in the U.S. as a transitive “technical president”.

This is a very unpleasant situation and it is more unpleasant not
for the Americans but for the rest of the world.

Since only the U.S. is able to resist concrete global threats and
the U.S. opponents in every region understand it very well. In this
situation, an extremely ideologized group appeared at the wheel of the
foreign policy of the U.S. whose ideology is a collection of ambiguous,
unsystematic and dangerous thesis of deviatory character.

It was during this period when the task of removing Clinton from
her post as Secretary of State appeared was set, before the end
of Barack Obama’s first term as president. The task is to save
the great country from a group of followers ‘Brookings Institute’
who have long discredited themselves (of course, having in mind not
only this brain center, but an extensive network of left-liberal
intellectuals, expressing the interests of the great mass of middle
class and the leaders of the bourgeois class.) Even if we accept
the U.S. current policy in relation to Turkey as something pragmatic
in the perspective that this policy will result in entirely different
and more complex problems, it will be found out that the Americans
have lost much valuable time on this direction.

H. Clinton, jointly with “her” president, is trying to not only
sabotage the recognition of the Armenian genocide, but also to close
this issue forever. No other administration, even Bill Clinton’s one,
has ever tried to do this, which paved the way to the failure of the
recognition. Besides, of all the Grand Ladies of the State Department
– Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, only the
acting Grand Lady has issued an open support to the recognition of
the genocide during the election campaign.

Sure Washington understands that in order to parry efforts to recognize
the genocide they have to apply more effort, and the current problems
didn’t exist previously. But in this case some personal hatred towards
Armenians and their issue is felt, that, somehow, the Clinton team
will attempt to win back on Armenia. That is, here we have quite a
verified Talaat Pasha in a skirt.

During the next presidential election campaign, the Armenian-American
voters will need to hold a different position, that is not to vote
for the supporters of the genocide but against those who are against
the recognition of the genocide at the same time, they will have to
demonstrate their position not only on the voting day but also during
the whole campaign, leading counter-agitation within all possible
ethnic and religious communities. Talaat Pasha in the skirt and “her”
president should properly feel their disadvantaged state of hypocrites
and deprived of honor politicians.

http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments25892.html

ISTANBUL: Bride’s Brother Receives Life Sentence For Killing Newlywe

BRIDE’S BROTHER RECEIVES LIFE SENTENCE FOR KILLING NEWLYWEDS

Today’s Zaman

April 17 2012
Turkey

Gönay Ogmen has been given an aggravated life sentence by the
İstanbul 1st Criminal High Court on Monday for killing his sister,
Sonay Vural, and brother-in-law, Zekeriya Vural.

The young couple was found dead in their car in İstanbul’s Fatih
district 10 days after they had been married. It was later discovered
that they had been murdered by the bride’s brother because of religious
differences.

Sonay Ogmen (age 26), whose family was Armenian, married Zekeriya Vural
(age 29) against her family’s wishes. The young couple was found dead
in their automobile, each with a bullet to the forehead.

Police later established that the couple had been killed by someone
who sitting in the back seat of the vehicle and concluded that the
murderer was someone they knew. Sonay’s brother later confessed and
said in his testimony to police, “We didn’t want that groom.”

Investigators said they were able to capture Ogmen because of his
hobby of pigeon keeping. The suspect was detained at the Pigeon Lovers
Association in İstanbul with the gun believed to have been used in
the murder on his person.

In his initial testimony, Ogmen had said: “Our family didn’t want them
to get married. We met in a café to talk. Zekeriya told me: ‘This is
over. We are married. Don’t stand in the way.’ Then we got in the car.

I shot both of them.”

Vural’s uncle, Cemal Vural, speaking to the press a week after the
murder, said: “Sonay’s brother had invited them to dinner. It was
a trap, apparently. She was Christian. Her family was against the
marriage because he is Muslim. Actually, Sonay warned her family a
week ago that she’d take her own life.”

http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=277700

Kim Kardashian For Mayor? Reality Star Receives Death Wishes

KIM KARDASHIAN FOR MAYOR? REALITY STAR RECEIVES DEATH WISHES
By Brittney R. Villalva

Christian Post

April 17 2012

Following Kim Kardashian expressing her interest in running for mayor,
many have responded harshly with some even wishing death upon the
reality TV star.

Kim Kardashian has revealed her desire to run for the mayor of
Glendale, California. In an un-aired take for “Khloe and Lamar” the
star informed her sister Khloe that she was going to run for mayor
in five years.

“I decided I’m going to run for the mayor of Glendale,” Kardashian
announced. “For real, Noel is going to head my campaign but it’s
going to be in like five years. So I have to buy a house there,
you have to have residency there.”

The star also revealed that she wanted to run for mayor in Glendale
because there is a heavy Armenian population.

“Because it’s, like, Armenian town,” she explained.

While some laughed off the comments as typical Kardashian silliness,
others were extremely harsh and put death wishes on the reality star.

Like us on Facebook

“Kim shouldn’t run for mayor of Lincoln log land, let alone a real
city. do us all a favor and die already will ya,” Shawman65 wrote on
the Huffington Post blog.

“She can RUN off a bridge in 2012!!! I’d vote for her then!!” ns1478
chimed in.

Others suggested that no one would ever vote for a reality star as
a government official.

“No one in their right mind would vote for her. She has nothing left to
do, so she will make a fool of us and herself again. Just by putting
herself out there for us to see,” jerseyj40 wrote.

“Kim is a joke she will do and say anything just to stay in the spot
life,” dizziebuss said addressing the fact that Kardashian has been
frequently accused of staged publicity stunts.

http://global.christianpost.com/news/kim-kardashian-for-mayor-reality-star-receives-death-wishes-73380/

Prosperous Armenia Leader Owns Three Rings Worth Over $3 Million

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA LEADER OWNS THREE RINGS WORTH OVER $3 MILLION

Vestnik Kavkaza
April 18 2012
Russia

Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan has passed his tax and
property declaration. According to the document, Tsarykyan earned
21.433 billion drams, $60.081 million and 40 million euro last year.

He also listed three diamond rings worth a total of $3 million, $1
million and $700,000, watch worth $300,000 and $500,000. Tsarukyan’s
bank account includes 1.161 billion drams, $30.73 million and 20.483
million euro. He also listed expensive furniture worth a total of
over 800,000 euro. Tsarukyan has shares in 32 various companies. His
real estate covers of 9,000 square meters, 32 hectares of land. He
has 7 cars, one of them is Rolls Royce Phantom purchased in 2008,
Aysor reports.

Life In Iran: An Affair To Remember

LIFE IN IRAN: AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

IBN Live

April 17 2012

KOCHI: It was around midnight. One was in deep slumber exhausted after
the previous day’s mountaineering. Though too weary to open the eyes,
we saw ourselves at the Armenian border from Iran where our bus was
waiting for visa stamping.

An Iranian immigration officer issued an exit stamp. Thus, we moved to
the Armenian border. One could see the small tent with the Armenian
flag fluttering in the moonlight. We took the camera and captured
some images. Since the visibility of the flag was dimmed due to the
darkness we used the flash to make it more visible.

Just as we were shooting, all of a sudden, a few Armenian soldiers
came and asked us to follow them. It proved to be a mistake. This
became clearer when we read the graffiti pasted there – ‘Photography
Prohibited’.

Nobody spoke English and we waited patiently for the officer who was
to meet us. An hour passed, our bus left, while we were left stranded
at the spot. A bit later, the officer arrived and examined the camera.

We showed him the pictures and deleted the photos we had taken.�
He wasn’t keen anymore that we cross the border.

Just one photo was threatening to ruin our travel plans. We came
back and sat at the Iranian border. It was around 2 am. There were no
buses, no cabs. The time was moving at a snail’s pace in the absence
of any activity around. So we decided to head for Jolfa in Iran via
a taxi. From Jolfa, after spending an hour, one reached Tabriz.

We found a hotel room, costing $30 per day with complementary
breakfast. We did not know anything about Tabriz as it had never
figured in the iternary. We called up Farah, a friend who lived in
Meagan. She too did not know much about Tabriz, located as it is in
the last tip of the North Iran.

Yet, in half an hour she called back saying that a few of her friends
would pick us up and show us around. Fifteen minutes later, we see two
beautiful girls – Mona and Laden– at our place in a Peugeot 307 car.

Mona spoke moderate English and both were artists. They showed us
all the interesting places in Tabriz, and truly saved us from what
would have been two days of drudgery.

Through them we met Ali and Yahaya, both management students. Also,
Seema, Mariyum and Sogan who studied in Tabriz University. Sogan and
Seema could speak English well. Sogan who taught English in Tehran had
plans to do her PhD in the US. Seema on the other hand was learning
French so she could migrate to Canada.

One saw that all of them had a dream, but were� frustrated and felt
stuck in their country. The Iranian government’s mismanagement had
turned everyone we met against it.

In Iran, almost 70 per cent of the youngsters are moderate alcoholics.

Beneath their burqas is a Levis jeans or Adidas T-shirt. It was time
to bid adios. Ali and Yahaya hugged and promised to see us again.

If one goes by what BBC and CNN tell you, Iran is one of the most
dangerous places in the world. We certainly didn’t feel that way. The
people are as normal as everyone else, with the usual hopes, fears
and expectations.

Most of them are Shia Muslims.

We took a taxi from Falkeye to Meagan to meet Farah, forty kilometers
far away from Tehran. She spoke English well, and worked as a teacher
in a government school. She watched a lot of Indian films, dubbed
in Persian and had access to almost all western channels from the
satellite dish.

“It is banned in Iran, but everyone uses the satellite dish,” she
tells us.

The day ended with Farah taking us to her house, where her family
hosted a nice dinner party, with fish and rice prepared in Iranian
style. She arranged a taxi to Tehran for ourdeparture. The light
music of Shahyar Ghanbari followed from the stereo.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/life-in-iran-an-affair-to-remember/249416-60-122.html

Echoes Of Polish Isfahan

ECHOES OF POLISH ISFAHAN
by Ryszard Antolak

Iranian.com
April 16 2012

Traces of the Polish wartime exodus to Iran

There was once a time when the streets of Isfahan echoed to the
sounds of Polish songs, when thousands of little Polish girls made
their way to school (or work) along the Chahar Bagh in their smart
maroon jerseys and grey pleated skirts.

It is hard to believe today: but from 1942 to 1945 Isfahan was home
to an army of young Polish orphans (mostly girls) who found safety
and freedom in Iran after years of forced detention in Siberian labour
camps. Many had arrived in the country suffering from typhus, cholera
and dysentery. All were traumatized and emaciated by malnutrition.

Isfahan welcomed these orphans and found room for them in over twenty
separate areas of the city. The climate of the city and the beautiful
surroundings did much to return the children to physical and mental
health. A large number of these visitors remained in Isfahan for up
to three years, earning it the name, “City of Polish Children”.

Traces of their presence can still be found in Isfahan, if you are
prepared to look for them.

In an Armenian church in the Jolfa area, I discover a Polish relic: a
highly ornate icon of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. It is propped
up on the altar below a rather garish neon cross. As a mass is in
process, I wait in the aisle before approaching the celebrant (and his
elderly assistant) for information about the icon. Do they know how
the church acquired the icon? Could the Polish exiles have donated it?

After all, the children attended the church regularly on Sundays. Some
may even have received their first Holy Communions here. The two
Armenians smile apologetically and shake their heads. They are sorry,
but they know nothing of the icon’s history. But of course (they
continue) what I suggest is very possible. But they cannot say for
certain. It is all, in the end, rather disappointing.

Later, as I wander through the bazaar next to the Jame Mosque, I
stop to admire some tablecloths on display. The stallholder is very
friendly, and after sharing a few words I am invited around the back
to meet his grandfather, the patriarch of the family. He is sitting on
a tiny stool almost level with the floor, a slim, kindly old man with
a generous smile and several missing teeth. He is printing patterns
onto the cloth using nothing more than a simple wooden block. As he
talks, he smears the block with an inky sponge and presses it firmly
to the cotton material over and over again. It is intricate work,
but he makes no mistakes. The dyes are all his own, he tells me. He
makes them out of such things as alum and pomegranate skins.

The old man begins to talk about his childhood. He used to play with
the Polish children during the war years. He could remember many of
them. In addition, his teacher used to instruct the Polish children
in woodcarving, the making of wooden figures and ornaments. They were
good students, he said, eager to learn. One day the teacher asked him
if he would like to learn Polish (because he could arrange it). But
he declined. He much preferred to play football on the streets with
his school friends.

Suddenly, the old man remembers one of the places in Isfahan where
the exiles used to live. It is a factory now. He writes down the
address on a piece of paper for me.

As I am leaving, the grandson of the old man leans forward and informs
me of several Poles who have recently arrived in Isfahan to work.

Sensing my scepticism, he begins to tell me their names and
then proudly recites two or three phrases in Polish. His Polish
pronunciation is passable. These newly-arrived Poles like to sing
and to laugh, he says. And also to drink, he adds finally.

The very next morning, I go to the address the old man had given me
in Charbagh Street. The place is now a store called “Polar”, and deals
in refrigeration devices. I talk to the owner, who is more than happy
to let me to look around. I do, but there is very little to see. The
rooms upstairs are completely gutted and the ground floors containing
the shops extensively renovated. The only remaining feature of the
original building is the exterior facade of the upstairs storey. I go
out into the busy street and look up. Two ornate stone balconies can be
seen and also a pair of bay windows containing the faintest suggestion
of stained glass. What had once been an elegant, sought-after residence
was now earmarked for demolition. It was propped up on all sides with
temporary scaffolding and a metal curtain had been set up to protect
pedestrians from falling masonry.

Traces of the Polish wartime exodus to Iran were fast disappearing
from Isfahan. Would anything remain, I began to ask myself, in twenty,
fifty, a hundred years? Perhaps only graves will remain. Only the
graves.

Of all the Polish wartime cemeteries in Iran, Isfahan is one of the
smallest, but also one of the most beautiful. It can be found on
the south side of the river on a sloping hill between Mount Sofe and
Jolfa. Shielded from the main road by a blue wrought-iron fence, it
is surrounded by lofty pine trees, cool breezes and constant birdsong.

Peace and serenity permeate everything here. As with most of the
Polish cemeteries in Iran, it is cared for by the Armenian community.

The Polish section is marked by two large crucifixes cemented into
square pedestals with a metal chain hanging between them. Beyond them,
straight ahead, is an upright commemorative monument of white concrete
topped by a little crucifix. A Polish White Eagle is emblazoned across
its surface. It holds an image of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa
to its breast and the inscription below (in large black Polish
letters) reads, “To the memory of the Polish exiles, from their
fellow countrymen”.

Immediately in front of this monument is the oldest Polish grave in
Isfahan, perhaps even in all of Iran. It is dated 1686, and marks the
resting place of Theodore Miranowicz, an ambassador from the Polish
King who died on a mission to the Iranian court. All about him, in
three neat rows, are the 20 gravestones dating from the time of the
Polish children. The majority are graves belonging to adults who cared
for the orphans in Isfahan. Only seven actually belong to children.

One merely reads, “She never saw the light of day”.

I sit down on a bench to consider all I have seen. In my hand I hold
a copy of an old Polish newspaper printed in Tehran in 1943. One of
the articles by a Polish visitor to Isfahan reads:

A new “Young Poland” is being reborn here in Isfahan. These thousands
of young people will return to their own country soon with the
atmosphere of Isfahan deeply imprinted on their hearts. They will
return home imbued with ideas of Art uncontaminated by fashion,
advertisement or self-interest. Anyone who experiences “Polish Isfahan”
for even a single day must bow his head before this miracle and say
(without exaggeration), “Isfahan will enter the History of Poland.”

(1)

Unfortunately, the writer was wrong on both counts. There was to be
no rebirth of the Polish nation. And after the war, virtually none
of the children returned to Poland. Instead, they became casualties
of British and US policy towards Poland post 1945. They were passed
from one shabby resettlement camp to another, whether in India or
East Africa. A large group of them settled in New Zealand, in a place
called Pahiatua. Another group (the majority) ended up in Santa Rosa,
Mexico. The USA refused to take any of them. Indeed, when their ship
docked in Los Angeles en route to Mexico, the US authorities arrested
the children and placed them behind barbed wire in an internment camp
for Japanese citizens. When they were finally permitted to leave,
it was only by sealed train and under heavy US military guard until
they reached the border with Mexico.