Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Amazing grace at age 103 in Weymouth

The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Massachusetts)
Mar 06, 2013

By Sue Scheible

Alan Alemian sends this photo of her mother.

Asdghig `Starrie’ Alemian celebrated her 103rd birthday with family
members and friends at The Red Parrot in Hull on March 2, 2013.
Alemian lives in Weymouth and is a survivor of the Armenian
genocide. She turned 103 on March 1, 2013.

“It was a great party, continuing until about 8:30 p.m.,” Alan Alemian
said in an email. This is one amazing woman and a wonderful family of
unending support and love for their mother.

Here is last year’s story about Starrie:

From: Baghdasarian

Inspector visited blogger’s 76-year-old father

11:58 AM | TODAY | SOCIAL

Blogger Isabella Abgaryan today wrote a letter to the police, asking
them to explain why on March 5, at about 9 pm, a person presented as a
precinct inspector visited his 76-year-old father’s house and asked
about stored arms and ammunition at home.

Isabella Abgaryan wants to clarify whether these requests are widespread.

Note that in the same evening Isabella Abgaryan made a speech in
Freedom square criticizing the authorities.

From: Baghdasarian

EurasiaNet.org, NY
March 7 2013

Armenia Sees Only Oligarchs in Its Dreams of Carrefour

March 7, 2013 – 12:28pm, by Marianna Grigoryan

Photo: The Armenian government is in negotiation with French
supermarket giant Carrefour to open one of its grocery and department
stores, such as this one in the southwestern French town of Beauzelle,
in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The company opened in 2012 its first
store in the Caucasus – a Carrefour hypermarket outside of Tbilisi.
(Photo: Carrefour)

Are Armenia’s oligarchs using their financial and political power to
block the world’s second-largest retail empire, the French-owned
Carrefour Group, from entering the country’s largely monopolized
foodstuffs sector? For Armenian consumers beset by high food prices
and low incomes, the question has become a matter of principle.

For roughly the past six months, billboards at one of Yerevan’s luxury
shopping centers, the Dalma Garden Mall, owned by Russia-based
billionaire Samvel Karapetian, have announced the arrival of a
10,000-square-meter Carrefour hypermarket, a facility combining a
large supermarket with departments selling electronics, household
items, clothes, toys and more.

The discount retail giant, second in size only to Wal-Mart, has
already taken a first step into the South Caucasus; in 2012, along
with its United-Arab-Emirates-based partner, Majid Al Futtaim, it
opened a Carrefour hypermarket outside of Tbilisi, the capital of
Armenia’s northern neighbor, Georgia.

The Armenian government, still struggling to boost foreign investment
after the 2009 financial crisis, has made its interest plain in
Carrefour, Europe’s biggest retailer, but, still, the facility has not
opened. Reasons for the delay remain unclear.

But some Armenian observers believe the reason is entirely human –
namely, 44-year-old Samvel Alexanian, the alleged owner of the
country’s largest supermarket chain, Yerevan City, and of the
country’s largest food importer, Alex Grig, which ranks as one of
Armenia’s biggest taxpayers (in 2012, roughly 17.43 billion drams, or
$42.4 million).

Compared with Carrefour, which owns 14,000 hypermarkets and posted a
2012 profit of $1.6 billion, Alexanian, a member of parliament for the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia, might not appear a formidable
opponent. But within this country of just over 3 million people, his
assumed influence – most directly reflected in the prices of flour and
sugar – is legendary.

Yet one senior Republican Party of Armenia member argues that
Alexanian has no bearing on Carrefour’s decision to enter Armenia or
not. As a member of parliament, Alexanian is banned from directly
owning any businesses. (The MP claims that his wife, Shoghine
Alexanian, owns Alex Grig, and has described himself as a poor man
with seven children.)

`You know, the word `oligarch’ is a matter of perspective… depending
on what we imply by saying `oligarch,” cautioned RPA parliamentary
faction leader Galust Sahakian. `The emergence of economic pillars in
Armenia cannot be considered an oligarchy.’

Critics counter, though, that Alexanian, commonly known as `Lfik Samo’
(`Lfik’ taken from the Russian word `lifchik’ for bra; a reference to
a lingerie company popularly linked to the Alexanians – ed), is more
than just an `economic pillar.’

Not known for his legislative activity – no record exists of his work
on draft laws – Alexanian nonetheless does his part for the government
in exchange for being allowed wide play with food imports, they
allege. Local election observers and media charge that Alexanian paid
for buses to transport voters to take part in carousel voting for the
RPA during Armenia’s February 18 presidential election. His
representatives said that Alexanian only `helped’ voters get to the
polls.

So long as powerful businesspeople like Alexanian work with the RPA,
the `link’ between the government and Armenia’s oligarchs `will be
maintained like a vicious circle,’ fumed human rights activist Arthur
Sakunts, chairperson of the Helsinki Assembly’s Vanadzor office.
`There seems to be no end to this at the moment.’

A 2012 Investment Climate Statement from the US Department of State
noted that `well-connected businessmen … enjoy government-protected
market dominance [which] raises barriers to new entrants, limits
consumer choice, and discourages investments by multinational firms
that insist on partnering with politically independent businesses.’

The list of such businessmen is as motley as it is short on exact
details. Arguably, the best known figure is 55-year-old entrepreneur
Gagik Tsarukian, the flamboyant head of the Prosperous Armenia Party,
a former government ally, and chairperson of Armenia’s Olympic
Committee, who holds interests in multiple companies, ranging from
beer to furniture.

Other such businesspersons range from Mikhail Bagdasarov, an oil and
gasoline tycoon who owns the national airline Armavia, to the former
boss of HayRusGazArd, Karen Karapetian, a onetime Yerevan mayor.

Popular anger against the `permissiveness’ granted Armenia’s oligarchs
on everything from tax breaks to accountability before the law
surfaced most visibly last summer, when Yerevan residents took to the
streets to protest the death of army doctor Vahe Avetian at the hands
of security guards employed by businessman Ruben Hayrapetian,
chairperson of the Armenian Football Federation. Hayrapetian later
resigned from parliament over the scandal.

Even before that outcry, opposition members, civil society
representatives and the Diaspora have urged the government to
diversify the economy and push back against the oligarchs’ influence,
but, as yet, no tangible progress has been made.

Arguably, though, reasons apart from Alexanian could explain any
reluctance by Carrefour to charge full-steam into Armenia. More than a
third of its population lives in poverty, according to official data.
Although the World Bank has ranked Armenia second in the region (after
Georgia) for ease of doing business, the country has high import costs
(thanks in part to its blockaded borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan)
and a reputation for corruption, including within customs.

In a February 20 comment to reporters, though, State Revenue Committee
Chairperson Gagik Khachatrian asserted that the reasons why Carrefour
has not yet entered Armenia `are not related to the customs service.’

In late December 2012, Vache Arsen, the project’s Armenia-based
representative, stressed to the newspaper Zhogovurd that the Carrefour
hypermarket would open, but did not elaborate. Representatives of
Majid Al Futtaim did not respond to requests for comment from
EurasiaNet.org about their plans in Armenia.

To many observers, that brings the blame right back onto Alexanian,
given his presumed control of food imports, and other Armenian
oligarchs.

`These people will vanish from the system if rules of the game are
changed,’ argued Stepan Safarian, a senior member of former
presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian’s opposition Heritage Party,
who lost his seat in parliament to Hayrapetian in 2008.

Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am.

From: Baghdasarian

Voice of America News
March 6, 2013

Syria’s Armenians Return to Their Ancestral Homeland

by James Brooke
March 6, 2013

YEREVAN, ARMENIA – As Syria’s civil war marks a two-year anniversary
on March 15, the human cost will be more than 70,000 dead, one million
refugees outside the country, and two million more people forced to
find new shelter inside Syria.

One trickle of refugees has been a flow of 6,000 Armenian Christians,
going north to a landlocked, mountainous country many never knew:
their ancestral homeland of Armenia.

Many Armenians say they have been well treated by Syrians, the people
who gave shelter to their forefathers nearly one century ago, after
they fled massacres by Ottoman Turks.

In recent years, though, Armenians have watched Christians retreat
from Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. The Syrian Armenians’ quiet departure
reflects their doubt that a tolerant, secular state will emerge from
Syria’s civil war.

Living in Armenia, thinking of Syria

At Yerevan’s High School No. 114, about 150 Syrian Armenian students
are now enrolled in classes.

Last summer, many students left Aleppo, the homeland of Syria’s
Armenian community, for what they thought would be a two-week vacation
in Armenia. Now, they try to keep up with friends back home using
Skype and Facebook.

“I can’t talk with them,” Maria Vartanian, aged 15, said of
girlfriends back home. “Because when I talk with them, I will cry. I
can’t.”

Garen Balkhian, a 17-year-old senior, said many of his old friends
from Aleppo have scattered. “A couple of my friends are here in
Armenia – this school,” he said. “And a couple of them went to Canada.
And I know one friend who went to the [United] States.”

Across town, Sarkis Balkhian helps run an aid project designed to help
Syrian Armenians find apartments, schools and jobs in Yerevan. A
Syrian-Armenian himself, Balkhian went to college in the United
States, and then moved to Armenia.

“When the conflict initially started in July, a lot of Syrian
Armenians believed that it would last only for a couple of weeks,” he
said, in an office room stocked with blankets and warm sweatshirts.
“So a lot of Syrian Armenians moved to Armenia with summer clothes and
they didn’t bring with them winter clothes. A lot of people didn’t
bring enough finances to sustain themselves in the long run.”

At Yerevan’s Anteb restaurant, Sarkis Rshdouni, a foreign currency
trader, said that many fellow Syrian Armenians have had a hard time
getting good jobs in Armenia, a small, isolated country with high
unemployment.

1915 massacre still casts a shadow

Like many, Rshdouni worries about the fate of Christians if Muslim
radicals take power in Syria.

“The Christians, let’s say, don’t trust the politics of each country
they live in, but they trust the Arabs, the regular Arabs – the
citizens,” he said. “They don’t feel stable. The countries that
they’re living in, in the Middle East, it’s not stable.”

Driving Armenian insecurity is the collective memory of the 1915
genocide. Almost one century ago, Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey – about three-quarters of the local population.
For VIP visitors to Yerevan, it is obligatory to visit the capital’s
hilltop Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute.

One legacy of the genocide, said Richard Giragosian, a think tank
director, is that Armenians in the Middle East are a people primed to
get up and go. After Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power in Egypt in
1952, Armenians felt threatened by his socialist policies.

“Then they left,” said Giragosian, who directs the Regional Studies
Center here. “Then it was Beirut, then the [Lebanese] civil war. Then
it was Tehran. They left in 1979 in large numbers. So there is a
natural dynamic trend for change in what is called the Armenian
diaspora. So the Armenian position in the Middle East has never been
static or stable.”

For the young Syrian Armenians, a new generation of Armenia’s
diaspora, their passport to the future is flexibility. In the halls of
School No. 114, they talk of going to college in America, of going
home to Aleppo – or of making their future here in Armenia.

James Brooke ()

A foreign correspondent who has reported from five continents, Brooke,
known universally as Jim, is the Voice of America bureau chief for
Russia and former Soviet Union countries. From his base in Moscow, Jim
roams Russia and Russia’s southern neighbors.

From: Baghdasarian

A Brother and Sister Venture: The Story of Harsanik.com
by Shantal Der Boghosian

March 7, 2013

It’s difficult to imagine a world where information isn’t readily
available to us. We have become accustomed to an easy internet search
from our smart phones any time we need to find an address, phone
number, or even vendor reviews. But a little over a decade ago most of
us were still looking up contact information in the yellow p

Harsanik.com was started by a brother and sister duo, Garen Khanoyan
and Marineh (Khanoyan) Tchakerian
ages, or asking friends of a friend for a phone number of a caterer
they liked. In short, it was not easy to find the information you
needed to plan a party, wedding, or event. This very problem was the
inspiration behind Harsanik.com, a comprehensive online directory of
vendors catering to wedding services around the greater Los Angeles
area. Harsanik means `wedding’ in Armenian.

Harsanik.com was started by a brother and sister duo, Garen Khanoyan
and Marineh (Khanoyan) Tchakerian. The idea for the website was
conceived in 2005 while they were discussing the challenges their
friends faced while planning their weddings; many of the vendors at
the time did not have websites and were difficult to contact. Garen
and Marineh’s goal was to simplify the lives of those planning a
wedding, and to help wedding vendors be easily found by potential
brides and grooms, and see their businesses grow. `Whether it
succeeded or not, we would have been happy if we created something
useful for the community,’ the duo told me.

The creation of Harsanik.com was no easy feat. The most challenging
task for Garen and Marineh was finding a way to make time for their
website idea while also working at their full-time jobs. Garen holds a
bachelor’s and master’s degree from USC in electrical engineering and
computer science, and Marineh holds a degree from USC in business
administration with an emphasis in marketing. Their unique skills
provided a combination that would be important to the success of an
online business. Garen focuses on the technical aspect of the
business, including the continuous development, maintenance, and
optimization of the website. Marineh focuses on all aspects of
marketing and sales, including developing content, partnering with
vendors to help promote the site, and managing all advertising sales.

The duo began working on the website in December 2005, and during the
development phase decided to create a categorized online directory
(banquet halls, florists, DJ, etc.) completely free for both vendors
and people to use. They felt that in order for the website to be truly
helpful for the community, it had to be free. To this day Harsanik.com
is a free service for users and vendors, and will remain so to serve
the community to its fullest. After 15 months of solid development and
long hours juggling their full-time jobs, Harsanik.com launched in
March 2007.

When asked what motivated them to push through the long hours to see
Harsanik.com to fruition, Garen and Marineh agreed that their number
one focus was to help the Armenian community. `We knew our business
would have a big impact on both those planning a wedding and vendors
who cater to the Armenian wedding industry.’ However, the initial
challenge they faced was to gain public acceptance of the website
concept. Most businesses were reluctant to receive a free basic
listing on their website. They suspected fraud since they had never
heard of Harsanik.com and did not believe they would benefit from a
free service. Others were very skeptical of the idea and did not think
the concept would work, but that motivated Garen and Marineh to work
even harder.

By 2008 the website had gained traction and enjoyed a steady growth of
online traffic, as well as a vendor and user base. `We started
receiving countless emails from users and vendors thanking us for
building a great resource for the Armenian community, and it’s that
positive feedback that pushes us to keep working on the site and
continue improving it.’ They soon realized the added potential for
helping the greater community by allowing users to share their
experiences, and launched a ratings and reviews system as part of
their directory. As the website continued to grow, the team focused on
creating great experiences for their users, maintaining a high-quality
site, and never compromising their integrity and core business values.
They maintain an unbiased and fair system towards all businesses they
work with.

In 2009 the Harsanik.com team expanded the business further by
producing an upscale bridal show. They chose to partner with Christine
Zohrabians of `Fancy That! Events’ to organize the bridal event. The
show was a huge success with hundreds of brides and over a thousand
guests attending, proving that there was a high demand for a bridal
show targeting Armenians. After receiving positive feedback from
vendors and guests, Garen and Marineh decided to continue the bridal
shows annually.

But what is it that motivates them to pull in long hours into the
business? `It might sound crazy, but running a wedding website is
actually a lot of fun. We have met so many amazing people through this
business that we would never have had the chance to meet. We’ve both
learned so much by running our own business, both professionally and
personally. The experience of having our own `side project’ that has
blossomed into a full online business has taught us many lessons, and
we are confident there’s much more for us to learn on the Harsanik.com
journey. `

Marineh (Khanoyan) Tchakerian is a Product Marketing Manager at
Intuit. She has been with Intuit for 7 years, working on the product
development and marketing of the TurboTax product. In 2011, she won
the Scott Cook Innovation Award, which allowed her to spend 3 months
in the Intuit UK office where she launched a pilot for a brand new
mobile payment product in the UK. Garen Khanoyan has been working at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 15 years as a software and hardware
engineer. He has worked on the last two Mars rover missions and is
currently working on a perception system for autonomous helicopters
and next generation decelerators for Mars landers.

Apricot Yogurt Cake

Modified from thegutsygourmet.net.

The following recipe produces a coarse-crumbed cake; for ease of
slicing, dip your knife in hot water before cutting each serving.

Ingredients:
-Two 8-ounce containers plain yogurt
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 large eggs
-3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped fine
-1 cup walnuts, chopped fine
-about 1/2 cup orange honey syrup (recipe follows)

Preparation:
Let the yogurt drain in a fine sieve set over a bowl, covered and
chilled, overnight and measure out 1 cup of the drained yogurt,
reserving the remaining yogurt for another use.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-inch spring form pan.
Into another bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the
baking soda, and a pinch of salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer,
cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy,
beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and
beat in the one-cup drained yogurt until the mixture is just combined.
Add the flour mixture, beat the batter until it is just combined, and
stir in the apricots and walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cake in the middle
of the oven for 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out with a few
crumbs adhering to it. Put the cake in the pan on a rack set over
foil, pour the orange honey syrup (see below) over it, and let the
cake absorb the syrup. The cake may be made two days in advance and
kept in the pan covered with plastic wrap and foil, and chilled.
Remove the side of the pan and garnish the cake with the mint sprigs.

Orange Honey Syrup:
-1 cup honey
-1/2 cup fresh orange juice
-1/2 cup water
-1 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh orange zest

Preparation:
In a heavy saucepan, combine the honey, the orange juice, the water,
and the zest and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 20
minutes, or until it is reduced to 1 1/3 cups. (If the syrup is
reduced too much, it becomes too thick and too sweet.) Let the syrup
cool. The syrup may be made one week in advance and kept, covered, at
room temperature.

From: Baghdasarian

Greater DC Community Condemns Azerbaijani Aggression

March 7, 2013

Remembers Sumgait, Kirovabad And Baku Pogroms

WASHINGTON – Shouting `We Remember Sumgait’ and `Justice for Gurgen
Margaryan,’ Greater Washington, D.C. area Armenian-Americans braved
freezing temperatures recently to commemorate the victims of 25 years
of Azerbaijani violence and to stand in solidarity with the people of
the independent Republic of Nagorno Karabagh in their efforts to
secure a fair and lasting peace.

A scene from the protest in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy in
Washington, D.C., commemorating the Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad pogroms
The protest, organized by the Greater Washington, D.C. Armenian Youth
Federation (AYF) `Ani’ Chapter and the St. Mary’s Armenian Church
Youth Organization of America (ACYOA), took place in front of the
Azerbaijani Embassy and coincided with the Feb. 27-29, 1988, pogroms
against the Armenian population of Sumgait, which set the stage for
attacks in Baku in 1990, outright Azerbaijani aggression, and a cycle
of anti-Armenian violence that continues to this day. The
demonstrators also called special attention to Azerbaijan’s
destruction of the 1,300-year-old Armenian cemetery in Djulfa,
Nakhichevan, where thousands of intricately carved cross-stones
(khatchkars) have been demolished.

`In February 1988, the Karabagh legislature’s democratic action to
reunite with Armenia was met with the brutal pogroms in Azerbaijan’s
second largest city, Sumgait,’ said AYF Ani Chapter Chairwoman Narineh
Abrahamian, who was among those leading chants during the protest.
`Twenty-five years later, the Azerbaijani government’s threats and
violence continue unabated, with Gor Kazaryan the latest victim of
sniper fire. We stand in solidarity with the people of independent
Artsakh, committed to ensuring that their fundamental right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not quashed by the
dictatorial Aliyev regime.’

Following the protest, Soorp Khatch Armenian Church Pastor, Fr. Sarkis
Aktavoukian, led activists in a prayer in honor of the Sumgait,
Kirovabad, and Baku victims.

In a surprise move, Azerbaijani groups abandoned their annual
counter-protest in defense of their ambassador and embassy.
Previously, flag-wearing Azerbaijani and Turkish protesters jovially
celebrated the Sumgait atrocities, dishonoring the memory of those who
perished. AYF members had taken additional security measures this year
in the face of the brawl incited by pro-Aliyev youth at a solemn
remembrance of Sumgait victims held at the French National Assembly
earlier in March.

From: Baghdasarian

VARDA to open dance school

MARCH 7, 15:04

YEREVAN.- The famous singer and dancer with Armenian roots, the winner
of the Pole Dance championship VARDA (Vardanush Martirosyan) is going
to open a dance school, where women will learn to dance on the basis
of classical dance and thus get rid of complexes and become liberated.
So far, the school opens only in Ukraine, but it is possible that
there will be also a branch in Armenia.

Dancer is going to perform for Armenian audience with acrobatic and
vocal show. `Goddess’ show is one of the key musical events of 2013
with flamboyant costumes, fire show and fiery dance program.

NEWS.am STYLE

From: Baghdasarian

Kerkorian’s Tracinda wants to question Parker’s ex-wife

The Denver Post
March 8, 2013

By David Migoya

The once-sleeping bear in the Roger Parker bankruptcy case is making
itself known by rattling the cages a bit.

Tracinda Corp., owned by billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian, wants a
closer look at Parker’s divorce decree with ex Delia Parker, likely to
see if any transfers of stock or other holdings were done at a time
the company could have collected on a hefty court judgment it has
against the former oil and gas exec.

You’ll recall Tracinda bought a 35-percent chunk of Parker’s baby,
Delta Petroleum, back at the end of 2007. That was the deal Parker is
alleged to have tipped his buddies, who in turn bought-then-sold a
bunch of Delta stock after the deal was made public.

Later, Tracinda loaned Parker money to cover a margin call for Delta
stock he’d played in a different deal – to the tune of about $7
million. Tracinda said it was to keep Parker focused on turning
Delta’s melting fortunes around.

The relationship came to a head when Parker resigned from Delta and
tried to sell his stock, which Tracinda blocked, citing black-out
periods for certain transactions. Parker sued, saying Tracinda cost
him a ton, and Tracinda counter-sued saying Parker owed them the $7
mil. Tracinda won.

So, in the effort to collect, Tracinda chased Parker around, finding
thin bank accounts wherever they looked and an on-again-off-again
stock vestment with Parker’s new employer at Recovery Energy. Tracinda
finally put on a garnishment for the stock, pushing Parker to resign,
then file bankruptcy.

That bankruptcy runs alongside a civil suit by the Securities and
Exchange Commission that says Parker was part of a trio in an
insider-trading deal on Delta stock when Kerkorian was talking
buy-in. One other was insurance man Michael Van Gilder, who now says
he’ll plead guilty to a criminal charge stemming from that
investigation. Unknown still is the name of another friend who
profited the most on the deal: about $750,000.

As Parker battles the SEC, his bankruptcy has awakened his former
Delta alliance in the form of a bankruptcy trustee, who’s trying to
rake back any undue profits it thinks Parker has. One such item is
interest in an off-shore oil well Parker signed over to Delia. The
trustee in Delta’s bankruptcy =80′ Tracinda tried but couldn’t save
Delta – also says Parker took some key computer information and data
without permission and wants $10 million for it troubles.

That really awoke Tracinda, which this week filed a request to
question Delia about the couple’s divorce deal. Bottom line: Tracinda
still wants its pound of flesh and is working hard to get it. What
could be at issue is a mansion home in Cherry Hills Village – Parker
had two – for sale for $3 million, and maintenance Delia gets of about
$20,000 a month, plus $10,000 more each month for their four
kids. Parker’s not working, yet still collects from Recovery as part
of a severance package. He’s also trying to sell his own mansion, a
$10 million hulk that’s not attracting any takers. In court he’s said
he’s got a few unidentified irons in the fire, like most oil land men
always seem to have.

To his end, Parker says he’s appealed the Tracinda verdict against him
=80′ now at about $7.7 million – and if victorious could take care of
his entire bankruptcy, which he said during a meeting of the creditors
would not have happened had Tracinda let him be.

Thing is, not many billionaires appreciate getting dinged, so chances
the sleeping bear will head back into hibernation seem slight.

From: Baghdasarian

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 8 2013

Suspects in key murders of minority members `similar’

ISTANBUL / MALATYA

A judge of the case of three murders at a Malatya publishing house
says suspects in similar recent crimes, mainly against minorities,
have a similar profile, pointing at their non-liable age

A judge in the Zirve Yayınevi case has pointed out the similarities
between the suspected perpetrators behind the Zirve killings and the
Hrant Dink and Father Santoro murders.

`The one who killed Father Santoro in Trabzon was 17 years old, just
as the convict in the Hrant Dink murder. Also, the five assailants who
committed the Malatya Zirve Publishing House massacre were of the same
age group,’ Judge Hayretin Kısa said during a hearing.

Father Santoro was shot dead in 2006 by a 16-year-old high school
student while kneeling in prayer in Trabzon. On Jan. 19, 2007, Hrant
Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of weekly
Agos, was murdered in front of the Agos building in central Istanbul
by a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist. On April 18, 2007, three
missionaries ` German citizen Tillman Geske and two Turks, Necati
Aydın and UÄ?ur Yüksel ` were tied up and tortured before having their
throats slit at the Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publisher in
the eastern province of Malatya.

The case continued yesterday with a hearing in Malatya, during which
Varol Bülent Aral, one of the suspects under arrest and the alleged
instigator, claimed that Emre Günaydın carried out the publishing
house murders for money.

HurÅ?it Tolon, the former general who is also charged with being behind
the killings, was absent at yesterday’s hearing as he is imprisoned in
Istanbul’s Silivri jail in connection to the Ergenekon trial, an
investigation into a plot to topple the government.

`The judge’s statements demonstrate to what extent he takes the
indictment seriously. If he did not take this indictment so seriously,
he would have neither made such comments nor accepted the indictment,’
Erdal DoÄ?an, one of the lawyers of the case, told the Daily News on
the phone yesterday
DoÄ?an said the members of the court board should not be changed for
the benefit of the case. `Last September, two prosecutors in the case
were assigned to other duties. However, they were the critical names
who prepared the indictment and witnessed all the developments of the
case process. It is very hard for a newly appointed one to receive a
comprehensive file with hundreds of pages,’ DoÄ?an said.

During her recent visit to Turkey, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had
reportedly asked the head of the Protestant Churches Union, Umut
Å?ahin, whether they were hopeful about the progress of the Zirve
Publishing House case.

Noting Merkel’s question, DoÄ?an said, `Germany has a crucial role to
enlighten this massacre; but it won’t be solved by following it from a
distance. The documents in the first indictment clearly show
Ergenekon’s extensions in Germany and [the gang’s] cash flow. Legal
institutions in Germany have to share all these data and documents for
the progress of the case.’

Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu from Istanbul contributed to this report.
March/08/2013

From: Baghdasarian

Oxford Mail, UK
March 8 2013

Author gives some advice to university students

.4:00pm Friday 8th March 2013 in News .

Armineh Ohanian ARMENIAN author Armineh Ohanian spoke to students at
Oxford University yesterday about her latest novel.

The grandmother from New York read extracts from The Apple Tree
Blossoms in the Fall, a book based on her own experiences. She also
ran a workshop on how to write about personal experiences. The event
was organised to mark International Women’s Day.

Ms Ohanian, who is in her 70s, said: `It is a book that talks about
the journey of the life of a Christian woman born and raised in
pre-Islam Iran.

`It is about adventures and the challenges she faces in life, and how
she overcomes all those challenges.’

Ms Ohanian left Iran with her husband and daughter when she was 25
years old, living in various countries in Europe before settling in
New York, where she has been based for the past 30 years.

From: Baghdasarian