Author: Boshkezenian Garik

KARABAKH ELECTIONS A POSITIVE STEP IN SETTLEMENT PROCESS – PRESIDENT

Interfax, Russia
July 20 2007

STEPANAKERT. July 19 (Interfax) – Nagorno-Karabakh’s presidential
elections will have a positive effect on the Karabakh settlement
process, Nagorno-Karabakh President Arkady Gukasian said.

"Otherwise, negotiations will make no sense," Gukasian said.

Nagorno-Karabakh will inevitably become a negotiating party along
with Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said.

Asked to comment on negative responses to the Karabakh elections
from a number of international institutions, Gukasian said, "We are
holding elections not to please the international community, but
to attain our own goals. Those who are against electing the head of
Nagorno-Karabakh are welcome to offer an alternative."

The elections will be valid if at least 25% of the eligible voters
case their ballots.

TURKEY: RELIGIOUS MINORITIES WATCH CLOSELY AS ELECTION DAY APPROACHES
Yigal Schleifer

EurasiaNet, NY
July 19 2007

The Princes’ Islands, a small archipelago about an hour’s ferry ride
from Istanbul, are perhaps the last remnant of the city’s cosmopolitan
past. The summer home of a large part of Istanbul’s Armenian, Greek
and Jewish communities, the islands are one of the few places in
Turkey where you can still hear Ladino and Greek spoken on the street.

Kinali, one of the smaller islands, is a favorite among Istanbul’s
Armenians. Along its leafy main street, markets sell Armenian
delicacies, while down on the rocky beach, men and women of all ages
sun themselves while looking out upon the Istanbul skyline.

Despite the island’s tranquility, the vacationers’ minds are not at
ease. Turkey will hold parliamentary elections on July 22, and many
members of Turkey’s small, but historic religious minorities believe
these elections are the most important in decades.

On the one hand, Turkey’s successful government, led by the
liberal-Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been accused
of trying to undermine the country’s secular foundations and to
promote the role of Islam in public life. On the other hand, the
country’s secular opposition has increasingly embraced rhetoric that
is nationalist and anti-Western, part of a wider nationalist surge
that has already turned violent. Last January, an ultra-nationalist
teenager shot to death Hrant Dink, an outspoken Armenian journalist, on
an Istanbul sidewalk. [For background see the Eurasia insight archive].

nsight/articles/eav012207.shtml
A few months later, a group of young men brutally murdered three
evangelical Christians in the Turkish city of Malatya. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

nsight/articles/eav042507.shtml

While in previous votes people sometimes didn’t bother to leave
the beach to go cast their votes on the mainland, islanders say this
election is different. "This time, people are aware of the seriousness
of these elections. As minorities, these elections are very important
for us," says Nadin Papuccian, a 22-year-old Armenian sitting with
friends at a waterside cafe.

Though small, numbering less than 100,000 in a country of 70 million,
Turkey’s officially recognized minorities – Armenians, Greeks and
Jews – loom large in the country’s imagination, and in how Turkey is
perceived abroad.

Ankara often uses the minorities’ continued presence to present Turkey
as a mosaic where different religious groups coexist peacefully. At
the same time, religious freedom is consistently one of the barometers
by which Turkey’s progress on human rights issues and its ongoing
European Union membership bid are measured. Also, problems revolving
around the minorities – from the Armenian genocide debate to the
Cyprus issue and the continuing closure of a major Orthodox Christian
seminary on Heybeli, another of the Princes’ Islands – continue to
haunt Turkey domestically and in foreign affairs. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

nsight/articles/eav110806b.shtml

The July 22 election comes in the midst of a raging debate over the
role of Islam in public life and the question of whether the AKP
is committed to maintaining Turkey’s secular system. Despite that,
it appears that a large number of Turkey’s Christians are supporting
the party, which has worked hard to portray itself as committed to
democratization and human rights.

"The AK Party is more moderate and less nationalistic in its dealings
with minorities. The Erdogan government listens to us – we will vote
for the AK Party in the next elections," Mesrob II, the Armenian
patriarch in Turkey, told the German magazine Der Spiegel in a recent
interview.

Meanwhile, Agos, the Armenian weekly, estimates close to 60 percent
of Turkey’s 70,000 Armenians will vote for the AKP. "I’m a Christian,
but I’m not scared of the AKP. They are working for the good of the
country, they are respecting other cultures and accepting the rules of
the EU," says Aret Cavdar, an Istanbul steel trader who is summering
in Kinali. "I don’t know if they are honest about this or not, but
I haven’t seen another government working this well."

Mihail Vasiliadis, editor of Apoyevmatini, a Greek-language daily
newspaper based in Istanbul, says he believes Turkey’s miniscule Greek
community – an estimated 2,000 people remaining from a population
that numbered over a million in the early 1920’s – is also backing
the AKP. "[AKP leaders] are more liberal towards the minorities. I
do not deny that they are Islamists, but they are the only [ones]
that will guarantee Turkey’s integration with Europe," he says.

Vasiliadis points out to a debate last year in parliament over
reform-minded legislation introduced by the AKP that would have
liberalized the strict rules governing minority-run foundations
and would have created a mechanism for returning minority property
confiscated by the state. The bill was strongly opposed by MPs from the
secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s main opposition
party. Opponents claimed the bill would give foreign powers more
control in the country. "When you look at the other [Turkish political]
parties, they consider minorities as part of another nation. They
see us as a cancer within the nationalist structure," Vasiliadis says.

In contrast, members of Turkey’s 20,000-member Jewish community appear
to be leaning towards the CHP, currently the only viable secular
opposition to the AKP, despite the fact that the party has grown
increasingly hostile to the United States and the EU over the last
several years and has a poor track record when it comes to minority
rights. The party has also hinted that it might form a coalition with
far-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP), whose stance on minority
issues is even worse.

Still, for many Jews, Islamism in Turkey has been synonymous with
anti-Semitism, and concerns about the AKP’s Islamic roots and agenda
have not been allayed. Nisim Cohen, a textile merchant eating at a
kosher restaurant on Buyukada, the largest of the Princes’ Islands,
says he will vote for the CHP, though he’s not happy about it. "I
don’t like [the CHP], but I don’t have a choice," Cohen says. "The
AKP shows a nice face, but in their hearts I fear they want to make
this an Islamic country. They will not keep the Republic as it is."

Adds Viktor Kuzu, an advertising executive who is also a former
columnist for Salom, the Jewish community’s weekly newspaper: "The
last year put questions in our mind. If [the AKP] could have the power
to change the educational system, the court system and the interrupt
the way we live, then that is not a good option."

"So let’s have an AKP government that is still in charge, but has
less power. Hopefully that will be the scenario," Kuzu suggested.

Members of Turkey’s religious minorities are keenly aware of the
reality that they are effectively, though not legally, excluded from
top positions in public service, politics and the military. No party,
for example, is running with any high-profile Christian or Jewish
candidates. "In this country, Turk means Muslim Turk," Baskin Oran,
an Ankara University professor who is running as an independent
candidate for parliament in Istanbul, and who is also expected to
get strong support from Armenian voters, told the English-language
newspaper Today’s Zaman.

Rifat Bali, an Istanbul-based independent researcher and historian
who has written extensively on Turkey’s minorities, says despite some
improvement, the AKP’s track record on minority rights is spotty. "I
don’t think they tried to change the atmosphere regarding minorities,"
he says. "Take the Malatya murders or the Dink murder: besides paying
lip service, nothing was done. There was no strong statement issued."

Critics have pointed out that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime
minister and leader of the AKP, continues to host on his private
airplane writers from Vakit, an Islamist newspaper that publishes
rabidly anti-Semitic articles. And when the mainstream media recently
raised hackles after it turned out that one of the foreign investors
in a consortium that bought Turkey’s state-owned chemical company
was of Armenian descent, the government quickly stated that it would
review the sale.

Bali suggested that there was a superficial quality to Turkey’s
EU-mandated efforts to democratize society as part of the accession
process, asserting that the AKP has taken no action to curb both
Islamist and ultra-nationalist media outlets from promoting racist and
anti-Semitic views. "It goes on as before, with no one interfering,"
Bali said.

Editor’s Note: Yigal Schleifer is a freelance journalist based in
Istanbul.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CHARGED NATURE PROTECTION MINISTER TO CREATE LEGAL BASE FOR EXPLOITATION OF SUBSURFACE RESOURCES WITHOUT DAMAGING THE ENVIRONMENT

arminfo
2007-07-16 21:32:00

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan charged the newly appointed
Nature Protection Minister Aram Harutyunyan to create legal base
for exploitation of subsurface resources without damaging the
environment. As Arminfo was informed from press-service of the
president, over today’s meeting with Harutyunyan the president drew
special attention on the necessity of legislative reforms making
observing international norms on subsoil use, which will make
developing of the country’s economy possible, but at the same time
all the nature protection measures will be observed. They also touched
on the management problem of "Sevan" and "Dilijan" national parks.

The president charged on this problem as well as on the current and
future programmes of the ministry.

SITTING OF ARMENIAN-IRANIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION TO BE HELD ON JULY 20 IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Jul 17 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The 7th sitting of Armenian-Iranian
Intergovernmental Commission will be held on July 20 in
Yerevan. Manouchehr Mottaki, the Foreign Minister of Iran, the
Commission’s Iranian Co-chairman, will arrive in Armenia for taking
part in it. Issues regarding free trade, as well as other issues
related to bilateral economic relations are on the sitting’s agenda. A
Memorandum on Mutual Understanding will be signed at the end of the
sitting. Seyid Mahdi Mirabutalebi, the Head of the Economic Cooperation
General Department of the IRI Foreign Ministry, at the July 17 meeting,
explained that the Iranian party has assumed chairmanship in the
Intergovernmental Commission at the Foreign Ministry’s level, as they
are not content with the level of the current economic relations.

S. M. Mirabutalebi said that though the political dialogue between
the two countries is at the high level, nevertheless, serious steps
should be also undertaken in the direction of developing economic
cooperation, in particular, bringing commodity circulation between
the two countries to 1b USD this year.

Armen Bayburdian, the RA Deputy Foreign Minister, said that five
working groups have been created, which are engaged in issued related
to the primary spheres of trade and economic relations.

EXTREMELY INTERESTING FACTS FROM THE LIVES OF THE "POLITICAL PRISONERS". NEW REVELATIONS EXPECTED

Hayots Ashkharh
17 july 07

As we know, between April 24 to April 26, 2007 Vahan Shirkhanyan
and Alexander Arzumanyan met Levon Grigor Markos (the latter being
under investigation), in Moscow and reached certain agreements. As
a consequence, in April 27 and 28, in the names of 9 henchmen they
received 19.800 dollars (by the name of each of the before mentioned
9 henchman), from Moscow, through "Converse Bank" CJSC (total 178200
dollars). Alexander Arzumanyan has been charged with Article 190,
section 3, point 1 of the Criminal Code and has been in detention
from May 10 2007.

On May 24, 2007 RA General Prosecutor’s Office applied to that of
the Russian Federation to show legal assistance, to hold different
investigation activities, interrogations and seizure of certain bank
documents in the territory of the Russian Federation and has sent
two representatives responsible for the proceeding, to Moscow.

Thus, according to Russian "Regnium" agency, the inspectors have
brought extremely interesting and large-scale information that can
create serious problems for Vahan Shirkhanyan as well. Particularly,
the inspectors send on mission to Moscow, found out that the 9 henchmen
whose names have been used for money transfer are quite unaware of
it. That is to say without their knowledge these people used their
data to send money from Moscow.

In Moscow Sashik Aghazaryan, who has undertaken the responsibility
of transferring the money, came out as a witness. He stated that he
has allocated the money at Alexander Arzumanyan’s request for the
latter to cover certain every-day problems and not for the wedding
party of Vahan Shirkhanyan’s daughter. He said he doesn’t know Vahan
Shirkhanyan personally.

The mechanisms, Sashik Aghazaryan used to transfer the money was also
quite interesting. In the near future another group of investigators
will live fore Moscow. According to "Regnium" the money has been
transferred from Moscow with serious breaches, which can create
problems for the employees of "Trade Financial Bank" CJSC, including
Armenians.

Hopefully these days we will be able to introduce other extremely
interesting facts about the activities of the funding of Armenian
"political prisoners".

DOUBLE TAKE: INTERVIEW WITH STEPAN KERKYASHARIAN AND HIS SON EMMANUEL
by Richard Guilliatt

The Australian Magazine
July 14, 2007 Saturday

Stepan Kerkyasharian, 63, president of NSW’s Anti-Discrimination Board,
and his son Emmanuel, 28, an Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor,
talk to Richard Guilliatt.

STEPAN: When he was eight, Emmanuel came with me one Saturday to visit
his mother in hospital – she’d had an operation and we were expecting
her to come home the next day. During that visit she had a pulmonary
embolism, and she died in front of us. It was medical negligence –
all she needed was an injection of anti-coagulant and she would have
lived. Emmanuel witnessed that with me, and I think that was part of
the bond that formed between us.

For about 10 years after that, I was there for him all the time. In
fact, the main reason I switched jobs, from SBS Radio to the NSW Ethnic
Affairs Commission, was so I could cut my interstate travel. I used to
do a lot of cooking and washing and ironing because I thought it was
important that the environment he was accustomed to was not changed
too severely. I wanted him to know that he belonged to a family, that
there was support for him at least until he reached adulthood. I didn’t
even contemplate re-marrying until after he graduated from high school.

I’m sure his mother’s death affected his outlook on life; I think
he would probably still find it difficult to talk about his deep,
innermost feelings about it. It must have left a scar in his mind,
but I think it also may have instilled in him a resolve to assist
people in need.

I’ve never met anyone as fair-minded as Emmanuel. He graduated in
law from Sydney University and most young people with his level of
academic achievement would have gone into commercial law, because
there are big dollars there. But Emmanuel chose another path, because
he really thinks that as a lawyer he’s got a role to play in justice.

Here is this young man who came out of private school on Sydney’s
North Shore and then university, with virtually no job experience, and
he decides his starting point in life will be working in Broken Hill,
helping indigenous people cope with the legal system. I just admire him
for that It isn’t something I would have dreamt of guiding him toward.

I don’t think he had any experience of Aboriginal people before he
went there, so it was a real eye-opener for him. There are all these
deep-rooted issues of geographical isolation, cultural isolation.

After the first few weeks he rang me and said, "God, this is very
difficult." But I don’t think he ever thought of giving up. And he was
accepted quite readily because he’s a very gregarious, down-to-earth
person.

We talk virtually every day on the telephone. Now that he’s in Dubbo,
NSW, he comes down to Sydney most weekends and he’ll call me on the
way down to organise dinner with his sister and brother.

He’s always making sure I keep in touch with them. He’s someone who
is very attached to his family.

EMMANUEL: Dad comes from a background of pretty much abject poverty
in Cyprus; his father was a refugee from the Armenian genocide and
that was something I was always aware of. Not that Dad made a big
deal of it, but when I was younger there was always an emphasis on
knowing my heritage. I went to an Armenian school on Saturdays, to
learn the history and language. My grandfather lived with us, and as
I got older I heard more of the stories and realised the difficulty
Dad must have gone through to drag himself out of that.

At 18 he moved to London, then brought his father across from Cyprus,
and in 1967 he came to Australia and did the same thing.

My recollections start when he was head of SBS Radio; certainly by
the time I was eight and my mother died, he’d been working there for
a few years.

When my mother died it was a difficult time for all of us – my brother
was 18 and my sister was 15 – but I can also remember Dad talking us
through it. I think I went into shock, and it took me a decade to
really process it. But what’s always struck me is that despite the
trauma and grief, I never felt a sense of upheaval at home; it was
almost as if the next day life went on and Dad just looked after us.

It’s only now that I realise how tough that must have been for him.

He was working tremendously long hours – at SBS Radio he travelled
to Melbourne twice a week – and all the time he was looking after
his kids. He would always take me to school every morning and there
would always be food on the table at night, whether he was there or
not. He went to school events when they were on and he always made
time to talk to us at the end of the day. He would come home from a
gruelling day at work, wouldn’t show a thing of it, and play handball
with me out the front of our house. I can’t imagine that did anything
for him at the age of 45, but he went out of his way to do it.

I look back now and I think I can see the stress on his face that I
didn’t see at the time.

Particularly having lost my mother, who he loved very, very dearly.

But he never let his emotional reaction to that affect us, and to
this day I’m not sure how much it really affected him.

His job is incredibly stressful, but I think he revels in it. I can
remember the odd bomb-scare as a kid, particularly if he spoke out
about racism. There’d be phone calls waking me up at 10.30pm and a
kerfuffle in the house; I’m pretty sure the police were sometimes
called. But again, Dad would reassure me that he had it covered. I
never actually remember being frightened.

I guess his own background inspired his interest in promoting
community harmony.

I’m sure he’s brilliant enough to have gone into the private sector and
made a lot of money, but he saw the real beauty in public service. And
I think the work I do is a sign of my father’s influence.

MATTHEW BRYZA: "THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL FORMULA FOR THE SUPREMACY OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OVER THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION"

AZG Armenian Daily
12/07/2007

On June 10 after US-Azerbaijani security consultations in Washington
with Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, Deputy Assistant
Secretary of US Department of State, US Co-Chairman of OSCE Minsk group
Matthew Bryza in a joint press conference announced: "In the circles
of international law there is no universal formula for the supremacy of
territorial integrity over the right of self-determination of people."

The consultations also included the issues of the settlement of
Karabakh conflict. Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan touching upon
the issue announced that the official Washington always recognized
the independence of Azerbaijan and its territorial integrity. The US
Co-chairman avoided doing any comments saying: "Discussions are held to
clarify which is more important the Azerbaijani territorial integrity
or the right of self-determination of the people of Karabakh. There
is no universal formula or an international approach to it.

"In the negotiations of the settlement of Karabakh conflict we have
come to a point, where serious and hard decisions should be made
by the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan", Metthew Bryza said
according to ITAR-TASS agency.

Highly evaluating the one-day visit of Armenian and Azerbaijani
intellectuals to Stepanakert, Yerevan and Baku Metthew Bryza stated
that the visit became an important development in the events. "It’s
not a breakthrough, but it is a big and serious measure to gain mutual
confidence", he added.

ARPA INSTITUTE
18106 Miranda St., Tarzana CA 91356 . PHONE/FAX
(818) 881-0010
24 B, Baghramian, Mech. Inst. Bldg. of ASc,3ed Flr, Yerevan, Armenia.
Tel: (374 2)545538 (39), Fax:151167
& 417 W. Arden Ave., Suite 112C, Glendale, CA 91203

Present: Lecture/Seminar
‘Manifestation of Matter & Energy in the Universe; Black
Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy’
By Prof. Vahe Petrosian
Friday, July 13, 2007 @ 7:30PM
Merdinian Auditorium: 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Directions: On the 101 FY Exit on Woodman, Go North and Turn Right on
Riverside Dr.

Abstract: How to Build a Universe? Physicists looking inward and
astronomers peering outward, have increased our knowledge about the
universe, resulting in new theories & ideas, some good and some
crazy. May be our universe was build out of nothingness or vacuum. Is
this the truth or is it the figment of our imagination? Perhaps the
universe was actually constructed 5000 years, 5000 days or 5 seconds
ago? The answer to these questions is hidden in the nature of the
matter and energy which run the universe. It turns out that what we
and Earth are made of is a tiny fraction of the Visible Matter in the
universe, which is a tiny fraction of the Ordinary Matter (mainly
invisible), which is also a tiny fraction of the not so ordinary
matter called Dark Matter, which in turn is a small fraction of the
(yet unknown) substance called Dark Energy. So why do we seem so
insignificant? Are we? What are all these stuff made of and exactly
how do we measure them? What was the past and what will the future of
our universe be? The lecture will address these questions and issues.

VAHÉ PETROSIAN: Received his Ph.D. at Cornell University (1967) on
subjects related to neutrino losses in stars and on Cosmological
Constant known as Dark Energy. Since 1968 he has worked on many areas
of high energy astrophysics and cosmology. He and Roger Lynds are the
co-discoverers of giant luminous arcs in clusters of galaxies and
gravitational lensing which has proven to be a new and fundamental
method to measure mass in the universe and has led to clarification
of the nature of Dark Matter. Other areas of cosmological research in
which professor Petrosian is involved in are the studies of evolution
of galaxies and active galactic nuclei or quasars. In recent years
his research has been focused on a new acceleration mechanism of
relativistic particles which has found application in solar flares,
gamma-ray bursts, accretion disks and jets around black holes and
even in clusters of galaxies. In collaboration with Brad Efron he has
also developed new and novel statistical methods for analysis of
astronomical data.

For Information Please call Dr. Hagop Panossian at (818)586-9660 or e-
mail at [email protected]

IT IS NECESSARY TO SPEAK ABOUT LIBERATED TERRITORIES NOT FROM TIME TO TIME, BUT EVERY DAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.07.2007 16:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "It is necessary to speak about liberated territories
not from time to time, but every day. The existence of the Department
on issues concerning migration, refugees and displaced persons under
the NKR government comes to prove that the problem is in the center
of attention of authorities.

All other questions, which may occur must become subjects of all-round
discussions," presidential candidate of NKR Bako Sahakian stated. He
said, today it is inexpedient to make statements in this regard.

"It is an issue of strategic importance, and talks around it cannot be
useful. Not a single country in the world turns its strategic secrets
into subjects of populist discussions. And we are not an exception. But
unfortunately part of materials on that subject, which recently were
publish in press may work against our country and the whole Armenian
nation in general," B. Sahakian underscored, KarabakhOpen reports.

ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVES WIN IN INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT IN JERMUK

JERMUK, JULY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The second International Youth Chess
Tournament, in which 68 chess players from Armenia, France, Russia, and
Belarus took part, finished on July 3 in Jermuk. The Armenian
representatives won in all age groups: Hrant Melkumian was the first
among those under 18, who received 8.5 out of 9 possible points, Samvel
Ter-Sahakian in the group of 14 year-old participants received 9
points, and Karen Hovhannisian in the group of those, who are 10 years
old, won with 8 points.

The tournament was organized and held by the republican chess academy
headed by grand master Smbat Lputian.

The high-profile International Chess "Lake Sevan" Tournament of the
12th catagory starts in the city of Martuni on July 5 and will finish
on July 14.