Author: Chalian Meline

GREEK AMERICANS CALL FOR ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LEGISLATION
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14. ARMINFO. The American Hellenic Institute (AHI),
today, urged House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry
Hyde (R-IL) to work for committee approval of Armenian Genocide
legislation, set to be considered by the panel on Thursday, September
15, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
In a September 13th letter to Chairman Hyde, AHI Executive Director
Nick Larigakis, explained that, “Americans of Hellenic origin, and I
believe most Americans, have long held that the U.S. Congress should
be on record as recognizing the Armenian Genocide, commemorating this
crime against all humanity, and applying its lessons to help prevent
future atrocities and genocides.” He went on to note that “Sadly, due
to the powerful pressure brought to bear by the Turkish lobby’s
threats and intimidation, legislation along these lines has been
blocked from passage.”

PETER BRINER: STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BASED ON FALSE CITATION OR MISUNDERSTANDING
Oksana Musaelyan,
ARMINFO, August 11, 2005
The President of the Swiss Senate foreign-affairs committee Peter
Briner denies his ever saying that Turkey’s massacre of Armenians would
not be debated in the chamber. In a talk with ARMINFO correspondent
he says that the mentioned statement is based on a false citation or
a misunderstanding respectively.
To remind, at the beginning of August a number of Turkish media as
well as Swissinfo reported Briner as saying: “Turkey’s massacre of
Armenians in 1915 will never be an issue for the Swiss Senate. Other
countries had no business pointing the finger at Turkey 90 years
after the disputed events, and the Senate foreign-affairs committee
agreed with the government that it was not parliament’s job to decide
whether the killings constituted genocide.”
Briner deeply regrets that his words have been distorted. This was
just a matter of procedure: what he did say was that at the time
when the Swiss House of Representatives forwarded an intervention
recognizing the genocide this had not been a issue in the Senate
and so would require a change of rules of procedure on the Plenary
Session agenda. However the statement was by no means about the future
possibility of lobbying of the issue in the Swiss Senate. Briner says
that the policy of the Swiss government and his committee is that the
mentioned terrible events should be investigated by the two countries
involved, i.e. Turkey and Armenia with a committee of historians of
both sides.
Meanwhile, the editor of California Courier Harut Sassounian has sent
a letter to Journal of Turkish Weekly, one of the media distorting
Briner’s statement. Sassounyan says that every piece of JTW’s news was
“nothing but a pack of lies.” “I will be happy to give you one free
lesson in journalism: there is no such thing as Armenian or Turkish
journalism. There is only one kind of universal journalism, which is
reporting the truth,” says Sassounian in his letter.
In response JTW has accused Sassounian of “extremist Armenian
approach.” The media says that its editors will use all the legal
rights regarding the insults and will start a legal action in
California against the “offender”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Telecom timing
By Peggy Hollinger
FT
September 8 2005 03:00
With France Telecom midway through its ‚¬3bn rights issue, it
doesn’t seem quite the right moment for the Greek finance ministry to
put 10 per cent of OTE on the block. Sceptics might take this as a
sign that the steam is beginning to run out of the Hellenic telecom
group’s recovery, especially as the shares at ‚¬17 are trading
some way below its hoped for ‚¬20 target.

OTE has been something of a basket case, with stakes in mostly
loss-making fixed and mobile businesses in Romania, Albania,
Macedonia, Armenia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
But investment banker-turned-company doctor Panagis Vourloumis, who
took over as chief executive 15 months ago, seems to be prescribing
the right medicine. Declines in fixed-line revenues are slowing and he
is making good progress on cutting costs. The company is even planning
to float its majority-owned Rom Telecom, next year.
His strategy has been endorsed by a 30 per cent rise in the shares so
far this year. True, they have stalled recently amid fears over
administrative delays to job cuts. But it might be wrong to interpret
the government’s haste in selling as a sign that the recovery is
really stuttering. Far better to look at the parlous state of the
government’s own finances.
The government’s troubles could be good news for OTE’s new
investors. The company is finally beginning to look like a mainstream
operator and, while business in the Balkans is still unpredictable,
its prospects look a lot brighter.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

usopen.org
Sept 7, 2005
Men’s Singles – Quarter-Finals
Roger Federer SUI (1)
vs.
David Nalbandian ARG (11)
Lleyton Hewitt AUS (3)
vs.
Jarkko Nieminen FIN
Guillermo Coria ARG (8)
vs.
Robby Ginepri USA
Andre Agassi USA (7)
vs.
James Blake USA

NKR TO HAVE OWN CURRENCY SOON
AZG Armenian Daily #160
08/09/2005
Karabakh diary
Spartak Tevosian, NKR finance and economy minister, said in the
interview to Mediamax agency that “in one of the stages NKR is going
to have its own national currency.” But he didn’t specify about the
deadlines of the program, saying that NKR government is still working
on the details. Mr. Tevosian said that “the national currency is
one of the most important components of a state and that is of high
importance for NKR.” He stated that AMD which is currently used in
NKR will be circulated together with other foreign currencies in the
republic, when NKR national currency appears.

OSCE LEADER TO CONVEY “ALIYEV’S FRANK VERBAL MESSAGE” TO KOCHARIAN
Pan Armenian News
06.09.2005 03:33
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister
Dimitrij Rupel will convey “a very frank verbal message of Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev” to Armenian President Robert Kocharian in the
course of their today’s meeting. Mr. Rupel stated it after a meeting
with NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan late last night. In the words of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, who had arrived in Yerevan, the solution
of the Karabakh problem should be found as a result of conciliation
of two principles: territorial integrity and people’s right to
self-determination. D. Rupel noted that “the details that should be
discussed in the course of the talks are the point.” A. Ghukasyan’s
conversation with D. Rupel continued longer than it was planned before,
which in the NKR President’s words evidences the OSCE interest toward
the NKR authorities’ stand. He called the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
visiting the region twice an unprecedented fact. “This evidences
desire to facilitate the process and speed it up,” A. Ghukasyan stated,
reported Mediamax.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY SPLITTED UP
A1+
| 14:40:25 | 05-09-2005 | Politics |
Today the ex-members of the council of the Republican party who left
the party made an official announcement commenting on their decision.
Mr. Bazeyan represented the content of the announcement, “Expressing
our disagreement with the political path of the Republican party,
considering the hopes to solve inner political problems with the help
of outer powers unacceptable, considering the promises to organize
revolution periodically given to the people non-realistic, as well
as considering the search for scape-goats for their own mistakes
unacceptable, we announce that we are ceasing our member ship to the
Republican Party”.
The announcement has been signed by the ex-members of the council of
the Republican party Albert Bazeyan, Vagharshak Haroutyunyan, Simon
Gregorian, Hovhannes Aharonyan, Hayrapet Margaryan, Armen Lazarian,
and Gevorg Andrikyan. More detailed comment will be made during
tomorrow’s press conference in which Vagharshak Haroutyunyan will
also participate.

ARTSAKH IS BUILDING ITS FUTURE
DeFacto.am, Armenia
Sept 2 2005
It has become obvious that only Karabakh’s constructive stand can put
an end to an ancient confrontation. Thus, the channel of Karabakh talks
is one thing, while the channel of developed life in Nagorno Karabakh
is quite another thing. According to NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan,
“Karabakh cannot and should not suspend the construction of its state
and wait for Azeri leadership to negotiate with it”.
Thus, Karabakh is not waiting for that. NKR Parliamentary elections
that took place in June testify to the fact. International observers
are unanimous: “NKR elections again confirmed that democracy standards
are much higher here than in some neighbor countries that do not
recognize it”, “NKR is a small state with great future”, etc.
Karabakh people’s state mentality assists them to realize their
desires. The confidence proceeds from the present – the NKR economy
has become the pivotal task of the whole Armenian nation. The tendency
of investments into various branches of economy should be taken into
consideration. Very favorable conditions have been created in NKR
for that purpose, such as “mild” tax field, which is an important
precondition for investments. It has resulted in the fact that foreign
investors invest their money in the NKR economy. The total number is
more than $ 50 million. There are a lot of enterprises in Nagorno
Karbakh, such as Max Wood, Andranik Dasht, Shishmanyan, Lusakert,
and Artsakhalko. Special attention should be paid to Base Metals
Company, which annulay gives job to hundreds of people and provides
the Republic budget with hundreds of millions.
The dynamics of economic indicators confirms the accuracy of the
economic course. However, the course should be confirmed day by day,
so Nagorno Karabakh goes on attracting new investors.
A few days ago a number of investment programs was discussed in the
course of the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan and American businessman
Albert Boyajyan meeting. Such meetings inspire hope that Karabakh is
going to become a country that is able to credit its economy itself.
The above – mentioned factor is of great importance for Nagorno
Karabakh, as due to the fact both the conflict itself and the
negotiation process connected with it will become just senseless.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NORWAY FOR OPENING ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER
Pan Armenian News
02.09.2005 03:24
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Norway speaks out for the opening the
Armenian-Turkish border, Norway’s State Secretary at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Kim Traavik stated during his visit to Baku. In
his words the opening of the border will become an impulse for the
development of the whole region, however the final decision should be
made by Ankara and Yerevan. “We hope that the border will be opened in
the near future”, Mr. Traavik said. When commenting on the meetings
of the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders the Norwegian diplomat said,
“We were interested to find out the position Azerbaijan has taken
on the Karabakh conflict settlement.” He also added that during
the meetings with the Azeri MFA officials the outcomes of the Kazan
meeting were discussed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARTAN OSKANIAN: OUR TASK IS TO SPREAD EUROPEAN VALUES AMONG POPULATION
Pan Armenian News
02.09.2005 06:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Helsinki Final Act is one of the principal
international documents, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
stated today at the presentation of the Armenian translation of
the Helsinki Final Act. In his words, though the Act was adopted
in 1975 it has not lost its value and importance. “Our task is to
spread these values in Armenia and prove that we abide by them,”
he said. When asked whether the principle of territorial integrity
fixed in the document conflicts with the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh issue, the Minister said that the Act maintains both the
principle of territorial integrity and the principle of right of a
nation for self-determination.