Author: Chilingarian Babken

PRIORITIES OF RA GOVERNMENT’S ACTIVITY COINCIDE WITH ADB’S APPROACHES

Noyan Tapan
Jul 09 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Liqun Jin, the Vice-President of the
Asian Development Bank (ADB), at the July 6 meeting with the RA
Prime Minister, Serge Sargsian, stated that the prior directions of
the activity announced by the RA government fully coincide with the
priorities and approaches of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In his
words, both sides have spared no efforts to strengthen relations and
to work out efficient programs so far.

J. Lin expressed satisfaction with the fact that ADB can support
poverty reduction and socio-economic development in Armenia.

In the words of the ADB’s Vice-President, we still need to combine
our efforts in the direction of resisting the current challenges. He,
in particular, touched upon assistance programs of restoration of
communal roads, improval of regional water supply systems, assistance
to the private sector saying that the bank is interested in making
a contribution to these programs’ implementation and Armenia’s
socio-economic development.

S. Sargsian, in his turn, thanked J. Lin for the interested cooperation
and attached importance to involvement of necessary resources in the
direction of implementation of programs considered as primary by the
RA government, and purposeful and efficient use of those resources
as a result of cooperation with the business partners.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Government Information and Public
Relations Department, during the meeting the interlocutors in detail
discussed the conditions of ADB’s support and the possibilities of
cooperation development.

VALERY GOLUBEV HEAD Of BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF "ARMROSGASPROM"

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 9 2007

YEREVAN, July 9. /ARKA/. Vice-Chairman of Executive Committee of
"Gasprom" OJSC Russian energy holding Valery Golubev was elected
to the post of Chairman of Directors’ Board of "ArmRosgasprom"
Armenian-Russian CJSC.

The Armenian Minister of Energy Armen Movsisian was elected as
Vice-Chairman of Directors’ Board of "ArmRosgasprom" CJSC, the Press
Service of the Armenian-Russian company reported.

"ArmRosgasprom" CJSC enjoys the monopoly of supply and distribution of
Russian natural gas on the domestic market of Armenia. The company was
founded in 1997. Its capital currently makes $398.8mln. The company’s
shareholders are "Gasprom" OJSC (57.59%), Armenia’s Ministry of Energy
(34.7%) and "Itera" oil and gas company (7.1%).

PRE-PLANNED DECISION MAKING IN THE ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT AROUSES CONCERN, HERITAGE PARTY LEADER SAYS

armradio.am
2007-07-06 12:49:00

"We are concerned over the atmosphere of pre-planned decision making
in the Armenian National Assembly, where we work for the first time,"
Raffi Hovannisian, Heritage opposition party leader, said in an
interview with ArmInfo.

He pointed out that even if there is free competition of ideas and
alternatives, it is not reflected in law making. The authorities used
to say that the national-wide referendum for Constitutional Reform in
2005 would lead to democracy development as the new Basic Law meets
European standards.

However, it has become quite evident now that everything in the country
is left unchanged and there is neither distribution of power branches
nor mechanisms for their restriction, R. Hovannisian said.

He also added that given this week’s extraordinary session of the
parliament, one can arrive at a conclusion that the present staff
of the legislative body continues not so good traditions of their
predecessors. The work style is like that of the Soviet period. The
parliament is engaged just in approving the initiatives of the
government and the president. In Soviet times we at least knew that
there is a definite ideology and system values which the authorities
adhered to. Now, everything is done under the colour of democracy,
but less has been changed, Heritage leader said.

The first initiatives made by the government do not correspond to its
recently approved programme of activities. As soon as the programme
was approved, the government added bills restricting the freedom of
speech and the powers of the parliament when ratifying international
agreements. The powers of the parliament are evidently restricted
in favor of the government and the president. Raffi Hovannisian said
that Heritage intends to make preventive alarms of possible negative
consequences of any decision by the parliament. If the parliament of
new convocation continues its work style, it will lose its authority
and will not cope with its high role in country’s life, which is
stipulated by the Basic Law, R. Hovannisian said.

CANDIDATES TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC
Armen Abgarian

KarabakhOpen
06-07-2007 15:30:14

Armen Abgarian was born on November 30, 1959 in the town of
Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh.

In 1976, he finished Stepanakert secondary school N8.

In 1981, he graduated from the Physics-Mathematics Department of the
Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute.

The same year, Armen Abgarian started his job at the Stepanakert Wine
Factory as the Chief Engineer on safety measures.

Between 1981-1983, he served in the USSR armed forces, where he got
the rank of lieutenant.

In 1983-1992, Armen Abgarian worked as a senior engineer of the civic
defense service at the Stepanakert Motor-transport Association.

He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was
elected Secretary of the Party organization.

Since October 1992, he had worked as Deputy Chairman of the NKR
Self-defense Committee, since September 1994 – Deputy Commander of
the NKR Defense Army on rear issues, and in June 1999 – January 2000 –
NKR Deputy Defense Minister on Rear and Armament.

He left the armed forces voluntarily.

Currently, Armen Abgarian is a Deputy of the NKR National Assembly.

In 2005, he was elected a member of the Board of "Yerkrapa" Volunteers’
Association.

A. Abgarian has government awards.

In 1997, he was awarded the golden medal of the "Industrialists’
and Entrepreneurs’ Association of Armenia".

Armen Abgarian is non-party.

He is married and has three children.

VANYA AVANESIAN

Vanya Avanesian was born on November 18, 1934 in the town of
Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh.

He finished Stepanakert secondary school N2.

The same year, he entered the Azizbekov Industrial Institute of
Azerbaijan, and in 1956, having graduated from it, was assigned for
practical training.

In 1957, V. Avanesian was transferred to the problem laboratory of
hydromechanics at the Scientific-Research and Engineering Institute
in the city of Baku as a research officer.

In 1962, he entered the post-graduate courses at the Industrial
Institute of Azerbaijan.

In 1956, he upheld a Ph.D. thesis and got the scientific rank of
Candidate of Technical Sciences.

In 1966, Vanya Avanesian was appointed a research officer at the
Armenian Scientific-Research Institute on Waters and Water Engineering.

In 1967-1971, he worked at the Engineering Department of the Yerevan
Veterinary and Zoo-veterinary Institute as an Assistant Professor.

In 1971, he was appointed the Head of the Construction Mechanics and
Resistance of Materials Department at the Construction Institute in
the town of Ust-Kamenogorsk, and in 1976 – Professor at the Polytechnic
Institute in the town of Orenburg.

In 1978, V. Avanesian was appointed a senior research officer at the
Krasnodar All-Union Scientific-Research Institute.

In 1979, he was appointed the Dean of the Physics-Mathematics
Department at the Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute. Later, he occupied
the positions of Department Head and Professor at the same Institute.

In 1988, V. Avanesian upheld a doctoral thesis in Moscow.

Between 1998-2002, he worked as the Rector of the Stepanakert Technical
University.

Currently, he works at the Artsakh State University as a
Doctor-Professor.

He is awarded the Artsakh State University medal.

In 2001, by a corresponding decree of the NKR President, V. Avanesian
was awarded the "Anania Shirakatsi" medal.

He has over 107 published scientific works and books, and over
80 scientific, scientific-methodical, and educational articles in
different newspapers.

Vanya Avanesian is a member of the Democratic Party of Artsakh.

He is married, has a son and two grandsons.

MASIS MAYILIAN

Masis Mayilian was born on September 14, 1967, in the town of
Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh.

Between 1974-1984, he studied at Stepanakert secondary school N8.

In 1984, he entered and in 1991 graduated from the Physics-Mathematics
Department of the Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute.

Between 1986-1988, M. Mayilian served in the Soviet Army.

In 1991-1992, he studied post-graduate courses at the Armenian State
Pedagogical Institute, specializing in "social psychology."

>From 1992 to 1993, Masis Mayilian was the leading specialist of the
Information and Press Department at the NKR State Defense Committee.

In 1993, with the creation of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
he moved to the Ministry where he served in different positions,
including Head of the International Organizations Section, Head of the
International Organizations Department, Advisor to the Minister, Head
of the Political Department, and since 2001 – Deputy Foreign Minister.

In 1998, he studied at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Has the
qualification of a Euro-policy specialist.

Since 1993, M. Mayilian had been a member of the NKR delegation at
the bilateral and multilateral negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement held under the mediation of the OSCE and Russian
Federation.

Masis Mayilian has the diplomatic rank of Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary.

Besides Armenian, he masters also the Russian and English languages.

He is non-party.

Masis Mayilian is married and has two children.

HRANT MELKUMIAN

Hrant Melkumian was born on April 4, 1951 in the town of Stepanakert,
Nagorno Karabakh.

He studied at Stepanakert secondary school N1, then he was transferred
to the night school in Stepanakert, math-biased class.

In 1974, he graduated from the Mechanical Machine-building Department
of the Yerevan Polytechnic University. He is an engineer-mechanic.

After graduating from the University, H. Melkumian worked as a designer
at the decorative watches factory in Yerevan.

In 1975, he moved to Stepanakert and worked at the electro-technical
factory, later – at the Regional Committee of the NK Young Communists’
League (YCL).

In 1977, Hrant Melkumian was elected the Chairman of the NK Regional
Council of Inventors and Innovators.

In April 1980, he passed to Party activity, first as an instructor at
the industrial department of the NK Communist Party Regional Committee,
then as the Second Secretary of the Stepanakert Municipal Committee,
and later – the First Secretary.

In 1986, H. Melkumian graduated from the Higher Party School of the
CPSU Central Committee as a political scientist.

Since the first days of the Karabakh National Movement, he has been
one of its active participants.

In 1989, he was elected a member of the National Council.

Since 1991, H. Melkumian had worked as the chief engineer of the
"Artsakh-Onyx" company, director of the Shushi radio factory, and
lecturer at the Technical Sciences Department of the Artsakh State
University.

Since October 1996, he had worked at the NKR Ministry of Urban
Development.

Since November 1998, H. Melkumian had worked at different departments
of the NKR Government Office.

Since December 2002, he has headed the Inspection Service of the NKR
Government Office.

In 2001, Hrant Melkumian was elected the First Secretary of the
Central Committee of the Nagorno-Karabakh Communist Party.

He is married and has three children.

BAKO SAHAKIAN

Bako Sahakian was born on August 30 in the town of Stepanakert,
Nagorno Karabakh.

In 1977, he finished Stepanakert secondary school N1.

B. Sahakian graduated from the Law Department of the Artsakh State
University.

Between 1978-1980, he served in the Soviet Army.

In 1981, he worked at Stepanakert industrial mechanized complex #
9 as machinist. A year later, he was transferred to the Stepanakert
construction materials complex as a stone-crush master.

In 1983-1987, B. Sahakian worked at the Stepanakert branch of the
Scientific Department on Restoring Old Monuments as a master-restorer.

Between 1987-1990, he worked at the Regional Provision Department as
a provider.

Since 1988, B. Sahakian has been an active participant of the Karabakh
Movement.

In 1990, he entered the NKR Self-defense Forces.

In 1992-1993, he worked as the Deputy Head of the NKR Self-defense
Committee on rear issues.

In 1993-1995, B. Sahakian was appointed the Head of the Rear
Headquarters of the NKR Defense Army.

Between 1995-1996 he worked as Deputy Commander of the NKR DA on
Foreign Relations.

In 1996-1997, B. Sahakian worked as Deputy Commander of the 10th
Mountain-rifle Division of the NKR DA on rear issues.

Between 1997-1999, he worked as Assistant to the NKR Minister of
Internal Affairs and Chief of the State National Security Department.

In 1999-2001, he held the post of the NKR Minister of Internal Affairs.

Since 2001, Bako Sahakian had held the position of Head of the NKR
State National Security Department – Director of the NKR National
Security Service.

He was awarded the 1st degree "Battle Cross", "Vazgen Sargisian
Sparapet", and the Russian Federation 1st degree "Peter the Great"
Orders, the 1st degree "Merits Before the Motherland" medal, as well
as many other medals.

Bako Sahakian is a real member of the RF Academy on Security, Defense,
and Law and Order Issues.

He is married and has two children.

TERRY DAVIS WELCOMES THE JOINT INITIATIVE OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTELLECTUALS

armradio.am
03.07.2007 16:53

"I welcome the joint visit of intellectuals to Nagorno Karabakh,
Armenia and Azerbaijan on June 27," Council of Europe Secretary
General Terry Davis told the APA.

The Secretary General said that exchange of relations and visits on
the level of civil societies between the two countries is the shortest
way to restore mutual confidence.

"No one but intellectuals could take initiative. I express my
gratitude to the initiators of the visit and support this idea. I
hope that communication between Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples will
successfully develop," Terry Davis concluded.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION GAINS 218 VOTES

AZG Armenian Dail
03/07/2007

The Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106) reached an important
milestone today with the number of cosponsors for the human
rights measure growing to 218 – a majority of the U.S. House of
Representatives, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).

"We welcome the growth of Armenian Genocide Resolution cosponsors to
the 218 threshold – and want to extend our appreciation to Congressman
Schiff and his colleagues who helped us reach this mark, as well
as to each and everyone of the two hundred and eighteen cosponsors
of this measure," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the
ANCA. "We look forward in the coming days and weeks to working with
our chapters and activists across the country in maintaining and
expanding the bipartisan majority in favor of the timely adoption of
this human rights legislation."

"In gaining 218 cosponsors, we have demonstrated that a majority of
the House strongly supports recognizing the facts of the Armenian
Genocide," said lead sponsor, Congressman Adam Schiff. "While there
are still survivors left, we feel a great sense of urgency in calling
attention to the attempted murder of an entire people. Our failure
to acknowledge these dark chapters of history prevents us from taking
more effective action against ongoing genocides, like Darfur."

ARMENIAN REFUGEES SEEK KARABAKH LEADER’S AID

Arminfo
Yerevan
2 Jul 07

Stepanakert, 2 July: The civil society network of Refugees and
International Law sent on 29 June 2007 the first package of petitions
by refugees from Azerbaijan addressed to the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
[NKR] authorities.

The authors of the document have told Armnifo that the petitioners are
sure that the NKR authorities will take under their effective control
the process of implementing demands by more than 500,000 people, who
have survived genocide and deportation, and will restore their rights,
ensure a payment of adequate reparation by the Republic of Azerbaijan,
and help them acquire a homeland of their citizenship.

The refugees, meanwhile, express their trust in the NKR authorities,
and by doing so, they authorize them to act on their behalf.

Currently, the civil society network of Refugees and International
Law possesses over 20,000 petitions addressed to the NKR president;
the number of petitions is growing. The petitioners are asking the
Karabakh president to act on their petitions.

A PECULIAR RESPONSIBILITY: COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES GRAPPLE WITH THEIR TIES TO SLAVERY

The Nation., NY
ies
July 2 2007

This article was originally published by CampusProgress. Campus
Progress works to strengthen progressive voices on college and
university campuses.

Right-wing gadfly David Horowitz struck at Brown University in 2001,
buying a provocative ad in the Brown Daily Herald titled "10 Reasons
Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea–And Racist Too." The ad
contained twisted formulations suggesting, for example, that African
Americans owe whites a debt for liberating them from slavery. In
response, a group of angry students stole an entire day’s run of the
newspaper, setting off a national media frenzy debating race and the
limits of free speech.

But against all odds, this Horowitz fantasy scenario ultimately led
to positive moral and intellectual development. Brown’s incoming
president, Ruth Simmons, is said to have realized that the flap over
Horowitz’s ad could be a "teaching moment." And there was something
else: Brown, founded in 1764, had known ties to slavery and the slave
trade, even though the topic was absent from the university’s official
history. It was particularly striking that Simmons, the Ivy League’s
first black president and the great-great-granddaughter of slaves,
shared her office in University Hall with a portrait of one-time
slave owner James Manning, Brown’s first president.

So Simmons created the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice,
made up of faculty, administrators, and students, and charged it
in April 2003 with examining Brown’s ties to slavery and making a
serious study of the reparations issue.

But getting students involved proved difficult. Brown’s committee
strove to encourage student participation and several undergraduates
contributed research. But even as events and speakers were widely
advertised, many students opted not to take part in a rare opportunity
to engage with history in a meaningful way. While over 300 people
turned for a lecture by historian John Hope Franklin, attendance at
committee events was often dominated by locals unaffiliated with
Brown. Even when the report came out last fall to national media
coverage, apathy stubbornly persisted. Forty percent of students in a
Brown Daily Herald poll said they had not heard of or were uninterested
in the committee.

However high-minded they are, institutions undertaking these types
of historical inquiries should expect criticism. At one slavery and
justice forum at Brown, a neo-Nazi group showed up to denounce the
"exercise in white guilt." One letter-writer told the committee, "You
disgust me, as you disgust many other Americans. Slavery was wrong,
but at that time it was a legal enterprise. It ended, case closed."

And columnist Thomas Sowell of the conservative Hoover Institution
asserted (backed up by zero original reporting) that Brown’s effort
was a classic example of "race-hustling" and "no academic exercise
of scholarly research."

University of Alabama law professor Alfred Brophy advises any school
considering such a commission, "Realize this is controversial and
will antagonize people. And make sure that you can articulate what
is positive that will come out of this."

Brophy, who has written widely on universities and reparations, led a
successful drive in 2004 to have Alabama’s faculty senate apologize
for its involvement in slavery. Faculty members at Alabama in the
antebellum period were not only pro-slavery advocates, they were
also responsible for whipping students’ slaves on campus. Brophy told
Campus Progress that an apology was not enough to overcome the past,
but it was a step in the right direction.

"When you see the reaction to this–there were people angry
about this–you realize an apology is not meaningless, it is very
meaningful," Brophy said.

Last fall, after three years of work and over 30 public programs,
Brown’s committee released its report. The 100-page document makes
recommendations on how the University should hold itself accountable
for its entanglements with slavery, "the prototypical crime against
humanity." Just as important, it provides a full history of Brown and
slavery, a comparative look at the problem of "retrospective justice,"
and a history of the reparations debate in America. The committee
also posted videos of lectures and forums online along with relevant
historical documents.

Other schools, too, have recently confronted their historical
ties to slavery–histories that often have been glossed over or
forgotten–and have attempted their own forms of redress. Still others
are now considering proposals to investigate their involvement with
slavery. Whether these efforts will spread is uncertain. But it is
clear that there’s no shortage of universities implicated in slavery,
and that there are lessons to be learned from Brown’s experience.

"I think any university of this vintage will have its own distinctive
web of entanglements with slavery and the transatlantic slave trade"
James Campbell, a Brown history professor and chair of the slavery
and justice committee, told Campus Progress.

The Brown committee’s report is a stark reminder of the bankruptcy
of what Robert Penn Warren called the "Treasury of Virtue"–the
idea that the North was not implicated in slavery, and that the
Civil War was fought solely to end the peculiar institution. Half
of slave-trading ships originating in North America left from ports
in Rhode Island. Of the leading citizens who served on the Brown
Corporation (the university’s governing board) in that era, about
30 owned or captained slave ships. Brown’s first endowment campaign
received donations from men like South Carolinian Henry Laurens, who
ran the largest slave-trading house in North America. And four slaves
helped build University Hall, Brown’s main administrative building.

They are identified in construction records only by the names of
their owners ("Earle’s Negro," for example), who lent the slaves’
labor as a form of donation to the college. The enormous scope of
slavery, however, makes it impossible to peg exact numbers on slave
money in Brown’s history. "[S]lavery was not a distinct enterprise
but rather an institution that permeated every aspect of social and
economic life in Rhode Island," the report says.

The most arresting part of the report is the story of the slave ship
Sally, a joint venture of the four Brown brothers, prosperous merchants
who were heavily involved in the early governance of the College
of Rhode Island–later to be renamed Brown University. The ship set
out for Africa from Providence in 1764, the year the university was
founded. Most of its cargo was taken up by 17,000 gallons of rum to
trade for slaves on the African coast. They would later be sold in
the West Indies to harvest sugar cane, a product in turn bound for
the rum distilleries of Rhode Island. Of the 196 Africans acquired
by the Sally, 109 died from disease, suicide, and other means by
the time the ship arrived back in Providence. This notation from the
ship’s account book reported an uprising on the eighth day at sea:
"Slaves Rose on us was obliged fire on them and Destroyed Eight and
Several more wounded badly 1 Thye and ones Ribs broke." [sic]

But the report is not merely a catalogue of sins. There are heroes,
too. There is James Tallmadge, the undergraduate who gave the 1790
commencement address denouncing the slave trade as "repugnant to the
laws of God"–before an audience that likely included practitioners
of the trade. And there is Moses Brown, who broke with his brothers
when he converted to Quakerism, freed his slaves, and became a zealous
abolitionist. Ironically, Moses the anti-slavery activist also became
the pioneer of Rhode Island’s textile industry, which thrived on
slave-produced cotton.

It is crucial for universities pursuing such projects to present
historical findings in all their complexity, according to Campbell.

"Our starting point was, we think we know this history, but we don’t.

It has much to teach us," he said. "If you’re going to talk about the
legacy of history and its implications for the present, let’s figure
out what happened."

Brown’s slavery and justice report presents a comparative study of
attempts at retrospective justice, from South Africa’s truth commission
and compensation for Holocaust victims to, on the other end of the
spectrum, the Turkish government’s continuing denial of the Armenian
genocide. The report also addresses the "familiar extenuations" for
slavery: "that direct victims and perpetrators are long since dead" and
"that many, even most, Americans are descendants of immigrants who came
to the United States after 1865." These are true, the report says, "but
they neither expunge the crimes nor erase their enduring legacies."

The committee concluded that the most successful initiatives contained
three elements: acknowledgement of an offense, a commitment to
truth-telling, and the making of amends in the present. In Brown’s
case, the report says, this third element should include increasing
recruiting in Africa and the West Indies, creating a center to study
slavery and justice, and dedicating resources to improving public
education in Rhode Island.

But for universities, the most important form of
repair–reparations–may simply be recovering lost historical
narratives. "Folks really need to have a thorough investigation even
before they begin to call for further action. You need some good
historians on the case," Brophy said.

In April, the board of the University of Virginia unanimously passed
a resolution expressing "particular regret" for the school’s past use
of slave labor. It was hailed by Brophy and others as an important
step from a well-known university. But the apology was unceremoniously
announced in a press release 11 days after the fact and unaccompanied
by any investigation or process of self-discovery.

Another storied Virginia institution, William and Mary, is poised to
take a different route. English professor Terry Meyers told Campus
Progress he has introduced a resolution in the faculty assembly to
fund a two-year position for a scholar to research the history of
slavery and race relations at the college. Meyers said he came upon
a document showing that in the early 1700s the college purchased a
tobacco plantation and 17 slaves to support a scholarship program. He
turned to the three major histories of William and Mary, and while
each referred to the scholarship program, none mentioned the slaves
and the plantation.

He said he expects his resolution to pass when it is voted on in
September. "We’re a mature corporate body and we have a glorious
past," Meyers said. "But there are things that we did that are very
ugly and that we need to take a look at."

Meyers likes to quote Thomas Hardy, who wrote, "If way to the better
there be, it exacts a full look at the worst." Other universities
considering a fresh examination of their ties to slavery would also do
well to consider the words of Campbell, chair of the Brown committee:

"Maybe it’s just an occupational hazard as an historian, but I
believe that the past matters. I believe that the more a society is
able to understand and confront its past, the healthier it will be,"
he said. "The stories that we tell about our past not only shape who
we are as a society but also shape the matrix of political possibility
in the present."

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE DRAWS CLOSE TO A NEW HOUSE VOTE
By Michael Doyle

Miami Herald, FL
July 2 2007

CONGRESS

A resolution recognizing the slaughter of Armenians in the early 20th
century is again moving through the U.S. House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON — It’s crunch time for an Armenian genocide resolution,
where foreign policy meets ethnic politics and a familiar plot keeps
recurring.

As of Friday, a majority of the House of Representatives supports a
resolution recognizing the slaughter of Armenians between 1915 and
1923 as genocide.

With that important hurdle crossed, Armenian Americans and their
congressional champions now must see what congressional leaders have
in mind.

"We’re making sure we have all of our ducks lined up," said Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Calif.

Schiff and Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., are the chief sponsors
of the genocide resolution, introduced in its latest form five months
ago. Radanovich acknowledged recently that he’s "a little concerned"
that the House Foreign Relations Committee hasn’t yet considered it.

Different concerns motivate the White House and the Turkish
government. Both vigorously resist the resolution that they say will
endanger diplomatic relations. Already, a new poll finds that 83
percent of Turkish residents view the United States negatively.

This year’s version is backed by 218 House members, a majority.

Backers secured additional sponsors in recent days, following a
telephone campaign through the Armenian National Committee of America.

Many historians, including the International Association of Genocide
Scholars, have concluded that the murders and forced deportations of
Armenians into the unforgiving Syrian desert amounted to genocide.

The Turkish government disputes the overall death count and says the
Armenians were caught in a tumultuous time of war.

"Unlike the Holocaust, the numbers, dates, facts and the context
associated with this period are all contested, and objective scholars
remain deeply divided," Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy declared
last year.

To help spread this viewpoint, the Turkish government is paying former
Rep. Robert Livingston, R-La., $750,000 every six months.

In May, public records also show, the Turkish government signed a
$100,000-a-month lobbying contract with the firm of former House
Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.

A Democrat, and one-time presidential candidate, Gephardt had supported
versions of the genocide resolution when he was in Congress.

"The Turkish government is lobbying heavily," Radanovich said.

"They’ve been working it."

The current House speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California,
supported previous genocide resolutions when she was a rank-and-file
House member. Ultimately, Radanovich said, it will be Pelosi’s call
on whether the resolution gets a vote.

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‘It is necessary to establish an environment of inter-ethnic tolerance
in order to solve the problems in Javakhq,’ Chief Editor of Akunq
Newspapers says

Yerkir.am
June 22, 2007

`Statement about the Armenians being separatists are openly made in
Georgia. In other words, they are claiming that the Armenians in
Javakhq with the support from Armenia are preparing the ground for
replicating the Karabagh scenario in Georgia,’ Chief Editor of Akunq
Newspaper in Javakhq Mels Torossian stated at a press conference on
June 21.

Torossian says these ungrounded statements have become the daily
material for the Georgian media. Even thought the official circles
avoid conversations on this issue but the public media still comment on
it. Torossian believes Azerbaijan and Turkey are behind this plot of
spreading hostility between Armenia and Georgia. An environment of
inter-ethnic tolerance must be established in order to solve the
problems in Javakhq.

Deputy Director of the Caucasus Media Institute Sergey Minassian
believes the anti-Armenian moods in Georgia derive from the fact that
the Georgian society and the political elite still perceive Armenia as
being closely connected with Russia’s politics. Minassian believes the
Armenians in Javakhq are not integrated into the Georgian society and
this is not their fault. `The Georgian society is not yet ready to
accept the Georgian Armenians as equal citizens and does everything to
hinder this process,’ Minassian noted.