Author: Chilingarian Babken

AZERIS LIVING TODAY IN ARMENIA ARE NOT FORMED AS ETHNIC GROUP, HRANUSH
KHARATIAN SAYS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Azeris living in Armenia are not
formed today as an ethnic group or as national minority. As Hranush
Kharatian, the Chief of the National Minorities and Religious Issues
Department of the RA Government’s staff, stated at the February 16
press conference, Azeris have no such a wish as they have anxiety that
it will damage them. In H.Kharatian’s words, they can not make public
data about the number of Azeris living in Armenia as the RA Government
signed the UN agreement on giving statistical information, according to
which, countries signed it are obliged not to give number information
about danger and groups feeling danger. H.Kharatian also informed that
Azeris living in Armenia mainly live in Yerevan, Armavir and Vardenis.
It was also mentioned that they were moved to Armenia from Azerbaijan,
with an Armenian wife or husband. According to the Department Chief,
there are also people among them left Armenia in 1988, who in future
returned as "they feel themselves better here."

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
February 15, 2007 Thursday

RAILWAY DETOUR OF RUSSIA;
Locomotives from Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaidjan will go through the
Caspian Sea

by Yuri Simonyan

A new economic force in the world?; Asia unites to oppose Russia.

The fanfare on the event of the recently signed in Tbilisi framework
agreement between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey for construction of
railroad Kars-Akhakalaki-Tbilisi-Baku (KATB) ceased just a couple of
days ago, as it turned out that the project was not finalized on.
Kazakhstan may become its third participant.

Invitation to join the project will be received by Astana by the end
of February during the visit to Kazakhstan of the Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamediarov. If the invitation is
accepted, which will be officially announced during the oncoming
meeting of presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, the KATB will not
be deemed as "grandiose", but only as a regional project. It will
expand over two continents and will become a key section of the
transport corridor "Europe-Caucuses-Asia" (TRASEKA), the goods
turnover of which is presently evaluated by IMF experts as 600 bln.
US Dollars. Whereas this indicator is not marginal, as the railway
communication will shorten the terms for transportation of goods.

"We want Kazakhstan to join the project and will discuss the issue,"
– said Elmar Mamediarov. He claims that Kazakhstan showed interest to
KATB, and during the ongoing meetings at the end of the month, this
issue will become No.1.

However, Kazakhstan is possibly not the last participant of the KATB.
If Baku and Ashkhabad overcome the existing controversies, which
failed when Saparmurat Niyazov was ruling, possibility of connection
of Turkmenistan is rather high. In any case, Azeri part does not hide
its interest in stabilization of their relationships – two many
promising projects remained on the paper as far, due to the different
approaches to the principles of the Caspian Sea division. If new
Ashkhabad leaders come to the execution of the promised reforms and
taking the country out of the existent isolation, the growth of the
KATB project will become inevitable. It is also clear that it will
scarcely develop in Russian direction. First of all, due to the
political structures, due to which Moscow supporter Erevan was not
included in the project, which keeps on insisting on the use of the
operating branch between the Turkish Kars and Armenian Gumri with a
further exist to the Tbilisi direction.

"The project KATB has a vivid political nature, that is why Armenian
economic reasons are not accounted," – said Stepan Grigoryan, head of
Erevan Centre of globalization and regional co-operation. Baku-based
politologist Rasim Musabekov believes that any construction expenses
will be compensated in the nearest years. "Due to the future
connection of states of South-Eastern Asia to KATB, the goods
turnover may reach 20 mln. ton per year. Besides, oil products will
be transported, that unlike oil may not be delivered via pipes, and
that cost 1.5 -2 times more than the crude oil. This will allow to
raise the revenues of Azerbaijan, that develops plans of
reconstruction of oil processing industry," – said Musabekov to NG.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 15.02.2007, p.6

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, February 16, 2006

AGBU Garbis Papazian Prize Presented in Germany

The Armenian General Benevolent Union Garbis Papazian Award was
bestowed upon German scholar Wolfgang Gust, who joined a long list of
non-Armenians who have been recognized for their work on a variety of
historical and cultural subjects pertaining to Armenians.

The award ceremony was held on December 9, 2006 at the Armenian
Embassy in Berlin, Germany. In attendance were distinguished guests
Her Excellency Karine Ghazinian, German Ambassador to the Republic of
Armenia; Razmig Tamrazian-Haroutiunian, official representative of the
AGBU Garbis Papazian Award; and Wolfgang Gust, 2005 prize winner.

Mr. Gust is a prominent historian who specializes in analysis of
German policies in the Middle East before and during WWI, with special
focus on policies of the Ottoman Empire at the time of the War. His
book, "The Genocide of the Armenians 1915-1916: Documents from
Political Archives of the German Foreign Office," is an important
examination of the relationship between Germany, the Ottoman Empire
and the Armenian Genocide.

The annual Garbis Papazian Award was established in 1988 through a
special fund with AGBU to support and encourage non-Armenian scholars,
who, through their research or publications, contribute to the
propagation of Armenian causes.

For more information on AGBU, please visit

Armenpress

YEREVAN-BATUMI RAILWAY COMMUNICATION TO RESUME IN SUMMER

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: Transport and
communication minister Andranik Manukian said a
railway link between Armenian capital Yerevan and
Batumi, capital of Georgia’s autonomous region of
Ajaria, will resume this summer for Armenian
holiday-makers.
The railway link between the Armenian capital and
the Georgian resort town on the Black Sea coast
reopened last year after 14 years of halt. An
estimated 45,000 Armenians spent their summer
vacations in Ajaria last year, significantly up from
20,000 in 2005.
The train from Yerevan will again make stops in
Gyumri, Vanadzor and Sanahin stations before crossing
the brooder into Georgia. Ticket prices will remain
affordable, 18, 000 drams for a double compartment and
9,300 drams for four-passenger compartment.
In an interview to a Georgian newspaper earlier
this week Armenian ambassador to Georgia, Hrach
Silvanian, said trade turnover between Georgia and
Armenia in the first three quarters of 2006 exceeded
USD 90 million, tangibly up from the same period in
2005.
In an interview with Svobodnaya Gruzia (Free
Georgia), Russian-language newspaper Silvanian said
Georgian exports to Armenia surged by a staggering
54.3 percent, and Armenian exports to Georgia
increased by 19.4 percent.

THE NOVEL BEHIND A TURKISH CONTROVERSY
Robert Siegel, Host

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 9:00 PM EST
February 13, 2007 Tuesday

Last year, a Turkish court charged novelist Elif Shafak with
denigrating Turkishness. The reason, a remark about the Armenian
genocide made by one of the characters in her novel "The Bastard of
Istanbul." Eventually, the charges were dropped.

Now, the novel is about to come out in an English language version
written by the author herself.

Here’s our reviewer Alan Cheuse.

ALAN CHEUSE: The story straddles two worlds, that of modern Istanbul
and contemporary America, and two families and two visions of history
and reality. In Istanbul, we meet the Kazanci clan. This family is
made up almost completely of women, including a bunch of sisters,
a grandmother, Asya, the bastard of the book’s title, who’s the
illegitimate child of one of the sisters, and an unnamed and until
almost the novel’s end unknown father.

In Tucson resides the beautiful Armanoush, otherwise known as Aimee,
and her American mother whose current husband is a Turkish engineer
who happens to be the last surviving male of the Kazanci clan.

Aimee’s father is an Armenian man whose family escaped the Turkish
genocide against the country’s Armenian Christian citizens and now
lives in San Francisco. It’s Aimee’s father who in a conversation
refers to that national violence whose mention recently got this book
called into a Turkish court.

But it is as much family history as national history that drives
this vital and entertaining novel with powerful and idiosyncratic
characters and vibrant language that drives the characters. The book
overflows with hilarity and anger, with anguish and redemption. Food
and food and more food gets heaped up on the Kazanci table, as does
love and hope and despair and dreams and life, as well.

One of the sisters finds her truth in Tarot cards and communicates
with a couple of genies who live on her shoulders, while another,
runs a successful tattoo parlor. And, Asya, the bastard, finds
affection amidst the group of westernize intellectuals at an Istanbul
cafe called the Kondura(ph). And for young and beautiful and questing
Aimee, she finds herself addicted to novels.

Novels were dangerous we hear. Before you knew it, you could be so
carried away that you could lose touch with reality. That’s what
happened to me as soon as I began reading this deep and delightful
novel. It carried me away, and reality was a little different when
I returned.

SIEGEL: The book is "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. Our
reviewer, Alan Cheuse, teaches writing at George Mason University in
Fairfax, Virginia.

DEPUTY MAYOR VERSUS EX MAYOR

A1+
[08:03 pm] 13 February, 2007

On February 13, the "Mirror" Club hosted Kamo Areyan, deputy mayor
of Yerevan. "The acting mayor of Yerevan has "inherited a capital"
with half-built districts from the ex mayor and today most of these
problems are either half-solved or are still under consideration",
Kamo Areyan said in answer to the announcements of the three former
mayors in "Mirror" Club today.

He noted that the social-economic provisions of the program must be
implemented in 2007.Then he enumerated all the expenses and investments
realised in the reconstruction works of the capital. He underlined
that all these expenses were financed by the capital circulation of
the Yerevan municipality.

Mr. Areyan also mentioned that the reconstruction of Komitas Avenue
by the financial assistance of the Lins foundation will be completed
this year. Then they will reconstruct the irrigation system and
Hrazdan canyon.

Chief Architect Samvel Danielyan referred to current reconstruction
of the capital and architectural norms.

Namely, he found the construction of Aghayan 19 and Teryan 56 grove
legal and in full compliance with the town building norms. Samvel
Daniel said that the estimation under which the state of the city
center is considered a "terrible mess" is exaggerated. Yerevan is the
capital of Armenian and the opinion that the city is overcrowded is
unwarranted. "The construction of blocks of flats in the city centre
is not forbidden; the construction must merely meet the constructive
criteria", said the chief architect.

While speaking of the certificates that will be given to the
Kozern residents, Mr. Areyan noted that there are certain technical
inaccuracies which are under consideration in the Cadastre State
committee and soon the issue will find its solution.

To note, just the moment the Chief architect was speaking of Kozern,
the garage belonging to the Hovhannesyans in Kozern was being pulled
down without any motivations.

PRESS RELEASE
ARPA Institute
18106 Miranda St. Tarzana, CA 91356
Contact: Hagop Panossian
Tel: (818) 586-9660
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

ARPA Institute presents the Lecture/Seminar: "The Hemshin: Speaking
Armenian, Practicing Islam," by Mr. Hovann Simonian, on Thursday,
February 22, 2007 at 7:30 PM at the Merdinian School auditorium.

The Address is 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
Directions: on the 101 FWY exit on Woodman, go north and turn right on
Riverside Dr.

Abstract: The Hemshin are one of the most enigmatic peoples of Turkey
and the Caucasus. As former Christians who converted to Islam
centuries ago yet did not assimilate into the culture of the
surrounding Muslim populations, as Turks who speak Armenian yet are
often not aware of it, as Muslims who continue to celebrate feasts
that are part of the calendar of the Armenian Church, and as
descendants of Armenians who, for the most part, have chosen to deny
their Armenian origins in favor of recently invented myths of Turkic
ancestry, the Hemshin and the seemingly irreconcilable differences
within their group identity have generated curiosity and often
controversy.

After a short introduction to the historical circumstances surrounding
the conversion of Hamshen Armenians to Islam and the subsequent
retention of crypto-Christian practices within the converted
community, the lecture will focus on the salient features of
modern-day Hemshin identity, organized around the somewhat
contradictory poles of allegiance to Islam and use of the Armenian
language. The presentation will be based on the recently published
volume edited by Hovann Simonian, The Hemshin: History, Society and
Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey (London: Routledge,
2007).

Hovann Simonian is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political
Science at the University of Southern California. He holds an MA in
International Relations from the Department of Political Science at
the University of Southern California (1996) and another MA in Central
Asian Studies from the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London
(1997). In addition to various articles and book chapters, he is the
co-author of Troubled Waters: The Geopolitics of the Caspian Region
(London: I.B. Tauris, 2001/2003).

For more Information Please call Dr. Hagop Panossian at (818)586-9660

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS GOVERNMENT FORMATION BILL IN FIRST READING

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Feb 12 2007

YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament rejected
the bill on the formation of the Armenian Government in the first
reading. Fifty Parliament members voted for the bill, with three
abstentions, the necessary quorum being 66 parliament members.

Before the voting, Speaker Tigran Torosyan reported that the Government
renamed the bill "On formation and resignation of Government"
"Government formation standards". One point, according to which,
"the Government is considered to be formed if all the Government
members have been appointed" has been incorporated into the new bill.

However, the parliamentarians did not approve the new version and
demanded a new discussion because the new bill is seriously different
from its predecessor and does not set any mechanisms of forming the
executive power.

As a result, the parliamentary faction of the United Worker’s Party,
as well as the "Justice" and "National Unity" factions did not
participate in the voting.

Commenting on the situation, Speaker Torosyan said that the Government
will have to convene a special parliamentary session to re-submit the
bill to Parliament. Since the parliamentary elections are scheduled
for May 12, and a new Government is to be formed too little time is
left for the adoption of the bill. According to the initial wording,
if the Government resigns, a new cabinet must be formed by the RA
President within 20 days after the appointment of the RA Premier. The
bill also allowed a person with dual citizenship to be appointed a
Government member.

The current Law "On formation and resignation of Government" was
adopted in 1998. Constitutional reforms necessitated the adoption of
a new one.

PACE Conference on "The Parliamentary Dimension of Election Observation:
Applying Common Standards"

Strasbourg, 12.02.2007 – A Conference on "The Parliamentary Dimension of
Election Observation: Applying Common Standards", organised by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will take place
in Strasbourg on 15 and 16 February 2007.

This conference, which will bring together 200 participants, including
parliamentarians and other key actors in election observation, seeks to
strengthen the parliamentary pillar of election observation and
facilitate the application of common standards. Representatives of
institutions in charge of international election observation missions
such as the OSCE, European Parliament, United Nations, Organisation of
American States and CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly, as well as US
think tanks such as the Carter Center and National Democratic Institute,
are among the participants.

PACE President René van der Linden will deliver an opening speech on
15 February at 10h00, followed by statements by João Soares,
Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Elmar Brok,
Co-Chairperson of the European Parliament Election Coordination Group,
Danièle Smadja, Director of the European Commission Multilateral
Relations and Human Rights Department, and Halvdan Skard, President of
the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

The working sessions will be structured around four main subjects:
"International Standards for Free Elections: The Basis for an Objective
Assessment", "Interparliamentary experience in election observation",
"Election Administration and Election Observation" and "Election
observation: the need for a better synergy".

Conference webpage
< 3D/Conferences/conferences_e.htm>

Draft programme
< 2007Elections/Programme_EN.pdf>

Provisional list of participants
< es/2007Elections/ParticipList.pdf>

The Conference is open to the press.

Contact: PACE Communication Unit
tel. +33 3 88 41 31 93; Fax +33 3 90 21 41 34; [email protected]

Press Release
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Ref: 093a07
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34
[email protected]
internet:

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 315 members from the national
parliaments of the 46 member states.
President: René van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD); Secretary
General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European
People’s Party); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe);

EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European
Left).

TURKISH MINISTER SAYS ARMENIAN BILL IN USA WILL CAUSE LASTING DAMAGE TO RELATIONS

NTV television, Istanbul
10 Feb 07

Text of report by Turkish commercial NTV television on 10 February

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has declared that if the Armenian
genocide bill is approved by the US Congress, Turkish-US strategic
relations will sustain a lasting blow.

Gul concluded his contacts in the USA and returned to
Ankara. Commenting on his visit in a statement at Ankara’s Esenboga
Airport, Gul said that Turkey had fulfilled its task of issuing a
warning before the bill pertaining to the Armenian genocide allegations
was debated at the US Congress. Pointing out that there were efforts
to present the bill as a local problem, the minister stated: A local
issue does not have the right to poison a strategic matter.

Gul said that Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives,
avoided meeting him on the grounds that she was not ready.

Also emphasizing importance of cooperation with regard to combating
the terrorist organization, Gul said: The patience of the Turkish
people has run out.

The United States should place itself in our position. If it does,
it would also not tolerate this. We have tangible expectations,
not just words.