Author: Ekmekjian Janet

IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT ARMENIA NEXT WEEK

Agence France Presse — English
October 20, 2007 Saturday 3:08 PM GMT

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make an official visit
to neighbouring Armenia on October 22 and 23 for talks with his
counterpart Robert Kocharian, the official news agency said Saturday.

The two men are expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements
Monday, and Ahmadinejad will also meet the head of the national
assembly, Tigran Torossian, and students and professors at Yerevan
University.

The Iranian leader is expected to visit a memorial to victims of the
Ottoman massacres of Armenians between 1915 and 1917, as well as the
Blue Mosque in Yerevan, and meet members of the Iranian community here.

Landlocked Armenia has sought closer links with Iran because of an
economic blockade imposed by neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey over
the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, as well as Armenia’s efforts
to gain international recognition of the Ottoman massacres as genocide.

In March, Kocharian and Ahmedinejad inaugurated a 150-kilometre
(93-mile) pipeline that will deliver 36 billion cubic metres (1.27
trillion cubic feet) of gas from Iran to Armenia over 20 years.

H.RES.106: MOURNING WREATH LAID TO U.S. EMBASSY IN BAKU

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.10.2007 13:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The world congress of Azeris and Azeri-Turk women’s
organization signed a "statement of protest" over adoption of the
Armenian Genocide resolution, H.Res.106, by the U.S. House Foreign
Affairs Committee.

The statement says "the decision will damage not only
Turkey-U.S. relations but also Azerbaijan-U.S. relations.

The WCA claimed that discussion of the "unjust" resolution in the
United States, the advocate of human rights, "conflicts with all
international conventions."

The protestors laid a mourning wreath to the U.S. Embassy in Baku,
ANS TV reports.

IT SNOWED

A1+
[01:08 pm] 18 October, 2007

Salut, Vardabyur, Bashgyugh, Sarqar, Sarapat, Kakavasary, Dzorashen,
Mets Sepasar, Pokr Sepasar, Ghazanchi, Tavshut, Sizavet, Lernagyugh,
Toros Gyugh and Arpi villages in the region of Shirak were deprived
of electricity in the result of wild wind and heavy snowfall early
in the morning on 17 October.

At about 14.20 12 villages were provided with electricity,
but Lernagyugh, Toros Gyugh and Arpi villages are still without
electricity, the repair of electric lines is still carried out.

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
&
Armenian Engineers & Scientists of America
417 W. Arden Ave., Suite 112C, Glendale, CA 91203

Present: Lecture/Seminar

"Adoption of the European Educational System & the Reforms in the
Schools of Armenia"

by: Professor Vosdanik Maroukhyan

Thursday, November 1, 2007 @ 7:30PM

Merdinian Auditorium: 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks
Directions: On 101 FY East Exit on Woodman, Go North and Turn Right on
Riverside Dr.

Abstract: This (Armenian language) lecture will discuss the reforms
that followed the adoption of the European educational system in
Armenia, both for the Institutions of higher education and the
elementary, middle and secondary schools. The implementation of new
programs as well as the development and the reforms in the curricula of
the school system in Armenia will be discussed. In addition the
implementation of educational reforms and new subjects introduced in the
school system will be presented.

Vosdanik Maroukhyan is the rector (President) of the State Engineering
University of Armenia (SEUA, formerly the Polytechnic Institute). He has
previously served as professor of environmental engineering, pro-rector,
department chairman and in many leadership roles. He is the author of
over 95 articles, chapters in books, and conference proceedings. He has
won numerous awards for his outstanding academic achievements and
leadership. He has served, and continues to serve as the chairman of the
Ecology Department of the SEUA and has authored numerous articles and
books on the environment and ecology.

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

.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The Wall Street Journal
How Turkey Could Undermine Iraq
By NICK TIMIRAOS
October 20, 2007; Page A9

Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly this past week to allow its
army to cross the Iraqi border to fight Kurdish rebels, a move that
President Bush warned against because it would threaten the stability
of one of Iraq’s few relatively peaceful regions.

The vote comes in response to attacks by Kurdish rebels that killed at
least two dozen Turkish civilians and soldiers two weeks ago, the
deadliest such attacks in 12 years. The prospect of a cross-border
Turkish campaign helped drive oil prices to an intraday high of $90 a
barrel.

"I think a full-scale invasion is unlikely, precisely because the
consequences would be so severe, for the U.S., for Turkey, for Iraqi
Kurdistan."

–Amb. Peter W. Galbraith, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
– Chart: Balancing Act
– Review & Outlook: The Turkish Front

Meanwhile, Congress’s consideration of a resolution that would label
the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during
World War I as "genocide" has infuriated Turkey, the successor to the
Ottoman Empire. Ankara recalled its ambassador from Washington two
weeks ago when a House committee passed the resolution and has
threatened to limit access to a critical air base in southern Turkey,
jeopardizing supply lines for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Here’s a closer look:

Why would Turkey want to send troops into Iraq? Turkey has amassed
60,000 troops on its border to stop the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK,
which launched the deadly attacks inside Turkey two weeks ago. The
PKK, a Marxist insurgent group designated a terrorist organization by
the U.S., was founded in the 1970s to fight for an independent state
that includes Kurds in both Turkey and Iraq. Attacks against Turkey
diminished eight years ago when the group’s leader was captured but
have flared up in recent years. The northern portion of Iraq is
governed by Kurds and is relatively autonomous.

Why hasn’t the U.S. dealt with the PKK? U.S. troops are tied down in
Iraq and the Kurdish part of Iraq remains relatively stable. The
terrain in Northern Iraq and porous borders with Turkey and Iran
create huge obstacles for any military campaign. In addition, some in
Washington still bear animosity toward Turkey for denying the U.S.
permission to launch its initial invasion of Iraq through Turkey in
2003.

How likely is a Turkish invasion? Recent violence has increased public
pressure on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch a
major operation, but the prime minister remains reluctant to invade,
experts say. Mr. Erdogan was quick to state this past week that the
resolution didn’t mean a cross-border operation was imminent. Many
Turks blame the U.S. for increasing border violence because the U.S.
has prevented Turkish troops from entering Iraq to stamp out civil
unrest. Iraq responded to Turkey’s resolution by calling on the PKK to
leave Iraq and said it would consider allowing limited air strikes
within its borders.

How would an invasion complicate the Iraq war? The U.S. doesn’t want a
war between two of its allies in one of the few stable parts of Iraq.
Also, if the U.S. allows Turkey to cross the border into Iraq, it sets
a precedent that could lead Iran to take similar steps to quell
violence on its border with Iraq. The prospect of war has rattled oil
markets because Iraq ships some of its oil through a pipeline to the
Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. The oil pipeline that
runs from Kirkuk, Iraq, to Ceyhan has averaged an output of 500,000
barrels a day, about 0.6% of daily global demand.

What effect could the Armenian genocide resolution have? Turkey has
threatened to restrict access to the Incirlik Air Base, which has
become a primary resupply area for the Iraq war. Critics say the
resolution risks emboldening Turkish nationalists who already oppose
Ankara’s cooperation with Washington. A Pew Research Center poll found
that 9% of Turks view the U.S. favorably, compared with 83% who view
the U.S. unfavorably.

The Pentagon has prepared alternate supply routes through Jordan and
Kuwait in case the U.S. loses access to bases in Turkey. Nearly 70% of
all air cargo, including 95% of all roadside bomb-proof armored
vehicles, goes into Iraq via Turkey. In addition, one third of all
fuel goes through or comes from Turkey.

Will the resolution pass? Probably not. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was
forced to backtrack from a pledge to bring the measure for a vote.
Support for the symbolic resolution dropped as the Bush administration
and others warned that angering Turkey would hamper efforts in Iraq.
The resolution has 215 co-sponsors, three short of the majority needed
to pass in the House of Representatives, and down from the 236
co-sponsors it had earlier this year.

Why is Congress considering it? Armenian-Americans have long pushed
for Congress to recognize the killings of Armenians during World War I
as genocide. The subject remains taboo in Turkey, where referring to
the killings as genocide carries a criminal charge of "insulting
Turkishness." Turkey’s official position is that the deaths weren’t
genocide but rather the result of civil war and unrest.
* * *

Facts
– Kurds make up 20% of Turkey’s 71 million citizens.

– With a population estimated between 1.5 million and two million,
Armenian-Americans outnumber Turkish-Americans by a 3-to-1 margin.

– Armenian influence is most pronounced in Glendale, Calif., a Los
Angeles suburb of 200,000 that is 40% Armenian.

– President Reagan was the only U.S. president to publicly refer to
the killings of Armenians as genocide.

– A trial against Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist,
for referring to the deaths of Armenians as genocide was halted last
year after drawing negative publicity for Turkey.

– The 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which created Iraq, Syria and Kuwait,
included the possibility of a Kurdish state. Turkey, Iran and Iraq
agreed not to recognize an independent Kurdish state after Kemal
Ataturk overthrew the Turkish monarchy and rejected the treaty in
1923.

– France, Germany and Canada are among nearly a dozen countries that
have passed laws recognizing the Armenian genocide.

STARTING FROM NEXT YEAR NAIRIT TO USE BUTADIENE TECHNOLOGY

Noyan Tapan
Oct 16, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Starting from 2008, Nairit Plant will
use the butadiene technology because it is not profitable to produce
rubber by using the acetylene method in case of an increase in the
price of natural gas, the acting chairman of Nairit’s board Grigor
Stepanian told reporters on October 16. In his words, everything is
being done now in order to restore the usual operation rhythm of the
plant. It is envisaged to produce 10 thousand tons of rubber a year
and export it to Western Europe, the US, Russia.

According to G. Stepanian, the company fulfils its agreement
obligations.

Particularly, Nairit has paid off all its debts, including salary
arrears.

He denied the recent rumor that the plan’s owner – Sawex company
(Poland) intends to surrender its shares.

OVER 100 COMPANIES INTRODUCED INTO JOB FAIR IN YEREVAN

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 15 2007

YEREVAN, October 15. /ARKA/. A job fair under the slogan "Find what
you Search" was held on Saturday in Yerevan within the framework of
the Week of Adult Education 2007.

"The job fair is one of the best means of organizing meetings for
employees and employers, as well as providing necessary information
for Armenia’s labor market," said RA Minister of Labor and Social
Issues Aghvan Vardanian.

He pointed out that the fair was unprecedented, as it was the first
time such an event had been held in Armenia. The Minister believes
the fair will be traditionally organized in the country.

According to Vardanian, job placement has been a topical issue in
Armenia for years and the level of unemployment has been high. "The
populations’ employment should be the focus of the Armenian
Government," Vardanian said.

In this connection, the Minister attached importance to the
implementation of job placement programs and staff training.

RA Deputy Minister of Labor Araik Petrosian also attached importance
to the organization of job fairs which are a new means of balancing
offer and demand, he said.

The Deputy Minister wished good luck both the future employees and
their employers.

About hundred of employer-companies participated in the job fair,
including Coca Cola Bottlers Armenia, Alfa-Pharm, KPMG-Armenia,
Cascade Capital Holding, the Converse Bank, AG Electronics, ArmenTel
and VivaCell.

The organizers of the fair are the State Placement Service Agency,
DVV International, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Union of
Entrepreneurs and Employers of Armenia, USAID, the British Council in
Armenia, as well as Career Center under the Yerevan Sate University,
the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University and the American University
of Armenia.

SITTING OF THE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION HELD IN YEREVAN

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 15 2007

The official opening ceremony of the 6th Armenian-Georgian
Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was held at the
Government House of Receptions in Yerevan, Government’s Information
and Public Relations Department informs.

Greeting Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli and the delegation
headed by him, RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan expressed confidence
that the Commission will succeed to sole the issues in the field
of economic cooperation and reach agreements that will promote the
further deepening of mutually beneficial economic and humanitarian ties
between the two countries. Emphasizing the importance of attraction
of investments from third countries for the development of Armenia
and Georgia, he underlined that it is necessary to take efforts in
the direction of establishing a common investment field.

According to the Prime Minister, it is necessary to intensify the
activity in the direction of working out joint projects for this
purpose. "It’s obvious that joint projects in any sphere practically
provide grater opportunities to receive investment assistance form
international financial institutions," the Armenian Prime Minister
underlined.

Serge Sargsyan also stressed the importance of enlarging cooperation in
the cultural and educational spheres, underlining that the two peoples
have much to present to each other, and humanitarian cooperation
is necessary for maintaining the friendly traditions between the
two peoples.

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli noted that he fully agrees
with RA PM Serge Sargsyan’s suggestions on establishing a common
investment field, thus creating a common market for investors
and underlined that efforts must be taken in this direction. PM
Noghaideli appreciated the cooperation in the spheres of energy and
transport. He noted that cooperation in the field of chemistry and
processing industry is prospective.

After confirming the agenda, the Intergovernmental Commission
discussed the process of accomplishment of the decisions taken
during the previous sitting, the current contractual-legal field
between the parties and the traits of development, perspectives of
economic development, cooperation in the fields of energy, transport,
agriculture, health and social security, finance, education and
culture, ecology, tourism, etc.

Wall Street Journal
ature.html?id=110010738

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Secretary of State Pelosi
The Armenian genocide doesn’t belong in U.S. foreign policy right now.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 12:01 a.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, famous for donning a head scarf earlier this
year to commune for peace with the Syrians, has now concluded that this
is the perfect moment to pass a Congressional resolution condemning
Turkey for the Armenian genocide of 1915. Problem is, Turkey in 2007 has
it within its power to damage the growing success of the U.S. effort in
Iraq. We would like to assume this is not Speaker Pelosi’s goal.

To be clear: We write that we would like to assume, rather than that we
do assume, because we are no longer able to discern whether the
Speaker’s foreign-policy intrusions are merely misguided or are
consciously intended to cause a U.S. policy failure in Iraq.

Where is the upside in October 2007 to this Armenian resolution?

The bill is opposed by eight former U.S. Secretaries of State, including
Madeleine Albright. After Tom Lantos’s House Foreign Affairs Committee
voted out the resolution last week, Turkey recalled its ambassador from
Washington. Turkey serves as a primary transit hub for U.S. equipment
going into both Iraq and Afghanistan. After the Kurdish terrorist group
PKK killed 13 Turkish conscripts last week near the border with Iraq,
Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, asked the parliament to
approve a huge deployment of the army along the border, threatening an
incursion into Kurdish-controlled Iraq. This of course is the one
manifestly successful region of post-Saddam Iraq. In a situation
teetering on a knife-edge, President Bush has been asking Mr. Erdogan to
show restraint on the Iraq border.

Somehow, none of this is allowed to penetrate Speaker Pelosi’s world.
She is offering various explanations for bringing the genocide
resolution to the House floor. "This isn’t about the Erdogan
government," she says. "This is about the Ottoman Empire," last seen
more than 85 years ago. "Genocide still exists," insists Ms. Pelosi. "We
saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur."

Yes, but why now, with Turkey crucial to an Iraq policy that now has the
prospect of a positive outcome? The answer may be found in the
compulsive parochialism of the House’s current edition of politicians,
mostly Democrats. California is home to the country’s largest number of
politically active Armenians. Speaker Pelosi has many in her own
district. Mr. Lantos represents the San Francisco suburbs. The bill’s
leading sponsors include Representatives Adam Schiff, George Radanovich
and Anna Eshoo, all from California.

Pointedly, Jane Harman, the Southern California Democrat who Speaker
Pelosi passed over for chair of the intelligence committee, wrote an
op-ed for the Los Angeles Times Friday, questioning the "timing" of the
resolution and asking why it is necessary to embarrass a "moderate
Islamic government in perhaps the most volatile region in the world."

Why indeed? Perhaps some intrepid reporter could put that question to
the three leading Democratic Presidential candidates, who are seeking to
inherit hands-on responsibility for U.S. policy in this cauldron.
Hillary Clinton has been a co-sponsor of the anti-Turk genocide
resolution, but would she choose to vote for it this week?

Back when Bill Clinton was President, Mr. Lantos took a different view.
"This legislation at this moment in U.S.-Turkish relations is singularly
counterproductive to our national interest," he said in September 2000,
when there was much less at stake in the Middle East. According to
Reuters, he added that the resolution would "humiliate and insult"
Turkey and that the "unintended results would be devastating."
If Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos want to take down U.S. policy in Iraq to
tag George Bush with the failure, they should have the courage to walk
through the front door to do it. Bringing the genocide resolution to the
House floor this week would put a terrible event of Armenia’s past in
the service of America’s bitter partisanship today. It is mischievous at
best, catastrophic at worst, and should be tabled.

Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION MOVING FORWARD
Rick Moran

American Thinker, WA
ian_genocide_resolution_m.html
Oct 15 2007

If you’re like many of us, you probably have mixed feelings about the
resolution passed the by the House Foreign Affairs Commitee denoting
the systematic killing of 1.5 million Christians, most of them of
Armenian descent, by Turkey in 1915 as genocide.

It is a classic case of Real Politik versus a moral imperative.

Turkey is absolutely insistent that any such acknowledgement of
genocide by the House will bring down swift retribution in the form
of reduced military cooperation with the United States – something
that could have very serious consequences for our efforts in Iraq.

On the other hand, history demands that we, as a civillized people,
bear witness to the crime against humanity perpetrated by the Turks
when, for a variety of reasons including economic and religious,
they set about the task of starving, massacring, and driving from
their homes millions of Armenians.

Does national security trump all other considerations in this case?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t think so:

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives insisted Sunday
that she would bring to the full chamber a resolution condemning the
killings of Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide, even as a
Turkish general warned that this could lastingly damage a military
relationship crucial to American forces in Iraq.

A House committee Wednesday passed a nonbinding resolution declaring
the killings, which began in 1915 in the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire, to be genocide, and the speaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi,
said Sunday that "I’ve said if it passed the committee that we would
bring it to the floor."

But in Ankara, the Turkish military chief, General Yasar Buyukanit,
said that if the full House passed the resolution, "our military
relations with the United States can never be the same," Reuters
reported. "The U.S. shot its own foot," he told the Milliyet newspaper.

Buyukanit’s comment came two days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan cautioned that bilateral relations with the United States,
a key partner in NATO, were endangered. To underscore the point,
Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Washington for consultations.

The Turks have a wide range of options open to them as far as
retaliation is concerned, from mild to catastrophic. One interesting
note is that Turkey is one of America’s biggest arms customers which
includes spare parts. This opens the question of how much do the
Turks wish to damage their own interests when punishing the US for
the House vote.

Most experts agree that the Turks will almost certainly curtail
or even cut off our ability to resupply our forces in Iraq through
Turkey. This would be more than an inconvenience for our military who
would then be forced to bring even more supplies overland through
Kuwait – a long and dangerous journey that is already stretched to
the limit as far as logistics is concerned.

Turkey has also been a steadfast ally in the War on Terror. Reduced
cooperation in that theater would also hit hard our capability to
fight al-Qaeda.

The Turks continue to deny their "relocation" of Armenians and other
Christians during World War I was anything except an unforseeable
tragedy. This flies in the face of mountains of evidence including
the deliberate confiscation of Armenian property and the denial of
food deliveries to the refugees which caused mass starvation. There
are also numerous eye witness accounts of the massacre of more
tens of thousands both by Turkish troops and the so-called "Special
Organization" who were designated as "escorts" for the refugees after
they had been forcibly kicked out of their homes.

The Armenians were rounded up and marched out into the desert where
unspeakable atrocities were committed against them. Most simply died
of thirst or starvation. Others were brutally murdered by roving gangs
of criminals while members of the "Special Organization" stood by and
watched, sometimes actively participating in the killings themselves.

Those who survived the trek across the desert were brought to detention
camps. There were contemporary and historical reports that many of
the women and children were burned to death at these camps with others
being poisoned and even drowned.

The question of whether the death of 1.5 million Armenians was genocide
or not shouldn’t be the issue. It was. The question should be is the
House vote really necessary in light of the consequences that will
fall upon our military in Iraq?

Is there a right or wrong answer? We are at war and there is a
compelling argument to be made that we don’t have the "luxury" of
taking such a moral stand. The countervailing argument, that the
vote is long overdue as is recognition of the Turkish government’s
culpability in crimes against humanity also strikes a chord in our
conscience.

A cynic might point out that getting Turkey riled at us enough to cut
off access to our troops plays right into the hands of the anti-war
crowd. But I have enough faith left in most politicians that they
will vote based on the issues I outlined above rather than some end
run around our war policy.

Whether a vote of conscience or convenience, there will be a vote.

And how it turns out will say something important about this country.