Author: Ekmekjian Janet

OSCE MG HAS EXTRA IDEAS ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.11.2006 13:21 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs have extra ideas on
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement but over the confidentiality
of the negotiation process they cannot be divulged, said OSCE MG
Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov on arrival in Baku November 22. The
diplomat also informed that U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza will meet with
Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian in Los Angeles and over
this reason he did not join the mediators in the regional visit. At the
same time he voiced hope that all 3 Co-chairs will be present at the
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani President in Minsk November 28.
French mediator Bernard Fassier said that the negotiation process
is going on. “We met with the Foreign Ministers three times within
several weeks. We are trying to build a wall in order to create a basis
for the future agreement. Each time we add a brick,” he underscored,
reports Trend news agency.

EMBASSY OF TURKEY TO SLOVAKIA DEMANDS TO DISMANTLE KHACHKAR DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the initiative
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, the Embassy of Turkey
to Slovakia addressed to the Bratislava Mayor’s Office and district
heads of Petrzalka with a demand to dismantle the khachkar (cross
stone) dedicated to the Armenian Genocide which is placed on the
right riverside of Danube.
As the Noyan Tapan correspondent states from Bratislava, the
editorial staff of the “Plus One” daily addressed to the OSCE and
Armenian community chairman, Advisor to the RA Foreign Minister Ashot
Grigorian, asking to explain the meaning of that application of the
Turkish Embassy to Slovakia.
As Ashot Grigorian, the Chairman of the Armenian community of Slovakia
explained, the Embassy of Turkey demands to dismantle the khachkar
placed in honour of the Slovakia National Council’s adoption of
the 2004 resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide. The khachkar
was presented to Bratislava by the Nig-Aparan Compatriotic Union
of Armenia, in the person of its Chairman, RA Prosecutor General
Aghvan Hovsepian. The permission for placing the khachkar was given
by the Bratislava Mayor, and works of placing and improvement of its
surroundings were done by representatives of the local community,
on the initiative of the community chairman A.Grigorian.
“This noise made round the khachkar is a wonderful mean to again remind
citizens of Bratislava about the Armenian Genocide and the Slovakia
Parliament’s adoption of the resolution condemning it,” A.Grigorian
said, adding that “not only press of Slovakia will touch upon this
sensational news, but also we, heads of the Armenian community and me,
also as the Foreign Minister’s Advisor, will demand explanation from
the Turkish Embassy with the help of press and will make an attempt
of debating to prove absurdity of their demands.”

FESTIVITIES TO BENEFIT ARMENIAN CHILDREN’S FUND
Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Nov 16 2006
The Armenian Children’s Milk Fund will host a fun-filled family
event on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the National Heritage
Museum in Lexington. The evening will include traditional Armenian
music and dance, as well as face-painting, crafts, food and other
festive activities.
The evening also highlights two special events for children.
Acclaimed master storyteller Angela Klingler will recount stories
based on Armenian folklore, and Twinkles the Clown will bedazzle and
amuse children with her magic.
Doors to the museum will open at 5:30 p.m. Both children’s performances
begin at 6 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the door.
Admission: $16 adults; $8 children; ages 2 and under free.
If you’d like to volunteer to help out, or for more information,
call ACMF at 617-484-6233. Directions to the museum, located at 33
Marrett Road in Lexington, are available at
Proceeds from this event will benefit the Armenian Children’s Milk
Fund. ACMF has been providing infant formula to needy families
in Armenia since shortly after the tragic earthquake in December
1988. Through the fundraising efforts of its volunteers over the
years, ACMF has helped thousands of Armenian children get a healthy
start in life.

EU TO CLOSELY WATCH UPCOMING ELECTION IN ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.11.2006 13:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Commissioner for External Relations Benita
Ferrero-Waldner described the singing of the EU Action Plans with
the South Caucasian states as ‘a new stage’. “We are launching a new
stage. We want to convey our values – human rights, democracy and rule
of law – to these states. We also consider their wishes. It’s important
for us to encourage regional cooperation,” she told RFE/RL. For his
part, EU Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby also commented on
the Armenia-EU Action Plan. “The European Neighborhood Policy will
allocate finances and these funds should be used for reformation of
Armenia and Azerbaijani in order to bring them closer to European
standards,” he said. The EU will also closely watch the forthcoming
parliamentary and presidential election in Armenia and Azerbaijan
which will become an important exam for the republics.

OSCE MINSK GROUP HOPES TO AGREE ON BASE PRINCIPLES OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT REGULATION TILL THE END OF THE YEAR
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006
The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the regulation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict hope that the next
meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Robert
Kocharyan will take place in the nearest future, Trend reports. “We
hope that this meeting will take place on November 28, within the
CIS Summit in Minsk,” the Russian Co-chair of the Minsk Group Yuri
Merzlyakov informed RIA Novosti.
On November 16, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group made speeches before
the Permanent Council of the OSCE (France, USA and Russia).
According to the Russian Co-chair, the current year will present unique
window of opportunities for achieving an agreement on the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said that at the beginning of
this year, both countries stated that earlier they were not as close
to the agreement.
“It would be a tragically successful chance for the Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia to permit this window to close at the
beginning of the next year to agree at least on the base principles
for the future peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
Merzlyakov said. In addition, he said that the next election cycle
reaches in 2007-2008 – first in Armenia and then in Azerbaijan. “We
already have the experience of the negative impacts of the elections
on the negotiations,” the Russian Co-chair said.
Answering the question about the possible impacts of the Kosovo
regulation on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he
emphasized that all conflicts have own peculiarities. “However, the
regulation of the Kosovo question will somehow affect other conflicts
in the OSCE territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh,” Merzlyakov said.

27th Plenary Session of Interparliamentary Assembly of Commonwealth
of Independent States in Saint Petersburg
National Assembly, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
On November 16 the 17th plenary session of CIS IPA began its work in
Tavricheskiy Palace in Saint Petersburg. Mr. Sergey Mironov, Chairman
of IPA CIS Council delivered a welcoming speech and assured that the
cooperation has proved its efficiency in free trade, fight against
organized crimes, drug business and terrorism and in development of
different forms of humanitarian cooperation. He also noted, that the
main theme of the 27th plenary session is the 15th anniversary of CIS,
the results of interparliamentary cooperation and the perspectives.
For the first time the Speaker of the Parliament of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan Mr. Mohammad Yunus Qanooni was participating
in the IPA CIS session. From the name of PABSEC, Mr. Mustafa Bash
made a welcoming speech and wished success.
The President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mr.
Tigran Torosyan noted in his speech, that after the collapse of the
USSR the countries turned out to be in a difficult situation and were
forced to create new state and inter-state systems, economic relations,
develop democracy and resolve problems, each of those being a serious
complication for any country. The CIS has been useful in the resolution
of these problems and has helped to work efficiently in creating
legislation and solving the problems caused by the collapse of the
USSR. Now one can record that the CIS is a real operating organization,
which has great achievements. The Presidents of CIS countries work
on reforms of CIS, and necessarily the Interparliamentary Assembly
also has to work on these reforms because new time brings about new
problems. The IPA CIS has been so strengthened, that it can become an
arena for the debate of different issues, and for which new mechanisms
and opportunities have to be created. During these years the countries
have gained a rather big experience, which can be used in the CIS. In
that context there is much work to do, because there are rather high
results in economy, and a new situation is created, which requires
new solutions, so the CIS would work due to time demands. In that
context Mr. Torosyan emphasized the role of IPA CIS, which is of great
significance in the life of CIS and in the establishment of national
legislations, settlement of conflicts and establishment of regional
peace. The President of the National Assembly wished success to the
works and future activity of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly.
Other Presidents of Parliament of member countries also had speeches
at the IPA CIS plenary session.
After the debate of the theme “Fifteenth Anniversary of CIS: Results
of Inter-parliamentary Cooperation and Perspectives” the participants
of the plenary session discussed issues concerning the adaptation of
national legislation in the sphere of security. The participants of
the session were presented recommendations on “Ensuring Legislative
Regulation of Migration Processes in CIS member nations,” on Model
Environmental Code, Water and Education Codes and other issues. These
and other draft laws were approved at the IPA CIS session and will
be used in elaborating national legislations.
The works of the 27th plenary session of IPA CIS were summed up at
a joint press conference.
The President of the National Assembly Mr. Tigran Torosyan had a
tete-e-tete talk with the Chairman of the Federation Council of the
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Mr. Sergey Mironov, during
which they touched upon the works of IPA CIS, the meeting of four
Caucasian countries and the forthcoming official visit of the President
of the National Assembly to the Russian Federation and other issues.
On the same day the meeting of four Caucasian countries took place,
with the participation of the Presidents of Parliament of Armenia,
Russian Federation, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN MAY MEET IN JANUARY
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 13 2006
The recurrent meeting between the Defense Ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan Serge Sargsyan and Safar Abiev may take place in January,
declared the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, APA agency reports, referring to Russian
media. He noted that he has already applied the parties, but has
received no response.
To remind, at the initiative of Andrzej Kasprzyk, Foreign Ministers
Serge Sargsyan and Safar Abiev met on October 20. The parties discussed
the question of maintenance of the cease-fire regime.
ArmInfo correspondent did not manage to get information confirming
the meeting from RA MFA. According to APA report, Azeri MFA was not
informed about Kasprzyk’s statement and the forthcoming meeting of
the Defense Ministers.

CHECHEN BOY FATALLY STABBED
The Moscow Times, Russia
November 13, 2006 Monday
Police are searching for the killers of Kazbek Dadakhanov, 17,
a Chechen who was fatally stabbed outside the Rechnoi Vokzal metro
station.
Dadakhanov, a student at the Plekhanov Institute, was on his way
home from judo training with his cousin when he was involved in an
altercation with two men on the escalator as they were leaving the
northern Moscow metro station, Kommersant reported.
Dadakhanov, a relative of former Grozny Mayor Bislan Gantamirov,
was stabbed in the heart and died on the spot.
“I’m in shock,” said Kazbek’s father, Murat Dadakhanov. “I can’t
even imagine why my son was killed. He only cared about sports and
studying.”
Police have issued composite sketches of the suspects.
“There was no ethnic motive in this murder,” a source involved in the
investigation said, Interfax reported. “The murder was committed in
a drunken fight.”
In May, Artur Sadaryan, 19, an ethnic Armenian, was stabbed to death
on a suburban Moscow train.
The month before, Vigen Abramyan, 17, also an ethnic Armenian, was
fatally stabbed at the Pushkinskaya metro station.
No one has been convicted of either crimes.

Fresno Bee , CA
Nov 11 2006
Living with war
Sam Kalfayan’s 95 years have been shaped by the world’s conflicts.
By Christina Vance / The Fresno Bee11/11/06 03:53:20
War stole Sam Kalfayan’s name.
It blotted out his father’s bespectacled face and his mother’s
ability to speak of her dead children without crumbling. He believes
war’s sinister influence contributed to his first wife’s suicide.
But war spared Kalfayan’s life. The World War II survivor, at 95, is
among Fresno’s oldest veterans.
A trim man, Kalfayan still fits into his Army uniform. He continues
to wear a neat mustache, as he did when serving as interpreter to
Gen. George S. Patton more than 60 years ago.
Age has grayed Kalfayan’s hair and sapped his strength. But his sense
of humor remains bright, even though health woes have kept him in bed
a lot lately.
He’d be younger, he jokes, except “my parents made the mistake of
bringing me into this world a little too early.”
War and Kalfayan seemed destined to meet. Born in 1911, the boy was
named after a general – Sarkis, a saint revered by some Armenian
Christians.
He was born Sarkis Papazian in Samson, Turkey. His Armenian father,
two brothers and two sisters died in Turkish massacres, but the
3-year-old escaped with his mother to Cairo, Egypt.
The survivors lived in a second-story apartment without electricity,
hot water or a toilet. Kalfayan learned French at his Armenian
school, and he picked up Arabic and Turkish from other people.
Kalfayan said his mother moved to Wisconsin in 1921 to marry his
stepfather after meeting him through a mail matchmaking service. The
boy took his stepfather’s last name, and his first name was
anglicized as “Sam.” The family moved to the Visalia area a few years
later.
The Central Valley was good to Kalfayan. He grew up, married and
began to farm. Then World War II hit.
“During our days, we felt like we owed our country something,” he
said. “I felt this country had done me a lot of favors.”
Kalfayan tried to volunteer, but the government rebuffed him, saying
it was more important that he go on farming raisins. So Kalfayan sold
his 30 acres and returned to the Army. This time, they took him.
When the Army discovered the new recruit spoke several languages, it
sent him overseas to work as Patton’s interpreter. The private got a
Jeep to follow the general and often stayed some distance from the
front.
But during the bloody Battle of the Bulge – which involved more than
1 million soldiers and claimed nearly 200,000 dead and injured –
Kalfayan fought alongside other soldiers. The enemy hid, and it was
hard to tell where shots came from – or went.
“I don’t know whether I killed 10 guys or didn’t shoot anybody,” he
said.
Kalfayan was in his 30s when he served, and younger soldiers called
him “pop.” But, although he served for three years, he left the Army
a buck private – the lowest-ranked soldier – because he occasionally
disobeyed orders. Each time, he would be demoted from private first
class back to private.
Once, he took an unauthorized side trip to Paris. Another time, he
wore a wool cap with earflaps that Patton had ordered to be
confiscated. The general said it made his soldiers look like sissies.
“The hell with Patton. I was being sensible,” Kalfayan said.
Ironically, Kalfayan never performed interpreting duties for Patton
because of the famed general’s manic pace in taking territory – even
if hundreds of lives were lost.
“Patton never stayed long enough to interrogate anybody. He just kept
pushing,” Kalfayan said. “If he felt like taking it, to hell with
everything, he’d take it.”
When the war ended, Kalfayan returned home to find his wife had
become mentally ill. Soon after, she killed herself. Kalfayan
believes the war, so many thousands of miles away, was partly to
blame.
“I spent three years in the war. I didn’t get a scratch,” he said.
“She became a war casualty.”
After returning home, Kalfayan earned multiple academic degrees,
including a master’s degree in agricultural economics. He worked as
manager for several California cities, such as San Jacinto and Desert
Hot Springs. He married again, outlived his second wife of 50 years,
and then married his current wife, Lena.
Like Kalfayan, many soldiers from the World War II generation
returned home and got on with life, said Bob Specht, deputy director
of Fresno’s Legion of Valor Museum.
“That generation was very steely. They didn’t bring up all that
stuff,” he said.
At age 80, some soldiers talk about the carnage for the first time.
Specht said they’re more apt to talk to another veteran than their
families. He’s heard some of their stories himself.
“It’s not a pleasant experience,” he said. “A lot of them don’t go to
war movies.”
Living through any war “from 1776 on” unites people in a way others
can’t understand, Specht said. The museum volunteers tease one
another and enjoy a bond – one that Kalfayan shared until recent ill
health kept the longtime docent from volunteering.
Right now, Kalfayan spends hours reading and talking to his wife. He
has no children, no other family members. And, he has no regrets.
“My genes will disappear. That’s it. I don’t give a damn,” he said.
“Somebody said all good things come to an end. I’m at the end of it.
I have no complaints. I’ve lived a good life.”

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 10, 2006 Friday
RUSSIAN ARMY WILL LEAVE GEORGIA IN 2006
General of the Army Alexander Baranov, Caucasus Military District
Commander, says that units of the Russian army will leave Georgia
this year. The initial plans stood for their withdrawal in 2008.
On Russian defense minister’s order, plans of rapid withdrawal have
been run by official Tbilisi. All units, command structures, and
military hardware will leave Georgia for Armenia and Russia over the
next two months. Four railroad echelons will be used in evacuation.
Two will go to Russia and two to the 102nd Russian Military Base in
Armenia.
Most servicemen volunteered for continuation of service in the
Caucasus, Moscow, and Volga-Urals military districts. Some will
retire. Eighty certificates for apartments have been set aside for
them, and 56 flats will be bought for retired officers in Stavropol,
Krasnodar, Mineralnye Vody in the Caucasus, and other cities. The
command promises that not a single officer or warrant officer will
retire without an apartment to live in.
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, November 6, 2006, EV
Translated by A. Ignatkin