Author: Emil Lazarian

CASHLESS PAYMENTS INCREASE 1.4FOLD IN ARMENIA IN 2006

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2006, a growth of operations
through various payment systems and by means of payment instruments was
registered in Armenia. According to the press service of the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA), 2 mln 422 thousand 60 cashless payments of the
total amount of 6 trillion 664 billion drams (1 bln 601 mln 769
thousand USD) were made in 2006. 1 mln 53 thousand 339 payments of the
total amount of 4 trillion 815 billion drams were made through the CBA
payment systems. In 2006, the amount of cashless payments increased
1.4fold (by 1 trillion 791 thousand drams), while their number – 1.2
fold (411,952). The amount of payments through the CBA payment systems
increased 1.6fold (by 1 trillion 818 billion drams), while their number
grew 1.2fold and made 194,861. The average daily amount of money
transfers through the CBA payment systems made 18.8 bln drams, the
number of such transfers made 4,115. The average daily amount of money
transfers grew by 7 bln drams (the number – by 761) compared with 2005,
with 5.7 bln drams of this amount being conditioned by a growth in
transfers related to stock exchange operations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 16 2007

Babacan: EU can’t demand a date for change to Turkish law

The minister said that Turkey’s accession process was being made
harder than that for other candidate countries.

Güncelleme: 19:15 TSÝ 16 Þubat 2007 CumaBRUSSELS – The European Union
does not have the right to demand Turkey set a timetable to amend a
controversial article of the Turkish penal code seen by many as
limiting free speech, Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan said
Friday.

Babacan, who is also Turkey’s chief negotiator with the EU, was
speaking in Brussels, where he is holding talks with EU officials on
Turkey’s accession process.

It was up to Turkey to decide when and in what form any amendments to
article 301 would be made, he said.

Article 301 of the Turkish penal code covers the crime of insulting
Turkish identity and has been used to prosecute a number of leading
Turkish writers, including Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk and Hrant
Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist gunned down in Istanbul last
month.

Babacan also said that a number of obstacles were being laid in
Tukey’s path to full membership of the EU.

In particular, the Cyprus dispute was being used as a pretext by the
EU to slow Turkey’s membership process. While other EU candidate
countries had `sailed with the wind behind them’ during their
negotiation processes, Turkey, was forced to `sail against the wind’,
he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ïðàî Âûáîðà, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2007

`Echo’: `Cartographic Aggression’
16.02.2007

National atlas of Armenia now includes territory of Nagorni Garabagh.
Armenia is launching `cartographic aggression’ against Azerbaijan.
Yerevan mass media inform that national atlas of Armenia includes
Nagorni Garabagh. `This issue has somewhat political meaning. We
decided to include Nagorni Garabagh in atlas’, said Manuk Vardanyan,
chairman of the committee of land-survey of Armenia.
As Yerevan mass media clarify works on making up the atlas started in
2002. First 230-paged volume contains 5 parts: general survey, nature
of Armenia, population, economy, administrative and territorial
division. Edition contains materials about `ancient Armenian
capitals’ situated on Turkey and Nagorni Garabagh. Publication of the
second edition containing other materials on history and culture of
Armenian nation as well as diaspora hearths is expected late 2007.
In summer 2006 chief executive of geodesy and cartography of the
state land-servey of Armenia, Ovsep Petrosyan, informed about
publication of two-volume national atlas at international congress
`Construction – 2006′ in Tsakhkadzor. Accordingly to him
approximately 45 mn. drams (105,5 thousands dollars of USA) were
allotted from state budget for this purpose.
Now Yerevan proudly declares that national atlas of Armenia was
published only one time – in 1961 in Moscow, and now Armenia did it
itself after acquiring modern technologies to create sizeable
cartographic material. Publication of atlas with 1000 copies was made
from the account of state budget and now new book will be distributed
among state administration agencies, education and scientific
centers. Accordingly to Manuk Vardanyan, following decision of the
government publication of 1500 copies for sale for 21 000 drams is
expected, and sum will be used for translation of atlas into English
and distribution of the books among embassies in Armenia and
international organizations.
`Inclusion’ of Nagorni Garabagh in atlas of Armenia will have no
legal effect – world community, with exception of Armenia, recognized
and still recognize Nagorni Garabagh as part of Azerbaijan. However,
publication of such kind of `atlas’ is recognition by Armenia the
fact of occupation and annexation of territories of Azerbaijan, as it
is impossible to judge about inclusion of Nagorni Garabagh in
Armenian national atlas the other way. That is, national atlas of
Armenia is turning into serious political proof against Yerevan – if,
of course, Minsk Group won’t fail to evaluate it. Saying nothing
about the fact that against background of talks on `opportunity
window’ for regulation of Garabagh conflict it is serious
`information for thinking’.
Moreover, national atlas of Armenia is not the first episode of
`cartographic aggression’. Not long ago in Armenia `traveling atlas
of Armenia and `Nagorni Garabagh Republic’ was published with the
help of the same state `geodesy and cartography center’. Atlas
represents perfect guide book for drivers, travelers and tourists. As
head specialist of the center, Ashot Garibyan, told to `Republic of
Armenia’ newspaper, Armenian cartographers managed not only to
demonstrate the main roads of Armenia and `Artzakh’ but also back
roads. He also added that atlas contains `helpful’ information for
drivers. Distances between inhabited localities, location of filling
station, motels, cafes and auto service are indicated. `Historical
monuments’ and other sightseeing places are vividly illustrated.
However this time state committee on land-survey is planning to
publish atlas, not only as organization to which geodesy and
cartography center is attached: the fact that the first volume of the
atlas was not presented by Ashot Garibyan or Ovsep Petrosyan but
Manuk Vardanyan, says much, particularly against background of
Yerevan’s attempt to organize mass removal of ethnic Armenians from
Armenia and diaspora, first of all from Iraq, to Nagorni Garabagh. We
can’t rule out that in near future Yerevan will attempt to legalize
privatization of lands and real estates on occupied Azerbaijani
territories, including Nagorni Garabagh to create `conscientious
getters’ etc. Probably `cartographic aggression’ of Armenia requires
political evaluation and worthy respond.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mediamax Agency, Armenia
Feb 16 2007

`Cascade Bank’ started issuing plastic smart-cards ArCa with a
built-in microprocessor

Yerevan, February 16 /Mediamax/. The `Cascade Bank’ started issuing
plastic smart-cards ArCa of new generation with a built-in
microprocessor (chip).

As Mediamax was told in the `Cascade Bank’, this new card offers a
higher level of security to provide greater protection for the
customer, larger memory to store more information on a single card
and greater physical durability.

The Executive Director of the `Cascade Bank’ Levon Levonyan noted
that `all Cascade Bank ATMs and POS Terminals are already fitted to
service the ArCa `Smart’ Card’.

`The first cards have been issued today and I am happy to announce
that there will be 20 per cent promotional discount on the annual
service fee for ArCa `smart’ and 50 per cent discount for other ArCa
cards for customers applying before 1 May 2007′, he noted.

`This is a significant step forward for the market, which will
encourage the use of cards’, stated Jonathan Stark, Executive
Director of `Cascade Capital Holdings’.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CBC News, Canada
February 15, 2007 Thursday 4:58 PM GMT

Turkish writer reported in exile in U.S.

Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk has fled his home country of
Turkey and is now living in exile in the United States, reports say.

Pamuk, the author of Snow and My Name is Red, is believed to have
received death threats, according to a report in the International
Herald Tribune.

He recently cancelled a speaking tour he had lined up in Germany. At
that time he was said to be living with a 24-hour security detail.

Last month, a Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor who had written about
the the 1915 killings of Armenians in Turkey was slain by an Islamist
radical who had also made threats against Pamuk.

Turkey has strongly denied Armenian claims that about 1.5 million of
their people were killed systematically by Ottoman Turks in a
"genocide."

Pamuk was charged with "insulting Turkishness" after he gave an
interview to a German newspaper in 2005 that mentioned those
killings. He was acquitted on a technicality.

Parmuk’s growing international stature after winning the Nobel Prize
win has likely made him a high-profile target.

Pamuk flew to the New York on Feb. 1 to begin a lecture tour of
American universities, the Tribune reported, and he is unlikely to
return to Turkey.

People close to Pamuk have declined to comment because of the
"sensitivity of Pamuk’s position."

Pamuk’s writing career has been dedicated to examining Turkish
society and the relationship between ancient traditions and modern
life.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND, Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2007

OSCE mediators urge Armenia, Azerbaijan not to involve UN in conflict
settlement

Baku, 16 February: The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group have
called on the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] sides to abandon
initiatives, including within the UN General Assembly, which can
damage the positive development of the talks over the last few
months, Trend reports.

A joint statement says that the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Yuriy Merzlyakov
(Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza (USA), met the
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office on the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Andrzej Kasprzyk, in Paris on 14-15
February.

The co-chairmen expressed the hope that the sides will not miss the
opportunity they have had in the last few months of the negotiations
and that the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia will meet in
the near future to eliminate disagreements on the main principles of
the future settlement agreement.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 16, 2007 Friday 1:42 PM MSK

OSCE Minsk Group hopes for further progress at Karabakh talks

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group said they are hopeful
Azerbaijan and Armenia will continue making progress in their
negotiations to settle the conflict over Nagorno- Karabakh.

"The co-chairmen expressed hope that the parties will maintain the
momentum gained during talks over the past few months and that the
heads of the foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia will meet
again in the near future to overcome remaining disagreements over the
fundamental principles of the future settlement agreement," the
co-chairmen said in a statement adopted after their meeting in Paris
on February 14-15.

Copies of the document were circulated by the French embassy in Baku
on Friday.

The co-chairmen called on the sides to "avoid any steps within any
organizations, including the UN General Assembly, which could
undermine the progress reached in recent months."

The OSCE Minsk Group includes Russia, the United States and France.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSTRUCTION OF KATB RAILWAY IS DISGRACEFUL DEFEAT OF ARMENIA’S
FOREIGN POLICY, FORMER RA PRIME MINISTER DECLARES

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The construction of
Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway is not an economic but a
political project and it is late for us to prevent this program, we
should have exactly stated our own approaches of regional
cooperation." Khosrov Haroutiunian, Chairman of Christian-Democratic
Union of Armenia, expressed such an opinion at the February 16 press
conference. In his words, to use parliamentary contacts was especially
important in this issue. K. Haroutiunian also said that Armenia is
doomed to form good-neighborly relations with its neighbors.

In the opinion of Hrant Bagratian, Chairman of Azatutiun (Liberty)
Party, former RA Prime Minister, the construction of that railway is
both political and economic issue and "is the disgraceful defeat of
Armenia’s foreign policy." According to his observation, currently
Georgia considers Turkey and Azerbaijan as more friendly countries to
itself than Armenia. This, in H. Bagratian’s words, is conditioned by
presence of Armenian factor in Javakhk and Armenia’s wrong policy in
this issue.

In the opinion of the two speakers, recognition of Armenian Genocide
by Turkey should be considered from point of view of Armenia’s
security. In K. Haroutiunian’s words, "until Turkey has recognized
the Genocide, it can become a source of potential threat for Armenia."

Arminfo
2007-02-16 14:45:00

CASCADE BANK LAUNCHES A NEW GENERATION OF ARCA CARD

Cascade Bank launches a new ArCa Card service in the market. For the
first time in Armenia, customers will be offered the ArCa "smart"
Cards with built-in microprocessor, a new generation of plastic card,
the press-service of Cascade Bank told ArmInfo.

This new card offers a higher level of security to provide greater
protection for the customer, larger memory to store more information
on a single card and greater physical durability, creating added value
for customers.

"All Cascade Bank ATMs and POS Terminals are already fitted to service
the ArCa "Smart" Card", stated Levon Levonyan, Chief Executive Office
of Cascade Bank. "The first cards have been issued today and I am
happy to announce that there will be 20 per cent promotional discount
on the annual service fee for ArCa "smart" and 50 per cent discount
for other ArCa cards for customers applying before 1 May 2007".

"This is a significant step forward for the market, will encourage the
use of cards rather than cash, and is another first for Cascade",
stated Jonathan Stark, Executive Director of Cascade Capital Holdings.

Cascade Bank is a partner with World Bank and KfW in domestic heating
and residential mortgage programs.

In December 2006 Millennium Challenge Account-Armenia exclusively
selected Cascade Bank to handle USD 236 million assistance program
from the U.S. Government, to be transferred directly into MCA’s
account in Cascade Bank over the next five years.

Cascade Bank is 100% owned by Cascade Capital Holdings, which in turn
is owned by the U.S. – based Cafesjian Family Foundation. Cascade
Capital Holdings’ other operating units include Cascade Bank Georgia,
Cascade Credit, Cascade Equity Managers, Cascade Insurance and Cascade
Investments.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
Friday, February 16, 2007

Contact: Haig Hovsepian

Tel: (818) 500-1918

ANCA-WR PRAISES JEWISH WORLDWATCH FOR CALLING FOR CONGRESSIONAL
RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Los Angeles, CA – The ANCA-WR this week welcomed a letter authored by
Jewish World Watch in support of H. Res. 106 (the Armenian Genocide
Resolution). The correspondence, addressed to Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), urges her to support the passage of H. Res. 106,
which affirms the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

ANCA-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian welcomed Jewish WorldWatch’s
letter in support of the Armenian Genocide resolution. "Jewish
WorldWatch’s letter to Speaker Pelosi is timely and important," Kzirian
commented. "Timely, because the genocide resolution is awaiting action
by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos
(D-CA). Important, because this letter is proof that a large coalition
of support, from Armenian, Jewish, Rwandan, Greek, Cambodian and other
communities across America are coming together to rally behind H.Res.
106," added Kzirian.

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis and Janice Kamenir-Reznik, co-founders of
Jewish World Watch expressed the critical importance of holding
perpetrators of genocide accountable for their acts of inhumanity.
Janice Kamenir-Reznik noted, "Accountability is a seminal factor in
deterring future genocides. As Hitler was designing his final solution
he was asked why he thought he would be able to murder millions of Jews.
Only twenty years after the Armenian genocide, Hitler responded by
noting that no one cared and no one remembered the Armenian genocide.
We all know what happened next. Our humanity and collective conscience
demand that we care and our very existence requires that we remember and
hold perpetrators responsible. We are proud to stand with the Armenian
community and with all people of conscience to insist that their
suffering and their history be acknowledged by the civilized world."

Jewish World Watch is a project of a coalition of synagogues working
together to mobilize synagogues, their schools, members and the
community to combat genocide and other egregious violations of human
rights around the world. Earlier this year, the organization held a
screening of the genocide film Screamers at Valley Beth Shalom in
California’s San Fernando Valley. Although Jewish World Watch currently
focuses on ending the genocide in Darfur, the organization’s letter to
Speaker Pelosi states that "it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge and
commemorate past genocides, in particular, the Armenian Genocide, which
has been denied for almost a century – we cannot criticize those who are
committing genocide today, without acknowledging and commemorating the
unacknowledged genocide of the Armenian community in 191[5]."

In October of 2006, then-Representative Pelosi stated that, "I have
supported legislation, including H. Res. 316, that would properly
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that the U.S.
recognize this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate
genocide whenever and wherever it exists. This effort enjoys strong
bipartisan support in the House, and I will continue to support these
efforts in the 110th Congress."

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization.
Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and
supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations
around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the
Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

###

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress