Author: Emil Lazarian

ISSUE OF CONSTRUCTING KARS-AKHALKALAKI-BAKU RAILROAD DISCUSSED IN TBILISI
By Nana Petrosian

AZG Armenian Daily
16/01/2007

The Transport Ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia met in
Tbilisi on Friday. In the course of a closed sitting, they discussed
the issues of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railroad construction. It’s worth
mentioning that Georgian Prime Minister Zourab Noghaideli said that
there will be no financial problems during the construction works. He
added that the Azerbaijani Government is ready to finance the project.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

San Mateo County Times, CA
Jan 14 2007

Class takes a look at evil

Burlingame students study genocides around world in pilot course
By T.S. Mills-Faraudo, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 01/14/2007 02:45:07 AM PST

BURLINGAME – Burlingame High School senior Semachantal Chabo, a
first-generation American, has grown up hearing about the atrocities
her Armenian culture faced throughout history.
Through a pilot Burlingame High School class that’s cropping up in
schools across the country, she hopes to learn about genocide in
other countries.

The Facing History in Ourselves class, which started its second
semester last week, examines the Holocaust and other instances of
genocide and why these events occurred. The program teaches kids how
to combat racism and stereotypes, discuss critical issues, increase
awareness of choices and opportunities, and prepare students to be
responsible citizens.

"I would like other people to know that there was genocide and
cruelty in the world," Chabo, 17, said.

Teacher Michelle Riley, who brought the program to Burlingame, said
the class allows her to teach certain historical events more
extensively than she would in other history classes. This semester,
her students will study the Holocaust as well as the genocides in
Sudan, Armenia and Rwanda.

Students in the class, she said, will learn that before the Nazis
took over Germany, it was a flourishing democratic society.

"They’ll find out just how delicate democracy can be," she said.

But she also will teach the students how they can improve society and
prevent racism.

"I think they’ll come away feeling empowered," she said. "They’ll
learn how to talk about racism, because it can be such an awkward
thing to talk about."

During the first few days of the class last week, Riley asked the
students to create "identity boxes." They were asked to find a box
and decorate the outside with things that represent howthey think
others see them and the inside with items that represent how they
view themselves.

The goal of the lesson, Riley said, is to teach them how identities
are developed and how people get branded.

On the outside of senior Adam Chickman’s shoe box were pictures of
himself in different Halloween costumes: Buzz Lightyear, Silent Bob
and a pimp.

His reasoning: "The theme of my box is, I’m like an onion, we all
have many different layers," the 18-year-old said.

But the inside, an interpretation of how he views himself, was
entirely different.

He drew a picture of a Jewish star for his faith and a broken heart
because, he said, he has been hurt.

But he also pasted a picture of lemons and drew a pitcher of
lemonade.

"I did this because my life motto is: Life hands you lemons, make
lemonade," he said.

Chickman said he took the class because he wanted to know more about
the bad things that have happened in history and get a better
understanding of racism.

"I’m fascinated with why people hate other people when they don’t
even know them," he said.

Burlingame junior Camille Crandall, 16, used a CD case for her box.
On the outside she pasted a picture of herself with her hair and
make-up done and the word "flirt" cut out from a magazine. But she
also put scratches all over the case.

"I did this because this only scratches the surface of who I really
am," the cheerleader said.

On the inside of the case, she pasted a photo of herself wearing
sweats with a goofy smile.

"I think this photo is who I really am, just kind of goofy," she
said.

Many students said they feel there’s still a lot of racism in society
and at their school.

"Being brought up in Burlingame, I think we’re in a bubble and we
don’t interact with a lot of different cultures," senior Rejine
Romingquet, 17, said.

To start this class, Riley said she had to go through two weeks of
training paid for by a scholarship from the Facing History in
Ourselves Organization.

Based out of Brookline, Mass., the national organization provides
professional development for teachers to offer this curriculum in
their schools.

In addition to the training, the organization loans teachers the
books and videos for the class, leaving little, if any, costs for
school districts.

Throughout the class, Riley said students will participate in debates
and discussions, watch films, listen to recordings, view propaganda,
see works of art and hear from guest speakers.

"I just hope they become better citizens," she said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Science Letter
January 9, 2007

LIFE SCIENCES;
Reports outline life sciences study findings from Yerevan State
University, Department of Molecular

Scientists discuss in "Thermodynamics of interactions of TAlPyP4 and
AgTAlPyP4 porphyrins with poly(rA)poly(rU) and poly(rI)poly(rC)
duplexes" new findings in life sciences. "We employed UV light
absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic measurements to
study the binding of novel water-soluble porphyrins
meso-tetra-(4N-allylpyridyl)porphyrin [TAlPyP4], and its Ag
containing derivative to the poly(rA)poly(rU) and poly(rI)poly(rC)
RNA duplexes. Our results suggest that TAlPyP4 associate with the
duplexes via intercalation, whereas the conservative CD spectra
indicates that AgTAlPyP4 preferably binds via outside self-stacking
mode," scientists writing in the Journal of Biomolecular Structure
and Dynamics report.

"We used our determined binding isotherms for each ligand-RNA binding
event to calculate the binding constant, Kb, and binding free energy,
DeltaGb=-RTlnKb. By performing these experiments as a function of
temperature, we evaluated the van’t Hoff binding enthalpies, DeltaH.
The binding entropies, DeltaSb, were calculated as DeltaSb=(DeltaHb
-DeltaGb)/T. We interpret our data in terms of specific interactions
that stabilize/destabilize each ligand-RNA complex studied in this
work," wrote A.A. Ghazaryan and colleagues, Yerevan State University,
Department of Molecular.

The researchers concluded: "Taken together, our data provide
important new information about the thermodynamics of interactions of
porphyrins with nucleic acids."

Ghazaryan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics (Thermodynamics of interactions
of TAlPyP4 and AgTAlPyP4 porphyrins with poly(rA)poly(rU) and
poly(rI)poly(rC) duplexes. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and
Dynamics, 2006;24(1):67-74).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting A.A. Ghazaryan,
Faculty of Physics, Dept. of Molecular Physics, Yerevan State
University, 1 Alex Manoogian Street, Yerevan 375025, Armenia.

The publisher of the Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics
can be contacted at: Adenine Press, 2066 Central Avenue, Schenectady,
NY 12304, USA.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Congressional Record: January 12, 2007 (House)

OPPOSITION TO THE RENOMINATION OF ROBERT HOGLAND

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my concern this afternoon
and my opposition, indeed, to the renomination of Robert Hogland by the
Bush administration as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. And I also want to
take this opportunity to thank my colleague from New Jersey, Senator
Menendez, for his continued opposition to the nomination.
This makes no sense, Mr. Speaker. The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee reviewed the nomination of Mr. Hogland, had hearings, asked
extensive written questions as followup in the last session of Congress, and
it was clear that Mr. Hogland’s nomination could not pass the Senate. In
fact, could not even pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It
was essentially sent back to the administration at the end of the lame
duck session. And I am, frankly, surprised that the President has
renominated Mr. Hogland under the circumstances.
The problem continues to be, on the one hand, that the administration
has not offered any meaningful explanation of the reasons for firing
the last U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Evans. We all know the reason
why Mr. Evans was terminated. It is because he articulated the fact
that the Armenia genocide occurred. Historically. The U.S. policy has
been to, basically, announce and accept the fact that the tragic events
of the Armenian genocide occurred. But when anyone within the
administration actually calls it genocide, immediately they are seen as
a bad actor, and consequences follow from that.
And Ambassador Evans came to the United States. He was out in
California. He was involved one afternoon or evening in a discussion
about the tragic events that occurred between 1915 and afterwards, and
he used the term “genocide.” It may sound like no big deal to anybody
else, a historical fact that almost every government in the world
recognizes, that the U.S. has historically acknowledged. But the very
fact that he used that term incurred tremendous opposition from the
Turkish Government. And from that day on, his days were numbered as the
ambassador to Armenia, and eventually he was terminated and Mr. Hogland
was nominated in his place.
Now, last session, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered
Mr. Hogland’s nomination. Mr. Hogland failed to adequately respond to
the questions asked by the Senators and, I would add, this is on a
bipartisan basis. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue. This is on
a bipartisan basis. The members of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee asked him a number of questions and Mr. Hogland would not
clarify the U.S. policies denial of the Armenian genocide. In many
instances he did not respond to specific Senators’ questions, and he
diverted his answers by responding with what seemed like prepared
talking points and went to extreme lengths to avoid using the term
“genocide.”
Additionally, in response to a written inquiry from Senator John
Kerry concerning Turkey’s criminal prosecution of journalists for
writing about the Armenian genocide, Mr. Hogland referred to these
writings as allegations.
Now, let me say, the U.S. has historically taken a leadership role in
preventing genocide and human rights. But the Bush administration
continues to play word games by not calling evil by its proper name in
this case. Instead, they refer to the mass killings of 1.5 million
Armenians as tragic events. That term, Mr. Speaker, should not be
substituted for genocide. The two words are simply not synonymous.
There are historical documents that show that the genocide cannot be
refuted. But somehow the Bush administration continues to ignore the
truth in fear of offending the Turkish Government.
Now, again, I don’t think that our Nation’s response to genocide
should be denigrated to a level acceptable to the Turkish Government.
And it is about time that this administration started dictating a
policy for Americans, not for a foreign government like Turkey. This
lack of honesty, in my opinion, by the Bush administration is simply
not acceptable. The American people and this Congress deserve a full
and truthful account of the role of the Turkish Government in denying
the Armenian genocide.
Now, let me just say one more thing before I conclude this afternoon,
Mr. Speaker. There is no way, in my opinion, that Mr. Hogland is going
to be confirmed because of his policy, because of the fact that he
continues to articulate a policy of denial. And I fear, myself, that it
would make no sense to send an ambassador from this country to Armenia
who cannot articulate the genocide. So I simply ask that this
nomination be opposed again in the Senate, and the Bush administration
realize that it can’t submit it, and that they simply withdraw the

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
13 Jan 07 p 3

Who, if not Serzh?

During a New Year reception [held in late December] for journalists,
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharian said the next president of
Armenia will not be the person they think about.

The majority of Armenians – without wishing it – see [Defence
Minister] Serzh Sargsian as the future president of Armenia. However,
it turns out – according to Kocharian’s predictions – he [Sargsian]
is not likely to lead our republic in 2008. Funny as it may sound,
this is one of those rare cases where the domestic opposition shares
Kocharian’s opinion. However, the opposition sees the forthcoming
presidential election in a completely different way. People in the
opposition camp are quite sure that 2008 will be pleasantly different
from the previous presidential elections. "The person that will get
the people’s votes can be the next Armenian president. That [Serzh]
Sargsian does not have that capacity, the people’s trust and the
number of votes, is quite clear. We will do everything to ensure the
elections are fair," Ruzan Khachatrian, a member of the PPA
[opposition People’s Party of Armenia] political council, said
yesterday. Of course, during the previous elections too, Robert
Kocharian did not have the votes and the trust, and the opposition
would regularly say that it would do everything to ensure the
fairness of the elections. What does the opposition camp count on
now? According to Khachatrian, times change; so do perceptions,
people’s patience, the international regional situation and the
demands from outside [from abroad]. The opposition is more
experienced. All the observations indicate that this time it will not
be as it was before.

When we recalled that Galust Sahakian, the chairman of the Republican
Party of Armenia faction in the National Assembly, said the day
before that the pro-government forces should help the opposition to
overcome the five-per-cent barrier to get into the new parliament
during the elections, Khachatrian replied; "I think, Galust Sahakian
needs a great help himself. Even his son [Arman Sahakian, who failed
to win a Yerevan district mayoral election last year] did not get
help from his partners."

People in the [opposition] Republic Party think that recently,
representatives of the authorities make statements that reflect the
mosaic of the discord inside the authorities. "If, for example, Serzh
Sargsian says that the Prosperous Armenia Party is not a party yet,
he means to say ‘nothing can be done against me’. Now, when Kocharian
is trying to convince journalists that only he knows the name of the
next president, the same approach is working – nobody can act against
me," Suren Sureniants, a member of the Republic Party political
council, said yesterday. He believes this faulty mechanism, the logo
of which is "nothing can be done against us", should be broken.

By the way, the Republic Party sees its leader, Aram Sargsian, as the
next president of Armenia. "Personally, my opinion is quite clear. I
think Serzh Sargsian will not be the next president. I will do my
best to ensure that Aram Sargsian becomes the next president as a
result of fair elections," Sureniants said.

National Unity Party leader Artashes Geghamian thinks that Robert
Kocharian has discredited the post of Armenian president so badly
that it should be eliminated. According to him, Armenia’s experience
shows that there can be a country with no president, and that we have
had a country without a president for the last eight years.

What do people think? Who could be the next Armenian president? The
little poll we conducted yesterday in the streets of the capital
revealed this picture.

Arnos Hovhannisian, 66, academician, International Informatization
Academy: Serzh Sargsian and [Foreign Minister] Vardan Oskanian have
real chances. Our people vote for the force. The people will not
elect Geghamian or [People’s Party of Armenia leader] Demirchian. I
would not like [tycoon and Prosperous Armenia Party leader] Gagik
Tsarukian to become president.

Hakob Grigorian, 30, philologist: Serzh Sargsian will be the
president. I feel it with my backbone.

Anush Babajanian, 40, housewife: I think the authorities have not
decided themselves who will be nominated for president.

Liana Muradian, 38, teacher: I would like to see Aram Sargsian as
president but I think the authorities would reproduce themselves this
time too.

Gor Chibukhchian, 43, economist. Serzh Sargsian is the number one
candidate. Oskanian could be a contender. But it is Serzh.

Artavazd Sargsian, 50, musician: I believe that if the opposition
acts in a more organized manner and as a united front this time, the
opposition candidate would win. For example, Artashes Geghamian, Aram
Sargsian or someone else, it is not important.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Economist
January 13, 2007
U.S. Edition

BOOKS & ART

Who to believe?;
New fiction 2

This article contains a table. Please see hard copy.

ELIF SHAFAK is an award-winning novelist who was little known outside
her native Turkey before a brush with the authorities last year over
her sixth novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul".

This is a deftly spun tale of two families – one Armenian-American and
the other Turkish – who are burdened by dark secrets and historical
tragedies rooted in a common Istanbul past. The heroine is Asya
Kazanci, a rebellious teenager born out of wedlock (hence the title)
with a passion for nihilism and Johnny Cash. She shares a crumbling
Ottoman mansion in Istanbul with her mother, three aunts, a
grandmother, a step-great-grandmother and a cat, each one endearingly
eccentric and strong-willed.

Asya’s counterpart is Armanoush Tchakmakchian, an Armenian-American
teenager whose interest in her people’s history is awakened during a
series of late-night exchanges with an online community of fellow
diasporans called Café Constantinopolis. The story comes to a head
when, fired by a desire to explore her past, Armanoush travels
secretly to Istanbul where she stays with the Kazancis and discovers
that, despite their historic differences, Turks and Armenians have
more in common than not.

One issue does separate them, and that is, of course, their differing
beliefs as to what happened between their two peoples in the
confrontation of 1915. As Asya explains in one of the book’s most
compelling passages, Armenians cling to history because "your crusade
for remembrance makes you part of a group where there is a great
feeling of solidarity", whereas "Turks like me cannot be
past-oriented not because I don’t care but because I don’t know
anything about it."

Asya is pointing to the grim realities of an education system that
stifles free thinking and whitewashes history. Few Turkish children
are taught that their Ottoman forebears killed up to 1m Armenians
just after the start of the first world war. Rather, their
schoolbooks state that it was theArmenians who slaughtered the Turks
in far greater numbers than they were slaughtered themselves.

Subtly, yet firmly, Ms Shafak sets the record straight. Armanoush’s
great-grandfather, a poet, is among hundreds of Armenian
intellectuals who were rounded up by Ottoman soldiers on April 24th
1915, in a bid to "get rid of the brains" first. Her grandmother is
an orphan, who survived the "death march" to the Syrian desert.

Incensed by these depictions in a work of fiction, last June a group
of ultra-nationalist Turkish lawyers tried to bring a case against Ms
Shafak, arguing that her book had been manufactured by "imperial
powers" who were bent on dismembering Turkey. Much like Orhan Pamuk,
who also faced charges over comments he made about Armenian-Turkish
history to a Swiss newspaper and who, last November, became the first
Turk to win the Nobel prize for literature, Ms Shafak’s crime was to
have drawn attention to the Armenian genocide.

Setting a bizarre precedent, prosecutors rested their case on the
words of one of the fictional Armenian characters in her book, which
was originally written in English, but which is only now coming out
in America. The offending phrase talked of "genocide survivors, who
lost all their relatives at the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915".
That phrase and other unflattering references to Turkish behaviour
were deemed to have violated the penal code under which insulting
"the Turkish identity" is a criminal offence.

Ms Shafak was eventually acquitted after the court agreed that she
could not be convicted on the basis of comments made by a fictional
character. She remains undaunted by her travails: "When I write, I
don’t calculate the consequences of what I’m writing," she noted
recently. "I just surround myself with the story."

GRAPHIC: The Bastard of Istanbul.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Jan 13 2007

Series of earthquakes jolt Armenia, causing no casualties or damage

12.01.2007, 23.55

YEREVAN, January 12 (Itar-Tass) — A series of powerful earthquakes
occurred in central Armenia on Friday.

The first tremor measuring between five and six points on the Richter
scale was registered at about midday local time (11:00 Moscow time),
an official at the National Seismic Protection Service told
Itar-Tass.

The earthquake epicenter was located 18 kilometers southwest of the
regional center of Gavar (former city of Kamo), not far from Sevan
Lake shore.

The earthquake with a magnitude of 3-4 points occurred in Yerevan and
in some other Armenian cities and towns.

Seismologists registered aftershocks at 12:55 p.m., 03:57 p.m. and
04:24 p.m. local time. Their epicenter was located 19 kilometers
southwest of Gavar.

The quakes were measuring between three and four points. In Gavar,
the tremors measured three points.

There were no immediate reports on casualties or damage.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRANIAN INTELLECTUAL URGES TURKISH AUTHORITIES NOT TO DISTORT ISSUES
OF ARMENIANS AND KURDS

TEHRAN, JANUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A literary event
dedicated to the life and literary activity of the Turkish writer
Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel prize winner, took place on January 10 at the
House of Art Critics in Tehran.

According to the newspaper "Aliq", the event was attended by the
Turkish ambassador who in his speech presented Pamuk as just an author
of literary works.

The British literary critic and reporter Christopher Dobleg spoke
about works of Pumuk and the social life of Istanbul in these works,
noting that even reporters and literary critics say that the reason
for awarding a Nobel prize to Pamuk’s novel is his short essay on
massacres of Armenians and Kurds. He said that it is hardly possible
that the Nobel Prize Committee would award a prize to such a great
writer as Pamuk only for political reasons, thus humiliating itself.

(By the way, at the event’s conclusion Dobleg said, in response to
protests of Armenians present, that he did not aim to offend anybody
and he apologized to these Armenians for his speech being perceived
this way).

Then literary critics Reza Seyed Hoseyi and Naser Zeraati spoke, but,
according to "Aliq", the most remarkale speech was that of Javad
Mojabi, an Iranian writer-intellectual. The speech was read by his
wife due to the writer’s absence.

Criticizing the oppression and persecutions of intellectuals and
writers in Turkey (especially pressure put on Pamuk for exposing dark
historical facts), J. Mojabi said: "In his books, as well as outside
the scope of his literature, Pamuk counteracted the realities of his
society, for which he was accused, brought to court and presented as
an enemy of his country’s interests. The authorities want to cover or
distort a reality, of which everybody is aware, they want to put a lid
on a huge and boiling pan. Orhan Pamuk only told them not to deceive
people so much, to apologize to history and heal the wounds inflicted
to it."

At the conclusion of the event, some episodes of the Nobel prize
awarding ceremony and Pamuk’s speech were demonstrated, while Arsalan
Fasih, translator of his books, read some quotations from the writer’s
speech. An extract from Pamuk’s book "My Name is Red" (translated into
Pershian and to be published soon) was read as well.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 508.8 MILLION DRAMS TO LAND USERS OF
COMMUNITIES AFFLICTED BY DROUGHT

YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. At the January 12 sitting, the
Armenian government made a decision to allocate 508.8 mln drams (about
1.4 mln USD) from the RA government’s reserve fund to the RA Ministry
of Agriculture for providing assistance to land users of the
communities afflicted by drought. The minister of agriculture was
instructed to ensure the purchase and import of cultured plant seeds
to be sown in spring and their distribution to Armenian marzes. The
regional governors were instructed to ensure and control the receipt,
transportation and disctribution of seeds to communities. The
interdepartmental commission, which was created to coordinate measures
on mitigation of the drought consequences, was instructed to conduct
studies in communities to check the transparency and fairness of seed
distribution process.

According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, it was
noted at the sitting that the studies conducted in Armenian marzes
show that out of 123.2 thousand ha of grain and groats sowing areas in
457 communities afflicted by drought, 64.3 thousand ha was damaged as
a result of the drought.

By another decision, in the first quarter of this year, 22 mln 50
thousand drams will be allocated from the RA government’s 2007 reserve
fund to the Shirak regional administration as 10% co-financing by
Armenian communities by the Rural Areas Economic Development Program
implemented with the assistance of the International Fund for
Agriculture Development (IFAD). Out of this sum, 10 mln 210 thousand
drams and 11 mln 840 thousand drams will be allocated to the
Meghrashen and Lusaghbyur villages of Shirak marz for repairs of
intercommunity roads.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESENTATION OF SIX BOOKS PUBLISHED BY INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The presentation of 6 books
published by the International Center for Human Development took place
on January 10. Analyses, results of researches implemented by
experimental groups within the framework of different programs,
reports on works of international conferences organized by the center
are, particularly, summed up in them.

In words of Tevan Poghosian, the ICHD Executive Dorector, the center
also published "short articles each of which touches upon in a serious
critical language a hot problem and proposes an alternative solution
concerning that issue." He mentioned that those books will not be sold
but will be given to all libraries and institutes of higher education.

As for one of the published books, work entitled "Armenian-Turkish
Public Diplomacy Programs: Analysis of Best Experiment," T.Poghosian
mentioned that the ICHD experts attached importance to the objective
reality and causal-consequence ties of phenomena. In his words, all
those methods which can be useful in future initiatives of public
diplomacy were separated with concrete examples.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress