Author: Emil Lazarian

SAMVEL BABAYAN PARTICIPATES BUT HE IS NOT ACTIVE

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 13 2006

The supporters of Jirair Sefilyan, the coordinator of the Civic
Action for Defense of Liberated Territories met with the leader
of the Dashink Party Samvel Babayan. Armen Aghayan, member of the
Civic Action stated this in a news conference on December 13 when the
reporters asked how Samvel Babayan had reacted to Sefilyan’s arrest,
who had close relations with Sefilyans and even gave him a gift gun
when he was the chief of the Defense Army of NKR.

"We have met him, he is aware of the process and he is also involved
in this process, simply he is not active, but it’s normal," Armen
Aghayan says. As far as he can remember, after Sefilyan’s arrest on a
charge of an attempt of a coup, as well as possession of illegal weapon
Samvel Babayan stated that the gun was a gift he had given to Sefilyan.

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

December 13, 2006

Contact: Lerna Kayserian
Tel: (818) 500-1918

ANC Delegation Travels to Sacramento to Congratulate New State Legislators

SACRAMENTO, CA — Friends, activists, and leaders from the Armenian
National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) traveled to
Sacramento to take part in the California State Legislature’s
swearing-in ceremony for new and returning legislators. The December
4th inauguration of the newly elected and re-elected Assembly Members
and State Senators took place at noon in the State Capitol Building.

"The State of California is home to the largest Armenian American
community in the nation," remarked ANCA-WR Community Relations
Director Haig Hovsepian. "For this reason, our regional board
members and local ANC chapters were pleased to welcome many new and
returning legislators in Sacramento. After all, it is these officials,
people like Assembly Member Paul Krekorian, who will carry the hopes
and dreams of our community with them in Sacramento over the next
several years. The ANC is pleased to have strong relationships with a
vast majority of California’s state legislators," Hovsepian added.

The ANC delegation proudly attended a celebratory dinner for Paul
Krekorian on Sunday evening just prior to his swearing-in ceremony the
next day. At the dinner, ANC officials were joined by a broad array of
Krekorian supporters, celebrating the new Assembly Member’s success in
the 2006 election cycle. Krekorian soundly won his race for the 43rd
State Assembly District, which includes Burbank, Glendale as well as
parts of North Hollywood and Silver Lake.

"Paul Krekorian and his wife Tamar have been two of the most
active members of the Burbank ANC for the past several years,"
noted Arbi Ohanian, Chairman of the Burbank ANC. In recounting
Krekorian’s contribution to the local community, Ohanian emphasized,
"I can confidently say that the Burbank City Council’s Genocide
recognition observances and the effort to collect hundreds of donated
Armenian books for the Burbank Library system would not have been as
successful if not for Paul and Tamar."

One of the offices visited by the ANC delegation was that of newly
elected California State Senator, Dr. Leland Yee. Prior to his election
to the State Senate, Yee served as a State Assembly Member in the San
Francisco Bay Area. "Having collaborated with Senator Yee since
the early years of his political career, we feel very proud to have
been able to see him rise to a new level of responsibility and public
service as a Senate Senator," remarked Roxanne Makasdjian, Chair
of the San Francisco Bay Area ANC. Representatives from the ANCA-WR and
the Sacramento ANC were guests at Yee’s celebration dinner.

Following the swearing in ceremony for new legislators, several members
of the ANC delegation met with other elected officials including
Anthony Portantino, newly elected Assembly Member from the 44th
Assembly District, which includes Pasadena and La Canada. They also
visited the offices of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and spoke with Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was in the State Capitol for
the occasion.

"Traveling to Sacramento to welcome new state legislators is a
great experience for ANC leaders, friends and activists," remarked
the ANCA-WR’s Hovsepian. "As our network of grassroots supporters
grows, the ANC grows with them by providing new and more effective ways
to build relationships and educate local, state and federal officials.
Truly, our trip to Sacramento was democracy in action," he added.

The 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

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Armenia

14, Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel: +374 10 56 60 73 + 121
Mob: +374 91 43 63 12
Fax: +374 10 54 38 11
E-mail: [email protected]
URLs:

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Aramazd Ghalamkaryan
E-mail: [email protected]

WHEN COMMUNITIES BECOME FULL PARTNERS: A KINDERGARTEN HEATING SYSTEM
ESTABLISHED IN ABOVYAN, AND BUILDING ENTRANCES RENOVATED IN MASIS

//

13.12.2006

Abovyan and Masis – UNDP Armenia continues its advanced cooperation with
different local communities in Armenia. Today, in the framework of the
UNDP project on Performance Budgeting, two small-scale projects were
completed and presented to the heads of communities and UNDP resident
representative in Armenia.

In Abovyan city, the Municipality has firstly developed a local
community budget based on the performance budgeting model, and secondly,
has co-funded the establishment of a boiler house and heating system in
a local kindergarten.

Ms. Consuelo Vidal met with the mayor of Abovyan at hiss residence and
discussed the results achieved and future prospects for cooperation.

"It is crucial for us to involve the local community in selecting the
city’s priorities, and we thank the municipality for joining efforts
with us in achieving a participatory process in this regard.
Furthermore, we managed to co-finance such an important project. As a
result, the first kindergarten in the city will have heating the whole
year round and women will have opportunity to work, while the kids are
at the kindergarten," – noted Ms. Vidal.

The next project was completed in Masis town – renovation of 43
entrances in six multi-apartment buildings. The mayor of the town and
UNDP representative visited the project sites, spoke to the inhabitants
and congratulated the community on the completion of another
participatory project. In Masis, like in Abovyan, a working group
comprised of representatives of the town chose the project to be carried
out.

As the mayor indicated in his speech, he decided not to interfere with
the work of the group at all, and the group chose even the concrete
buildings to be renovated.

Ms. Vidal emphasized: "The projects that UNDP supports in villages and
urban areas are based on local priorities that citizens themselves come
up with, so I would like to also congratulate you in this regard."

Representatives of the community thanked both UNDP and the municipality
for the fruitful cooperation and expressed their hope that the
partnership will be maintained next year as well.

Performance budgeting is a comparatively new methodology for budget
planning, execution and monitoring that is being introduced in Armenia
both at the local and national levels. The new methodology is more
transparent and allows local population to monitor the way the
taxpayers’ money is spent by the municipality.

Since its inception in 2005, the Performance Budgeting Project has
generated much interest among local self-governance bodies in Armenia.
It assists in the implementation of performance budgeting during
community planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes ensuring
citizens’ participation in the whole process. This is new to not only
Armenia, but also to the region.

* * *

For additional information please visit and/or contact Mr.
Aramazd Ghalamkaryan at [email protected], tel.: +37491 436
312, +37410 566 073 + 121:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

December 14, 2006

ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN ISSUES 2007 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
Archbishop Oshagan issued his annual Christmas message today for the
upcoming celebration of Christmas and Epiphany on January 6, 2007.
In his message entitled "His Father’s House," the Prelate asks the
Faithful to make God’s House their home. "If we are searching for a gift on
the occasion of Christmas, let it be the return to the holiness of family
life and ethical and moral values. That gift is our obedience to God, with
the promise to listen, and especially to promise to implement His
commandments. Thus, we live in God’s house, living His holiness, when we
fill our homes and families with our sacred traditions and our national
heritage. We provide witness to the world to this by the life we live and
when we build God’s universal house, filled with God’s goodness and charity,
where all humankind lives in peace and good will," said the Prelate.
To read the message in Armenian click
geArm.pdf
To read the message in English click

50th ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION OF
ARCHPRIEST FR. MOUSHEGH DER KALOUSTIAN
WILL BE CELEBRATED THIS SUNDAY
This Sunday, December 17, the community will celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the ordination of Archpriest Fr. Moushegh Der Kaloustian. The
event will take place at the Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows, New
York, at 3 pm. In the morning Der Moushegh will celebrate the Divine Liturgy
at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral where he served as the pastor for thirty
years. For more information click

PRELAT E WILL ATTEND "CELEBRATION OF SERVICE"
Archbishop Oshagan will preside over a special event in "celebration of
service," at St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York, Saturday evening,
December 16. The parish is honoring its past chairmen and past members of
the board of trustees.

REV. FR. ARAM STEPANIAN TO SERVE AS CHAPLAIN
Rev. Fr. Aram Stepanian, pastor of St. Asdvadzadzin Church,
Whitinsville, Massachusetts, will be inducted as the chaplain of the
Armenian American Veterans of Milford, Massachusetts, this Sunday, December
17.

PRELATE ATTENDS LUNCHEON HONORING
POLICE AND FIRE FIGHTERS
Yesterday afternoon, Archbishop Oshagan attended a thanksgiving and
Christmas luncheon hosted by St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York, in
honor of the members of the local New York City Police and Fire departments.
The day began with morning services attended by the police and fire
fighters, prior to the luncheon which was attended by the parish’s senior
citizens. This annual event has become a tradition that has brought the
church and local community closer together. Archbishop Oshagan praised the
dedicated work of the police and fire fighters and expressed his prayers for
their safety in the execution of their duties protecting the citizens of New
York City.

OPINION PIECE BY MARK GERAGOS ON
POPE’S VISIT TO TURKEY
The well-known attorney, Mark Geragos, has written an opinion piece
carried by ABC News titled "Pope’s Silence on Armenian Genocide Shameful."
To read the article click
983

EMERGENCY RESTORATIONS COMPLETED ON
ST. THADDEUS CHURCH
According to reports circulated on the Internet, emergency restorations
on St. Thaddeus Church in Iran were recently completed. According to the
report, "Heavy rains had washed away the mortar gluing the stories on the
dome.causing cracks on the dome and its columns, which were restored by
experts during the initial phase of this project." The church’s surrounding
area was reorganized, the northern fortified tower was restored and the
southwestern tower was strengthened. St. Thaddeus Church, also known as Kara
Kilisa (Black Church), is considered to be one of the oldest churches in the
world. St. Thaddeus Church is going to be submitted to UNESCO to be listed
on the organization’s World Heritage Sites. A previous application was
denied because of the lack of documentation and maps. To read the entire
story click

ST. JAMES OF NISIBUS
This Saturday, December 16, is the feast day of St. James (Hagop) of
Nisibis, one of the participants at the first ecumenical council in Niceas
in 325 A.D. St. James was educated in Caesarea and was a first cousin of St.
Gregory the Illuminator. He was the first bishop of Nisibis, a city in Asia
Minor that was a transit point of the caravans traveling between east and
west, and which was an important early Christian center. St. James is one of
the most beloved saints in the Armenian Church. Gregory of Narek dedicated
one of his hymns to him. Although there is not much known about his personal
life, he is believed to be the first person to try to reach the summit of
Mt. Ararat in search of the Ark. A fragment of the Ark, which he found, is
in Holy Etchmiadzin.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
This Sunday, December 17, is the fourth Sunday of Advent. Remember that
advent should be a period of quiet reflection. Certainly it should also be a
time of remembrance of those less fortunate than us. Feed the hungry. Clothe
the homeless. Visit the shut-ins. Recommit and reinforce the Lord’s
commandments. That’s the real Christmas.

FAMINE INDEED!
In this season of giving, we recalled a poster we saw some years ago in
front of a church in Manhattan announcing a forthcoming lecture. We chuckled
over it and wondered if anyone else noted the irony. It read:
"The Reality of Famine"
Feb. 7
Cocktails 7:30
Dinner 8:15

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

December 16-"A Celebration of Service" in honor of past chairmen and board
of trustees members. Under auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan, St.
Sarkis Armenian Church, Douglaston, New York, 8 pm. For information and
reservations 718-224-2275.

December 16-Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, New Jersey, Men’s Club and
Ladies’ Guild Christmas Party and Dinner Dance, 7 pm, $40 per person.
Reservations a must by December 9. Held at Dwight Englewood School, Klein
Campus Dining Hall, Englewood, NJ. For information: 201-943-4056
(Kiledjian); 201-461-4283 (Mirakian).

December 17-50th anniversary celebration of the ordination of Archpriest Fr.
Moushegh Der Kaloustian, sponsored by the Prelacy Religious Council, at
Terrace on the Park, Flushing Meadows, New York. Der Moushegh will celebrate
the Divine Liturgy at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral (221 E. 27th Street, New
York City) on Sunday morning.

December 24-Sunday School Christmas Pageant, St. Gregory the Illuminator
Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

December 31-New Year’s Eve Dinner-Dance, Sts. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield,
New Jersey and ARF Dro Gomideh, Parsippany Hilton, New Jersey. Featuring
Arthur Apkarian and Armenia Band. For full information contact the church
office 201-943-2950.

December 31-New Year’s Eve Party, St. Sarkis Armenian Church, Douglaston,
New York.

December 31-New Year’s Eve Party, St. Gregory Illuminator Armenian Church,
Granite City, Illinois.

January 6-St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
first Episcopal Badarak in Philadelphia by Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian.

January 6-St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York, Christmas party and
special program for Saturday and Sunday school students.

January 28-Annual Membership Meeting, Soorp Khatch Church, Bethesda,
Maryland, at 1 pm.

February 4-St. Sarkis name day, celebrating the patron saint of the church
and requiem service for Archpriest Rev. Fr. Asoghik Kelejian, St. Sarkis
Church, Douglaston, New York.

February 11-General Membership meeting and elections, St. Sarkis Church,
Douglaston, New York.

February 17-St. Gregory Church, North Andover, Massachusetts, Annual
Membership Meeting.

February 18-Poon Paregentan, Eve of Great Lent, International Cuisine Night,
St. Sarkis Church, Douglaston, New York.

Visit our website at

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE AZERI SIDE FAILED THE OSCE MONITORING

ArmRadio.am
13.12.2006 17:42

According to an earlier agreement with the authorities of the parties
December 13 the OSCE Mission was due to carry out planned monitoring
of the contact line of the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and
Azerbaijan in the direction of Fizuli, near Karakhanbeyli settlement.

NKR MFA Press Service told ArmInfo that according to the schedule,
the observation mission accompanied by representatives of NKR
Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs arrived at the site of
monitoring. However, since like the previous times the Azeri side did
not lead the observers to its front positions, for security reasons
members of the OSCE Mission decided to cancel the monitoring.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VAHAN HOVHANNISYAN: RECOGNITION OR NON-RECOGNITION OF THE NKR REFERENDUM OF NO IMPORTANCE

ArmRadio.am
13.12.2006 17:55

"The Constitutional referendum in Nagorno Karabakh refers to
the organization of their domestic life. Different from other
referendums, which were recently held in unrecognized states, this
one is not related to their relations with others. The recognition or
non-recognition of international organizations is of no importance,"
NA Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhannisyan told the journalists.

He informed that they helped organize the visit of Constitution
experts to NKR, "since their monitoring is more important than what
Terry Davis will say."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE READY FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA’S DEMOCRATIZATION

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 12 2006

YEREVAN, December 12. /ARKA/. The OSCE is ready to render further
assistance to the development of democracy and civil society in
Armenia as well as to the implantation of the OSCE’s principles and
values in the country, Head of the OSCE office in Armenia Vladimir
Pryakhin stated at the seminar "Human rights and Armenian reality"
He pointed out that in the 2006 the OSCE has rendered assistance to
the RA Ombudsman and has been involved in reforming the country’s
judicial system and dealing with gender problems in the country.

"Our office is closely cooperating with the Armenian Embassy and with
representatives of civil society," he said.

In this context, Pryakhin stressed that human rights protection is
not the responsibility of an individual government or public structure.

"This requires the entire public’s hard work, which will contribute to
the issue being in the center of the authorities’ constant attention,"
he said.

NATIONALISM AND THE KURDISH QUESTION
By R. D. Gastil

Kurdish Aspect, CO
Dec 12 2006

Iranian Civilization and American Foreign Policy

ml

Nationalism has always been with us. But the modern version
of nationalism grew out of eighteenth century thinking. This
movement led to many of the countries or countries-in-waiting
that exist today. It is characteristic of nationalism that it may
both strengthen and tear apart a polity. Spanish nationalism made
possible the establishment of the present Spanish state, but it has
also led to the increasing threat of the dismemberment of that state
as its subdivisions, beginning with Catalonia, are granted increasing
political power. In Africa, new nations developing nationalisms on the
basis of political subdivisions established by colonial masters, are
threatened by nationalist movements that would further subdivide the
continent. There is no reason for the international community to reject
such movements out of hand. Each must be judged on its own merits,
no matter how difficult "merits" may be to establish in such matters.

In the Iranian region the nationalist ideology produced many of
the regional nationalisms that exist today, including Iranian and
Turkish nationalism. The modern emergence of Turkey and Iran bares
some similarity. Turkey is the remainder of the Ottoman Empire after
the rest of it was whittled away before and during World War I. For
a time, Turkey also represented the only sovereign state left over
after the great Turkish diaspora dating back to well before Genghis
Khan. Recently, new Turkish states have emerged in Central Asia and
the Caucasus after the Soviet collapse. Iran is the renamed successor
to the Persian Empire (with many names) that went through several
advances and retreats after its emergence at the beginning of the
classic period in the West. Its most recent territorial losses were
around Herat and in the Caucasus. Although descended from great
empires, both polities appear to have settled on the modern nation
state as the best alternative for now.

During World War I Turkey embarked on an extreme nationalist policy
that granted nothing to minorities. On the west, the Greeks were
largely driven out of the country. To the east, the Armenians were
driven out and killed in massive numbers in an attempt to create
an ethnically pure Turkey. Fortunately, the Armenians have at last
achieved a truly independent state of their own in the Caucasus after
the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Their attacks on the Armenians
combined with their treatment of their large Kurdish minority, has
been a major stumbling block on Turkey’s road to membership in the
European Union.

Iraq was one of several states carved out of the Ottoman Empire by
the victorious Allies at the end of the War. Before 1920, few people
understood that they were supposed to belong to an Iraq nationality,
although there were several nationalities in the area of Iraq. The
Kurds felt that they had been promised a state of their own, but
the international community and local interests in the end denied
Kurdish claims. The Kurdish people were divided up among Syria,
Turkey (the largest number), Iran (the second largest number),
and the new state of Iraq. Both Turkey and Iran have struggled to
keep their Kurdish subjects down. Eastern Anatolia has been plagued
by a Kurdish insurgency for years. In part, this is a response to a
Turkish state that until recently denied the existence of Kurds. They
labeled them "Mountain Turks". Kurds were not allowed schools or
broadcasts in their own language. The Iranians have been faced with
occasional flareups of Kurdish nationalism. After World War II, the
Russians sponsored a Mahabad Republic among the Kurds until the Shah
and the Americans forced them to abandon the project. More recently,
the Islamist state brutally put down Kurdish revolts. Nevertheless,
in the Kurdish provinces of Iraq regional states and the international
community has come closest to recognizing an entity that has achieved
something very close to independence. One should not romanticize the
Kurds or their achievements. The long term unity of even this small
area and the "democracy" they have achieved are doubtful. Yet it is
certainly true that they have demonstrated far more than most peoples
in such situations that they really would like to manage their own
affairs and may be capable of it.

For more on this, consider a short paper placing Kurdish
self-determination in the context of a more general argument. I
expanded the question of self-determination in my Freedom in the World:
Political Rights and Civil Liberties: 1978, especially pages 180-215.

In spite of vigorous efforts to promote their own rights of
self-determination as absolute, the leaders of Turkey, Iran, and
Syria have sometimes been unwilling to grant these rights to others.

In particular, the leaders appear to fear that if an independent
Kurdish state finally emerges in Iraq, this will encourage
independence movements in their states that they will be unwilling
to abide. However, if these states allow Kurds a reasonable level of
communal self-expression and fairly divide power in such a way that
their Kurds do not feel dispossessed, there should be little danger.

There is now, after all, an independent Azerbaijan next to Iran’s
Azerbaijan, and there seems to be little danger that this will
lead to an insurrection in Tabriz. It would help the reputation of
all three nations were they to see their way clear to welcoming an
Iraqi Kurdistan into the community of nations, should events lead to
this result. The United States and the world community should not
be reluctant to work with them on developing this opportunity in
their midst.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA: THEIR ECONOMIC BACKGROUND AND POSSIBLE POLITICAL IMPACT
Haroutiun Khachatrian

Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, DC
Dec 12 2006

The recent takeover of the Armenian telecom operator, ArmenTel, by the
Russian company Vympelcom, the possible passage of the Iran-Armenian
gas pipeline to a company controlled by Russia, and the possible
accession of Armenian railroads by Russian railroads renewed the
discussion about the role of Russia in the Armenian economy.

Pro-western politicians claim the excessive penetration of Russian
capital into Armenian economy will lead to the country’s dependence
on Russia, which, in turn, may have political consequences. However,
there is no indication that Russian investments in the Armenian
economy pursue goals other than making profit.

BACKGROUND: Russia is the largest source country of investments in the
economy of Armenia, (US$405 million between 1996 and 2005) which is
significant for this small country. As a result, a significant part
of the country’s economic assets are controlled by Russians, both
by the government and state-owned companies, and by private Russian
companies. The bulk of the former group of assets came from the 2002
debt-for-equity swap, whereby Armenia repaid its US$97 million dollar
debt to Russia accumulated during the crisis of 1990s.

The state-controlled Russian companies are especially strong in
the energy and power industry. In particular, more than half of
the electricity-producing capacities of Armenia are controlled by
Interengo, a subsidiary of RAO UES. Among this company’s assets in
Armenia are four blocks of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant (TPP), the
largest power plant in the country, and Armenia’s energy distribution
network. Another Russian state-controlled giant, Gazprom, owns 45%
of Armrosgazprom, Armenian gas network operator (with another 45%
belonging to the Armenian government and 10%, to another Russian-
and Gazprom-associated company, Itera).

Recently Gazprom declared its decision to increase its stake in
Armrosgazprom to 58 percent, by buying a new issue of shares. This
stake will be increased even more when the declared sale of the
fifth block of the Hrazdan TPP to Gazprom is completed. Among
non-governmental Russian companies, Vympelcom is by far the largest
single investor in Armenia, as it took 90 percent of the ArmenTel
shares of its previous owner, Greece OTE for some Euros 482 million
or US$616 million dollars, equivalent to more than 10 percent of
Armenia’s projected GDP this year. Another large private investor
is the Russian aluminum giant Rusal, which owns Armenal, a large
foil-producing factory. Rusal in recent years invested 80 million
dollars to modernize it.

The Russian leadership looks interested in activating this process,
as seen, in particular, from the statement by president Vladimir
Putin, who told his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan on October
30 that he regretted that in recent years Russia "occupied a shameful
third place" among foreign investors in Armenia. Not surprisingly,
in recent years an increasing number of concerns have been expressed
in Armenia about "selling the country to Russians," or about Armenia
"becoming an appendix to Russia," etc. Concerns are expressed that the
penetration of Russian capital may keep Armenia far from approaching
the West, and that Armenia may fall out of the prevailing trend
for the South Caucasus region which is westward. The government,
of course, says this process is beneficial to Armenia. As for the
Armenian population, it is neutral if not positive, given the absence
of significant anti-Russian sentiments among Armenians.

IMPLICATIONS: The facts show that, at least for the time being, Russian
investments in Armenia have had a mostly positive impact with the
goals pursued appearing to be purely economic. Whereas in the 1990s,
there were cases of politically motivated competition among Russian
and western investors for Armenian assets, no such cases are known
to have taken place in the past six years. Moreover, Russian funds
have often been the only available investments in Armenian assets,
with no competitors. This was the case, in particular, with the fifth
block of the Hrazdan TPP, which was founded back in Soviet times but
has remained unfinished as the Armenian government failed to find
interested investors. Under the deal agreed in April 2006, Gazprom
not only pledged to invest US$150 million to finalize this block,
but also promised to keep gas prices stable at US$110 per 1000 cubic
meters for three years to come (meanwhile, most other CIS buyers will
pay twice as much in 2007). The political context of these investments,
if any, is not obvious.

On the one hand, the Russian government does not conceal its
interest in acquiring assets in Armenia, just as Is the case in other
countries. However, the real influence of the political factor in these
deals is mostly overestimated. The ArmenTel deal is good evidence,
as in this case, two out of the four companies participating in the
tender were Russian ones, and reportedly, the Armenian government
would prefer to see MTS, a company close to the Russian government,
as the winner. However, the tender was won by Vympelcom, whose largest
shareholder is Telenor of Norway. In addition, the Armenian government
used the sale as an opportunity to get rid of the ArmenTel monopoly
on many communication services, which strongly hindered development
of the IT and telecom sectors in Armenia.

Finally, it is not obvious that these deals will make Armenia even
more dependent of Russia than it already is. In fact, the opposite
may be true. For example, Armenia has long been dependent on supplies
of Russian gas, and this is, of course, a leverage of political
pressure. However, as Russia has spent money to acquire large energy
consuming assets in Armenia, it would be less inclined to stop gas
supplies to Armenia as that would harm its own economic interests as
well. As for the problem of ownership of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline,
its value seems highly overestimated. This is a 40 km long pipeline
connecting the Iranian-Armenian border with Armenia’s existing gas
distribution network, owned by ArmRosgazprom. It cannot serve as
a transit route due to its small diameter, as Russia reportedly
purposefully prevented the construction of a larger pipeline. Even
if this fragment is given to Russia (in fact, to ArmRosgazprom,
a subsidiary of Gazprom, which works according to Armenian laws),
the valve of this pipeline is controlled by Iran rather than by
Russia. Aside from satisfaction that no Armenia does not transit
Iranian gas, it will not be great enhancement of Russia’s influence
in this sector.

CONCLUSIONS: For the time being and for an foreseeable future, the
large Russian investments look beneficial for the Armenian economy
and have no visible political impact in terms of Armenia’s attitude
to the West. They do not prevent Armenia from continuing advanced
market reforms and establishing closer ties with the USA and the EU,
in particular, through the recently signed Action Plan of Armenia in
the European Neighborhood Policy.

AUTHOR’S BIO: Haroutiun Khachatrian is an analyst on political and
economic issues based in Yerevan, Armenia.

php?articleid=4637

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BREAKING SILENCE, A SHOAH SURVIVOR WRITES IN SPANISH ABOUT HIS MIRACLES
By Larry Luxner

Combined Jewish Philantropies, MA
Dec 13 2006

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 12 (JTA) — On his 68th birthday, Jorge Klainman
decided he could remain silent no more about his Holocaust horrors.

The Polish-born, retired businessman sat at his electric typewriter,
he said, "and suddenly the curtains of my memory began to part,
revealing events that happened 50 or 60 years ago. After that my life
changed completely. I felt liberated."

The result was "El Septimo Milagro," a harrowing Spanish-language
tale of life and death in a series of Nazi concentration camps that
has captivated readers from Buenos Aires to Barcelona.

Translated into English as "The Seventh Miracle" and into Hebrew as
"Nes Ha-Shev’i," Klainman’s first-person account differs from most
other Holocaust memoirs in its extraordinary attention to detail. It
ranges from the 1939 roundup of Jews from his Polish hometown of
Kielce to Klainman’s frightful March 1944 encounter with psychopathic
concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth, the SS officer portrayed
by Ralph Fiennes in Steven Spielberg’s movie "Schindler’s List."

Goeth marked Klainman, then 15, for execution by firing squad.

"My mind refused to comprehend the reality of what was happening,"
Klainman wrote. "The end had come. They were going to shoot me and
burn me. I thought of my loved ones, and that soon I would be joining
them. I reached a state of mind where I just wanted, with all my being,
to get it over with."

But Klainman’s Ukrainian executioners somehow missed their target,
and later that night fellow Jewish prisoners risked their lives to
bring his bleeding body to the camp infirmary. A kindly doctor there
gradually nursed the teenager back to health.

Fate intervened five more times before he was liberated by American
soldiers in 1945, and Klainman was saved from certain death.

In 1947 — with the help of international Jewish organizations —
Klainman set sail from Italy to Rio de Janeiro, caught a plane to
Asuncion, Paraguay, and smuggled himself across the heavily guarded
border into Argentina, where he eventually married and raised a family.

"Six actual miracles occurred and saved my life," according to
Klainman, 78. "The seventh was my being able to write the story."

And now, with anti-Semitism again rising throughout his adopted
country, Klainman told JTA he feels compelled to share that story
with Argentines who may not have yet gotten the message.

"Ten years from now there won’t be any Holocaust survivors left to
transmit the truth to young people," he said in an interview at his
Buenos Aires apartment. "They’ll begin forgetting the Jewish Holocaust
just as they’ve forgotten the Armenian Holocaust. So it’s important
that everybody knows what happened. That way they’ll be able to
understand the terrible struggle of the Israeli people against the
fundamentalist Islamic savages who want to throw us into the sea."

Klainman, a jewelry retailer by profession, lived in Tel Aviv from
1971 to 1990 and again from 1999 to 2004. He is fluent in Polish,
Russian, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Spanish and Italian, and was
recently appointed official representative of the Holocaust Museum
in Buenos Aires.

"I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to explaining the Shoah to
students from all over the country," he said. "Since I’ve moved back
from Israel, thousands of students have heard my testimony."

Klainman says he has "lots of work to do" in explaining the reasons
behind the Holocaust to fellow Argentines, many of whom grew up with
anti-Semitic attitudes encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church and
the thousands of Nazi war criminals who were welcomed by Argentina’s
military dictatorship after World War II.

"I’ve visited many colleges and universities throughout Argentina,
giving speeches for high-school kids," Klainman said. "I even spoke
at a Catholic seminary, and afterwards the kids cursed the Vatican
for ignoring the Jews.

"Usually when I finish speaking after an hour, for three or four
minutes they sit there in silence. Then they surround me, hundreds
of kids, hugging me, crying, asking for my autograph. Once I took a
taxi in Corrientes and the driver recognized me. He took my hand and
kissed it, and told me, ‘God bless you, may you never die.’"

He said the reaction of Argentina’s Christians to his book is much
stronger than the Jews because "the Jews already know this story."

Klainman said he was inspired to write "El Septimo Milagro" after
his son Miguel began asking him troubling questions about his past.

"For 50 years I guarded my silence like a hermit, but then I got tired
of these delinquents denying the Holocaust," he said. "I realized
that by keeping silent, I was becoming an accomplice, collaborating
with them."

It took Klainman four months to write the book. His original draft
version ran 107 pages; only 25 copies of that version were printed.

"When I read what I had written, I realized nobody would believe it
was true," he said. "So we [Klainman and his wife, Teresa] decided
to travel to Poland to look for details. It was very traumatic,
that first time back in Poland, more so for Teresa than for me."

"Jorge didn’t talk about it. I knew very little," said Teresa Klainman,
an Argentina native who had no idea what a concentration camp was
until she met her husband. "I knew he was a survivor, that he had no
family and that he was in camps, but it was a taboo subject. Whenever
I asked, he would tell me a few things, but he wouldn’t want to go
into details, and I didn’t want to upset him, so I learned not to ask."

The Klainmans would return to Poland twice more, most recently as
part of a program to bring Jewish children to Poland to teach them
firsthand about the horrors of the Holocaust.

In October, Jorge and Teresa Klainman came to the United States
for a two-week visit that included lectures at secondary schools,
colleges and Jewish community centers throughout New Jersey. The
trip was organized by Kal Wagenheim, the Millburn, N.J., freelance
journalist and playwright who had translated Klainman’s book from
Spanish to English.

Klainman proudly showed off a thick folder full of letters from a
seventh-grade civics class in Millburn.

"Thank you for the presentation. I found it interesting that you seemed
to keep barely missing death — especially the time you got shot in the
leg near the pit," wrote one student. "Maybe it was fate that allowed
you to live to tell your tale, or maybe it was just luck. Either way
I am grateful that you came all the way from Buenos Aires to present
us with your story."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress