Author: Emil Lazarian

BEAT OFFICIAL SNOOPERS THE EASY WAY – JUST LIE THROUGH YOUR TEETH
by Rod Liddle
Sunday Times (London)
November 5, 2006, Sunday
You are being watched, right now. I don’t mean by your spouse,
either. She, or he, through the complex transactions of love, has
acquired the right to be privy to your most private and repulsive
moments, for which good luck. I mean by shadowy others, people who
will not have your best interests at heart, who will not give you
the benefit of the doubt. By which I don’t mean the neighbours.
We are the most spied on people in the western world, apparently.
According to the watchdog Privacy International, among the few that
suffer worse intrusion in their lives are the Russians and the Chinese
and -one might argue cruelly -they’re used to it.
Three hundred CCTV cameras, on average, were witness to whatever
dark, dubious stuff you were up to yesterday, for example. They
caught that moment you picked your nose in the traffic jam and swore
under your breath at the driver of the BMW who cut you up at the
intersection. Cross your fingers he wasn’t a black bloke.
They noticed you gazing longingly at that young Polish cleaner emerging
from an office block at 7.30am. They got it all down.
According to Richard Thomas, the UK information commissioner, we are
“waking up to a surveillance society”. (Why, incidentally, do we have
a UK information commissioner? What’s the point of that? And when
was the job advertised?) Our authorities -be they the government,
local councils with their weird gizmos in our waste bins to make sure
we’ve put the right stuff in the right bag, the filth, the taxman,
the credit card companies, our employers and our banks have become
drunk on the idea of complete control. The notion that they will
be able to make important judgments about us without our conscious
involvement, without caveat, is hugely agreeable to them. They have
our lives mapped out before them.
As the appalling Howard Kirk had it in Malcolm Bradbury’s The History
Man, privacy is a redundant, bourgeois concept.
The only recourse left is subtle civil disobedience. It’s no use
torching speed cameras because you’ll invariably be caught doing so
by another, better hidden, camera nearby. Far better that we organise
a mass campaign of lying.
The next time you are asked for superfluous, private, information
on some official form, lie through your teeth. When you break your
arm punching a council official and attend the outpatient department
of your local hospital, put down on the ludicrous “nationalities”
form that you’re an Armenian. Unless you’re Armenian – in which case,
swallow your pride and tell them you’re Azerbaijani.
When the census forms arrive, insist you are the worshipper of a new
cult based around David Miliband. Give them the wrong address, tell
them you’re gay, or transgendered, or dead. Tell them you speak only
Swahili or Gaelic. Lie to them all, the banks, building societies,
your employers if they inquire whether or not you smoke, or how fat
you are. Lie always and for ever.
Refuse to shop in malls festooned with CCTV, or wear a Stone Island
hoodie. Undo their machinations with a surfeit of wholly false
information, the more baroque in its imagining the better. Let them
know that there is one private area to which they do not have access,
or domain.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CULTURE – STATE OF DENIAL
Weekend Australian
All-round Country Edition
November 4, 2006 Saturday
A FRENCH law adopted last month that makes it a crime to deny
an Armenian genocide took place in Turkey during World War I has
been criticised by freedom-of-speech supporters in Europe. The law,
which still has to pass the Senate, has also been linked to Turkey’s
application to join the European Union. According to the Financial
Times Deutschland, a report due out next week is expected to give
Turkey low marks for democratic reforms and delay EU accession.
That the law was similar to Turkey’s repression of recognition of
the genocide was not lost on the Turkish media. The daily Hurriyet
headlined its story on the law “Liberte, egalite, stupidite”.
“Wonder of wonders, France, the celebrated land of Liberte, having
such a massive hiccup over its Fraternite with the Armenians as
to be ready to discard one of the cardinal pillars of the French
Revolution,” complained Karamatullah Ghori in the Turkish Daily
News. Even Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, viewed as a traitor by many
Turks for his recognition of the Armenian genocide, pointed out that
“freedom of expression is a French invention. This law is contrary
to this culture of liberty.”
According to Philip Gordon and Omer Taspinar in The New Republic,
the French law was a dangerous step on a slippery slope. “Indeed, the
new French legislation is just the latest illiberal policy in Europe
masquerading as liberalism … Do we really want the Government to
start deciding that some historical views are acceptable but others
merit prison sentences?”
In French weekly Le Point, Bernard-Henri Levy mounted an argument in
favour of the law, saying that “a little dose of political correctness”
was sometimes necessary. He also took issue with the polemic of British
historian Timothy Garton Ash, who wrote in The Guardian that even
Holocaust denial must be allowed in the name of freedom of opinion
and freedom of scientific research.
According to Gwynne Dyer in Arab News the point of the law was never
to get it on the books, as President Jacques Chirac could veto it.
“It was to alienate Turkish public opinion and curry favour with the
half-million French citizens of Armenian descent.” The action would
also “provoke a nationalist backlash in Turkey, further damaging the
country’s already fragile relationship with the EU”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARTAN OSKANIAN RECEIVED IOM REPRESENTATIVE MRS. THOMAS WEISS
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
October 6 RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian received Mrs. Thomas
Weiss, Representative of the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) to Scandinavian, Baltic and EU New Neighbors Policy participant
countries.
During the meeting the parties discussed issues related to the
migration sphere in the light of the high-level dialogue in the UN
in September 2006. Reference was made to the cooperation between the
IOM and the Republic of Armenia on important issues in the migration
field, particularly fighting labor migration and trafficking.
Mrs. Weiss highly assessed Armenia’s cooperation with the UN and
expressed willingness deepen it, particularly in the filed of amendment
of the legislation promoting legalized migration.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY APPEARS TO MISS OUT ON RAPID EU ACCESSION
Workpermit.com, UK
Nov 6 2006
The European Commission will decide this week if it will recommend
a partial suspension of Turkey’s membership negotiations for joining
the European Union. Turkey has failed in several key areas, including
failure to open up its ports to Cyprus and other trade issues.
This, on the heels of a new French law last month that makes it
illegal to deny that the deaths of 600,000 to 2 million Armenians
during 1915 – 1917 is genocide. The law equivocates denial with the
Jewish Holocaust during World War II.
Turkish law allows severe penalties for persons who refer to the
event as “genocide,” or the equivalent, as being subversive of the
government of Turkey.
While this last is a rather dramatic example of differences that must
be resolved, it is by no means the only one.
The controversy is complex, with a number of strong arguments in
favour of Turkish accession as well as a number of equally strong
arguments against.
Economic and trade disputes are more likely to have the final word.
The European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, and Olli Rehn,
Enlargement Commissioner, are considering a recommendation to suspend
three negotiating topics closely linked to the ports dispute.
Other commissioners are urging Brussels to send out a strong message:
that many more parts of the negotiations will be affected if Ankara
does not meet the EU’s demand. Austria wants the Commission to
distinguish Turkey’s case from that of Croatia, the other country
currently in EU membership negotiations.
France, Cyprus, Austria and Greece are all pushing for a tough
line with Turkey, with the UK championing efforts to keep the talks
on course.
“If the issue was just Turkey not opening its ports, that would
be one thing and you could just suspend three chapters,” said an
EU diplomat. “But remember that the Commission will also report on
Wednesday that Turkey is not making progress on reforms. This is a
question of political control of the EU’s enlargement process.”
Turkey’s prime minister appears ready to amend a controversial
article of the Turkish penal code that the Commission says inhibits
free speech. “We are ready for proposals to make article 301 more
concrete if there are problems stemming from it being vague,” he said.
The Commission debate opens the way for a full-blooded EU dispute over
Turkey, which some officials fear could bring the entire negotiations
to a halt.
On Wednesday the Commission will also adopt a strategy paper for future
enlargement, which says that, before any new expansion takes place,
the EU will have to deal with its own institutional arrangements –
which were to have been decided by the ill-fated European constitution.
With the expansion of the European Union to the EU-27 on 01 January
this year, most EU States are ready to take a slower approach,
with a more structured and restrictive attitude toward new potential
accession states. Croatia, Turkey and the Ukraine look like they will
have to meet tougher standards to get a treaty, and then will likely
face more restriction internally from existing member States as the
economic changes begin to settle out.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH SHOP-KEEPER AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
A1+
[07:50 pm] 06 November, 2006
Another attempt of rejecting the Armenian Genocide was made yesterday
in Vercelli, Italy. According to newspaper of “Azdak”, Beirut, the
exhibition of photos by Armin Vegner about the Armenian Genocide was
opened with a delay of 1.5 hours.
A little before the opening of the exhibition a Turkish shop-keeper
who lives in Italy tore away the posters, broke into the exhibition
hall and tore 5-6 photos; moreover, he beat down the Italian woman
working in the hall.
Shortly after that, the police arrested the aggressor.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DEFENSE EXPENDITURE TO RISE IN LINE WITH GDP GROWTH IN ARMENIA
Panorama.am
15:30 06/11/06
Expenditures on defense will make up 3.5% of GDP annually, Serzh
Sargsyan, defense minister of Armenia told reporters today saying this
is an agreement reached with the Armenian government. In his words,
defense expenditures will grow in line with economy.
According to the draft state budget, defense expenditures will surpass
100.4 bln drams with 96.6 bln to military needs, 3.8 bln to other
costs, 26.9 mln on organization of alternative military service.
Sargsyan said 48% of expenditures will be used on salaries. He said
the average salary for officers will be 165,000 drams.
Speaking about increase in military expenditures of Azerbaijan,
Sargsyan said, “Of coarse, you cannot compare $1 bln with $300 million
but much can be accomplished even with that money if used purposefully
and efficiently.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERZH SARGSYAN: GOVERNMENT TO APPROVE 90% SALE OF STOCK OF ARMENTEL
Panorama.am
14:53 06/11/06
The government will approve the deal on 90% sale of stock of ArmenTel
to Vimpelcom (trade mark Biline), Serzh Sargsyan, defense minister
of Armenia who is also co-chair of Russian-Armenian international
economic committee, said. In his words, the government will learn
about the details of the deal and the price for stock.
He also said he sees no danger that the Russian capital is increasing
in Armenia. “There had been no case when Russia would abuse its
economic power,” he said. He said neither Russian nor any foreign
companies imposed pressures on the Armenian economy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Humanist Broadcasting Foundation
Annelies de Korver
p.o. Box 135, 1200 AC HILVERSUM, the Netherlands
tel.: 00 31 35-6722035
email: [email protected]
web:
The Humanist Broadcasting Foundation is happy to tell you that Dorothée
Forma is awarded for her documentary The Story of my Name- an Armenian
History – at the Arpa International Film Festival in Hollywood.
Kind regards,
Cora van Dijk
Humanist Broadcasting Foundation
Tel 00 31 35 672 20 61
AMERICAN FILM AWARD FOR HUMANIST BROADCASTING FOUNDATION
Los Angeles, October 27, 2006
Dorothée Forma is awarded for The Story of my Name- an Armenian History – at
the Arpa International Film Festival in Hollywood.
>From the festival jury rapport:
The AFFMA film award is given to the filmmaker who best represents the
ideals of independent thought, artistic vision, cultural diversity and
social understanding.
This year, the AFFMA award is presented to Dorothée Forma, film producer for
the Humanist Broadcasting Foundation in The Netherlands.
Ms. Forma¹s documentary ³A Wall of Silence² screened at the 2nd Arpa
International Film Festival in 1999. That film paralleled the personal and
professional lives of Turkish historian Taner Akçam and Armenian historian
Vahakn Dadrian and their call for international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.
This year, Arpa honors her for ³The story of My Name², a film documenting
Alex Peltekian¹s discovery of his cultural ancestry and his journey to his
grandfather¹s homeland.
³The Story of my Name² was produced with support of the Dutch Cultural
Broadcasting Fund
More Information:
Annelies de Korver, tel.: 00 31 35-6722035; [email protected]
p.o. Box 135, 1200 AC HILVERSUM, the Netherlands
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VARDAN OSKANIAN COMMENTS ON TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAH GUL’S RECENT REMARKS
Panorama.am
16:44 04/11/06
“We remain amazed that a letter sent by President Kocharian to Prime
Minister Erdogan in April 2005 remains ignored, simply because the
Turkish authorities did not like the response contained therein,
and do not wish to broaden the scope of discussion beyond history.
President Kocharian clearly said to Prime Minister Erdogan that the
“suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects
from addressing the present and the future. In order to engage in
a useful dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive
political environment. It is the responsibility of governments to
develop bilateral relations and we do not have the right to delegate
that responsibility to historians. That is why we have proposed and
propose again that, without pre-conditions, we establish normal
relations between our two countries.” In that context, President
Kocharian said, “an intergovernmental commission can meet to discuss
any and all outstanding issues between our two nations, with the aim
of resolving them and coming to an understanding.”
Foreign Minister Gul’s recent comments to RadioLiberty, insisting that
the existence of flights between Armenia and Turkey, and of Armenian
citizens in Turkey, is evidence that ‘the borders are essentially open’
is disingenuous. First, the number of Armenians from Armenia living and
working in Turkey do not approach the numbers he claims. Second, open
borders assumes direct contacts between peoples, unobstructed relations
across the border and a functioning transport infrastructure. We
stand by our response which we consider to be a positive one and
we wonder whether the Turkish insistence on a historical commission
is genuine. After all, we have in fact agreed to discussions on all
issues, in the context of open borders.
Further, so long as Article 301 which criminalizes mere discussion
of the genocide topic remains on the books in Turkey, an invitation
to open dialogue cannot be taken seriously. Finally, outside Turkey,
scholars – Armenians, Turks and others – have studied these issues
and have reached their own independent conclusions. The most notable
among these is the May 2006 letter to Prime Minister Erdogan by the
International Assn of Genocide Scholars wherein they collectively and
unanimously affirmed the fact of the Genocide and called on the Turkish
government to acknowledge the responsibility of a previous government.
In light of these complex realities, we can only repeat our readiness
to enter into dialogue and normal relations with our neighbor”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS FIGHT GLENDALE OVER GRILL CHILL
Monterey County Herald, CA
San Jose Mercury News, USA
Nov 5 2006
GLENDALE (AP) – Armenians here are skewering the city’s ban on outdoor
restaurant grilling as an offense to the kebab culture, but efforts
to overturn it have stalled in the City Council.
This city is 40 percent Armenian and Armenian-American. The 85,000
Armenian residents comprise the largest such population in the
United States.
Last year, voters elected three Armenians to the five-member City
Council, partly on an agenda to remove the outdoor grilling ban. But
they have been unable to win the four votes needed for passage.
That annoys Armenians who say indoor gas grills simply can’t do
justice to their traditional cuisine.
Vrej Sarkissian says it takes more than salt, pepper, onions and olive
oil to make a decent kabob. He cooks the skewered meat on charcoal
outside his restaurant.
“People can always tell the difference,” said Sarkissian, owner of
Anoush Banquets & Catering. “They want the original flavor of home.”
“It’s what our culture is about,” said his brother, Sacco
Sarkissian. “It’s great, because they’re able to hold onto their
heritage. They haven’t been forced to Americanize.”
The ban may have a chilling effect on the city’s dining, City
Councilman Ara Najarian argued.
“Most Armenians are highly sophisticated, and they demand the best,”
he said. “It’s developed into a gourmet war between these folks. I
once saw a place serve a flaming rack of lamb.”
“I think we all know that burgers on the grill taste better than on
the frying pan,” Najarian said.
Mayor Dave Weaver, who opposes lifting the ban, accused his colleagues
of playing “the race card.”
“We’re portrayed as anti-Armenian, and that’s so far off the mark,”
he said. “We got a lot of complaints saying, ‘Why are you allowing
them to grill outdoors?”‘
“I’m philosophically opposed to commercial grilling outside,” he
said. “If we open the door, then anybody from Bob’s Big Boy to a
barbecue place can do it.”
“Would you like to smell other peoples’ food all day long?”
resident Nancy Campbell asked. “We were all OK stopping smoking in
a lot of public places.”
Vrej Sarkissian said he is considering moving his steel grill indoors
to comply with the law, although he estimates it will cost him about
$80,000.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to keep the flavor going,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress