Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT FORBIDS SALE OF GOODS MARKED WITH EXCISE STAMPS DATED “2004”
Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the RA Law on Excise Tax,
the Armenian government made a decision at its sitting on August
10 to put in circulation excise stamps “Tobacco” and “Alcoholic
Drinks” dated “2007” for marking the tobacco products and alcoholic
drinks imported into Armenia. NT was informed about it from the RA
Government Information and PR Department. It was decided that in
case of availability of excise stamps dated “2006”, the importers of
cigarettes and alcoholic drinks may be also given excise stamps dated
“2006”. The decision applies to relations that will arise starting
from August 15.
Making additions to the RA government’s decision No. 662 of October 26,
1999, on marking some goods, which are produced in Armenia or imported
into Armenia and are subject to excise taxation, with excise stamps of
new type, the government in particular approved the re-marking order
of the importers’ remaining stock of goods marked with excise stamps
dated “2004”. Another addition stipulates that starting October 1,
2006, the sale of goods imported into Armenia and marked with excise
stamps dated “2004” is forbidden. It was also decided to approve the
order of writing off and desposing of unused or damaged excise stamps
dated “2004” until September 1, 2006, and to ensure the implementation
of this work.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO REPRESENTS THE SOCIETY
Lragir.am
10 Aug 06
There are four main sectors in the public and political life, which
represent the interests of the society: government, opposition, the
media and NGOs. Aghasi Yenokyan, political scientist, says two of these
sectors, namely the government and opposition are not legitimate. The
media and NGOs remain. “However, we can see that the media are weak for
one reason or another, or mostly serve different government groups, and
the NGOs simply avoid fulfilling these functions,” said the political
scientist in an interview with the Lragir. He says it means that the
public opinion is not represented anywhere in Armenia. Aghasi Yenokyan
mentioned that the consequence is that it is becoming impossible to
conduct a policy, which is in public interests, because “this opinion
is not expressed in any way”. The political scientist thinks this is
the reason why the public is indifferent towards politics, and “the
sphere of public opinion is left to a small group which represents
the government, the opposition, the media and the NGOs”, becoming an
“underlying” factor of stagnation in Armenia.
Mr. Yenokyan, what is the role of NGOs in the ongoing process in
Armenia, and do they fulfill their role?
Aghasi Yenokyan: The roles of NGOs in countries with developed
democracy and in countries with developing democracy are different.
In developed democracies, NGOs usually assume pursuing the interests
of the sectors, where either it is not expedient for the government
to pursue interests or simply the government is unable to solve
these problems. In developing democracies, the goal is different. In
countries with developing democracy, the goal of NGOs is to promote
democracy. What is the problem? The problem is that NGOs, in fact,
pursue the interests of vulnerable groups, whereas in non-democratic
countries the entire society is vulnerable. In the countries where
the government does not represent the public, at least the NGOs should
represent the public.
Do the NGOs in Armenia represent the public, the interests of the
public?
Aghasi Yenokyan: The NGOs of Armenia are rather serious, certain
NGOs get rather serious funding to solve certain problems, implement
projects. Today, however, I can see that the activity of these
organizations in Armenia is not leading to what we anticipate.
Why, what is the reason that the NGOs work but fail to live up to
the expectations?
Aghasi Yenokyan: Perhaps, the problem is that NGOs are rather
conformists. The NGOs try not to become politicized because
politicization may be a setback for their mandate, in other words,
their type for which they get the grants. This is one reason, the
reluctance to become politicized. The second reason is that NGOs
mostly seek for foreign funding.
There is no local funding. In other words, the local rich people
do not think there are problems in the society and there is point
in turning to NGOs to solve these problems. Even if there is local
funding, budget funding or almost budget funding, it is mainly meant
to create an imitation of NGOs, purely governmental ones, and it may
sound funny, to fund governmental non-governmental organizations. We
can even see that there are NGOs under almost all the government
agencies, whose purpose is to compete with more or less active NGOs
for funding, and get foreign grants, and when necessity arises,
and the government needs to present the public sector, these NGOs
are presented. In other words, we can say that the NGOs are busy
with their problems, which basically differ from the problems of the
society. In other words, the function of NGOs to assume the role of
a legitimate representative of the society is not fulfilled.
And what should be done to fulfill this function?
Aghasi Yenokyan: I think that we have slightly different expectations
from NGOs. We expect NGOs to be politically active, whereas it is not
a function of NGOs, or at least it is not one of the functions the
NGOs assign themselves to. So, the first aspect is that it is wrong
to expect much from NGOs. The second is that efforts should be made
to politicize NGOs slightly. I can present cases when the NGOs did a
good job, they did little work which, however, broke the ice. I can
underline the work of NGOs after the events of April 2004. In other
words, on the one hand, we must not demand much from NGOs, and on
the other hand, we must try to politicize them, because you know the
society in Armenia is politicized. There is no middle in the society,
there is white and there is black. If the NGOs try to become middle,
this middle becomes their job, which is not needed by either the
white or the black. They are needed by themselves only.
And if the NGO represents the public interest, will it get more
funding from the international donor? Or do we deal with the NGO
– international donor – government triangle, which works on an
arrangement?
Aghasi Yenokyan: You know I wouldn’t like to dwell on these grant
mechanisms. Of course, they will not give them more money, because
these funds are limited. If the NGO operates normally, they will
give the money, if not, they will not give anything. There is no more
or less. On the other hand, the NGOs get grants for problems, which
are set outside, and do not always correspond to the key issues of
Armenia. Hence, on the one hand, they encourage these organizations
in an attempt to turn them into factors in the public life, but the
public life is political life now, and they do not become a factor
in the political life. In other words, hence they fail to fulfill
their function and represent the interests of the entire society.
So, it appears that the sector of NGOs in Armenia mainly serves to
distract the attention of the public.
Aghasi Yenokyan: I would not like to say that this approach of
theirs was predetermined. The reality is, however, that the NGOs
are fulfilling such a role. We may assert this by combining a series
of conditions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CARRIES OUT ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN NK
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006
Armenian National Academy of Science Archeology Institute announced
the results of the archeological excavations carried out in occupied
Azerbaijani region of Agdam.
The Institute director Aram Kalantaryan said during the excavations
in the region, the remnants of ancient city established by “Armenian
tsar Tigran Mech” were discovered.
The Institute continues carrying out archeological excavations in
Azerbaijani occupied region at the initiative of Yerkir Patriotic
Union of Public Organizations.
According to Armenian sources, the remnants of ancient city discovered
in Agdam are dated to the 1st century, B.C. Armenian media is
largely commenting on the results of these excavations. Basing on the
discovery of “Armenian city”, the media called for Defense Minister
Serj Sarkisyan to apologize to the people for his saying Aghdam is
not an Armenian territory.
“The border of the home country lies till where we can protect our
lands. As concerns Agdam, I can reiterate that it is not part of our
country,” Sarkisyan said.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Center head Matin Mirza commenting
on Armenian archeological excavations in Azerbaijani lands, said
Azerbaijani historians always presented neat arguments against false
claims of Armenian “historians”.
Mirza said the fact of Armenians’ illegal archeological excavations
in occupied Azerbaijani regions was submitted to international
organizations and embassies, APA reports.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DASHNAKS OPPOSED TO ARMENIAN ANTHEM CHANGE
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Gayane Danielian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug. 10, 2006
A senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) voiced on Thursday strong opposition to government
plans to change Armenia’s current national anthem which was first
adopted by the nationalist party when it ruled the country in
1918-1920.
The “Mer Hayrenik” (Our Fatherland) song had an official status until
the short-lived first independent Armenian republic was incorporated
into Soviet Russia. It was for decades banned by the Soviet authorities
before being reinstated by Armenia’s first post-Communist government
in 1990.
Many Armenian music composers and artists disapproved of the move,
saying that the song’s uncomplicated theme is too simple for an anthem
and calling for the adoption of a more solemn tune. The Armenian
government heeded their concerns early this year, setting up an hoc
commission tasked with suggesting alternative anthems.
The 22-strong commission, which consists of prominent intellectuals,
artists and government officials, short-listed on Wednesday five out
of 85 songs submitted by local composers. The short-list includes
Soviet Armenia’s former anthem with changed lyrics that no longer
glorify Soviet rule and the Communist Party.
The head of the commission, Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosian, said
the contest will finish later this year. “It is very difficult to
make the right choice,” she said. “But we must pick the best one.”
The song that will be chosen by the commission is expected to be
submitted by the government to the National Assembly for approval.
Gegham Manukian, a parliament deputy from Dashnaktsutyun, said the
party, which is represented in the government, will likely draft a
separate bill that would uphold the status of “Mer Hayrenik.” “We
hope it will pass,” he told RFE/RL. “Since there are no or almost no
music composers in parliament, the vote will be more impartial.”
Manukian also dismissed the commission’s significance, saying that
the Armenian authorities have not yet made a final decision on the
anthem. “The ultimate decision will be a political one,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘ETCHED IN OUR MEMORIES’
Robert Leiter
Jewish Exponent, PA
Aug. 10, 2006
A barracks at the Buchenwald concentration camp after liberation The
first edition of Photos That Changed the World appeared in 2000, one
of various volumes put out by the great art and photography publisher
Prestel to commemorate both the accomplishments and tragedies of
the 20th century, in this instance as they were captured in still
photography. There’s a new edition of the work out this year, and
the only difference between the two is that the newer one contains
four additional images that bring the volume squarely into the
21st century. The inclusion of these four pictures makes perfect
sense, though they depict some of the most devastating occurrences
of the last several years: the attack on the World Trade Center;
the genocide in Darfur, Sudan; the tsunami in the Indian Ocean; and
Hurricane Katrina’s ravenous effect on New Orleans. Not pretty sights,
but definitely powerful and in need of inclusion in such a book.
Perhaps the most famous Holocaust image, taken in the Warsaw
ghetto In all other ways, the work is the same as its predecessor,
and is presented with the same intent. Once again, Peter Stepan,
the editor, notes in his brief foreword that many photographs exist
that we appreciate for their composition and taste — and then there
are those photos that disturb us “so deeply that they are etched in
our memories forever.” The book he has given us, especially with its
additional images, is definitely about these latter kinds of pictures,
generally known as photojournalism, which tend, if successful, to
rock the foundations of our being.
The editor then takes his point one step further: Many of the images
that have been gathered here not only moved those who saw them but they
also managed to set social action into motion, helping to transform
society in positive ways. He cites as examples Lewis W. Hine’s photos
depicting the abuses of child labor in early 20th-century America
that compelled Congress to enact stringent laws protecting the young;
and the photos taken by the Farm Security Administration, especially
in the Midwest and South, that exposed the pervasiveness of poverty
in these regions during the Great Depression.
Eventual victims of the notorious S21 prison in Cambodia, run by Pol
Pot’s regime
“Similarly,” Stepan continues, “Robert Capa’s photograph of a dying
Spanish soldier, photographs of massacres in Vietnam and China,
images of starvation in Biafra — to mention but a few — mobilized
public opinion.”
But he’s also had to admit that some photographs, despite the fact
that they’re as equally powerful as those he’s listed, made no such
impact, though they clearly had the potential to do so. He points to
horrific photos taken of the genocides in Armenia and Tibet.
“Perpetrated ‘on the quiet’ in obscure corners of the world,” he adds,
“these crimes are in danger of being forgotten.”
Neither Jewish images nor Jewish photographers predominate in Photos
That Changed the World — though the book contains examples of both
— but the Holocaust and its aftermath, to say nothing of subsequent
genocides, are pervasive. And, considering this subject alone, you
could argue that images have done nothing to eradicate the problem,
though they may have stirred public opinion and mobilized people to
protest in favor of action.
But taking the long historical view, the exposure of the Holocaust
and its horrors has not put an end to genocide, as we know from
more recent examples of the crime in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and,
as this new edition reminds us, in Darfur.
A Hutu bearing scars of Tutsi violence inflicted during the Rwandan
genocide
Nor has exposure of hate crimes through images ended anti-Semitism
or any other form of bias against specific groups. Many writers
suggested at the end of World War II that exposure to the most famous
images from the camps — the rotting piles of corpses, the stick-thin
survivors staring back at the camera as if from some netherworld —
might finally convince people that those who’d always hated Jews
meant what they said and were willing, given the proper conditions,
to act upon their feelings.
Still, it seems that no amount of images — no matter how stark or
awful in their particulars — can eradicate the ancient hatreds or
stop the crimes that generally follow along from them. For example,
have the photos of the aftermath of suicide bombings in Israel helped
to erase even a trace of anti-Semitism? I think it’s the opposite.
They may even encourage more blood lust against Jews.
But using the history of the last 15 years as a guide, photos, even the
harshest or most artful, may whip hatred into a greater frenzy than
ever before — and, in a corollary development, may perhaps dull the
senses of some so completely that indifference grows, permitting the
bold ones to perpetrate the crimes without interference from their
more pacified fellow citizens.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STATEMENT BY KAREGIN II CAUSES SPLIT IN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF TURKEY
Author: A.Alasgarov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006
The statement by Karegin II, which was made in Turkey on 27 June 2006,
has led to split in Armenian community of this country. He sated
that ‘the genocide has been committed and it should be recognized’,
Trendspecial in Ankara reports.
Along with support to the statement, some Armenians in Turkey said
that as a religious leader Karegin II was to express his views on
historic event in a peaceable way in a host country.
The Armenian-language papers published in Turkey, Agos and Zhamanak
accused the religious leader of the Turkish Armenia, Mesrop Mutafian,
of not impeding the conduct of a conduct a news conference by
Karegin II.
In reply to critical notes Mustafian banned the around 30 Armenian
societies, churches, hospitals, schools functioning in Turkey, to
sponsor, finance and place ads in these newspapers.
The conflict between the leaders of the Armenian church of Istanbul
and publishers of Agos and Zhamanak newspapers are accompanies by
insults in the local media.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GLENDALE’S ABRIL BOOKSTORE AN OUTPOST OF ARMENIAN CULTURE
By James Ricci, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, CA
Aug. 10, 2006
Abril Books in Glendale is a touchstone for immigrants and their
Americanized offspring.
Thirty years ago, with his native Lebanon going up in the flames of
civil war, Harout Yeretzian, a Lebanese Armenian, came to Hollywood
and joined his brother in founding a magazine devoted to the Armenian
language and culture.
One thing led to another. The magazine spawned a print shop, which
spawned a bookstore, which spawned a small publishing house.
Three decades later, the brother is gone. So are the magazine and
the print shop. Yeretzian’s dedication to his people’s literature,
art and music, however, remains, domiciled now in a cottage-like
brick building near Glendale City Hall.
Abril Books, which claims to be the largest of the half-dozen
Armenian-language bookstores in the United States, is light-filled,
as befits a place of cultural illumination. Open doors, front and back,
send air currents eddying among shelves and stacks of Armenian-themed
books, including the handful that Abril publishes each year, as well
as periodicals, greeting cards and music CDs.
Unseen loudspeakers lightly bathe everything in classical cello music.
The 62-year-old Yeretzian is a small bear of a man with a bristling
mustache and wavy, gray, sweptback hair. His voice is deep and abraded
by a daily succession of Marlboro Lights.
His mission is to help his fellow Armenians maintain their ancient
identity. It’s not an easy matter for a people that, in the 1st
century B.C., ruled an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to
the Caspian Sea but since has been scattered by economic privation
and persecution to the far reaches of the Earth. With only a tiny,
recently independent, Armenian state to serve as a point of contact
for ethnic sensibility, Yeretzian says, literature, art and religion
have had to play central roles in sustaining a sense of cohesiveness
among the world’s Armenian communities.
He cites, as an example, author Krikor Beledian, whom Abril Books
publishes. “This guy lives in Paris and teaches at the Sorbonne. He
writes in Armenian about Lebanon, and I’m here in L.A., and I publish
his books,” Yeretzian says.
Abril – in Armenian the word means both “April” and “hope” – contains
about 5,000 titles, among them histories, novels, volumes of poetry
and treatises on Armenian art and music. The books include works in
Eastern Armenian, the language of Armenia proper, and Western Armenian,
the language of Armenians who hail from more westerly parts of the
Middle East, such as Lebanon and Syria. The differences between them,
Yeretzian says, are significant, including variations in word suffixes
and verb conjugation.
The challenge of multiple languages, however, is not insurmountable
for a small ethnic group that has had to live for so long in foreign
lands. As a boy in Lebanon, he says, he had to learn Armenian, Arabic,
English and French.
“It’s not really hard to learn languages,” he says, with something
like incomprehension at the American aversion to the task. “But here,
the American people don’t even learn English very well.”
Preserving the Armenian language among young Armenian Americans is
becoming a bit of a problem, however. Yeretzian says that at his
original store, off Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, 80% of the
books he carried were in Armenian and 20% in English. In his present
store, which opened in 1998, Armenian-language books constitute only
about half of his stock. The other half is by Americans of Armenian
descent – such as Peter Balakian, author of “Burning Tigris: The
Armenian Genocide and America’s Response” – who write in English.
(Yeretzian notes that nearly half of the books in English refer to
the massacres of Armenians by Turkish authorities from 1915 to 1923,
while barely a quarter of the Armenian-language books deal with the
subject. Both of Yeretzian’s grandfathers died in the executions and
forced starvations, which took the lives, it is estimated, of 800,000
to 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children.)
Abril sold books to the Los Angeles Unified School District when
instruction for newly arrived immigrant children was conducted in
Armenian. Those sales ended, a significant blow to Abril’s business,
in 1998 with the passage of Proposition 227, which virtually banned
bilingual education in California.
As with other ethnic groups, assimilation of the young into American
culture is a concern to many older Armenians. The experience of
Yeretzian’s own son Arno, a 30-year-old filmmaker, is a case in point.
Arno, the only child of Yeretzian and his artist/gallery owner wife,
Seeroon, attended Armenian private schools through high school. All
of his friends were Armenian. Then he enrolled at UC Santa Cruz and,
as one of the relatively few Armenian Americans there, befriended
students of different ethnic backgrounds.
“The clash with American culture was very strong,” Yeretzian says.
“Now he says we should have exposed him to more American culture when
he was a kid. Most of his friends are Americans now.” Yeretzian has
faith, however, that the strength of Armenian families will keep the
Armenian sensibility intact among the next generation.
“A lot of people who are engaged to marry Armenians, or already
have, come in and ask for books on the Armenian tradition and
language. So, the assimilation goes both ways,” he says with a
grin. “If a non-Armenian girl marries an Armenian, she has to learn
some Armenian words just to be taken into consideration as a human
being by his family.”
That the bookstore is a sanctuary of Armenian identity is apparent
in the motivations of those who visit.
Narine Gabouchian of Glendale came into the shop one morning and
before long was carrying an armload of books, in Armenian and English,
as gifts for her daughter Margaret’s 16th birthday. Margaret came
with her family from Armenia when she was a toddler, and her parents
strove to teach her to read and speak Armenian.
Now a student at a private school in Pasadena, Margaret “knows she’s
Armenian and is very proud of it,” her mother said. “She would like
to know more about her motherland.”
Later that day, Avetis Bairamian, a sportswriter for the Armenian
language weekly Nor Or, dropped in on Yeretzian to exchange
pleasantries and discuss Bairamian’s self-published book, whose title
translates as “Famous Armenians in the World of Sports.”
It contains the exploits of competitors of Armenian heritage,
including tennis star Andre Agassi, chess champion Garry Kasparov
and a succession of champions in weightlifting, a sport in which
Armenians have long excelled.
Bairamian proudly noted that at the 37th Chess Olympiad this spring
in Turin, Italy, the Armenian team won the gold medal. (China won
silver, and the United States, whose squad included 23-year-old
Varuzhan Akobian of Los Angeles, bronze.)
Ruzanne Barsegyan of Tujunga, meanwhile, was scanning the CD
shelves for a copy of the “Sonatina Toccata” by Aram Khachaturian,
the most famous Armenian composer of the 20th century. Barsegyan,
18, an animated recent high school graduate headed for premedical
studies at UC Irvine in the fall, is also a pianist.
Her conservatory-trained Armenian piano teacher wanted her to begin
learning the Khachaturian piece for a recital, she explained with a
mixture of excitement and dread.
“It’s very structured, and you have to find the rhythm and the rhythm
is hard to find,” she told Yeretzian. “It’s very difficult, very,
very …. ”
“Strong?” he offered.
“Yes. Strong.”
Yeretzian shrugged knowingly. “It’s Armenian,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANTI-CRIMINAL MOVEMENT GIVES A CHANCE TO THE CRIMINAL
Lragir.am
11 Aug 06
We have learned that the anti-criminal movement in Armenia is going
to have new expressions. The initiators of the movement are going to
set up a task force, which will study the data gathered by the task
forces of the movement, and will make its decision for every “prodigal
son”. In other words, some representatives of the criminal may get a
chance of pardon of the public. Hence, it will be rather useful for
the criminal to cooperate with the anti-criminal pact if it hands in
the pages of its own biography honestly. Unlike the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the pact provides for the mechanism of individual repentance,
as well as privacy of the confession. By the way, some members of the
Republican Party wished to join the task force, who are dissatisfied
with the developments inside and around the political party.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA-DIASPORA FORUM ENRICHES ONES AND IMPOVERISHES OTHERS
Lragir.am
11 Aug 06
The Lragir.am has learned that a group of Armenian Dashnaks from
Greece wanted to arrive in Armenia in September and take part in
the third Armenia-Diaspora Forum, however they encountered the real
nature of the Armenia-Diaspora relation long before arriving in
Yerevan. After reserving air tickets, the group of Greek Armenians
decided to reserve rooms in a hotel in Yerevan. All the hotels in
Yerevan told them that there were no vacant rooms. Certain people from
the organizational committee of the Armenia-Diaspora Forum offered
the group of Diasporan Armenians to stay at hotels near the capital
and informed them that they would have to pay as much as 5000 U.S. for
ten days, food not included. The group of Dashnak patriots, including
mainly elderly Diasporans, thought that a “5000 dollar worth forum”
is too expensive and gave up the idea of arriving in Armenia at all,
returning the air tickets they had reserved.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘GODFATHER OF ALL ARMENIANS’ GUNNED DOWN
By Hovannes Shoghikian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Aug. 10, 2006
Law-enforcement authorities were hunting on Wednesday for unknown
gunmen that shot and killed a controversial businessman who referred
to himself as the “godfather of all Armenians” and reportedly had
underworld connections.
Aleksandr Givoev, 53, was gunned down on Tuesday at a roadside market
on a major highway where he reportedly stopped to buy fruit while
driving his family to the northern city of Gyumri. An innocent woman
who sold agricultural produce there was also killed by a stray bullet
fired from what police described as a stolen car used by the gunmen.
A spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office said the car was
found completely burned about 10 kilometers from the scene shortly
after the shooting. She said law-enforcement officials immediately
launched a criminal investigation but have made no arrests yet.
A father of seven, Givoev was officially known in recent years as the
head of a non-governmental organization campaigning for the protection
of children’s rights. He claimed to have helped to baptize more than
8,000 children from socially vulnerable families since the group’s
creation in 2000.
Givoev, notorious for his flamboyant behavior and statements,
unsuccessfully ran for parliament in the May 2003 elections. A
campaign booklet released in the run-up to the vote carried pictures
of Givoev surrounded by children. Curiously, he was also pictured,
apparently in Paris, with Jean-Paul Belmondo, a famous French movie
star. The booklet claimed that “the people” have bestowed on Givoev,
an ethnic Assyrian, the title of Godfather of All Armenians.
Givoev spent much of the past three decades in Russia, developing
a controversial reputation there. In 2001, the Armenian newspaper
“Iravunk” reprinted a Russian press report that listed him among
Russia’s leading crime figures of Caucasian descent. The businessman
reacted furiously to the information, urging President Robert Kocharian
to close the paper.
Givoev was last spotted by journalists in early May as he tried
to board a plane at Yerevan airport that carried relatives of the
Armenian Airbus A-320, which crashed off the Russian Black Sea cost,
to the site of the disaster. He said one of the crash victims, also
a reputed crime figure, was a close friend of his.
In addition, Givoev, who also sponsored the Armenian women’s
weightlifting team, was seen wearing an army general’s uniform during
the April 24 commemoration in Yerevan of the 91st anniversary of
the 1915 Armenian genocide. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman
Seyran Shahsuvarian insisted on Wednesday that he has never served
in Armenia’s military, police or any other security structure.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress