Author: Emil Lazarian

OSCE supports Armenia’s efforts to fight money laundering and terrorism financing
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

May 6 2005
YEREVAN, 5 May 2005 – The establishment of a financial intelligence
unit to help fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism
was the focus of a conference organized by the OSCE in Yerevan today.
Representatives of the National Assembly, the Government, the
President’s Office and the Central Bank, as well as international
organizations and NGOs, discussed international standards and good
practices existing in the field and the work of the national Financial
Monitoring Unit, established within the Central Bank of Armenia under
a recent law.
“The OSCE stands ready to further support the Armenian Government
in implementation of the recently adopted legislation in line with
international standards in order to fight money laundering and the
financing of terrorism,” said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of
the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Armenian Central Bank, added: “Money
laundering is a crime that hinders the country’s economic development
and negatively influences the investment climate. Armenia is prepared
to strengthen mechanisms to fight it.”
The conference follows a series of workshops organized with the support
of the OSCE in 2003 and 2004. They offered recommendations that were
used in adopting laws and amendments to provide a legal framework to
effectively fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The participants also discussed the need for better information
exchange and the role of international organizations, including the
OSCE, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Egmont Group
of financial intelligence units.
The event was jointly organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and
the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental
Activities, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Armenian
General Prosecutor’s Office and the Central Bank of Armenia.
At the Maastricht Ministerial Council in December 2003 OSCE
participating States once again underscored that money laundering is
a threat to security and reaffirmed their commitment to combat it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
May 6 2005
Getting Acquainted with an Armenian…
NIHAL B. KARACA
05.06.2005 Friday – ISTANBUL 17:51
Debates on the Armenian issue have now been attached to the show of a
Swiss attorney, who sued Yusuf Halacoglu, because he said there was
no genocide. This incident has such a nauseating effect similar to
spooning a soup of flies, even for those who really want to question
history. We can’t see the soup because of the flies.
However, it depends on how well the Armenians and Turks share this
soup in order to solve their problems. Whether it tastes good or bad;
this should be “our” problem, “our” meaning the Armenians and Turks.
The issue now rests on whether we did it or didn’t do it; however,
reading history is largely a political activity. Even opening the
archives is important from a “political” stance; otherwise, while one
of two historians looking at the same document would say that the
document does not prove the existence of genocide, the other might
see evidence of genocide in it. I do not also think that there is an
ontological difference between historians defending the official
perspective and the “independent” historians. As a matter of fact,
how can an “independent” category exist? No one, whose perception of
an event is matured enough, one way or the other, is independent
enough. Such a sinister history can only be objectively read by a
“robot” and this is not possible. While history is such a notion
intermingled with reading thorough an idea, how come asserting an
idea becomes a crime? Really, I would like to ask what kind of a
Europe we are trying to accede to: Expressing a negative opinion
about homosexuality causes a scandal, bringing some “excessivenesses”
of colored people to the agenda is a taboo, uttering a word about the
number of people killed in Auschwitz is a reason for excommunication,
saying “we did not commit genocide” is a crime. If the scope of the
freedom of thought and freedom of opinion is not limited to a space
as narrow as diet lists or the dentist rates, then what a
contradiction to label a nation’s “opinion” about itself, whether
right or wrong, as a crime!
Those, who act “as if nothing happened” from the Turkish side and
defend the state’s official theses as a priori truths, need to be
addressed as well. Even reminding those, who believe that the state
can kill people only if it is facing hardship, of the executions by
the Independence Courts, events that occurred in our recent history,
would be enough, I suppose. The cost of creating a “Turkish nation,”
deadlocked on the same goal, affected a lot of “Turkish” “medresa
hodjas” (religious scholars), who were hanged because they did not
wear modern “hats”. All the defense indicating that all that was done
was “necessary,” might perhaps be used for what was done to the
Armenians. The system always exceeds its bounds to protect itself.
The history of today’s noble nations is full of such “massacres.”
Everyone knows what Catholics did to Protestants in France and the
French Catholics have not apologized to Protestants yet. Similarly,
Europeans have not apologized to local Mexicans and Indians in the
name of what their grandfathers did. This list can go on and on.
The issue is deadlocked over the margin the world attributes to a
mentality, on which it stands, that “power belongs to its holder.” If
you are a powerful country, it is in fact easy for you to produce
fascism and present yourself as something other than what you are. If
you are a weak society with an “identity problem”- we are sorry -,
you should have been a “collector” soul, become as obsessive as
noting how many times you have been beaten since the Treaty of
Karlofca (26th January 1699), make them memorized by pre-school
children, organize campaigns for each separately and include your
name into “Rules of Hatred.” Thank God; however, Turkey has a
consciousness of existence condemned to losing a race by deducing
prestige from unjust treatment. The same Turkey; however, is
unfortunately a country, whose relations with history is atrophied
and has become a victim of a pre-republican “amnesia.” Many people
are hearing about the Teskilat-i Mahsusa (the Ottoman secret service)
because of the Armenain issue today.
It appears as if Turkey and Armenia can only surmount this problem
only making “politics.” The way to stop the Armenian issue from
becoming an ammunition for the European Union (EU) countries, is by
establishing “relations” between the peoples of both countries. Not
getting stuck on legal advantages or disadvantages, but opening the
border gates slowly and slowl… Because getting acquainted with a
Turk will change an Armenian’s perspective. Similarly, getting
acquainted with an Armenian might also affect a Turk. It is only then
the climate will change.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
May 6 2005
Gul: Alleged Genocide Used Against Turkey by the West
By Foreign News Desk
Published: Friday 06, 2005
zaman.com
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul has claimed that
some countries are using the Armenian genocide allegations as an
excuse to exclude Turkey from the European Union.
Gul said, “It is not only Armenians that do this. In some countries
opposition parties use the this against the government. by
misrepresenting the relations between the government and Turkey in
the light of these allegations. There are 34,000 Armenian
Germans, and 600,000 Turkish German citizens in Germany. It is beyond
comprehension when you look from the political side also. They use it
to attack the government. Some of them want Turkey to isolate itself
and do not want to say ‘no’ directly to Turkey. There are countries
including many in the European Union (EU) that want to make Turkey
accept this.” Calling all the layers of society to work together, Gul
warned: “Everybody should ask himself ‘What can I do in this
situation? Because this case is a big trap before us.” He went on
that all the achieves have been opened, and nearly 30 foreign
scientists including one Armenian citizen have been doing studying
these archives.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE DID NOT DECLARE TERMS OF SIGNING
AGREEMENT WITH RA GOVERNMENT
Pan Armenian News
06.05.2005 06:34
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representative of the Millennium Challenge Account in
Armenia Alex Rosin expressed satisfaction with the program presented
by the Armenian government. In his words, mission of the corporation
is to find out Armeni’s degree of correspondence to the standards for
the further financing.”We are at the initial stage presently and are
making preliminary assessments, then we will proceed to purposeful
implementatio”, he stated during a press conference in Yerevan. He
also informed that in the near future the Armenian working group will
be introduced to the corporation after what an analogous group from
the American part will be formed. However he did not rule out that
some difficulties may emerge resulting in delay of financing. At
the same time expressed hope that cooperation with Armenia will
be”as efficient and rapid as with other states” In his turn Armenian
Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian informed that the
Millennium Challenge Account Corporation insisted that the members
of the working group should not be engaged in any other activities
besides the tasks to be fulfilled within the program. To note, when
presenting the Millennium Challenge Account in 2002 President Bush
stated that it will “reward nations that root out corruption, respect
human rights, and adhere to the rule of law, invest in better health
care, better schools and broader immunization and have more open
markets and sustainable budget policies, nations where people can
start and operate a small business without running the gauntlets of
bureaucracy and bribery” The total fund of the program for the first
year will make $1 billion, for the second $2.5 billion. 17 states in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America as well as two former USSR republics-
Armenia and Georgia. The amount of the funds provided depends on
the programs presented by the countries. Armenian expects to receive
about $700-900 million during three years, IA Regnum reported.

Gul says Turkish-Armenian summit possible
Friday, May 6, 2005
DIPLOMACY
FM concerned about European attempts to criminalize genocide
counterclaims
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might meet with Armenian
President Robert Kocharian later this month, Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul said yesterday.
Gul said, however, that there were no specific plans being
drawn up at the moment for a meeting between the two leaders.
The heads of state of Council of Europe countries will meet in
Warsaw on May 16, with Erdogan and Kocharian expected to be in
attendance. Erdogan and Kocharian are also planning to visit Moscow
next week to attend May 9 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of
Soviet victory over Nazi forces.
The foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia have already held a
number of meetings, but there is no official diplomatic relationship
between the two countries and their common border is closed.
Turkey says the normalization of ties depends on Armenia’s
withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, part of Azerbaijani territory that
Armenia occupied in the last decade, as well as on a resolution of
bilateral issues including Armenian charges that 1.5 million
Armenians were killed as part of a genocide campaign in the last days
of the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan recently sent a letter to Kocharian proposing the
establishment of a joint commission of historians to study the
allegations. Kocharian responded by suggesting an inter-governmental
commission that would look into ways to normalize bilateral
relations.
Gul, speaking to reporters before heading to Kyrgyzstan on a
state visit, complained that there were efforts in some European
countries to criminalize rejection of Armenian genocide allegations.
Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, who heads the Turkish Historical
Society, is facing trial in Switzerland for his public speeches
denying the allegations. Gul said there were “dangerous”
developments in Belgium and that he has discussed the issue with
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht.
The Belgian Parliament recently proposed a bill penalizing
statements denying genocide allegations. The bill, which envisages up
to one year in prison, is now awaiting passage.
“Such initiatives are against the basic principles of
Europe,” Gul said. “You are preventing a person from
expressing his or her opinion and exposing truths about
history.”
–Boundary_(ID_Gp+wayqk1fHObhMoNr7mZg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH AGENCY LOCATES ARMENIAN PM’s GRANDFATHER’S HOUSE IN MUSH
Armenpress
ISTANBUL, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: Turkish daily Milliyet said a Dogan
information news agency has found a house that belonged to Armenian
prime minister Andranik Margarian’s grandfather. Margarian’s
grandfather, Sedrak Margarian, had moved from Mush to Yerevan in
1916. Now this house is occupied by the family of Sulgun, who moved
here from a neighboring village of Ucer.
According to the daily, Armenian prime minister’s wife and his
daughter visited Mush in 2004 summer together with a group of 50
Armenian tourists and stayed at Dap hotel. Walking to Dere quarter
of the town they found the prime minister’s grandfather’s house,
which is located near Gulu church. Margarian’s wife called from the
sport his husband to say they found his grandfather’s house.
Residents of the quarter say the house was first bought by Mustafa
Subas, later it was resold several times. Sulgun family members say
they did not know the house belonged to Armenian prime minister’s
grandfather. Gulizar Sulgun says the ground floor of the house has
five rooms and the second floor three rooms. “Twenty-two members of
our family live in this house,” she says, adding that last year a woman
and a girl visited them saying the house used to belong to them. After
examining the house the woman called his husband to tell about it. The
woman said only the roof and the exterior of the house changed.
In response to Turkish correspondents’ question Margarian said”
My grandfathers were from Mush, like the grandfathers of half of
Armenian Cabinet ministers. My grandfather was a well-known man in
Mush. In 1997 when I was parliament member I went to Turkey, but I
was not allowed to enter Mush because of security reasons, but my
wife and my daughter traveled to Turkey in 2004 summer and located
my grandfather’s house that was dilapidated, but not empty. As far
as I know the house is occupied now by a Kurdish family and there
are still people who remember my grandfather.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MARGARIAN MET WITH MILLENIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT REGIONAL DIRECTOR
Pan Armenian News
05.05.2005 09:08
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian today
met with Millenium Challenges Account Regional Director Alex Russin,
reported the Press Service of the Armenian Government. On behalf of
the Millenium Challenge Account President Paul Applegarth thanked
the Armenian party for the quick and precise working out of the
Armenian Program. In his turn the Armenian Premier again noted that
the Millenium Challenge Account is in harmony with the principles
and tasks of the poverty reduction strategic program adopted by
Armenia. A. Russian acquainted A. Margarian with corporation mechanisms
of evaluation and acceptance of a program, as well as further steps to
be undertaken after the signing of the agreement. Thereupon he noted
the importance of forming new bilateral working groups to implement
projects and if necessary to supplement the Armenian Program and
to make it comply the Corporation tasks. As noted by A. Margarian,
the Armenian Government will present the composition of its working
group and if Armenia is included in the first group of countries that
will get financial assistance, the country is also ready to work out
a clear schedule for quick and efficient realization of those programs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERGE SARGSIAN MET CSTO ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL
Pan Armenian News
06.05.2005 03:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday Secretary of the Security Council
under the RA President, Defense Minister Serge Sargsian met with
Assistant to Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization Valery Semerikov, RA Defense Minister’s Press Secretary,
Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian informed. During the meting the parties
exchanged opinions on the process of preparation for the sitting
of the CSTO Defense Ministers and the sitting of the Secretaries of
Security Councils.

When hairy can be scary
By Stella Aslibekian, Health Columnist
Stanford Daily
May 5 2005
The issue of body hair had never concerned me much until one memorable
Saturday morning at the Fitness First gym in downtown Washington,
D.C. Feeling a little under the weather after a night’s very happy hour
at my summer job, I attempted to make up for my unhealthy behavior
with a sacrifice to the exercise gods. As I lethargically pushed the
pedals of the elliptical trainer, I looked around the room, trying
to figure out if the other gym visitors were guilty masochists like
me or healthy people committed to regular exercise.
It was then that I caught a glimpse of possibly one of the hairiest
creatures in the metropolitan D.C. area. This guy was engulfed in
thick reddish bristle from the neck down — it was everywhere but
his head. All of his body hair was glistening with sweat, which
didn’t drip down to the floor as the laws of gravity suggest, but
accumulated in each of the curls on his chest and back. It was a sight
to remember. As much as I tried to remain calm and nonjudgmental, my
hung-over self could not take much more. For the rest of my workout,
I deliberately stared in the other direction, wondering how much the
prissy hair salon in Dupont would charge to wax a beast like that.
Mind you, I am usually a lot more tolerant of body hair for several
reasons: first, I happen to be of Armenian descent, which means that
most of the people in my family are very hairy and some even have
unibrows; second, I have lived in Europe, which is notorious for
people sporting body hair au naturel; and third, I consider myself
a liberal, feminist, even pseudo-hippie human being who appreciates
human bodies the way they are. That guy in the gym, however, made me
seriously reconsider my stances on this issue.
Even Hollywood, the land of Brazilian waxes and unattainably artificial
beauty, cannot seem to come to a conclusion on body hair. A couple of
years ago, Julia Roberts exposed her fully grown armpit hair in front
of the camera during the Notting Hill premiere, provoking a lot of
discussion among fashionistas and feminists alike. Was it a political
statement or was Julia just too lazy to call an esthetician? Or was
it perhaps a requirement for her role in a new movie? Or was she
starting a new fashion trend?
To the disappointment of the body hair activists, Julia Roberts’
choice turned out to be not much of a statement but rather a matter
of personal preference, her movie characters remained feminine (and
presumably waxed), and the trend has failed to captivate Tinseltown
and the rest of the country. Women and metrosexual men everywhere
continue to endure the pain of waxing, while most guys (including my
friend at Fitness First) don’t stress about their body hair at all.
And both camps seem to be perfectly content.
Getting rid of body hair could be a costly enterprise — most waxing
salons in the Palo Alto area charge no less than $50 for a leg wax
and $75 for (ouch!) a Brazilian bikini wax. The procedure has to be
repeated approximately every month, so you do the math. To a large
extent, cost is the reason why most people I know at Stanford prefer
the old-fashioned shaving method, which requires more maintenance work,
but is much cheaper than the salon treatments.
The bottom line is that the “to wax or not to wax” decision
should remain a matter of personal preference for men, women or
Hollywood celebrities. Just, you know, use deodorant and keep things
aesthetically pleasing — especially if you like working out on
Saturday mornings.
@@line:Stella Aslibekian is a junior majoring in Human Biology.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 5 2005
Schroeder: On the open seas and in parliaments your luck lies with
Allah
Ahmet KULAHCI – Ugur ERGAN- Hasan TUFEKCİ/ANKARA:
>>From Turkey’s possible EU membership to the Armenian accusations of
genocide, the leaders of Turkey and Germany put everything on the
table during the visit of the Germany premier to Turkey. German Prime
Minister Gerhard Schroeder comforted Ankara with his words about the
upcoming referendum on the European Constitution in France, which
could affect Turkey’s shot at EU membership.
Yesterday, after the delegations of the two countries met together,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and PM Schroeder held a
joint press conference. A quick overview of some of Schroeder’s views
on a host of different subject at the press conference follows:
It’s the EU’s turn
“Turkey must first sign the protocol which takes the Greek side of
Cyprus into account. The EU must support the planned October 3 start
to discussions….changes in the Turkish Constitution are important.
But the implementation of these changes is even more important. Of
course everything cannot happen in one day.”
A long process
“Despite all the difficulties, Turkey must not detour from the series
of reforms on the way to the EU….Solving the Cyprus issue is the
shared goal of the EU…Aid to Turkish Cypriots from the EU must not
be blocked. There must be serious effort to lift blockades from this
aid getting through.”
Open the borders
“I support PM Erdogan’s suggestion of a joint-commission with
Armenia….The attitude of both these countries is important….The
border between Armenia and Turkey must be opened.”
Armenian protests
Regarding the introduction of bills in European parliaments calling
for the recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide, PM Schroeder
had a word of advice for PM Erdogan: “There is a saying we have in
German: ‘On the open seas and in parliaments, your luck lies with
Allah.'”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress