Author: Felekian Ara

Russia Stands for Continuation of Dialogue on Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2007 18:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia stands for the continuation of the
Armenian-Azeri delegation on Karabakh and considers that the parties
to conflict should find a mutually admissible solution, Russian MFA
official Mikhail Kamynin said. "We are ready to actively assist in the
process both in bilateral aspect and as the OSCE MG Co-chair and become
the guarantor of the future agreement," he said, reports RIA Novosti.

Miklos Haraszti criticizes Dink’s murder

ArmRadio.am
20.01.2007 11:50

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti expressed
deep condolence connected with the assassination of famous
Turkish-Armenian intellectual Hrant Dink. `I condemn the assassination
of Hrant Dink ` an outstanding Turkish journalist ` who was raising
the voice of the Armenian community.

We had a tragic loss as a result of this nasty step,’ said Haraszti.

`Those who encourage violence against journalists cannot stay
unpunished. I call on Turkish authorities to find the criminals as
soon as possible. On of the fundamental principles of the OSCE is that
violence and terrorism should be investigated in compliance with
law. It impacts also the sincere atmosphere of freedom of speech among
the society, he said.

The OSCE Representative called on Turkish authorities to end the
criminal persecution of those who express pinions other than the state
position of Turkey.

ARTSRUN KHACHATRIAN APPOINTED RA DEPUTY MINISTER OF NATURE PROTECTION

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. By RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian’s decree, Artsrun Khachatrian was appointed the RA Deputy
Minister of Nature Protection. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by
the RA Government’s Information and Public Relations
Department. Artsrun Khachatrian was born in 1958, in the city of
Yerevan. He left Yerevan No94 secondary school in 1975, graduated from
the Yerevan Al.Tamanian Construction Technical College in 1981. He
gratuated from the Moscow S.Orjonikidze Geological-Research Institute
in 1988, Moscow Business and Policy Institute in 2003. He worked as
the Deputy Director at the Yerevan "Metaks" conglomerate. He was the
deputy community head of Ajapniak, Yerevan in 1998. He headed the
district community of Ajapniak, Yerevan in
2000-2006. Non-partisan. Married, has two children.

Panorama.am

19:45 18/01/2007

SIM LEADER BELIEVES OPPOSITION WILL TAKE THE POWER

Haik Babukhanyan, leader of Constitutional Right Union (SIM), told a
press conference today that there are some healthy political parties
among the opposition and that SIM will form a majority in the
parliament together with these forces. Later, Babukhanyan predicts,
the opposition will take places in the executive and will win the
presidential elections in 2008.

Babukhanyan believes healthy forces must get into the parliament in
2-3 blocks formed according to ideological affiliation. Asked what are
the forces that may `conquer’ the power together with them,
Babukhanyan answered, `We will stage the fight with those political
forces which are determined to win.’

Babukhanyan said there are also unhealthy political forces in the
political field, which are almost dead. He believes they will be
ousted from fight already in February. Babukhanyan refrained to name
those political forces. `Right now I cannot say anything. When the
time comes, you will know,’ he said. Asked about Republic Party,
Babukhanyan said, `No, what are you talking about? Republic Party is
not such.’

In the words of Babukhanyan, the 3 blocks may unite around several
factors. The first block will compose of parties inclined to the West,
USA and NATO and will be liberal in economic dispositions. The second
block will postulate European integration and democratic values. The
third block will unite those forces that are inclined towards Russia.

Having pro-Russian dispositions, it is not clear why SIM signed a
cooperation agreement with Orinats Yerkir.

Source: Panorama.am

Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
3325 North Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, Ca 91504
Tel: 818-558-7474
Fax: 818-558-6333
Web:

Western Diocese to Hold a Special Vigil for Hrant Dink
Tonight, Jan. 19, at 8pm

It is with great sorrow that we received the tragic news of the
assassination of Hrant Dink, the prominent intellectual and editor in
chief of the Agos newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey. Hrant Dink joins the
group of martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. His dedication and courage has
earned the admiration of not only his readers in Turkey, but the
entire Armenian Diaspora.

The Western Diocese of the Armenian Church will hold a special vigil
tonight at 8:00pm at the Diocesan Headquarters, in Burbank, and would
like to invite the faithful to join us in this solemn occasion. A
short video will be shown of Mr. Dink’s recent visit to the Diocese on
November 5th, 2006.

Our prayers go out to his friends and relatives who are grieving at
this time, as well as to the entire Armenian Community inside Turkey
and throughout the world.

God bless his soul. Asdvadz Hokin Loosavore.

Turkish-Armenian editor shot dead in Istanbul
Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:59 PM GMT

Reuters
By Paul de Bendern and Ercan Ersoy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A high-profile Turkish-Armenian editor, convicted
of insulting Turkey’s identity, was shot dead outside his newspaper
office in Istanbul on Friday.

Hrant Dink, a writer and journalist and a frequent target of
nationalist anger, was shot by an unknown assailant as he left his
newspaper Agos around 1 p.m. British time in central Istanbul, the
paper said.

"Hrant was a perfect target for those who want to obstruct Turkey’s
democratisation and its path towards the European Union," Agos writer
Aydin Engin told Reuters.

Broadcaster NTV said Dink been shot three times in the neck and police
were now looking for a 18 or 19-year-old man.

CNN Turk television said two men had been detained in connection with
the shooting.

The attack is bound to raise political tensions in would-be EU
member Turkey, where politicians of all parties have been courting
the nationalist vote ahead of presidential elections in May and
parliamentary polls due by November.

Protesters at the scene chanted "the murderer government will pay"
and "shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism".

Television footage showed his body lying in the street covered by a
white sheet, with hundreds of bystanders gathering behind a police
cordon.

"This bullet was fired against Turkey … an image has been created
about Turkey that its Armenian citizens have no safety," said CNN
Turk editor Taha Akyol.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it "forcefully condemned"
the "loathsome attack".

Last year Turkey’s appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, for referring in
an article to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity without
Turkish blood.

The court said the comments went against an article of Turkey’s revised
penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against writers and
scholars for "insulting Turkish identity".

The ruling was sharply criticised by the EU.

INSULTING TURKISHNESS

Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over the alleged genocide
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One.

Turkey denies allegations that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide. It says both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks
were killed in a partisan conflict that raged on Ottoman territory.

But the government has promised to revise the much criticised article
of the penal code amid EU pressure.

Dink was editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian
newspaper and one of the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.

"I will not leave this country. If I go I would feel I was leaving
alone the people struggling for democracy in this country. It would be
a betrayal of them. I could never do this," Dink said in an interview
with Reuters last July.

Tensions have been growing ahead of presidential elections amid a
rise in nationalism.

Turkey’s powerful secularist establishment fears the ruling AK Party,
which controls parliament and has roots in political Islam, will
elect Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as president.

Secularists, including powerful army generals and judges, fear Erdogan
— a former Islamist — would try to erode Turkey’s strict division
between state and religion if elected president.

Erdogan denies he or his party have an Islamist agenda.

ARMBUSINESSBANK ENTERS MARKET WITH AMBITIOUS PLANS

Yerevan, January 16. ArmInfo. Having changed its brand and shareholders
in August 2006, the ArmBusinessBank (former ArmInvestBank) intends
to enter the market with ambitious plans and join the number of the
largest banks of the country in 2007.

Ara Kirakosyan, the chairman of the ABB’s Board, told an ArmInfo
correspondent that the bank is successfully conducting a closed
issue of shares in the amount of 2.6 bln AMD and it will increase
the authorized capital to 5.0 bln AMD in the first quarter of 2007.

According to him, the ABB finished the year 2006 with 16.6 bln AMD
assets. In the beginning of October 2006, the rate of assets was a
little more than 9 bln. He noted that by the end of 2007, the bank
plans to continue increasing the capital and to double the rate
of assets. Before the change of the shareholders, the ABB held the
last positions and worked exclusively in narrow segments of the bank
market. Since September 2006, the bank’s policy has abruptly changed.

Now it renders the whole spectrum of banking services and successfully
performs the task of diversifying the advance portfolio.

A.Kirakosyan said that over the last four months of 2006, the
advance portfolio grew from 2 bln to 5.9 bln AMD, the volume of
consumer crediting doubled and totalled 1.221 bln. The volume of
provided mortgage credits grew from the zero mark to 275 mln AMD,
the autocrediting increased to 67 mln. One of the priority tasks is
to strengthen the ABB’s positions in crediting the small and medium
business as the most profitable field of the credit market. Since
September 2006, the bank’s indicators in this segment have tripled –
from 1.5 bln to 4.4 bln AMD. The advance portfolio on mortgages is
to increase four times by the end of the current year.

Special attention in implementation of the business-strategy of the
Bank is paid to the growth of non-interest incomes by enlarging the
services rendered to the population, including organization of the
system of communal and other payments. According to A.Kirakosyan,
agreements with ArmRosgazprom company and VivaCell cellular operator
are already signed, relations with the telecommunicational company,
the and the Armenian water- supply services are at the stage of
negotiations.

"We must present the whole portfolio of services on costs to our
clients. Linking them to other spheres of the bank’s retail v card
segment, deposit business and general politics and that for enlarging
the number of corporative clients, wages and other projects for those",
he said.

ABB became a member of the "ArCa" Joint National Payment System.

Apart from the local cards, the bank will soon start emitting the
MasterCard. ABB aims to become a member of Visa International and
establish strong contragent relations with American Express – to
provide alike services in Armenia. ABB’s system of monetary transfers
is being set out. Ukrprombank is the key investor. They hope that
there will be enough demand for ABB’s services from Armenian community
of Ukraine.

The bank studies the possibility of entering the bank standard bars
market. "Effective business mechanisms are to be worked out and
regulated and the prices – correctly forecasted", A. Kirakosyan said
and added that the market of bank gold is extremely interesting and
prospective. He added that this bank had no branches before but now
intends to lead an aggressive regional policy.

ABB’s large office was open in Mashtots Ave. in Yerevan. Its offices
will be open in Guymri and Vanadzor cities soon. The bank’s branches
will be set out in Malatya community in Tallinn, Kajaran, Armavir
and Stepanakert – the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

ABB’s regulations were re-registered on August 25, 2006 with a new
board of stockholders. The key stockholders are: Ukrprombank (35%),
Ukrainian insurance company Alfa-Garant (35%) and the British company
"Christa Management" (30).

CATHOLICOS ARAM I PROCLAIMS 2007 "THE YEAR OF THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE"

Noyan Tapan
Jan 17 2007

ANTELIAS, JANUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. In line with a previously
established tradition, His Holiness Aram I proclaimed 2007 to be the
"Year of the Armenian Language."

In 2007 The Catholicosate of Cilicia and all its dioceses and
institutions will focus on the Armenian language. Several events and
initiatives organized by the Catholicosate, its dioceses and Armenian
schools in the Armenian communities throughout the Diaspora will
bring under the spotlight the Armenian language, its preservation
and development and specially its correct usage by the new generations.

The Catholicos’ Encyclical about the "Year of the Armenian Language"
will be read from the altars of all the churches in the dioceses of
the Catholicosate of Cilicia during the next few weeks, inviting the
Armenian nation to reassess the unique importance of their mother
language in Armenian life both in Armenia and the Diaspora.

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. Its jurisdiction extends over the
Armenian Communities in the Middle East, Europe and North and South
America.

THE BEST OPTION FOR HOAGLAND TO BE WITHDRAWN FROM NOMINATION

Armenpress
Jan 17 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: To overcome the controversy over the
appointment of Richard Hoagland, U.S. President Bush’s ambassador
designate, to serve in Armenia, President Bush may use a "recess
appointment" mechanism to bypass the opposition raised in the Senate
against Hoagland’s nomination, Elizabeth Chuljian from the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) told Armenpress.

Bush nominated career diplomat Richard Hoagland as U.S. ambassador to
Yerevan last summer and reaffirmed his choice late last year, but after
U.S. Armenians accused Hoagland of failing to classify World War I-era
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, pro-Armenian
senator Robert Menendez put a hold on him to block his appointment.

"Now we have to wait and see what decision Bush will take,’
Ms. Chuljian said.

Analysts meantime say another alternative would be for Richard Hoagland
to be withdrawn from nomination.

Under U.S. law, all senior government officials, including ambassadors,
must win the Senate’s approval, and any Senator can indefinitely
block a nomination and this is why Hoagland can never get Senate’s
confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Yerevan as long as Menendez keeps
his hold in place.

But under U.S. law, presidents are vested with an authority to appoint
officials at times when Congress is in recess. And Congress’ next
recess comes next month, between Feb. 18 and Feb. 25.

‘After all no one would like the USA to be represented in Armenia by
an ambassador who would not have influence and would not be able to
work effectively," Chuljian said.

If a recess appointment nevertheless happens, Hoagland’s tenure would
last until the next Congress convenes in January 2009.

In a related development, four pro-Armenian congressmen are expected
to introduce formally this or next week a fresh resolution for the
Armenian genocide’s recognition by the House of Representatives.

The resolution will be sponsored by California Democrat Adam Schiff,
California Republican George Radanovich, New Jersey Democrat Frank
Pallone and Michigan Republican Joe Knollenberg, and is expected to
be cosponsored by more than 150 lawmakers.

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: PREMIèRES PRESTATIONS D’ASSURANCE VERSEES AUX HERITIERS

Agence France Presse
16 janvier 2007 mardi 3:07 PM GMT

La compagnie d’assurance americaine New York Life a commence a verser
des prestations aux heritiers de ses assures armeniens vivant dans
l’Empire Ottoman en 1915, 92 ans après le genocide des Armeniens,
a annonce le banque HSBC chargee des versements.

"En Armenie, 1.353 personnes se verront verser leur prestation
d’assurance. La somme totale parvenue a notre banque est de 3,650
millions de dollars", a declare a l’AFP un responsable de la succursale
de cette banque a Erevan.

La somme totale que devra verser la compagnie americaine a travers
le monde est de 20 millions de dollars, dont les parents de victimes
recevront 11,9 millions. Trois millions iront a des organisation
caritatives armeniennes, le reste sera consacre aux frais du Fonds
cree pour repartir la somme totale entre les differents beneficiaires
ainsi qu’a l’Eglise armenienne.

"La compagnie a recu plus de 6.500 demandes de la part d’Armeniens du
monde entier mais seules 2.500 ont ete validees", a declare le ministre
armenien de la Justice, David Haroutiounian, dans un entretien a la
television armenienne.

Des Armeniens de 26 pays du monde devraient toucher des prestations,
a-t-il indique.

New York Life a accepte de payer a l’issue d’un procès remporte par
des associations armeniennes le 30 juillet aux Etats-Unis concernant
les polices d’assurance vendues au debut du XXème siècle en Turquie.

Le tribunal a decide que la compagnie devait rembourser les personnes
susceptibles de prouver leurs liens de parente avec des personnes
figurant sur ses listes.

La Turquie n’entretient pas de relations diplomatiques avec
l’Armenie voisine en raison notamment du differend sur les massacres
d’Armeniens en 1915-17 sous l’Empire Ottoman, qualifies par de nombreux
historiens, le Parlement europeen ou encore la France de "genocide",
une appellation categoriquement rejetee par Ankara.

Les massacres et deportations ont fait plus de 1,5 million de morts
selon les Armeniens, 250.000 a 500.000 selon la Turquie.

–Boundary_(ID_+YgyrIPVdvQDodVjmPZRwA)–