Author: Felekian Ara

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IS DEPLORABLE IN ARMENIA, ANC STATES

Noyan Tapan

Dec 10, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. In connection with the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Armenian
National Congress (ANC) issued a statement, which in particular says:

"In this respect the situation in Armenia is deplorable, which
particularly became evident completely and in its disgusting details
at the last presidential election:

a) The rights of free speech, receiving information, free movement,
confidentiality in correspondence and other fundamental rights,
up to the right of life, are completely violated.

b) The right to form power by means of free elections is violated:
at the February 19 presidential election in Armenia, the overwhelming
majority of voters gave their votes to the candidate of the People’s
Movement Levon Ter-Petrosian, whereas the election results were
turned topsy-turvy and the candidate of the authorities was announced
the winner.

c) A brutal beating of the peaceful demonstrators took place in
Liberty Square on March 1, while on the evening of the same day special
antiriot weapons and firearms were used against peaceful demonstrators,
at least 10 people died.

d) Nearly 10 thousand citizens have been persecuted for their political
convictions. About 150 people were deprived of liberty for political
motives, and until now 67 of them have been political prisoners.

e) the political opposition’s 91 applications for peaceful rallies
have been rejected, the requests to be provided halls for meetings
have been rejected tens of times."

WHY JHANGIRYAN WASN’T IN COURT?

A1+
[04:23 pm] 10 December, 2008

The court sitting on the case of ex Deputy Prosecutor General
Gagik Jhangiryan was adjourned today. Though the sides were in the
courtroom at the fixed time, Jhangiryan was seen nowhere. Advocate
Lusine Sahakyan didn’t know why her client wasn’t brought to court.

Spokesman of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice
Arsen Babayan says they are unaware of Jhangiryan’s non-delivery. He
says that the police escort didn’t fetch Jhangiryan from the isolation
ward.

The next sitting is due at 1:00 December 15.

Armenian National Committee – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

December 10, 2008
Contact: Ani Garabedian

ANC-WR Congratulates Assembly Member Paul Krekorian

– Krekorian Appointed Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the
California State Assembly

Sacramento, CA – The Armenian National Committee – Western Region
(ANC-WR) is pleased to welcome Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
(D-Burbank) to his new post as Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the
California State Assembly. The post is the third-ranking leadership
position in the Assembly after Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass
(D-Los Angeles) who appointed Krekorian on December 2, 2008.

"We would like to offer our congratulations to Assemblymember
Krekorian on his newly appointed position in the California State
Assembly," said ANC-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian. "As an
Armenian-American, the Assemblymember has been a strong activist and
voice for the community within the State Assembly and we look forward
to continue working with him in his new post," he added.

Krekorian, together with Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, will be the
Speaker’s principal representatives on the Assembly Floor. As
Assistant Majority Floor Leader, Krekorian will help to lead all floor
debates in the Assembly on behalf of the Democratic Caucus, and he
will provide policy and political guidance to the Speaker.

"Assemblymember Krekorian is a strong advocate for the Armenian
American community," stated ANC-WR Chairman Vicken Sonentz-Papazian.
"I am confident that his creativity, energy and leadership will set
the standard for the incoming Assembly in 2009," he remarked.

During his first year in office, Assistant Majority Floor Leader Paul
Krekorian introduced AJR 15 (Assembly Joint Resolution), which
designated April 24, 2007 as California Day of Remembrance for the
Armenian Genocide of 1915 through 1923. Krekorian’s AJR 15 urged
Congress and the President of the United States "to formally recognize
and reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities committed
against the Armenian people constituted genocide," and called upon the
Republic of Turkey to "acknowledge the facts of the Armenian Genocide
and to work toward a just resolution."

In 2008, Krekorian was the co-author of SJR 24 (Senate Joint
Resolution), a similar resolution, which noted that "by consistently
remembering and openly condemning the atrocities committed against the
Armenians, California residents demonstrate their sensitivity to a
need for constant vigilance to prevent similar atrocities in the
future."

To help highlight the enduring legacy of legendary Armenian-American
playwright and author William Saroyan, Assemblymember Krekorian
co-authored SCR 9, which designated the year 2008 as the William
Saroyan Year for enriching the cultural diversity of the state, and in
particular, for celebrating over 100 years of the cultural
contribution of Armenian-Americans to the people of the state.

Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) represents the 43rd Assembly
District, including the cities of Burbank and Glendale, and the Los
Angeles communities of Atwater Village, Los Feliz, North Hollywood,
Silver Lake, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Valley Village and Van Nuys.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances
the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

SARGHIS TKHRUNI UNION HAS NEW LEADER

Lragir.am
15:32:33 – 09/12/2008

On December 8 the General Assembly of the Social Democratic Henchak
Party’s youth and student union Sarghis Tkhruni took place. The
leader of the union Narek Galstyan resigned, and the participants
of the assembly elected a new leader, Gevorg Perkuperkyan. Gevorg
Perkuperkyan is 28 years old and is now the head of the student board
of the department of culture of the State Teacher Training University
of Armenia. Narek Galstyan will temporarily head the press office of
the Social Democratic Henchak Party till the party’s next conference.

EXCLUSIVE: BOAZ, SIRUSHO, JELENA AND THE PRESIDENT

esctoday.com
ws/read/12660
Dec 9 2008
Netherlands

As reported yesteray, the three 2008 Eurovision Song Contest
representatives, Boaz Mauda from Israel, Sirusho from Armenia and
Jelena Tomasovic from Serbia will record their song for peace in
Israel. today, esctoday.com can exclusively reveal that the song
is written by the three artists with a special guess lyricist, it
is none other than Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize winner,
Shimon Peres.

President Peres welcomed the singers at his official residence and
declared his hope that the trio would be the beginning of a new era of
cultural exchange. He has contributed his own lyrics to the song and
they will be recorded by the three artists, all of whom reached the
top 10 of the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade earlier this year.

Tomorrow, the trio will be in Southern Israel to shoot their video,
with the Hotel Orchid in Eilat as the central location. They will be
joined by star Israeli dancer, Rona-Lee on set.

The song will feature on Boaz Mauda’s debut album due for release in
January. Boaz told esctoday.com: "with my two friends here, sirusho
and jelena, I truly beilve that we can make a change with our music
and art. The meeting with President Shimon Peres was very exciting,
he greeted us and granted us with best wishes. I hope we can make a
change with this song. It is an example of how the young people can
make the difference and influence others with their hopes and dreams".

RUSSIA, ARMENIA SEEK BROADER TIES – PUTIN

Interfax
Dec 5 2008
Russia

Russia and Armenia plan to take measures to bolster their bilateral
cooperation, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said ahead of
talks with his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan on Friday.

"The results we have achieved [in our cooperation] are far from being
the limit for our countries. We plan to increase our cooperation,"
Putin said.

The overall amount of Russia’s accumulated investment in the Armenian
economy totals $1.6 billion, and bilateral trade grew by nearly 17%
in 2007, he said.

"I believe it is quite useful to expand the Armenia-based operations
of major Russian companies like Gazprom, Inter RAO UES, RZHD and some
banks, including VTB," the Russian prime minister said.

Joint projects in areas such as the fuel and energy sector, non-
ferrous metals, transport, construction, and information technologies
hold great promise, Putin said.

Armenia and Russia have a strategic relationship, Prime Minister
Sargsyan said. Such consultations are important and useful amid the
ongoing global financial crisis, he said.

"We should coordinate our efforts, which will obviously make it easier
for us to deal with the difficulties facing our economies today,"
the Armenian official said.

NMDC SPICE PUTS ARMENIAN MINE BUYS ON HOLD
Ishita Ayan Dutt

Business Standard
ws/nmdc-spice-puts-armenian-mine-buyshold/00/16/34 2490/
Dec 8 2008
India

In the wake of iron ore price crash, NMDC Spice International has put
on hold its proposed acquisition of two iron ore mines in Armenia. NMDC
Spice International is a proposed joint venture between state-owned
miner NMDC and Spice Minerals and Metals, a part of the Spice Energy
group.

NMDC Chairman and Managing Director Rana Som said the project has
become unviable at current prices even though the price of the assets
has dropped by around 50 per cent.

The two deposits identified for acquisition were of low grade iron
ore magnetite, which needs to undergo benefication and pelletisation.

Industry sources said pellet prices are currently hovering around
$70 a tonne, down from $240 a tonne a few months back. Prices have
crashed across commodities. Recently, NMDC revised iron ore prices
25 per cent downwards mid-term.

Moreover, the benefication and pelletisation would require additional
investment of around 30 per cent since the quality of ore required
value addition. The two iron ore deposits have reserves of 300 million
tonnes and 70 million tonnes. Earlier, the investments worked out
for the development of mines was $500 million. However, even though
the investment could now be lower, prices had made it unviable.

Som said the company is now conducting physical and chemical analysis
but will wait for the markets to recover before they go ahead and
acquire the mines.

NMDC plans to bring the pellets to India through the Poti port in
Georgia on the Black Sea. However, tapping the Iran market through
the road route was also being explored.

India has set a target of building capacity for production of 300
million tonnes of iron by 2020, which would require iron ore reserves
of approximately 14 billion tonnes for over 30 years. India has proven
reserves of 6.311 billion tonnes of total estimated reserves of 23.588
billion tonnes.

NMDC is a major supplier of iron ore to JSW Steel, Essar Steel,
Ispat Industries in the private sector and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam in
the public sector. NMDC produces 30 million tonnes of iron ore from
its Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh and Donimalai in Karnataka.

IMAGE OF POLICE FORCE DEBATED AFTER GANG TERROR IN ISTANBUL

Sunday’s Zaman
Dec 7 2008
Turkey

A recent kidnapping in which the culprits disguised themselves as
police officers sparked discussions on the image of Turkey’s police
forces and security problems in Ä°stanbul. Five men wearing police
vests raided a restaurant in Ä°stanbul’s Avcılar district last
weekend, arriving in a car equipped with police lights.

When they entered, they attacked the people inside the restaurant with
nightsticks and checked IDs. The gang attacked a woman who was working
at the restaurant and dragged her outside by the hair. During the
incident, the gang did not face any resistance. They kept the woman
for six hours and raped her. After they let her go, she went to the
real police. Two members of the gang were subsequently captured. Human
rights organizations and women’s rights activists have argued that
if the image of Turkey’s police forces had not deteriorated so badly,
such an incident would never have happened. In the meantime, Ä°stanbul
Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah announced that not everyone who wears
a police uniform and has police lights on their vehicle is a police
officer. "Citizens should be careful about this. Police officers have
identity cards," he warned. "Citizens should ask people who introduce
themselves as police officers for their police identity cards first."

Nov. 29

Thousands of people protested the latest layoffs resulting from the
ongoing economic crisis in Ankara during a rally organized by workers’
unions and leftist parties. The demonstration’s slogan was "We will not
pay the price of the crisis." The rally, held by the Confederation of
Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DÄ°SK) and the Confederation of Public
Sector Trade Unions (KESK), took place at Ankara’s Sıhhiye Square.

Nov. 30

A considerable segment of the Turkish nation prefers the old version
of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been criticized for
deviating from his pro-freedom, democratic and reformist line, to the
new Erdogan, the latest results of a monthly opinion poll showed. The
Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center conducted
a survey on the new direction of Turkish politics and the impact
of the global financial crisis on Turkey. According to the survey,
45.9 percent of those polled miss the old Erdogan, saying they
are not pleased with his current "short-tempered" style. Out of all
respondents, only 16.8 percent said they like the current incarnation
of the prime minister. Around 14 percent replied that they like both
versions of Erdogan, while 18 percent said they don’t like either.

Dec. 1

Six people were injured after a bomb exploded in front of the ruling
Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Ä°stanbul headquarters in
the Sutluce district.

Three people were killed and 17 others were injured after a natural gas
leak caused an explosion at the Alikahya municipal building in Kocaeli.

Bilateral problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Russia and Georgia,
and Turkey and Armenia need to be resolved in order to maintain
stability in the Caucasus region, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said
in Baku. "We cannot leave the resolution of problems to the next
generation. Peace and stability in the region needs to be maintained,"
Babacan told reporters at a joint press conference following his
talks with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, pointing
to dialogue as the key to the resolution of regional problems.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Ankara behind
schedule for a three-day official visit at the invitation of his
Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul. "I’m looking forward to improving
our relations with Turkey. I believe that these relations will continue
at the highest level via my visit," Rajapaksa said in an interview
with the Cihan news agency ahead of his departure from the Sri Lankan
capital of Colombo.

The 22nd hearing in the Ergenekon trial, in which suspects stand
accused of being part of a clandestine and illegal organization
allegedly plotting to overthrow the government, was held. Forty-one
suspects out of the 45 who were jailed pending trial were brought to
the hearing. The chief judge, Köksal Å~^engun, did not show up for
the hearing because of a death in the family. The trial was heard at
a makeshift courtroom on the grounds of Silivri Prison.

The next hearing of the trial of two noncommissioned officers in the
gendarmerie in Trabzon on charges of negligence, which is alleged to
have contributed to the death of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, was set for Feb. 4, at the request of lawyers representing the
Dink family.

Dec. 2

Turkey has made no effort to ease tensions with Greece despite Athens’
attempts to defuse a long-running territorial dispute and other
differences, Greece’s foreign minister said in an interview. Dora
Bakoyannis said as Turkey reaches a decisive phase in its bid to join
the European Union next year, the time is ripe to make concessions
in talks to reunite Cyprus and over disputed waters in the eastern
Mediterranean. "While we made a conscious effort from the Greek side —
such as the Greek prime minister’s visit to Ankara — Turkey did not
reciprocate," Bakoyannis told Reuters. "We have not had the improvement
we hoped for this year."

The Turkish military announced that its warplanes had struck targets
of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) inside northern Iraq
on Monday, while stating that it had taken the utmost care to ensure
that no civilians were harmed. The statement said all planes returned
to their bases safely and described the operation as "effective." There
was no information on casualties.

The Supreme Military Council (YAÅ~^) convened to make decisions on
dismissals and promotions within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).The
meeting was attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief
of General Staff Gen. Ä°lker BaÅ~_bug, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönul
and other YAÅ~^ members.

A terrorist organization that was previously not widely known in Turkey
claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Monday afternoon on the
ruling AK Party Ä°stanbul headquarters in the Sutluce district. The
terrorist organization, called the Revolutionist Headquarters,
announced on its Web site that it was behind the bomb attack on the
AK Party headquarters.

Dec. 3

According to a report issued by the Prime Ministry’s Directorate for
the Disabled for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 68
percent of the disabled in Turkey are given no assistance in overcoming
limitations resulting from their disability. Only 3.1 percent of
those with a speech impediment, 3 percent of the physically disabled,
2.6 percent of the visually impaired and 1.8 percent of the mentally
challenged said they face no barriers to fully participating in life.

James Jeffrey, the new US ambassador to Turkey, presented his
credentials to President Abdullah Gul. As he did when speaking to
reporters upon his arrival in Ankara on Sunday, Jeffrey spoke in
Turkish while presenting his credentials.

The Supreme Military Council (YAÅ~^) unanimously decided to dismiss
24 staff members from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), according to a
statement posted on the General Staff’s Web site. According to the
statement, 19 were dismissed on grounds of drug use and "immoral
relations" and the remaining five were accused of anti-secular
activities. The statement also said members of YAÅ~^ discussed threats
to Turkey’s domestic security and the measures to be taken against
these threats.

Dec. 4

Six million more people will be eligible to vote in the March 29,
2009 local elections than in the July 2007 general elections, thanks
to a new address-based registration database known as AKS, being
used for the first time to confirm voter registration, the Supreme
Election Board (YSK) announced.

A recent report prepared by the parliamentary Human Rights Commission
on the much-debated death of Engin Ceber stated that the activist
was mistreated by gendarmes and prison guards at Ä°stanbul’s Metris
Prison. Zafer Uskul, the head of the commission, delivered a speech at
Parliament. "Our commission is of the opinion that Ceber was mistreated
by gendarmes and prison guards starting from the moment he was admitted
to the prison; however, there is no way the commission can prove that
he was subjected to torture," stated Uskul.

A Turkish court sentenced pro-Kurdish politician Leyla Zana to 10
years in prison for "committing crimes on behalf of a terror group,"
court officials said. She is expected to appeal the decision at the
Supreme Court of Appeals. The Diyarbakır 5th Higher Criminal Court
also revoked Zana’s right to vote and run for political office as
well as other political rights. Zana was a potential candidate for
a mayoral nomination from the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in the
upcoming local elections in March.

The White House announced that US President George W. Bush had
thanked his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, by telephone for
his efforts to promote greater cooperation between Afghanistan and
Pakistan. "President Bush thanked President Gul for his commitment
to a stable and secure Iraq as well as his ongoing work to promote
cooperation between the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan,"
White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe
told reporters.

Dec. 5

More than 18 percent of the Turkish population lived below the poverty
line in 2007 while around 0.5 percent lived below the hunger line,
according to a recent statement released by the Turkish Statistics
Institute (TurkStat). According to the study, posted on the TurkStat
Web site, 18.56 percent of the Turkish population lives below the
poverty line, which refers to the minimum amount a family needs
in order to pay its rent and meet its basic needs, such as food,
transportation, clothing and education.

Amid rising tension between New Delhi and Islamabad in the aftermath
of last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, President Abdullah Gul
hosted a trilateral meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and
Pakistan in Ä°stanbul for talks aimed at boosting cooperation between
the neighbors.

A suspect who was detained on Wednesday as part of an investigation
into a Monday afternoon bomb attack on the ruling AK Party Ä°stanbul
headquarters was jailed.

Fourteen people accused of having of illegally transferred funds from
various bank accounts to their own after obtaining account information
from Russian hackers were captured in an operation staged by Ä°zmir
police in the Aegean cities of Ä°zmir and Antalya.

President Abdullah Gul, who was planning to visit Diyarbakır next
Monday on the first day of Eid al-Adha (the Feast of the Sacrifice),
has postponed his visit due to a relapse of an ear infection preventing
him from traveling by airplane for about two weeks.

–Boundary_(ID_pmPQ54i0wahuCq7tFsQoSw)–

AZERBAIJAN NEEDS POLITICAL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT, MAINTAINING TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF COUNTRY: FOREIGN MINISTER OF AZERBAIJAN

Trend
Dec 4 2008
Azerbaijan

Finland, Helsinki, 4 Dec/corr. Trend News I.Gustanskaya/ Azerbaijan
needs the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
taking into consideration the interests of all sides and protection of
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan, said, giving a speech at the summit of the
Foreign Ministers of the OSCE member countries in Helsinki on 4 Dec.

The agreement signed in Moscow on 2 Nov is a good basis for settling
the conflict, but the resolution on ceasefire is insufficient, the
Foreign Minister said.

"The conflict needs to be politically resolved taking into
consideration the interests of all sides," said Mammadyarov. The
Minister said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the sources
of instability and therefore, the OSCE needs to make maximum efforts
to solve it.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in 1988
due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding districts. Since 1992 to the present
time, these territories have been under Armenian occupation. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
(Russia, France and USA) are holding peaceful negotiations.

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER: "IT IS IMPORTANT TO ENSURE NORMAL LIFE OF BOTH AZERBAIJANIS AND ARMENIANS IN KARABAKH AND ESTABLISH COOPERATION AND COMMUNICATION"

Today.Az
news/politics/49435.html
Dec 5 2008
Azerbaijan

"We are holding this meeting in a symbolic place, where the basis of
this organization was laid. We must reaffirm our adherence to the
principles of the Helsinki act. We must recognize the principle of
territorial integrity of the states and their sovereignty in the
context of the latest events", said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mamedyarov speaking at the session of the Foreign Ministers of
the OSCE states.

"Azerbaijan considers that OSCE plays a special role in the issue of
conflicts. OSCE has a great experience in the resolution of conflicts,
in the post-conflict management, but it is necessary to use the whole
potential. We are currently observing a tendency when OSCE refers
only to the issue of human rights and we are concerned a little bit
about it, as we are for balanced agenda.

The conflict in Karabakh remains the main and serious source of
instability. The declaration was signed on November 2. We consider it
to be an important document. The Presidents of our countries declared
that they will strive for the political resolution of the conflict
in the framework of international law. All documents of international
law stress the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan as a basis.

The resolution must create a good economic situation in the whole
region. The declaration speaks of the increase in trust. It is
important to ensure normal life of both Azerbaijanis and Armenians in
Karabakh and establish cooperation and communication. We hope that
Armenians understand our position and also support it", concluded
Mamedyarov.