Author: Hambardsumian Paul

The Financial Times

Turkey recalls ambassador over US vote

By Daniel Dombey in Costa Rica and Delphine Strauss in Ankara

Published: March 4 2010 18:06 | Last updated: March 4 2010 22:29

Turkey has said it will recall its ambassador from the US after a vote
in a US Congressional panel put Barack Obama’s bid to deepen the two
countries’ ties to its biggest test.

The move came after the House Foreign Affairs Committee backed a
resolution describing the Ottoman-era massacres of 1.5m Armenians as
`genocide’.

`We condemn this draft resolution, accusing the Turkish nation with a
crime that it has not committed,’ the Turkish government said. `This
decision, which could adversely affect our co-operation on a wide
common agenda with the US, also regrettably attests to a lack of
strategic vision.’

US-Turkish ties are already strained as Washington seeks to convince a
sceptical Ankara to back sanctions against Iran.

The narrow 23-22 vote in the committee also came after a last minute
plea by Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, who argued it would
endanger a Turkish and Armenian agreement for reconciliation she
helped to broker last October.

`I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two
countries resolve matters between them,’ Mrs Clinton said during a
Latin American tour on Thursday. `We do not believe that any action by
the Congress is appropriate and we oppose it.’

She added that the administration did not believe the full House of
Representatives `either will or should’ vote on the resolution.

Turkey, with Nato’s second biggest army and an increasingly
influential voice in the Middle East, is a critical regional ally for
the US. It is also an important market for the US aerospace industry,
which opposed the resolution.

But in spite of the personal call from Mrs Clinton, Howard Berman,
chairman of the foreign affairs committee, urged colleagues to support
the resolution.

`It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian
genocide,’ Mr Berman said. `This will most likely be a difficult and
painful process for the Turkish people, but at the end of the day it
will strengthen Turkish democracy and put the US-Turkey relationship
on a better footing.’

Ankara denies genocide and says thousands of Turks also died in the
turbulent last years of the Ottoman empire.

Last autumn Turkey signed joint protocols with Armenia aiming to
restore diplomatic ties and open the border. Mr Obama called on
Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, this week to speed ratification.

But that agreement is close to disintegrating. Armenia is frustrated
by Turkey’s refusal to put the protocols to a vote in parliament until
there is progress in the intractable dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, its ally and gas supplier, over the Armenian-occupied
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Both the genocide debate and Nagorno-Karabakh stir nationalist
sensitivities in Turkey, where anti-US feeling runs high.

The congressional resolution urges the US president to describe the
1915 killings as genocide in an address commemorating the events on
April 24. In spite of a pre-election promise, Mr Obama avoided the
word last year and is likely to maintain that position.

However, in spite of Mr Berman’s decision to take the resolution to a
committee vote, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of
Representatives, has not committed herself to a full vote. `No
decision has been made yet whether to bring the bill to the floor,’
said a Democratic aide.

Unless Ms Pelosi opts to take the resolution to the full House it
could expire at the end of this year. In the past she has given
higher-profile support to a genocide resolution, only to backtrack
after pressure from the White House and elsewhere.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

ERDOGAN SPEAKS ABOUT WITHDRAWAL OF TURKISH TROOPS FROM CYPRUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2010 18:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey will be ready to withdraw its troops from
Cyprus if stability is established in the island. According to CNN
Turk, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told this in an
interview with the Cypriot publications.

In 1974, following 11 years of intercommunal violence and an
attempted coup d’etat by Greek Cypriot nationalists, Turkey invaded
and occupied the northern portion of the island. The Turkish invasion
led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Cypriots and the
establishment of a separate Turkish Cypriot political entity in the
north. This event and its resulting political situation are matters of
Cyprus dispute. The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over
the entire island of Cyprus and its surrounding waters except small
portions allocated by treaty to the UK as sovereign military bases.

The Republic is de facto partitioned into two main parts, the area
under the control of the Republic of Cyprus, comprising about 59%
of the island’s area and the Turkish-occupied area in the north,
calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering
about 37% of the island’s area and recognized only by Turkey.

ARAM SAFARIAN: AZERBAIJAN IS NOT GOING TO SOLVE NAGORNO KARABAKH PROBLEM IN CIVILIZED WAY

Noyan Tapan
March 1, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Over the past years Azerbaijan has
increased its anti-Armenian agitation and does not miss the chance to
present Armenia as an aggressor from the PACE tribune. Member of the
Armenian delegation in PACE, Secretary of the RA National Assembly
Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia) faction Aram Safarian stated
at a March 1 press conference. According to him, a country carrying
on negotiations and striving for a mutually coordinated settlement
variant should not aggravate the situation and instigate interethnic
hostility. However Azerbaijan, as A. Safarian concluded, proves
with its conduct that it is not going to solve the Nagorno Karabakh
problem in a civilized way and wants to resume the operations. However,
according to the BH figure, the prevailing majority of PACE deputies
considers that the problem cannot be solved through a war.

A. Safarian also mentioned that at the last PACE winter session
in response to Azeri delegates’ allegations that the parliamentary
elections to be held on May 23 in Karabakh are illegal he proposed
PACE deputies visiting Karabakh on an observation mission during
elections and only then making conclusions.

Worcester Telegram, MA
Feb 27 2010

Jeweler bids city adieu
Shavarsh scion to pursue her career in Boston

By Danielle M. Horn TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER – Arpine Shavarsh Azizian acknowledges the bubbly tone she
has used in hundreds of phone calls this week may not fit the message
she has been delivering.

More than a thousand customers of Shavarsh Jewelers: Design by Arpine,
have been notified by Miss Azizian and her office manager, Kathie P.
L’Abbe, that the 30-year-old family jewelry store is going out of
business. The women have thousands more to make. And in each call,
Miss Azizian has maintained the friendly, uplifting demeanor that has
helped earn her a loyal customer base.

`If I’m not happy, they won’t come!’ said the 22-year-old, who has run
the Main Street store since 2006, not long after her father and the
store’s namesake, Shavarsh Azizian, left the business because of heart
problems.

Miss Azizian said it wasn’t an easy decision to close Shavarsh, which
has been an extension of her and her family since she was a young
girl. As a student at Nelson Place, and then St. Peter-Marian, she
spent countless afternoons watching and admiring her father’s and
grandmother’s work. It was never a question that she would enter the
jewelry business, not because of familial pressures, but because it
was all she ever wanted to do.

And she’ll continue doing it: that’s why it is hard for her to be
completely glum. She will continue to pursue her passion, just not in
Worcester, which she and her father say has become increasingly
difficult for downtown business owners.

`This is surreal,’ Miss Azizian said yesterday in the store at 420
Main St., surrounded by signs advertising reduced prices on jewelry,
which she is selling at cost. `But at the same time, I’m very excited.
My father has built the foundation for me and now I must follow my own
path.’

Miss Azizian can’t count the number of times she has paid customers’
parking tickets, not wanting them to leave her shop with a sour taste
in their mouth simply because they couldn’t find adequate parking. She
has noticed that many of her out-of-town clients, which account for 35
percent of her customers, have become uncomfortable coming downtown.
And while she doesn’t consider the economy as a major factor for her
decision, the lack of comparable businesses on Main Street doesn’t
help matters. Shavarsh is a destination store, and with neighbors
including doughnut chains, a Subway and a pizza place, it’s rare that
new customers stumble upon the small store.

`Yes, the economy is terrible, but Worcester has been this way for
years,’ her father said yesterday in a phone interview. `Even in good
times, our city does little for businesses. They’ve been working on
sidewalks, but they’re in the wrong section of the city!’

Mr. Azizian gave the store its start in 1979, when, after emigrating
from Armenia, he opened a workshop on Main Street. In 1984, he opened
Guaranty Jewelers and in 2001, changed the name to Shavarsh.

Heart problems (he now, at 48, has 16 stents) forced him into
retirement in 2005. A friend took over the business for a year before
Miss Azizian stepped in.

`She truly is the female version of Shavarsh,’ said family friend
Richard Yacuzzi. `She could outwork any CEO.’

A certified gemologist who has studied jewelry manufacturing in Europe
and the United States, Miss Azizian, like her father, chose to
specialize in custom design. About 75 percent of the pieces at the
store have been recently designed by her, or are pieces her father
designed before he left.

`She has a good brain and she’s turning the page,’ her father said in
the phone interview. `On the other side, it’s sad. No longer will my
name be on that sign.’

After the store closes April 15, Miss Azizian will further her studies
at the Gemological Institute of America in California before returning
to the Boston area to continue a career in the jewelry business.

`Truly, it’s kind of like the city is getting too small for her,’ Mr.
Azizian said.

WS/2270350/1003/NEWS03

THREE PROTEST ACTIONS OUTSIDE RA GOVERNMENT

/25/protest
09:02 pm | February 25, 2010

Social

Three protest actions were held outside the Armenian government
building on February 25. The participants of the actions called for
justice and demanded that their rights be restored.

It is already seven years former inhabitants of Northern Avenue want
to make their voice audible to the prime minister and ministers. They
claim that more than 30 families are today homeless and live in
streets and rented flats.

In the meantime, mothers of perished servicemen stated that their
sons had been killed during the military service and demanded the
government to disclose the murderers.

Vazgen Gaspari was the only participant of the third protest action.

"In his speech the prime minister urges to be tolerant to willfulness.

While today Nikol Pashinyan is imprisoned for seeding hatred towards
criminals and campaigning against willfulness," said Vazgen Gaspari

PRESS RELEASE
ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
CONTACT: Patil Halajian
Tel: 416-250-9807
Fax: 416-512-1736
E-mail: [email protected]

CONTACT: Patil Halajian
DATE: February 26, 2010

Dr. Bedross Der Matossian lectures on the Armenian Genocide through the
Prism of the Adana Massacres

Toronto, Canada – The Zoryan Institute presented a lecture by Dr. Bedross
Der Matossian entitled `The Armenian Genocide through the Prism of the Adana
Massacres,’ held at the Toronto French School. In exploring the importance
of the events of 1909 to the understanding of the larger scope of violence
inflicted on the Armenian population, Dr. Der Matossian’s lecture dealt with
the Young Turk revolution of 1908, the counter-revolution, and the Adana
massacres of 1909, which became a turning point for the Armenians living in
the Ottoman Empire. Unlike the existing historiographies on the subject, Dr.
Der Matossian provided a new analysis of the massacres by examining the
erosion of social and political stability in Anatolia in general, and in
Adana in particular. The lecture explained the rising ethnic tensions in
Adana after the revolution and their culmination in the massacres, with
specific attention given to the role of media as a vehicle for the enactment
of violence against the vulnerable population.

`The study of ethnic strife, violence, and repression in the Ottoman Empire
in general, and in Anatolia in particular, remains marginalized in the
historiography of the Ottoman Empire. Only a handful of scholars have
attempted to put these subjects at the core of their inquiries. However,
most of these works concentrate on the Armenian Genocide during World War I,
and do not consider the incidents of violence prior to the War.’ With these
words, Dr. Bedross Der Matossian explains how the study of the Adana
Massacres has, unfortunately, often been neglected.

As Dr. Der Matossian expressed in his lecture, the Adana massacres of 1909
became a turning point for the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire and
were one of the earliest manifestations of violence during the Second
Constitutional Period 1908-1918. Furthermore, he stated that the massacres
represented a microcosm of the deterioration of ethnic conflict in Anatolia
and its culmination in the destruction of the indigenous Armenian population
during World War I.

`Understanding the factors and the motives that led to the enactment of
violence will shed new light on understanding the future acts of violence
perpetrated against the indigenous Armenian population of the Ottoman
Empire’ expressed Dr. Der Matossian. `I do not suggest that there is a
direct link between the Adana Massacres and the Armenian Genocide. Rather,
what I suggest is that the methodology used by the local and regional actors
to perpetrate the Adana massacres in 1908 is the same methodology that we
see during the Armenian Genocide in 1915,’ he concluded.

Dr. Der Matossian is a full-time lecturer in Middle East History at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and specializes in Ethnic Politics in
the Middle East. He completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University in Middle
East History in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and
Cultures. He is proficient in Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, modern and Ottoman
Turkish, and Ladino and is also familiar with French, and German. His
knowledge of languages has been instrumental in his research and has allowed
him to perform extensive work in historical archives from various countries.
Most recently he has curated the Stanley E. Kerr papers in the Zoryan
Institute archives. Dr. Kerr was an American medical missionary in Marash,
and is also the author of Lions of Marash, published in 1973. Kerr’s
personal papers, full of eyewitness information and analysis about the
politics and violence in the region, and over 80 photographs, along with a
detailed analytical catalogue prepared by Dr. Der Matossian are now freely
available on the Zoryan Institute’s website.

The Zoryan Institute is the first non-profit, international centre devoted
to the research and documentation of contemporary issues related to Armenian
social, political and cultural life. To this end, the Institute conducts
multidisciplinary research, publication, and educational programs dealing
with Armenia, the Armenian Genocide, and Diaspora, within a universal
context.

YEREVAN TO MARK 110TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF COMPOSER ISAAK DUNAYEVSKY

ArmInfo
25.02.2010 15:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Moscow House in Yerevan will mark the 110th
birth anniversary of composer Isaak Dunayevsky on the initiative of
Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Armenia.

Soviet composer Isaak Dunayevsky was born in Ukraine in 1900. He
began as a student of classical music. After the Russian Revolution,
he played with avant-garde forms but eventually settled into composing
popular music. His first big hit was the score for Makhno’s Escapades
(1927), a circus scenario that mocked the civil war anarchist leader of
a Ukrainian partisan band opposed to the Bolsheviks. Dunayevsky went on
to compose some twenty film scores, a dozen operettas, and music for
two ballets and about thirty dramas. His lasting legacy is the music
from the enormously popular musical films of the 1930s: Happy-Go-Lucky
Guys, Circus, Volga, Volga, and Radiant Road, all featuring the
singing star of the era, Lyubov Orlova, and directed by her husband,
Grigory Alexandrov. A fountain of melody, Dunayevsky wove elements
of folk song, Viennese operetta styles, and jazz into optimistic
declamatory tunes that captivated Soviet listeners for decades. The
lyrics of the most famous of these, "Vast Is My Native Land" (1936),
from the film Circus, celebrated the official image of Russia as a
great nation, filled with free and happy citizens. The Dunayevsky
mode was overshadowed somewhat during World War II, when more somber
and intimate songs prevailed. His postwar hit, the music for Kuban
Cossacks (1950), enhanced the propaganda value of that film, which
idealized the affluence of Cossacks and peasants on the collective
farms of the Kuban region. Dunayevsky died from heart attack in 1955.

RUBEN SAFRASTYAN: EVENTS IN TURKEY MAY GROW IN TO A MILITARY COUP
Anna Nazaryan

"Radiolur"
23.02.2010 16:48

The recent events in Turkey may grow into a military coup, although
it’s not very probable today, Director of the Oriental Studies
Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences Riben
Safrastyan told a press conference today. "Turkey will try to use
this situation and continue dragging out the process of ratification
of the Armenian-Turkish protocols," he said.

According to Ruben Safrastyan, there is an internal war taking place in
Turkey although there are still no victims. He said the tension between
the Kemalists and the Islamists affects the Turkish authorities, and
this can lead to some changes. "The possibility of a military coup
is not great, but if there is one, there will be a lot of victims,"
he said.

More than ten retired high-ranking servicemen were arrested in Turkey
yesterday. The Turkish authorities accuse them of preparing a military
coup. The Turkish military is not united any more, Safrastyan said.

Under these circumstances will the US continue pressuring Turkey
to ratify the protocols? "The United States is closely watching
the developments in Turkey. The US still considers that nothing
extraordinary is taking place in that country. Besides, the events in
Turkey have not reached the final stage. Americans may understand that
the Armenian-Turkish relations may further strain the situation and
I do not rule out that they may refuse from the policy of pressure,"
Ruben Safrastyan said.

The processes are still developing, and today it’s hard to say what
is going to happen. However, there will be some clarity within a month.

ROUNDTABLE ON "AZERBAIJAN AND UNSOLVED KARABAKH CONFLICT" AND "ROLE OF NORWAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGION" TO BE HELD IN OSLO

APA
Feb 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku-APA. Roundtable dedicated to 18th anniversary of Khojaly Genocide
titled "Azerbaijan and unsolved Karabakh conflict" and "Role of Norway
in the development of region" will be held with joint organization of
"Peace and conflict studies" program of Political Studies faculty at
Oslo University and Norwegian Azerbaijani Youth Organization, (NAYO)
in Oslo, Norway. Azerbaijani ambassador to Sweden Rafael Ibrahimov,
Deputy Secretary of Helsinki Committee Gunnar M.Ekelöm-Slydal,
deputy secretary of Norwegian Foreign Ministry for global security
and CIS countries department Bord Ivar Svendsen and Statoil Norway
Oil Company’s social responsibility department’s adviser Hokon
F. Nordang will attend the roundtable, press service of Azerbaijani
State Committee for Work with the Diaspora told APA. NAYO’s chairman
Ramil Aliyev told Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with the
Diaspora press service that speeches on "Karabakh conflict and
its dissensions", "Khojaly tragedy-tragedy of humanity" will be
delivered at the event. He noted that Khojaly tragedy is one the
horrible accidents happened during Karabakh conflict. On such day all
our compatriots in the while world must be solidary and raise their
voice for the punishment of killers executed our innocent compatriots.

"Khojaly in the eyes of children" photo exhibition will be demonstrated
and booklets about tragedy will be distributed within the event where
professor and teacher’s staff of "Peace and conflict studies" program
of Political Studies faculty at Oslo University, foreign students,
several officers of emergency and high-level embassies in Norway,
media representatives and representatives of Azerbaijani community
will present.

As well as within the framework of event NAYO’s local community
representatives will send information about tragedy to the e-mails of
international organizations, address letters to public and political
figures of foreign countries.

IT WILL TAKE ARMENIA TOO LONG TO GET OUT OF THE CRISIS IF ECONOMY STRUCTURE IS LEFT UNCHANGED

ArmInfo
2010-02-23 12:15:00

ArmInfo. "Crisis reveals the very hidden factors that undermine the
bases of healthy competition at a glacial pace and result in disastrous
consequences," said Araik Karyan, Head of RASCO Insurance Company, the
former head of the Insurance Inspectorate and USAID expert, during the
7th International Economic Forum BRIDGE 2010 in Armenia. He said that
in conditions of crisis no one can predict the trends of economic
development, but one thing is clear that maintaining the former
mechanisms and structure of economy may deteriorate the situation
in the country. The expert thinks that construction and services
sectors have become an important link in the structure of economy in
Armenia and their share in GDP is 62% whereas the share of industry,
agriculture and energy in total does not amount even to 30%.

A. Karyan believes that Armenia needs its own stabilization fund that
would be replenished at the expense of the sectors having surplus
profit. This will stimulate structural changes in economy with a focus
on the industrial sector. A. Karyan proposed exempting import of any
type of equipment in Armenia of VAT as well as prolonging the period
of payment of the tax on import of raw materials for processing by
6-8 months. As regards preferential terms of taxation on import of
equipment approved by the government, A. Karyan called it nothing
but charging of VAT in advance.

Among the major steps stimulating development of economy, the
expert stressed the necessity of partial governmentalization
(re-privatization) of enterprises implementing innovative business
projects, their further monetization through provision of budgetary
loans with prolonged debt service as well as through placing
government orders with enterprises implementing effective and
innovative projects. "The next tooling suggests administration of
guarantees to the business by certain insurance schemes, governmental
co-financing of activity of the subjects undergone relevant selection,
partial or full funding of commercial credits, development of a new
state property management concept, governmental financing of venture
projects, which allows attracting long money without mortgage security,
as well as administration of state guarantees in form of long-term
loans till 2020 for business stimulation and innovative development",
he emphasized.

Within the frames of export stimulation, A. Karyan offers providing
insurance guarantees for exporter enterprises. According to him,
this tooling is used very successfully in both the developed European
countries and in the countries with transient economy. Then, the
expert offers creating efficient mechanisms of regional development.

Here, Karyan recommends the government to pass from the policy of
smoothing of economic processes to the policy of polar development of
the country’s economy, where centralization of financial, technological
and managerial resources is necessary for innovative development of
the regions. Moreover, emphasis in the regional development strategy
should be laid on the competitive advantages of each region.

When speaking of assistance to the social sphere, the expert
highlighted the pension reforms, initiated by the government, in
particular, implementation of accumulative pension system in 2011. A.

Karyan offers changing the sources of financing of social tasks with
transfer from budgetary mechanisms to insurance ones.