Author: Harutyunian Christine

PRIME MINISTER DISCUSSES COOPERATION WITH RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
Oct 30 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Serzh Sarkisian and
the visiting defense minister of Russia, Anatoly Serdyukov, discussed
today a wide scope of issues including bilateral military-technical
cooperation.

The government press office quoted Serzh Sarkisian as saying that
the government of Armenia is interested in boosting bilateral and
multilateral relations with the Russian Federation.

According to the Armenian prime minister, deeper cooperation stems
from both countries’ national interests. He said the government of
Armenia will do its best to expand and develop this cooperation.

Anatoly Serdyukov said the outcome of his meetings in Armenia inspire
confidence that this cooperation will develop and deepen.

During the meeting they also discussed regional security and
stability-related issues.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
Fax: 617-484-1759
E-mail: [email protected]

SPECIAL PRESENTATION ON ARMENIAN
MONUMENTS OF NAKHICHEVAN AT NAASR

A special illustrated lecture on "Monuments of the Nakhichevan Region"
will be held on Thursday, November 1, at 8:00 p.m., at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.

The lecture will feature visiting speakers Argam Ayvazian from Armenia
and Steven Sim from Scotland. The event is taking place with the
cooperation of Dr. Anahit Ter Stepanian of Sacred Heart University in
Fairfield, CT, and Dr. James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian
Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Russell will serve as chair for the
evening and Dr. Ter Stepanian will provide translation, and both will
participate in the evening’s discussions.

Documentation of At-Risk and Destroyed Monuments

The Nakhichevan region, located in what is today Azerbaijan, part of the
ancient Armenian historic lands and with an uninterrupted Armenian
presence down to recent times, is the site of thousands of endangered
and destroyed Armenian monuments. Argam Ayvazian has assembled a photo
exhibit on the monuments of Nakhichevan that will open to the public on
November 2 at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at
Harvard University. In his presentation at NAASR he will show digital
images and offer comments in Armenian (with simultaneous translation
into English).

Argam Ayvazian was born in the village of Arinj in Nakhichevan and has
devoted his adult life to documenting and analyzing the historical
monuments of the region. He has served on the Commission for
Preservation of Ancient Monuments in Armenia and is the author of
numerous books on the subject, including The Historical Monuments of
Nakhichevan (1990), translated into English by Fr. Krikor Maksoudian.
Currently he serves as Deputy Director, Agency on Protection of
Historical and Cultural Environment at the Armenian Ministry of Culture.

Glasgow-based architect and art historian Steven Sim served as co-author
in 2006 (with Ayvazian, Lucy Der Manuelian, and Patrick Donabedian) of
The Destruction of Jugha and the Entire Armenian Cultural Heritage in
Nakhijevan, a report submitted to UNESCO. He was one of the last
Westerners to see the hundreds of Jugha khachkars (stone crosses)
destroyed by the Azeri military in 2005. Sim has traveled throughout
historic Armenia for the past two decades documenting thousands of
vanishing and at-risk monuments.

The NAASR Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next
to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building
and in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.

Exhibit on Nakhichevan Monuments at Harvard’s Davis Center

A photo exhibit of Armenian Monuments of the Nakhichevan
Region by Argam Ayvazian and Steven Sim will be on display from November
2 to November 19, 2007 at the Harvard University Center for Government
and International Studies (CGIS) Concourse Gallery, 1730 Cambridge
Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138. The opening reception will be held on
November 2 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The exhibition will present a brief overview of the cultural heritage of
Nakhichevan, focusing on architectural and sculptural monuments of the
10th-17th centuries and including before and after demolition
photographs of churches and the Jugha cemetery khachkars.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian
and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Funding is provided through
the generous support of COPRIM, Inc., of Montreal. The exhibition
organizer is Dr. Anahit Ter-Stepanian.

More information about the lecture is available by calling 617-489-1610,
faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing to NAASR, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478. Further information about the
exhibition is available by calling the Davis Center at 617-495-4037 or
visiting the exhibition website,
< hevanmonuments.org/> .

ARMENIAN-CAPTURED AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER AGAIN REFUSES WRITING LETTER TO HIS FAMILY

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 26 2007

Representatives of Armenian office of the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with Azerbaijani soldier Samir Mammadov
taken prisoner by Armenian armed forces, Samir Mammadov’s uncle Vidadi
Mammadov told APA. Vidadi Mammadov said ICRC office in Berde told them
that Samir feels normal. "They told me that the representatives of
the committee offered Samir to write a letter to his family, but he
refused it," he said. Samir Mammadov was captured by Armenian armed
forces on December 24 last year.

TURKISH THREATS SHOULDN’T DERAIL GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Will Volet

Hartford Courant, CT
hvolet1026.artoct26,0,4349812.story
Oct 26 2007

After years of searching for the elusive right time, the U.S. House
and Senate should adopt the resolution – approved by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee on Oct. 10 – to officially recognize that the 1915
massacre of 1.5 million Turkish Armenians was genocide. This horrible
tragedy was real and those who deny its significance are advocates of
politically based policy, not reality. The truth needs to be recognized
for the sake of Armenians and the American image. In 1913, a political
group known as the Young Turks succeeded in a coup that gave it control
of what is modern Turkey. Under this regime, which ended after World
War I, Turkish Armenians were systematically annihilated. The Young
Turks tried to eradicate any record of the Armenians, sometimes by
destroying entire cities. Although the Turkish government claims
that the Armenian genocide occurred because of political turmoil
following a revolution, historians have largely refuted this idea,
saying that Armenians were mostly peaceful, and the killings were
part of an established government policy. Many U.S politicians argue
that now is not an appropriate time to accept the House resolution
because Turkey has threatened to move forces into northern Iraq to
fight Kurdish rebels along with denying the American military access
to the region. This is an example of how military action in Iraq and
Afghanistan has paralyzed U.S. policy abroad.

Passing the resolution would exemplify America’s role as a peacekeeper
in a diplomatic setting. There will never be a good time for the
U.S. – in terms of U.S.-Turkish relations – to recognize the Armenian
genocide. The massacres of Armenians took place at the dawn of what is
modern Turkey. If Turkish officials recognize the Armenian genocide,
they are essentially agreeing that the country’s forefathers were
guilty of war crimes. Turkey has and will always do what it can to
avoid this implication. This debate reveals a less than moderate
Turkey. For example, Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish Nobel Prize winner for
literature in 2006, was brought to court on charges of insulting the
Turkish Republic after commenting in an interview on the deaths of
Turkish Kurds and Armenians during the genocide. The case was later
thrown out of court, but only after an international outcry pressured
the Turkish court system. The significance of this trial should not
be ignored. As Pamuk said, "What happened to the Ottoman Armenians
in 1915 was a major thing that was hidden from the Turkish nation; it
was a taboo. But we have to be able to talk about the past." Pamuk’s
triumph shows how important it is to recognize this issue and move
forward. World opinion kept Pamuk from being incarcerated. So, too,
should the global community look to recognize this genocide to pressure
Turkey, as it did in Pamuk’s case, to adopt more liberal policy. If
the United States were to recognize the genocide, it would surely
help to influence the global community.

Military and political failure in Iraq should not keep America from
speaking out on civil rights issues abroad. Recognizing the Armenian
genocide could help the international image of the United States as
a country against oppression, not a perpetrator of it. Rep. John
Boehner, R-Ohio, called the measure to recognize the genocide
"irresponsible." He went on to say, "What happened 90 years ago ought
to be subject for historians to sort out, not politicians." What Mr.

Boehner failed to realize is that historians have sorted it out.

There is very little doubt that Turkey sanctioned killing squads to
perpetrate the Armenian genocide. Sadly, Boehner is not the first
politician to suggest that forgetting the genocide is important. In
1939, before Hitler deployed his killing squads upon innocent
citizens of Poland he said, "Only in such a way will we win the
vital space that we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?" Pamuk, one of Turkey’s greatest
contemporary writers, thinks it’s important to discuss the past
in order to move forward. But, as is the trend, Middle Eastern
foreign policy is decided on what politicians think is best and
how it will affect the military stability in Iraq. History and the
voice of the people are largely ignored.

Will Volet, 24, of New Canaan is a senior at the University of
Hartford, where he majors in history. He is currently an intern with
The Courant’s editorial board.

The New York Times
October 25, 2007

House Delays Vote on Armenian Genocide

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:14 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — House sponsors of a resolution that would label as
genocide the 1915 killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks have asked
Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay a vote on the measure because they
feared it would fail.

Support for the resolution deteriorated this month, after Turkey
recalled its U.S. ambassador in protest and several lawmakers said
they feared it would cripple U.S.-Turkey relations.

”We believe that a large majority of our colleagues want to support a
resolution recognizing the genocide on the House floor and they will
do so, provided the timing is more favorable,” the lawmakers told
Pelosi in a letter on Wednesday.

The letter was signed by four primary sponsors of the resolution:
California Democrats Adam Schiff, Anna Eshoo and Brad Sherman, and
Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

The group said they would continue to work with leadership ”to plan
for consideration sometime later this year, or in 2008.”

The resolution had inflamed U.S. tensions with Turkey, which says the
death toll has been inflated and was the result of civil unrest, not
genocide. A member of NATO, Turkey is considered a rare Muslim ally to
the United States in its war on terrorism. A U.S.-run air base there
has facilitated the flow of most cargo to American troops fighting in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure, approved earlier this month by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, also came at a sensitive time. In recent weeks, the U.S.
has called for Turkey’s restraint in dealing with attacks by Kurdish
fighters in northern Iraq.

The House resolution ”would really damage our relations with a
Democratic ally who is playing an extremely important strategic role
in supporting our troops,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a
House panel on Thursday.

Among the critics are many Democrats, including Rep. John Murtha, who
chairs the subcommittee on military spending. Last week, Murtha,
D-Pa., said his party’s leaders had miscalculated support for the
resolution and predicted it would fail easily.

On Thursday, Schiff agreed the votes weren’t there.

”I think the Turkish lobby has, regrettably, earned their money,” he
said in an interview. ”I think they were successful in a campaign
that was persuasion and coercion. Unfortunately it was aided and
abetted by our own State Department.”

Schiff said it is hard to say when he’ll try again.

”We want to make sure that when the measure is brought to the floor,
we’re confident the votes are there,” he said. ”I think the worse
thing would be that you take it up and you’re not successful, and
Turkey argues that it’s a denial of the genocide.”

A spokesman for Pelosi said the speaker ”respects the judgement” of
the lawmakers.

Republican Leader John Boehner, who opposes the resolution, called the
debate a ”debacle” by Democratic leadership.

”This entire situation calls their judgment into question,” said
Boehner, R-Ohio.

Source: ocide.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

PRESS RELEASE
Haigazian University
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1

Haigazian University celebrates the 10th Anniversary of its Cultural Hour

Beirut, October 26, 2007- On October 25, 2007, Haigazian University
marked the 10th Anniversary of its Cultural Hour, with an illustrated
lectured entitled "the Ancient Glory of Yerevan- Erepouni", presented by
Dr. Arda Ekmekji, Dean of the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The ceremony opened with the welcoming words of the University’s Public
Relations Director, Mira Yardemian. "The regularly organized cultural
activities once a month, over a span of 10 years, reached out to all the
Lebanese and foreign public, thus turning Haigazian University into a
prominent cultural centre, highly regarded in local and foreign
communities", Yardemian said.

Then, Dr. Ekmekji introduced to the audience the ancient capital of
Armenia, Yerevan, concentrating on its early chapter in history, in the
8th century B.C. "The city of Erepouni was a big military and
administrative Urartian city that included a royal palace, two temples,
a throne room, private quarters, storage cellars and servants sections",
Ekmekji noted.

The audience was amazed looking at the beautifully ornamented walls
covered with paintings dating to the 7th century B.C., featuring the
major divinities of the city.

Ekmekji also pointed out that the city of Erepouni survived throughout
the centuries and developed into many names, such as Irvouni, Irpuni and
finally modern Yerevan.

President Paul Haidostian expressed his gratitude in a word of
appreciation, considering Dr. Ekmekji as the main instrumental force in
launching the Cultural Hour @ Haigazian University, its director, and
administrator. Ekmekji received from President Haidostian a trophy in
grateful recognition of her leadership in promoting culture and
learning.

For 10 years loyal photographer of the Cultural Hour, Zaven Vartan was
also honored with a bouquet of flowers.

The event concluded with cutting the celebratory cake of the occasion.

KOCHARIAN, ALIYEV WON’T MEET DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2007 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev will not meet
during election period in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian told a news conference in Yerevan.

There is nothing extraordinary in the current regional visit of the
OSCE MG mediators, according to him.

"The OSCE Minsk Group exercises shuttle diplomacy in the framework
of which current issues are discussed.

Nothing new is on the table. After a visit to Baku, they will return
to Yerevan to exchange views on the outcomes," the Minister said.

Presently, Amb. Matt Bryza of the U.S., Amb. Yuri Merzlyakov of
Russia and Amb. Bernard Fassier of France are paying a regular visit
to the region

RUDOLF PERINA HOPES THERE WILL BE NO DIFFICULTIES WITH NOMINATION OF NEW US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

armradio.am
25.10.2007 12:16

"We are hopeful that there will be no difficulties in the US Congress
connected with the appointment of the new Ambassador-designate to
Armenia," outgoing US Charge d’Affaires Rudolf Perina told ArmInfo
correspondent.

"I’m assured a new candidate fro US Ambassador will be nominated,
and I expect to hear about the new nomination as soon as possible,"
the Ambassador noted. He reminded that the candidacy must be proposed
by the White House. "The nomination comes only from the US President,
that is why I cannot say definitely when the statement about the
new candidate is going to be made. Certainly the candidacy must be
approved by the US Congress, and we hope that this time there will be
no difficulties," Mr. Perina noted. Nevertheless, he added that it
is impossible to predict what will happen, since the final decision
must be taken by the Congress.

PRESIDENT HAILS VISIT TO ARMENIA

Press TV
Oct 23 2007
Iran

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to reporters.

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has termed the outcome of his visit to
Armenia and the agreements signed as very good and constructive.

Speaking to reporters at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport upon
his return Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said that both Iran and Armenia have
a common stance on efforts made to reinforce stability, security and
peace in the region and remove tension through discussion.

"Tehran and Yerevan have concerns about ongoing situations in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Palestine and stressed the speedy settlement of woes
and the restoration of tranquility and security based on justice,"
he said.

Pointing to bilateral economic cooperation between the two neighbors,
he added that both parties called for following up strategic projects,
including construction of railways, refineries and gas and power
transfer lines.

He stated that Iran and Armenia agreed to build a dam and power plant
on the Aras River to make optimal use of its water power.

The President said Tehran and Yerevan enjoy growing, sustainable ties,
adding that during his talks with his Armenian counterpart Robert
Kocharian and other senior officials, the sides discussed far-ranging
issues of interest.

The two countries signed memoranda of understanding in economic,
banking, consular, joint investment, energy and electricity transfer
fields.

"The Iranian and Armenian officials have a resolve to expand relations
and cooperation," Ahmadinejad said.

ARE SURVEY RESULTS TRUE?

A1+
[01:48 pm] 23 October, 2007

About 1000-1500 people participate in all kinds of surveys in
Armenia and this average number of participants serves basis for
observations. According to the "Armenian Sociological Association",
they conduct surveys with the participation of 1000-2000 respondents
and, as a rule, their opinion polls reflect the reality. According
to the Association, the number of respondents depends on the customer.

Armen Sargsyan, specialist of "MMPR" Company mentioned that their
opinion polls included about 700 respondents in Yerevan, while in
regions – about 1500 respondents.

"We cannot say definitely whether the respondents are objective or
answer to our questions correctly. We do not have the right to demand
anything from them since they give us information", he said.

About 1500 people participate in the surveys conducted by the Armenian
centre of strategic and national investigations. As Susan Barseghyan,
head of the center said the index of respondents was not important,
more important was the problem they were trying to reveal.

"Few people participate in case of small inquiries and more people –
if the inquiry is more comprehensive", she said to "A1+".

"Prospective sociological technologies" company informed that about
7000 citizens have participated in their surveys. According to them
about 1650 respondents participate in inclusive inquiries and about
100 respondents – in small inquiries.

"Global Developments" company makes program researches and conducts
them in various institutions and organizations, depending on the
topic of the survey.

All companies who participated in our inquiry mentioned that they
took into consideration the objectives and, the most important,
the finances of the consumer to be closer to the reality.