Author: Jagharian Tania

ICON COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES EXTENSION OF COVERAGE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.09.2009 13:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ iCON Communications announced today the immediate
availability of its broadband Internet service in the Nor Norq and
Avan districts of Yerevan. This is part of the planned expansion of
service to cover all of Yerevan in the coming months. As of today,
Nor Norq districts 2-8, as well as part of district 1, are covered
by iCON’s state of the art WiMAX network. The southern and central
sections of Avan are also covered.

"We are very excited about this significant extension of our coverage
area. The Nor Norq and Avan communities are home to thousands of
residents that can now benefit from improved access to the global
community of information, commerce and personal communication" stated
Adam Kablanian, Chief Executive Officer of iCON Communications. "Also,
because iCON customers can access the Internet anywhere in our coverage
area, our existing customers can now use their iCON modems in Nor
Norq and Avan, just as our new customers in these districts can use
their modems anywhere else in the city where we provide coverage."

iCON’s network now covers over 70 square kilometers, including the
following districts: Kentron, Arabkir, Achapnyak, Vahakni Taghamas,
Kasakh village, Zeitun, Kayaran district, Nor Norq sections 2-8, and
Avan. Residents in all of these districts can choose from a variety
of wireless internet modems, including desktop modems and convenient
USB modems that can be carried and used anywhere in iCON’s network.

WORLD BANK TO DEVELOP NEW COOPERATION PROGRAM WITH ARMENIA FOR 2010

ARMENPRESS
Aug 31, 2009

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS: World Bank will develop new cooperation
program with Armenia for 2010, Aristomene Varudakis, head of the WB
Armenian Office, said today at a press conference. He said that by
the end of the year half of the loan money will be transferred to
Armenia. Moreover, steps are being undertaken to provide sums as soon
as possible.

Varudakis noted that the WB provided to Armenia means for renovation of
rural roads of vital importance, about 50 million USD for increasing
the level of providing credits particularly to small and medium-sized
enterprises, about 30 million USD for restoration of irrigation
network, about 25 million USD for implementation of educational
reforms. In late June agreement on providing 60 million USD loan to
Armenia as budget assistance has been provided to close the financial
gap created as a result of crisis.

Referring to the Armenian government’s anti-crisis events, Varudakis
did not share the viewpoint that the Armenia’s executive body is
conducting sponsorship policy. He said the government tries to avoid
such phenomena as much as possible.

NOAM CHOMSKY AND GENOCIDAL CAUSALITY
Marko Attila Hoare

Bosnian Institute News
ewsid=2624
Aug 31 2009

Dissection of Chomsky’s sophistry on the issue of who was to blame
for Serbian ethnic cleansing in Kosova

It is with some hesitation that I comment on the exchange between
Noam Chomsky and Ian Williams over the question of responsibility
for the bloodshed in Kosova in the late 1990s. Chomsky has no
expertise and nothing interesting to say on the topic of the former
Yugoslavia, and it is only because of his status as the world’s no. 1
‘anti-imperialist’ guru that his utterances on the topic attract as
many responses as they do. Chomsky epitomises the ‘anti-imperialist’
ideologue who believes in two things: 1) that the US is to blame
for everything; and 2) that everything the US does is bad. If you
share this worldview, then nothing said by Chomsky’s critics, such
as Williams or Oliver Kamm, is going to convince you that he may
be wrong on Kosova. If, on the other hand, you do not share this
worldview, and are not star-struck by the celebrity Chomsky, then his
rambling comparisons between the Western response over Kosova and the
Western response over East Timor can only appear extremely tortuous
and boring. It is tiresome yet again to point out, for example, the
absolute falsehood of Chomsky’s claim that ‘the crimes in East Timor
at the same time’ as the Kosovo war ‘were far worse than anything
reported in Kosovo prior to the NATO bombing’ – it simply isn’t true.

I am using Chomsky, therefore, only to open a discussion on the
question of genocidal causality, and the insidious nature of the
sophistry employed by Chomsky and his ‘anti-imperialist’ comrades:
that Serbian ethnic-cleansing in Kosova occurred in response to the
NATO bombing and was therefore NATO’s fault. As Chomsky put it: ‘The
NATO bombing did not end the atrocities but rather precipitated by
far the worst of them, as had been anticipated by the NATO command
and the White House.’ The thrust of Chomsky’s argument is that
since NATO commanders predicted that the NATO bombing would lead
to a massive escalation of Serbian attacks on the Kosova Albanian
civilian population, and since this prediction was borne out, then
NATO is responsible for having cold-bloodedly caused the atrocities
that occurred after the bombing started.

The falsehood of this logic can be demonstrated if we ask the following
questions:

1) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but what precipitated the bombing ?

The answer is that the NATO bombing of Serbia in March 1999
was precipitated by Belgrade’s rejection of the Rambouillet
Accords. Belgrade was aware that rejecting the Rambouillet Accords
would precipitate Serbia being bombed by NATO, but rejected them
nevertheless. By Chomsky’s own logic, therefore, Serbia’s own actions
precipitated the NATO bombings, and were consequently responsible for
those bombings. Since, according to Chomsky, the bombings led to the
atrocities, that means that Serbia was responsible for the atrocities
after all.

What Chomsky would like us to believe, is that if a US or NATO
action produced a predictable Serbian response, then the response
was the fault of the US/NATO. But if, on the other hand, a Serbian
action produced a predictable US/NATO response, then the response
was still the fault of the US/NATO. This is self-evidently a case of
double standards.

2) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but what would have been precipitated by a failure
to bomb ?

>From reading Chomsky and his fellow ‘anti-imperialists’, one would
almost believe that the bloodshed in Kosova had been – in Edward Said’s
words – a ‘Sunday school picnic’ prior to the NATO bombing. Yet this
is what Human Rights Watch reported in January 1999, more than two
months before the bombing began:

The government forces intensified their offensive throughout July and
August [1998], despite promises from Milosevic that it had stopped. By
mid-August, the government had retaken much of the territory that had
been held by the KLA, including their stronghold of Malisevo. Unable
to protect the civilian population, the KLA retreated into Drenica
and some pockets in the West.

Some of the worst atrocities to date occurred in late September, as the
government’s offensive was coming to an end. On September 26, eighteen
members of an extended family, mostly women, children, and elderly,
were killed near the village of Donje Obrinje by men believed to be
with the Serbian special police. Many of the victims had been shot
in the head and showed signs of bodily mutilation. On the same day,
thirteen ethnic Albanian men were executed in the nearby village of
Golubovac by government forces. One man survived and was subsequently
taken out of the country by the international agencies in Kosovo.

The government offensive was an apparent attempt to crush civilian
support for the rebels. Government forces attacked civilians,
systematically destroyed towns, and forced thousands of people to
flee their homes. One attack in August near Senik killed seventeen
civilians who were hiding in the woods. The police were seen looting
homes, destroying already abandoned villages, burning crops, and
killing farm animals.

The majority of those killed and injured were civilians. At least
300,000 people were displaced, many of them women and children now
living without shelter in the mountains and woods. In October, the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identified an estimated
35,000 of the displaced as particularly at risk of exposure to the
elements. Most were too afraid to return to their homes due to the
continued police presence. [our emphasis]

(Contrary to what Chomsky says, the number killed in Kosova prior
to the start of the NATO bombing was greater than the number of East
Timorese civilians killed by the Indonesians and their proxies during
the whole of 1999).

Chomsky is saying that if – instead of presenting an ultimatum
to Belgrade at Rambouillet and then proceeding to bomb Serbia when
Belgrade defied that ultimatum – the NATO powers had given Belgrade a
free hand in Kosova, then Serbian repression in Kosova would simply
have continued at what he considers to be an acceptable level. Of
course, there is no way of proving one way or the other what would
have happened in Kosova if NATO hadn’t gone to war in the spring of
1999, but given the catalogue of horrors in the former Yugoslavia
that were demonstrably not ‘precipitated’ by Western military
intervention – the destruction of Vukovar, the siege of Sarajevo,
the Srebrenica massacre, the killing of at least 100,000 Bosnians,
the ethnic-cleansing of 300,000 Kosovars, etc. – the evidence suggests
that it would not have resembled Edward Said’s ‘Sunday school picnic’.

3) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but even if this were true, would this make those
atrocities NATO’s fault ?

Genocides are invariably ‘precipitated’ by something or other. The
Armenian Genocide was ‘precipitated’ by the outbreak of World War I and
Tsarist Russia’s military advance into Anatolia. The Rwandan Genocide
was ‘precipitated’ by the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s offensive against
the Rwandan Army, the Arusha Accords and by the shooting down of the
plane carrying Rwanda’s President Juvenal Habyarimana. Of course,
it is entirely legitimate for historians to interpret instances of
genocide as having been ‘precipitated’ by something or other, but
anyone who uses such explanations to shift the responsibility away
from the perpetrators – whether Ottoman, Hutu, German, Serbian or
other – is simply an apologist or a denier.

On 30 January 1939, Adolf Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag in
which he stated: ‘If the world of international financial Jewry,
both in and outside of Europe, should succeed in plunging the nations
into another world war, the result will not be the Bolshevisation
of the world and thus a victory for Judaism. The result will be the
extermination of the Jewish race in Europe.’

Hitler therefore made it explicit that the outbreak of a world war
would result in the extermination of the Jews in Europe. Indeed,
the outbreak and course of World War II ‘precipitated’ the
Holocaust. Britain and France, when they declared war on Germany
in September 1939, were by Chomsky’s logic responsible for the
Holocaust. Some ‘anti-imperialists’ have, in fact, attempted to make
this very point.

In sum, Chomsky’s case is a disgrace at the level of plain reasoning,
never mind at the level of ethics.

Let there be no mistake about this: atrocities, ethnic cleansing and
genocide are the responsibility of those who commit them. Whatever
‘precipitates’ them, they are the fault of their perpetrators. And
it would be a sorry world indeed if were were to allow perpetrators
to deter us from taking action to stop atrocities, ethnic cleansing
and genocide, by their threat to commit still worse crimes in the
event that we do take action.

This comment was posted on the author’s Greater Surbiton website,
25 August 2009

Georgia attempts to expel Armenians from Kvemo Kartli region
29.08.2009 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Following active protests and statements regarding
Georgian authorities’ anti-Armenian policy in northern Lori (Kvemo
Kartli), particularly waterline cutoff in Armenian village Damya, we
observe certain progress, Edward Abramyan, expert at Mitk analytical
centre, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. To prevent conflicts between
Armenian and Georgians residing in villages, officials from Marneul
region are carrying out visits to the region to understand the causes
of waterline cutoff.

`Despite such spontaneous interest, Georgia does not pursue positive
plans in the long-run. Particularly, under Tbilisi’s direct
instruction, several Georgian marionettes with Azerbaijani origins
attempt to incite tension between local Armenians and Azeris so as to
distract both nations’ attention from Georgia’s on-going anti-Armenian
and anti-Azerbaijani policy. In that regard, we attach more importance
not only to the Armenian public-political organizations’ visits to
inhabited areas but also the voiced questions regarding Armenian
frontier villages of Kvemo Kartli. In the meantime, we add that some
Azeri marionettes like Abiala Askerov, leader of Azeris’ Popular
Movement in Georgia, has already flooded Azerbaijani press with
anti-Armenian statements,’ expert stressed.

Askerov reported to Azerbaijan’s Trend News agency that several water
reservoirs were constructed by the assistance of donor
organizations. `On behalf the region’s Armenian population, I’d like
to ask Mr. Askerov’s where those facilities are. Besides, I don’t
understand why Azeri media have not so far published their corrupt
activist’s statement in that regard. Alibalah Askerov is known to have
actively supported Georgia in populating Kvemo Kartli with
Georgians. In the 1990s, Askerov had relationship ties with Head of
National Security Service in Kazakh region, Azerbaijan. He and Askerov
were actively engaged in arms trade. They sol
o Armenians, namely, `Armenian National Army’ which used to fight for
Karabakh’s freedom and independence. Besides, Askerov has his arms
blood-stained up to the elbows. Receiving his Georgian bosses’
approval, he ordered the murder of 6 Armenian activists who were set
on fire in a car near the Azerbaijani village of Saral. This was
followed by the arrest of Smbat Urumyan, Head of `Armenian National
Army’s’ regional organization, who wanted to take revenge for such
heinous crime. However, considering several factors, organization’s
leadership closed eyes to all that. Hence, Alibala Askerov owes much
to Armenian side for its tolerance.’

NOCA CHAIRMAN CALLS DIASPORAN SPORTSMEN FOR PERFORMING UNDER RA FLAG

Noyan Tapan
Aug 27, 2009

YEREVAN, AUGUST 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Gagik Tsarukian,
the Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia, made a
statement calling all leading Diasporan sportsmen (prize-winners of
European and world championships) for performing under Armenia’s
flag. The statement read that all authoritative and experienced
sportsmen will be provided with an apartment, car, high salary (2-5
thousand USD) and all necessary conditions.

Everybody who wishes can apply to NOCA: tel.: (+374 10) 52-84-14,
e-mail: [email protected]:

ANKARA SEEKS TO ACCUSE YEREVAN OF SUSPENDING ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROCESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.08.2009 15:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ No real changes have been observed in
Armenian-Turkish relations over the past 2-3 months. Armenia has many
times declared its position on normalizing ties with Turkey without
preconditions, Eurointegration NGO’s chair Karen Bekaryan told
journalists today. "Recent development in the process was Armenian
Presidents statement on going to Turkey only in case the border opens
or parties are in the run-up to lifting the blockade. Such statement
was followed by a pause, although process develops in an invisible
manner," Armenian expert noted.

According to him, Turkey will do its utmost to prove to the world
that such suspension was caused by Armenia. "No wonder Turkish
media characterized Armenian leader’s statement as precondition set
by Yerevan. Turkey already creates all prerequisites for accusing
Armenia of destructive policy in case Serzh Sargsyan does not go
there to watch return football match," Karen Bekaryan said.

The return match between Turkish and Armenian national teams is due
on October 14 in Bursa, in the stadium named after Ataturk.

WHEN CAN IT BE CONSIDERED GENOCIDE AND WHY IT MATTERS

Voice of America News
August 25, 2009

Historians today recognize the Holocaust of the mid-20th century
in which victims of Nazi Germany were killed " based on their
ethnicity, religion, or nationality " as the quintessential example of
"genocide." Six million of those victims were Jews.

But what about other ethnic or religious groups targeted for extinction
during the 20th and 21st centuries? Can their deaths also be called
genocide? And why does that designation matter so much?

The Definition

Bridget Conley-Zilkic, project director of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, says Rafael Lemkin, an
international lawyer at the Nuremberg War Trials after World War II,
first used the term "genocide" in 1944 in a book describing patterns of
destruction in Nazi-occupied Europe that he believed were unique. "He
was trying to describe the cumulative effect of multiple attacks
against a people. And in his mind this included cultural genocide,
murder, and destruction of religious and other cultural artifacts."

But later, the legal definition of genocide would change, Conley-Zilkic
explains, and it would be restricted to "the intent to destroy " in
whole or in part " an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group
as such." But the emphasis on intent makes genocide very difficult
to prove, she notes.

Armenians in World War I

Lemkin’s understanding of genocide was greatly influenced by his
study of what had happened to more than one million Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire. And in his later work he cited Armenia as an
example of atrocities, of genocide," Conley-Zilkic says. But Turkey,
the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, denies the genocidal intent
of the mass murder of the Armenians, beginning in 1915 and continuing
beyond the end of World War I. Armenia is a controversial case today,
but the Holocaust Memorial Museum has not taken a stand one way on
the matter, Conley-Zilkic points out. Part of the controversy centers
on historical discussions between the Turkish government and the
relatives of survivors in other countries. "But another part of the
controversy is political," she notes. "Although determining what the
facts are should be a matter of study for historians," she emphasizes,
"history is not without political consequence."

"There is a lot at stake in being able to say that genocide happened,"
Conley-Zilkic explains. Group identity often gets caught up in the
question. "What is at stake for a lot of groups is an existential
threat to their existence " the sense that the entire group’s
capacity to survive has been put at risk," she says. "Genocide is a
crime that not only kills individuals but also involves an attempt
to erase a group’s record from society. And that’s what makes groups
extremely protective of the historical record around their suffering,"
she observes.

Roma and Sinti in World War II

Conley-Zilkic notes that the Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) were also
targeted in a systematic way during the Nazi period. Based on their
belief in a superior "Aryan race," the Nazis justified getting rid of
other targeted non-Aryan groups. The events of World War II raise the
question of what to do with this history, Conley-Zilkic says. "I think
there is a lot we can " and must " learn from these other histories."

Under the legal definition, those acts that constitute genocide
are biological. But other questions linger, Conway-Zilkic says. "For
example, can you destroy a group by enforced assimilation, by changing
languages, or blocking access to cultural identity?" Bosnian Muslims
in the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia has ruled that only one incident from the
1992-1995 war constitutes genocide " Srebrenica. In 1993, the United
Nations declared the small town in eastern Bosnia a safe haven for
Bosniaks. Conley-Zilkic says, "When the Bosnian Serbs took the town
in 1995, they systematically executed some 8,000 men and boys."

Tutsi Minority in Rwanda during War of 1994

For too long, atrocities that occurred against civilians in Africa were
treated almost as if they were a natural phenomenon, Conley-Zilkic
says. During the 1994 war in Rwanda, for example, world leaders
described the killing as tribal conflict. But she calls Rwanda the most
thorough and brutal and clear-cut case of genocide since the Holocaust.

Darfur Region in Sudan Today

Conley-Zilkic says that for the 10th anniversary of the genocide
in Rwanda, she and her colleagues at the Museum worked together on
projects to ensure that Rwanda was remembered and that the real lessons
of history had been learned. By 2004, she says there was widespread
agreement that what was happening in Darfur constituted crimes against
humanity. When civilians are targeted in large numbers, it is never a
natural phenomenon. It takes enormous planning and organization, and
the role of leaders is of extreme importance. Issue of Responsibility
by Governments

Although political leaders alone cannot create genocide, they can
choose the basic dynamics. They can choose to escalate the level
of rhetoric and hate speech. They can also choose to arm militias,
Conley-Zilkic says. Holding them accountable for those decisions
afterward is important. Some historians have suggested that other mass
atrocities bear a resemblance to genocide " for example, Stalin"s
forced famine in 1932-32 resulting in the death of seven million
Ukrainians, Japan"s killing of an estimated 300,000 Chinese in Nanking
in 1937-38, and the murder of two million Cambodians by the Khmer
Rouge in 1975-79. Other historians have raised questions about the
Trail of Tears, the forced march of the Cherokee Indian nation from
America"s southeastern states to Oklahoma in the early 19th century.

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that
requires member nations to prevent acts of genocide during times of
war and peace. But the U.N. treaty was passed with the proviso that no
claim of genocide could be brought against signatory nations without
their consent. So, there are still barriers to enforcement.

There is probably no country on this earth, Conley-Zilkic says,
that does not have some history in its formation of some atrocity or
assault against minority groups. Facing our own difficult history is
the starting point for protecting human rights today.

ARMENIAN-TURKISH COOPERATION: THE TRAFFICKING OF ARMENIAN WOMEN TO ANTALYA
Ararat Davtyan

2009/ 08/24 | 16:21

Feature Stories

Laura Azaryan left for Turkey alone in 2001. There she married a
Turkish man Oumit Ramazan Poujlu. In 2008, she telephoned her brother,
Gagik Karapetyan and told him that they owned a casino in Turkey. She
made a proposal to her brother; that he locate young, attractive
girls in Armenia and send them to the casino to "wait on tables".

Gagik, comprehending what his sister and her husband had in mind, the
nefarious exploitation of the girls once they arrived, nevertheless
gave his verbal consent to the plan.

This is part of the descriptive file in the criminal case that has
been launched against Laura and Gagik. The case is now being heard
in the Aragatzotn Regional Court, Judge Souren Mnoyan presiding.

Gagik Karapetyan, in his preliminary testimony, noted that after many
years of living in Ukraine he moved back to Armenia in February,
2008. Two months later his sister in Turkey made the proposal to
round up girls in Armenia. He says that he told his sister that
he didn’t know where to look. His sister was persistent and Gagik,
feeling ashamed, sought the assistance of Armineh, a family in-law.

"It was May of last year. One day Gagik came to our house and said
that his brother Roubo had opened a restaurant in the Ukraine. Gagik
said that if he could find 4-5 good workers he’d turn the place into
an Armenian restaurant and it would be a success. I told him it was
great news and that I’d go as well," 51 year-old Armineh stated in
court. It was through Armineh that Gagik met with 49 year-old Rima,
who was supposed to work as a cleaner.

"A day later Gagik said that we have to leave for Turkey; that
his sister had a house and casino there where we could work. I was
supposed to work in the bar as a cashier for $500 a month. Rima would
be a dishwasher. This Gagik was a relation I trusted him. We left
for Turkey," Armineh continues.

Gagik paid for all the expenses. On May 31, 2008, he, along with
Armineh and Rima, boarded a bus for Trabzon. From there they would
travel to Antalya.

"Laura and her Turkish husband were there to greet us when we
arrived. They were very nice and hospitable. They took us to the
sea-side and showed us around the town. Ten days later however,
I had to return to Armenia to take care of some matters. Before I
left I had asked Laura several times what bar would we be working
at and why they hadn’t shown us the place. Laura told me that the
casino was quite far from where we were staying; that we’d start to
work after I returned from Armenia," recounts Armineh.

In her court testimony, Laura claims that she made no such proposal
to her brother and she was quite surprised when he arrived in Turkey,
let alone accompanied by two women.

"Armineh is a relation but Rima was a total stranger. Armineh told me
that Rima owed her $200 and asked if she could work a bit and make
some money to pay off the debt. I told Armineh that Rima was sickly
and that she couldn’t work in the bar. Armineh persisted however
and being a relation, I couldn’t refuse. I told Armineh that Rima
could stay and work sorting fruit in a factory we’d be opening in
September. She could work and pay off the debt," Laura said.

All the while, Rima told the court that after Armineh had left for
Armenia, Laura had suggested that she work in their house for $300
a month. "I did the laundry, the dishes and cleaned the house. I did
it all. I worked there for six months but never got paid," says Rima.

According to the criminal case file, when Laura found out that Rima’s
sister had two young, attractive daughters, she, along with her
brother Gagik and husband Oumit, traveled to Armenia in June 2008
to recruit the girls and that it was through Armineh that they got
acquainted with 20 year-old Irina and 18 year-old Nvard.

"Laura was trying to convince me and my sister to go to Turkey. She
would always point out the poor living conditions here in
Armenia. She’d always say how pretty I was; trying to butter me
up. I had just graduated from high school and still didn’t have a
passport. Laura told me not to fret; that she’d wait for as long as
possible. I turned her down but my sister was naïve. She trusted
Laura and left," Nvard told the court examiner.

"We really had a hard time back then. We had a $1,200 debt to pay
off. I was studying in one of the colleges in Yerevan. It was the
summer vacation, so I decided to go to Turkey for two months," says
Irina, "Laura said we’d get paid $500 a month waiting tables in the
bar, handing out tea. She even promised that I could return the next
day if things didn’t work out. Laura told my mom that she’d take care
of me like her own child."

Irina also tended to believe in Laura since she got a phone call from
her Aunt Rima in Turkey, saying that everything was OK and that there
was nothing to worry about.

During questioning in court, Rima claimed that every time she made
a phone call Gagik was watching over her like a hawk and that she
couldn’t utter a word about what was really happening. Rima also
claimed that Gagik would slip her some pills, allegedly headache
medicine, that would leave her in a "drunken stupor".

Nuneh, born in 1985, also believed Laura’s promises of easy money and
a better life in Turkey. Nuneh, along with Irina, left for Antalya
in the company of Oumit Poujlu on August 8, 2008. Laura, on the other
hand, remained in Armenia. On her return to Armenia, the Turkish border
guards noticed that her visa had expired so they deported her. In order
that she could once again enter Turkey she entered into a sham marriage
with a man named Azaryan and officially had her last name changed.

Irina recounts, "Laura and Oumit took care of the visas and travel
expenses. After arriving in Antalya they treated us well for the first
four days; they showed us the sites, the sea. Later they invited us
out to a casino-bar, which was really a night club. We were seated
around a large table in the presence of some scantily clad older
Turkish women. They were there to entertain the customers. Oumit and
Gagik told us right there that we’d be doing the same thing."

The criminal case file reads, "…threatening that they would leave
them alone, hungry and without passports in a foreign land, depriving
them of freedom of movement and any possibility to return to Armenia,
Oumit Poujlu and Gagik Karapetyan, in prior agreement with Laura
Azaryan, forced the girls to perform belly dances and perform the
wishes of clients; to sit on their laps, allow them to be kissed
and to place their hands on intimate body parts. This took place
in the "Melody" and "Kartila" night casino-bars in Antalya. These
establishments belonged to others."

"…There was no other alternative. We were forced to work in these
bars and entertain the clients, however disgusting the work. We get
the clients to drink up. The daily minimum we’d make off the drinks
was about $200. It all went to Oumit and Gagik. We never got paid a
dime. They’d even get angry when the daily take was low."

Nuneh testified in court that, "We’d eat once a day and sleep on the
floor. They generally wouldn’t let us leave the house, fearing that
we’d get picked up by the police and give them away. They’d lock us
inside the house and take us to the bar by car."

"You can’t imagine the state I was in. I held back my tears and put on
a fake smile for the customers; so that they wouldn’t complain. The bar
owners weren’t satisfied with how Rima was working. Gagik then began
to threaten me and even slapped me around a few times, saying I wasn’t
pulling my weight and wouldn’t get anything to eat. We showered with
cold water. Gagik said heating the water used up too much electricity.

Irina remembers that, "From day one Gagik tried to butter me up, saying
that he was in love with me. He even proposed that we live together
and said that if I didn’t agree to marry him he’d throw me from the
10th floor…They had taken my passport and only handed it back when I
went to work. They said it was just in case authorities from Istanbul
came. If only just one policeman had shown up. But no one ever came."

During court interrogation Gagik stated, "I’m a 40 year-old man and
never in my life would I allow myself to do such things. Irina didn’t
get along with me because I would make comments about her cleaning." He
added that he proposed marriage as a joke. Laura, Gagik’s sister,
testified that she was in Armenia and knew nothing about what was
going on.

"I telephoned my husband and asked if the girls had adapted and if
they were all-right. He said they were OK. They travelled around
there for more than a week. I gave them a place to stay. I’m not the
person that usually does that. I’m also upset that my husband took
the girls to the sea-side. I asked my husband on the phone whether
he wasn’t embarrassed of what the neighbors would say; that he left
our building with these girls in tow and drove off to the beach? I
told him to send them back to Armenia immediately," Laura testified,
arguing her innocence in the matter and denying any involvement in
any sexual exploitation of the girls.

"About 10-15 days after the girls left, Irina secretly called me from
Turkey and said that Laura had tricked them and that they were engaged
in some pretty ‘inappropriate’ work, recounts Armineh, who is included
in the case as a witness. "I immediately went to see Laura who said
nothing of the kind was taking place and that it was all a pack of
lies. She phoned her husband Oumit and conversed in Turkish with him,
but I could make out that she was angry with him for giving the girls
phone access. I directly went to the police and informed them about
the entire matter."

According to the time frame presented by Armineh, the police had been
informed about Laura and her Turkish operation no later than August
25, 2008. However, on September 3, 2008, she was able to cross the
Armenian border at Bagratashen and make her way to Batum. Her Turkish
husband Oumit was waiting for her there and for the "cargo" she was
bringing – Lilit, born in 1979, and her 8 year-old daughter.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN PARTICIPATES IN CLOSING CEREMONY OF GRAND PRIX IN JERMUK

ARMENPRESS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, 2009

Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation, President of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan visited August 23 Armenian resort town of Jermuk to be present
at the closing ceremony of the Grand Prix "Jermuk-2009" tournament
dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Tigran Petrosyan. Greeting the
present Serzh Sargsyan noted that this tournament was a chess holiday
not only for Armenia but for the whole chess loving community of
the world.

In his speech the president thanked International Chess Federation
and its Chairman Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for cooperation in the conduction
of the tournament. The president also thanked the participating chess
players who showed a beautiful game. Serzh Sargsyan also congratulated
the winner Vassily Ivanchuk.

After the speech the Armenian President, Tigran Petrosyan’s son Vardan
Petrosyan, and leadership of FIDE awarded souvenirs and prizes to
the first three winners of the championship.

The participants of the ceremony warmly congratulated the winner of
"Grand Prix" Levon Aronyan. The president too congratulated Aronyan
and handed him a certificate on acquiring an apartment in one of the
newly built buildings in downtown Yerevan.

ARMENIA SAILER AND ITS CREW TO BE MET IN U.S.

Noyan Tapan
Aug 19, 2009

LOS ANGELES, AUGUST 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
sailer named Armenia will reach California on August 24. According
to a correspondent of Noyan Tapan, on the initiative of the Armenian
Consulate General of Los Angeles the sailer and its crew will be met
on that day in Los Angeles. It began its voyage round the world on
the Diasporan ways from Spanish Valencia city this year on May 28,
the Day of the First Republic of Armenia.

The Armenia sailer has already passed Gibraltar, the Atlantic Ocean,
Barbados Island, Panama Canal, then it will reach New Zealand,
Australia, Indian Ocean, Indonesian Islands, Singapore, Indian
Peninsula, the Persian Bay, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea through
the Pacific Ocean. The end of the navigation will be Beirut.

The Armenia sailer will cast its anchor in San Pedro port. Captain Zori
Balayan and his crew are sure that passing through their ancestors’
ocean route will be a tie between Diaspora and Armenia. They are going
to make excavations in all continents to discover and present the
Armenian memorials, they will meet the Armenians living in Diaspora
who have created a small part of their Homeland by keeping all signs
of the culture.

Both our compatriots of Diaspora and foreigners will have an
opportunity to see the Armenia sailer at San Pedro port on August
24. The symbol of Eternity, the Armenian Cross, and the 36 letters of
Mashtots alphabet (the Armenian alphabet) are located in the middle
of the sailer.

"Our compatriots of California wait for the Armenia sailer from
Armenia with great triumph and enthusiasm", a correspondent of Noyan
Tapan reported from Los Angeles.

Gayane Manukian, United States, for Hayern Aysor