Author: Jalatian Sonya

TOWN ENDS TIES WITH NO PLACE FOR HATE
By Christine Pazanese, Globe Correspondent

the Globe
August 15, 2007

Watertown targets group’s sponsor

Under pressure from its Armenian residents, the Town Council in
Watertown voted last night to rescind its participation in the No
Place for Hate program.

The council’s 8-to-0 vote (one councilor was absent) was a response to
objections by Armenian Americans who say the Anti-Defamation League,
one of the program’s sponsors, refuses to acknowledge what many
consider a genocide committed against Armenians by the Turks from
1915 to 1917.

"We cannot join with the ADL when they refuse to acknowledge the
[Armenian] genocide," said Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney, who
introduced the proclamation to withdraw from the program.

Watertown, with one of the largest populations of Armenians in the
country, was one of 67 communities in Massachusetts to adopt the
program. It joined No Place for Hate in July 2005 and reaffirmed its
participation in June.

Andrew Tarsy, regional director of ADL’s New England office, last
night condemned as "distortions and rhetoric" suggestions that the
ADL has denied a genocide occurred and has been working against
congressional legislation to formally acknowledge the slaughter.

Thirteen members of the town’s No Place for Hate committee met Monday
with Tarsy to "ask for clarification on the ADL’s position" and to
"express our strong objections to its stance," said Will Twombly,
the committee’s cochairman. "We find the ADL’s position unacceptable,"
he said.

Despite his attempt to clarify the ADL’s position, Tarsy was taunted
last night as he defended the success of the program throughout
the state.

"We believe Turkey needs to do more," said Tarsy, who added that ADL
leadership has been using its relationship "to push Turkey to confront
its role in a meaningful way."

David Boyajian of Newton, who first alerted Watertown officials of the
ADL’s position on the genocide in early July, applauded the council’s
decision. "I hope the next step is for No Place for Hate to sever its
ties with the ADL and to encourage the ADL to lobby for recognition
of the Armenian genocide," he said.

It was not clear last night whether Armenians plan to lobby other
towns to drop out of the program.

"We regret the controversy, but we cannot remain silent on a blatant
issue of hypocrisy," Grace Kulegian, a Watertown resident and member
of the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts, told
last night’s gathering.

Many in the crowd implored the council to cut ties with the ADL and
suggested the good works begun under No Place for Hate could continue
independently.

"I don’t think the ADL has a monopoly on battling intolerance,"
said Narini Badalian of Watertown.

ARMENIA WILL PRESENT COMPLETED WORK IN BRUSSELS

Panorama.am
20:51 13/08/2007

Today the new German ambassador Andrea Johana-Maria Viktorina presented
her credentials to foreign minister Vardan Osganyan. As revealed by
ministry spokepersons, the ambassador said the German government would
continue to expand positive relations between the two countries. During
the discussion, the two sides returned to the subject of the high
level of relations, as well as future plans and programs.

Osganyan told the ambassador that Armenia would present an abbreviated
version of its completed work to the first meeting in Brussels of
Euroean neighboring countries, to take place in September.

Concerning the question of Karabakh, the ambassador stated that even
though Germany isn’t a member of the Minsk committee and doesn’t take
an active part in negotiations, that a quick solution, with a lasting
peace, would be beneficial to all.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

A DISCUSSION ON THE PRESS IN ARMENIA ORGANISED
IN THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA

The editorial board of "HASK", the official publication of the Catholicosate
of Cilicia, organized a discussion with Tatoul Hagopian, the Yerevan
correspondent of "Aztag" daily in the Catholicosate of Cilicia’s museum-hall
on the evening of August 8. The topic of the discussion addressed "the
current problems of the media in Armenia and the place of the Diaspora in
it". The editors and journalists of the Lebanese Armenian media attended
the event.

The opening remarks were delivered by the editor in chief of "HASK", V. Rev.
Krikor Chiftjian, who pointed out that in addition to being a medium for
information, the press is also a medium that creates conflict, anger and
satisfaction.

Referring to the current situation in Lebanon, V. Rev. Chiftjian said that a
communication with opinions, ideas, decisions, position and results was made
possible through the media in the last few days. He added that the media
once again proved its ability to provoke or calm down the masses by directly
affecting the emotions of people. V. Rev. Chiftjian concluded that the media
has an important role to play in destroying the wall between Armenia and the
Diaspora.

Reporter and analyst Tatoul Hagopian said during his lecture that the number
of newspaper readers in Armenia today is very little because the population
of Armenia follows the news primarily through broadcast media. He underlined
that the Armenian authorities have adopted a position not to interfere in
the media, adding that the press has no serious impact on public opinion.

Hagopian explained that the newspapers do not have much influence because
the majority of them are established by a group of individuals with the
purpose of making propaganda for them.

Among the difficulties the press in Armenia faces, Hagopian mentioned their
limited circulation, the use of foreign words and corruption. He pointed out
that despite the existence of freedoms for Armenian journalists, it is clear
today that there’s a lack of objective approaches in the Armenian press.
Hagopian assured, however, that the Press Club of Yerevan has an important
influence both in Armenia and outside Armenia.

In the second part of his talk, Hagopian discussed the place of the Diaspora
in the Armenian media. He said that it is usually in the event of negative
developments or occurrences that the press in Armenia reports about the
Diaspora. In this context, Hagopian mentioned that the press in Armenia
published analyses and interpretations of the war against Lebanon last
summer and the website of "Aztag" Daily played an important role in this.

Hagopian proposed that a correspondence network should be established
between Armenia and the Diaspora in order to achieve rapid and correct
reporting. He revealed that often political writings are published in
Armenia in return for financial compensation, a phenomenon that might have a
negative impact on the development of the press.

Hagopian also talked about the radio and television stations in Armenia, the
New Media (internet) and the foreign-language media, assuring that a healthy
competition exists between the radio stations in Armenia.

Hagopian’s talk was followed by questions from the attendants, who expressed
their viewpoints and asked for further explanations on several issues.

##
View photo here:
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about HASK, the
Official Periodical of the Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

MINISTRY REPORTS FOOD SAFETY VIOLATIONS

Panorama.am
17:50 08/08/2007

According to Ministry of Agriculture Food Safety and Veterinary
Inspection data, violations were not reported only in 6 out of 500
cases in the course of April-July, this year. Four hundred names of
expired food, 300 cases of temperature violation, 200 cases of sale
without supportive documents were detected.

Consumer Rights Protection (CRP) NGO Chairman Abgar Yeghoyan has
detected more than 400 different types of breaches in the course of
a monitoring conducted by CRP. "Our inspections has unveiled that
street trade volume has not diminished," Yeghoyan said.

ALL ARMENIANS MUST LEAVE AZERBAIJAN’S OCCUPIED DISTRICT OF LACHIN: DEPUTY MINISTER

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 3 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend K.Ramazanova / All Armenians who are
residing in the Azerbaijan occupied district of Lachin must leave
the district, said the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Araz
Azimov, on 2 August commenting on the information that a large part
of the Armenian population has already left Lachin.

According to Azimov, the Armenians are residing in this territory
illegally. "This cannot continue. Azerbaijanis returning to their
native land is a principle issue. Those who do not reside in their
native land cannot feel comfortable," he said. Azimov stressed that the
Azerbaijanis will return to their native land and will be prepared to
co-exist peacefully with the Armenians. "However, relevant conditions
need to be created for this," Azerbaijani diplomat said.

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

ALIEV, KOCHARIAN ‘MAY MEET AGAIN THIS YEAR’
By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 3 2007

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan may meet again this fall
in yet another attempt to reach a framework peace agreement on
Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior U.S. negotiator reportedly said in Baku
on Friday.

Azerbaijani media quoted Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza as saying that the meeting could take place in October or
November.

Bryza, who is also the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, was
reported to have made the statement after talks with Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. He was received by President
Ilham Aliev on Thursday.

The U.S. official arrived in Baku from Moscow where he discussed with
the Minsk Group’s Russian and French co-chairs the latest impasse
in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Visiting Armenia on Monday, he
indicated that the conflicting parties are unlikely to cut unpopular
peace deals before the start of presidential elections due in both
Armenia and Azerbaijan next year.

According to the Azerbaijani news agency Trend, Bryza sounded more
optimistic on that score in Baku, saying that the mediators should
use the limited time remaining before the presidential races to again
try to get the parties to sort out their remaining differences on
the Minsk Group’s existing peace proposals.

The mediators hoped that Aliev and his Armenian counterpart will
eliminate those differences at their most recent meeting held in the
Russian city of Saint Petersburg in June. However, the two leaders
failed to make further progress in the talks, all but dashing hopes
for a near-term solution to the Karabakh conflict.

KARABAKH ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF DESTABILIZING FRONT LINE SITUATION

Mediamax news agency
1 Aug 07

Yerevan, 1 August: A unit of the defence army of the Nagornyy Karabakh
republic [NKR] has thwarted an attempt by an Azerbaijani sabotage
group to infiltrate the rear positions of the Karabakh armed forces.

The Azerbaijani sabotage group attempted to infiltrate the rear
positions of the Karabakh armed forces near the village of Qarvand
[in Azerbaijan’s Agdam District] in the western sector of the contact
line between the Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces on
the night of 29-30 July, the press service of the NKR defence ministry
told Mediamax today.

The unit of the defence army, which was on its combat duty, discovered
the operation of the sabotage group and took the necessary measures. A
shooting started, as a result of which the enemy was forced to retreat.

The press service of the NKR defence ministry noted that the
Azerbaijani side tried to violate the cease-fire regime again on
31 July.

The NKR defence ministry draws attention to the fact that Baku is
making efforts to destabilize situation on the contact line, the
press service of the defence ministry said.

"The high command of the Karabakh armed forces warns once again
that any action by the Azerbaijani side threatening the security of
Nagornyy Karabakh and aimed at destabilizing the situation in the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone will be resolutely thwarted,"
the press service of the NKR defence ministry said.

PRESS RELEASE
Office of Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
Contact: Adrin Nazarian (818) 240-6330
Chief of Staff
620 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 403
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 240-6330
(818) 240-4632 fax
[email protected]

July 31, 2007
Bob Reid (916) 319-2043

KREKORIAN RESPONDS TO ELECTION SYSTEM REVIEW

Assemblymember Demands Disclosure of Details Of Electronic Voting
Systems

Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) said today that he was deeply
troubled by the results of Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s
"Top-to-Bottom Review" of California’s election systems. The review has
exposed security flaws in the current system that reinforce the urgent
need for Krekorian’s Assembly Bill 852, known as the Secure, Accurate
and Fair Elections (SAFE) Act of 2007, according to the Assemblymember.

"I applaud Secretary of State Bowen for her thorough and detailed review
of election systems in California," said Assemblymember Krekorian. "The
initial results prove what many of us have feared — electronic voting
leaves our elections vulnerable to security breaches and errors. If our
Nation is to maintain its rightful role as the world’s beacon of
democracy, we cannot tolerate an atmosphere of doubt surrounding the
sanctity of our elections."

The initial results of the report show that the electronic voting
systems manufactured by Diebold, Sequoia and Hart Intercivic suffer
flaws that can be exploited by lax observance at the polling place,
flawed procedures at the county level, or a concerted effort to
manipulate the elections process. To date, however, only partial
results of the study have been made public, due to confidentiality
restraints imposed by the manufacturers of the electronic voting
systems.

"Because of the profit concerns of these major corporations, the public
is still being denied access to critical information about one of the
most vital functions government has – ensuring that our elections are
fair and secure," said Assemblymember Krekorian. "This shroud of
secrecy imposed by corporate interests is precisely the reason we need
to enact the SAFE Act, so that every part of the election process is
open, accessible and above-board."

Krekorian’s legislation would require public disclosure of the computer
source code that runs the state’s voting machines. If a manufacturer
refuses to disclose a voting system’s source code, that system could not
be certified for use in California elections. This important reform
will ensure that the public, including voting rights advocates, computer
scientists and the media, could analyze the source code and identify any
potential errors or security risks.

Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) represents 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 Sunday Telegraph (LONDON)
July 29, 2007 Sunday

MILITARY NIGEL JONES ENJOYS A SHORT, SHARP ASSAULT ON THE GREAT WAR

by Nigel Jones

World War One: A Short History
BY NORMAN STONE
ALAN LANE/PENGUIN, pounds 16.99, 208 pp
T pounds 14.99 ( pounds 1.25 p&p) 0870 428 4115

Back in the Thatcherite 1980s Professor Norman Stone was the most
fashionable historian of the day: a Niall Ferguson avant la lettre.

Youngish. Handsomeish. Scottish. Right-wing. Iconoclastic. No
respecter of reputations. A familiar figure in TV studios and
newspaper columns as well as Oxford lecture halls. Then, always his
own man, he prised the mud of Oxford from his feet, exchanging it for
the dust of Istanbul where he has taught at two universities ever
since.

Since then we have heard little of him – apart from a controversy in
which Stone refused to condemn his new Turkish homeland for the 1915
Armenian genocide – an event which he does not admit actually
happened.

Now he is back in Britain, at least in book form, using the genre in
which he is most at home: not a Fergusonian slab of a study
marshalling whole armies of sources and references, but a slim volume
– almost an extended essay, a squib more than a sledgehammer – in
which Stone compresses the whole history of the Great War into fewer
than 200 pages, and does it as entertainingly as his old admirers
would expect.

Reading it is much like hearing a lecture from the Professor in his
prime – it fizzes with life and sparkles with aphorisms tossed off
with aplomb, along with condemnations and commendations alike – most
of them sensible – delivered with magisterial, even arrogant,
authority. Haig’s staff are ‘creepy young officers

who help him on with his coat’. The ‘son of a peasant’ Pétain ‘knew
what he was about’. Ludendorff, by contrast, was ‘really saving his
own reputation: he would encourage others to make an end to the war,
then turn round and say it had not been his fault.’

As might be expected from someone who has already written a brilliant
book on the much-neglected Eastern Front, Stone is especially strong
on theatres apart from the over-familiar Western trenches: especially
Russia and his beloved Turkey, whom he predictably acquits from
responsibility for the Armenian genocide in a couple of lines. The
great iconoclast is no revisionist here, falling in with the main
received truths of modern Great War historiography. Thus the Germans
engineered and started the war; Haig was mulishly stubborn in
refusing to deviate from his full-on offensives, and stupid in his
never-to-be-realised hopes of using his beloved cavalry; and the
Second World War followed inexorably from the failure properly to
occupy Germany after the Armistice and rub their noses in the fact of
their defeat.

In such a short book, which is at once a summary of the war and
Stone’s own take on it, something has to give, and what is missing is
an adequate appreciation of the growing importance of air war and the
war at sea. The book’s faults are the obverse of its glittering
virtues, its skimpy source notes indicating a slightly slipshod
approach to dull facts. It is, surprisingly in such a short text,
repetitious. (We learn twice that the Sarajevo assassin, Princip, was
refreshing himself in a café when his victims happened by; and thrice
that the Russian general staff was called the ‘Stavka’). Some errors
are of the schoolboy howler variety: Hemingway’s novel about
Caporetto was called A Farewell to Arms not Goodbye to Arms and the
explosive used to blow up the Messines ridge was ammonal, not TNT. If
you are going to play the magisterial authority it is important to
get the facts right.

All told though, Stone’s introduction to the war – following in the
distinguished footsteps of Michael Howard, Correlli Barnett and Hew
Strachan, who have all written their own short histories of the
conflict – is thought-provoking, readable and thoroughly enjoyable,
and his conclusion, as Hitler, temporarily blinded by a gas attack,
meditates the next war on the very day that the Great War ended, is
chillingly prophetic. Students of the great slaughter are now spoiled
for choice.

The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada)
July 28, 2007 Saturday
Final Edition

Eisenberger hearing Jackson’s footsteps

by Terry Cooke, The Hamilton Spectator

"Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you." — baseball
great Satchel Paige

With more than three years to go before the next municipal election,
the number of potential challengers for the mayor’s job is growing.
The names of Marie Bountrogianni, Brad Clark, Lloyd Ferguson and Chad
Collins wouldn’t begin to exhaust the list of prospects. And just for
fun, let’s add the name of business mogul- philanthropist Mark
Chamberlain.

But Fred Eisenberger should pay special attention to east-Mountain
Councillor Tom Jackson. Jackson has quietly positioned himself as the
politician most likely to frustrate the mayor’s aspirations for a
second term and succeed at the political version of Survivor that
promises to play out over the next couple of years.

Jackson may be better prepared than others for what lies ahead
because he is a consummate survivor in life and politics. Jackson’s
father arrived in Canada after having been orphaned in the Armenian
genocide. The name on his passport read Missag Toumajian. Canada in
the 1950s was not a place of opportunity for people with strange
names and dark skin, so he reinvented himself as Ernie Jackson.

His son, Toros Toumajian, became Tom Jackson so he could have a
fighting chance in their new country. Starting kindergarten, Tom was
fluent in Armenian but couldn’t speak a word of English. Perhaps
because of that initial handicap, he learned to develop relationships
easily with people from all walks of life. Those abilities would
serve him well in his chosen career as a politician.

A McMaster grad who worked at Stelco before owning a pair of Second
Cup stores, Jackson was first elected to council in 1988 in his
second attempt for public office. He has polled among the highest
vote totals of any councillor across the city in every election
since.

Jackson suffered a setback when he ran on Hamilton Mountain for
Stephen Harper’s Tories in the 2004 federal election (along with
Eisenberger, who ran for the Tories in Hamilton East) but bounced
back last year to win big — again — municipally.

Jackson has more finely tuned political antennae than any member of
council, including the mayor. He is an old-fashioned populist with an
uncanny nose for public opinion. Jackson’s support spans many parts
of the constituency. His following includes an unconventional but
potent mix of social conservatives, suburban ratepayers, cops and
ethnic minorities.

The most visible sign that Eisenberger has started looking over his
shoulder came last month, when he threw his media adviser Ian Dovey
over the side and restructured his office in an attempt to impose
some administrative discipline. Less than a year into a four-year
term, the mayor wisely recognized that his political honeymoon is
over, with little accomplished and no clear agenda.

Even more troubling for the mayor is a recognition that the coalition
that got him elected has unravelled, leaving him without a reliable
political base. The critical first year of his mandate was spent
chasing fringe issues, like an anti-idling bylaw, that siphoned
energy from the things that will surely define the next election: a
healthier local economy and taxes.

Look for the mayor to sharpen his focus to a few key issues come the
fall as he attempts to recapture lost momentum.

Negotiating a permanent solution to downloading, driving economic
development, redeveloping the West Harbour and landing an NHL team
will likely consume Eisenberger’s attention as he readies himself for
re-election.

Jackson, on the other hand, will wait patiently in the wings to see
if Eisenberger falters. He thinks the race will be won by the
challenger with the fewest enemies and least self-inflicted wounds.

Having spent much of his life preparing for just this kind of test,
Tom Jackson’s survival instincts will make him a contender worth
watching.

Freelance columnist Terry Cooke is a former Hamilton-Wentworth
regional chair. He is president of Cooke Capital Corporation.