Author: Jalatian Sonya

Armenian peacekeepers may go to Iraq in early 2005
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
25 Dec 04
[Presenter in studio] Yesterday’s extraordinary session of the
Armenian National Assembly approved the memorandum on mutual
understanding related to the sending of an Armenian peacekeeping
contingent to Iraq with a vote of 91 in favour, 23 against and one
abstention. Forty-six Armenian servicemen will be sent to Iraq for one
year in early 2005. They will be mainly snipers, doctors and
drivers. The defence minister said that they will be working mainly in
humanitarian spheres.
[Passage omitted: The National Assembly discussed other issues as
well]
[Correspondent over video of parliament] The defence minister pointed
out that an Armenian peacekeeping contingent might go to Iraq on 5
January 2005.
[Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan] Forty-six people, including one
commander, will go to Iraq. One officer, one platoon commander, three
doctors, including one cardiologist, therapist and psychologist, 10
snipers and 30 drivers will be at the headquarters of a Polish
communications division.
[Correspondent] The members of the National Assembly said that
although the discussions were difficult, this decision is
important. The fact that the decision was unanimously adopted by the
overwhelming majority testifies that they stick to the same position.
The Justice bloc and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun voted against the decision. The main argument of those
who are against sending an Armenian contingent to Iraq is that the
security of Armenians living abroad [in Iraq] is not guaranteed. The
defence minister said he was not worried about the presence of
Armenian representatives abroad.
[Sarkisyan] I hope that our security will strengthen, our borders will
open and international organizations and individual states that are in
favour of establishing peace and stability in the world will not have
a different attitude to the South Caucasus countries.
[Passage omitted: The parliament discussed the state budget]

Washington Times, DC
Dec 26 2004
Forum: Turkey belongs in Europe
By opening negotiations on membership with Turkey, the European Union
(EU) has shown itself dynamic, purposeful and self-confident. This
step underlines the EU’s ambition to cement freedom, stability and
prosperity in Europe. At the same time, we send a message around the
world: the European Union is sustained by shared values, principles
and interests, not by exclusion on religious or cultural grounds.
The decision to start negotiating, made by Europe’s leaders in
Brussels Dec. 17, has done away with a great deal of psychological
and political uncertainty about whether Turkey can be considered part
of Europe. Nevertheless, tough negotiations lie ahead on the long and
winding road to full Turkish membership. The reforms undertaken in
Turkey in the past two years have been truly impressive. The EU wants
to ensure reform will continue. Turkish authorities should do more,
for example, to protect religious minorities’ rights.

The prospect of EU membership is already transforming Turkey, and
the country’s accession will likewise profoundly affect the EU. In 10
to 15 years, an EU of approximately 500 million people will absorb a
country with some 80 million inhabitants. Turkey will have the same
rights as other member states, but its size will give it a large say
in EU decisions. The years ahead must be seized to boost economic
growth in Turkey and to upgrade the EU’s institutional, social and
economic frameworks. If Turkey and the EU succeed, we can cushion the
impact of Turkey’s membership. Fears that millions will migrate from
Turkey’s rural areas to other parts of the EU, or that Turkey will
siphon off the EU’s resources, will prove unfounded.
It is hard to overstate the strategic importance of Europe’s
decision on Turkey. It demonstrates that Western nations have no
insuperable prejudice against Islam. It will confirm Turkey’s role as
a nation whose Muslim heritage is fully compatible with democracy.
This decision also underlines the vital role of the European Union in
shaping and transforming politics and economies of nations along its
expanding border. If this decision increases Europe’s geopolitical
impact as a stabilizing force beyond its own borders – and I believe
it will – this also will benefit the trans-Atlantic relationship.
Through Turkish membership, the European Union will border on
Syria, Iraq, Armenia and the Caucasus. Europe and the broader Middle
East will grow geographically closer. This proximity will present
risks, but also opportunities.
On the one hand, the EU will find itself closer to a volatile
part of the world, in which regional conflicts, terrorism and
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction form a dangerous mix. On
the other hand, we will have a historic opportunity to build
political, economic and cultural bridges. Turkey’s accession will
augment the EU’s authority in the global dialogue between
civilizations, because the EU will be seen to practice at home what
it preaches abroad. A Europe that shows leadership and confidently
promotes democracy and the rule of law in the Islamic world is a
valuable partner for the United States.
Turkey’s accession will also strengthen the EU’s political and
military capacity to fight terrorism and promote international peace
and stability. The U.S. is right to ask Europe to shoulder more of
the global security burden. With the help of Turkey’s strong
military, the European Union will be better able to do so. Turkey’s
important role in NATO’s operation in Afghanistan illustrates its
potential.
EU member states and their citizens have embarked on a voyage of
integration, and the final destination is still unknown. But our
course is clear. We are guided by the firm conviction that people
with different languages, cultures and religious beliefs can form a
community, provided they subscribe to the same fundamental rules.
That is why Turkey belongs in Europe.

BERNARD BOT
Foreign Affairs Minister
Kingdom of The Netherlands
(The Netherlands currently holds the European Union Presidency
and chaired recent negotiations between the EU and Turkey over the
decision on accession negotiations.)

New Armenian deputy foreign minister appointed
A1+ web site
24 Dec 04
24 December: Armen Bayburdyan has been appointed Armenian deputy
foreign minister.
Before the appointment, he was Armenia’s ambassador to India. Under
the presidential decree, Bayburdyan was relieved of this post on 25
November 2004.

VARDAN OSKANIAN: IT IS POSSIBLE TODAY TO FIX RIGHT OF NKR PEOPLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22. ARMINFO. There is a serious possibility
today to fix the right of the people of Nagorny Karabakh for
self-determination. Minister of foreign affairs of Armenia Vardan
Oskanian stated during the press conference at the National press club.
According to him, the possibility of that today is obvious during
the “Prague process”. Oskanian said, though in general the Karabakh
side is present at the process, which is also expressed in that the
cochairmen during the visits to the region visit Nagorny Karabakh and
meet with representatives of Karabakh authorities, but is’s a fact
that Karabakh does not take part in the Prague process and it does
not promote sooner solution to the problem or progress in the process.
“It would be better if Karabakh took part in the process”, the minister
mentioned. According to him, the only reason for Karabakh does not take
part in the negotiations, is the refusal of Azerbaijan. “Today Armenia
has to chose – to insist on the participation of Karabakh and renounce
continuation of the negotiation, or to conduct negotiations without
Karabakh in order the negotiations were not broken”, the foreign
minister of Armenia said. According to him, however hard Azerbaijan
tries to present it as a problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia, all,
including the cochairmen of the OSCE MInsk Group realize it’s the
problem of Karabakh and Azerbaijan. “Simply Armenia has undertaken the
negotiations only because refuses negotiations with Karabakh. Armenia
is conducting negotiations, but in a certain moment the participation
of Nagorny Karabakh will become inevitable”, the foreign minister said.
Answering the question on the reasons for the non-participation of
Karabakh in the negotiations, the minister reminded about the process
of the Minsk Group, stopped after March, 1997. “The only possibility of
Karabakh’s participation in the negotiations is within the framework of
the process of the Minsk Group. It was determined by a decision of the
minister meeting of OSCE in 1992. If there is not process, there is not
legal basis for Karabakh’s participation in this process.” According to
the minister, just after the Lisbon summit Azerbaijan began to speak
from other positions. Since them moment when the process of Minsk
Group is resumed Karabakh will legally take part in the negotiations.

EU seeks bigger role in resolution of problems in Caucasus
ITAR-TASS News Agency
December 20, 2004 Monday 1:57 PM Eastern Time
HAMBURG, December 20 — The European Union has offered to play a bigger
role in the resolution of social and economic problems in the Caucasus.
Given the attention the European Union pays to this issue, Germany
proposed “to broaden the economic participation of EU countries
in the normalisation of economic and social life in the Caucasus,
and particularly in the Chechen Republic”, a member of the Russian
delegation told Itar-Tass on Monday.
In a meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Putin said he
had received such proposals and taken them “seriously”.
The official said, “The Russian side carefully studies all proposals,
the implementation of which could help strengthen stability in the
Caucasus.”
“The development of economic cooperation in this respect is regarded
by Russia as a basic element that can eventually have a positive effect
on the resolution of conflicts in the region,” the official said.
“We think that the initiation and discussion of concrete proposals
concerning broader economic interaction will be useful,” he added.
Experts in the Russian delegation believe that this initiative concerns
not only Russia’s Caucasian regions, but also Azerbaijan, Armenia,
and Georgia.

U.S.’ Freedom House downgrades Russia to “not free” status
Prime-Tass, Russia
Dec 20 2004
MOSCOW, Dec 20 (Prime-Tass) — Freedom House, a U.S.-based organization
that monitors political rights and civil liberties across the globe,
has downgraded Russia’s status to “not free” from its previous “partly
free” status, Freedom House said in a major survey of global freedom
released Monday.
“Political rights and civil liberties have become so restricted
in Russia that the country has been downgraded to ‘Not Free,'” the
survey read.
However, Russia was not the only country in the former Soviet Union
that experienced political and civic changes: setbacks took place
in Belarus and Armenia, while freedom was gained in the aftermath of
civic protests in Georgia and Ukraine, the report said.
“Russia’s step backwards into the Not Free category is the culmination
of a growing trend under President Vladimir Putin to concentrate
political authority, harass and intimidate the media, and politicize
the country’s law-enforcement system,” said Freedom House Executive
Director Jennifer Windsor.
“These moves mark a dangerous and disturbing drift toward
authoritarianism in Russia, made more worrisome by President Putin’s
recent heavy-handed meddling in political developments in neighboring
countries such as Ukraine,” she said.
Complete survey results, including a package of charts and graphs,
are available at
The Ratings reflect global events from December 1, 2003 through
November 30, 2004. End

Georgian president addresses interior ministry staff
Imedi TV, Tbilisi
16 Dec 04
Mikheil Saakashvili has said that the new police and public order
ministry will be a well-funded and well equipped, European-style
agency. In an address to the staff of the merging State Security and
Interior ministries, broadcast by Georgian Imedi TV on 16 December,
Saakashvili said that the new agency, together with the Defence
Ministry, should discourage those who humiliated and trampled on
Georgia in Abkhazia in the beginning of 1990s. Saakashvili said that
the personnel quality in regional police units and the army was not
adequate and called on talented but unemployed people to join the
police force and the armed forces. The following is an excerpt from
report by Imedi TV; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
[Presenter] The Georgian president introduced minister-designate Vano
Merabishvili to the staff of the newly established police and public
security ministry [also described as police and public order ministry]
a short while ago.
Speaking at the new agency, [Mikheil] Saakashvili once again, for
a second time today, stressed the importance of strengthening the
state’s security and combat readiness. Georgia should be strong enough
to defend itself against foreign aggression.
As regards the police, reforms should speed up and, more importantly,
the public should realize that cooperation with law enforcers is the
main guarantor of their security.
Commenting on personnel issues in the merging State Security and
Interior ministries, the president said that professionals would not
be made redundant.
Speaking about the new minister, Saakashvili said that Merabishvili
lived up to expectations as state security minister and would surely
do well in the new job as well.
Restoration of territorial integrity political process
[Saakashvili, addressing staff, with Merabishvili and Defence
Minister-designate Irakli Okruashvili by his sides] I would like to
welcome you all on this very important day. Today we are not only
introducing the new minister to you but also announcing the setting
up of practically a new ministry.
For the second time since gaining independence [as heard] – this
time in a more serious fashion – we are transforming [an existing
agency] into a European-style body. The State Security Ministry
is being transformed into counter-intelligence and [foreign]
intelligence units. I want to stress that this will be a very
strong counter-intelligence unit. It will be much better funded,
equipped and trained. It will be a European-style body, operating
within the constitutional framework. The State Security Ministry’s
anti-crime department will be merged with the Interior Ministry’s
anti-crime department. Both agencies have traditionally had very good
professionals in this area.
After introducing Irakli [Okruashvili] as minister-designate at
the Defence Ministry yesterday, I spoke about the restoration of
territorial integrity. Some people interpreted my statement as an
order to Irakli Okruashvili and the Defence Ministry to restore
[Georgia’s] territorial integrity. I want to say categorically that
the strengthening of Georgia and the restoration of its territorial
integrity is not a military process and should not be done by the
Defence Ministry alone. The restoration of Georgia’s territorial
integrity is a political process.
Aggressors to be met by Okruashvili
Current events in the world, including the events that have taken
place in Ukraine and other countries and the events taking place
throughout the post-Soviet space, are significantly limiting the area
of application of imperialist and aggressive policies and increasing
opportunities for Georgia and the people of Georgia to resolve their
problems peacefully.
We do not intend to use any military force to settle domestic issues.
However, we will build a modern army so that those forces which
incited a conflict in Abkhazia at the time, taking advantage of a weak
Georgia, know full well that if there is another large-scale aggression
against Georgia they will be met by Okruashvili and much more modern,
European-style, combat-ready and civilized Georgian armed forces,
built according to NATO standards.
This will not, under any circumstances, apply to the people of Georgia.
Stability inside the country and the solving of political issues is
a task for the whole of society and the entire government to work
on. Every Georgian citizen, every ethnic Azerbaijani, Armenian, as
well people of other ethnic backgrounds, should know that we should
work day and night to at last put Georgia back on its feet.
Former junior officials should no longer fear arrest
We have done many things at the Interior Ministry from this point of
view. The public like the patrol force. Today over 70 per cent of
the people trust the police, compared to just 6 per cent one year
ago. People like the patrol force and so do we. Therefore, their
minimum wage will be 450 lari, not 400 lari as it has been this
year. Salaries will gradually increase in other departments as well
because those who work well will be paid better. [Passage omitted]
We often hear people saying that arrests should end, that revolution
should end. We do not want this any more, stop arresting people,
they say. By the way, I think that we should not go after former
petty officials because the bigwigs are already either wanted or
under investigation, or in jail, with courts considering their
cases. I do not think that we will go after every single former
customs department official who did something wrong three years ago,
every single former deputy head of a local administration, every former
petty official. This time has passed. We should fight corruption today,
among the present-day officials, in the present-day customs department,
in the present-day prosecutor’s office.
When we are told to end arrests, I say that theft and bribe-taking
should end first. If this happens, arrests will end as well. If there
is theft and corruption, there will be arrests, because Georgian
law, just as every proper state’s law, requires this. In short,
arbitrariness will never return to Georgia. Let every one of us
realize this.
We will set up a very effective agency here. We will equip it very
well. Its financing will improve significantly next year and will be
at an even higher level in the subsequent years. The most important
thing is that the people should feel that you work for them. People
should feel that they can trust you. [Passage omitted]
Public must cooperate with police
I want to say directly that because the human rights situation in
Tbilisi has improved significantly and because society does not
cooperate as much as it should with the police, street crime has
also increased sharply. We will never allow you to extract evidence
by beating up a person or planting narcotics on him. This will not
happen in Georgia again. However, I want to ask society to help us
in eradicating crime in their neighbourhoods, in their surroundings
and among their acquaintances. Please, cooperate with the police when
a crime has been committed so that it is solved. Please, cooperate
with our law-enforcement agency.
New ministries should deter aggressors
It is a fact that those forces who are fed up with us have stepped
up intelligence operations against Georgia. Articles about us are
published every day; programmes about us are broadcast every day. They
meddle in our internal affairs, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, every
day. These forces have stepped up their work inside Georgia. We have
to work against these forces in a different way. They should know
that this no longer is a Bantustan where everyone can be recruited,
everyone can be paid and bought. Everyone must know that cooperation
with the enemies of Georgia is treason and is severely punished under
the law. We will find these people.
Everyone should know that we are ready to cooperate with everyone in
the fight against terrorism, with the Russians, Americans, Europeans,
but we will not allow anyone to create disorder inside Georgia or
muddy the waters as in the 1990s. Did they not smack us on the head
in 1992 and 1993? Did they not humiliate and trample us into the mud
and kick us around? Did they not tell us that we were nobody, that
they could come back whenever they pleased and smack us on the head
again? You and us, the Defence Ministry and others, should behave so
that no scum of the earth, no international opportunist, no matter
how strong they are, how much money they have and how strong their
army is, ever again has a desire and capability to do this.
There is no such thing as a small nation. There are nations who have
a desire to fight for their independence, pride and dignity, and there
are nations who do not have this capability. We are building a nation
which has the capability to defend itself, to defend itself against
intelligence operations, defend itself against foreign aggression,
if it happens, – may God spare us from such a thing – defend itself
against domestic crime and defend itself against people who do not
care about the interests of society.
Trusts his ministers
I count on our police, I count on our counter-intelligence
[department], I count on our small but effective intelligence
department, which is also being set up, and I very much hope that
under the very competent new minister we will be able to improve
the situation.
You know that Okruashvili was a good prosecutor-general. He was a
much better interior minister. He will do even better as defence
minister. This man [Merabishvili] was a very good secretary of the
National Security Council, but he was a much better state security
minister. Now he will be an even better police and public order
minister, or [police and] public security [ministry], whatever
parliament decides to call it.
Until these ministries have merged, we will put them together at the
Interior Ministry. They will be formally merged later as parliament
has to approve constitutional changes. However, this does not stand
in our way and we can start work. It will be called the Ministry of
Internal Affairs for the next month, or a month and a half, whatever
it is. Vano Merabishvili will be the minister. In reality, however,
two ministries will be merged. Then parliament will change the name.
I want you to know one thing, that not a single professional will leave
the system. We will do everything to keep these professionals. We do
not have extra people. Whoever had to be sacked, has been sacked. Now
we need to train these people, facilitate their work, provide them
with equipment, bring in new people and find new people.
Patrol force, army need better personnel
For example, the quality of patrol force in the regions is low. I have
told Batoni [polite form or referring to a man] Irakli [Okruashvili]
to go to universities in Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Gori and speak to the
young people, explain the importance of these institutions so that
the best people go to the police. This is not the police force they
knew. This is a police force serving the people.
The same is true about the army. We are recruiting people under the
train and equip programme, but the people do not know about it and
are not enlisting. We are telling them to demonstrate to the people
that this is a different army, with different barracks, different
conditions, different duties and different responsibilities towards
the country. We need people there as well. Of course, people are
going to the army but the quality of the personnel often is not as
good as we need. We have many unemployed but talented people who have
opportunities to serve their country and people.
I want to call on these people again. I repeat that we are moving
towards modern, European-style agencies. This does not mean that
we do not value professionals. A professional is a professional in
every system. We have idealists and we have new people. I want to
ask everyone to work in a new way.
Thank you very much for your attention.
You can ask questions later, when we are outside.

The Patriot-News, PA
Dec 16 2004
JOHN O. VARTAN 1945 – 2004
A VISIONARY
BY JACK SHERZER
Of The Patriot-News
John O. Vartan, an Armenian immigrant who built a business empire
that propelled him to celebrity status in the Harrisburg area, died
yesterday in Polyclinic Hospital.
Vartan, 59, had battled throat cancer for 15 years.
The Susquehanna Twp. entrepreneur made his mark through the thousands
of square feet of office space he built, and for the even greater
projects he envisioned.
He was a poet and art collector who carried himself with big-city
flair in a town where limousines are generally reserved for weddings.
People knew it was Vartan when they saw his Rolls-Royce or Bentley
drive by.
And despite the cancer that left him gaunt and constantly needing to
drink water to keep his mouth and throat moist, he remained an active
part of the community until he was hospitalized about a month before
his death.
An engineer by training, Vartan had a willingness in the mid-1980s to
take on the established power structure and build offices in the
then-depressed city. Many credit his investment in Harrisburg as a
key spark in the city’s resurgence.
Vartan was unafraid to speak his mind or sue when he felt wronged,
and he racked up his share of adversaries. But he also had supporters
who point to his successful projects and charitable works.
In the early 1990s, he threatened to move to Princeton, N.J., when he
became frustrated at opposition to his plans for a 17-story
skyscraper capped by a revolving restaurant on Third Street.
The midstate’s movers and shakers entreated him to stay. More than
100 of them affixed their names to a full-page ad in this newspaper
pleading for him to change his mind.
He stayed and kept dreaming big dreams, though many were never
realized.
Plans to transform 22 blocks of uptown Harrisburg into a village of
affordable housing and neighborhood shops, dubbed “Vartan Village,”
came to naught. The city ended up swapping land with Vartan, and
another developer eventually turned a smaller section into the town
homes today known as Capitol Heights.
The additional 41 stories he said would top the Forum Place office
building at Fifth and Walnut streets — making it one of
Pennsylvania’s tallest buildings — never happened. He sold the
10-story building to the Dauphin County Authority for $78.7 million.
Last year, he was brought back to manage the building by bondholders
after the authority wasn’t able to attract the needed state leases
and defaulted on the bonds used for the purchase.
“I think he’ll be judged like all visionaries — not everything that
they envision happens,” said David Black, president and CEO of the
Harrisburg Regional Chamber. “But being able to get discussion going,
being able to inspire the imagination of others, is not necessarily a
bad thing, even though the project itself may not have happened.”
Vartan put “incredible investment back into the city,” Black said.
Gave back to community:
Over the years, Vartan has been called Harrisburg’s version of Donald
Trump.
He clearly enjoyed the limelight. He once bought a 27-foot section of
stairs from the Eiffel Tower. He said it would one day grace the
atrium of one of his buildings.
In 1995, he tried driving his $75,000 military Humvee across the
Susquehanna River when it was exceptionally low. Chortling that it
was more fun than driving his Rolls, Vartan said he wanted to see if,
in an emergency, he could reach areas of the drought-parched river
too shallow for boats.
But he was more than a builder with a knack for self-promotion.
He zealously guarded his private life, and friends describe him as a
devoted family man.
And he was generous, many times privately and sometimes publicly
giving to better the community and help those in need, including the
American Cancer Society and the Harlem Boys Choir.
“I think anyone who has been successful has an obligation to return
to the community some of the good fortune,” Vartan once said. “You
need to make a profit so you can continue doing business and continue
employing people and continue doing good things.”
He donated two homes and 35 acres in Susquehanna Twp. to create
Widener University’s Harrisburg campus law school; built the Central
Allison Hill Community Center; contributed more than $3 million in
gifts to Penn State Harrisburg; gave $200,000 in building supplies
for South Carolina hurricane victims; gave $60,000 to help Armenian
earthquake victims; and another $4.5 million to the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America to create a charitable endowment.
When the city’s only private business club, the Tuesday Club, was on
the edge of extinction, Vartan rescued an institution that was more
than 40 years old. But with an eye to the practical, he retained the
private aspect of the club for lunch only and morphed it with parev,
a French restaurant.
“John Vartan was a quintessential American success story,” said
Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed, who, like others, disagreed with
the developer at times.
“Through hard work, incredible sacrifice and dogged determination, he
rose from humble and adverse beginnings to become one of central
Pennsylvania’s most admired and respected business and civic
leaders,” Reed said. “John was a close, personal friend and
supporter, as well as a key partner in fostering Harrisburg’s
renaissance.”
Challenged Harristown:
Vartan was born Vartan Keosheyan in the country of Lebanon, where his
Armenian parents had been moved by the French colonial government to
escape Turkish oppression. He worked briefly as a steward for Middle
East Airlines, then enrolled as an engineering student at American
University in Beruit in 1966.
He came to the United States in 1968 and enrolled in Michigan
Technological University, where he received a civil engineering
degree. Vartan moved to the Harrisburg area in 1970 for a sanitary
engineering job with Gannett Fleming, and also earned a master’s in
engineering from Penn State Harrisburg.
In 1975, he opened Vartan Associates, offering engineering services
to municipalities. He also formed Gazelle Inc., a commercial
construction firm, which later became Vartan Enterprises. Much of his
early construction projects focused on Susquehanna Twp., along North
Progress Avenue.
But it was in the early 1980s that Vartan really made his mark, with
his successful antitrust lawsuit against Harristown Development
Corp., which at the time controlled what could be built in the city’s
downtown.
Vartan opened the doors for private development. As part of the
settlement, he received land along Fifth Street between Market and
Walnut streets for $1. He later built the Forum Place on the
property, as well as the state Public School Employee’s Retirement
System building, which he sold to the agency for $8.5 million.
Attorney Joseph A. Klein, who represented Vartan against Harristown
but later battled the developer over his proposals in Susquehanna
Twp., agreed Vartan was one of the moving factors behind the city’s
resurgence.
“Frankly, that was the beginning of private development, the
renaissance of downtown development, which had been stymied for some
time,” Klein said of Vartan’s lawsuit. “It was not an inexpensive
venture to decide to take a legal challenge against [Harristown] and
take them to court.”
Wouldn’t back off:
Vartan had a reputation for not backing off when he felt he was
right, and he didn’t hesitate to use the courts. Many times, as in
the Harristown case, he won.
In another case, he even changed the makeup of his own township’s
political structure.
After being denied a zoning permit to build his concrete plant on
Linglestown Road in Susquehanna Twp. (where his building supply
warehouse is now located), Vartan sued the township in federal court
for violating his rights.
He won in May 2000, with a jury finding that four commissioners
improperly acted against him. Not only was he able to force three of
the still-serving commissioners to resign, he also secured a $4
million verdict against the township, $3 million of which was picked
up by its insurance carrier.
The concrete plant battle also pitted Vartan against another
developer, Francis McNaughton, head of McNaughton Co., who was
concerned over the plant’s impact on his nearby housing development.
Although McNaughton wasn’t part of his lawsuit, Vartan at the time
accused McNaughton of pulling political strings against him, which
McNaughton always denied. In 2002, Vartan also backed a candidate to
run for the state House against McNaughton’s son, Mark, who retained
his seat after an expensive campaign. More recently, Vartan and
McNaughton patched things up.
“Each of us were very tenacious in defense of a stated position, and
sometimes it was very difficult to have either of us alter our points
of view,” said McNaughton, himself a self-made man who went from
being a certified public accountant to presiding over one of the
area’s largest home builders.
“I think he was a man of his time, I think he was absolutely a major
force in the rejuvenation of downtown Harrisburg,” McNaughton said.
“John went in there when others wouldn’t and made large investments
that contributed to the success of downtown Harrisburg, and I think
that’s a legacy that he alone enjoys.”
McNaughton also cautioned against making too much of those projects
Vartan talked of building but didn’t.
“I wish I could tell you how many times we attempted to develop
something and it makes it to the charts and drawings but is never
consummated,” he said. “I do believe [Vartan] was a visionary for
this area and I think he’s done a lot of wonderful things for this
area.”
Unrealized dream:
Perhaps Vartan’s largest unrealized goal was his dream of creating
his own community. After Vartan Village fell apart, in 2001 and on
the heels of winning his federal lawsuit against Susquehanna Twp., he
approached the township with a project called “Vartown.”
The plan called for up to 1,000 residential units mixed with stores
and office space on 95 acres off Linglestown Road and Progress
Avenue. Many area residents balked at the congestion they feared it
would bring, and the township ultimately ruled against granting
Vartan a zoning change he needed to proceed. Today, it remains an
open field bearing a Vartan property sign.
“[Vartown] was really going to be the crown jewel of what John’s
legacy was really going to be all about, he really believed in this
idea of mixed use and the idea that you could live, work and play all
in one area,” said Bruce Warshawsky, the attorney hired by the
township to oversee the hearings over Vartan’s attempt to change the
zoning.
He later became Vartan’s friend, and the developer backed
Warshawsky’s unsuccessful 2002 run against state Rep. Mark
McNaughton.
Warshawsky said many of Vartan’s detractors were envious and
unwilling to accept an outsider, particularly one they viewed as a
foreigner.
“He was not willing to compromise his principles” when he felt in the
right, Warshawsky said. “He wasn’t afraid to use the leverage and
power he had, especially once he became the icon he was.”
‘Loved the community’:
There was another dimension to the man, though — the family side
that Vartan separated from his public business persona, Warshawsky
said. Especially after surviving his first brush with throat cancer,
Vartan made spending time with his family a priority.
“John Vartan was really an outstanding family man,” Warshawsky said,
adding the developer often worked from an office at home to be closer
to his wife and children. “The one thing I think he learned from his
close brush with death 15 years ago was that you can’t get back that
time with your kids, watching them grow up.”
Vartan is survived by his wife, Maral; four children, Taleen, Hovig,
Vahe and Armen; two sisters, Madeleine Keosheyan and Baydzar O.
Keosheyan; and three brothers, Movses Sarkuni, Tigran J. Sarkuni and
Sarko O. Sarkuni.
“His own personal tastes were minimal, but he understood what power
can bring and what the illusion of power can do,” said Graham
Hetrick, Dauphin County’s coroner and a friend of Vartan for many
years.
Hetrick said he called Vartan in the early 1980s after reading a
newspaper story detailing how he came to the United States and his
love for this country. “I wanted to meet this guy who was an
immigrant and loved America so much, and we became fast friends,”
Hetrick said.
When Vartan again showed his dreamer side and tried to create his own
newspaper in the early 1980s — The Pennsylvania Beacon — to
showcase only good news, Hetrick wrote a column.
Hetrick attributed much of Vartan’s drive to make good and have his
name in the public eye to the upheavals his family endured: “He
constantly talked about this, he watched his father accumulate money
and lose it and be thrown out of one country or another and that
really left a long-term, enduring impression on John Vartan.”
And Vartan was determined. Hetrick laughed, recalling how the two
played racquetball before Vartan’s cancer and how one time, a game
kept going because neither would give up. It was that same
determination that kept him going in the last 15 years of his life,
despite the pain and discomfort of the cancer, Hetrick said.
“I truly believe he loved the community, I think he liked the people
and he liked being a big fish in a little pond,” Hetrick said. “He
was a visionary and sometimes his vision was bigger than the
community’s acceptance.”

Chirac uses the word ‘genocide’
16.12.2004  18:10    
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – In an exclusive interview on Wednesday with the
French TF 1 television, French President Jacques Chirac reaffirmed
his country’s position that Turkey should review its history and
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
Chirac deliberately used the word “genocide” and when the reporter
asked to clarify “genocide or tragedy,” Chirac said “genocide,”
adding that the fact is a law in France, adopted by the parliament.
While the French president explained that they don’t see the
recognition for the Armenian Genocide as a pre-condition for Turkey’s
accession to the European Union, he, however, insisted on Turkey’s
reviewing of its past. He also said Ankara must “completely fulfill
the requirements set for a candidate country. Otherwise, Chirac said,
France would block the entry talks with Turkey, adding the decision
over Turkey’s membership is an enormous responsibility.
–Boundary_(ID_JcpLk9gmJ7HQKR3Acl5gdg)–

EurActive, Belgium
Dec 15 2004
UE – Turquie : le Parlement favorable à l’ouverture des négociations
d’adhésion
In Short:
Le Parlement européen a a voté une motion (non-contraignante)
appelant à l’ouverture de négociations d’adhésion entre la Turquie et
l’UE. Le vote était secret, ce qui a provoqué le mécontentement de
plusieurs députés.
In a historic vote, 407 out of the total of 732 MEPs said ‘yes’ on 15
December to Turkey’s projected entry into the EU, with 262 MEPs
voting against and 29 abstaining.
The vote is not binding on the leaders of the member states, who are
scheduled to decide at their summit on 16-17 December when and under
what conditions to open accession negotiations with Ankara.
Under the resolution, the EU should launch accession talks “without
undue delay”, despite the fact that problems continue to exist in
Turkey with regard to minority rights, religious freedoms, trade
union rights, women’s rights, Cyprus and the country’s relations with
Armenia. According to the MEPs, the first phase of the negotiations
should focus on the full implementation of the relevant political
criteria, and in case of serious breaches the talks should be
suspended.
The resolution underlined that the opening of the negotiations will
not automatically lead to Turkey’s accession, and stated that
membership for Turkey is conceivable only upon the approval of the
EU’s long-term budget for the period after 2014.
The resolution was passed in a secret ballot, as prescribed in Rule
162 of the EP’s Rules of Procedure. The move created a pre-vote
dispute, with the Socialists and the ALDE Group both condemning what
they considered the European Christian Democrats’ “tricky
parliamentarian games”. The Socialists’ leader, MEP Martin Schulz,
said that “at a moment like this, it is shameful to have a secret
vote”, while the ALDE Group’s leader, MEP Graham Watson, declared
that “we reject the coward’s option”.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated
his stance that “Turkey will not hesitate to say ‘no’ to the EU if
unacceptable conditions are put forward”. Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul told the Turkish daily Milliyet that his country was not
prepared to budge on keeping full membership as the ultimate aim, and
that the decision to open negotiations should not allow for
subsequent decisions or any permanent special conditions by the EU.
Furthermore, he said that Turkey must not be forced to recognise the
Republic of Cyprus.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who will host the EU
summit, said that “on the basis of the contacts that I’ve had, a
‘yes’ seems likely to come [from the summit], but we need a unanimous
decision”. The draft final statement of the summit describes the
negotiations as an “open-ended process whose outcome cannot be
guaranteed beforehand”.