Author: Jidarian Alex

GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER: "WE FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE WITH TURKEY"

Regnum, Russia
Oct 24 2006

Countries, involved in project of construction of
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku (Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia – REGNUM)
railway have sufficient will and capital, which enable saying that
the project will be realized; Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and State
Minister for European and Atlantic Integration Giorgi Baramidze said
in an interview with the Turkish Daily News.

According to the minister, Georgia has no doubts that a proposed
railway project linking his country with Turkey and Azerbaijan will
be realized despite recent decision by the US Senate to block any
funding for it from the US Export-Import Bank. Responding to question
whether the US Senate’s decision, backed by US Senate pro-Armenian
group, would affect the fate of the project, Baramidze said: "Not at
all. There is already money coming from Turkey and Azerbaijan. There
is the will of three countries to do this. So it will happen."

Armenia opposes the Kars (Turkey)-Javakheti (Georgian area, populated
by ethnic Armenians)-Tbilisi-Baku railway project, which would bypass
Armenia from the north. Pro-Armenian groups in the USA argue against
the project, saying the regional countries have already been linked by
railway passing through Armenia. However, the route is not functioning
because of blockade, imposed on Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Georgi Baramidze is sure that the Kars-Akhalkalaki project
is economically viable. According to him, if it is realized, it may
be of benefit for all regional countries, including Armenia.

According to Baramidze, Armenia should demonstrate constructive
approach, rejecting its position, according to which the region
does not need new railways because there is the existing one which
is inactive due to serious problems between Turkey and Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Baramidze believes that if the railway via Armenia were active,
investors would not have thought about building another one. Also,
he pointed to fact that it was difficult to say when the existing
railway could ever become operational, given the rising tension between
Turkey and Armenia. "Because the existing one is not functioning,
certainly the new one should be functioning, making a profit."

It is worth stressing; Turkey has ignored the decision of the US
Congress, stating the project never needed financing from countries
not involved in the project.

As for French National Assembly’s bill criminalizing public denial
of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, the Georgian state minister
stressed that "such decision would not contribute to normalization of
relations between Turkey and Armenia and regional safety." According
to him, such decision does not contribute to healthy dialogue between
Turkey and the EU, too. "We support Turkey’s joining NATO," Baramidze
stressed. In its turn, the Turkish periodical stresses that "Georgia,
complaining of what it calls Russian imperialistic ambitions in
its region, is eager for integration with Western institutions,
most notably NATO." Baramidze said that his country was eyeing
stronger ties with Turkey, particularly economic ones. Turkey and
Georgia are negotiating a preferential trade agreement. "Georgia’s
economic borders are wide open to Turkey, and the Georgian economy
is practically becoming part of the Turkish economy, as we feel very
comfortable with Turkey," Baramidze stated.

REPUBLICAN PARTY GUARANTEES PRESENCE OF OSCE OBSERVERS

Lragir, Armenia
Oct 20 2006

When Robert Kocharyan refused to receive the U.S. envoy to the OSCE
Julia Finley, suggestions were made that official Yerevan is unlikely
to invite the OSCE observers to the parliamentary election in 2007.

Considering this and the habit of the Republican Party to assert
that they will make every effort to hold free and fair elections,
we inquired from Gagik Melikyan, the secretary of the Republican
Faction hosted at the Hayeli club on October 24 if the Republican
Party guarantees that the OSCE observers will be invited to Armenia.

"By all means, certainly, and rather early," stated the member of the
Republican Party and did not forget to emphasize that his political
party has political will to hold a fair election.

ARMENIAN CYPRIOT MARIOS GAROYIAN ELECTED LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

ArmRadio.am
23.10.2006 16:56

An Armenian Cypriot – Marios Garoyian – was elected with a margin of
62.6% as the new leader of the ruling Democratic Party. Vice President
Nicos Kleanthous collected 37.4%.

Moments after the results were known around 8:00 pm on Sunday night,
Marios Garoyian was proclaimed President. He thanked voters for their
confidence in embracing his vision and in his short speech at the
Democratic Party headquarters in Nicosia, he called for unity and a
stronger party and stated.

"Today democracy has won and it is the beginning of a new era. We owe
a lot to the legacy of Spyros Kyprianou the founder of our party as
well as today’s president Tassos Papadopoulos. We will implement the
political line of the coalition and move forward united, through a
modernized Democratic Party."

Marios Garoyian is the first Armenian Cypriot that is being elected
leader of a political party in Cyprus. In May 2006 he was elected as
member of the Cyprus Parliament with top preferential votes in Nicosia.

Marios Garoyian was born in 1961. His involvement in party
politics began in Italy with Democratic Party’s youth movement
Anagennisi. After his studies in politics and return to Cyprus, he
was elected President of the Youth movement of NEDIK-Nicosia where
he served from 1986-1992. He later became a member of the Central
Executive of the Democratic Party in 1988.

Garoyian was a close aide of the late President Spyros Kyprianou and
served as The Director of his Office in the House of Parliament as
well as The Director of the Office of President Tassos Papadoulos. He
also served as Government Spokesperson.

He was elected to the Cyprus Parliament in May 2006.

Marios Garoyian has kept close ties with the Armenian community of
Cyprus and its leadership, addressing many problems connected with
community life.

3985.2 TONS OF HUMANITARIAN AID BROUGHT TO ARMENIA IN JANUARY-AUGUST

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. 3985.2 tons of goods of general
cost of 33.7 mln U.S. dollars were brought to Armenia as humanitarian
aid in January-August of the current year. 4650.4 tons of goods of
general cost of 24.8 mln U.S. dollars were brought in the same period
of 2005. According to data of the RA National Statistical Service,
products of chemistry and industrial branches connected with it made
44.4% of the got assistance, devices and apparatuses made 22.9%,
textiles made 6.7%, machines, equipment and mechanisms made 6.5%.

Georgia’s prospects

Oct 19th 2006
>From The Economist Global Agenda

Russia’s mixture of economic, political and covert-action pressure
on Georgia recalls of another stormy and scary period, in the Baltic
states in the 1990s, that changed history completely

WHEN your correspondent lived in the Baltics in the early 1990s, it
was common to pooh-pooh the prospect of NATO membership. The obstacles
seemed insurmountable: Soviet occupation soldiers who wouldn’t go
home; disputed borders with Russia; the expense; the gulf between NATO
standards and those of the flimsy and ill-run Baltic home guards–and
most of all the deafening lack of enthusiasm from the West.

But just as Russia’s economic sanctions shunted Baltic foreign
trade westwards, its insistence that letting the Balts join NATO
was "impermissible" (a favourite Kremlin word) was the strongest
proof that membership of the alliance was not just desirable, but
necessary. Russia neatly backed that up with footdragging on the
withdrawal of the Russian military, refusal to recognise the Baltic
states’ legal continuity from the pre-war period and endless huffing
and puffing about the language and citizenship laws. It all made local
support for NATO soar: when you scare people, they buy more insurance.

After a bit, the West came round, too. The Baltic states are still
effectively indefensible; two of them (Estonia and Latvia) still lack
border treaties with Russia. Yet, rather like the even less defensible
West Berlin during the cold war, they have gained a symbolic importance
that means they cannot be abandoned. (Or so they hope).

As an illustration, just imagine how different history would have
been if the Kremlin line in the 1990s had been: "Sure, go ahead and
join NATO if you want. We wouldn’t dream of interfering and we want
excellent relations with NATO ourselves anyway. Of course we will
pull our troops out as soon as we can…and we will be delighted
to sign border agreements as soon as possible, recognising your
historical continuity."

That message would have destroyed the case for NATO expansion
overnight. It is unlikely that any of the ex-communist countries
would have wanted to join or that NATO would have wanted to have them.

Now Russia is making the same mistake with Georgia. NATO’s appetite for
expanding to the eastern shores of the Black Sea is mostly minimal. The
alliance is dreadfully overstretched anyway and the last thing it
needs militarily is another small poor country which needs a lot and
(pipelines apart) offers little.

But Russia’s determination to see Georgia as part of a ‘near abroad’
over which it wields a geopolitical veto is creating the mood–already
in Georgia and soon, with luck, in the West–in which the opposite
will happen.

It is not just because bullying goes down badly. Russia has signally
failed to show the benefits of being an ally. Every country that teams
up with Russia ends up regretting it. Nobody in the Kremlin seems
to have bothered to think about loyal little Armenia, savagely hit
by the sanctions against Georgia. In Belarus, President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka calls Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, "worse than
Stalin" and is putting out feelers to the West.

Cheap gas sounds nice initially–but it always comes at a high price.

The stubborn attractiveness of the ‘Euro-Atlantic orientation’ is
striking given that it survives both the hideously botched occupation
of Iraq and extraordinarily selfish agricultural protectionism. It must
surely give the Kremlin foreign policy thinkers pause for thought that
for all its faults NATO has a queue of real countries eager to join
it, whereas only a handful of puppet states such as Transdniestria
want to go in the other direction.

© 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group.

–Boundary_(ID_JEtxN3neDnAgS0aWmElfhA)–

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTED DRAFT CONSTITUTION ON FIRST READING

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 17 2006

On October 6 the National Assembly of NKR discussed the draft
Constitution. But before discussing the draft, some replacements were
made in the standing committees. Arayik Harutiunyan, the chair of the
finance and budget committee was replaced by Benik Bakhshiyan. Benik
Bakhshiyan, the chair of the committee on industries and industrial
infrastructures was replaced by Gagik Petrosyan, Azat Hayrenik. The
post of Gagik Petrosyan, who used to be the chair of the committee
of external relations, is vacant. The chair of the Task Force on
Constitution Armen Zalinian said all the proposals which were agreed
on during the previous debates were included in the draft. He said the
draft was revised and edited and proposed that the parliament adopt it
on the first reading. He also thanked the members of parliament and
parliament factions for effective efforts and close cooperation. The
draft was put to vote and was adopted almost unanimously; only one
members of parliament abstained.

TURKISH TERRITORY WASN’T FIRED FROM ARMENIAN SIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.10.2006 17:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish territory was not fired from the Armenian
side, Vardan Karapetian, the spokesman of the frontier department of
Russian Federal Security Service (FSS) told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to him, the information spread by Turkish media with
a reference to the Turkish General Staff is false. To note, the
Armenian-Turkish border is guarded by the FSS frontier troops.

The other day some Turkish media spread information according to
which the Turkish General Staff accused Armenia of firing upon the
Turkish territory. The General Staff said the military of the frontier
forces have made two gunshots in the direction of the Turkish side
on October 11.

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

October 16, 2006
___________________

RANK OF ARCHPRIEST BESTOWED UPON FR. NALBANDIAN ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY

By Florence Avakian

It was a time to honor service and self-reflection on past actions when Fr.
Zenob Nalbandian marked the 25th anniversary of his priestly ordination on
Friday, September 29, 2006.

"The priest takes this opportunity to renew his oath, commitment and service
to his church; recognize his achievements; and continue laboring in the
field of our Lord," Fr. Zenob said as he spoke to the roughly 100 people
attending the celebratory banquet. "Over the past centuries, the Armenian
Church has suffered a lot; and the Armenian people have gone through many
trials and tribulations. Both the clergy and the laity must maintain intact
all the values that have been passed on to them by their ancestors."

During the banquet, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), presented Fr. Nalbandian with a
pontifical encyclical from His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, in which the Catholicos bestowed upon Fr.
Nalbandian the rank of Avak Kahanah (Archpriest).

Fr. Nalbandian has most recently been serving the needs of Diocesan mission
parishes such as the Armenian Church of Jacksonville, FL; the St. Garabed
Church of Kansas City, MI; and the Armenian Church of Nashville, TN. The
celebratory dinner was held in Andover, NH, a region Fr. Nalbandian had
served as pastor to the Armenians of today’s Armenian Church of Hye Pointe
community.

"Der Hayr has loyally and diligently rendered spiritual service to various
parishes throughout the Diocese," said the Primate in his remarks. "Besides
his spiritual mission, Fr. Zenob has also made time to write. He is the
author of many useful essays and articles of a religious and national
nature."

Emphasizing the rare qualities and talents of Fr. Nalbandian, the Primate
noted that he has been "an intellectual with a broad mind and various
interests," pointing out that he and his family — Yn. Hasmig and their
children Dr. Angele, Raffi, and Sossi — have been very active in parish
life, including service to the Women’s Guild, the Armenian and Sunday
Schools, the ACYOA, and the choir as organists.

Several speakers paid tribute to the dedicated service of Fr. Nalbandian
including the Fr. Krikor Maksoudian; Fr. Kapriel Mouradjian, pastor of the
Church of the Holy Resurrection in New Britain, CT; Fr. Untzag Nalbandian,
pastor of the Church of the Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT, and Fr. Zenob’s
brother; and Krikor Keusseyan, former editor of Baikar.

The audience responded with delight as Fr. Nalbandian sang two beloved
favorites, "Havig Mee Baydzar," and "Yerkeer Ankin Yerkeer," accompanied on
the organ by Dr. Angele Nalbandian.

LIFE OF SERVICE

Fr. Nalbandian was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 30, 1952, and
received his education at the Mesrobian Armenian School in Beirut, and the
Kevorkian Seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin, as well at Syracuse University, the
University of Milwaukee, and the St. Francis Seminary of Wisconsin.

Ordained at the St. Paul Church in Syracuse, NY, on September 17, 1978, by
Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, he continued his clerical service at the Church
of the Holy Resurrection in South Milwaukee, WI. In 1985, he was appointed
as pastor of the Holy Cross Church of Lawrence, MA, before serving the
mission parishes.

— 10/16/06

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News and
Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate, joins Fr. Zenob
Nalbandian and his family during the celebrations marking his 25 years of
priestly service on September 29, 2006.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): Accompanied by Dr. Angele Nalbandian, Fr. Zenob
Nalbandian sings during the banquet marking the 25th anniversary of his
priestly ordination.

# # #

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL IS "FOOLISH" – FINNISH FM

Newsroom Finland, Finland
Oct 16 2006

Erkki Tuomioja (soc dem), the Finnish foreign minister, said in an
internet diary entry posted Saturday that the French parliament’s
decision to pass a bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide
was "foolish".

"When I say that I regard the decision to be foolish and hope for
its rapid withdrawal it has nothing to do with what happened to the
Armenians in Turkey," Mr Tuomioja said.

"Personally I consider genocide to be the right word to describe what
happened and hope that the Turkish would be prepared to accept this
as well. However, parliaments and governments are not to intervene
in it by legislating which historical truths are to be allowed and
which not."

Mr Tuomioja added that the bill would increase the power of hardliners
in Turkey.

SHEKURE BASMAN: MY SON, ORKHAN PAMUK MADE GREAT MISTAKE BY RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Azeri Press Agency
Oct 16 2006

"My son, Orkhan Pamuk made a great mistake by saying that 1.000.000
Armenians and 30.000 Kurds were killed in Turkey. Probably he said
it without any information," Shekure Basman, mother of Orkhan Pamuk
who was awarded Nobel Prize said, APA reports.

In her interview to Sabah newspaper Shekure Basman said that the
thoughts of her son were exaggerated by Turkish press.

"Orkhan told his thoughts to a Swiss newspaper. This newspaper has
only 30-40.000 circulations. But Turkish press exaggerated it; some
radicals launched a criminal case against my patriot son. If press
did not meddle in government’s affairs the interview given to Swiss
newspaper would not have produced a reaction. Turkish press is guilty;
the government has no deal with it. Talking about false Armenian
Genocide, Shekure Basman said that the teachers taught nothing about
it at schools.

"History books did not write about "Armenian genocide", so Orkhan
learnt nothing at school. He read nothing about it in history books,"
Shekure Basman said.