Author: Jidarian Alex

TIME TO CONFRONT REALITY OF LTTE ACTIONS IN CANADA

The Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition

Among the most disturbing aspects of the bungled Air India case was
that Canadian taxpayers and innocent citizens helped fund the worst
terrorist attack in this country’s history.

It is equally disturbing to learn that 21 years after that attack,
inept politicians, security and law-enforcement officials continue
to be complicit in the funding of a known terrorist group that has
a record at least as bloody as that of the International Sikh Youth
Federation and the Babbar Khalsa — the groups linked to the airplane
bombings that claimed 331 lives.

According to a report released Wednesday by the New Yorkbased Human
Rights Watch, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — among the
bloodiest of terrorist organizations despite Canada’s apparent and
nearly unique inability to identify it as such — has been threatening
and abusing lawful Canadians to extort money for what it calls a
“final war” to gain independence from Sri Lanka.

Canada’s reluctance to recognize the LTTE as a terrorist group has its
roots in the former Liberal government’s willingness to sign a pact
with anyone, as long as it brought it votes. In a similar vein, federal
and provincial Liberal leaders, and even those from other parties,
attended rallies and fundraisers, and met on political stages with
those who were openly suspected of masterminding the Air India attacks.

Although Public Security Minister Stockwell Day was most vocal in
condemning the LTTE while campaigning in the last couple of elections,
he has yet to list the Tigers as a terrorist group.

Canada’s major allies, including the United States and Great Britain,
have proscribed the LTTE, and thus have more weapons in trying to
stem the flow of money that funds its bloody campaign.

And there can be little doubt the LTTE meets all the criteria of
a terrorist group. It virtually invented the conscription of child
soldiers and use of suicide bombers. In 1991 Thenmuli Rajaratnam,
a 17-year-old Tamil with connections to and support from the LTTE,
strapped a bomb on her back and used it to kill herself along with
17 others including Rajiv Gandhi, a leading candidate in India’s
federal election.

Canadians should find it chilling that 15 years after this attack, and
almost 21 years after the Air India bombings, this country continues
to dither when it comes to acting against this terrorist organization.

This is especially worrisome since Canada was a leading member of
the OECD task force that looked into ways to combat the financing of
terrorists. In 2002 — just months after terror attacks brought down
the World Trade Centre in New York — this group released a report
that detailed how terrorists are funded (typically through legal
entities such as charities), how they transfer money and what the
world had to do to shut them down.

Chief among its recommendations was the need for international
co-operation and solid police work.

Canada, rather than being the leader it should have on this front
given its experience with violent attacks from Armenian and Sikh
terrorist groups, continues to be considered the weakest link in the
G7, and has among the poorest records in the developed world.

According to Human Rights Watch, that record is so bad in large part
because Ottawa and Canadians continue to see these domestic acts of
terror as foreign problems. It was the same mindset that caused former
prime minister Brian Mulroney to send a letter of condolence to India
when Canadians were blown up in the Air India jet off Ireland’s coast.

In his book, Cold Terror, Stewart Bell details how Canada nurtures and
exports terrorism around the world. He notes it continues even after
the World Trade Centre attacks, and Canada’s loud proclamations of
participating in the “war on terror.” Bell suggests Canada has the
law-enforcement and security forces to help shut down these links,
but lacks the political will.

In the wake of his highly successful trip to visit front-line troops
battling the spread of terrorism in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper should use the Human Rights Watch report as incentive finally
to shut down at least this wing of the war on our own turf.

As Air India should have taught us, the status quo is not an option.

NATIVE OF ARMENIA KILLED IN MOSCOW

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2006 18:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 52-year-old entrepreneur of Armenian origin Galoyan
was killed in the east of Moscow. His body was found in an apartment
on March 16 afternoon.

The preliminary examination showed he was smothered.

The prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal case according to Article
195.1 of the RF Criminal Code (murder), reported Lenta.ru.

REVEALED: THE KENYAN LINK IN PUZZLE OF ARMENIANS

Standard, Kenya
March 16 2006

The Armenians at the centre of the mercenaries claim could be co-owning
a company with the daughter of Narc activist Mary Wambui, documents
in our possession indicate.

Ms Winfred Wangui Mwai is one of five shareholders of Kensington
Holding Limited, alongside Armenians Artur Margaryan and Artur
Sargysyan. The other two are Mr Alois Otieno Omita, believed to be
Wambui’s personal assistant and a Mr Julius Maina Mwangi, according to
the company’s memorandum and articles of association. The document also
indicates that the company was incorporated on January 8, 2005, which
would mean the Armenians have been in Kenya longer than acknowledged
by the Government. The company – CNo 1218071 -was incorporated by
A. M. Macharia Advocate of Post Office Box 32304, Nairobi – one of the
lawyers who was at the airport on Monday morning when the Armenians
addressed a Press conference. He also visited their house in Runda
Estate, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

A GK car in the Armenians’ compound.

It has also emerged that another company that the Government has
confirmed the Armenian brothers trade under in Kenya – Brother Link
International limited – was incorporated in December 2005.

According to certificate number C 120905, the company was incorporated
on December 1, 2005. The collector of stamp duty certified on November
25, 2005 that stamp duty had been paid.

Fresh twist to unfolding saga

Its shareholders are given as Artur Margaryan, Artur Sargysyan and
a Mr Mohammed Zakir Oomer. The company was incorporated by lawyer
Charles Kiplangat of Maobe and Kiplangat Advocates.

The address of the three shareholders is given as Post office Box 8066,
Nairobi. The latest revelations add a fresh twist to the unfolding
saga of the two Armenians, which has puzzled the country for more
than two weeks.

It began with a claim by Langata MP Raila Odinga that the foreigners
who led the commando-like raid on the Standard Group premises were
mercenaries.

Raila was challenged by police to provide more information on the
claim, and later recorded a statement re-affirming his claim. He
gave police a map to a house in Runda and later provided copies of
the Armenians’ passports, which were published in the Press on Sunday.

The next morning, the two Armenians addressed a Press conference at
the Government VIP Lounge at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport,
claiming that Raila had borrowed Sh108 million from them. They
also said Raila and Mwingi North MP Kalonzo Musyoka had asked them
to finance a no-confidence-vote in the Government, to the tune of
Sh3 billion.

Both Raila and Kalonzo have denied the claims and asked the Armenians
to provide evidence. Kalonzo, however, confirmed meeting the Armenians
at the Grand Regency Hotel.

Seeking investment opportunities

On Tuesday, it emerged that the Monday Press conference

had been arranged by airport officials, and that the arrival of one
of the Armenians, purportedly from Dubai, was stage-managed.

The Armenians denied the mercenaries tag and said they were
businessmen, seeking investment opportunities in Kenya. They gave
their company’s name as Brother Links, but declined to say what they
dealt in. Officials at the Registrar of Companies denied journalists
access to the firm’s file.

“This file is not available at the moment, you can use this number
(C120905) and come and check at a later date,” an officer told the
journalists on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we confirmed from documents obtained from our sources
at the Registrar that the Brother Links file is indeed Number C120905.

According to the documents, the capital of Kensington is Sh100,000
divided into 1,000 shares, each valued at Sh100. According to the
Articles of Association, the members shall have the preferential
right to subscribe for and take up all further shares authorised to
be issued.

We were unable to establish the share distribution of the company
and who its managing director and secretary are.

It is also not clear from the Memorandum of Association the physical
location of the offices of the company, suffice to say its “registered
office will be situated in the Republic of Kenya”.

Articles of association

The company was incorporated to conduct 36 different types
of businesses, ranging from wholesale and retail of foodstuffs,
dealing in all kinds of drugs, manufacture of chalk and candles,
installation of prefabricated houses, fruit canners, builders and
contractors, tours and safari operators, computer service consultants
to investment experts.

The certificate of incorporation is given as C1215071 and the collector
of stamp duty certified on January 13, 2006 that stamp duty had
been paid.

Lawyer Macharia on Wednesday confirmed he knew the company, but said
he was bound by the Advocate-client confidentiality not to divulge
any details of any dealings between them, without express permission
of the client.

A closer scrutiny of the incorporation documents shows that the postal
address of the shareholders is similar to that of the law firm that
incorporated the company.

According to the articles of association, no invitation shall be
issued to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the
company. The membership of the company shall be limited to fifty and
the right of transfer of the shares of the company shall be restricted.

Investment holding company

The share capital of the company is also 100,000 divided into one 1,000
ordinary shares of sh100 each. The company is to conduct a myriad of
business activities, including advancing money to any person or persons
or corporation at interest or without upon the security of freehold
or leasehold property by way of mortgage or upon marketable security.

The Brother Link International Limited was to act as an investment
holding company and to co-ordinate the business of any companies in
which the company is for the time being interested.

The objectives included, to carry on business of manufacturing soaps,
detergents and collect flowers and perfume producing vegetation.

The new revelations of the Armenians business deals comes a day after
the Immigration Minister Gideon Konchella confirmed the duo was in the
country legally from January when they were issued with work permits
to stay in Kenya. He said they were Armenian consultants in marketing,
business development and finance.

ARMENIA ISOLATED FROM REGIONAL PROJECTS

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

Today Armenia is isolated from regional projects and kept outside of
important communications. “We have done that because Armenia will not
give up its aggressive policy,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said
in his speech at the Second World Congress of Azerbaijanis in Baku.

He added that Azerbaijan will not make concessions, but will struggle
for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict that maintains the republic’s
territorial integrity. “Any cooperation is out of question until
Armenia liberates our territories,” said Aliyev.

Owing to rapid economic growth, Azerbaijan is developing, while the
economy of Armenia, which is in isolation, makes no headway.

The interest and importance of Azerbaijan’s partners and neighbors is
constantly growing. All this makes us believe that the country will
resolve all its problems, including the Karabakh conflict, said Aliyev.

He urged all Azerbaijanis living in various countries around the
world to actively promote the prosperity of their motherland and the
resolution of its problems.

LEADING SUPPLIER OF COMPUTERS IN ARMENIA, BI-LINE COMPANY, TO GET ISO9001 CERTIFICATION

YEREVAN, MARCH 16. ARMINFO. One of the leading computer supplier and
service companies in Armenia, Bi Line, intends to complete the ISO2001
quality standard certification in April, Bi Line Vice President Sarkis
Karapetyan told ARMINFO. To meet the given standard, the company is to
demonstrate its ability to satisfy the needs of consumers as well as
to take constant measures to reveal and satisfy the consumers’ needs.

The certification criteria include the sales volume, computer repair
and service, as well as design, development and installation of wire
nets. It implies a detailed description of all the business procedures,
their adjustment to the standard conditions based on the accurate
feedback effect to modify and improve the work. A special attention
is paid to the improvement of the administrative review at all the
stages of the company’s activity. Part of these elements existed at
the company, however, all this will be carried out under the standard
from now and on, Bi Line Vice President said.

To note, Bi Line is among the largest tax payers in Armenia. The
company has partner ties with such companies as HP, IMG, Microsoft,
APC, Cisco. Among the company’s clients are the copper and molybdenum
plant “Zangezur,” Yerevan Brandy Company, K-Telecom cellular
communication operator, the Central Bank, the national payment system
Armenian Card.

TURKISH, FOREIGN ACADEMICS HOLD RARE TALKS ON ARMENIAN MASSACRES

Agence France Presse — English
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 4:54 PM GMT

Turkish academics who deny the massacres of Armenians during World
War I amounted to genocide offered a rare olive branch on Wednesday
by inviting foreign opponents to Istanbul to discuss the largely
taboo subject.

Only a dozen or so foreign academics attended the first day of the
conference at Istanbul’s state university, alongside around 60 Turkish
historians and officials who defend Ankara’s official position on
the 1915-17 killings.

But Ara Sarafian, a British historian of Armenian origin, said the
three-day event was “an important first step”, even if genuine dialogue
was conspicuous by its absence.

“We established that despite all our differences, which are extreme
on this subject, we’re able to come under the same roof and voice
our opinions. That’s a fundamental shift, rather than staying outside
and shouting at each other,” Sarafian told AFP.

Turkey categorically denies that Armenian subjects under its
predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, were victims of a genocide but
acknowledges that at least 300,000 Armenians and as many Turks died
in civil strife during the last years of the empire.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings.

The conference was only a timid step towards real debate and involved
hardly any of the Turkish intellectuals opposed to the official line
who took part in a ground-breaking conference on the massacres in
September 2005.

That meeting, which Turkish nationalists tried to have banned, was
an attempt not to determine whether the killings amounted to genocide
but rather to openly study and understand them.

But Turkey is under pressure to allow more freedom of speech to
achieve its cherished dream of joining the European Union.

And, in that sense, this week’s event was a watershed, according to
both Sarafian and Edhem Eldem, a Turkish academic who attended the
September forum.

For the first time, books presenting the Armenian view of the killings
were on display, alongside abundant literature upholding the official
Turkish view.

Despite the fact there had been “no real dialogue on the basis of
these papers”, the conference was an important opportunity to let
the Turkish authorities start a debate, Sarafian said.

“For me, it’s also an opportunity to show the books that we
published. It’s the first time these books appear in Turkey like this,”
he added.

Turkish academic Mehmet Saray used the conference to rebuff Armenian
“propaganda” about the massacres and blamed them on “the imperialist
Russian, French and British states, who wanted to carve up the Ottoman
empire and encouraged Armenian nationalism”.

But Yair Auron, an Israel researching the archives of the Jewish
community in Palestine under Ottoman rule, was permitted to openly
use the term “genocide” and appeal to Turks to question their past.

Every civil society has to deal with its past, including the black
pages of this past,” Auron said.

Eldem said many of the intellectuals who took part in the September
2005 conference had been loathe to attend this week’s meeting because
the organisers had not told them until Tuesday what its aims were.

“People were quite reticent to say yes. (They) didn’t want to be used
in the hands of the nationalist establishment,” he explained.

But he praised them for the initiative.

“The fact they invited people who don’t share their opinion is
important. They’ve realised they can’t play this game alone any more,”
Eldem said.

NO DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS, US STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL SURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 20:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The talks over the process of the Nagorno Karabakh
settlement stagnate, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried stated at a press briefing in Yerevan. In
his words, based on the meetings between Armenian and Azeri Presidents,
one can say with confidence that the talks will continue. “Presidents
of both parties resolutely insist on their national interests,” he
remarked. Daniel Fried also said that before the visit to the region
the OSCE MG American Co-Chair Steven Mann and he met with Russian
and French mediators and got their full support. At the same time
US Assistant State Secretary rejected the supposal that there are
differences between the mediators.

In his turn, Steven Mann present at the briefing said that Armenian
and Azeri presidents show interest towards progress. “The US is ready
to support them by all possible means,” he said.

COE ABOUT ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES

A1+
06:07 pm 14 March, 2006

Today during a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee in Paris PACE
rapporteur on human rights of members of the armed forces, Alexander
Arabadjiev (Bulgaria, SOC) presented adoption of his report. Here is
the part concerning Armenia.

In Armenia, NGOs continue to condemn the infliction of violence and
initiation rites on young conscripts. The situation of conscripts
in the armed forces has been monitored by the rapporteurs of the
Assembly’s Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments
by Member States of the Council of Europe.

In 2003, the Chief of Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces acknowledged
that around 10 cases of dedovshchina still occurred each year. The
Ministry of Defence admitted 56 non-combat deaths in 2001, and 33
during the first half of 2002. NGOs report 64 deaths for 2003. The
US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003
mentions official figures according to which 35 soldiers died in the
army in 2003; 9 of these deaths resulted from hazing.

Moreover, young conscripts who are homosexual, Yezidi and Jehovah’s
Witnesses reported that they were singled out for harassment or abuse
by officers and other conscripts . Refusal to serve is a widespread
phenomenon: material and living conditions in the armed forces are
very poor, and, moreover, conscripts may be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh
or neighbouring regions.

US STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS AZERBAIJAN SHOULD USE INCENTIVES TO DEVELOP NON-OIL SECTOR

Today, Azerbaijan
March 7 2006

The US State Department today issued the “Azerbaijan 2006 Investment
Climate Statement”.

The statement says that a long running and unresolved conflict with
Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh has left Azerbaijan with approximately
800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the
problem of refugees and IDPs constitutes an enormous burden on
economic and democratic development. However, as a result of the
state policy aimed at poverty reduction and regional development
pursued in Azerbaijan in 2005, the country has achieved high
macroeconomic indicators. As a continuation of this process in 2006,
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is forecasted to be as high as 30%
this year. In addition, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project,
which will significantly stimulate general development of the country,
is planned to be completed in 2006.

The statement notes that the government of Azerbaijan officially
welcomes foreign direct investment, realizing that it plays a vital
role in development of the countrys economy. The Law on Protection
of Foreign Investments permits foreign direct investment (FDI) in
any activity open to a national investor unless prohibited by law.

Prohibited areas include those relating to national security and
defense.

It is also said that under Azerbaijani law, foreign investors may
participate in the Azerbaijani market through joint ventures with
local companies, establishment of subsidiaries wholly owned by foreign
investors, and representative offices and branches of foreign legal
entities.

The section “Performance Requirements and Incentives” of the statement
says that Azerbaijan has not yet developed effective incentives to
attract foreign investment, other than the incentives provided by
Production Sharing Agreements in the oil and gas sector, APA informs.

Another section in the statement is about corruption. This section
states that corruption is a significant deterrent to investment in
Azerbaijan, especially in the non-energy sector. Laws and regulations
that exist to combat corruption have not been effectively enforced. A
new anti-corruption law came into force in January 2005. However,
Azerbaijan made little progress on implementation of this law in 2005.

URL:

DEDICACE VARTAN BERBERIAN, AUJOURD’HUI AU HAVRE; LE DEVOIR DE MEMOIRE EST UTILE

Paris-Normandie
7 mars 2006

URSET

Vartan Berberian livre Le figuier de mon père, hommage bouleversant
a ses parents. Ancien de la Marine marchande, il fait escale a la
Galerne et dedicace son autobiographie.

Pourquoi avez-vous decide d’ecrire votre biographie?

Vartan Berberian: J’arrive a un âge où je me demande: que
restera-t-il après mon depart? Laisser un maison ou un livret
d’epargne ne serviraient pas a grand chose a mes trois enfants et
dix petits-enfants. Quel meilleur heritage qu’un livre! Et compte
tenu de la vie que j’ai eu, le devoir de memoire est utile.

Le livre est un hommage emouvant a vos parents. Que vous ont-ils legue?

V.B.: J’ai eu une enfance pauvre mais mes parents m’ont inculque un
etat d’esprit d’une richesse inestimable. Mon père m’a appris qu’il
faut travailler pour obtenir quoi que ce soit. Je ne crois pas du
tout aux loteries ou aux fermes celebrites. C’est tout le sens du
titre de mon livre.

Pouvez-vous raconter l’anecdote derrière ce titre a la Pagnol?

V.B.: J’ai voulu offrir un figuier a mon père. Je voulais un
arbre grand et majestueux. Mon père me demande le prix qui etait
exorbitant. Le lendemain, il revient avec quatre petites branches
de figuier. Il a plante le sien et j’ai achete un grand figuier
magnifique. La première annee, son figuier a donne une figue delicieuse
et le mien des dizaines de figues rabougries. Aujourd’hui, le figuier
de mon père se perpetue. Il faut etre patient et travailleur.

Fils d’immigres qui ne parlaient pas francais, vous avez formidablement
reussi. Quel est le secret de cette integration?

V.B.: Je dois mon integration en France a mes parents. Je me souviens
de ma mère me disant: Ce pays qui nous accueille est un grand pays.

Ton armenite, exprime la a l’interieur de la maison. Dehors mele-toi
aux autres enfants. Bien sûr j’ai eu quelques humiliations en tant
qu’Armenien. Quand je rentrais humilie a la maison, j’ecoutais mes
parents et j’oubliais tous mes soucis. Mon père etait un travailleur
infatigable et il ne se plaignait jamais. Il a passe trois ans et trois
mois dans les prisons turques, enchaîne a un camarade. Mais pour lui,
il avait toujours un pied libre.

Vous avez des mots durs contre la population turque. N’avez-vous pas
peur de relancer la polemique?

V.B.: Je n’ai aucune haine contre les Turcs. Je plains simplement
ce peuple auquel les dirigeants ne disent pas la verite. Mon père a
perdu trente un membres de sa famille, tous morts les yeux ouverts.

Toute sa vie, ma mère m’a repete ne me laisse pas mourir les yeux
ouverts. J’espère qu’on verra un jour un grand homme turc reconnaître
le genocide armenien pour qu’on puisse enfin tourner cette page de
notre histoire.

PROPOS RECUEILLIS PAR TIPHANIE ROQUETTE

– A 18 h Cafe La Galerne, 148 rue Victor-Hugo. Tel. 02.35.43.22.52.

–Boundary_(ID_7c+yC1fUzRjCkl+75i sU7A)–