Author: Kafian Jirair

YEZID POPULATION IN NORTHERN IRAG IS FACING DANGER OF EXTERMINATION, AZIZ TAMOYAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Aug 21, 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. 500 Yezids died and 1,200 were
injured as a result of violence in the north of Iraq on August 15. The
chairman of the National Union of World’s Yezids Aziz Tamoyan said
at the August 21 press conference that this act of violence was
"organized by the Iraqi and Kurdish governments".

In his opinion, the purpose of acts of violence committed regularly
by Muslim Kurds against Zoroastrian Yezids is to displace 1.2
milion Yezids living in the north of Iraq and to convert them into
Kurds. According to him, 15 thousand Yezids have already fled the
area but "their main part does not want to leave this place because
it is their birthplace, cradle, homeland".

In this connection Aziz Tamoyan has sent letters to the Council of
Europe, leaders of the US, Russia and Great Britain but there has
been no respone so far. "I dont not think that this silence is a
sign of agreement. But they must take steps to put an end to this
violence. Why are the criminals not punished? A whole nation that has
a five thousand-year history is being destroyed before everybody’s
eyes. Is this democracy?" A. Tamoyan said.

He reiterated that the state of Yezidstan under the jurisdiction of
the US and to be considered a US administrative territory should be
founded in the north of Iraq. Otherwise, in his conviction, Kurds
will continue committing massacres against Yezids – there have been
72 such massacres throughout the history of Yezids.

YEZID COMMUNITY OF ARMENIA TO SUPPORT CANDIDACY OF SERGE SARGSIAN AT 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Aug 21, 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The Yezid community of Armenia will
support the candidacy of the RA prime minister Serge Sargsian at the
2008 presidential elections, the chairman of the National Union of the
World’s Yezids Aziz Tamoyan stated at the August 21 press conference.

In his words, the decision to support Serge Sargsian’s candidacy was
taken at a sitting of the Union’s council, during which Yezids living
in Armenia were called upon to give their votes to Serge Sargsian.

"Like in other countries, in this country too the ethnic minorities
should back the government, state and its leadership," A. Tamoyan
noted.

UNDER PRESSURE, ADL ADMITS: TURKS’ ARMENIAN MASSACRE WAS GENOCIDE
By Shmuel Rosner

Ha’aretz
es/896179.html
Aug 21 2007
Israel

WASHINGTON – The mission statement for "No Place For Hate" says
that it will build "bridges of understanding," but until yesterday
it appeared that the bridge had collapsed. However, Abe Foxman,
the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which runs the
Boston-area program, yesterday tried to repair the damage.

In an effort to extricate himself from a scandal surrounding the
ADL’s refusal to support a bill calling on the Bush administration
to recognize the 1915-17 Turkish massacre of its Armenian minority
as genocide, Foxman did an abrupt about-face. After consulting with
Nobel Prize-winning author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Foxman
referred to the Armenian massacre as a "genocide" for the first time.

The uproar began two weeks ago, when Watertown, Massachusetts, a
suburb of Boston which has an Armenian population of several thousand,
decided to stop participating in "No Place For Hate" once it realized
that the ADL – which claims to oppose the discrimination of "any sect
or body of citizens" – did not intend to support the bill. Several
other suburbs were considering following in Watertown’s footsteps, and
activists in other states threatened to target the ADL program as well.

The Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives
enthusiastically supports the bill, proposed by California Democrat
Rep. Adam Schiff. Turkey denies that it committed genocide against
its Armenian minority and cautions allies and rivals alike against
recognizing it. This policy has been pretty successful, with countries
such as Israel and the U.S. refusing to retroactively acknowledge
that the massacre was the first genocide of the 20th century, out
of fear of causing a rift in diplomatic relations. In recent years,
this distortion of history has been the focus of rising criticism.

The ADL was an almost incidental victim of the disappointment and
anger felt by the American Armenian community. Many other large
Jewish organizations have also refrained from supporting the bill
or taking a stance on the Armenian genocide. They are interested in
maintaining warm relations between Israel and Turkey, and between
the United States and Turkey, and they don’t want to make the Jewish
community of Turkey vulnerable to revenge attacks.

These were also Foxman’s reasons. He had said the issue did not
constitute an ethical stance against an unethical one, but a situation
in which one must choose the lesser evil between two unattractive
options. In any case, argued Foxman, his perspective did have an
ethical element: While acknowledging the genocide is merely a symbolic
gesture to the Armenian community, putting ties with Turkey at risk
could have far-reaching consequences, including endangering the lives
of Turkish Jews.

But such explanations didn’t help the ADL – partly because it is the
organization most identified with the legacy of another 20th-century
genocide, the Holocaust, making it seem more hypocritical than other
groups. Another reason is that it was the ADL that ran the program
in Watertown, the heart of the Armenian community in America.

The Boston-area Jewish community had not given the national leadership
of the ADL its support. Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said that while
the local Jewish community understands the complexity of the issue,
the council thinks the U.S. should recognize the genocide.

The ADL itself was split over the issue; it fired New England regional
director Andrew Tarsy for telling The Boston Globe that, "I strongly
disagree with the ADL’s national position."

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz also came out against
the ADL’s previous stance, writing an op-ed in the Globe with State
Representative Rachel Kaprielian, who represents Watertown, that
compared the Armenian genocide to the Holocaust.

"For any organization or official to believe that there are differing
sides to the Armenian Genocide," they wrote, "is as much an outrage
as it would be for Germany to say that the work of Jewish scholars,
witnesses, and victim testimonies represented merely the ‘Jewish side’
of the Holocaust." For the past two weeks, the New England office
of the ADL had become the target of fierce attacks, and some went as
far as calling for Foxman’s resignation.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Lusine Mnatsakanyan
Tel: 3741 56 0106
Fax: 3741 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.himnadram. org

21 August, 2007

Charity Concert for Khashtarak School

It was a concert night at the Opera’s Aram Khachatryan big hall. The public
enjoyed the ever memorable performance of the Armenian State Dance Ensemble.
The charity concert was organized by Armenia Fund and German Armenian
Business Association. All the profits from the event will go to renovating
Khashtarak village school in Tavush as part of Armenia Fund’s Rural
Development Program.

Welcoming the guests, Vahe Aghabegians, Armenia Fund executive director,
noted that this was the beginning of an ambitious and essential program,
which is called to improve life in Armenia’s villages.

"We have a very wide gap between the developed cities and the struggling
countryside", said Mr. Aghabegians. "The Government of Armenia addressed
this issue by developing the Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Rural
Development Program was conceived as a supplementary mechanism for
developing infrastructure and economy in Armenia’s villages."

In her speech Ilda Karinian, German Armenian Business Association Executive
Director noted the 10 year history of successful cooperation with Armenia
Fund through the Germany Affiliate which serves as a solid bridge between
German Armenian Community and Armenia. She also expressed her full support
for the Fund’s Rural Development Program.

The initial stage of the Program includes five border villages in Tavush
region. Khashtarak is one of those villages and is the largest in population
and territory.

The renovation and refurbishment of Khashtarak School is funded by German
Armenian Business Association and Swiss Armenian community through the Fund’s
local Affiliates. 251 children currently attend the school. After the
renovation works are complete it will be able to receive up to 600 students.

"We envision an integrated and comprehensive program, which will not only
affect people’s lives today but also secure their future prosperity", said
Mr. Aghabegians.

ARMENIA, IRAN TO ESTABLISH LARGE-SCALED MULTILATERAL COOPERATION

ARKA News Agency
Aug 20 2007
Armenia

YEREVAN, August 20. /ARKA/. Armenia and Iran must establish
large-scaled multilateral cooperation, Mohammad Aliabadi,
Vice-President of Iran, Chairman of Physical Culture, said during a
press conference in Yerevan.

Armenia and Iran must establish stable multilateral relations,
including such spheres as politics, humanitarian field and sport,
he said.

According to the Vice-President, a centuries-old cooperation has
been established between Armenia and Iran. He believes the reason for
this is the geographical location of the countries, their traditional
friendliness and the large Armenian Diaspora in Iran.

Aliabadi pointed out that sport can make Iranian-Armenian relations
closer, as it the best means of communication.

In his turn, Armen Grigoryan, RA Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs,
said Iranian sportsmen are taking the most active participation in
Pan-Armenian Games, and the Iranian delegation was considered the
best in the 3rd Pan-Armenian Games.

According to him, 321 Armenian sportsmen from four Iranian cities
participate this year in the games.

"I hope this time too, the Iranian delegation will show professionalism
and discipline," Grigorian said.

The 4th Pan-Armenian games opened in Yerevan on August 18. About
2,500 sportsmen from 94 cities are participating in it.

The program of Pan-Armenian Games include such sports as football,
footzal, basketball, volleyball, badminton, swimming, track of field
athletics, tennis and table tennis.

The 1st Pan-Armenian Games took place in Armenia in 1999, in 2001
they were organized the second time, and the 3rd Pan-Armenian Games
took place in 2003. The symbol of the Games is the beige bear Archuk.

YASIN HAYALS LAWYER A SUSPECT HIMSELF

BÝA, Turkey
posted Aug 16 2007

Fuat Turgut, the lawyer representing suspect Yasin Hayal in the
Hrant Dink murder trial, has himself become the subject of a criminal
complaint. He has been accused of threatening a fellow lawyer with
death.

Following the complaint of Izmir Bar Association lawyer Ismail
Hakki Kucuk, a case has been opened against Fuat Turgut at an Izmir
magistrate criminal court. Kucuk had filed a complaint at the Izmir
Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on 15 December 2005.

Kucuk had been representing a wholesale shoe dealer, Mustaf Ozvardar,
and Turgut was representing one Fethi Takes who had debts with
Ozvardar. Kucuk claims to have been threatened with death by both
Takes and his lawyer, Turgut.

Ozvardar had gone to Kucuk’s office and said, "You are telling me to
‘come and kill me’. If you want interest on this file, your children
will become orphans."

At the first hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial at the Besiktas
court (Istanbul), Fuat Turgut had created tension. He had taunted the
Dink family and had accused the joint attorneys of "treachery". He
had shouted, "Look how many Armenians there are. You are all Armenian,
you all have Armenian passports."

Should Turgut be punished, the Izmir Bar Association would bar him
from his profession.

–Boundary_(ID_MyIEqZmoTKhC2gRHioFgfw )–

WHO IS IN FAVOR, AND WHO IS AGAINST OPENING THE ARMENIA-TURKEY BORDER

Panorama.am
20:58 14/08/2007

"For the first time, Turkey brought up the issue of its national
security in relation to the opening of their border with Armenia,"
Richard Giragosian, of the center of Caucasus and Central Asian issues,
stated to journalists at the Military Study Center in Yerevan.

He is convinced that the opening of the border would be more beneficial
to a blockaded Armenia, yet Turkey now has its own benefits from
opening the border.

According to him, Turkey considers the surrounding Kurdish regions
as a danger, and a way out of this would be to improve their economy,
which can only happen if they agree to the border opening.

A benefit to Armenia, he reminded, was the opening of Armenia’s economy
to the outside world, which would cut transit costs for its good,
and would once and for all end the blockade, putting some "fear"
in the monopolists who currently run Armenia’s economy.

Although not naming names, Giragosian seemed to point at those in
the sugar and cigarette businesses.

"There are strong interests in Armenia which do not want the border
opened, but this would be good for the country, which would be able
to integrate into the global economy," he noted in closing.

10TH ALL ARMENIAN ASSEMBLAGE OF STUDENT AND YOUTH UNIONS HELD BETWEEN AUGUST 9 TO 16

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The 10th All Armenian assemblage of
student and youth unions is being held between August 9 to 16 on the
initiative of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun party. The discussion on the
subject "The problems of the Armenian young people in Armenia and
in the Diaspora" was organized by the program of the assemblage on
August 10.

According to the information provided to journalists by Sevan
Gapakian, a member of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun party, the main goal of
this assemblage, which is held once in two years, is to unite all the
Armenian young people of the world and to find ways for solving their
problems. In his words, 100 young people from 12 member countries
of the assemblage will pay cognitive visits to a number of cities of
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

It should also be mentioned that the assemblage started in the
"Yerablur" pantheon and as for its final event, it will be held in
the city of Shushi.

BAKU BELIEVES THAT NICOLAS SARKOZY WILL VISIT AZERBAIJAN "REGARDLESS OF THE ARMENIAN PRESSURE"

PanARMENIAN.Net
Analytical Department
07.08.2007 GMT+04:00

Azerbaijan thinks that hydrocarbon may overweight anything, including
moral criteria, and hope to resolve the Karabakh Conflict to its favor.

During the last visit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to
France, an agreement about Nicolas Sarkozy’s possible visit to Baku
was reached. However this visit is already being discussed in Baku
as something decided and not apt to undergo any changes. Moreover,
according to the Azai Guliyev, "Sarkozy is going to visit Azerbaijan
regardless of the Armenian pressure".

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If President of France doesn’t visit Baku,
according to Azerbaijan, it will mean, that "it gave away to the
Armenian pressure". According to newspaper "Echo", France has a
strong and rather influential Armenian Diaspora supporting Armenia:
"In spite of everything though the French leader is planning to visit
Azerbaijan, after the previous President of France paid an official
visit to Yerevan.

This is certainly worth attention, as it speaks of the fact that
President of France implements a pragmatic policy and acts against the
pro-Armenian powers. The existence of balanced politics is undeniable".

By the way it is worth mentioning that the visits do not depend or in
any case almost do not depend on either party’s wish. Azerbaijan thinks
that hydrocarbon may overweight anything, including moral criteria,
and hope to resolve the Karabakh Conflict to its favor. France,
being included in OSCE Minsk Group, "may be of essential help"
to Azerbaijan. In any case Baku has great expectations regarding
the above-mentioned. True, if Sarkozy visits Azerbaijan, he will
be expected to confirm the stability of the Azeri borders. However,
another possibility is that Paris may once again underline, that the
agreement should be reached between conflicting parties.

Azerbaijan, of course, would not be happy with such variant. According
to Azai Guliyev, Baku has done its best. "We diversify the routs
of hydrocarbon resources to Europe; we have fulfilled the BTC
(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) project, we are involved in all the projects
carried out by NATO, as well as we became one of the first Islamic
countries taking part in peacemaking operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, etc.

Unfortunately, our country hasn’t got any response yet, i.e. support
to the Azeri position," thinks the deputy. In fact once again Baku is
trying to achieve its aim by the help of its gas and oil, forgetting
that the only country that can really manipulate and dictate its
rules and conditions is Russia, but never Azerbaijan. If taking into
consideration "tenuous" relationship of France with Baku’s major
ally Turkey, expectations about N. Sarkozy’s supposed visit are more
than unreasonable.

The whole matter is that President of France, as well as the European
Union are well-aware of Azerbaijan’s domestic situation, just like of
the reasons of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. Azeri Press is free to
write that another official representative of this or that country
has announced about the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, or that
Europe and the whole world will not survive without Baku’s energy
supply, these are just empty words. Pragmatic Sarkozy will act only
to its country’s and Europe’s favor, where by the way he has one of
the leading roles. If Baku really wants to get something from EU, it
must first of all change its policy and stop denying the fact that
Nagorno-Karabakh is an independent state, not depending on Baku’s
oil, for sake of which it was given to Azerbaijan in 1920, the oil,
which today makes only the 0.7% of the world oil stock.

AOUN NEEDS SYRIA’S HELP TO WIN IN LEBANON
By Sami Haddad, Ya Libnan Volunteer

Ya Libnan, Lebanon
aoun_needs_syri.php
Aug 7 2007

The myriad of political insight exposed in Sunday’s election have
left each political camp to brag about a moral victory. One fact is
indisputable, outside of Beirut and Damascus, there were no clear
winners on Sunday.

Former general Michel Aoun’s candidate, Camille Khoury (pictured
right), won 39,534 votes, against 39,116 votes for Amin Gemayel.

Aoun’s narrow margin victory of 400 votes, or half a percent, in the
Christian-dominated Metn district in Lebanon, pales in comparison
to the 80% popularity he claims to have among Lebanon’s Christian
population.

Aoun’s 80% popularity turned out to be among Lebanon’s Armenian
community, who’s main political party joined pro-Syrian Michel Murr
in an alliance with Aoun days before Sunday’s election.

Aoun’s support among his own religious sect, the Maronite Christians,
was far less flattering. While his candidate may have won in the
elections on Sunday, the move may backfire on Aoun’s relentless, on
the verge of desperate, drive to become president. Less than half of
the Maronites who voted on Sunday, voted for Aoun.

Since Lebanon’s president must be a Maronite Christian, any candidate
should at a minimum have substantial support from their own sect. The
Maronite backlash at Michel Aoun can be traced back to his widely
unpopular alliance with the staunch Syria-aligned Hezbollah.

Syria has always needed a Christian puppet in Lebanon to represent
its interests. Now that the top Syrian General in Lebanon, Lebanese
president Emile Lahoud, is all out of unconstitutional extensions,
and is due to leave office in two months, Syria is pulling all the
strings it has left in Lebanon to force Aoun in as the next puppet.

The current president, Emile Lahoud, presents a clear example of how
divided Lebanon will remain if he is replaced with another Syrian
puppet.

According to Abu Kais of Beirut to the Beltway, it was the Syrian
president who won on Sunday:

If anyone got a boost, it’s the Assad killing machine, which proved
still capable of assassinating deputies and replacing them with
others. Aoun supporters should look closely at who really won the
Metn election: the real winner is the Assad regime. They are losing
their street so that the Assad regime can further its goals. Aoun’s
popularity among Christians does not matter to Assad, as long as the
former general continues to provide a cover for the plot to bring down
the government and divide the Christian community-which has always been
the heart of the anti-Syrian opposition. Sadly, Aoun’s supporters have
convinced themselves that they’re being forward-looking by striking
alliances with the pro-Syrian camp.

Sunday’s elections clearly showed that Aoun needs the support of
Syria and the pro-Syrian political groups in Lebanon to scrape in a
victory. Winning by the narrowest of margins in the Christian heartland
was a significant setback for Aoun’s aspirations to be president,
despite the comparably minor victory for his candidate.