Author: Kajoyan Gevork

SETTING INFLATION TARGET REMAINS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

International Monetary Fund

May 31 2011

By Mark Horton, Anna Bordon, and Alina Luca, IMF Middle East and
Central Asia Department and Douglas Laxton, IMF Research Department

Central bankers discuss experiences with inflation-forecast targeting
Participating countries face serious post-crisis challenges, fragile
recovery Change in mindset, clear communications, better analytical
tools are required

Adopting an inflation-forecast targeting regime can help reduce
economic uncertainty and the severity of boom-and-bust cycles–two
benefits that were borne out in several countries during the recent
crisis and the subsequent rise in food and fuel prices, economists
said at a seminar in Armenia.

But for this method to succeed, policymakers must change their mindset
and embrace flexible exchange rates, communicate more clearly, and
strengthen their analytical tools.

These were some of the key conclusions of central bankers and other
policymakers from emerging Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus
as they gathered in late April to share their experiences with
inflation-forecast targeting. The eight-day workshop–held in Yerevan
and Tshakhkadzor, Armenia–was jointly organized by the International
Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
and the Central Bank of Armenia.

As with traditional inflation targeting, a central bank using
inflation-forecast targeting adopts a formal, public target for the
inflation rate and then attempts to steer actual inflation toward the
target through the use of interest rate changes and other monetary
instruments.

However, this type of targeting involves greater degree of transparency
and communication of monetary policy decisions, centered on publication
of a forecast for inflation and interest rates (or assumptions
underpinning the forecast). At times, the inflation forecast may
represent an intermediate target that the central bank aims to bring
back to the formal target over time.

Other hallmarks of the regime–which evolved from traditional inflation
targeting–are public discussion of the forecasts, communicating the
reasons for missed targets, and explaining how policy will act to
return inflation to the target in the future.

Difficult times

Central banks in emerging Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus face
difficult challenges. The recovery is fragile, some economies are
highly dollarized, financial sectors remain underdeveloped and in
some cases impaired from the crisis, and fiscal space is limited. The
region has been confronted by volatile capital flows and a large
increase in food and fuel prices–a phenomenon that is strongly felt
by consumers in these countries, who spend a large proportion of
their income on food.

These challenges–particularly the emerging threat of
inflation–provided the impetus for the conference.

Conference organizers Douglas Laxton of the IMF’s Research Department,
Mark Horton of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department,
and Ashot Lazarian of the Central Bank of Armenia noted that, where
flexible inflation-forecast targeting has been applied seriously,
it has been beneficial in keeping inflation down and anchoring
longer-term inflation expectations. (In such circumstances, long-run
market views on inflation are not sensitive to the daily news, a
sign that the public has confidence that the central bank will keep
inflation under control over time.)

Countries that have adopted inflation-forecast targeting chose it in
most cases because previous monetary policy frameworks had failed
to maintain low and stable inflation. In those countries, price
stability has become accepted as the best contribution that monetary
policy can make to improving the performance of the economy. Greater
transparency, integral to inflation-forecast targeting, was also seen
as fully consistent with ongoing moves toward good governance.

Three basic elements

Andy Berg of the IMF’s Research Department described the three
key elements of inflation-forecast targeting: a quantitative
inflation target, an inflation forecast that plays a central role in
decision-making, and transparency and accountability. Central bankers
must have clear objectives and sufficient capacity and independence
to provide these key elements, he stressed.

Most countries that adopt inflation-forecast targeting do not have
all these elements in place at the outset, but in almost all cases,
their modeling and forecasting capability, transparency and policy
communication, and exchange rate flexibility have improved over time.

Successful inflation-forecast targeting also requires a change
in mindset–policymakers must accept the notion that achieving
low inflation is the primary objective of monetary policy (while
minimizing the variability of movements in the real economy in the
course of achieving and maintaining the target rate of inflation), that
central bank instrument independence is of paramount importance, and
that fiscal policy concerns cannot dominate monetary policy choices.

Range of experiences

New adopters of inflation-forecast targeting are benefiting from the
success of the pioneers. The Czech Republic was the first transition
country to introduce it in 1997. ZdenÄ~[k Tůma, a former Czech
National Bank Governor, explained that this new regime was challenging
at first because of the disruptions of frequent shocks and volatile
capital flows.

Júlia Király of the Bank of Hungary recounted her country’s early
experience, noting that the regime was not consistent with the exchange
rate band Hungary had in place during 2001-08. The band prevented
necessary currency appreciation–a key channel for disinflation (a
slowing of the rate of inflation). This, combined with difficulty in
assessing the cyclical position of the economy and large household
currency mismatches, limited the authorities’ ability to bring
inflation down and anchor long-term inflation expectations.

Bojan Markovic reviewed challenges faced by the Bank of Serbia,
including a highly euroized economy (that is, the euro is widely used
for transactions and savings) and high food and headline inflation
volatility. In such circumstances, he said, a strong and rapid
policy response in response to shocks is needed to anchor inflation
expectations. Also, macro-prudential policy instruments are useful
in complementing conventional monetary policy instruments, and if
applied carefully, can improve the effectiveness and credibility of
inflation-forecast targeting regimes.

The Central Bank of Armenia’s Nerses Yeritsyan described the host
country’s 2006 shift to implicit inflation-forecast targeting (in
other words, targeting a certain level of inflation but not announcing
the level publicly) as targeting of the money supply became less and
less reliable. The authorities faced a number of challenges–high
dollarization; relatively weak linkages between changes in the central
bank’s policy interest rate and changes in other interest rates, in
economic activity, and in the rate of inflation; shallow financial
markets; and a difficult fiscal situation.

After some success, they are now aiming at full-fledged
inflation-forecast targeting with reforms to better control liquidity
and to improve communications, as well as introducing indexed
bonds, and moving decisively away from smoothing the exchange rate
to anchoring inflation expectations through a more comprehensive
application of inflation-forecast targeting.

Change in mindset needed

ZdenÄ~[k Tůma noted that inflation-forecast targeting requires a
change in mindset, as the central bank must adopt a flexible exchange
rate regime. Central banks should also get over their fear of not
hitting near-term targets and accept the fact that targets will
sometimes be missed.

But it is crucial that they continually explain publicly how policy
will act to return inflation to the target in the future, and publish
the new inflation and policy interest rate forecasts consistent
with inflation returning to target. It is equally important for
central banks to abandon the view that less communication is better
(common when the exchange rate is fixed) and move toward more
open communication, which will help align expectations with policy
objectives.

The bottom line is that inflation-forecast targeting is as much
about missing the targets over the short term as hitting them, and
policymakers should not feel compelled to do “whatever it takes”
to meet targets on a period-by-period basis. This attitude could be
very costly and counterproductive for the both economy and for the
central bank’s credibility.

According to Tůma, inflation-forecast targeting puts an end to
“real-time attention” on the exchange rate and replaces it with
painstaking analysis of the economy. The switch enables decision-making
under uncertainty. Policy moves away from responding to every market
movement to reacting to expected movements in economic variables,
relying on a model that forecasts inflation paths with internally
consistent and time-consistent updates of interest rate trajectories.

Guy Meredith, a former Bank of Canada and IMF official, noted that
countries that adopt such a regime need to learn to live with exchange
rate volatility. While not ignoring movements of the exchange rate,
responses under inflation-forecast targeting should also not unduly
limit them. Policymakers could also implement strategies to weaken
incentives to build up excessive foreign exchange exposures.

On the question of whether exchange rate volatility should be resisted
more in dollarized economies, Archil Mestvirishivili of the National
Bank of Georgia pointed out that exchange rate volatility can help
reduce dollarization over time by educating the public about the
risks of foreign exchange holdings and borrowing.

Communication is crucial

Inflation-forecast targeting requires greater transparency through
various forms of communication. Central banks need to communicate
that they cannot–and are not trying to–determine the inflation
rate over the short run. Rather, they are focusing on taking policy
actions to return the rate of inflation to its target over the medium
run following shocks to the economy and thereby anchoring long-term
inflation expectations.

Former Bank of Canada official Jack Selody explained that
communications generally improve over time, as central banks repeatedly
explain how their monetary policy actions will bring inflation back
to target along a forecast path and as they educate the market about
the implications of uncertainty.

Selody also highlighted a major difficulty of inflation-forecast
targeting: striking the right balance between flexibility and
credibility. Flexibility in achieving the inflation objective (for
example, a gradual return to the target following a shock) may well
enhance credibility, but flexibility that temporarily abandons the
target in favor of other objectives will be costly in terms of lost
credibility.

In the early stages of inflation-forecast targeting, foregoing
flexibility (in the sense of returning inflation to its target more
quickly than might otherwise be optimal) may help earn credibility.

Good communication of the reasons for, the benefits of, and the limits
to flexibility is central to maintaining credibility.

Modeling and forecasting staff from 14 central banks in the region
stayed on for a week of training in the analytical tools needed to
support full-fledged inflation-forecast targeting frameworks.

INSIDE RALPH ESMERIAN’S DOWNFALL
By Ricci Dipshan

Diamonds.net

May 31 2011

A jewelry connoisseur with a museum-worthy collection now faces jail
time after a series of reckless business decisions.

RAPAPORT… The American Folk Art Museum’s Senior Curator Stacy C.
Hollander once wrote that “to enter Esmerian’s world is to abandon
one’s usual mundane considerations. All that matters is quality,
beauty, rarity and the creative song of the individual’s hand at
work.” A Paris-born, French-Armenian, fourth-generation gem dealer,
Ralph Esmerian was once a revered figure in the diamond and jewelry
world, a collector whose antique and rare items were almost legend,
decorating the walls of the Louvre and the American Folk Art Museum.

“He exemplified the presence of a royal nature to the gem industry,”
noted colored diamond expert Alan Bronstein of Aurora Gems, an
appraiser for the colored diamonds involved in Merrill Lynch’s
bankruptcy case against Esmerian. “He was a genius at recognizing
gems but he got caught in an ever-greater, grandiose desire fed by
the world of cheap finance. He made a lot of foolish mistakes.”

While Esmerian’s world may have centered around aesthetics and beauty,
his downfall focused on a recklessness and naïvete in all matters
financial, leaving the once-crowned king of collectors facing jail
time. The undoing of one of the diamond and jewelry industry’s most
renowned figures followed a dramatic and scandalous turn of events
that many attribute to his resounding lack of business acumen.

“In certain instances, he obviously used poor judgment,” said Audrey
Friedman, owner of New York-based Primavera Gallery. “I think a certain
amount of it may have been due to inexperience in business, but he
also might have been poorly advised by other people, and reaching a
point where he was in desperate straits and not sure what to do.”

Esmerian was arrested in November 2010 and pled guilty to charges of
bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud and concealing assets in connection with a
scheme to embezzle funds. He entered the plea in a New York courtroom
in April 2011, marking not only the end of his professional career,
but also the end of several tense years spent trying to outpace his
debt and regain financial solvency. On July 22, 2011, Esmerian will
be sentenced for his crimes, for which he faces eight to thirty years
in prison. At the time of his sentencing, as required by the court,
he will remit all capital owed to his victims, and give up claims to
all property or proceeds involved in his offenses.

Attempts to contact Esmerian for this story were unsuccessful, with
neither he nor his attorneys offering public statements on his past
crimes or his impending sentencing.

Road to Auction The seeds of Esmerian’s downfall were planted in the
fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006, when he decided to buy retail
estate jeweler Fred Leighton from retiring owner Murray Mondschein,
securing two loans from Merrill Lynch totaling $177 million to finance
the purchase.

These loans were backed in part by the jewelry and rare items he
had accumulated through his company, R. Esmerian, Inc. (REI), which,
according to court documents filed later, held inventory valued at
around $192 million. In an indication that Esmerian was overextending
himself financially, in December 2006, he pledged the same collateral
– REI’s inventory – to Acorn Capital Group LLC to secure another
loan in the amount of $40 million, an illicit activity known as
double-pledging.

To run Fred Leighton, Esmerian hired Peter E. Bacanovic, a former
Merrill Lynch broker most famous for serving five years in prison
for his role in the Martha Stewart insider trading case. It is not
clear whether Bacanovic played an instrumental role in securing the
Merrill Lynch loans for Esmerian, though it has been the subject
of much speculation. During Bacanovic’s time at Fred Leighton,
however, the retailer went downhill – in 2008, it defaulted on its
loan obligations, freeing Merrill Lynch to auction off at Christie’s
the items Esmerian had put up as collateral.

Interestingly, the auction, which was first set to take place on
April 15, 2008, then postponed to the following day, did not mention
Esmerian by name, instead describing the items as belonging to an
“American Connoisseur.” Prior to the sale, a furious Esmerian charged
Merrill Lynch and Christie’s with selling his items at prices that were
“dangerously low.” While not all agreed with Esmerian’s complaint,
there were many who questioned why the bank had never confirmed
the value of the items before granting the loan. One off-the-record
source wondered, “Why didn’t Merrill Lynch do its due diligence and
get a second appraisal on the jewelry? The guys over there were just
interested in getting their commissions on the loan, so they went with
what they were given.” Indeed, it isn’t hard to see how Merrill Lynch –
which was itself imploding in the subprime scandals that began in 2007,
and was just four months away from being sold to Bank of America –
could have been out to make quick capital with the Christie’s auction.

To prevent Christie’s from going through with the auction, Esmerian
had Fred Leighton file for bankruptcy. That legal end run confounded
auctioneers at Christie’s, who canceled the “American Connoisseur”
sale – much to the ire of those awaiting the chance to bid on
Esmerian’s goods. A few days after the aborted auction, however,
Christie’s struck a deal with Esmerian to sell a 141-carat diamond
brooch that belonged to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, to
the Louvre Museum for $10.6 million. Members of the Esmerian family,
however, refused to sign off on the deal. Jacqueline Esmerian King,
Esmerian’s sister, along with three of his other siblings, filed a
suit alleging that the brooch belonged to a family trust set up by
their late grandmother, and that the sale was, in effect, illegal.

That case is still pending, though the brooch remains at the Louvre.

Other auctions featuring some of Esmerian’s inventory have sprouted
up occasionally since 2008, including an October 2009 auction at
Christie’s. Private auctions of Esmerian’s inventory also have
occurred, with the most recent sale, featuring 56 items, being held
through June 27, 2011. Proceeds from that sale will go to firms
comprising the Acorn Capital Group LLC.

Esmerian and Friends Around the same time that Esmerian secured
his second loan from Merrill Lynch – still part of the $177 million
total – in the spring of 2006, he entered into a deferred jewelry
purchase agreement with the limited liability company (LLC), Jeweled
Objects. The LLC was owned and operated by Esmerian’s longtime business
adviser Mitchell May, with whom he had shared office space since 2006,
and Robert Hoberman, his accountant for more than 15 years. With the
ink on the new Merrill Lynch loan still wet, Esmerian sold 38 pieces
of REI’s inventory, including jewelry, sculptures and antiques, for
$8.95 million to Jeweled Objects, with the contractual obligation
to buy it back in one year at 20 percent interest. At least six of
those 38 items were designated as Fred Leighton debtor property and
already were promised to Merrill Lynch.

As it turned out, Esmerian wasn’t the only one who needed to borrow
money to finance deals. To fund its initial purchase of Esmerian’s
38 items, Jeweled Objects raised $5.25 million from an eclectic mix
of investors, including charitable organizations and retirement funds.

Investors were told by the company that the collateral value of the 38
items was actually more than three times the purchase price. Should
Esmerian fail to repurchase or lease his items back, Jeweled Objects
argued, the investors would be sitting on more than $28 million
in security. As the investors would soon find out, however, their
security against an Esmerian default was more smoke and mirrors than
actual value – in the end, the collateral was really worth less than
2 percent of the price Jeweled Objects had established.

In May 2006, Benjamin Zucker, president of Precious Stones Company,
appraised 20 of the 38 items for just shy of $24 million – a price
that his appraisal document said represents “a fair market value
for objects that have a provenance of being acquired and collected
50 years ago.” The other 18 objects were appraised for around $4.8
million, though the appraiser for those items has not been identified.

In court papers filed against Jeweled Objects in March 2010 by
investors seeking to recoup their losses, Esmerian, Zucker, Hoberman
and May are accused of employing a “highly subjective methodology”
in their appraisal by using the prices of “particular, idiosyncratic
potential buyers,” who would pay above and beyond market price for
the items, to justify their inflated value. An August 2009 Christie’s
appraisal of the 20 items that Zucker had pegged at $24 million set
the market value for the items at $432,500.

Richard Lawler, president of GBC Inc., a Boston-based jewelry surplus
wholesaler and appraisal company, said that in his dealings with
Esmerian, he too found a significant difference between Esmerian’s
values and those that could be realistically recovered by a lender.

“In all of our appraisals on manufacturers and wholesalers, we
have never run into a situation where there has been a meaningful
disagreement with our findings by either party. Predating this case,
we had experience with the inventory that was owned by Esmerian. It
went well beyond even the exclusive Fred Leighton merchandise. The
value placed on those unique historic pieces by Esmerian, by his
insurance companies and by his appraisers, was considerably higher
than its worth to the lenders. GBC knew this but apparently the
lenders did not. They could have circumvented a big part of their
problems by having a proper appraisal done on the collateral before
entering into the loan arrangement.”

Lawler, whose company had no knowledge of the defendants or their
appraisals for Esmerian, went on to say that, “the phrase ‘fair market
value’ is always open to a significant range of interpretation and
should be carefully considered before being accepted by a lender.”

Why investors believed that Esmerian’s items were worth over 50 times
their value reflects Esmerian’s stature as a revered figure in the
industry. “Esmerian came from a family that was extremely well known
and well respected in the industry and I think that everybody just
assumed that Ralph was extremely rich. Not many people in the industry
knew what he owned and didn’t own,” observed Donald A. Palmieri,
president of the Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL).

Esmerian’s reputation, however, could not save him when the bills
came due. While Esmerian did make some payments to Jeweled Objects
to repurchase his items, he and the company agreed to push the
final due date for repayment back by one year in March 2007, and
then again in March 2008. Each time, Jeweled Objects collected
additional collateral from Esmerian’s personal assets, including
some of his folk art paintings and antique furniture. In March 2010,
when Esmerian’s financial troubles became public, and Jeweled Objects
investors realized their collateral was wholly undervalued, they sued
the company, Esmerian and Zucker for damages in excess of $50 million.

Jeweled Objects, which declared bankruptcy a month after the suit was
filed, had filed its own court papers earlier in October 2009, seeking
to recoup $7.4 million in losses from Esmerian. The company’s investors
quickly dismissed the filing as an attempt for Jeweled Objects to
appear legitimate after conspiring with Esmerian to defraud them out
of their capital. As evidence, they point to the fact that May and
Hoberman assisted Esmerian in obtaining the loans from Merrill Lynch,
while collecting substantial finders’ fees for themselves. They also
claim that the two had intimate knowledge of REI’s finances.

While May and Hoberman have not denied their knowledge of REI and its
accounting, they do insist that they were never acquainted with Fred
Leighton’s books or its financial state.

There is, as of yet, no legal connection establishing Esmerian,
May and Hoberman as conspirators. But there is, however, evidence to
suggest that dealings among them were informal and off the books. In
May of 2006, the same month the deferred jewelry purchased agreement
was signed, Jeweled Objects consigned one of the 38 purchased items,
a 9.77-carat emerald ring, to Fred Leighton, and Esmerian soon sold the
ring to an individual for $250,000, keeping the profits for himself.

Jeweled Objects eventually reported the lost income from the ring in
their court case in 2009, but did not take any legal or public action
against Esmerian prior to that time.

Scramble Furtive one-on-one sales, as in the case of the emerald ring,
were characteristic of the way Esmerian double-pledged his items –
and the way he got more and more entangled in bankruptcy and wire
fraud. The most famous example is Esmerian’s sale of a pledged Endymion
butterfly brooch in May 2008 for $2 million. After wiring half of the
profit to his personal Swiss bank accounts, he learned through Merrill
Lynch that his buyer had put the brooch up for auction at Christie’s
Hong Kong, pricing it at $3.2 million. Forced to buy the item back at
auction, Esmerian went about frantically selling off other inventory
to raise the capital, including more items that were Fred Leighton
collateral, as well as a brooch and pendant that legally belonged to
a private collector and longtime customer of REI.

In his double-pledging and double-selling, a portrait emerges of
Esmerian as a deceitful swindler who carelessly tried to cover his
tracks. In July 2008, for example, he sold a pledged 13-carat Burma
ruby diamond ring for $2 million through wire transfer to his personal
bank account. A year later, he testified in bankruptcy proceedings
that the ring was in a vault at REI’s Manhattan offices, and that he
“had an offer,” which he “turned down yesterday” from a potential
buyer. Esmerian became so caught up in his web of debt that by the
end of 2009, he pledged shares of his apartment to an individual
in exchange for forgiving him a $3 million outstanding balance. He
failed, however, to notify a business adviser of his, who just four
months prior, was given 50 percent of his apartment shares.

Given Esmerian’s fall during the collapse of the financial industry,
it is hard not to see some of his problems as part of the larger
problems of easy credit and backroom financial deals. “He was really
caught in this web,” said Bronstein, adding that “there are a lot
of other people who got caught it in, too, but they are not as big
as Esmerian.” Many, however, argue that whatever the circumstance,
Esmerian sealed his own fate by participating in illicit transactions.

“If he is committing fraud and claiming it’s consignment, and it’s
not – that is just plain fraud,” said Cecilia Gardner, president and
chief executive officer (CEO) of Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

To a certain extent, Esmerian’s downfall exposes cracks in an
industry that handles transactions based on trust. Primavera Gallery
Owner Friedman, for example, noted that “the jewelry ndustry is an
industry where people do millions of dollars in business deals with a
handshake.” It remains to be seen whether the Esmerian scandal will
force the industry to think of itself as a place where, according
to Bronstein, “there are few checks and balances like there are in
other industries in keeping track of what belongs to whom.”

Esmerian’s downfall has reverberated well beyond its initial
participants, leaving a lasting impact on the industry that could
affect business for years to come. “It is important to realize that the
victims of this case are not only Merrill Lynch and Acorn Capital,”
observed Lawler. “Also affected are the vast majority of companies
in the jewelry and diamond industry that rely upon banks and other
lending institutions to fund their business.”

HRANT DINK MURDER TRIAL: 4 YEARS LATER: COURT CONSIDERS ADDITIONAL SUSPECT

BIAnet.org
May 31 2011
Turkey

The court eventually decided to investigate who else was involved in
the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink. Osman Hayal will be
investigated. Cell phone records are requested from TÄ°B and three
GSM operators. The trial was postponed to 29 July.

Erol Ã~VNDEROÄ~^LU [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center31 May
2011, Tuesday At the hearing on Monday (30 May), four and a half years
after the start of the trial, the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court
made a move towards investigating who else was involved in the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Ever since the beginning
of the trial in 2007, allegations were made that at least one other
person besides triggerman suspect Ogün Samast had been involved.

Hrant Dink, a journalist of Armenian origin and founder of the
Armenian Agos newspaper, was lethally shot close to his office in
central Istanbul on 19 January 2007.

In accordance with the request of lawyer Fethiye Ã~Getin, one of the
joint attorneys of the Dink family, the court decided to have full
lengths body shots taken from the front and the side of Osman Hayal
plus biometric photographs. Hayal is the brother of suspect Yasin
Hayal and was allegedly in the vicinity of the scene of crime on 19
January 2007.

Osman Hayal was previously arrested and released later on. The court
was of the opinion that there was no need “for now” to arrest Hayal
again under the same allegations. Once the photographs are ready, an
expert is going to determine whether the person on the video records
is Osman Hayal or not. The request to arrest Hayal will be evaluated
accordingly thereupon.

Additionally, the identity of a suspect who talked via a cell phone
from two different points close to the scene of crime at the day of the
murder shall be determined. The court requested the Telecommunication
Communication Presidency (TÄ°B) and three different GSM operators
announce all telephone conversations of this person made between
11.10 and 11.25 am and between 2.45 and 3.00 pm at the scene of crime.

The court dismissed the demand to release alleged instigator Yasin
Hayal and police informant Erhan Tucel pending trial. The trial was
postponed to 29 July.

Upon a previous request of the Dink family lawyers, the Scientific and
Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÃ~BÄ°TAK) had been asked
about the footage of the camera installed at the Akbank branch since
the murder happened right in front of the bank. TÃ~BÄ°TAK was asked
whether the records had been deleted and if it would be possible to
restore them. The council initially replied that they had no records.

TÃ~BÄ°TAK was asked to review the findings but the new digital
forensic analysis came to the same result. According to the report,
the footage was erased and cannot be restored.

Friends of Hrant Also before the 18th hearing of the trial, about 300
“Friends of Hrant” gathered in BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ (Istanbul) and reiterated
their demand for justice in a walk to the BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ Courthouse.

The group called for the prosecution of Muammer Güler, the former
Istanbul Chief of Police, and Cemil Ã~Giçek, former government
spokesman and current Deputy Prime Minister. Banners carried by the
group members read, “We will not forget”, “For Hrant, for Justice”
or “The fascists strike, the AKP protects”. (EÃ~V/NV/VK)

ARMENIAN-IRANIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION MEMORANDUM SIGNED

ARMENPRESS
May 31, 2011
YEREVAN

Bilateral agreement was signed May 30 in Tehran as a result of the 10th
sitting of the Armenian-Iranian economic cooperation intergovernmental
cooperation commission.

The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed over the cooperation in
the spheres of gas, oil, water, electricity, trade and industry. The
document was signed by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen
Movsisyan and Foreign Minister of Iran Ali Akbar Saleh.

The Iranian minister pointed out the necessity of continuation of
cooperation particularly in the economic sphere. The trade turnover
between the two countries as compared with the 2009 increased by 38%
making 270 million USD. Nevertheless the Iranian minister said the
current trade level does not correspond to the existing potential and
abilities though “all the possibilities exist for making the volume
reach acceptable level”. “Taking into consideration the peculiar
location of Armenia in the region – on one hand it can tie with the
Black Sea and on the other with the Persian Gulf through Iran. It may
bring to positive economic fruits for the two states and the whole
region”, the Iranian minister said.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan said the
Armenian-Iranian ties are on very high level and the cooperation in
different spheres will continue. “The two countries have excellent
political ties”, the minister said.

At the meetings in Tehran the issue on construction of Armenia-Iran
railway has been discussed. The Roads and Transport deputy minister
Reza Pilpaye expressed the readiness of the Iranian side to be
involved in the construction of Iran-Armenia railway through contractor
organizations. He said 2.5 billion USD will be invested.

The railway station will have 540 km length of which 480 will pass
in the territory of Armenia, 60 in Iran.

Iranian mass media inform about the visit of the Iranian President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad to Armenia June 6.

DAYS OF MEXICAN CULTURE TO BE CONDUCTED IN ARMENIA IN JUNE

ARMENPRESS
May 31, 2011
YEREVAN

Days of Mexican Culture will be conducted in the first decade of June
in Armenia. Public relations officer of the Culture Ministry Gayane
Durgaryan told Armenpress that in June days of Armenian culture are
expected to be conducted in China. In the same month Days of Armenian
Culture will be conducted in Ukraine.

She said the clear time and events are in the phase of discussion. “It
is a complicated and long process which must be agreed between the
two parties”, he noted.

INTERNATIONAL LAW EXPERT TO DISCUSS LEGAL RIGHTS AT ARMENIAN CAUSE 2.0

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 1, 2011 – 09:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Susan Karamanian, a leading expert on international
law who serves as Associate Dean for International and Comparative
Legal Studies at George Washington University’s Law School, will
explore realizing the legal rights of the Armenian nation during her
presentation at Armenian Cause 2.0, the Armenian National Committee
of America’s conference to be held in Washington from June 24 to 27.

“We are very pleased to announce that Associate Dean Susan Karamanian
will be joining with us at Armenian Cause 2.0 to share her keen
insights and sharp analysis of the rights of the Armenian nation
and the responsibilities of the international community regarding
a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide,” said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “As a leader in the field
of international law, Dean Karamanian, will draw on her far-ranging
expertise and experience in addressing avenues for securing justice
for the Armenian nation.”

Joining Dean Karamanian, a former Rhodes Scholar, as part of the
rights and reparations discussion will be Kate Nahapetian, the ANCA’s
Government Affairs Director, who has litigated human rights class
actions and documented abuses for the prosecution against General
Augusto Pinochet of Chile. Nahapetian will address issues ranging from
the ANCA’s role in supporting Armenian Genocide-related class actions
in U.S. courts to the treaty rights of the Armenian nation. Among
the specific avenues that will be discussed during this presentation
is the right of the Republic of Armenia to bring reparations claims
before the International Court of Justice, Asbarez reported.

LES CIRCASSIENS EN TURQUIE MARQUENT L’ANNIVERSAIRE DE LEUR GENOCIDE
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 2 juin 2011

Des milliers de Circassiens se sont rallies a Istanbul a Besiktas pour
marquer l’anniversaire de la deportation par la Russie Tsariste de
1,5 million de leurs ancetres de leurs patries en 1864. Les membres du
groupe ont porte des bannières critiquant les deportations, affirmant
qu’un tiers de la population a ete tue et appelant a l’identification
de la deportation et des morts comme le genocide circassien.

La protestation etait la deuxième après que les Circassiens aient
organise un rassemblement a Istanbul recemment, après avoir exige le
17 avril des emissions et l’enseignement de leur langue natale.

” Le monde n’a aucune idee de la tragedie que les Circassiens ont subi
il y a 147 ans ” a declare Cihan Candemir, le chef de la Federation
des Associations du Caucase, ou KAFFED, pendant le rassemblement cite
par Hurriyet. ” Des millions de Circassiens ont ete tues pendant
les guerres au 19ème siècle et la deportation de 1,5 millions de
Circassiens de leur patrie a commence le 21 mai 1864 ” a-t-il dit,
ajoutant que les Circassiens vivant en Turquie font toujours face a
de nombreux problèmes.

” Nos ancetres se sont battus côte a côte avec les peuples d’anatolie
au cours de la Première guerre mondiale et la Guerre d’Independance.

Comme citoyens de ce pays, nous servons comme soldats, nous produisons
et nous payons nos impôts, mais nous ne sommes pas traites comme des
citoyens egaux ” a-t-il dit.

Recep Genel,ecrivain turc d’origine Circassienne a dit que la Turquie
considère les Circassiens comme des ” Turcs du Caucase “.

” Meme les noms des associations commencent par Caucase ; nous
n’avons pas le droit legal d’employer le nom Circassien dans ces noms
” a dit Genel. ” Quand nous exigeons nos droits, quelques-uns disent
” les Kurdes l’ont essaye, est-ce maintenant votre tour ? ” Mais ce
que nous exigeons sont des droits fondamentaux de l’homme “.

” Le genocide circassi “n est très different du genocide armenien ”
a dit Recep Genel. ” Nous avons toute la documentation qui prouve que
nous avons ete mis sur des bateaux et combien d’eux n’ont pas survecu.

Meme la Russie est consciente de la situation ; c’est pourquoi elle
ne peut pas nier les meurtres “.

La plupart des Circassiens qui s’est enfui se sont installes dans
l’Empire Ottoman et nombre d’entre eux ont particpe aux massacres
des Armeniens.

TURQUIE : ISMAIL BESIKI POSE LA QUESTION DES BIENS ARMENIENS CONFISQUES
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 2 juin 2011

” La question kurde est inextricablement liee avec les problèmes
auxquels ont fait face les communautes armeniennes et syriaques en
Turquie dans le Sud-Est dans le passe ” a declare le sociologue Ismail
Besiki expert de l’histoire de la question kurde cite par le quotidien
turc Zaman. Ismail Besiki a fait des recherches sur la question kurde
pendant des annees et, bien qu’il soit turc, il a passe 17 ans en
prison après avoir ete condamne pour ses ecrits sur le sujet.

S’exprimant lors d’une reunion-debat sur la question kurde où il etait
le conferencier a l’occasion d’un evenement organise par la Fondation
des Journalistes et des Ecrivains Ismail Besiki a dit que la question
kurde ne peut pas etre vue separement de la question des communautes
armeniennes et syriaques de Turquie, qui ont ete chasses du pays,
laissant derrière elles leurs affaires, banques, des champs agricoles
et meme des usines. Il a dit que le transfert de proprietes de ces
communautes, en particulier des armeniens, qui ont ete victimes d’une
campagne de deportation obligatoire quand les Unionistes etaient au
pouvoir a la fin de l’ère Ottomane en 1915 aux Kurdes dans la region et
la consequence de la deportation massive se sont unifies en un simple
problème. Ismail Besiki a dit que le Comite Union et Progrès (CUP),
qui etait au pouvoir durant les dernières annees de l’Empire Ottoman,
avait de vastes plans pour reorganiser l’empire afin ” de le turquifier
“. Cela a debouche a la nationalisation de l’economie Ottomane, qui
a amene le problème de que faire avec les communautes alors assez
considerables an Turquie des armeniens, des grecs et des Alevis. La
plupart des evenements qui ont eu lieu a la tournure du siècle passe,
comme l’echange de population entre la Grèce et la Turquie et la
deportation et le meurtre des armeniens que ces derniers qualifient de
genocide, a eu lieu dans le cadre des plans du CUP et du gouvernement
de la première Republique de Turquie de nationaliser l’economie.

Ismail Besiki a souligne que la communaute internationale avait aussi
ete immensement utile dans ce plan, qu’il affirme etre toujours au
coeur de l’ideologie officielle de l’etat. Une fois que le nouveau
regime a supprime ses grecs et armeniens, transfere leurs actifs
aux turcs ( Sunnites) aux kurdes (Sunnites) ils ont dû faire face au
problème de la communaute Alevi, qu’ils ont crû pouvoir facilement
convertir a l’Islam Sunnite. Une strategie d’assimilation semblable a
ete assumee pour les Kurdes, que l’on a permis de garder le capital,
des bâtiments, le betail, des champs et d’autres actifs laisses par
les bannis, tant qu’ils reniaient leur identite kurde.

Ismail Besiki a dit que la politique kurde de la Turquie etait basee
sur la negation de l’identite Kurde et sa destruction chaque fois
que possible. L’etat a aussi manifeste des efforts enormes pour
s’assurer que l’elite intellectuelle et les partis politiques de
Turquie soutenaient cette vision de la question kurde.

Ismail Besiki a dit que le defi le plus important pour l’etat etait
de s’assurer qu’une bourgeoisie locale Kurde ne pouvait apparaître
dans la region. ” Donc vous pouvez investir au sud ou l’ouest comme
homme d’affaires kurde et ils vous donneront tous les prets du monde
pour le faire, mais on ne vous permettra pas d’ouvrir une usine dans,
disons, Diyarbakyr ou Van ” a explique Ismail Besiki qui a dit que
les Kurdes qui possedaient des capitaux etaient constamment diriges
vers les provinces occidentales. Cela devait permettre une nouvelle
assimilation. ” Une bourgeoisie locale et des investissements Kurdes
dans la region garderaient les Kurdes au Kurdistan, ce qui est en
violation de la politique d’assimilation ” a-t-il dit. ” Il y a des
actifs immobiles laisses par les communautes armenienne et syriaque
qui sont sous le contrôle des Kurdes. Quand on a chasse les armeniens
et ne leur a pas permis de revenir, l’etat a permis aux Kurdes de
garder leurs actifs. Après 1915, les Kurdes ont commence a migrer des
secteurs ruraux vers les villes où les armeniens ont vecu. En fait,
aujourd’hui, la source de la richesse de la bourgeoisie Turque est les
proprietes armeniennes et greques, bien que les livres sur l’histoire
economique turque ne mentionnent jamais cela ” a-t-il dit. Ismail
Besiki espere que les chercheurs kurdes et les generations futures
recriront l’histoire economique de la Turquie et examineront la
source reelle de la richesse dans le pays, affirmant sa croyance que
cela aiderait aussi la Turquie a resoudre ses problèmes seculaires,
incluant les questions kurdes et armeniennes.

BURBANK MAYOR DONATES TO ARS ARAZ CHAPTER

asbarez
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Burbank Mayor Gary Bric presents check to Houry Tavitian

BURBANK-The Burbank chapter of the Armenian National Committee of
America reported that then Burbank Mayor Gary Bric donated his excess
reelection campaign funds to the Armenian Relief Society Araz Chapter.

He presented Houry Tavitian a check for more than $500.

According to Burbank’s election ordinance, no candidate for city
office may retain campaign funds after June 30th of the year of the
election. They may return excess funds to the original contributors
(pro-rata), transfer them to the city’s treasury, or donate them
to charity. Gary Bric chose the ARS Araz Chapter of Burbank as the
recipient. This is only the second time that an Armenian organization
has received such funds. It had been ten years since the last time.

After winning his campaign for city council, Bric explained that he
decided on the ARS to show his appreciation because Burbank’s Armenian
community generously supported him during his campaign through the
efforts of the ANCA-B.

On April 26, the ARS received more good news from Burbank. The City
Council voted to approve funding for the ARS’s Burbank Social Service
office. The amount was reduced from last year since the Community
Development Block Grant funds that Burbank receives from the federal
government decreased.

The Armenian National Committee of Burbank advances the social,
economic, cultural, and political rights of the area’s Armenian
American community and promotes increased Armenian American civic
participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.

LE PRESIDENT DE LA KNESSET S’EMPLOIE A FAVORISER LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
Par Jonathan Lis

HAARETZ

Reuven Rivin dit qu’il est de son devoir se Juif et d’Israelien de
reconnaître les ‘tragedies des autres peuples.’

Le President de la Knesset Reuven Rivlin a declare lundi qu’il voulait
convenir d’une session parlementaire plenière de la Knesset pour
marquer le Genocide Armenien de 1915 et 1916 par les Turcs. “C’est
mon devoir de Juif et d’Israelien de reconnaître les tragedies des
autres peuples” a declare Rivlin, s’adressant a une association
armenienne d’Israël.

Rivlin a ajoute : “les considerations diplomatiques, aussi importantes
qu’elles soient, ne permettent pas de nier les desastres arrives a
un autre peuple.”

Dans les recentes annees, les bureaux du Premier ministre et des
affaires etrangères ont fait lourdement pression pour eviter de
telles sessions en se souciant de leurs effets sur les relations
entre Israël et la Turquie. La Turquie nie avoir commis un genocide
sur les Armeniens.

Depuis 2008, la Knesset dans son ensemble a autorise la Commission
des Affaires Etrangères et de la Defense a tenir des sessions tenues
secrètes sur le Genocide Armenien. La semaine passee, pour la première
fois, la Knesset dans son ensemble a approuve la tenue d’une session
ouverte, publique, sur la question par la Commission de l’Education,
de la Culture et des Sports, a la demande de la parlementaire du parti
Meretz de la Knesset Zahava Gal-On. Cela represente un changement du
tout au tout de l’approche de cette question.

En 1915 et 1916, il a ete relate qu’entre un million et un million et
demi d’Armeniens ont perdu la vie en Turquie, representant environ
le tiers du peuple armenien. Les Armeniens ont fait campagne pour
la reconnaissance internationale du Genocide, mais les Turcs se
sont activement opposes a ces efforts. La Turquie soutient qu’il
ne s’agissait pas d’un genocide, et qu’au cours de la lutte des
Armeniens pour leur independance, entre 250 000 et 500 000 Armeniens
et un nombre equivalent de Turcs ont perdu la vie.

Parmi les tentatives de ces dernières annees du Ministre des affaires
etrangères pour bloquer les commemorations, en 2007, le cabinet du
ministre a exprime ce qui etait appele “insatisfaction” pour les
projets de session a la Knesset sur ce sujet. Le premier ministre
de l’epoque, Ehud Olmert, etait intervenu pour que la session soit
annulee.

Plusieurs mois après cela, les tensions avec la Turquie se sont
accrues, après que l’Anti-Defamation League s’etait declaree en faveur
d’une reconnaissance du genocide par le Congrès des Etats-Unis. Le
gouvernement turc avait repondu en demandant au gouvernement israelien
de faire pression sur l’ADL pour moderer sa position sur le debat
au congrès. Repondant aux requetes du president de la Turquie, le
president d’Israël Shimon Peres avait lui aussi pris contact avec le
president national de l’ADL Abraham Foxman, après quoi l’organisation
avait inverse sa position et radouci ses demandes.

En octobre 2008, dans un mouvement sans precedent, la Knesset avait
vote pour obtenir de la Commission parlementaire qu’elle convoque
pour debattre du Genocide Armenien a l’initiative du president de
l’epoque, le Meretz Haïm Oron, tracant la voie pour les sessions de
la Commission de Affaires Etrangères et de la Defense. Au cours des
deux annees passees, cependant, les relations entre la Turquie et
Israël s’etant deteriorees, l’opposition du Ministre des Affaires
Etrangères sur la question s’est diminuee, alors que la recente
evolution de Rivlin est de sa propre initiative.

Traduction Gilbert Beguian