Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKISH GOVERNMENT IGNORES PROPERTY LAWSUIT, COURT ENTERS DEFAULT

Armenian Weekly
Thu, Sep 8 2011

LOS ANGELES-The Turkish government is now in default after ignoring
a lawsuit brought against it and two Turkish banks over reparations
for land in southern Turkey seized from Armenians during the Armenian
Genocide (Alex Bakalian et. al vs. Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank
of Turkey, and T.C. Ziraat Bankasi et. al, Case Number 2:10-CV-09596,
Dec. 15, 2010). The default notice was entered on Sept. 1, 2011.

The land in question is currently home to the Incirlik Air Base,
which houses the United States 39th Mission Support Group and 39th
Medical Group. The Air Base is located near Adana, Turkey.

After refusing to accept service of the lawsuit under governing rules
of the 1906 Hague Convention, Turkey was served through U.S. Embassy
channels on June 20. Service was confirmed and the court was notified.

Turkey had 60 days (by Aug. 19) to answer the complaint, but did not.

The two bank defendants, Central Bank of Turkey and T.C. Ziraat Bank,
requested and were given an extension to respond by Sept. 19.

“The U.S. Department of State had sent a diplomatic note to Ankara
warning that the country is bound by law to defend against the
lawsuit,” says Vartkes Yeghiayan, with the Yeghiayan Law Firm and
one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. “Choosing to ignore
the lawsuit won’t make it go away.”

The plaintiffs are arguing that their Armenian relatives owned land
now occupied by the Incirlik Base. Their complaint includes documents
showing legal ownership. When their relatives were forced to flee the
then Ottoman Empire, their property was subsequently seized and then
sold without their permission.

By refusing to respond, Turkey risks having the court rule against
it in absentia. Damages could be as high as $100 million.

Representing the plaintiffs are the Yeghiayan Law Firm in Glendale,
Schwarcz, Rimberg, Boyd & Rader, LLP in Los Angeles, and Michael
Bazyler from Chapman University School of Law in Orange.

ARMENIAN JEWELERS ASSOCIATION TO HAVE FIRST EXHIBITION IN YEREVAN

ARMENPRESS
11:20, 8 September, 2011

The first world exhibition of Armenian Jewelers Association (AJA)
will open in Armenia Marriott hotel, Yerevan, September 21. Press
office of the Diaspora Ministry reported that the exhibition is
dedicated to the 20th anniversary of independence of Armenia.

The exhibition is an exclusive and benevolent event. Jewelers of
Armenian origin from different countries – the United States, Canada,
Switzerland, Russia, France, Italy, Thailand, Lebanon will participate
in the event.

Valuable jewelry works of Armenian masters will be presented.

Within the framework of the exhibition “AJA’s Role in Integrating
Armenia’s jewelry industry into international community” conference
will be conducted.

ARMENIA IMPROVED ITS POSITIONS ON THE INDICATOR OF WORLD COMPATIBILITY BY SIX POINTS TAKING 92 PLACE AMONG 142 COUNTRIES

ARKA
Sep 8, 2011

YEREVAN, September 8. /ARKA/. Armenia has improved its positions on
the indicator of world compatibility by six points in 2011 taking 92
place among 142 countries, said Director of research centre “Economy
and values” Manuk Yergnyan in the international press-center “Novosti.

In 2010 Armenia was occupying 98 place among 139 countries of the
world by this indicator.

“By all criteria of assessment of compatibility in 2011-2012 positive
steps are observed except some indicators, such as macroeconomic
atmosphere and stability where Armenia decreased by 15 points and
occupies 114 place. The indicator of healthcare and primary education
decreased by 1 points”, said Yergnyan.

By all other indicators, including the institutes, infrastructures,
higher education, productivity of commodity, labor and financial
markets, technological preparedness, market sizes, improvement of
entrepreneurship and innovations Armenia registered increase of
positions from one point to 20.

Abrupt improvement of indicators in Armenia is related to the update
of the submitted indicators, including the level of penetration of
mobile communication, tax and customs policy, credit availability
and financial markets.

“Indicators of Armenia correspond to other countries which are on
the same level of development, i.e. transition from the main phase
of development to the increase of productivity”, said Yergnyan.

Some components make an exception, particularly market sizes which
is the result of natural restriction of local market.

Armenia falls behind by macroeconomic stability which is the phenomenon
of the last two years as in recent years growth of this indicator
was observed, though it is on a higher level by productivity of
labor market.

In total, the list of more competitive countries is not changed and
the leader is as earlier, Switzerland, then comes Singapore, Sweden,
Finland and the USA.

As for CIS countries, Armenia goes after Azerbaijan (55 place), Russia
(66 place), Kazakhstan (71 place), Ukraine (82 place), Georgia (88
place). Among CIS countries Armenia is ahead of Moldova (93 place),
Tajikistan (105 place) and Kyrgyzstan (126 place).

The “World report of compatibility 2011-2012” mentions that the world
economy shows progress in rehabilitation after crisis, but success
is divided unequal among the countries.

Developing countries demonstrate comparatively stable trends of
growth. Developed countries are characterized by weak resistance and
vulnerability towards new economic shocks.

“Slow and unstable rates of rehabilitation of economy in the developed
countries are not sufficient for solving the problem of high level of
employment accumulated during the crisis years. The greatest problems
remain high level of state debt and instability in the financial
markets”, said Yergnyan.

Armenia participated in the global report of compatibility which
is prepared on the basis of statistical data and surveys among
the entrepreneurs since 2005. This year, heads of 80-100 Armenian
organizations from the sphere of large and small/medium-sized
businesses were included in the survey.

World economic forum is an independent international organization
which mission is to improve the world affairs through the establishment
of partnership between the leaders for preparation of global agenda,
as well as on the level of regions and spheres.

Research centre “Economy and values” is the partner of global network
of competitiveness of “World economic forum”.

EXPERTS FIND GEORGIAN RESORTS EXPENSIVE

Tert.am
16:25 08.09.11

The prices in the Georgian resorts are practically the same as in
Europe, recent studies revealed.

Experts warn that people may soon prefer European resorts to Georgia
in case the trend is maintained.

According to the Georgian newspaper Resonansi, the prices saw a hike
earlier this year when the country still expected to attract a big
flow of tourists in summer.

Local experts say, however, that having a rest in Georgia is now more
expensive than it was last year.

In Batumi, for instance, the average daily expenses for guests have
gone up 50%.

ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS CRISIS WITH TURKEY “WILL PASS”

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 14:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak played down the
diplomatic crisis with Ankara on Thursday, September 8, saying the
current dispute over a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish-led flotilla
“will pass.”

But he reiterated his government’s line that Israel would not apologize
for the May 2010 operation which targeted a flotilla of ships trying
to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza, and cost the lives of nine
Turkish nationals.

“The current wave will pass, I am sure that we will get over all
this,” he told public radio just days after Ankara expelled the
Israeli ambassador and suspended all military ties and defence trade.

“Turkey is not an enemy of Israel. Both we and the Turks know the
reality: our two countries are very important to the West. The real
problem for the West in this region is Syria, and what is happening
in Egypt and Iran, not Turkey,” he added.

The Minister admitted once again that “errors may have occurred in
the way in which force was used” when naval commandos boarded the
Turkish ferry leading the flotilla.

But Barak stressed that Israel had already expressed its “regret”
over the loss of human life without making the formal apology that
Turkey has demanded, AFP reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday insisted he
wanted to mend the split with Turkey but also praised forces who took
part the naval operation.

The diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel that was sparked
by the flotilla raid took a turn for the worse in the last week,
following publication of a UN probe into the incident, which found
Israel’s naval blockade to be legal although it chastised the Jewish
state for using “excessive” force in the raid.

Israel has so far refused to apologize for the bloodshed and called
the report’s conclusions a vindication of its stance, deeply angering
Turkey.

Turkey responded to the report by expelling Israel’s ambassador,
suspending military agreements with the Jewish state and warning it was
considering lodging a legal case against Israel at the International
Criminal Court.

ARFD: ANC RUNNING FOR PARLIAMENT COULD PREVENT MARCH 2008 EVENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 14:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) opposition party member
expressed regret that the Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition
bloc has no opportunity to defend its political views in parliament.

“If ANC had run for last parliamentary election, tragic events of
March 2008 would have never happened,” Hrayr Karapetyan told a news
conference in Yerevan. “Hope, ANC will have a chance to be presented
in parliament, with current opposition-coalition dialogue to make it
possible,” Karapetyan said.

He expressed support for the opposition-coalition dialogue, however,
urging the sides for more transparency.

The ARFD member predicted a heated political struggle in pre-election
period, with Dashnaktsutyun planning on active involvement in political
activities.

CONSTRUCTION OF TWO NEW STATIONS OF YEREVAN UNDERGROUND IS AMOUNTED $200-250 MILLION – CITY MAYOR

ARKA
Sep 8, 2011

YEREVAN, September 8. /ARKA/. Construction of two stations of Yerevan
underground will cost $200-250 million, said on Wednesday Yerevan
City Mayor Karen Karapetyan during the visit to the underground named
after K.Demirchyan.

He instructed the management of the underground to develop short-term,
mid-term and long-term programs targeted at specification of the
strategy of underground development.

“The construction of new stations is essential but today it is very
expensive. Only the construction of two stations in Achapnyak district
will cost over $200-250 million”, said Karapetyan.

He expressed confidence that new stations will be constructed in
future. “For this purpose I suggested to submit a program and a
concept”, he said.

Yerevan underground named after K.Demirchyan was built in 1981.

Currently the underground has ten stations. Total length of all the
lines of underground is 13.4 km.

ATTRIBUTES OF STATE NOT ENOUGH FOR BEING INDEPENDENT, SAYS ACTIVIST

Tert.am
13:52 08.09.11

Having a state with all its attributes is not enough for being
considered independent, an Armenian activist has said.

Oleg Yenigomshyan, a member of Sardarapat movement, told reporters on
Thursday the past twenty years of independence did not prove successful
in terms of promoting rule of law, welfare, freedom and national pride,
factors which he considered important for an independent statehood.

“Today, unfortunately Armenia and Artsakh [Nagorno Karabakh]
are dependent upon both Rusia and US,” he said, emphasizing
particularly Armenia’s economic dependence on Russia and international
organizations.

Speaking of the victory in Karabakh war and the subsequent achievements
(the country’s liberation and army building), the activist attributed
them to the first years of independence.

“Victory has degraded its value simply because all the governments
of Armenia expressed willingness to cede the liberated territories,”
he noted.

CHORROD ISHKHANUTYUN: ON KHACHATUROV-KOSTANYAN CONFLICT

Tert.am
11:53 08.09.11

Armenia’s Military Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan and Chief of the Joint
Staff, Armenia’s Armed Forces, are involved in another nasty incident.

The point is that Mr. Kostanyan is still unable to put up with his
new appointment. He thinks he is presidential aide and can raise
problems and be critical of officials.

At a latest meeting at Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, Mr. Kostanyan
raised the problem of frequent violations of law committed by
officers. “Ask youself!” General Khachaturov replied. He reminded the
participants that the aim of the meeting was to discuss the officer
personnel’s efficiency. “So speak to the point,” General Khachaturov
told Mr. Kostanyan.

SOLDIER ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING FELLOW CONSCRIPT IN KARABAKH

epress.am
09.08.2011 10:32

On Sept. 7, conscript Lendrush Nazlukhanyan has been arrested in the
criminal case into the death of Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army soldier
Hayk Lazarian, 19, reports the Ministry of Defense of the Republic
of Armenia.

An earlier statement stated that Lazarian died as a result of
Nazlukhanyan violating the rules for handling weapons.