Author: Kalantarian Kevo

SI TO HOLD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN ARMENIA MARCH 25-26

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2010 12:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Socialist International (SI) will hold a
conference in Yerevan on March 25 and 26 on the initiative of ARF
Dashnaktsutyun.

"The event will bring together members of political parties
from Russia, Iran, Latin American and European countries," ARFD
parliamentary group member Ara Nranyan told reporters on Wednesday.

The Socialist International is the worldwide organization of
social democratic, socialist and labor parties. It currently
brings together 170 political parties and organizations from all
continents. The Socialist International, whose origins go back to
the early international organizations of the labor movement, has
existed in its present form since 1951, when it was re-established
at the Frankfurt Congress. The supreme decision-making bodies of the
International are the Congress, which meets every three to four years,
and the Council, which includes all member parties and organizations
and which meets twice a year.

JUSTICE FOR KURDS IN TURKEY

Socialist Worker Online
March 17 2010

A RECENT demonstration in Turkey led to the arrest of and an 8-year
prison sentence for a 15-year old Kurdish girl named Berivan.

Convicted of "terrorist" offenses, Berivan allegedly had thrown stones
at police during a rally of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

With over 2,600 minors serving time in Turkish prisons, the recent
arrest of Berivan comes as no surprise. Kurdish children are being
systematically imprisoned for merely singing their native songs,
peacefully voicing concerns within their communities or simply being
at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Although the Kurds represent the largest linguistic minority in Turkey,
comprising about 20 percent of the population, they have been subject
to methodical oppression since the 1920s. The Turkish government and
military has continuously targeted the Kurdish minority with hateful
sentiment and denied it national and human rights.

The PKK, a separatist guerilla movement, emerged as a voice for
Kurdish citizens in the early 1980s. Since its foundation, the PKK
aimed to overcome the oppression of the Kurdish minority in Turkey
through the establishment of an independent nation-state.

In order to combat the suppression endured by the ethnic Kurds, the
PKK felt obliged to take matters into their own hands. Its members
adopted what some might deem "terrorist" acts after it was made clear
that institutional structures of the Turkish political system would
consistently work against them.

This resulted in the Turkish government and media’s classification
of the organization as a terrorist group. The truth is Turkey’s hands
are far bloodier than those of the PKK.

Turkey claims to be a country devoted to democracy, yet principles
of democracy are not implemented. The cycle of oppression committed
against the Kurds is clear evidence that Turkey is far from being
a democratic state. The arrest of the innocent Berivan is just one
example of the countless human rights violations faced by minorities
in Turkey today.

Let us make clear that these injustices will not go unnoticed. Join
the United Human Rights Council (UHRC) on March 24 for a protest
outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles to demand the immediate
release of Berivan and all children in Turkish jails.

The UHRC is a committee of the Armenian Youth Federation. By means
of action on a grassroots level, it works toward correcting the human
rights violations of those governments that distort, deny and delude
their own history to disguise past and present genocides, massacres
and human rights violations.

Nora Kayserian, Los Angeles
ice-for-kurds-in-turkey

Armenia-Turkey Protocols are Dead: Cengiz Aktar

14:46 ¢ 13.03.10

With the adoption of the House Resolution on Thursday, March 4 in the
United States House of Representatives’ Foreign Relations Committee
regarding the Armenian Genocide, along with the adoption of a motion
Thursday in the Swedish Parliament, Turkey’s official denialist
positions have been hard hit, Turkish political analyst Cengiz Aktar
writes in Turkish news source Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review,
adding that the `the worst casualty of all is the death of the
Protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey in order to normalize
relations.’

According to Aktar, the adoption of the House Resolution in the US
subcommittee was already the last nail in the coffin of the Protocols.
Now with the Swedish motion they can be considered definitely dead.
The result means Armenia, Turkey and the remaining Caucasus countries
actually all lost.

In his opinion, the ratification process was hard hit first thanks to
remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an who, despite his poor
insight on foreign affairs, cannot help himself but to speak out
exactly as he does at home. He connected the Protocols’ ratification
in Turkish Parliament with finding a solution to the Karabakh conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. So it became clear that no
ratification could take place in the Turkish Parliament before the US
voting. That undoubtedly played a role in the Genocide bill being
passed in the US Foreign Relations Committee and now in the Swedish
Parliament.

`Delegations armed with excessive self-confidence, sure of their
denialist certitudes but basically unfamiliar with the issue, headed
to Washington. The meaning of the voting was exaggerated; Turkish
public opinion was ill-informed to a degree that today many people in
Turkey think that `the US has approved the Armenian Genocide,’ writes
Aktar.

Due to the negative environment created after these two events, the
intention to settle scores among Turkish politicians and the
opposition’s attempts to turn this event into an advantage, the
Protocols’ approval now cannot be thought of separately from the
Genocide bill in the US and the decision of the Swedish Parliament.

Tert.am

Tbilisi to host Social Innovation Camp Caucasus

13.03.2010 18:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Social Innovation Camp is about solving social
challenges in new ways – by bringing together ideas and digital tools
to create web-based innovations in just 48 hours.

Social Innovation Camp Caucasus, due in Tbilisi on April 8-10, will
gather 40 participants – designers, entrepreneurs, social needs
experts, marketing, legal, advertising gurus from Georgia, Azerbaijan
and Armenia to work on an idea of a potential social start-up that can
make a change and compete for a prize.

Idea of organizing Social Innovation Camp Caucasus came from a Camp in
Bratislava, Slovakia (September, 2009), proving that 48 hours are
enough to make the idea real if there are people who believe in it and
also have different skills to contribute to the idea.

`I was at the SI Camp in Bratislava and the biggest benefit for me was
to see how the right group of people can achieve an incredible amount
in just 48 hours,’ coordinator of the project in Armenia Onnik
Krikorian told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

`Just with laptops, free tools, and wi-fi, real projects that can
contribute to social change can be put together in a very short period
of time. Another benefit is that noted specialists in this area from
Europe and the US were present, and will be in Tbilisi too, to share
their knowledge and experience.

I think the main benefit will be that the event will not only show how
social media can be used to tackle social issues, but these ideas will
also be working and very real when the camp is finished. Then those
projects can be taken back and implemented in individual countries or
even on a regional basis if the right partners and individuals are
there and willing. To date, I don’t think many online social projects
from the NGO sector are being put together with the right specialists
involved. However, for any online initiative to be a success you need
that. You need the ideas, the activists, the marketing people, the
technical guys to make it work, and the designers to make sure users
feel enticed enough to use it. That’s also what SI Camp will do.

There will be an open meeting for anyone interested to attend at
Counterpart International next Wednesday at 2pm. I’m also more than
happy to meet with other individuals and groups to introduce the idea
behind SI Camp to them,’ Onnik Krikorian said.

TURKEY AND ERGENEKON: FROM FARCE TO TRAGEDY
By Bill Park for OpenDemocracy.net

ISN Zurich, International Relations & Security Network
/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461- 98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=113654
March 12 2010

An epic military, political, and security scandal continues to absorb
Turkey. The affair’s latest bizarre sub-plots make the tensions
between the country’s ‘deep state’ and its constitutional order even
more acute, says Bill Park for openDemocracy.

The sprawling, chaotic, all-consuming "Ergenekon" investigation into
the activities of Turkey’s so-called derin devlet ("deep state")
shows no sign of abating. Indeed, its tentacles are spreading ever
further as it moves from enveloping its politicians and public to
polarising the state’s core institutions.

The reverberations of a seemingly permanent yet ever-elusive political
scandal have reached a decisive stage at the highest level of official
politics. Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and head of
the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice & Development Party
/AKP) intends to bring a thirteen-part constitutional-reform package
to parliament by the end of March 2010. Its passage would enable
oversight of the party’s key institutional adversary, the Hakimler ve
Savcılar Yuksek Kurulu (supreme board of judges and prosecutors /
HSYK). But Ergenekon’s corrosive effect is equally evident in the
longer-term divisions it is fomenting within Turkey’s military and
judiciary, which the latest developments in the affair are sharpening
(see Soner Cagaptay, "What’s Really Behind Turkey’s Coup Arrests?",
Foreign Policy, 25 February 2010).

A conflict of shadows

The frenzy surrounding Ergenekon has begun to focus primarily
on one of the overarching conspiracy’s many sub-plots: namely,
the extraordinary 5,000-page Balyoz (Sledgehammer) plan. This was
revealed in January 2010 by the Turkish journal Taraf, the leakers’
outlet of choice. The plan – approved by the military elite in 2003,
following the AKP’s election victory of November 2002 – was modelled
on the orchestrated disruption that preceded the "generals’ coup"
of 12 September 1980. Its aim seems to have been to generate an
atmosphere of crisis in Turkey in order to prepare the ground for
a military takeover (see Gareth Jenkins, Between Fact and Fantasy:
Turkey’s Ergenekon Investigation [Silk Road Studies, August 2009]).

The Balyoz plan’s detail mixes the fantastical and the deeply serious.

It envisaged the bombing of Istanbul mosques during Friday prayers;
the deliberate shooting down of a Turkish warplane over the Aegean
to provoke a crisis with Greece; names of friendly and hostile
journalists; and lists of bureaucrats, ambassadors, and regional
governors to be targeted for arrest.

The military elite insists that the plan is no more than a
war-game scenario; its voluminous documentation was dismissed by the
chief-of-staff Ilker Basbug as amounting to a "piece of paper". This
stance ran into trouble over a single scrawl on one such piece. The
signature of an army colonel, Dursan Cicek, was found on a document
(published by Taraf in June 2009) outlining ways to discredit the
AKP and the Fethullah Gulen movement; Basbug said that the signature
was forged, though civilian forensic and police agencies declared
it authentic – a finding now acknowledged by an internal military
investigation.

This incident is emblematic of how each story-line in the wider
Ergenekon chain of disclosures tends to unfold in a way that
intensifies the pressure on the Turkish military. For example, the
signature of a retired general, Cetin Dogan, is now also alleged
to appear in the Balyoz archive. Dogan was charged on 26 February
2010 as part of the Balyoz investigation – along with the former
special-forces commander Engin Alan, the most senior of around fifty
active and retired officers detained in the most recent round-up (see
Gareth H Jenkins, "Defense against documents: the Turkish military’s
rearguard action", Turkish Analyst, 23 November 2009).

Dogan suggests that the former chief-of-staff General Hilmi Ozkök
should confess what he knows about the affair; Ozkök in turn
claims to have had no knowledge of Balyoz, and insists the then
land-commander General Aytac Yalman should take responsibility;
Yalman agrees, but refuses to speak until given permission from
the current chief-of-staff Ilker Basbug. The unsettled Basbug seems
more concerned with identifying whistleblowers from within the ranks
than with assisting the investigation, and is increasingly shrill
in his warnings about the morale of the armed forces (see "BaÅ~_bug:
‘A demoralized military is a national problem’", Hurriyet Daily News,
11 February 2010).

A landscape of plots

The agitation surrounding the Balyoz plot has to fight for space in
Turkey’s media with the equally convoluted Kafes (Cage) "operation
action-plan". This subterranean project was exposed in April 2009
after the discovery in Istanbul’s Poyrazköy district of an illegal
arms-cache provoked a police-raid on the home of a retired Turkish
army major.

The Kafes plan, allegedly (that word again) conceived within the
navy command, compounds the multifariousness of Ergenekon and the
scale of Balyoz with an ambition all of its own. Its bizarre features
include an operation to assassinate non-Muslims (along the lines of the
killing of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007)
in the hope that international and domestic blame would attach to the
AKP government; the use of prostitutes to blackmail unreliable senior
naval officers; and the concealment of explosives inside a submarine
exhibited at Istanbul’s Rahmi M Koc museum supposedly intended for
detonation during a visit of schoolchildren. In the latter case,
the police’s retrieval of the explosives in July 2009 was followed
by an internal military investigation which concluded that a navy
unit had been tasked to remove them – and "forgot" to do so.

The Kafes and Balyoz controversies have overshadowed even the arrest
of two special-forces command-officers in December 2009; they were
detained outside the home of deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc on
suspicion of plotting his assassination. The investigation into this
incident led to the military making an unprecedented concession: that
a civilian judge could conduct a thorough search of a super-sensitive
military facility: in this case the special-warfare department’s
Ankara headquarters, known as the "cosmic room". The judge concerned
received death-threats; if that was predictable, the arrest of seven
military officers who had been tailing him was – even by Turkey’s
"new" standards – more startling (see Steven A Cook, "The Weakening
of Turkey’s Military" [Council on Foreign Relations, 1 March 2010]).

The army for its part continues to dismiss officers suspected of
Islamist sentiment, if so far none alleged to have been involved
in Ergenekon-related activities (though in February 2010 a military
tribunal did give a four-year prison sentence to a lieutenant-colonel
who had kept at home weapons belonging to the armed forces). More
typical of its attitude is that on 3 March 2010, the third army chief
General Saldiray Berk – who has to date refused to appear before a
court for questioning over his supposed political plotting – led the
military’s biannual, high-profile military exercises. The event –
"Sarikamis 2010 Winter", referring to its location in the eastern
province of Kars – was, somewhat unusually, not graced with the
presence of any representatives of the Turkish government.

Turkey’s fracture-zone

The avalanche of revelations associated with the Ergenekon
investigation carries several "unknown unknowns" in its thunderous
train. A major one is the impact it might be having on Turkish public
opinion, which is traditionally well-disposed towards the armed
forces. An effect of the long crisis has been to strip the military
(for the time being at least) of its untouchability, as the detailed
exposure of its disruptive plans alternates with embarrassing personal
dramas (such as the dispute between teams of doctors as to whether
three indicted retired generals РLevent Erșz, Sener Eruygur and
Hursit Tolon – are fit enough to stand trial).

In these circumstances the tensions between Turkey’s military,
judiciary and political leaders are becoming acute. They were on
display when on 4 February 2010 the Ankara government rescinded the
longstanding protocol (Emasya) granting the military the right to
assume responsibility for public order in the event of a breakdown
(see Omer Taspinar, "Turkey’s Difficult Democratization", Brookings,
15 February 2010); and again after the chief prosecutor of Erzurum in
eastern Turkey ordered the arrest of his Erzincan counterpart Ilhan
Cihaner on 17 February for Ergenekon-related activities – and was
himself dismissed almost immediately by the judges’ supreme board
(HSYK).

The latter is far more than a local affair. The moderate-Islamist AKP
government regards the HSYK as a bastion of the secularist-Ataturkist
order, and suspects it of being the agent of a concerted attempt to
undermine the Ergenekon prosecutors. This underlines the significance
of the government’s presentation of its constitutional-reform proposals
to the Ankara parliament; these include measures (first outlined
in 2007) to restructure the HSYK in conformity with the process of
accession to the European Union. In turn the HSYK is conducting an
enquiry into whether the government might be culpable of illegitimate
pressure on the judiciary – and if the answer is "yes", the AKP could
share the fate of its Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) predecessor in
1998 and find itself closed down by the constitutional court.

Turkey’s lawyers and politicians are in dispute too about the
ramifications of a constitutional-court ruling of January 2010, again
part of the requirement to make Turkey’s legal order compatible with
the European Union’s acquis communautaire. The ruling overturns a law
passed in July 2009 which had given civilian courts the right to try
military officers for non-military crimes. This outcome alone has
the capacity to tip the entire Ergenekon investigation into an even
deeper abyss.

Turkey is surpassing itself in its capacity for the absurd – and soon
also, perhaps, in its capacity for the tragic.

RESOLUTION 252
by Jean Ipdjian

Gibrahayer
March 10, 2010

This past Thursday, 4 March 2010, the US House Foreign Affairs
Committee after a protracted voting session voted to pass a Resolution
252 regarding the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Something
that the Armenian communities in the United States had been vainly
trying to accomplish for many years.

This feat was accomplished despite the millions of dollars spent
by the Turkish propaganda machine, despite the promise of lucrative
directorships to retiring Congressmen in lobbying firms, despite the
quantified and not threats of the Turkish government and high ranking
officials and more significantly despite the last minute objections of
Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration.

This time, the chairman of the committee Rep. Howard Berman had the
courage to withstand the pressures and not only allow the voting
to take place, but to ensure that ample time was given for all the
representatives who wanted to vote to be there. The whole process was
like a thriller and the final result of 23 votes for and 22 against
bears witness to that, but does not say the whole story.

As warned, the signing of the infamous Protocols came to hunt us down
and as a result, the difference was limited to one single vote instead
of 4 or 5. And this is because at least so many representatives had
declared that although they did not doubt the Genocide, they did
not want to cause problems or jeopardise the smooth progress of the
normalisation process started by the Protocols. And as is the case with
the Cypriot ‘No’ to the Anan plan in April 2004, it will come and haunt
us in every step that we take towards the recognition of the Genocide
by the full House, Senate, other nations and eventually Turkey. As
long as such ill-conceived and unjust processes are allowed to exist,
as long as we engage in such futile exercises, we will give Turkey
and others the excuses to deny the Genocide on the part of Turkey
and avoid recognition on the part of others.

This success is an admirable achievement. The resolution now has to
pass through both Houses of Congress to be official. This may happen
or may not. As in so many past occasions and as in so many other
venues, a host of reasons and reasonings might intercede to prevent
this resolution from reaching the Houses for a vote, Even if it does,
voting might go terribly wrong. National security considerations,
financial gain, re-election prospects and even plain, honest to
god blackmail and bribes might be perfectly viable and acceptable
hindrances that can be put forward to sink it. However, nothing can
erase the fact that it did happen. Nothing can erase the happening
from the pages of history, whatever happens from now on. And this is
important, because it shows to both foreigners and compatriots that
nothing is impossible for us, that even small and weak nations can
succeed against all odds if they want something bad enough. And that,
when righteous causes get the recognition they deserve, if people
have the courage and perseverance to go the whole way.

But then, fighting against impossible odds is no stranger to us. We’ve
shown that we are experts in that. Our history has forced and taught
us to become experts. Our rising as a nation after the Genocide, the
battle of Sardarabad, the 1918-1920 independence just three years after
the start of the Genocide, the Armenian Diaspora ‘Spyourk’ with all
its institutions, our very existence as a nation is evidence of that.

Just after the passing of the Resolution, on the popular ‘Facebook’
some contributors, friends, were asking what comes next. Others were
lamenting that universal recognition would result into us losing
the common cause, as they reasoned, that has held us together,
suggesting we would be reduced into a religious minority only. Yes,
there will be cases and perhaps even communities which will be reduced
into religious minorities. Yes, some would lose direction and fall
victim to the great grinding jaws of assimilation. But as a whole,
as a nation, we would have resolved and hopefully healed an open
wound which would eventually lead to come to terms with our mighty
neighbour and her coming to terms with her history and us.

As a nation, it would allow us to finally put to rest the remains of
our dead and look towards the future with less cynicism.

As a nation, the struggle to reach that stage, the stage where the
Genocide will be recognised universally including by Turkey, would bind
us together even more and amalgamate us into a more homogeneous entity.

As a nation, it would allow us to be in peace with ourselves and look
towards the future without carrying any skeletons of our past.

There is a lot of work to be done. March 4th and the success of the
passing of Resolution 252 by the House Foreign Affairs Committee are
but significant steps in our continuing struggle towards the fulfilment
of our national aims and inspirations. It is just a step in the right
direction. And it can stay meaningful only if we continue our hard
work, if it propels us to work harder, if it further amalgamates us
into a fused fist crushing all obstacles on the road to total victory.

Jean Ipdjian – London – 2010

ARMENIAN PM MEETS WITH NATIONAL FARMERS UNION, AS REQUESTED BY GAGIK TSARUKYAN’S MOTHER

Tert.am
16:10 ~U 09.03.10

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan today welcomed members of the
National Farmers Union.

"Our meeting today is dedicated to agricultural sector and animal
husbandry issues, in particular. Upon Mrs. Tsarukyan’s request, we
are gathered so that we may discuss what problems you see in this
sector, which are the primary issues and what does the state have to
do so that you can see serious progress in animal husbandry in 2010,"
said the Armenian prime minister.

During the meeting, the farmers presented a number of issues in
developing the sector with which they’re concerned, noting in
particular issues in the areas of raising poultry, potato farming,
fruit growing, beekeeping and raising sheep. The farmers considered
priorities to be expanding the possibility of exporting agricultural
goods, cultivating a long-term agricultural development model, and
improving legislation.

Tigran Sargsyan charged the Minister of Agriculture with the task of
resolving these issues. Further, the Armenian prime minister placed
importance on the development of an effective model of cooperation
and noted that he will personally oversee the implementation of
joint programs.

MP HRANT GRIGORYAN: "I NEVER GIVE INTERVIEWS"
Grisha Balasanyan

yan/
2010/03/08 | 15:24

Feature Stories society

Hetq is starting a series highlighting various members of the RoA
National Assembly. This week we would like to bring to your attention
MP Hrant Grigoryan who represents District 20 in Armavir Marz.

For the past month, Hetq reporter Natasha Harutyunyan has attempted
to organize an interview with MP Hrant Grigoryan. He has never made
a speech on the floor of parliament and once told a reporter that he
doesn’t give interviews.

Apparently, many MP’s still don’t understand what their role in
government is. Their main ambition seems to be to win a seat in the
legislative body and thus safeguard their business interests. We
will present them as they are. To avoid conjecture and unverified
information, we ask MP’s to meet with our reporters.

New financial disclosure law offers loopholes for officials

In past Hetq articles we touched upon Government Act N1065, adopted on
September 4, 2008. It spells out the parameters of public disclosure of
"Property and income of government officials" via the mass media.

The new act superseded Government Act N304, adopted in 2002, dealing
with the public disclosure of property and revenue of top heads of
Armenian government bodies and their legal relatives.

The new law does not require public disclosure of those legally
related to government officials as of January 1, 2010.

Also not subject to disclosure are the amounts of buildings, structures
and real estate obtained during the year. In addition, prior to the
new law, information was disclosed regarding the assets of officials
after such notices.

Presently, only information regarding an official’s cash income and
purchased or sold fixed and moveable property is disclosed.

The State Revenue Committee informed Hetq that contrary to the RoA
Law on "The notice of property and revenue of top RoA government
body officials", created as a practical mechanism to fight against
corruption and misuse of power, the RoA regarding "The declaration
of property and revenues of natural person", in addition to pursuing
the above aims also pursues a taxation objective

Not only government officials but a certain group of "natural persons"
file declarations, including those that revenue reports according
to the RoA Law on Revenues. Taking into account that the group
filing declarations is getting larger, including "natural persons",
declarations are also serving a tax function. And for tax purposes
it is necessary to have figures not about the existence of property
but rather about property transactions. The law stipulates declaring
property sales and purchases during the year.

Hetq

MP’s continue to engage in business

Even though Article 65 of the RoA Constitution prohibits MP’s
from holding any other public office, nor engage in any other paid
occupation, except for scientific, educational and creative work,
a majority continue to do so and do not declare revenues from these
activities.

Most people in Etchmiadzin, the National Assembly and in government
know that MP Hrant Grigoryan, a member of the Armenian Republican
Party, has a successful business.

However, according to his 2008 financial declaration, he made no
business transactions, had no properly, but had revenues of over 184
million AMD.

Mr. Grigoryan’s disclosure figure don’t add up

MP Grigoryan, according to the declaration, purchased no fixed or
non-fixed assets during the year. Neither were there any sales. But
he still had revenues flowing in. The National Assembly accounting
office told Hetq that MP’s receive a 300,000 monthly salary.

Thus, just based on his monthly salary, MP Grigoryan should have
wound up with annual revenues of 3.6 million AMD. What he actually
declared was 51 times as much as his stated salary.

What isn’t noted in the disclosure is that MP Grigoryan is a member
of the "Etchmiadzin Buat" company, a transportation provider in
Etchmiadzin in addition to commuter transport between the town and
Yerevan.

MP Grigoryan owns a gas station next to "Buat", the Golden City Hotel
across the street, a nearby store and the Golden City Restaurant, built
in 2009 at the entrance to the village of Tzaghkunk, Armavir Marz.

According to our information, MP Grigoryan also owns several
hectares of farm land in his native village of Arshalyus, Armavir
Marz. Given that the mayor of Arshalyus turns out to be the brother
of MP Grigoryan, we couldn’t get any specifics on how much land the
MP owns there.

Who’s auditing the auditors?

We asked the State Revenue Committee if anyone actually checks the
veracity of financial declarations filed by officials. We were told
that audits of declarations are carried out only when called for by
the law.

Thus, we can safely conclude, that there is no government agency,
including the tax department that actually audits the financial
disclosures of ordinary citizens, let alone those filed by officials.

As a result, there is no way of verifying the amount of revenue and
property being hidden.

Given the situation, the government’s rush to pass a new law makes
no sense, since the formulation of the new disclosure doesn’t really
pursue a "tax objective". On the contrary, it especially allows top
officials the possibility of avoiding any full disclosure of revenues.

Given that there is no oversight, such a conclusion becomes all the
more probable.

Our source within the Armavir Regional Authority reports that MP
Hrant Grigoryan owns land in the communities of Arshalyus, Samaghar,
Haytagh, Aknalij and Geghakert.

The same source says that most of the property is registered in
the name of MP Grigoryan’s brother, Zarzand Grigoryan, the mayor of
Arshalyus. Some of the property deeds have simply remained in the
names of the previous owners.

For example, Geghakerd Mayor Seryozha Arakelyan told Hetq that MP
Grigoryan didn’t own any property in the village, but that his brother
Zarzand owns 1.4 hectares.

The question remains – what is the MP up to in the National Assembly?

Neither he nor any of his colleagues wished to speak to us on the
issue.

We don’t know whether MP Grigoryan ever goes out to meet with his
constituents. When we paid a visit to Election District 20, we couldn’t
find one voter who had actually met with the MP to lodge a complaint
or petition.

We are still waiting for The State Revenue Committee to tell us the
amount of taxes paid by MP Grigoryan’s various businesses.

Turkish Ambassador to US Returned to Istanbul, Will Meet with Gul and Erdogan

16:07 – 06.03.10

Namik Tan, the Turkish Ambassador to Washington who was called back,
returned to Istanbul today.

According to various Turkish media, Tan will meet with Turkish
President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On
March 8, he will participate in the Council of Ministers’ meeting.

Tert.am

Greek Reporter
March 6 2010

Australian MP Apologizes for Denying Pontian-Greek, Armenian, Assyrian
Genocide

Posted on 06 March 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou

Senator Alan Ferguson (foto) has apologised for calling the Armenian
and Pontian-Greek Genocides `debatable’. In a speech made to the
Federal Parliament’s upper house two weeks ago, Senator Ferguson
brought into question the historical truth of the Armenian and Greek
Genocides by stating they `cannot be accurately depicted’ today.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) and
leaders of the Greek and Assyrian communities immediately presented
objective academic material regarding the Armenian Genocide and
demanded that Senator Ferguson apologise for casting doubt over the
accuracy of these crimes against humanity, which have been condemned
by the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

Senator Ferguson subsequently reviewed his position and in his letter
of apology, stated that he was `deeply sorry’ as his speech was never
intended to cause `distress’.

It continued: `I accept the findings of the International League for
the Rights and Liberation of Peoples in relation to the atrocities
that were committed against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontian
Greeks¦’

ANC Australia President, Mr. Varant Meguerditchian said that the
community accepts Senator Ferguson’s apology and looks forward to
establishing a strong working relationship with him.

`We accept the Senator’s remorse as genuine and believe that the
Senator now realises the great impact this crime against humanity has
played in the lives of so many descendants of the Armenian and
Pontian-Greek Genocides who now consider Australia their home.,’ said
Mr. Meguerditchian.

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