Author: Kalantarian Kevo

‘LOOK AT DARFUR,’ ARMENIANS SAY
By Mike Elfland Telegram & Gazette Staff

Worcester Telegram, MA
April 23 2007

Genocide remembrance resonates

WORCESTER- The region’s Armenian community yesterday recognized a
genocide that for many has a meaning with an intensifying importance.

References to Darfur and the recent slaying of a journalist who defied
the Turkish government were made throughout yesterday’s commemoration
of what is known as the Armenian genocide. On April 24, 1915, hundreds
of Armenian intellectuals, notably political leaders, were rounded
up and eventually killed by the Turkish government. More than 1.5
million Armenians would later die at the hands of the Ottoman Turks,
with thousands forcibly removed from Armenia to Syria, where many
died in the desert of thirst and hunger.

"We say, ‘Look at Darfur,’ " said Richard O. Asadoorian, the host
speaker at the commemoration, referring to the region in Sudan where
black Africans are being massacred by militias supported by the
Arab-dominated government. Mr. Asadoorian urged Armenians not to let
time lessen the importance of what happened 92 years ago.

Many survivors of the genocide eventually settled in the Worcester
area. A significant Armenian population remains, and their pride
in their ancestry was evident yesterday at the Armenian Church of
Our Saviour Cultural Center on Boynton Street, where more than 200
gathered for a welcome history lesson.

Nancy Hovhanesian, Thomas Tashjian and Ara G. Asadoorian recounted
stories told to them by grandparents and other older relatives who
survived the genocide. Ms. Hovhanesian talked of the great-grandparents
she never knew and of how her grandparents’ pain was absorbed by
her mother.

Andrea Kisiel, a sophomore at South High Community School, shared
her views of the genocide in an award-winning essay. Andrea took top
honors for her take on "The Contemporary Relevance of the Armenian
Genocide," the subject of an essay contest sponsored by the Greater
Worcester Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee.

Andrea, who is not of Armenian descent, wrote of a recent trip to
Washington, where she visited the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum and had an eye-opening experience about history.

She wrote: "Then, I saw something that astounded me, surprised me,
wrenched my heart out of my chest. There, on the wall commemorating
all of the poor souls who had been discriminated against, snatched
away from familiarity, and tortured ruthlessly until put to death,
was inscribed my family name. My name which was not from Jewish
descent. My name which was Polish and Catholic. My name that I had not
the slightest idea could possibly be connected with a mass genocide. My
very own name, there on the wall."

Although she has no known relatives who died in the Holocaust, said
Andrea, the experience in Washington made her realize the importance
of the Armenian genocide to its survivors.

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester,
state Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, and Mayor Konstantina
B. Lukes were among the speakers at the 2-1/2-hour commemoration.

Both connected the past deaths of Armenians to the continuing genocide
in the Darfur region of Sudan. Mr. McGovern has long pushed for
increased U.S. involvement in saving thousands of refugees.

Mr. McGovern, who was greeted enthusiastically yesterday, backs
legislation that would require the U.S. government to officially
recognize the Armenian genocide. Some say the reluctance is tied to
deference to Turkey’s importance to American’s interests abroad.

Modern Turkey strongly rejects the characterization of what happened
as genocide.

Loud applause erupted after the congressmen said he would direct
naysayers to a public library where they could learn about the deaths
of Armenians. "Facts are stubborn things," he said.

The main speaker was filmmaker Apo Torosyan, a native of Istanbul,
Turkey, who now lives in Peabody. His documentary, "Voices,"
finished this year, is based on interviews with three survivors of
the genocide. After he began making documentaries, Mr. Torosyan was
not allowed to return to Turkey.

A 15-minute version of "Voices" was shown yesterday.

Mr. Torosyan spoke passionately about the Jan. 19 slaying in Turkey of
Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent who was the editor
of a Turkish-Armenian newspaper. His enemies included nationalist
Turks who resented his use of the genocide label. He was killed
outside his office in Istanbul.

The commemoration was organized by members of the Armenian Church of
Our Saviour, Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian
Church of the Martyrs.

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MIKHAEL HARUTYUNYAN TO BE APPOINTED RA DEFENSE MINISTER

ArmRadio.am
24.04.2007 13:37

Head of the general Staff of the Armed Forces, Acting Defense Minister
of Armenia, Colonel-General Mikhael Harutyunyan will be appointed RA
Defense Minister, governmental sources told ArmInfo.

According to the source, tonight RA President will sign he decree
on Mikhael Harutyunyan’s appointment to the position of the Defense
Minister of Armenia.

Slain evangelists were tortured: Turkish doctor
MALATYA, Turkey, April 20 2007

Agence France Presse — English
April 20, 2007 Friday 3:55 PM GMT

Three Protestants murdered at a Christian publishing house here were
tortured for three hours before their assailants slit their throats,
a press report said Friday, quoting one of the doctors involved in
the grisly case.

Dr. Murat Ugras, a spokesman for the Turgut Ozal Medical center, told
the daily Hurriyet of hospital surgeons’ fruitless efforts to save
Ugur Yuksel, one of the three victims of the massacre at the Zirve
(summit) publishing house, which distributed Christian literature.

"He had scores of knife cuts on his thighs, his testicles, his rectum
and his back," Ugras said. "His fingers were sliced to the bone.

"It is obvious that these wounds had been inflicted to torture him,"
he said.

The two others who were killed, Necati Aydin, pastor of Malatya’s tiny
Protestant community, and German Tilmann Geske, a Malatya resident
with his wife and three children since 2003, were also tortured,
press reports said.

The abuse lasted for three hours as the five men detained at the crime
scene interrogated the three on their missionary activities, they said.

"We tied their hands and feet and later gagged them," the mass daily
Sabah quoted one of the suspects as telling police.

"Emre slit their throats," said the youth, who was not named, referring
to Emre Gunaydin, the alleged leader of the gang, who is at the same
hospital in serious condition after jumping out of the publishers’
third floor office in a bid to flee police.

Gunaydin, 19, had reportedly made several visits beforehand to the
publishing house to gain the confidence of the people working there,
newspapers said.

The daily Radikal said the German was the first to die and the two
Turks were slaughtered only when police arrived at the door after
receiving a call from a member of the Protestant community who grew
suspicious when he found the office door locked.

Proselityzing is not banned in Muslim, secular Turkey, but is generally
viewed with suspicion.

Newspapers linked the Malatya massacre to other recent attacks against
minorities in Turkey, including the murder last year in Trabzon
of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro and the assassination in
Istanbul in January of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The reports said the killers were believed to be members of a cell of
nationalist-Islamist fanatics recently set up in Malatya and similar
to one based in Trabzon that has been blamed for the Dink murder.

Newspapers also said three of the five main suspects — police have
detained 10 people in all — were taken into custody two days before
the killings for shooting air guns in an empty lot, but were released
after paying a fine.

Geske’s wife Suzanna, meanwhile, told a television channel that she
"forgives" her husband’s killers and that she intends to stay on in
Malatya, where her husband will be buried.

The killings shocked Turkey and were strongly condemned by the
international community, prompting Germany, which holds the rotating
presidency of the European Union Turkey is seeking to join, to call
on Ankara to take greater measures to protect religious freedoms.

EDUCATION MINISTER HAPPY THAT ARMENTEL HAS PUT DOWN ITS MONOPOLY RIGHTS

Panorama.am
19:08 20/04/2007

Levon Lazarian, minister of education, said some 300 schools have
internet connection thanks to not only the state but also international
organizations.

The minister believes it is good that ArmenTel has put down
its monopoly rights and the market will have more internet
providers. Lazarian said that increases the chances to have more
schools with internet connection.

"The state budget has allocated funds to provide internet connections
to all schools throughout the republic," he said.

PACE PRESIDENT GOING TO VISIT KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.04.2007 17:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Meetings between the Armenian and Azeri delegations
in PACE with the purpose to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
are worth appraisal, PACE Rene van der Linden said. The sides’
persistence in their stance pushes the process into complexities,
according to him. "Both delegations arrived to an agreement to visit
the conflict region. I am also going to pay a visit to Karabakh in
the second half of the year. Everything depends on the developments,"
he said, APA reports.

TODAY KAREN DEMIRCHYAN WOULD BE 75

A1+
[05:42 pm] 17 April, 2007

Today, Karen Demirchyan could celebrate his 75th anniversary. It is 8
years he has not been with us; his relatives, friends and just ordinary
people visit his tomb in Pantheon after Komitas. People used to call
him ‘ Karen the Constructor’ as Karen Serobovich was at the head of
the country during the years of prosperity and development of Armenia.

In the years of 1966-1972 he had been the Secretary of Yerevan Civic
Committee of Communist party, then the Second Secretary. In 1972, he
was the Secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Armenia
(CPA).

At the age of 42, Mr. Demirchyan was appointed the First Secretary
of CPA in 1974, and had been in the post till May, 1988.

He had deserved public fame and respect in the period of 14 years
in politics. He came back when there was the need for it. And he
was able to excite and bring back the minute "seed of hope" among
people. He was about to do it together with Vazgen Sargsyan but for
the disastrous accident.

The 75th anniversary will be celebrated officially. A number of
events will be held. On April 21, at 6:00 p.m. the memorial meeting
will take place in The Opera and Ballet Theatre after Al. Spendiaryan.

On April 20, at 2:00 p.m the solemn opening of "Karen Demirchyan"
museum will take place.

THEY HINDER ZHARANGUTIUN PARTY FROM FIXING AGITATION POSTERS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 17 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party,
the representatives of which have already visited Armavir, Kotayk,
Aragatsotn and Tavush regions, estimates the process of agitation
campaign as effective. As Hovsep Khurshudian, Party’s Spokesperson,
said at the April 17 press conference, judging by the reception of
population it can be supposed that electors will be very active. And
Zharangutiun will have an absolute majority in the parliament in
case of equal conditions and relative majority in case of unequal
conditions.

Emphasizing that the main three criteria of holding democratic
elections are accessibility of media, non-exceeding of the maximum
barrier of expenditures and creation of equal conditions for meetings
with electors, the Party’s Spokesperson said that in spite of some
improvement, there are still some problems in this respect. In
particular, they have obstacles when fixing agitation posters. For
instance, for fixing posters in Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia community,
in all electoral districts except kindergarten N 34, they demanded to
introduce a permission from Mayor’s Office, which, in H. Khurshudian’s
words, is violation of law.

In H. Khurshudian’s words, currently media are much more accessible
than before the agitation campaign. At the same time, he stated that
some TV companies demand payment for covering Zharangutiun’s activity
in their information broadcasts.

Answering journalists’ questions, Zharangutiun’s Spokesperson said
that from 60 mln drams envisaged by the law the Party has already
spent 9 mln drams (nearly 24.4 thousand USD). It was mentioned that
Party’s expenditures are well-calculated so as not to exceed the
barrier established by the law.

LEBANON FOR PEACEFUL REGULATION OF NAGORNI GARABAGH CONFLICT ON THE BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Demaz.org, Azerbaijan
April 16 2007

As press center of ministry of foreign affairs informed, minister,
Elmar Mamadyarov, who continues visiting countries of Middle East,
came to Lebanon on April 12.

During the meeting held the same day between E. Mamadyarov and
his Lebanon counterpart, Fauzi Salluh, perspectives of development
bilateral relations, opening of embassies in both countries and other
issues were discussed.

Fauzi Salluh extended his gratitude for constant support and
humanitarian aid rendered to Azerbaijan by Lebanon.

E. Mamadyarov informed in details about Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorni
Garabagh conflict. He emphasized importance of support of friendly
states concerning peaceful regulation of the conflict.

Lebanon minister said that Armenian diaspora in his country has no
political influence. He specially stressed that his country advocates
peaceful regulation the above conflict on the basis of international
law.

View exchange relating to ongoing processes at international and
regional level was held.

The same day E. Mamadyarov met with member of the parliament of
Lebanon, Valid Jombulat, and held view exchange on bilateral issues.

Deputy of parliament informed minister about ongoing processes in
the region.

E. Mamadyarov told about large scale energy and transport projects
going on in our country, economic development and our relations with
neighbor states.

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Middle East News Agency, Egypt
April 15 2007

Egyptian-Armenian talks held in Cairo

Cairo, 15 April: Premier Dr Ahmad Nazif held a session of talks with
visiting Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Sunday [15 April].

The talks dealt with means of promoting bilateral relations in
various fields, especially in the economic sector. Discussions
touched on how to increase the volume of trade exchange between the
two countries and the number of the Armenian tourists visiting Egypt.

They also discussed the latest developments in the Middle East and
Eastern Europe as well as a number of other issues of joint interest.

Autocredits market of Armenia increased by 83.5% during the year

Arminfo
2007-04-14 15:35:00

The market of banking autocredits of Armenia surpassed all the
optimistic expectations within 2006, having assured the annual growth
by 83.5%. According to the data of AmRating, the independent Rating
Agency, the volumes of autocrediting in the country’s banking system,
as of January 1, 2007, made up 19.216, 2 mln drams. In the opinion of
the Agency’s analysts, these indicators are directly concerned with
the fact that the republic’s automobile market shows high growth
rates. Only in January, 2007, which is not the best month from the
viewpoint of a seasonal factor, the import of passenger cars to the
republic has grown 1.5 times to 2403 units against 1572 cars for
January, 2006. At that, the import of "less solvent cars" of Russian
production reduced, that is, 489 against 686 units in January,
2006. Half of the cars, imported to the republic, are over 13 years
old and their cost varies within $6-10 thsd. In the experts’ opinion,
the share of the old cars will lessen, while that of the fresher and
more expensive ones will increase. This circumstance, in the opinion
of the Agency’s analysts, indicates the further growth of indicators
of the autocreditingmarket as one of the most profitable segments of
the banking retail, by 80% per year, at the minimum, in summary terms.

According to the data of AmRating, the triplet of the most
autocrediting banks of Armenia, as of the beginning of the year,
included the Areximbank, that gave autocredits for 2.757 bln drams,
"HSBC Bank Armenia" (5.173 bln drams) and Armeconombank (2.602 bln
drams). The first bank could keep the leading position in the market
during the year, while the "HSBC Bank Armenia" has jumped from the 9th
to the 1st place. The Areximbank has taken the send place, the
Armeconombank has risen one step higher, from the 4th to the 3rd
place. The fourth place is taken by Artsakhbank (2.190 bln drams), the
fifth place – by INECOBANK (1.866 bln drams).

The leading five, by the autocredits portfolio upon results, 2006,
included "HSBC Bank Armenia" – 2.962 bln drams, Areximbank – 2.446 bln
drams, Artsakhbank – 1.926 bln drams, INECOBANK – 1.858 bln drams and
Armeconombank – 1.854 bln drams. The "HSBC Bank Armenia" has made a
vast leap from the 9th place to the leaders, the Areximbank has kept
the second position, the Artsakhbank has moved three positions forward
, the INECOBANK held out in the fourth place and the Armeconombank has
secured the fifth position for itself.

In the AmRating analysts’ opinion, there are no apparent favourites of
race in the strict competitive activity in this market as yet, that is
proved by the indicators growth dynamics. Thus, the Armenian
Development Bank (ADB) with 15 mln drams has assured growth by 3619%,
the Unibank – by 264%, the BTA-Invest Bank – by 208%, the ArtsakhBank
– by 192%. Meanwhile, the market leader, Areximbank, assured the
growth of this indicator by 29,3% in all, the Armeconombank – by
93%. Therefore, the picture of priority in the market by 2008 may
change, especially as some of the former leaders today reduce their
previous indicators. Thus, the VTB Bank Armenia, that gave the
autocredits of 470.9 mln drams in 2005, decreased its indicator by
28.2%, upon results of, 2006, the Ardshininvestbank, that was in the
triple of leaders in 2005 with indicator of 1.992,3 mln drams, by
15,7%, the Bank reduced its indicators (299.2 mln) by 34,8%.

Upon the analysis results, the lowest share of autocredits in the
total indebtedness of physical persons, as of 2006, is fixed at
Armbusinessbank (ABB) – 1.1%, followed by VTB-Armenia – 3,7% (0.95% in
2005), ADB – 13.3% (0.41 in 2005), BTA-Invest Bank – 15.76% (7,88% in
2005) and Armeconombank – 15,8% (12.64% in 2005). The share of the
market leader, the Areximbank, makes up 11%, the "HSBC Bank Armenia" –
20%, the Armeconombank – 15.8%.

By the number of the given autocredits, the leading position in 2006
was taken by Armeconombank – 1621, that has kept the priority in the
yearly section (915 in 2005). The second place is taken by Areximbank
– 1054 (855 in 2005, that is the second place). The third place is
secured for "HSBC Bank Armenia" – 1015, which has made a yearly leap
upward by 6 positions (64 in 2005). The Artsakhbank is in the fourth
place – 805, which has advanced by two positions since 2005 (265
deals). The five of leaders, by the number of given credits, is closed
by INECOBANK – 650 against 597 in 2005, which has lowered by one
position.

Meanwhile, in the Agency analysts’ opinion, the active development of
the autocredits market entails synergy of the financial market
segments. Thus, according to ArmInfo data of Ranking of the leading
insurance companies of Armenia, the premiums of insurers, received for
the vehicle insurance, have shown nearly the same growth. Almost al
the banks, except for the two ones, insure the credited cars. The
total volume of insurance premiums in this segment, as of the
beginning of the year, made up 1.064,5 mln drams, however, according
to the experts’ data, the share of the gathered autocredit premiums
makes up 1,5% of the banking autocrediting volume on average, that
makes up about 250 mln drams by approximate estimations. The leaders
in the autoinsurance market are the INGO Armenia with volume of
premiums of 274.8 mln drams, RASCO – 232.1 mln drams and Sil Insurance
– 186.4 mln drams.

Nevertheless, in the AmRating analysts’ opinion, despite the growth of
the autocredits market indicators, this sphere of consumer crediting
is less developed from the viewpoint of quality of the proposed credit
products than the sphere of the consumer equipment crediting. Such
products as credits without initial fee, interest-free credits,
express-credits are absent in the market as yet, that is connected
with insufficient level of credit histories market development and
absence of scoring systems for the clients solvency estimation.
However, under the competition growth conditions, the analysts
forecast the further improvement of the market as regards
liberalization of the crediting terms, reduction of rates from the
present 18% on average, "prolongation" of terms to 5-6 years,
reduction of the credited cars’ age limit.