Author: Kalantarian Kevo

JAPANESE BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION DEMANDS EXPLANATIONS ON
TRANSFER OF SHARES OF ARMENIAN ELECTRIC NETWORKS TO RAO EES RUSSIA
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16. ARMINFO. Japanese Bank for International
Cooperation has expressed its displeasure over the uncertainty
following the transfer of the shares of Armenian Electric Networks
to RAO EES Russia and demands relevant explanations, says the head of
the development and foreign relations department of Armenia’s energy
ministry Levon Vardanyan.
He says that the displeasure was expressed during a JBIC mission’s
recent visit to Yerevan and their meetings with energy and finance
and economy ministry officials. The concern is quite understandable
– the Armenian government is puzzled itself as they have not no
specifications on the deal so far. Meanwhile the owner Midland
Resources Holding Ltd is obliged to respond to the government’s inquiry
by no later than Aug 17 otherwise Armenian Electric Networks may be
deprived of license. Vardanyan says that according to the Armenian
legislation the shares of a copmany cannot be sold or given to a
third person without a government permission.
Vardanyan says that during the JBIC mission Yerevan visit the sides
considered annoucing a new tender for modernizing 33 110 KV power
sub-stations of Armenia as the JBIC 1999 $30 mln loan has proved
insufficient with the first tender suspended because no condender
would obviously do with the above sum. And so JBIC is waiting for
explanations to know what it will further do in Armenia. The bank’s
biggest program in the country is the $150 mln loan for the underway
project to modernize the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant.
Expressing displeasure earlier were also USAID and WB. USAID has
even threatened to stop its programs in Armenia unless explanations
are received.

Armenia posts budget surplus of 0.7% of GDP in H1
Interfax
Aug 16 2005
YEREVAN. Aug 16 (Interfax) – Armenia posted a budget surplus of 5.144
billion dram, or 0.7% of GDP, in the first half of 2005, the National
Statistics Service told Interfax.
Revenue was 160.252 billion dram, or 22.7% of GDP, and that was 26.4%
more than in the first half of 2004.
Tax revenue came to 132.597 billion dram, or 18.8% of GDP, a 21.1%
year-on-year increase.
Budget spending during the period totaled 155.108 billion dram, or 22%
of GDP, up 28.4% year-on-year.
The official exchange rate was 457.47 dram/$1 on August 16. [AM ASIA
EUROPE EEU EMRG MCE ECI RES] rm

Beating water in the mortar
TDN
15 Aug 05
Opinion by Dogu ERGÄ°L
Dogu ERGIL
People engaging in serious things like taking and giving life and
making larger-than-life political statements on complicated matters
during vacation seasons have both amazed and bothered me. July and
August are vacation months, and for serious people vacation is a
serious business without which one cannot generate the energy to
carry on a successful and creative working year. Those people who do
not take vacations either take themselves more seriously than others
or take their work less seriously than those who take vacations for
a more productive year. I have always been suspicious of people who
don’t take vacations to diversify their lives and interests. A limited
life with fixed agendas is an invitation to stereotypes and perhaps
to fanaticism. Fixed agendas are like beating water in mortar. This is
a lovely Turkish expression meaning to do futile things with no zest.
Summer did not deter terrorists or radicals. They went on with the
only thing they knew, blowing up people and blackmailing governments
and people alike. Al-Qaeda on the international and the PKK on the
domestic scene did not delay the execution of their criminal craft.
They spoiled our vacations and poisoned our spirits, which had strayed
away from all “serious” matters.
Fortunately, a group of intellectuals have publicly denounced PKK
terrorism, finding an instant echo in responsible Kurdish circles that
have neither been intimidated nor co-opted by the PKK. The manifesto
of these responsible Kurdish intellectuals came after the murder of
Fahrettin Fidan, an outspoken political figure in the Kurdish political
camp who lately had started to advocate the futility of violence and
the negative influence of Abdullah Ocalan, the incarcerated leader
of the PKK, on the organization.
Initiation of violence by the PKK at a time when Turkey is preparing
for accession talks with the European Union is obviously blackmail
to halt or threaten to halt the process. The Turkish government has
not been able to find a solution to defuse the PKK.
But more important that, the government was unable to succeed in
convincing the majority of the Kurds to put pressure on the PKK to
abandon violence or to distance themselves from its bloody tactics,
although they for the most part do not condone violence.
The inability of the incumbent government to achieve these ends
emanates from the continuous failure of Turkish public administration
to understand the root cause of the “eastern problem.” The “east”
has always been problematic with its tribal and feudal socioeconomic
formation, massive illiteracy, lack of productivity and employment
capacity and gender inequality due to a traditionalism that is further
exacerbated by religiosity. Lack of individualism and individual
liberties aborted democracy and entrepreneurship and kindled the
spirit of rebellion. So many discrepancies sooner or later would
find their expression in a kind of opposition to the existing system
and its symbols. The PKK insurgency is the last of a long series of
Kurdish intransigencies.
Successive Turkish governments since the last decades of the
Ottoman period have viewed the “eastern question” as a security
liability rather than as a matter of development, democratization,
participation and inclusion. Rebellions, first of the Armenians
(during the last decades of the Ottoman era) and later of the Kurds
were viewed by their consequences, not for their causes, and were
duly repressed. Military methods were followed by evacuations and
displacements. Yet the “east” remained underdeveloped, non-integrated
and suspect for harboring different ethnic groups with a propensity for
autonomy and possibly independence. The lingering “eastern question”
produced yet another problem: the Kurdish problem. The notorious
terrorist Kurdish organization is the fuse of the Kurdish problem,
which has grown in the womb of the “eastern question.”
The recent debate occupying public opinion originated from revitalized
PKK violence and public protest of it by outspoken Turkish and Kurdish
intellectuals. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed a healthy
interest in talking to the representatives of this group. The prime
minister wanted to get their opinion before flying to Diyarbakir
and facing the people from whom he would demand support to halt
PKK violence by letting them know that his government is aware of
the difference between the Kurdish problem and ethnically motivated
violence carried on by the PKK.
Both the content of the conversation that has taken place in
Ankara between the prime minister and the representatives of the
intellectuals as well as the public speech he delivered in Diyarbakir
carried positive motives that gave some hope but did not change the
official paradigm in the practical sense.
What raised hopes for a new understanding of the problem were the
following:
1- Official mistakes have been committed in the past in terms of
discrimination against the region and its people;
2- A great nation and state can admit and repair its past mistakes;
3- Nationalism is the wrong approach for solving problems because it
is divisive rather than uniting; and
4- Enlarged democracy and economic prosperity will be the cure of
the problem.
However, this is as far as he could go, given the limitations of the
established official order that he is responsible for carrying on. He
is not on record as being more creative on the issue, which has been
delegated to the security bureaucracy.
What was missing from his speech, delivered in Diyarbakir at a time
of rising hope in search of a lasting solution to this old sore of
Turkey, which has led to so much bleeding and political entropy?
1- He did not offer a definition of the “Kurdish problem”‘
2- He claimed his government had the resolve to solve the problem
but did not say how; and
3- He offered no practical agenda upon which effective policies and
hopes could be built.
Could this be the reason for the lack of enthusiasm of the people who
convened to listen to him deliver his speech? Or could it be that
his limitations were already known and that this fact kept people
at home or at work and away from the public meeting? Whatever the
reason, if this government, which openly disavows ethnic, regional
and religious nationalism, fails to understand the complexity of
the Kurdish problem (and reduces it to security measures as in the
past) and fails to garner the public support of the Kurds to detach
themselves from any method or organizations that see violence as the
only way to hammer in or to obtain rights for the Kurds, then Turkey
will suffer from the impasse for more time to come.
–Boundary_(ID_UKSuWLc9dKwQeRUQXseRrw)–

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian National Committee
Illinois
1701 North Greenwood Road
Glenview, IL 60026
Contact: Greg Bedian
Tel: 917 428 1918
Fax: 718 651 3637
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
ANC ILLINOIS APPLAUDS GOV. BLAGOJEVICH FOR SIGNING GENOCIDE CURRICULUM BILL
Chicago, IL- The Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Illinois praised
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for honoring his pledge to sign
legislation mandating that Illinois public school students receive
instruction on the Armenian Genocide and other acts of genocide.
“The Armenian American community is pleased that the Governor has signed
this bill to successfully complete the enactment process,” stated Greg
Bedian, ANC of Illinois chairperson. “By signing this bill, the Governor
not only demonstrated his concern for victims of previous genocides, he has
played an active part in a process that will hopefully help deter future
genocides.”
The bill, HB312, cleared the legislature with commanding margins earlier
this spring, passing the Illinois House on March 1st and passing the Senate
on May 11th. Soon after the bill won passage, the Illinois Information
Service (part of the state’s official government media communications
office) reported that Gov. Blagojevich confirmed that he would sign the
bill. That commitment was later confirmed by community members who met with
the Governor. Blagojevich also mentioned his support for genocide education
in a recent gubernatorial proclamation issued to mark the 90th Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. In it the Governor stated “both recognition and
education concerning past atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide is
crucial in the prevention of future crimes against humanity.”
After the bill was introduced, the ANC helped to mobilize Armenian and
non-Armenians alike to work for passage of the bill, which was introduced by
Representatives John A, Fritchey (D-11) and Paul D. Froelich (R-56). Upon
passage in the Illinois House by a vote of 96-11, HB312 was forwarded to the
Senate where Senators Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-16) and Ira Silverstein (D-8)
led the effort to a 47-5 victory in the Senate. During the weeks leading up
to the bill’s passage, the ANC lobbied Illinois House and Senate members to
work for passage of the bill by organizing grassroots email, telephone and
letter-writing campaigns as well as conducting office visits with
legislators. The ANC also made presentations to various groups to encourage
their participation in this activity.
“It was gratifying to see that our efforts led to a successful outcome,”
stated Karine Birazian, who heads up the ANC of Illinois’ Genocide Education
Committee. “It’s important for the many constituents, and especially the
public school students, who participated in this endeavor to see that their
voices were heard and that their actions could make a difference on such an
important issue as Genocide education.”
HB312 provides “that in addition to the unit of instruction studying the
events of the Holocaust, the curriculum of every public elementary school
and high school shall include a unit of instruction studying other acts of
genocide across the globe, including, but not limited to, the Armenian
Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent atrocities in
Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan.” With the passage of HB312, Illinois
joins several other states, including California and Massachusetts, which
have mandated expanded genocide education. Birazian added that the ANC will
be working with groups in those states as well as other organizations to
help assemble the necessary resources to help schools implement the new
requirements.
The Armenian National Committee of Illinois is a grassroots public affairs
organization serving to inform, educate, and act on a wide range of issues
concerning Armenian Americans throughout the state of Illinois.

Suisse – Turquie: le genocide pas aborde au Conseil des Etats
Edicom, Suisse
6 août 2005
BERNE – Contrairement au National, le Conseil des Etats ne se penchera
pas sur le genocide armenien. D’autres pays n’ont pas a montrer du
doigt la Turquie 90 ans après les faits, a justifie le president de
la commission de politique exterieure des Etats.
La commission a decide de ne pas porter l’affaire du genocide de 1915
devant le plenum de la Chambre des cantons, a indique Peter Briner
(PRD/SH). Comme le Conseil federal, la commission estime que l’affaire
n’est pas du ressort du parlement.
Il appartiendrait plutôt aux parties concernees, soit la Turquie et
l’Armenie, de s’en saisir. Une commission mixte d’historiens devrait
“se pencher sur les evenements horribles” comme la Suisse a reflechi
sur son histoire durant la 2e Guerre mondiale.
La Suisse ne doit pas se montrer faible devant la Turquie, a par
ailleurs declare M. Briner en revenant sur l’annulation de l’invitation
du conseiller federal Joseph Deiss dans plusieurs interviews parues
samedi dans la presse alemanique. Elle ne doit pas pour autant
repliquer de la meme facon.
“Il est important de ne pas courber l’echine”, a precise le president
de la commission de politique exterieure. Selon lui, “c’est bien qu’il
y ait eu ici de vives reactions”. Que la Turquie justifie l’annulation
de la visite de Monsieur Deiss par des raisons d’agenda ne correspond
sûrement pas a la verite.
C’est une formule diplomatique typique lorsqu’on ne trouve pas de
meilleure explication, a ajoute M. Briner. “On ne peut s’empecher
de penser que le gouvernement turc essaie de calmer la population en
brassant de l’air.”
Les medias turcs ont manifestement “mobilise l’opinion contre la
Suisse”. L’affaire est liee a la procedure que la justice suisse
a declenchee contre le chef du Parti des travailleurs turcs (PKK)
et contre un historien pour avoir nie le genocide armenien en 1915.
–Boundary_(ID_o9IidhYKpiYqrsjsoIq4vQ)–

Blue Springs Examiner, Missouri
Aug 6 2005
Still going strong
Local diver winning medals into his 80s
By Bill Althaus
The Examiner
It’s not exactly Fort Knox, but it’s close.
Tom Hairabedian has enough gold in the office of his stylish
Independence townhouse to make Donald Trump jealous.
But it’s not the type of gold you store in a vault – it’s the type
you wear around your neck when you are a world class athlete.
Hairabedian – who could pass for a suave 60-year-old – is an
81-year-old Masters Diving Champion.
He just returned from the World Masters Games in Edmonton, Canada
where he swept the diving events – taking first place in the 1-meter,
3-meter, platform and synchronized diving (with partner Gordon Peak).
Five huge frames, filled with medals – mostly gold – adorn the walls
of his office. And he grasps his most recent prizes his thick right
hand as he proudly shows the engraved events on the back of each medal.
“I guess I’m running out of room in here,” the personable Hairabedian
said. “But the medals are nice. It’s nice to be rewarded for a job
well done. But I don’t dive for the medals. I used to dive for the
competition – now, I do it for the challenge, and for fun.”
Julie Scheidegger/The Examiner
Tom Hairabedian keeps winning diving medals
Hairabedian has been bringing home the golden hardware since the
inception of the Masters Games in 1985.
But his first three medals weren’t gold.
“No, they were platinum,” he said, proudly showing three huge discs
that look more like Christmas tree ornaments. “These are pretty heavy,
huh? I wouldn’t want to wear them around my neck too long.”
They might cause him to topple over.
Hairabedian’s story is something out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
His mother, a native of Armenia, escaped a Nazi death march and
miraculously found her way to Ellis Island, where she worked as
an interpreter.
His father was a captain in the Russian army who came to the United
States before World War II.
Kniza and Zepure Hairabedian had three boys – two of whom are in the
Who’s Who of Armenian Athletes. Tom’s younger brother, Ara, was a great
athlete who later became a swimming and diving coach at Fresno State.
Tom was a world class gymnast who soon became entranced by diving
while attending USC and middle brother Deron enjoyed a successful
business career.
Through his involvement with the Community of Christ Church, Tom moved
to Independence. He has been the head swimming and diving coach at
Central Missouri State University and the University of Missouri.
He keeps the leather-bound thesis he wrote on diving in his office,
along with enough diving awards to fill a Hall of Fame.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, look for Tom to be inducted Masters
Division of the International Hall of Fame in 2006.
That seems like a fitting place of honor for a man who owns 140
national titles.
Today, Hairabedian in the diving coach at the newest area high school,
Lee’s Summit West. Success simply seems to follow this human dynamo
wherever he goes as he helped junior Ron Porter become the first
all-state diver in school history.
“Ron had a background in gymnastics, just like me,” Hairabedian
said, his eyes gleaming. “He compete in four meets and took second
at his first meet and won the others. He was so excited about being
an all-state diver in his first year at the school.
“I can’t wait to see what he does this year.”

225 ARMENIANS OBTAINED UKRAINIAN CITIZENSHIP WITHIN 2005 FORMER HALF
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 4 2005
04.08.2005 03:05
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 3 037 persons got Ukrainian passports within
the former half-year of 2005. 1 469 out of these had been citizens
of other countries before. According to the Press Service of the
Ukrainian President, within the period in question 455 former
Russian citizens, 254 those of Moldavia, 225 – of Armenia, 126 of
Azerbaijan and other 32 countries, which include Afghanistan, Belarus,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, became Ukrainian citizens. In the national
respect Russians (1 321 persons), Armenians (439) and Moldavians
(187) are leaders in getting Ukrainian citizenship. Representatives
of 80 nationalities have become citizens of Ukraine. 20.7% of these
have higher education, 70.1% – secondary or specialized secondary
education, reported Regnum news agency.

Library of Congress
2 August 2005
H.R.3103
Title: To direct the Secretary of State to submit a report outlining the
steps taken and plans made by the United States to end Turkey’s blockade of
Armenia.
Sponsor: Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] (introduced 6/29/2005) Cosponsors
(1)
Latest Major Action: 6/29/2005 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred
to the House Committee on International Relations.
COSPONSORS(1),
Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] – 6/29/2005

ARKA News Agency
July 27 2005
LONGSTANDING ISOLATION CAUSES NEIGHBORING PEOPLES LOSE CENTURIES-OLD
TRADITIONS OF COOPERATION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
YEREVAN, July 27. /ARKA/. Long-standing isolation causes gradual
degradation of values, loss of centuries-old traditions of
neighborhood and cooperation in the South Caucasus, says a resolution
adopted as a result of a working meeting of the civil initiative
“South Caucasian Integration: Alternative Start”, the Caucasus Center
of Peace-Making Initiatives (CCPMI) reports. According to the
document, manifestation of nationalism and intolerance marginalize
real public sentiments and the idea of peaceful settlement of all
disagreements and integration, the only idea capable of ensuring the
viability of all the peoples of the South Caucasus. Considering the
above, the CCPMI points out the necessity of uniting the public to
counterbalance political speculations on existing conflicts,
contributing to the formation of public need for peace and
restoration of good-neighborly relations in the South Caucasus,
discussion of ways of settling “frozen” conflicts on the basis of
human rights and freedoms. The first working meeting of the civil
initiative “South Caucasian Integration” Alternative Start” was held
in Yerevan on July 19. P.T. -0–

Weston Town Crier, MA
July 28 2005
Moving Marriott across the GLOBE
By Cheryl Balian Scaparrotta / Correspondent
Thursday, July 28, 2005
In the culmination of an eight-year labor of love, a Weston
businessman is helping awaken a sleepy post-communist economy 5,000
miles from home by funding a glamorous new hotel in the former Soviet
republic of Armenia.

Paul Korian is managing partner of AK Development, an investor
group behind the purchase and multi-million dollar renovation of the
Marriott Hotel in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. The nine-story hotel,
with 226 guest rooms and four restaurants, is at the heart of the
city’s cultural and business center.

`The hotel marks a number of firsts,’ explained Korian, an
Armenian-American who has resided in Weston for eight years. `It’s
the largest U.S. investment in Armenia, and the first
internationally-branded investment in that nation.’

It’s probably also the first time that Korian and other private
investors, most of whom are also Armenian-Americans from the Boston
area, had ever come face-to-face with the stark realities of the
communist era.

`During renovation, contractors discovered a secret level in the
building, used by KGB agents to monitor listening devices in rooms,’
he recalled.

The five-star hotel is housed in a 1950s-era building. While
architecturally pleasing, it needed a total renovation to meet
international hospitality standards.

The involvement of Marriott, one of the world’s best-known hotel
operators, added luster and credibility to the project.

`The property itself convinced Marriott to get on board with
us,’ explained Korian. `They were amazed by its prestigious
location.’

The grandiose building, purchased by AK Development from the
government for $10 million, sits prominently on Yerevan’s Republic
Square, center of the capital city. The National Art Gallery is
opposite the hotel, and a number of other museums and businesses are
within walking distance.

While the structure had always functioned as a hotel, guests
experienced few, if any, Western-style amenities. Credit cards were
not accepted for payment – wads of cash sufficed – and making
outgoing phone calls were difficult at best.
These situations have been rectified, and higher health and safety
measures have also been implemented.

`Marriott has been a pioneer in stepping into former communist
lands, like Poland,’ Korian pointed out.

But challenges of doing business in the former USSR persisted
throughout the project. For example, artwork shipments to the hotel
were delayed for several weeks because border guards thought they
were originals.

Armenia, a mountainous country about the size of Belgium, is a
sovereign nation of 3.3 million currently transitioning into a
market-based economy.

Located in the Caucasus region at the crossroads of the Old Silk
Road between Asia and Europe, it gained independence from the USSR in
1991.

Checking into a homeland opportunity

Korian, a co-founder of Staples, the office superstore, had no
previous experience as a hotelier. Though he had always been active
in the Armenian community, a devastating earthquake that struck
Armenia in 1988 prompted him and many others to evaluate more
permanent ways to aid their ethnic homeland.

`The opportunity is bringing Western-style business practices to
a post-Soviet country,’ Korian said.

AK Development was created in 1997 to acquire and restore the
hotel, which was offered for sale through Merrill Lynch. Since the
1998 purchase, Korian has traveled back and forth between Weston and
Armenia at least 25 times.

Hallmarks of luxury in the new hotel – for which the president
of Armenia cut the ceremonial ribbon for -include a fitness center,
in-room Internet connectivity, 24-hour room service and a two-story
presidential suite fit for visiting heads of state.

Marriott has incorporated the hotel into its worldwide
reservations system, sent over a dozen Armenian employees abroad for
management training, and installed seasoned company executives in
Yerevan.

Katrin Hentszel, the hotel’s general manager, has worked for
Marriott in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Warsaw. The hotel’s director of
sales and marketing, Alex Nurock, comes to his new post fresh off a
stint at the Riviera Marriott in Monaco.
Korian and Hentszel noted that Armenia is just beginning to market
its assets, like its rich history and natural beauty, to a global
audience. It was always a tourist destination for those in the Soviet
system, and many USSR Olympic athletes trained in its warm summer
climate.

In fact, Armenia’s famous brandy was said to be a favorite of
Winston Churchill.

`The hotel is a catalyst to demonstrate that people from all
around the world can enjoy Armenian culture,’ emphasized Korian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress