AZG Armenian Daily #227, 08/12/2007
Russia
PUTIN’S CANDIDATE TO BE ANNOUNCED ON DECEMBER 17
The presidential candidate of the "Unite Russia" party shall be
announced on December 17, during the plenary meeting of the party
staff, informed party leader Boris Gryzlov.
Political experts assure that the candidate of "Unite Russia" party is
to become the successor of Vladimir Putin. It is said that Putin’s
support is enough for the party candidate to win the elections.
Translated by A.M.
REPORTS ON PKK INTENTION TO INSTALL ITS BASES IN ARMENIA AND KARABAKH ARE ABSURD
armradio.am
05.12.2007 16:12
Azerbaijani and Turkish media report that the PKK intends to install
its bases in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and the territories
controlled by Nagorno Karabakah. Asked by Regnum Agency to comment
on the reports, Vladimir Karapetian, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson stated:
"We have commented on these rumors earlier, but I want to stress one
more time, that those reports have no relation to the reality and are
absurd. It is obvious where this fabricated information is coming from.
Those baseless allegations are simply another attempt of provocation."
ARMENIAN ICE DANCERS TO PARTAKE IN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
armradio.am
05.12.2007 12:27
Armenian ice dancing pair Anastasia Grebenkina – Vazgen Azroyan will
participate in the European Figure Skating Championship to be held in
the Poznan, Poland, Armenpress was informed from the Figure Skating
Federation of Armenia.
Lragir, Armenia
Dec 6 2007
CORRUPTION IS MONOPOLIZED AS WELL
The office of prosecutor general has arrested a few tax and customs
officials involved in false entrepreneurship. This is being announced
through almost all the media, especially television. In fact, the
effort of the prosecutor’s office is a heavy blow to corruption in
Armenia, and corruption will not get over it for a long time. It
should not be ruled out that corruption may yield to the office of
prosecutor general because it seems to have nothing else to do.
However, for whatever reason any revelation of corruption in Armenia
involves the lower ranks only. For instance, nurses are arrested, or
officers of regional tax or customs services. The office of
prosecutor general of Armenia never brings charges against any
high-ranking official. The impression is that the higher ranks are
crystal purity, and the most horrible things take place in the lower
ranks. It is possible that horrible things occur in the lower ranks
but for whatever reason they are reflected in the higher ranks. In
addition, they are reflected so magnificently that no logical
explanation can be found how a minister with a salary of a few
hundreds of thousand drams lives like a millionaire.
Formally, there is an explanation. Our ministers, the prime minister
or the president do not have property formally belonging to them,
which does not match the size of their legal salary. Their property
formally belongs to their friends, relatives, family or
mother-in-law. However, Armenia is a small country, and everyone
knows one another, and whom the villa built for an ordinary citizen
belongs to, and who is behind the construction, commerce or other
company owned de jure by an ordinary businessman.
Legally, it is difficult to reveal such cases of corruption. For
instance, it is difficult to prove that a 60 or 70 year-old woman
working at home could not sustain the oligarchic life of the
minister, who is related to all this only because 20-30 years ago or
earlier her daughter married the future minister or other
high-ranking official. But if legally it is impossible to reveal, it
is not difficult to bring into being the mechanism of moral
responsibility. In other words, the minister who lives a life of a
millionaire, the public official who wears suits, shoes, shirts, ties
worth thousands of dollars, stays at five-star hotels which are
located in famous resorts, rides in expensive cars, owns summerhouses
in different parts of the country, cannot do this secretly, like he
cannot obtain all that on his salary. And the president who
guarantees Constitutional order in Armenia should know about it. If
he cannot instruct the office of prosecutor general to investigate
and punish the corrupt official, he should assume the responsibility
and dismiss the minister to show to the society that the Armenian
government does not tolerate corruption in reality, not in speeches.
Meanwhile, over these years no high-ranking government official has
been dismissed. In addition, they are behaving more freely, showing
off their businesses they run apart from their office.
And in order to make life more interesting and secure, they sometimes
make preventive efforts against corruption not to let the lower ranks
become competitor to the higher ranks.
JAMES HAKOBYAN
PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
December 6, 2007
Heritage Holds Special Session:
Will Not Propose Presidential Candidate
Yerevan–The Heritage Party’s Council today held a special sitting
devoted to the Armenian presidential elections scheduled for February
19, 2008. In opening the meeting, Heritage board member Vardan
Khachatrian spoke about the current political developments in the
country. During the ensuing discussion, the council members and other
session participants expressed regret that Heritage leader Raffi K.
Hovannisian’s legitimate right to run for the presidency was yet again
denied on artificial and unlawful grounds.
The delegates then examined the question of supporting any other
presidential contender to be registered by the Central Election
Commission, but no consensus was reached. In this respect, Raffi
Hovannisian remarked: "I have stated on several occasions that the
office of the president is not an end unto itself, and this creed is
shared by all of us. The nomination by Heritage of a presidential
candidate bears the objective of fulfilling our aspirations for both
the nation and its state, the patriot and the citizen. Once again, we
have been deprived of that promise but, as a leading political force,
we have no right to sit on the sidelines. We must stand alongside our
citizens and, with the aim of ensuring for them the opportunity to
make a free and meaningful choice, we shall open before the people
every available avenue to familiarize themselves with the agendas,
programs, platforms, and qualifications of all nominees for the
presidency."
Subsequently, the Heritage Party’s Council decided:
1. Not to nominate a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections;
2. To empower the party board to make the final decision,
following the official registration of all presidential contenders,
with respect to the format of the party’s participation in the
elections; and
3. Meanwhile and to that end, to instruct the party board to
ascertain from all nominees their vision for Armenia and their
proposed nationwide solutions, policies, programs, and governance
mechanisms, as well as to shed light on their individual and
collective qualifications, and then to inform the Armenian public of
its findings and conclusions.
The Heritage Council also determined that the Heritage board should
hold talks and consultations before the presidential elections and,
once having carefully examined the merits, tenets, and platforms of
the candidates, reach judgment on behalf of the party.
In conclusion, Zoya Tadevosian, Heritage’s representative at the
Central Election Commission, called on those Council members who also
serve on local election commissions to stay impartial during the
upcoming elections and to remain devoted to the precepts of free,
fair, and transparent elections. "Heritage is a front-line opposition
party which must do its utmost, in parliament and the election
commissions alike, to prevent the recurrence of election fraud," she
said.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land.
Its central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10)
532.697, email at [email protected] or [email protected], and website
at
Hellenic News of America, PA
Dec 5 2007
Executive Branch Appeasement of Turkey Continues
12-4-07
The latest example of the Executive Branch appeasement of Turkey to
the detriment of U.S. interests concerns the Armenian Genocide
resolutions in the House of Representatives, H. Res. 106 and the
Senate, S. Res. 106.
The vote on H. Res. 106 in the House Foreign Affairs Committee took
place on October 10, 2007. The resolution passed 27 to 21 on October
10, 2007, despite a massive lobbying campaign by the White House, the
State and Defense Departments and the Turkish government.
The government of Turkey is spending over $3.6 million annually for
lobbyists including former Congressmen Bob Livingston and Dick
Gephardt, DLA Piper and Fleishman-Hillard, public relations
specialists.
As a presidential candidate in 2000, Bush pledged that he would make
sure that `our nation properly recognizes’ that: `The Armenians were
subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and
commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts.’
Bush however failed to use the term genocide in the annual April 24
presidential statement on the subject. President Clinton also refused
to use the term genocide in his April 24 statements. April 24 is the
date generally considered the start of the killings of Armenians in
1915 by the `Young Turks’ under the Pashas which lasted into 1923
under Ataturk.
Bush urged the Congress and the members of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee not to vote for H. Res. 106. The State and Defense
Departments went all out to defeat it.
The State Department obtained the signatures of all eight living
former secretaries of state on a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-California) which contained a warning that H. Res. 106, a
non-binding resolution `would endanger our national security
interests in the region, including the safety of our troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan.’
I concur with those 27 Representatives who voted for H. Res. 106 and
who, in effect, question the thesis of the joint letter and its
accuracy.
I concur with Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California) a principal
sponsor of H. Res. 106 who said in his opening statement in the
Committee on October 10, 2007 prior to the vote:
`What happened in 1915 to 1923? In the area now encompassed by
Turkey, the Armenian population was two million. Eight years later it
was virtually zero. Our own ambassador to the Ottoman Empire stated
what happened: �When the Turkish authorities gave the orders
for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to
a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations
with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.�
Or turn to Mustaffa Arriff, the last minister of the Interior of the
Ottoman Empire, who said, �Our wartime leaders…decided to
exterminated the Armenians, and they did exterminate them.�
It is right for this Congress to recognize a genocide particularly
when it is denied. Genocide denial is not only the last step of a
genocide, it is the first step in the next genocide. When Hitler had
to convince his cohorts that the world would let them get away with
it, he turned to them and said, �Who, after all, speaks today
of the annihilation of the Armenians?�
Opponents say that Turkey will be angry….This Committee has condemned
particular actions of such great allies such as England and Canada.
We cannot provide genocide denial as one of the perks of friendship
with the United States.
– – – –
We are told that if we pass this resolution Turkey will react against
us. Beyond the moral bankruptcy of such threats lies Turkey�s
long-standing practice of trying to win through intimidation, and
then when a resolution is passed, doing little or nothing. Despite
threats of harsh retribution, Turkey has taken either no steps at
all, or token diplomatic steps, against Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Argentina, and more than 10 other countries that have
recognized the Armenian Genocide.
Forty of the United States have recognized the Armenian Genocide, and
their trade with Turkey has gone up. My own state of California
formally recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1997 and our exports to
Turkey have been doing just fine, thank you.
The best example, and the biggest battle, was France, which in 2001
was threatened by Turkey with a trade boycott if it recognized the
Armenian Genocide. The French went ahead and recognized that
genocide. The chart shows you what happened – a near tripling of French
exports to Turkey.
– – – –
This resolution is supported by virtually every scholar of genocide,
and by both the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and the
Arab-American Institute.
Finally, we are asked, �Why act now?� Turkey will be a
better ally if we speak the truth. Turkey will be an even better ally
if Turkey speaks the truth.
But we also have very personal reasons to act now. Today, at this
Committee meeting, we have with us four people who survived the
Armenian Genocide. They are in their 90s and 100s. We cannot tell
them, �Wait. Come back in a few years.� Let these
survivors see the country that gave them refuge also give them
justice – while they are still here to see it.’
Clearly there are several alternatives to Incirlik air base in Turkey
for logistical support of our troops in Iraq. And Turkey�s
troops are not welcome in Iraq.
Because of the Turkish threats to stop the use of Incirlik air base
and overflight rights by the U.S. if the House of Representatives
passes H. Res. 106, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the principal sponsors
of the bill have postponed bringing the bill to the House floor for a
vote at this time.
Congressman Sherman put it well when he wrote `Americans must ask
Turkey, when has it become fashionable for friends to threaten
friends?’
Turkey�s negotiating tactics
It is important to remember Turkey�s negotiating tactics.
Martin Gilbert, the world renowned historian and biographer of
Churchill, in a conference at the Library of Congress on the Armenian
Genocide summarized Turkey�s negotiating tactics as follows:
(1)Admit nothing and deny everything;
(2)lie; and
(3)attack, attack, attack.
Turkey�s threats against the U.S. if the House passes H. Res.
106 is an example of `attack.’ The Executive Branch (White House,
State and Defense Departments) response is shameful and exposes a
deep weakness in our diplomatic policy. The State and Defense
Departments of successive administration have practiced a policy of
appeasement of Turkey and a policy of double standards on the rule of
law for Turkey.
U.S.-Turkey policy based on false premises
The added disgrace of the Executive Branch policies regarding Turkey
is that they are based on false premises.
Ted Galen Carpenter, the Vice President for Defense and Foreign
Policy Studies of the respected CATO Institute in Washington, D.C. is
one of our nation�s leading defense and foreign policy
analysts. His recent remarks on U.S.-Turkey relations on November 13
at an American Hellenic Institute (AHI) Noon Forum are important. Dr.
Carpenter set forth clearly and cogently the reason why the
`conventional wisdom in American foreign policy circles regarding
Turkey’ is in error.
He lists four assumptions of the `conventional wisdom’ and then
demonstrates that each of them is `partially false or totally false.’
His remarks should be required reading in the State and Defense
Departments, the National Security Council and the Congress. The AHI
will distribute these remarks to each Representative, Senator, the
President and Executive Branch officials.
Dr. Carpenter stated that the conventional wisdom in American foreign
policy circles regarding Turkey asserts the following four
propositions:
First , that Turkey has been a loyal ally of the United States since
the earliest days of the Cold War and remains a loyal ally.
Second, that Turkey is a force for stability in the Middle East and
Central Asia in addition to its role within NATO and European
affairs.
Third, that Turkey is basically a Western secular country.
Fourth, Turkey is a good candidate that should be admitted to the
European Union in the near future.
Dr. Carpenter in his remarks demonstrated `that every one of those
assumptions is either partially false or totally false.’
What is needed in the interests of the U.S. is a critical review of
U.S.-Turkey relations by the Congress, the Executive Branch and the
academic and think tank communities.
Get active- call and write the President and your representative and
two senators and tell them it is not in the interests of the U.S. to
continue appeasing Turkey and applying a double standard on the rule
of law for Turkey.
Gene Rossides is President
of the American Hellenic Institute and
former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
l?newsid=7713&lang=US
ARMENIA PROLONGS PEACEMAKING MISSION IN IRAQ FOR A YEAR
2007-12-04 15:37:00
ArmInfo. Armenian National Assembly agreed to prolong the mission of
Armenian peacemakers in Iraq for a year, Tuesday.
Armenian Defense Minister Mikael Haroutunyan explained that Armenia’s
mission is exclusively humanitarian. It is fixed in documents
and fulfilled without changes. Given the high assessment of the
activity of Armenian peacemakers by the Command and the promotion
to the country’s international image and trust in the Armenian
Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry made a decision to prolong the
mission twice for a year. The minister mentioned that Armenia joined
the international peacemaking mission to Iraq in December 2004. The
Armenian subdivision comprising 46 people left for Iraq in the Polish
division. Armenian peacemakers are permanently rotated. The term of
the 6th group expires on December 25 2007. Minister Haroutunyan said
276 servicemen have already participated in the peacemaking mission to
Iraq and no Armenian peacemaker has been killed during the mission. At
the same time, the minister mentioned that Senior Lieutenant Georgy
Nalbandyan was injured in landmine blast last year. After treatment
in Germany and the USA, he returned to service. The minister also
added that participation in international peacemaking creates
opportunities of mutually advantageous military cooperation with
the USA and European countries. From the point of view of European
integration, it proves that the country intends to be a creator of
the international security system and not just the user, the minister
said. He stressed that non-participation in the peacemaking missions
will create definite obstacles to the country’s relations in the
international arena. Moreover, participation in the mission to Iraq
is useful for Armenia since it is a peculiar training for Armenian
peacemaking battalion, which will become a good basis for creation
of a peacemaking brigade.
ARMENIA EXTENDS PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN IRAQ
RIA Novosti, Russia
Dec 4 2007
YEREVAN, December 4 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s parliament voted on
Tuesday to extend the country’s military presence in Iraq by 12 months.
Armenia’s legislature ratified on December 24, 2004 a memorandum on
the dispatch of a peacekeeping contingent to Iraq for a term of 12
months. It has since twice prolonged the mission for another year.
Armenian Defense Minister Mikael Arutyunyan said a total of 276
servicemen had been sent to Iraq since early 2005.
Armenia’s participation in the peacekeeping mission, as part of the
Polish peacekeeping division in Iraq, gives the Caucasus state some
additional leverage in its relations with international organizations.
The proposal by the Armenian president to extend the term of the
country’s peacekeeping mission in Iraq was supported by 79 MPs,
with 10 votes against and 11 abstentions.
The Armenian peacekeeping contingent in Iraq comprises two staff
officers, three military doctors, an engineering unit (10 men) and
a transport platoon (31 drivers).
AMBASSADOR OF URUGUAY PRESENTS HIS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN
armradio.am
27.11.2007 13:44
The newly appointed Ambassador of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay
Jorge Alberto Mayer Long (seat in Moscow) presented his credentials
to RA President Robert Kocharyan.
The President congratulated the Ambassador on assuming office and
wished him success in his high mission.
Emphasizing the friendly relations between the two countries and the
reciprocal wish to develop cooperation, the parties prioritized the
activity in the direction of expanding the volume of trade-economic
cooperation.
The interlocutors underlined the effective Armenian-Uruguayan
cooperation within international organizations.
Noting that Uruguay was the first to officially recognize the Armenian
Genocide in 1965, the Ambassador said the Armenian community of
Uruguay is rather active and plays a special role in the relations
between the two countries.
ARMENIANS LIVING IN JAVAKHK TO SUPPORT CANDIDATE PROTECTING RIGHTS OF ARMENIANS AS NATIONAL MINORITIES
Noyan Tapan
Nov 27 2007
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. During the special presidential
elections to be held in Georgia the Armenians living in Javakhk will
vote for that candidate, who will put forward issues concerning
the protection of the rights of Armenians as national minorities,
and the status of the language, in particular. This statement was
made by Shirak Torosian, an MP of the RA National Assembly and the
Chairman of the Javakhk Patriotic Union, at the press conference held
on November 27. At the same time, he mentioned that it is difficult to
say whether any candidate will give such promises. According to him,
nationalism is very deeply spread in Georgia, not benevolent attitude
is being displayed towards Armenians, in particular, there.
In the words of Shirak Torosian, the most serious problem existing in
Javakhk is that of the language: Georgian authorities do their best so
as Armenians learn Georgian on account of the Armenian language. At
the same time, according to him, there are no conditions provided
for learning Georgian. In the estimation of Shirak Torosian, it
is all the same to the Armenians living in Javakhk what events are
currently taking place in the capital of Georgia. "They have already
understood that no matter what authorities are elected, the attitude
towards them will be the same," he said and added that the Armenians
living in Javakhk will make a concrete decision in the near future on
the fact of what line of conduct they will display in the forthcoming
presidential elections.
The Chairman of the Patriotic Union is also dissatisfaied with the
work conducted by the authorities, which is directed at the solution
of the problems of the Armenians living in Javakhk. He believes that
"the interests of the Armenians living in Javakhk should not be
sacrificed in favour of Armenian-Georgian friendship, the Armenians
living in Javakhk should be made a factor for strengthening that
friendship." Shirak Torosian is sure that in case of performing right
work, many problems will be positively settled.
"Armenian should contribute to the problems of the Armenians living
in Javakhk to be settled by the Georgian authorities, otherwise the
latters will put a demand for autonomy, which is not beneficial for
Georgia at all," he said.