Author: Karagyozian Lena

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

November 19, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER TO COSPONSOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

— Decision by Senator Reid Comes in the Wake of Senate Week
in the ANCA "Countdown to Erdogan" Campaign

WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has
informed the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) that he
will once again support legislation calling for U.S. reaffirmation
of the Armenian Genocide.

"We want to offer our appreciation to Majority Leader Reid for
joining with his colleagues in supporting this legislative effort
to put America on the right side of the Armenian Genocide issue,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "We look
forward to working with Senator Reid and our other friends in the
leadership of the Senate and the Foreign Relations Committee as the
Armenian Genocide Resolution moves to a Committee vote and adoption
by the full Senate."

Spearheaded by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and John Ensign (R-NV),
the Armenian Genocide resolution (S.Res.316) also enjoys the early
support of Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Russ Feingold (D-WI),
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI).

Senator Reid’s cosponsorship comes as Armenian Americans across the
country continue to participate in the ANCA "Countdown to Erdogan"
campaign – a four-week, grassroots campaign urging President Obama
to speak truthfully about the Armenian Genocide when he meets on
December 7th with Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan. The first week
of the campaign focused on Senate action, with thousands sending
ANCA WebMails and participating in a national call in day to Senate
offices in support of S.Res.316.

On each day until December 7th, the ANCA is organizing a new action
– ranging from online advocacy, call-in days, social networking,
coalition-building, community outreach, and fieldwork. Information
on the campaign is posted at

Last month, Majority Leader Reid formally shared the reservations
of the Silver State’s Armenian community regarding the dangers of
the recently signed Turkey-Armenia Protocols with Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.

In a October 30, 2009 letter to ANCA-Nevada activist Razmig
Libarian, the Senate leader reported that he had recently written
to Secretary Clinton to pass along the concerns of his state’s
citizens of Armenian heritage, and to encourage her to meet
directly with the national leadership of the Armenian American
community regarding the state of Turkey-Armenia relations.

RA CENTRAL DEPOSITORY TO LAUNCH INTEGRATION PROJECT IN 2010

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
19.11.2009 17:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2010, RA central depository will launch an
integration project with foreign depositories, NASDAQ OMX Armenia
Director General Armen Melikyan told a news conference in Yerevan. The
main task lies in establishment of mutual relations between regulators,
brokers, stock market and central depository in order to establish
proper control over the market in view of border opening.

Armen Melikyan noted that central depositories’ integration process
is similar to correspondent account system between foreign banks.

"Correspondent accounts will be open in other depositories, allowing
our brokerage companies to keep stocks, purchased for their clients,
locally," NASDAQ OMX Armenia Director General said, adding that the
project will probably be launched next year.

In this context, he noted that in perspective the project could be
implemented in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kirgizia. "Russian market is
not yet ready legislatively; currently negotiations are conducted by
Central Depository. Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are of particular
interest. A possibility of integration with Baltic states’ central
depositories is also envisaged," Armen Melikyan concluded.

NASDAQ OMX Armenia is the new name of the Armenian Stock Exchange
ojsc (renamed on January 27, 2009), however, it is also used to
refer jointly to the stock exchange and the Central Depository of
Armenia ojsc (CDA), as the both companies have been members of the
NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. since early 2008. NASDAQ OMX Armenia and the
CDA are the major securities market infrastructure institutions in
Armenia. Since their inception in 2000, both companies had operated as
self-regulatory organizations established by member broker companies,
up until demutualization in 2007.

NASDAQ OMX Armenia is a part of the world’s largest exchange company,
the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

DIRECTOR OF THE KHOSROV FOREST STATE RESERVE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SHOT DEAD

armradio.am
19.11.2009 15:04

On November 19, at about 23:50 Director of the "Khosrov Forest
State Reserve" non-profit organization Samvel Shaboyan, born 1958,
was killed at Myasnikyan Avenue of Yerevan.

The Police found traces of 30 shots on the back right door of the
"Toyota Prado" belonging to Samvel Shaboyan.

The Police are taking investigation and search operations identify
and find the criminals.

A criminal case has been launched; investigation is under way.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FACILITATES PROCEDURE OF PROVIDING FOREIGNERS WITH JOB PERMISSION

ARKA
November 18, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, November 18, /ARKA/. Armenian parliament has passed today
in the first reading a set of changes to the Law on Foreigners
facilitating the procedure of providing foreigners with job
permissions.

A deputy economy minister Vahe Danielian said the changes are aimed
at improving the business environment of the country, regulation and
simplification of its labor market.

He said one of the changes allows Armenian companies without foreign
investments to hire foreigners without additional permissions for
the entire term of the labor contract.

Under the current law, job permission to foreigners is given for 12
months and it may be extended only once for another 12 months. After
the expiration of that term a foreign worker must leave Armenia and
may be accepted to an Armenian company only after 12 months. Vahe
Danielian described this rule as ‘unjust and discriminative.’

He said lifting this ban would allow to make Armenian labor market
more competitive and stimulate its business environment.

ADANA: 1909: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND IDENTITY FROM A HUNDRED YEAR PERSPECTIVE

AZG DAILY
18-11-2009

Armenian Genocide

>From Nov. 6-7, Sabanci University (Istanbul) just hosted an
international workshop entitled "Adana: 1909: History, Memory,
and Identity from a Hundred Year Perspective." The workshop included
scholars from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy,
and Turkey. The event was sponsored by Gomidas Institute (London),
Sabanci University, Istanbul Bilgi University History Department, the
International Hrant Dink Foundation, and Bogazici University History
Department. A capacity audience filled the lecture theatre and included
professors, students, journalists, and members of the public. There
was simultaneous translation between English and Turkish. The papers
that were presented will be published in English and Turkish editions.

In their opening remarks, Cengiz Aktar and Ara Sarafian welcomed
the participants and pointed to new opportunities for holding such
meetings in Turkey today. They explained that the Adana 1909 workshop
was organized to mark the centennial of the Adana massacres. It began
with a call for papers in Turkish, Armenian, and English, and the
presentations at the workshop reflected the different interests of
the participants.

The first paper was an unusual one, as it was a discussion of Turks
who saved Armenians in 1909. The fact that Armenians were massacred
was a given, and the speaker presented a sensitive examination of
righteous Turkish officials who saved potential victims. The speaker
used Ottoman records to show how Ottoman Armenians petitioned the
state to recognize one such Turkish official for his role in saving
an entire community. This first paper took some of the sting out of
the workshop, where the audience could sympathize with the Armenian
victims of 1909 without vilifying "Muslims" or "Turks" as single
categories. Subsequent papers followed with the same sensitivity.

Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) and Zakarya Mildanoglu (independent
researcher) discussed Armenian records related to the events of 1909.

Sarafian introduced Hagop Terzian, who published a powerful report
in 1912, on the 1909 events. Terzian included his own testimony
in Adana city, as well as the testimonies of others in smaller
communities. Sarafian argued that Terzian’s text had a certain popular
force-of-argument that challenged official accounts that tried to play
down the incidents. Sarafian quoted Terzian to stress the devastating
role of the newspaper "Itidal" in agitating and fermenting violence
against Armenians. Zakarya Mildanoglu presented the Adana massacres
through the Armenian periodical press with many illustrations from
different journals. His accounts included satire as a powerful tool to
convey what had happened to Armenians. (Mildanoglu was also responsible
for a separate exhibition of photographs depicting the Adana
massacres. These images and texts were displayed at the workshop.)

The role of American missionaries as witnesses was discussed by Lou
Ann Matossian (Cafesjian Family Foundation) and Barbara Merguerian
(Armenian International Women’s Association), with powerful papers
related to events in the cities of Adana and Tarsus. Tarsus was
also the focus of Oral Calislar, a well-known Turkish journalist who
presented the testimony of Helen Davenport Gibbons in her book Red
Rugs of Tarsus. Calislar, who has published the Turkish translation
of this work, gave a personal reflection regarding his native Tarsus.

(The Gomidas Institute has just published a critical English edition
of the Red Rugs of Tarsus.)

The reality of Armenian losses was stressed by Osman Koker, who
gave a fascinating paper on Armenian communities in Adana province,
illustrated by photographs and postcards. He included images from
Antioch, Alexandretta, Marash, Beylan, Sis, Adana, Tarsus, and
Koz Olouk.

Sait Cetinoglu (Belge Uluslararasi Yayincilik) gave a forceful
presentation on the organization and plunder of Armenian properties in
1909, while Asli Comu (Cambridge University) gave a solid paper based
on land records from the Adana region in the 1920’s. These records gave
new insights into how Armenian properties were broken up and par celled
out to Muslim refugees. The actual number of Armenian casualties during
the massacres was discussed by Fuat Dundar, who raised some questions
about the demographics of the Adana massacres based on his work on
the massacres of Abdul Hamid II and the Armenian Genocide. The fate of
Armenian orphans following the Adana massacres became a major concern
for Armenian community leaders. Nazan Maksudyan gave a moving paper
on the fate of such orphans, especially in "foreign" orphanages. One
key concern was assimilation in government-run orphanages where the
language of instruction was Turkish and not Armenian.

Each session was chaired by a senior scholar and was followed by a
discussion. The workshop thus benefited from the presence of additional
senior scholars, such as Selim Deringil, Caglar Keyder, Mete Tucay,
and Hulya Adak.

The organizers considered the workshop a success, Armenian Weekly
reported.

ARMENIA’S YOUTH SOCCER TEAM BEAT ITS IRISH RIVALS 4:1

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.11.2009 18:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Euro 2011 qualification match, Armenian youth
soccer team beat its Irish rivals 4:1. Likewise the match with
Estonians which ended 1:1 Armenian sportsmen began the game actively,
scoring the first goal during the 30th minute. At the start of match,
Hovhannes Goharyan managed to keep the ball with the help of two
fullbacks, making a pass to Henrik Mkhitaryan. Half-back kicked the
ball to the rival’s fence with a strong blow. Henrik Mkhitaryan also
stood out in the second round, evening the score during the 61st
minute. Four minutes later Ireland’s Killian Sheridan scored the
only goal of his team. Match ended 4:1, with the third goal scored
by Goharyan and the fourth coming off hat-trick author Mkhitaryan’s
penalty kick

Second group’s standing for Euro-2011 qualification tournament is
as follows.

Switzerland (13 point) Turkey (9) Estonia (8) Georgia (5) Armenia
(4) Ireland (4)

HULUSI KYLYDZH: ISSUE OF OPENING BORDER IS EXHAUSTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.11.2009 18:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Issue of opening border is exhausted. Turkey
is in the middle of process; the rest lies with Armenia," said
Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kylydzh. According to him,
international community is already fed up with conditions required for
Turkish Parliament’s ratifying Protocols, Novosti Azerbaijan reports.

Those conditions, according to Turkish diplomat, concern liberation
of so-called Azerbaijani lands.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES ROBERT AMIRKHANYAN ON THE 70TH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY

ARMENPRESS
Nov 17, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had
November 16 a phone conversation with the people’s artist, honorable
cultural figure, chairman of the Armenian Union of Composers, composer
Robert Amirkhanyan.

Presidential press office told Armenpress that the leader of the
country congratulated the composer on the 70th birthday anniversary
wishing him health, and new creative success.

ORANGE LAUNCHES PROVISION OF ‘SPECIAL’ PHONE NUMBERS

ArmInfo
2009-11-17 16:21:00

ArmInfo. Orange has launched provision of "Special" phone numbers,
which are classified under the following categories: "Bronze",
"Silver", "Gold" and "Platinum".

The press-release of Orange Armenia CJSC says that "Bronze" and
"Silver" "Special" phone numbers are available for all. The cost of a
"Bronze" number makes 8 000 AMD and "Silver" numbers are available for
20 000 AMD. "Gold" and "Platinum" phone numbers are meant for those
who are current subscribers of "K-Telecom" CJSC and "ArmenTel" CJSC
similar phone numbers and who sign "Every Month" postpaid subscription
contract with "Orange". "Gold’ phone numbers, which cost 80 000 AMD,
are provided if a contract is concluded for the term of 6 months,
and the "Platinum" ones – given a contract for 18 months. "Platinum"
numbers cost 200 000 AMD. The program on provision of "Special"
numbers will last two months, up to January 16, 2010. After that,
"Gold" numbers will be put to free sale. Detailed information on the
program is available at Orange stores, the list of which is available
here

Orange Armenia, 100% subsidiary of France Telecom, has received the
license of telecommunication services on November 19th 2008. Orange
is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading
telecommunications operators. With 124.5 million customers, the
Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in
the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of
2008, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion euros
(25.5 billion euros for the first half of 2009) and at 30 June 2009,
the Group had a customer base of 186 million customers in 32 countries.

These include 125.5 million mobile customers and 13.4 million broadband
Internet (ADSL) customers worldwide. Orange is the number three
mobile operator and the number two provider of broadband Internet
services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business Services,
is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services
to multinational companies.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian authorities will never agree to Turkey’s co-chairmanship in
OSCE Minsk Group
Inner policy review on the events 09.11.09-14.11.09
14.11.2009 GMT+04:00

Major events of the past week were the responses of various Armenian
political parties to external factors, particularly to the statements
of Turkish officials, and several political parties’ assessment of the
state budget of Armenia for the year of 2010.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The political week in Armenia started with a
high-level meeting between the leaders of three traditional Armenian
parties. Participating in the meeting were Chairman of the Social
Democratic Hunchakian Party Central Executive Setrak Adjemian,
Chairman of the Armenian Democratic Liberal (Ramgavar-Azatagan party)
Central Executive Mike Kharabian and the ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Bureau
Chairman Hrant Markarian, who discussed the current state of
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and other pan-Armenian
issues.

This week President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has not yet submitted
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols to the Constitutional Court of Armenia.
According to Spokesman of the Constitutional Court Hovhannes Papikyan
it is yet unknown when the document will be submitted.

Earlier this week, various statements by Turkish and Azerbaijani MPs
on the possibility of Turkey’s co-chairmanship in the OSCE Minsk Group
were discussed by Spokesman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
Eduard Sharmazanov, who told PanARMENIAN.Net that such statements `are
conditioned by morbid imagination and stupidity of their authors’.
`The Armenian authorities will never agree to Turkey’s co-chairmanship
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation. It is our position and we
are not going to change it,’ underlined the RPA spokesman. A similar
view was expressed by another representative of the Republican Party
of Armenia Lernik Alexanian. `Direct participation of Turkey in the
works of the OSCE Minsk Group is excluded,’ declared Alexanian at a
press conference in Yerevan.

In the middle of the week his view on the issue expressed also Leader
of the National Neoconservative Movement of Armenia (NNM) Eduard
Abrahamyan. `Baku’s dream to see her `elder brother’ Turkey as
Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group is unrealistic,’ he told
PanARMENIAN.Net and added that `change of the OSCE MG format depends
not only on Azerbaijan but on Armenia as well.’

Certain sharpness to the debate on the Armenian-Turkish Protocols was
added by Director of the Armenian Center for Basic Sciences, Member of
the Defense and National Security Commission of the Public Council
Simon Kamsarakan, who addressed an open letter to Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan on the inconsistency between the Armenian and English
versions of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. Moreover, in his opinion,
the Armenian version of the initialed Protocols differs substantially
from the already signed Protocol, placed on the official website of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. `A simple comparison of
the texts makes it clear that this is not a result of inaccurate
translation, but an obvious deception,’ noted Kamsarakan. Member of RA
Public Council on Defense and National Security submitted another open
letter to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, informing the Armenian
FM that he has already requested Prosecutor General to institute an
action against the Minister for violating the constitutional order and
abusing his authority to the detriment of Armenia’s national security
and defense.

His stance to the Armenian-Turkish Protocols expressed also leader of
the People’s Party of Armenia Tigran Karapetyan. `We are opposed to
the current process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
since Armenia does not conduct an independent policy, but determines
her steps with Turkey’s position,’ – leader of People’s Party declared
at a joint news conference in Yerevan. Karapetyan aldo noted that
pro-opposition forces which do not actively oppose ratification of the
Protocols, assist authorities some way or another. `First of all, I
mean the Armenian National Congress (ANC), which is silent now,’
Karapetyan stressed.

However, some political scientists of Armenia favor early ratification
by Armenia, without waiting for the decision of the Turkish
Parliament. According to Head of the Analytical Center on
Globalization and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC) Stepan Grigoryan,
`Protracting the ratification process, Yerevan may provoke the
inclusion of Karabakh issue into the talks with Ankara. In this case,
Azerbaijan will receive additional time to exert pressure on Turkey on
the issue of Karabakh.’ He added that Armenian MPs, representing
coalition forces, in all probability have received a `signal’ from the
Government not to ratify the Protocols ahead of Turkish Parliament.
Grigoryan believes that the Turkish side will ratify the documents as
soon as the Protocols are approved and ratified by Armenia. Grigoryan
also stressed that the border will be opened within terms envisaged in
the Protocols.

Once again, his weighty opinion in this dispute expressed Head of the
Armenian Delegation in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Member of the
parliamentary faction `Prosperous Armenia’ Aram Safaryan. `National
Assembly of Armenia will ratify the Protocols, after the Turkish
Parliament. If the Turkish parliament ratifies the protocols without
preconditions, the Armenian National Assembly will do the same. If
Turkey sets preconditions and tries to link the process to Karabakh,
the Armenian Parliament will do the same, Safaryan stated in an
interview with the correspondent of PanARMENIAN.Net, stressing that
such spirit prevails among Coalition MPs of Armenia.

A kind of neutrality expressed the Armenian National Congress, saying
it would avoid a political extremism in the Armenian-Turkish
rapprochement. During the meeting, ANC activist Ex-President Levon
Ter-Petrosian reiterated that the ANC stands for normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions. He described the
current process of the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement as sensitive and
requiring great responsibility both from the authorities and the
opposition. He also noted that the ANC will continue to be guided by
that awareness, avoiding reckless actions and political extremism.

In the mid-week youth wing activists of `Heritage’ party and
representatives of public organizations gathered near the
Constitutional Court of Armenia to protest against Armenian-Turkish
Protocols. Protest was attended by `Heritage’ faction MP Zaruhi
Postanjyan, representatives of Teghut group initiative and `Lawyers
for Human Rights’ NGO. Next day, on November 13, MP of the
parliamentary faction of the Heritage Party Zaruhi Postanjyan issued a
statement addressed to the Chief of Police, Alik Sargsyan, Attorney
General Aghvan Hovsepyan and Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan, claiming
that on November 12 at the law enforcement bodies had exerted pressure
on the protesters forcing them to move to the opposite sidewalk of
Baghramyan Avenue. The MP also noted that after the protest action
held before the Constitutional Court, the police hindered the
protesters to enter the Presidential Residence with anti-Turkish
posters.

Toward the end of the week the Armenian Government once again opposed
the bill on recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic independence,
initiated by the Heritage party. `At the moment recognition of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic independence appears inexpedient to us,’
declared Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan,
speaking at a regular meeting of the Government of Armenia.

On Friday, November 13, several political parties of Armenia made a
statement, assessing the draft law on State budget for 2010. His
concern about the declining funds on Armenian defense for 2010
expressed the party `Heritage’. `The State Budget of 2010 will provide
116 billion drams to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. In 2009 the
indicator was 146 billion. In the current state of events, security
issues should be given more attention,’ declared Chairman of the party
Armen Martirosyan. He also criticized the cost reduction in social
sphere. A similar assessment was made also by the ARF Dashnaktsutyun.

This week her diplomatic mission in Armenia completed Resident
Coordinator of UN headquarters in Armenia Consuelo Vidal. The Armenian
leadership thanked Consuelo Vidal for her four years of productive
work and support programs aimed at Armenia’s development. On the
occasion of the completion of her diplomatic mission, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Armenia awarded Consuelo Vidal with a commemorative
medal.

Review by Mikhail Balayan