Author: Nahapetian Samvel

ADL HIRES DIRECTOR OF N.E. OFFICE
By Michael Levenson

Boston Globe
Aug 20 2008
MA

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been riven by conflict over its
refusal to fully acknowledge the Armenian genocide, turned yesterday
to a politically seasoned official from a prominent pro-Israel lobby
to help rejuvenate its New England office.

Derrek L. Shulman, who will take over as the ADL’s New England regional
director in October, worked for the past 5 1/2 years as political
director in the Boston office of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee and for nine years before that as a top official in the
state Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

He takes over at a time of turmoil for the ADL, a 95-year-old
organization that was founded to fight anti-Semitism and now has a
stated mission to combat "all forms of bigotry."

More than a dozen Massachusetts cities and towns have withdrawn
from one of the ADL’s signature initiatives, the No Place For Hate
program, to protest the national office’s refusal to acknowledge as
genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 in
present-day Turkey.

Shulman said he sees a "tremendous opportunity" for progress on the
issue, but declined to offer specifics.

"I’ll be looking to talk to a lot of people, to get input, to get
into look-learn-listen mode before I start to set a course," he
said yesterday.

The ADL has battled controversy since last August, when Watertown,
which has a sizeable Armenian community, pulled out of the No Place
For Hate program to protest the organization’s stance on the Armenian
genocide.

When Andrew H. Tarsy, the ADL’s New England regional director at the
time, spoke out and said the group should acknowledge the genocide,
he was fired by the national office. Local Jewish and Armenian leaders
reacted angrily, calling his firing vindictive.

Under mounting pressure, the national ADL modified its stance,
saying that the massacre was "tantamount to genocide" but that a
congressional resolution acknowledging it was counterproductive.

Two weeks later, Tarsy was rehired. But the conflict continued to
mushroom.

Late last August , Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the
ADL’s "tantamount to genocide" statement, calling it "an injustice to
the unique character of the holocaust, as well as to the memories of
its victims." Armenian-American leaders, meanwhile, expressed anger
at the ADL’s refusal to support the congressional resolution.

In December, Tarsy resigned, saying he made a "professional judgment
based on knowing when it’s your time."

Jewish leaders praised Shulman’s appointment, while Armenian leaders
said they would wait to see what action, if any, Shulman takes on
the genocide issue.

"Our concern has never been as much with the person who holds the
position, as with the policy of the ADL," said Aram Suren Hamparian,
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.

Ara Nazarian, spokesman for the No Place For Denial campaign,
which opposes the national ADL’s stance on the genocide, echoed
the sentiment.

"The ball is in their court at this point, and we’re waiting for them
to do the right thing," he said.

Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston, said Shulman has "got his eyes wide open
and he knows what his challenges will be."

"My guess is he will try to build bridges and do everything that he
can to get ADL back on the footing it once had in the community,"
Kaufman said. "It is a big job and it’s an important job, and he has
big shoes to fill."

The ADL selected Shulman, 40, from among several candidates identified
by a search firm. The Needham resident also teaches at Lasell College
in Newton.

"We think he’s got great leadership and political skills," said James
L. Rudolph, chairman of the New England board.

The national ADL declined to comment yesterday on the controversy
surrounding the Armenian genocide, but released a statement calling
Shulman "a terrific choice."

Steve Grossman, a past president of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee and a former member of the New England ADL board, said
Shulman would rebuild trust in the ADL and attract younger members.

"I’m thrilled that they brought in somebody of Derrek’s caliber and
experience, but who is comparatively untested in executive leadership,"
Grossman said. "They took a chance on Derrek, but I think it’s exactly
the kind of risk-taking that will pay off in days to come."

ARMENIAN IRANIAN MOUNTAINEERS CLIMB ATOP OF MOUNT ARARAT

Noyan Tapan

Au g 19, 2008

TEHRAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. Suren Keshishian,
Rubik Ter-Avanesian and Alen Khosrovian, mountaineers of "Nairi"
Armenian cultural union (Iran) climbed atop of Mount Ararat early
August 13. "Aliq" daily reported that they returned to Tehran on
August 15.

Vecernji list (Bosnia-Hercegovina edition), Croatia
Aug 13 2008

Bosnian Foreign Ministry: Russia’s arms supply claim "a very serious
accusation"

Report by Zdenko Jurilj: "Russia Is Making Accusations; Disputable
Participation of B-H in Supporting, Arming Georgia"

The Russian Defence Ministry is accusing Bosnia-Hercegovina [B-H], as
it says in its protest, of helping the Georgian political regime, in
the runup to the war in South Ossetia, by providing weaponry and
military equipment.

The B-H institutions are not familiar with the contents of the letter
of criticism sent by the Russian administration on 7 August, in which
Bosnia-Hercegovina is accused of exporting arms to Georgia. The B-H
Presidency does not have any official reaction, either, to the
criticism by the Russian Defence Ministry, in which
Bosnia-Hercegovina, as well as a few other countries, is criticized
for exporting weaponry to the country that is marked on the United
Nations map as one with a potential war conflict.

Delivery of Weapons

We asked Deputy Defence Minister Marija Pendes if and what amount of
weapons from the specialized military industry in Bosnia-Hercegovina
was exported to Georgia.

She told us that she had been on leave this week and, therefore, was
not familiar with the Russian note, nor with the information whether
the weapons from Bosnia-Hercegovina ever reached Georgia.

"All the decisions about this kind of activities are made by the B-H
Presidency, and, therefore, I would not know at this moment what
exactly this is about," Minister Pendes said briefly.

While the administration from Moscow is "making accusations" about the
weapons from Bosnia-Hercegovina being used by the Georgian regime for
genocide against the South Ossetians, the B-H Foreign Ministry had no
official answer at the time of publishing this issue of our
newspaper. Its only comment was that "it was a very serious
accusation." Their ignorance about the most recent Russian protest is
symptomatic, because it was the Russian Embassy in Sarajevo that filed
a protest note last year against the agreement, which had already been
concluded, based on which the Bratstvo Arms Factory in Novi Travnik
and the Pretis Factory from Vogosca [near Sarajevo] were supposed to
export weapons worth more than 10 million euros to Georgia.

Weapons From War

It was about the "Hurricane" multiple rocket launcher, preserved from
the war, which the B-H army has, meanwhile, removed from its arsenal.

Ismet Briga, director of the directorate for the specialized industry,
has said that there was an approval from the B-H Defence Ministry and
the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations for the delivery,
that is, for the export of the weapons to Georgia.

[Box] Agreements Waited for Minister’s Approval

The contested agreements were concluded and were waiting for the
approval of Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, exactly because of the fact
that Russia opposed them through its diplomatic network, by sending
the letter of protest to Sarajevo. The diplomatic protest letter
stated that Russia did not have good relations with Georgia, and that
it would not be good to deliver to Georgia the weapons such as the
"Hurricane" multiple rocket launchers, which were preserved from the
war.

[Box] They Also Accused Serbia of Exporting Weapons

Even though the export of weapons to Georgia and Armenia was stopped
in 2006, based on the recommendation of their [Serbian] Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, because of the status of Kosovo, Russia is also
accusing Serbia of exporting weapons. The press statement says that,
beside Serbia, the following countries also offered military
assistance to Georgia: the United States, Bulgaria, Great Britain,
Hungary, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Turkey, France, the Czech
Republic, Israel, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Ukraine! The Russian
accusations hit the Serb diplomacy, which is a political friend of the
Russian Federation.

[translated]

Tbilisi started it – Schroeder

Gulf Times
Published: Sunday, 17 August, 2008,

Schroeder … West has made major mistakes

BERLIN: Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder blamed Tbilisi
yesterday for sparking hostilities with Moscow and suggested its
breakaway regions could not remain part of Georgia following the
violent clashes of the past week.
In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, Schroeder also
criticised the West for failures in its dealings with Russia and urged
Europe to strengthen its ties with Moscow.
Schroeder developed a close relationship with then-Russian president
Vladimir Putin during his seven years as chancellor and he now chairs a
German-Russian consortium that is building a major gas pipeline under
the Baltic Sea.
`I don’t believe Russia is pursuing a policy of annexation and I also
don’t believe that there will be a return to the previous status quo
for South Ossetia and Abkhazia,’ Schroeder said, referring to the
separatist Georgian regions. `That is out of the question.’
Both regions are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, but
they are loyal to Moscow and their leaders have long sought
independence from Tbilisi.
Schroeder’s stance appears at odds with that of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and the US, who have both said the regions must remain
part of Georgia.
Berlin, Washington, London and a host of former Soviet satellites in20
central Europe have condemned Russia’s military response in the
conflict as disproportionate.
`The starting point of the military confrontation was Georgia’s march
into South Ossetia. We shouldn’t confuse things,’ Schroeder said, when
asked who was responsible for the outbreak of violence between Russian
and Georgian troops.
He doubted the US, a strong ally of Georgia, was not informed about the
initial Georgian offensive given that it has military advisers
stationed in Tbilisi.
`In my view, we have seen major mistakes by the West in its policy
towards Russia,’ Schroeder said.
He urged the European Union to press ahead with plans to forge a
`strategic partnership’ pact with Moscow, saying Europe risked losing
influence and pushing Russia towards China if it did not work with the
Kremlin. ` Reuters

SHAMS ON US TOUR

Iranian.ws
Persian Journal
Aug 12, 2008
Iran

Iran’s Shams ensemble, accompanied by international musicians, is
scheduled to go on a multi-city concert tour in the United States.

Headed by Keikhosrow Nazeri, the group will perform in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, New York and Washington.

Shams ensemble will be the first Iranian group to perform at Lincoln
Center, one of the world’s leading performing arts center in New York.

The concerts will be held in two parts, featuring Sama, the trancelike
dance of Sufi dervishes, and musical pieces played on the traditional
Persian instrument Tanbour.

The ensemble will also perform songs adapted from the works of Mowlavi,
accompanied by musicians from Turkey and Armenia.

The Shams ensemble will begin its US tour in October 2008.

DAVID SHAHNAZARIAN: MOST IMPORTANT TASK OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT IS TO HOLD EARLY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

Au g 7, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The most imprtant task of People’s
Movement (PM) and the currently forming Armenian National Congress
(ANC) is to remove Serzh Sargsyan from his post and hold early
presidential elections, representative of the PM center David
Shahnazarian stated at the August 7 press conference, adding that it
is necessary to establish legal power through elections and restore
the constitutional order in Armenia.

Speaking about activities of the National Assembly, D. Shahnazarian
said that in itself, such a stable, obedient parliament is a source
of serious destabilization. "If a parliament is stable, the society
starts to become unstable. We need a normal parliament, in which
various parliamentary forces will present their views," he noted.

As regards political prisoners, the representative of the PM center
expressed an opinion that if the authorities do not release the
political prisoners of their own free will or at the request of the
PACE, they will be set free under pressure of the people.

BLACKLISTS FOUND IN ERGENEKON HOME

Today’s Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey

The Ergenkon indictment contains blacklists of hundreds of people
compiled by the state’s intelligence agencies that were found in
the family home of Fikret Emek, a suspect of the Ergenekon gang,
which allegedly carried out tens of murders and assassinations for
its ultimate aim of overthrowing the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) government.

The investigation into Ergenekon, a shady network of political and
ordinary crime with links to various branches of the state apparatus,
began in the summer of 2007, when the police discovered a house in
Ä°stanbul being used as an arms depot. As the investigation expanded,
another house belonging to Emek’s mother in the Central Anatolian
city of EskiÅ~_ehir was discovered to have held a large number of
explosives, weapons and ammunition.

During the raid on the home, the police found lists of people compiled
by various intelligence agencies that categorized people according
to their political affiliations. Many such lists were put together
by intelligence departments of the military during the years 1999 and
2000 in the Feb. 28 process, which started in 1998 when the military
overthrew the government in a non-armed intervention.

Page after page, the documents stamped "confidential" are ordered on
the basis of streets and districts of Ä°stanbul, listing hundreds of
residents as being members or supporters of armed terrorist groups
such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Revolutionary
People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHPK-C), the Turkish Workers’
and Peasants’ Liberation Army (TÄ°KKO) and the Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party (MLKP) as well as labeling them "extreme left,"
"religious fundamentalist" or names of religious orders such as Nurcu,
Suleymancı or NakÅ~_ibendi.

The lists are organized in charts. Hundreds of people are included,
from store owners to barbers, owners of karate training centers,
bars, coffeehouses and retail chains and tens of institutions such as
student associations, cultural groups and civil society organizations,
as well as the name of a mayor from the Republican People’s Party
(CHP). However, it was not clear which security service compiled
the lists.

Emek’s mother’s house

A Kalashnikov assault rifle, one Kanas revolver, a 7.65 mm Lama
gun and silencers, a homemade rifle, ammunition of various sizes,
12 hand grenades, explosives and TNT blocks and C3 plastic explosives
were seized in a raid conducted into Emek’s mother’s house on June 26,
2007. A large number of documents were found in searches conducted both
in the EskiÅ~_ehir house and the house where Emek resides in Ankara.

These documents were included by the prosecutors in the 19th
folder among more than 400 evidence folders appended to the 2,455
page indictment. These documents indicate that the state actually
blacklisted its own people, despite official denials that such a
thing has ever taken place.

914 people blacklisted

Ten pages of lists are available among the documents found during the
searches in Emek’s homes. For example, the words DHKPC/C and TÄ°KKO are
put next to the name of a completely legal and legitimate association
in Ä°stanbul’s Avcılar district, while the tags MLKP and DHKP/C
are given to another similar organization in the same district. On
the first list, which ends with the Zeytinburnu district, there are
records of 366 individuals and institutions. There are two other lists,
but the district names on these are not ordered alphabetically. In
addition to alleged supporters or members of the extreme left or
PKK supporters, these lists include people who are allegedly part
of organizations based on religious affiliation. In a list titled
"Addendum C, Individuals and organizations with links to illegal
organizations, sects and religious orders," 265 individuals are
blacklisted. In Addendum C, 283 more individuals and organizations
are blacklisted. The total number of people and organizations on
these lists is 914.

The compilers of the list — who even put in minor details such as
"the wife of a teacher" about the people whom they blacklisted —
however, seemed to be oblivious to some of the political realities in
Turkey. In fact, there is blatant ignorance about some of Turkey’s very
well-known civil society organizations. For example, the Mujdat Gezen
Culture Center, the former student movement activists’ association the
’68ers Foundation, a foundation named after socialist movie director
Yılmaz Guney and an arts foundation named after the socialist poet
Nazım Hikmet are labeled as being "extreme left." The Human Rights
Association (Ä°HD) is qualified as being part of the DHKP/C and
PKK. The Contemporary Attorneys Foundation is marked as DHKP-C on
the list.

Where there was confusion, the intelligence officers who compiled the
lists and then delivered them to Ergenekon chose to write down all
the possibilities. For example, the Barikat journal is associated
with both the left-wing DEV-YOL and DHKP/C. In reality however,
Barikat had no relation to either of the two groups.

The indictment, which was made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The group is also suspected of being behind
the murder of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by
a teenager in 2007.

A total of 86 suspects, 47 of whom are currently under arrest,
are accused of having suspicious links with the gang. Suspects
will start appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face
accusations that include "membership in an armed terrorist group,"
"attempting to destroy the government," "inciting people to rebel
against the Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.

–Boundary_(ID_PROEZpZ5LtDRFvhYsOvy4Q)–

IMITATION OF NEGOTIATIONS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT PEACE SETTLEMENT NOT ADVANTAGEOUS TO ANYONE: AZERBAIJAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER

Trend News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Azerbaijan

Russia, Moscow, 1 August /Trend News corr. R.Agayev/ Azerbaijan’s
Foreign Minister believes imitation of negotiation process
on peace settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is advantageous neither to the sides of negotiations, nor
intermediaries. "Imitation of negotiations does not suit anybody –
neither to participants, nor to intermediaries of the settlement,"
Azerbaijan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov said at a
briefing in Moscow on 1 August, commenting on the consultations with
his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandyan.

According to Mammadyarov, OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs, engaged in
settlement, try to move as soon as possible the negotiation process
from the dead point.

Should the negotiations be imitation, the sides would not seek an
opportunity to meet neither on the level of presidents nor at the
level of foreign ministers, said Nalbandyan. "There is a need in the
meetings. Armenia and Azerbaijan must solve the problem. I think the
problems are solvable, should both sides show the political will,"
he said.

COMSTAR COMPLETES ARMENIAN WIMAX NETWORK BUILDOUT

Business Monitor International
Emerging Europe Telecommunications Insights
August 1, 2008

Comstar United TeleSystems (Comstar UTS) of Russia has completed
the buildout of a wireless network based on the 802.16e standard in
Armenia. The network has been built for the Armenian ISP Cornet,
a subsidiary of transit operator Callnet in which Comstar UTS has
owned a 75% stake since October 2006. Cornet has a licence to use
the 3.6-3.8GHz frequency band across the whole of Armenia.

The network consists of 24 base stations, which are connected to each
other via radio relay lines and leased telecommunications channels from
incumbent ArmenTel (a VimpelCom subsidiary). Airspan Networks of the
US was contracted in Q407 to supply and install the network. Comstar
UTS has also installed two data transmission nodes based on equipment
supplied by Cisco Systems.

The WiMAX network will be used to provide high-speed internet access,
deliver multimedia content, offer VoIP services and data transmission
and create VPNs for residential and corporate customers. As the
network is based on the 802.16e standard, Cornet will be able to
offer a broad range of fixed-mobile convergence services as well as
stand-alone mobility products. Comstar UTS reports that, earlier this
year, Cornet applied to the Public Service Regulation Committee for
the right to own 60,000 telephone numbers; the company is now working
to launch voice services using this numbering resource.

Wireless Broadband To Raise Penetration Growth Of Fixed-line Telephony
Market, 2002-07 Telecoms6_20080715 Source: ITU; BMI Research; e =
estimate

Armenia is poorly served by basic telephony and internet access
services, despite considerable efforts by ArmenTel in recent years to
modernise and upgrade its network. The International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) believes that there were less than 100,000 internet users
in Armenia at the end of 2007, with broadband subscribers numbering
less than 5,000. Basic fixed-line availability is also poor; the number
of fixed-lines grew from 542,800 at the end of 2002 (17.8% penetration)
to 594,400 at the end of 2005 (19.7% penetration), according to the
ITU. BMI estimates that this figure had risen to 609,000 by the end
of 2006 and to almost 620,000 by the end of 2007 (20.7% penetration),
based on the reported number of customers served by ArmenTel.

Callnet is one of four licensed long-distance operators in Armenia
and serves approximately 75% of the country’s banking and financial
institutions market. Consequently, the new mobile WiMAX network is
expected to meet with considerable interest from the corporate sector,
as well as the transportation and logistics sectors.

WORKING GROUP ON IRAN-ARMENIA RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION TO BE FORMED IN NEAR FUTURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.08.2008 17:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A working group on coordination of Iran-Armenia
railroad construction will be formed in near future, Armenian Minister
of Transport and Communications Gurgen Sargsyan told a news conference
on August 1.

Presently, three projects are being considered. The first supposes
departure from Yeraskh, the second from Vardenis and the third from
Gagarin, extending for 443, 449 and 397 km respectively.

Armenia favors the project which supposes the start of communication
in Gagarin and then through Gavar, Martuni and Jermuk. 80 km of the
line will extend through Iran, going as far as Merant station.

Minister Sargsyan informed that trilateral talks between Armenia,
Iran and Russia are underway. "International organization are also
assessing the project which claims serious investments," he said,
IA Regnum reports.