Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 20 2007

Turkish premier says journalist’s killers will not achieve their aim

Kizicahamam/Istanbul/Bursa: 20 January: "This murder will not achieve
what it aimed, this game which is played on our country will
certainly be thwarted," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a
consultation meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) on
Saturday [20 January].

"Our nation will give the best answer to those bloody hands by
clinching firmly and by embracing [Armenian Turkish journalist] Hrant
Dink. No bloody provocation will be able to hinder our nation’s march
on the road to freedom and prosperity," he added.

Erdogan also said that the perpetrators of the murder would not go
unpunished and that every effort was being exerted to bring
responsible(s) before justice in the shortest possible time.

Erdogan also praised Turkey’s economic performance in his speech,
saying the steps the government has been taking have given their
fruits.

"Turkey’s economy is a rising star of the region and even of the
world," he said.

"Thanks to democracy, stability and an environment of security,
Turkey has re-entered a process of production and development," he
noted.

"This constitutes an invaluable achievement. There is no turning back
from this point."

Touching on the Cyprus problem, Erdogan rejected accusations that the
government has made concessions regarding the Cyprus issue.

A group of Turkish non-governmental organizations made a call on
Saturday for a "silent march" to be staged on the day of slain
journalist Hrant Dink’s funeral, which is scheduled for next Tuesday.

"Those who do not want us to live together, understand each other are
trying to maintain an environment of fear, violence and conflict,"
author Oya Baydar told journalists after a meeting held between the
NGO leaders.

"Let us not forget the hope Hrant had fostered for this soil," she
said.

Meanwhile, Guenter Verheugen, vice-president of European Union
Commission, strongly deplored [on] Saturday the killing of prominent
Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

"I condemn the incident in the strongest possible sense. I appreciate
the stance of the Turkish state on this issue" he said.

"I believe those who aim at harming Turkey will not achieve their
goals. I am confident that the Turkish officials will exert every
effort to bring the situation into the daylight," Verheugen added.

TAXM SQUARE WHERE PROTESTS AGAINST DINK’S ASSASSINATION ARE STAGED IS
NOT YET THE WHOLE TURKEY, POLITICAL SCIENTIST SAYS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The assassination
of Hrant Dink shows that there are great problems with democracy in
Turkey. Political scientist Alexander Iskandarian, Director of
Caucasian Media Institute, expressed this opinion during the January
20 press conference.

Speaking about the protests against Hrant Dink’s assassination being
staged in Istanbul, he said that in this city with a population of 16
million, there will probably be 50 thousand people who are so
Europeanized that they are ready to hold demonstrations in defence of
liberal values. However, the number of such people is limited to this
figure in the country. In his words, Taxim Square located in the
center of Istanbul’s European part is not yet the whole Turkey, and
only 20 km off Istanbul, another world begins – a world in which
people don’t realize the meaning of protesting against the murder of
an Armenian.

As for Europe, there are forces there both in favor and againt
Turkey’s joining the European Union, and, in A. Iskandarian’s words,
Dink’s assassination may be an additional argument to be used by the
latter forces.

PanARMENIAN.Net

AEFJD: Turkey Kills Hrant Dink
20.01.2007 14:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `We condemned this hateful assassination’ declared
Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian
Federation. `In a country where the system of education and the
political culture moulds the minds of the people with hatred towards
the Non-Turkish citizens of the country and where racism is rampant
with extreme-right organizations occupying a place of honor, this is a
sad reminder that things are far from changing in today’s Turkey,’
declared Hilda Tchoboian. The Federation asserts that irrespective of
outcomes of the investigation the Turkish State has an undeniable
responsibility for this murder. AEFJD also condemns the Turkish
authorities for their incapacity in providing adequate security for
journalists and intellectuals.

The Federation notes that, among a dozen dissidents to the Turkish
State line, it is precisely the one with an Armenian origin who was
targeted by the murderers. `This deliberate act aims at maintaining
the Armenian community in a climate of terror in order to show them
that freedom of expression can have no place in Turkey, especially
concerning the Armenian Genocide, and that the community should not
overstep its limits’, added Hilda Tchoboian.

She also stressed that any attempts by the Turkish government of
capitalizing on Hrant Dink’s assassination to promote a liberal image
in Europe through public sympathizing would be the height of
cynicism. `The Turkish authorities would be well advised to refrain
from such cheap opportunism which would have no currency whatsoever in
Europe,’ concluded Hilda Tchoboian.

Libération , France
18 janvier 2007

L’OM s’est trouvé un nouveau fada;
Football. Le pedigree financier du probable futur acquéreur, Jack
Kachkar, ne rassure guère.

par HENRY Michel
Marseille de notre correspondant

D’où Jack Kachkar sort-il les 115 millions d’euros nécessaires pour
racheter l’OM ? On peut se le demander. Car, à la tête de ses
sociétés, basées à New York (Inyx) ou dans le paradis fiscal des îles
Vierges (Karver Capital Holding), l’homme d’affaires canadien gé de
43 ans a déjà bien des soucis. En novembre, sa principale société,
Inyx, spécialisée dans les aérosols traitant les affections
respiratoires et allergiques, devait 120 millions de dollars à sa
banque portoricaine, laquelle a commencé à tousser : Inyx cumule plus
de 80 millions de dollars de pertes, depuis sa création, en 2003,
selon les informations transmises à la SEC (Securities and Exchange
Commission, équivalent américain de l’Autorité des marchés
financiers).

Faillite.

Pour se sortir de là, Kachkar a manifesté, fin novembre, l’intention
de retirer Inyx de la Bourse de New York. Mais auparavant, il lui
fallait renégocier sa dette. L’opération, qui devait être finalisée
au 31 décembre, est toujours "en cours", selon un porte-parole
français. Pour calmer la banque, Kachkar a garanti personnellement,
avec son épouse Viktoria Benkovitch, 10 millions de cette dette.

Avant Inyx, Kachkar était actionnaire de Miza, société pharmaceutique
internationale, de 1996 à 2002. Miza a fait faillite en 2003,
laissant, en Irlande, 23 millions d’euros de dettes et 280 employés
sur le carreau, dans la ville de Roscrea. Cette faillite serait due
"à une mésentente entre actionnaires", selon son porte-parole, qui
rappelle que Inyx a ensuite racheté Miza et a intégré certains de ses
actifs, pour lesquels "monsieur Kachkar a remboursé l’intégralité des
dettes correspondantes".

Malgré ces déboires, le Canadien d’origine arménienne, né en Syrie et
grandi au Liban avant de rejoindre le Canada à l’ge de 5 ans, a
apporté, mardi, les garanties bancaires nécessaires pour racheter
l’OM, à Robert Louis-Dreyfus (RLD), actionnaire principal depuis
1996. Selon son porte-parole: "Il investit dans l’OM avant tout sur
des fonds personnels, et des prêts garantis par les banques. Et sa
surface financière dépasse celle d’Inyx."

Floride.

Via son holding non coté (Karver Capital), Kachkar affirme détenir
des participations dans des activités diverses : mines d’or au
Canada, de cuivre au Mexique, cliniques privées, marque Floriane
(vêtements pour enfants). Quant à Inyx, on indique que Kachkar,
également titulaire d’un diplôme de médecin acquis à Budapest
(Hongrie), fait grossir rapidement ses sociétés, grce à des
"acquisitions financées par la dette" :il emprunte pour racheter
d’autres entreprises. Grce à cette fuite en avant, le chiffre
d’affaires d’Inyx devrait passer de 50 millions de dollars en 2005 à
90 millions en 2006, selon son entourage. Forte croissance, forte
dette, fortes pertes : la stratégie du (peut-être) futur patron de
l’OM est celle d’un homme habitué à prendre des risques.

Le club marseillais en court peut-être, lui aussi, en se jetant dans
ses bras. Comment Kachkar va-t-il le gérer ? A distance (il vit entre
la Floride et Toronto) ou pendant ses vacances, dans sa (future)
bastide aixoise ? Cette stratégie, RLD l’a appliquée, pendant dix ans
: échec patent. Kachkar assure qu’il va "passer du temps" à
Marseille. Bernard Tapie, qui a réussi à l’OM en étant très présent,
puis a échoué lors de son bref retour à la demande de RLD, lui glisse
un conseil : "Impossible que ce club se gère par délégation, affirme
l’acteur. Car, à l’OM, chacun est propriétaire d’un territoire, ne
s’en contente pas, et veut celui du voisin. La gestion à distance, ça
prête à des prises en main locales. Or, il faut que ce soit celui qui
paye qui décide."

Aller-retour.

Au passage, Tapie dément être le futur représentant de Kachkar à
l’OM, comme l’annonçaient, hier, des journaux marseillais : "Je n’ai
rien à voir avec ce mec-là. Il n’y a pas de plan de prévu." Si tout
se passe bien, Kachkar, qui a fait un rapide aller-retour, mardi
soir, vers Marseille, pour recevoir dans son jet privé le président
actuel Pape Diouf, pourrait réaliser l’acquisition de l’OM dans le
mois qui vient.

Russian Ambassador returning to Tbilisi

ArmRadio.am
19.01.2007 12:50

Russia has announced it is sending its Ambassador back to Georgia after
recalling him last year during a diplomatic dispute.

Announcing the return, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country and
Georgia had enjoyed a "special relationship" for centuries.

The row broke out in September when Georgia expelled four Russians it
accused of spying.
Moscow then imposed economic sanctions and deported Georgian migrants.
President Putin said the return of Ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko to
Tbilisi was a step towards normalizing relations.

He said the first step had been made last December when Georgia agreed to
pay more for Russian gas, ending a dispute over pricing between the two
countries.

"ONLY A NATION HAVING SUCH A POWERFUL CULTURE CAN GIVE BIRTH TO A SIMILAR GENIUS" SAID AFTER SERGEY KHACHATRIAN’S CONCERT IN BRATISLAVA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jan 17 2007

BRATISLAVA, JANURAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The final
concert of the "Armenian Cultural Days" festival with participation
of famous violinist Sergey Khachatrian took place in Bratislava
on January 11. Aram Khachatrian’s Concert for Violin was performed
the last sounds of which were standing up accepted by the audience:
not hiding the emotions, everybody greeted the musician with a storm
of applauses.

In words of the Noyan Tapan correspondent, even Ambassador of France
to Slovakia Henry Cuny and his wife who listened to Sergey Khachatrain
earlier as well were exited. The Ambassador who recently finished
his diplomatic mission in Armenia stated that the years he spent
in Armenia tied him with the Armenian culture as much that he did
not imagine his life without it any more. He stated that he will
certainly be present at the Sergey Khachatrian’s concert to take
place this year in Paris as well.

As famous pianist Rena Hendlerova, orchestra conductor Jean Hendler’s
wife characterized the performance, it seemed that not a young but
an exclusive, maybe about 5 thousand years old musician was on the
stage in who the Armenian culture and history of the same age were
thickened. "Only a nation having such an old and powerful culture
may give birth to a similar genius."

Under the patronage of Ashot Grigorian, the Chairman of the Armenian
Organizations in Europe Representation which is the organizer of the
Armenian Cultural Days, and the Chairman of the Armenian community of
Slovakia, a reception followed the concert during which the violinist
was addressed numerous greetings.

The administration of the Slovakia Ministry of Culture and of the
Philharmony expressed their deep gratitude for organization of
the concert, mentioning that today a new page was written in the
history of Slovakia on the way of presenting and propagating the
Armenian culture. A special gratitude was expressed for the fact
that Bratislava was paid a tribute of unprecedented respect: this is
the first country in the region where sounds of Sergey Khachatrian’s
violin were performed: he will for the first time perform in Vienna
only this summer, and there is still no information about his concerts
in Prague and Budapest.

As Sergey Khachatrian mentioned he also lives great moments of hapiness
when he has possibility to perform unforgettable work of his great
namesake: the Concert for Violin which he has already performed during
the recent years more than three dozens of times. He and his main
head: the father, famous musician and pedagogue Vladimir Khachtrain,
stated that they estimate very highly the organization and holding
of the Armenian Cultural Days in countries of middle Europe, of
course, agreeing that the Armenian people, the greatness of culture
of which is incomprehensible even for Armenia and the necessity of
representation of which Europe and the whole world have so much,
has relied and rely on such patrons of arts. Vladimir Khachatrian
and Ashot Grigorian agreed to again hold a similar concert within
the framework of another festival late this year.

In his final speech Mr.Grigorian expressed deep gratitude to the
officials shown assistance in organization of the Armenian Cultural
Days, including Bratislava Mayor Andrey Dyurkovski, Minister of
Culture of Armenia Mrs.Hasmik Poghosian, etc, however, mentioning
that the denial position displayed in the issue of those events by the
Armenian Embassy in Vienna and expecially by the Ambassador must still
be given its worthy estimation for which he still waits, hoping that
"similar deeds must publically be blamed with a perspective to get
assistance in future instead of farther obstacles."

FM OF AZERBAIJAN MEETS NORWEGIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE COUNTRY

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2007

Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov on 17 January met
with the newly appointed ambassador of Norway to the country John
Ramberg. The latter presented copy of his credentials to the Foreign
Minister.

A number of questions, in particular, expansion of Azerbaijan-Norway
relations in the political, security, economy and humanitarian fields
were discussed in the meeting. As was stated, cooperation between two
countries in economic, trade and energy sector is high level, but the
contract-legal base is to be improved. There is a great potential to
develop ties in other spheres either.

Minister Mammadyarov updated the Ambassador on the latest
accomplishments Azerbaijan gained in diverse fields, noting the
importance of Azerbaijan’s integration to European and Euro-Atlantic
structures, the positive experience of cooperation of the two states
in the international frame.

Mr. Mammadyarov informed about negotiations for settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict, marking that the world
countries support fair cause of Azerbaijan.

The Minister wished success to the Ambassador in his activity for
further development of mutually useful and friendly relations between
two countries.

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF BENON V. SEVAN
Eric L. Lewis Baach Robinson & Lewis, PLLC Counsel to Mr. Sevan

AZG Armenian Daily
18/01/2007

More than a year and a half after Benon Sevan left the United States
to return to his home country, the United States Attorney’s office
has decided to use Mr. Sevan as a scapegoat and a distraction
from the United States’ own massive failures and mismanagement
in Iraq. Mr. Sevan ran a $64 billion program that delivered food,
medicine and essential infrastructure to the Iraqi people under nearly
impossible conditions. In the nearly four years since Mr. Sevan turned
over the program’s assets to the Coalition Provisional Authority, the
United States has done none of these things. Now the United States
Government has repackaged the same discredited allegations made by
the Volcker Committee– that Mr. Sevan took some $144,000 in cash,
funds that he fully reported as family gifts on his UN disclosure
form beginning more than seven years ago. These allegations are not
only trivial; they are without basis.

Benon Sevan has served the UN for forty years in some of the most
difficult assignments in the world-including Afghanistan and Iraq
as well as Angola, Burundi, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia and South
Lebanon. Suicide bombers tried to kill him, blowing up his office
in Baghdad and killing his dear friends and colleagues. Mr. Sevan
ran the largest humanitarian program in UN history, a program that
literally saved tens of thousands of innocent people from death by
disease and starvation. Mr. Sevan rebuilt the Iraq infrastructure,
including the oil fields, that had been devastated by nearly a decade
of sanctions. Mr. Sevan confronted both the Iraqis and members of
the Security Council without fear or favor. He turned over more than
$10 billion to the United States in 2003, money that has effectively
vanished and has not been accounted for since then. Mr. Sevan accounted
for every penny of the $64 billion under his control.

It is important to note what the indictment does not charge. This
indictment does not charge– because it cannot-that Mr. Sevan ever
took any action or failed to take any action other than in the best
interests of the Oil- For-Food Programme and the United Nations.

Apparently, however, the US Attorney has simply adopted the Volcker
Committee’s unfounded conclusions.

Mr. Sevan had fully accounted for and reported any payments he received
beginning in 1999. The only acts referenced in the indictment by
Mr. Sevan are two cash deposits, one of $5,000 in August 2001 and
$1,200 in January 2002. Mr. Sevan fully disclosed all of his banking
records as well as the fact that, throughout his career traveling
for the United Nations, he made and withdrew such sums in cash
frequently. The indictment also charges that surcharge payments were
made by a certain Mr. Nadler, an acquaintance of Mr.

Sevan, to Iraq. Mr. Sevan knows nothing about any of Mr. Nadler’s
arrangements, but it was Mr. Sevan who brought reports of such
surcharges being paid to the Saddam regime to the attention of the
Security Council, as the internal UN documentation will substantiate.

It is ludicrous to contend that in 1999 Mr. Sevan disclosed fictitious
gifts from his aunt on his forms in anticipation of misleading
investigators eight years later. These same baseless allegations
were made nearly two years ago, while Mr. Sevan still was working
for the UN. No action was taken. Instead the US Government has waited
nearly two years to issue a ceremonial charge long after Mr. Sevan’s
retirement and return to his home country. There is no doubt that
there has been financial fraud and ineptitude by the United States in
Iraq on an unprecedented scale, which has significantly contributed
to the crisis in Iraq.

Instead of focusing on the devastating wrongdoing in Iraq, the US
Government has chosen to focus instead on fully disclosed family
gifts from a deceased relative.

Mr. Sevan is being used to distract attention from the political
and humanitarian disaster in Iraq from which the world will not
soon recover.

Canadian Press
Jan 14 2007

A.I. Bezzerides, screenwriter of film-noir classics, dies at 98

Published: Sunday, January 14, 2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A.I. Bezzerides, a screenwriter best known for
post-Second World War film-noir classics such as "Kiss Me Deadly,"
"On Dangerous Ground" and "Thieves’ Highway," has died at age 98.

Bezzerides died Jan. 1 at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in
Woodland Hills after a brief illness, daughter Zoe Ohl said.

Bezzerides was working as a communications engineer for the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power when his 1938 novel "Long Haul"
was turned into "They Drive by Night," a 1940 melodrama starring
George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as struggling trucker brothers
hauling produce.

After Warner Bros. paid him $2,000 for the rights to his novel and
put him under contract as a $300-a-week screenwriter, Bezzerides
discovered that a script based on his book already had been written.

"I had no idea whether it was guilt or conscience, or greed to
swindle more stories out of me, for peanuts, that motivated Warner
Bros. to offer me a seven-year contract, with options to be exercised
every six months," Bezzerides wrote in the afterword to the 1997
University of California Press re-publication of his 1949 novel
"Thieves’ Market."

"Whatever their reason, I grabbed their offer so I could quit my
putrid career as a communications engineer by becoming a writer,
writing scripts in an entirely new world," he wrote.

Bezzerides’ first film credit was "Juke Girl," a 1942 story of
migrant farm workers starring Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan.

After leaving Warner Bros., Bezzerides, nicknamed Buzz, wrote or
co-wrote films such as "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef," "Desert Fury,"
"Sirocco" and "Track of the Cat."

He got into television in the 1950s, writing for such series as
"Bonanza," "DuPont Theater," "Rawhide," "77 Sunset Strip" and "The
Virginian."

Albert Isaac Bezzerides was born Aug. 9, 1908, in Samsun, Turkey. His
mother was Armenian and his father a Turkish-speaking Greek.

He moved to America with his parents by age two, and they settled in
Fresno, where his father worked in the fields before becoming a
produce-hauling trucker.

Bezzerides began writing short stories while studying at the
University of California at Berkeley.

A longtime Woodland Hills resident whose first marriage ended in
divorce, Bezzerides was married to film and television writer Silvia
Richards until her death in 1999.

In addition to his daughter Zoe, he is survived by another daughter,
a son, a granddaughter and four great-grandchildren.

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
10 Jan 2007 p 3

NKR presidential election

by Kristine Khanumian

A presidential election will be held in the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh
republic] in the summer. Who are the potential candidates for
president? Despite his numerous statements, incumbent President
Arkadi Ghukasian [Arkadiy Gukasyan] continues to remain the No 1
candidate.

The second candidate may be the parliament speaker, Ashot Ghulian
[Ashot Gulyan]. It has been repeatedly mentioned over the past two
years that in order to retain power, the authorities will do
everything possible not only to nominate Ghulian’s candidacy but to
ensure his victory as well. Ghulian, who is considered to be a
politician "put forward" by Ghukasian, started his political carrier
after taking over the post of NKR foreign minister from Naira
Melkumian [Naira Melkumyan]. However, before the parliamentary
election in 2005, he became education, culture and sport minister.

This replacement could seem nonsense at first sight, but things are
not that simple. Before that, Armen Sarkisian [Armen Sarkisyan],
member of the Dashnak party [the Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun, RFD] held the post of education, culture and sport
minister. However, as a result of disagreements between the
authorities and the Karabakh wing of the ARFD, Sarkisian was
dismissed from the post and replaced with Ghulian. Ghulian’s
appointment to the post had its own goal: after local government
elections (as a result of which opposition representatives gained
victory), the authorities wanted to take "revenge" and unite their
forces. The army and the police apparently were behind the
authorities but a powerful system like education had been neglected.

After Ghulian’s appointment to the post of education, culture and
sport minister, DPA-fication (Democratic Party of Artsakh [Karabakh],
established at the initiative of the incumbent regime) started in the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic. The result was that the army, the police
and the education system ensured the victory of the Democratic Party
of Artsakh in the election. Ghulian was elected member of parliament
under the proportional representation system and assumed the post of
speaker of parliament. People also say that Ghulian is supported by
top officials and businessmen who are natives of Askaran [town in
Nagornyy Karabakh].

The head of the National Security Service, Bako Saakian, is
considered to be the No 3 candidate to come to power in the NKR. Many
people in Karabakh have heard about him but few have seen the results
of his activity. People say that when Saakian was foreign minister
for a short period of time, he implemented serious reforms in the
system. However, he was not given an opportunity to work for long.
Saakian took part in almost all state events but preferred to remain
in the "shadow". People say that his supporter is in Yerevan.

It cannot be ruled out that Ghulian and Saakian will put forward
their candidacies in order to get as many opposition votes as
possible in favour of the authorities.

Potential candidate No 4 is Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailian
[Masis Mailyan]. He is known as an official who has outlived many
ministers and has not been in the foreground that much until
recently. He has become active only recently as a result of which his
rating has very much gone up.

Candidate No 5 is the leader of the RFD – Movement-88 parliamentary
group and former education, culture and sport minister, Armen
Sarkisian. Certainly, he is not considered to be as strong as the
rest of the candidates, but let us not forget that he is a member of
the RFD and this may have a serious impact on the results of the
election – certainly, if he puts himself forward.