Author: Nalbandian Albert

VIOLATIONS OF NEARLY 6.4M DRAMS REGISTERED IN ARMENIAN SOCIAL SERVICE TERRITORIAL AGENCIES FROM BEGINNING OF 2007

Noyan Tapan
Oct 29 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Cases containing violations of 6.4m
drams (nearly 19.6 thousand USD) have been revealed as a result of
checkings implemented in 16 territorial agencies of Armenian Social
Service. Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed about it by Vahan
Baghdasarian, the Head of the Control and Social Monitoring Department
of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Issues. According to him,
the most part of the registered violations is conditioned by forged
certificates introduced by local self-government bodies.

V. Baghdasarian said that during 2007, studies were also conducted in
six territorial centers of the Armenian State Employment Service, where
violations of 173 thousand drams were revealed. According to him, the
main violations are, in particular, conditioned by wrong calculation of
length of service for determining the duration of unemployment benefit.

According to the head of the department, checkings were also carried
out in 12 territorial centers of the State Fund of Social Insurance,
where cases of overpaying and underpaying to the total amount of 630
thousand drams were registered.

ARMENIA CONSULTS RUSSIA, NATO AND US ON MILITARY DOCTRINE
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 29 2007

Armenia’s new military doctrine will be drawn up soon, following
consultations with Russia, NATO and the US, according to the PanARMENIA
news agency. Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan announced that
the new doctrine will be discussed in the National Assembly and
National Security Council before it is submitted to the president
for ratification in December. "We will receive consultations until
the end of October and then the draft doctrine will be introduced to
the government," Harutyunyan stated at an expert and public debate
at the Institute of National and Strategic Studies hosted by the
Defense Ministry. He added that foreign experts helped the Defense
Ministry construct a military doctrine that is specific to Armenia’s
situation. "We did not aim to imitate models of other states. We have
developed a document that would meet our demands and peculiarities
and would be comprehensible for the international community," he said.

1.8 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS ENVISAGED TO BE ALLOCATED FROM RA STATE BUDGET TO LIBRARY SPHERE IN 2008

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. "Library policy conception is not
operating in Armenia as yet, however, we should take distinct steps
in that direction," Anahit Galstian, the Head of the Department of
Libraries and Museums of the RA Ministry of Culture, mentioned at
the international conference titled "Developments of library science
and problems of national libraries", which was organized on October
25 within the frameworks of the 175th anniversary of the National
Library of Armenia.

According to her, certain work is already being conducted in that
direction, a state program directed at the development of libraries has
been implemented since 2004. At present, the capital libraries, as well
as the regional ones are in the center of attention of the state. The
sums allocated to the library sphere from the state budget have also
increased for the past years: if 296 million 634 thousand drams were
allocated in 2004, in 2008 allocations of 590 million 533 thousand
drams (approximately 1.8 million U.S. dollars) are envisaged. 50
million drams a year are envisaged to be allocated in 2008-2010 by
the program of acquiring technical equipment. It was also mentioned
that a restoration program of libraries will be implemented from the
next year. It is envisaged to allocate 484 million drams from the
state budget for the repair of the National Library of Armenia and
the Khnko Aper National Children’s Library in 2008.

Galina Kislovskaya, the Director for International Activities of
the Russian State Library, Charlotte Iszekutz, the President of the
"Armenian Roots of Transylvania" company, and others as well made
reports at the conference.

The proceedings of the conference will be continued on October 26.

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER HOPES FOR PASSAGE OF U.S. ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2007 13:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We hope that the U.S. Congress will pass Armenian
Genocide resolution," Armenia’s Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan said
at a reception in the Armenian Embassy in Washington.

He said that he has had other issues including economic and security
cooperation to discuss with U.S. officials in meetings that began last
week. He said that Armenia has tried to stay out of a U.S. political
debate.

The Associated Press notes that Turkey has lobbied intensively
against the resolution, while Armenian-American groups have pressed
for its passage.

The resolution did not come up in talks last week with U.S. officials
including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates
or in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sargsyan said.

After a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday,
the State Department said that the two had discussed a joint economic
task force aimed in part at monitoring economic reform in Armenia.

The RA PM said that he believes that the resolution is being held up in
Congress because of Turkish pressure not because there is disagreement
in the House of Representatives over whether the Genocide took place.

"So there is nothing to discuss," he said in an interview at the
Armenian Embassy. "We are convinced that the Armenian Genocide
occurred and that the sooner the Turks admit this, the better for
both the Armenians and the Turks."

Sargsyan’s trip comes at a time that relations between Washington
and Ankara have reached a recent low, as Turkey has protested the
congressional foray into a sensitive historical matter.

Turkey has also said that passage of the resolution would undermine
hopes of improving relations with Armenia. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia in 1993 during a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
a Muslim ally of Ankara. The countries currently have no diplomatic
relations.

"I don’t understand what the Turks are saying," Sargsyan said. "We
have no relations now. We cannot harm something that is non existent."

But he said that resolving the historical dispute over the killings
of Armenians should not hold up efforts to restore relations.

"It is not a precondition for re-establishing relations between the
two states," he said.

He said that he expected to discuss with Rice efforts to resolve the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

CONCEPT ON DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES SECTOR SHOULD ENVISAGE GOALS OF MAKING THIS SECTOR A LEADING ONE AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, UITE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. It is necessary that the
interdepartmental working group set up by instruction of the Armenian
president envisage the goals of the Armenian IT sector’s being a
leader at international level in the new concept on development of
the IT sector, the executive director of the Union of IT Enterprises
(UITE) Karen Vardanian expressed an opinion during a talk with NT
correspondent.

According to him, these goals should be pursued by the country’s
government in cooperation with the society and business circles. He
pointed out the necessity of choosing those sectors of international
IT market where Armenia can have a competitive advantage. The concept
should also contain such measures and envisage the creation of such
infrastructures that will ensure Armenia’s leading position.

K. Vardanian said that the economies of countries that have become IT
sector leaders in the past 20-25 years (Germany, Japan, South Korea,
Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore) were different from the current Armenian
economy by their charactetistics. In these countries, outflow of
funds was reduced by administrative-command or legisltaive-market
encouragement methods and the accumulated money was allocated for
development of the high-tech sector.

Besides, the indicated countries have brough the standards of their
educational systems in line with highest international ones. "Graduates
of Armenian higher educational institutions should be at least equal
to graduates of the world’s best universities by their knowledge and
skills," K. Vardanian noted. He added that unlike Armenia, in these
countries business has been considered by the government as a partner
mobilizing the society in order to overcome serious challenges. In
his words, the provisions on accumulation and allocation of financial
resources, improvement of the quality of education, and cooperation
between the state and business should be key provisions of the concept
on development of the IT sector.

The executive director of UITE expressed an opinion that the concept
should be agreed on with all political forces of the country, which
will ensure its continuous implementation.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

"THE NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AFRICA AND ASIA WILL EXTEND AND EXPAND
THE BRIDGE LINKING RELIGIONS AND CULTURES"

Says His Holiness ARAM I

In a message to the Asia-Africa Spiritual Summit, "Awakening of Global
Compassionate Leadership", (October 26-29 Taiwan) His Holiness Aram I
emphasized the vital importance of deepening dialogue and collaboration,
between religions of Africa and Asia. His Holiness was invited as a keynote
speaker, but he was unable to attend the conference. Ms Teny Pirri Simonian
took part in this conference representing the Armenian Orthodox Church’s
Holy See of Cilicia.

Hereunder the text of the message of His Holiness Aram I.

"The Most Venerable Master Sheng Yen,
Venerable Monks of Dharma Drum Mountain
Honorable Participants

Love and Peace to you all! I congratulate the Most Venerable Master Sheng
Yen for his important initiative in bringing Africa and Asia, along with the
Middle East, to a Spiritual Summit that aims at awakening a global
compassionate leadership.

Africa, Asia and the Middle East are home to the world’s religions,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and the three Monotheistic religions, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. The Middle East has interacted with Africa and Asia
in two important ways: many of its people have emigrated to Africa and Asia,
and it has long served as the bridge joining the two regions to one another.
Although people, from different walks of life have often met, there is no
record of an organized meeting of religious leaders. Consequently, religious
leaders have had little opportunity to come together to reflect on each
other’s faith and spiritual values. Such an event is long overdue. By coming
together in dialogue, we may deepen our mutual understanding, and we may
more effectively respond to the sufferings of humanity caused by wars,
environmental crisis, greed and insecurity.

In November 2006 we organized a Middle East-Asia Dialogue entitled "A
Re-Commitment to Spirituality for Mutual Understanding and Peace" at the
Headquarters of our Church in Antelias, Lebanon, November 11-15, 2006. We
met to initiate dialogue between religious leaders from the Middle East and
Asia in order to build understanding of and respect for each other’s
traditions and inherent spirituality. We hoped to build a greater
collaboration in the effort to build a more peaceful, just and sustainable
world community. At that meeting, we also endeavoured to build bridges
between the two geographic regions that gave the world its greatest
religions. In our message, we said, "bridges of faith can provide hope and
healing to wounded nations and pain-filled people, of which there are too
many today." We affirmed the importance of recommitting to the core
spiritual values of our traditions: love, compassion, reconciliation and
peace. We declared that respect for difference is the foundation of these
values. We recognized that our teachings emphasize an understanding of unity
and harmony that is based on diversity. We encouraged religions to adopt a
holistic way of looking at life. We affirmed that nature and humanity are
inseparable and interdependent.

We pray that this Africa-Asia Summit, the aim of which is to awaken
compassionate leadership, will base its reflection on what we said in the
Middle East last year. We hope that this new partnership between Africa and
Asia will extend and expand the bridge linking religions and cultures, as
well as spiritual and moral values.

I regret profoundly that I could not be with you these days. Lebanon is
living difficult moments of its existence because of the conflicts in the
region. As the head of the church, I therefore decided to remain at our Holy
See and accompany our faithful during these difficult times. I pray that
Lebanon will recover its tranquillity soon.

I pray and I believe that Lebanon will recover its tranquillity soon, and
therefore, I would like to invite you to hold the next meeting in Lebanon in
our monastery.

With my deep prayers and sincere wishes,

Aram I
Catholicos of Cilicia"

##
View photos:
tos/Photos47.htm#2
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

SecondsOut
Oct 20 2007

Improved Darchinyan looks to bounce back against Catubay

By Paul Upham:
Two-time flyweight world champion Vic `Raging Bull’ Darchinyan looks
to rebound from his shock knockout loss to Nonito Donaire when he
moves up in weight and faces Federico "Magnifico" Catubay for the
vacant IBO junior bantamweight boxing world title on Saturday night
at the Auburn RSL in Sydney, Australia.

31 year-old Vic Darchinyan, the Armenian born 2000 Olympian and
Australian citizen trained by Billy Hussein was stopped by Donaire
from the Philippines in round five on July 7 in Connecticut on
Showtime Championship Boxing.

`In my last fight I rushed and went for a big knockout and at the
same time I took a punch and I learned from that mistake,’ said
Darchinyan. `Always, I am a power puncher, but I am going to take it
easy now. The knockout will come over twelve rounds. I will wait for
my time.’

Hussein has been impressed at how Darchinyan 28-1 (22) has handled
the defeat and is pleased with his physical and mental condition
going into this fight.

`Vic always trains hard,’ he said. `I am not concerned. He has got
room now to show what type of champion he is by how he bounces back.
Vic will bounce back. No problem.’

27 year-old Federico Catubay from Cebu City in The Philippines, has a
record of 20 wins, 13 losses, 3 draws and 11 wins by knockout.

`While I was training in the Philippines I heard Vic Darchinyan was
saying he was going to knock me out in the 1st round,’ said Catubay.
`I was challenged and if that is what he has planned for me, I will
do it to him. I am serious in coming here to win.’

`I am going to knock him out,’ Darchinyan said at Wednesday’s
pre-fight press conference. `I am not saying which round, whether it
is the 1st round or 12th round. I am just going to knock him out. You
are going to see a very good fight.’

`Vic should not be too confident,’ warned Catubay’s manager Samson
Gello-ani.

`I have seen his weakness against Donaire,’ said Catubay. `He lacks
defense and I will take advantage of that.’

`That’s good to know,’ remarked Darchinyan.

The Darchinyan vs. Catubay main event and undercard will be televised
live around Australia from 7:30pm Eastern on FOX SPORTS 3.

Newsweek
October 22, 2007
U.S. Edition

A Fight Over An Ugly Past

by Michael Isikoff

The House Committee vote to label Turkey’s mass killing of Armenians
during World War I as a "genocide" followed one of the most intense,
and unusual, battles on Capitol Hill in recent memory. The measure
passed despite a lobbying blitz from the Turkish government, which
hired an army of K Street lobbyists to fight it. The team included
former House majority leader Dick Gephardt, who as a congressman had
cosponsored genocide resolutions but switched sides in March when his
firm signed a $1.2 million-a-year contract to represent the Turks.
The flip-flop resulted in some awkward phone calls for Gephardt.
"Dick, if memory serves me, didn’t you used to support this?" New
York Rep. Eliot Engel says he told Gephardt during a call urging him
to oppose the measure. (Gephardt did not return calls seeking
comment.) President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates also made late appeals, fearing that the move would endanger
diplomatic relations as well as Turkish defense contracts with major
U.S. firms. Even Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, got
involved, warning visiting House members in Baghdad that the measure
would be a "big mistake," according to Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen,
because it might disrupt supply lines that run through Turkey.

But the opposition couldn’t overcome a well-organized and emotional
push by Armenian-American groups to get the U.S. government to
acknowledge the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire, the precursor to modern Turkey. (Turkish officials call it a
"tragedy," not a "genocide.") When California Democratic Rep. Jane
Harman, a cosponsor of the resolution, suggested it was "the wrong
time" for a vote, she was confronted by protesters in her district
chanting, "Hypocrite, liar, genocide denier!"

The Armenian push was also boosted by campaign contributions: Annie
Totah, co-chair of the Armenian American Political Action Committee,
told NEWSWEEK she has raised "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for
Democratic candidates and recently joined Hillary Clinton’s finance
committee. (Clinton is a cosponsor of the resolution in the Senate.)
Totah, for her part, believes Turkey is overreacting. "They should
stop acting like this is World War III," she said. But Turkish
officials are unlikely to be mollified, especially if House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi follows through on a pledge to bring the measure to the
House floor. If that happens, Turkey is likely to retaliate, says
Egeman Bagis, a top adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. How? By sending troops, over U.S. objections, into northern
Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels. "You can’t insult an entire
nation like this," he said.

–Michael Isikoff

RICE APPEALS FOR RESTRAINT FROM TURKEY OVER GENOCIDE RESOLUTION BACKLASH
Jay Olle – AHN News Writer

AHN – All Headline News
Oct 17 2007

Moscow, Russia (AHN) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
asked Turkey officials for restraint over counterattacks to Kurdish
rebels across Iraqi border and possible retaliation measures in
reaction to the passage of genocide bill in congress committee.

Rice expressed, in a news conference in Moscow Saturday, she has
spoken with Turkey’s president, prime minister and foreign minister
regarding the house bill officially labeling the killings of Armenians
by Turkish forces during World War I a "genocide."

"They were dismayed," Rice stated. However, the secretary also thought
the Turks are trying to react responsibly. "They recognize how hard
we worked to prevent that vote from taking place," she added.

Rice also acknowledged "it’s a difficult time for the relationship"
between the two allies.

In a move to sustain diplomatic ties with Turkey dented by the
congressional resolution, Washington sent U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman,
a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, to Ankara to discuss and prevent
possible Turkish counterattack to the guerilla in northern Iraq.

In an interview with Turkish media, Edelman said they came to Turkey
to express that the Bush administration is opposed to the resolution.

They also assured the Turks the Bush administration will exert
much effort to block the passage of the bill in the House of
Representatives.

The U.S. government is apprehensive Ankara will backlash the passage
of the bill through closure of major airbase and transport systems
in Turkey and possible review of military contracts.

The Pentagon uses Turkey as a staging area and transport route for
much of the supplies that are sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Furthermore, Turkey is a major client of American weapons. Ankara
currently spends almost $200 billion on American-made aircraft,
torpedoes and other military equipment.

U.S. is also concerned Turkish military will pursue unilateral action
against Kurdish rebels in Iraq following announcement from Turkish
president Abdullah Gul that "in the case that Armenian allegations
are accepted, there will be serious problems in the relations between
the two countries."

On Wednesday, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the U.S. for
discussions in Ankara.

Turkey Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen’s visit to the U.S. and a summit
sponsored by Turkish-U.S. Business Council in the United States were
also canceled.

/7008853642

THE FINAL SOLUTION TO THE ARMENIAN QUESTION
Bruce Walker

WEBCommentary
Oct 17 2007

We conservatives should not automatically oppose a resolution
condemning the Armenian holocaust. We should rather think about how
the resolution is worded.

The Armenian holocaust was very real and very horrible. It deserves
remembrance, but it deserves remembrance for the reason it was
committed. The whole issue is not as simple as it seems.

I cannot completely concur in my conservative friends who object
to a resolution condemning the Armenian holocaust. What happened
in 1915 was simply the Turkish equivalent to the "Final Solution
to the Armenian Question." Anyone who has studied the horrific
treated of Armenians in the decades before 1915 and the holocaust
that followed in 1915 can only come away aghast or can come away as
morally indifferent to Walter Duranty, who won a Pulitzer Prize for
not reporting the Ukrainian holocaust during Stalin’s reign.Quite
rightly conservatives complain about the Hitler of Teheran denying
the Holocaust, but if we do that then we cannot totally ignore the
fact that the Turkish government is, to a large degree, denying the
Armenian Holocaust. Denial of holocausts is denial of holocausts.

Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, the Japanese military and, yes, the
Turks about ninety years ago committed holocausts. In different ways,
each can be said to be the worst of the holocausts. All were evil
beyond human imagining. But the situation with Turkey is rather
like the situation with Japan, a democratic ally which has not
done anything bad in a very long time. Japan essentially denies its
holocaust against, especially, the Chinese people and its horrific
treatment of POWs in the Second World War. Japanese textbooks leave out
critical facts. Is this bad? Yes, of course. But if every nation in the
world today behaved as well as Japan, we would have prosperity, peace
and general goodwill.Turkey committed genocide against the Armenian
people. Since then, however, it stayed neutral in the Second World War
when its alliance with the Nazis, who most other Moslems supported,
would have probably prevented us from defeating Hitler. Turkey has
been on decent terms with Israel, in stark contrast to other Moslem
nations. During the Cold War, Turkey was a stalwart ally of the good
guys. And Turkey has been, really, the closest to a success story in
terms of Islamic democracy. While Turkey is threatening to attack
Kurdish nationalists in Iraq, it is not threatening the nation of
Armenia at all. And, of course, its cooperation is very important in
terms of winning the war on global terrorism, which is something all
sensible people should want.

Finally, there is the question of whether or not America might want
a truly united Kurdistan, which would necessarily include a major
part of Turkey, a good chunk of Iran, and parts of Syria as well –
the Kurds are much more tolerant and pluralistic, much more likely to
be democratic, and are not Arabs. Kurdistan could easily become a truly
stable and potent ally of America, a nation friendly to Israel, and a
check on all mischief of Islamic extremism. It is surely something to
think about.All of which is to say that "The Armenian Question" is not
simple and that conservatives should weigh everything before deciding
– in principle, not in timing (which is clearly partisan) – to reject
the idea of condemning the very real holocaust of the Armenian people
on the grounds of expediency. The answer may lie in exploring the
reasons for the Armenian holocaust. Why were millions of Armenian men,
women and children tortured, raped, murdered and enslaved during the
last decade of the Nineteenth Century and the first two decades of the
Twentieth Century?The reason for their persecution was the same as the
reason for the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis: Armenians were the
wrong race, but more importantly, Armenians were the wrong religion. If
Leftists in Congress want to condemn the Armenian holocaust, then
it should condemn the Armenian holocaust on the same grounds that
Shoah has long been condemned. Shoah, the German Holocaust of the
Jewish people, was caused by anti-Semitism. The Armenian holocaust
was caused by irrational hatred of Christians and Christianity. The
Armenian survivors and the chronicles make this abundantly clear.So
any congressional resolution that ignores the historical hatred of
Christians around the non-Christian world is phony and lame. The
Armenians were the victims of genocide because they were Christians –
Armenia was the very first Christian nation in history, the Christian
Israel, if you will. The hatred of Christianity continues today.

Witness the persecution of Christians in Iraq. Witness the persecution
of Christians in Iran, in Pakistan, and even in normally tolerant
India. Witness the persecution, harassment and mocking of Christians
in America today. Witness the accommodation of Moslem religious
requirements alongside the removal of all Christian symbols from
public places. If the Armenian people suffered, and they did, for their
Christian beliefs (conversion to Islam was a way out of being tortured,
raped, murdered or enslaved), then surely their sacrifice, their
witness, needs to be remembered, but it must be remembered as that:
Christian witness.The German Holocaust of the Jewish people has made
anti-Semitism, thankfully, no longer chic or cute or popular. If the
Left wants to make a statement about the Armenian holocaust, then that
statement should be a defense of Christianity, a condemnation of the
long hatred of Christians by Moslems and by others. Perhaps Congress
should ask first the Hitler of Teheran whether he condemns the Armenian
genocide as a monstrous Islamic persecution of Christians. Why not
ask Speaker Pelosi to visit the Teheran (wearing a burqa, of course)
and see if he will. Or will he deny the Christian Holocaust as he
did the Jewish Holocaust?Hatred of Christians and Jews is not one of
the biggest problems we face in this century: it is, in many ways,
the only problem we face in this century. If remembering the millions
of pitiful, dehydrated, emaciated Armenian women and children – yes,
all dead now – is a way of fighting those two ancient hatreds, then
that cause transcends everything else. That is our victory.

icle.asp?id=walkerb&date=071016