Author: Nalbandian Albert

Fourth Mass. town breaks with ADL

Published: 09/21/2007

A fourth Massachusetts municipality has ended its partnership with the
Anti-Defamation League because of its position on the Armenian
genocide.

The mayor of Newton, David Cohen, announced Tuesday that his city was
withdrawing from the ADL-sponsored No Place for Hate program until the
organization definitively recognizes the World War I massacres of
Armenians as genocide, the Boston Globe reported. Newton is an
affluent suburb with a large Jewish population.

The ADL reversed its longstanding position on the genocide question
last month under intense pressure from its New England regional
leadership. After years of claiming it could not make a judgment on
whether the massacres constituted a genocide, ADL National Director
Abraham Foxman said the consequences of the massacres were indeed
"tantamount to genocide." The ADL continues to oppose a congressional
resolution recognizing the genocide.

Communities in Boston’s western suburbs, home to one of the country’s
largest Armenian communities, have reacted with outrage. Three
Massachusetts towns — Watertown, Arlington and Belmont — moved to
sever ties with No Place for Hate, an anti-bigotry program.

On Sept. 11, the Newton Human Rights Commission voted unanimously to
recommend ending their city’s participation. The ADL is scheduled to
reconsider its position at a national meeting in November.

Source: ml

ADL issue to go before selectmen Monday

By Bryan Mahoney/Staff Writer
GateHouse News Service
New! Fri Sep 21, 2007, 11:28 AM EDT

Lexington –

Lexington’s No Place for Hate Committee is expected to make a report
to the Board of Selectmen Monday after being asked by Armenian
residents to break ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Though no decision was made by the No Place for Hate Committee Friday,
some members said they would lean toward discontinuing that
affiliation while others were reluctant to do so without further
investigating the ramifications of that decision.

"Being sponsored by the ADL is inconsistent with your mission to
combat bias and hate," said resident Laura Boghosian as she read from
a statement. "While we applaud the efforts of those within the ADL
working to overturn a despicable policy, we believe it is an internal
matter for that body. Our town should not be involved in the internal
politics of outside groups."

Until Friday, the No Place for Hate Committee had not formally
addressed the ADL’s partial acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide
by the Ottoman Turks in the World War I era, or the ADL’s stance on a
resolution in Congress to designate the genocide as such. Several
surrounding communities have either suspended or severed their ties
with the ADL’s No Place for Hate program since ADL regional director
Andrew Tarsay was fired for acknowledging the massacre as genocide. He
was later reinstated by national ADL director Abraham Foxman.

Hank Manz, the Board of Selectmen liaison to the committee, said the
Armenian group would be first up during the public comment of Monday’s
selectmen’s meeting. He said the board would first like to hear from
the No Place for Hate Committee on its meeting and what will be its
next steps.

Committee member David Horton felt this group should give a
recommendation whether it should remain active with the ADL or cut its
ties. The Board of Selectmen gave the official approval for the No
Place for Hate committee in 1990.
"I’m tilting toward leaving ADL," Horton said.

No Place for Hate chairman Jill Smilow, who has been with the group
since its inception, has said there is no "death grip" from the
national ADL on the issue. As such, No Place for Hate can still carry
on its human-rights mission without severing a relationship that has
many benefits, she said.

Olga Guttag, also a member of No Place for Hate, had misgivings about
a local organization’s affiliation with any national one – not just
the ADL – if it means a local group must adopt national positions.

"Local is local. We don’t want to inherit anybody’s agenda," she said.

The Board of Selectmen meets Monday, Sept. 24 in the Selectmen’s
meeting room at Town Hall, 1625 Massachusetts Ave.

Source: 64787

GURGEN ARSENYAN DOES NOT CHOOSE THE EASY WAY

Lragir.am
20-09-2007 15:21:42

The leader of the United Labor Party Gurgen Arsenyan who lost the
parliamentary election held his first news conference after May 12 on
September 20 at the Pastark club. In commenting on his failure he said
one of the reasons might be the correct election campaign and did not
use black PR. "We observed our commitments to our allies." Gurgen
Arsenyan gave an indirect, evasive answer to the question of Lragir.am
whether he means that the ULP’s allies had broken their commitments.
"I meant what I said. I meant what I meant. We think that we did not
break our commitments to our allies. This is our opinion," Gurgen
Arsenyan says.

The reporters asked him if he has a grudge on the government which
denied the ULP access to the parliament. Gurgen Arsenyan said they did
not enter the parliament because they did not get 5 percent of votes.
The leader of the United Labor Party says the easiest thing to do is
to have a grudge on the government, the society, his party, but he
assumes responsibility and looks for the cause of the failure in the
activities of the party for the tactics of which he is responsible.
However, Gurgen Arsenyan said he does not think entry to parliament is
important of all. He said he will go on to prepare the party for the
parliamentary election of 2012 and before the parliamentary election
the party will run in the local elections to strengthen its position.

PanARMENIAN.Net

There are some political motives for destructing Armenian district in
Tbilisi
20.09.2007 16:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Havlabar is a historical district and needs
reconstruction. That is the problem. A major part of historical
Tbilisi, including Vake, Saburtalo, Sololaki, has been already
reconstructed. Now it’s Havlabar’s turn,’ expert at the Caucasus Media
Institute, historian and political scientist Sergei Minasyan said in
an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

`Although some political motives emerge, actually urbanization is
taking place. Let’s take the construction of the North Avenue in
Yerevan, for example. Only fancy the clamor that would rise if
Russians lived in those ramshackle houses…’ he said.

`As far as I know, Armenians are not kicked out in the street. It’s
quite another matter that it’s a historical district where Armenians
used to live for centuries. But these Armenians are poor; their houses
too, unlike other districts of Tbilisi. Virtually, Havlabar is the
front of Tbilisi. However, it’s too unattractive,’ he said.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from Havlabar residents,
`the government is planning to completely destroy the district and
build a modern neighborhood for elite instead. The government warned
that Armenians will be paid $906 per m2 and will be replaced to
outskirts of the capital.’

Meanwhile, an official from Tbilisi city administration told
PanARMENIAN.Net that `there are no plans for building an elite
neighborhood.’

STUDENTS’ LACK OF KNOWLEDGE HARMING EDUCATION

Panorama.am
19:40 19/09/2007

"Ninety percent of a student’s knowledge is gained in the classroom,
with the remaining 10% in private classes or tutoring," said education
specialist Seyran Balasanyan, in an interview with panorama.am.

In his words, students are especially weak in chemistry, physics,
and mathematics, whereas these are the subjects needed in the field
of engineering.

"The level of education is quite low, and is a troubling issue,"
he said. "This makes the work of the educator difficult. In other
words, we need to prepare students in the fields needed for university
studies, not in standard ones."

Another problem he sees is students’ weakness in Russian, the
result of which makes other subjects more difficult. "They can’t use
Russian-language sources, which are plentiful in our libraries. And
translating into Armenian would take much financing and preparation
of experts able to do this translating," stated Balasanyan.

We remind that education minister Levon Lazarian, just days ago, said,
when speaking about the level of education in Armenia, "Education here
has to reach European standards, and we have to become the regional
leader in education."

MEETING IN THE NKR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

AzatArtsakh
18-09-2007

On September 17th, the Speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot
Ghoulian met with a great group of compatriots arrived from Canada
– believers of st.Grigor Loussavorich Church of Monreal, by the
leadership of the sacred herdsman Christ Vazgen priest Boyadjyan.

Representing the aim of the visit, the sacred herdsman stated, that
the group had arrived in Artsakh for the pilgrimage – for getting
acquainted with historical-cultural values of this armenian cradle,
for joining today’s life of Artsakh people. Welcoming this patriotic
enterprise, the Speaker attached importance the visit of the group
in the context of attention and assistance, which armenian Diaspora
showed always for Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and its people. Then
the Speaker of NA represented in brief the pivotal events of passed
period of Artsakh struggle for existance, the achievements of the
country’s progress, today’s problems, answered the questions of the
participants of the meeting. (press service of the NKR NA reported).

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER: ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING ‘HSBC BANK ARMENIA’

ArmInfo
2007-09-17 11:19:00

Armenian government is ready to continue supporting ‘HSBC Bank Armenia’
activity so that for its part the bank promotes development of the
economy of the republic, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said
at the opening ceremony of the two new branches of ‘HSBC Bank Armenia’
– ‘Tigran Mets’ and ‘Zeytun’.

He also added that HSBC Bank is the first serious international bank
that entered the Armenian market. Sarkisyan emphasized that ‘HSBC
Bank Armenia’ contributed much in today’s stability in the banking
sector of the country.

For his part, chairman of the Armenian Central Bank Tigran Sarkisyan
said that opening of the new branches of ‘HSBC Bank Armenia’ is of
a great significance for Armenia. ‘Today there are 300 branches in
the banking system of Armenia. Opening of every new branch of ‘HSBC
Bank Armenia’ plays a significant part for the country, as this bank
success is success of our country’, – he emphasized.

The chief executive director of ‘HSBC Bank Armenia’ Antony Turner added
that in 2008 ‘HSBC Bank Armenia’ is going to open 5 new branches,
including in Vanadzor, Gyumri and probably in Kadzaran, leading the
number of its branches up to 10. He said that in 2008 the bank is
going to open additional mini-branches and to increase the number
of bancomats by 15 new ones. In that case their number will reach
50. ‘Serious investments of HSBC group in Armenia are conditioned by
the fact that we trust in this country, its economy, the authorities
of the republic, its legislation and the educated and industrious
people’, – Turner emphasized.

HELLO… CAN I SPEAK TO ALEXANDRE VARBEDIAN?

Hetq Online
September 17, 2007
Armenia

This is what the telephone caller to the "Hetq" office asked. Our
first reaction was that the call was a prank since "Hetq" has published
several articles about Alexandre Varbedian and the fact that for the
past five years he has been denied an entry visa for Armenia. He has
never been told the exact reason why.

Mr. Varbedian, a French citizen, has a son and grandchild in Yerevan
whom he cannot see.

It was later revealed that the caller was one Minasyan, an employee
of the Consular Department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. In May
of this year "Hetq" had sent a letter to Foreign Minister Oskanian
requesting the reasons why Alexandre Varbedian was being denied entry
into Armenia. For three months we were bounced from one office to
another. Only recently were we able to find out to whom the letter
had been entrusted. It appears that the result of all our telephone
calls was that Foreign Ministry employee Minasyan decided to give us
a phone call and ask to speak to Alexandre Varbedian. A week before
receiving this call we again attempted to ascertain the whereabouts
of our letter and why no one deemed it necessary to respond to it. An
employee of the Foreign Ministry’s General Division again told us
that our letter had been forwarded to the Consular Department and
that it was no longer their responsibility.

It took us a full five minutes and much effort to get the complete name
of the employee at the Foreign Ministry’s General Division with whom
we were speaking. When asked to identify himself, the person replied
that it wasn’t important. When we said that we were ready to take the
matter to court and that we needed to get some answers to our numerous
inquiries, he seemed to take a bit more notice. After some more coaxing
from us he finally relented and said his name was Vahagn Papoyan.

There are people working at the Foreign Ministry who are adept at the
art of deception. They gave us the run-around with answers such as,
"We’ll call you back in fifteen minutes" or "That person is away on
vacation". That vacation seemed to have lasted for a whole three
months. Other responses to our phone calls included phrases such
as, "I won’t answer. I don’t know anything so call the General
Division". And when we did so we were told to "Call such and such a
number". Are these just lies conveyed in "diplomatic guise" to fool
the unsuspecting common citizen or a well-honed method the staff uses
to do absolutely nothing in the way of real work?

Should we go to the courts based solely on the fact that the Foreign
Ministry staff seems to be incompetent? When we picture the years the
matter would be dragged out in the court system we remove the thought
from our minds. The only recourse left would be to employ our "personal
contacts". If you want to get anything done in Armenia you must use
your "personal contacts". On August 12th we finally received a reply
to our letter sent out at the end of May. This time we didn’t have
to play the "personal contacts" card. That can wait till next time.

In his letter dated September 11th, Tigran Seyranyan, Director of
the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Division, wrote that, " We wish to
inform you that in accordance with internationally accepted norms,
the reasons for denying someone an entry visa are not revealed. We
also wish to inform you that the general conditions under which entry
visas for the Republic of Armenia can be denied and the circumstances
involved are clearly spelt out in the Republic of Armenia’s law
entitled "In Regards to Foreign Nationals".

In previous articles we’ve discussed this law and those aspects of
it, which pertain to the case of Alexandre Varbedian. In fact, the
few lines that Seyranyan sent to us in response contained nothing in
the way of pertinent information. Such a reply could have and should
have been sent out back in June in order to comply with the five-day
time limit as prescribed by the Republic of Armenia law regarding the
"Freedom of Information".

We would strongly suggest that employees of all government
institutions, especially the staff at the Foreign Ministry, familiarize
themselves with this law, in addition to all other pertinent laws on
the books regarding the disclosure of information.

ARMENIA MAY GIVE GROUNDS FOR WAR

A1+
[02:39 pm] 18 September, 2007

"If Armenia recognizes Karabakh’s independence, it may serve as
basis for Azerbaijan to start a war and we will be accused of that",
announced Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, a politician, pointing out
that it would be better if some other country recognized Karabakh’s
independence first. Besides, Melik-Shahnazaryan is convinced that
if Armenia recognizes Karabakh’s independence, while the world
accepts Karabakh as a part Azerbaijan, Armenia will be observed as
an aggressor. "In that case it will be better to announce Karabakh
as part of Armenia".

Melik-Shahnazaryan considers Raffi Hovannisian’s initiative to
recognize Nagorno-Karabakh of populist character, otherwise, he would
have done it while he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Melik-Shahnazaryan does not consider that the Karabakh conflict will be
solved with the support of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen in the coming
future. He does not bind any particular hope with the official visits
of Co-Chairmen.

"Here they say what we want to hear, in Azerbaijan they say what
Azerbaijani people want to hear, then they leave for their countries
and announce that new proposals and new ideas regarding the conflict
settlement is being discussed", said the politician and added:
"The Co-Chairmen do not know who Turkish people are".

As to the results of discussion on NKR problem in UN,
Melik-Shahnazaryan considers that if the Armenian diplomats present
the problem properly, then the we will win definitely, since the
Azerbaijani part violated the United Nations Security Council
Resolution 4 in 1990s.

It is worthwhile mentioning that this issue is to be discussed at UN
General Assembly on 25 September.

ARONYAN WINS IN MEXICO

A1+
[12:10 pm] 17 September, 2007

Armenian Grand Master Levon Aronyan won over his Hungarian contender
Peter Leko at the fourth round of the World Chess Championship
Tournament 2007.

The victory was really important for Aronyan as after his defeat at
the second round he slipped back.

Presently, Aronyan has two points and shares the third place with
Grishcuk, Gelfand and Morozevich.

The fixture table is headed by Kramnik and Anand having 2.5 points
each.