Author: Nalbandian Albert

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SENDS MESSAGE TO KILIKIA SAILING SHIP CREW

ARKA News Agency
Aug 19 2005

YEREVAN, August 19. /ARKA/. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan sent
a message to Kilikia sailing ship’s captain and crew congratulating
them with completing another round of their tour, Presidential Press
service reports. “Overcoming a huge distance and difficulties, you
embarked on cruise under our flag and displayed firmness and strong
will. Since 2004 Kilikia has crossed many seas and reached Atlantic
Ocean, just like Armenian Kilikian state’s sailing ship made in 13th
century. We are keeping eye on each stage of the cruise and glad
that Kilikia successfully arrived in English harbor of Portsmouth,
which you will leave the next year for continuing your way. I wish
sound health and happy return to the crew”, the message said.

AYAS, club of naval researches, has constructed a copy of Armenian
Kilikian trade sailing ship of 13th century, which started a
cruise following mediaeval routs around Europe through Black Sea,
Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. The vessel was constructed
in accordance with mediaeval manuscripts and epitomes with using
mediaeval technologies. In 2004, Kilikia entered 23 ports in 12
countries of Europe and Asia. The first stage of the expedition was
completed in the 2004 fall in Venice. On May 9, 2005, the ship put
to sea again. M.V. -0–

Los Angeles Daily News
Aug 19 2005

L.A. Council starts early on summer recess

Quorum of 10 not expected to attend today’s meeting
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council may get an early start on its summer
recess, with today’s meeting expected to be canceled for lack of a
quorum.
With two vacancies on the 15-member council, it has become
increasingly difficult in recent weeks to get at least 10 members for
the quorum required to do business.

Today’s meeting would have been the last before the council’s annual
two-week recess, but four of the remaining 13 members did not expect
to attend.

Councilman Eric Garcetti might be the only one of the four off on
official city business, traveling to Armenia as part of the Sister
City program.

Councilmen Ed Reyes, Greig Smith and Jack Weiss all are off for an
early start of vacations or for undisclosed reasons.

“(Reyes) regrets it, but he had made plans that couldn’t be changed
and was previously excused,” spokesman Tony Perez said.

Smith also had received approval to be absent from the meeting, but
spokesman Mitch Englander would not say whether he would be away on
vacation or on city business.

Weiss spokeswoman Lisa Hansen said he was out of town and had been
given permission to miss the meeting several weeks ago.

Council President Alex Padilla, who is acting mayor while Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa is on a Hawaiian vacation with his family, said
he had expected problems getting a quorum with fewer council members.

“It’s one of those things,” Padilla said. “With a number of people
out of town, we were afraid this would happen. We had dealt with most
of the important issues before now. But it’s a constant problem to
make sure we have enough members present for any given meeting.”

Former Councilman Villaraigosa’s election as mayor left his council
seat vacant. Former Councilman Martin Ludlow left to become
secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Council members, who are each paid $143,838 a year, traditionally
take the two weeks before Labor Day as a recess, as well as two weeks
around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

AZG Armenian Daily #146, 19/08/2005

Neighbors

RECONSTRUCTION OF SURP KHACH OF AKHTAMAR GOES ON

The website of Turkish NTV informed on August 18 that the
reconstruction of Surp Khach Armenian church on Akhtamar Island
has been completed by 35 percent. The primary goal is to finish
restoration of outward walls before autumn rains begin. The NTV notes
meanwhile that “the church built by Armenian king Gagik I on Akhtamar
Island of the Lake Van in 915-921 stood against time”. The money for
restoration, 200 million 400 thousand lire, were allocated by the
Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Representative of the firm carrying out the restoration, Adna Vural,
told NTV, “Natural disasters and treasure hunters have severely damaged
the church. We are done with the roof in the first stage. As soon
as the facade is ready, we’ll turn to the frescos, and specialists
invited from abroad will do that job”.

NTV writes that 25 specialists take part in restoration works. The
works are scheduled to finish by 2006 unless nothing unplanned happens.

By Hakob Chakrian

FRIENDLY MEETING OF NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS OF JORDAN AND ARMENIA TO
TAKE PLACE ON AUGUST 17

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, NOYAN TAPAN. A friendly meeting of the national
football teams of Jordan and Armenia will take place on August 17,
in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Noyan Tapan was informed about
this by the Press Secretariate of the Football Federation of
Armenia. Henk Visman, the chief trainer of the national team of
Armenia, invited Edel Apula Edima Bette, Gevorg Kasparov, Sargis
Hovsepian, Alexander Tadevosian, Yeghishe Melikian, Robert Arzumanian,
Rafael Nazarian, Karen Alexanian, Hamlet Mkhitarian, Romik Khachatrian,
Aram Voskanian, Aghvan Mkrtchian, Ararat Arakelian, Valeri Alexanian,
Armen Shahgeldian, Arman Karamian, Galust Petrosian, Ara Hakobian,
Aram Hakobian, Nshan Erzrumian into the team to participate in this
friendly meeting.

Aurora Beacon News, IL
Aug 17 2005

Hastert funding is under scrutiny
~U Investigation sought: Group which has ties to Democrats wants
claims of impropriety examined

By Ed Fanselow Staff WRITER

WASHINGTON – A magazine story alleging a covert relationship between
a group of Turkish nationals and House Speaker Dennis Hastert
has prompted a group of leading Democrats to call for a federal
investigation into the claims.

The story, published in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine,
relies on an uncorroborated account from a former FBI translator, who
says she overheard Turkish wiretap targets – who were the subject of
counter-intelligence investigations – brag of funneling thousands of
dollars into Hastert’s campaign fund in exchange for political favors.

The translator told the magazine that the donations were to be made
in payments of less than $200, which do not have to be itemized under
Federal Election Commission rules.

The Yorkville Republican himself was never heard in the recordings, the
translator told the magazine, and the story’s author admitted that the
Turks supposed claims may have been nothing more than “hollow boasts.
”

Still, the story caught the eye of the Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington (CREW), which on Tuesday filed a complaint with
the FEC calling for “a thorough investigation into Hastert’s finances.”

The group, founded by the former senior counsel to House Democrats,
was responsible for drafting a complaint against House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for which he was admonished last year.

In a written statement, CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan suggests
that the translator’s claims warrant a closer look since Hastert
recorded an inordinately high amount of small, unitemized donations
between 1996 and 2002.

According to the FEC, the Hastert For Congress Committee reported more
than $480,000 in donations of less than $200 during that 7-year period.

By comparison, DeLay reported receiving less than $100,000 during
the same span.

“The sheer number of small contributions should have raised a red
flag,” Sloan said.

John McGovern, a Hastert spokesman, called the allegations
“outlandish.”

“These are ridiculous and reckless claims from a Democratic front group
that have no basis in reality,” he said Tuesday. “It’s just not true.”

According to the Vanity Fair report, the Turks were apparently looking
for Hastert to help derail a 2000 House resolution designating the
killings of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during the 1920s as
genocide.

The controversial issue has long been a source of hostility between
the two countries as well as between Americans of Armenian and
Turkish descent.

The magazine alleges that Hastert originally supported the resolution,
only to reverse his position and withdraw it from consideration on
the House floor.

Another Hastert spokesman told the magazine, though, that the speaker’s
about-face came only after a personal appeal from then-President
Bill Clinton.

“To insinuate anything else,” the spokesman said, “just doesn’t
make sense.”

News 24, South Africa
Aug 15 2005

Passengers fought for control
15/08/2005 14:17 – (SA)

Athens – Trapped inside a Boeing 737 circling aimlessly in the Greek
skies, a number of the 121 passengers on board a Cypriot airliner
that crashed on Sunday probably knew the fate that awaited them.

Though the recordings of the cockpit’ conversations have yet to be
examined, the report of two Greek F-16 fighter pilots shadowing the
Helios Airways airliner points to a desperate effort to grab the
plane’s controls moments before the fall.

The last glimpse the fighter pilots had into the cockpit showed two
unidentified persons trying to regain control of the plane, the Greek
authorities said.

Minutes earlier, the fighter pilots also saw “the co-pilot slumped
over and perhaps unconscious and the pilot not in his seat”, said
government spokesperson Theodoros Roussopoulos, adding that the
cockpit oxygen masks had been activated.

Victims died before crash

“It seems the deceased, in most cases, although not all, expired
before the crash,” said interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos,
though he cautioned it was “something we will have to confirm”.

Among the victims of Greece’s worst aviation disaster were a German
pilot and 10 Greeks were the only non-Cypriots who died, an updated
passenger list revealed. The sombre roll call of the 121 victims
included a four-year-old girl, Theti Nicolaou, and nine other children
aged 10 or less.

The 110 Cypriot dead included four Armenian Cypriots and 106 Greek
Cypriots, the new passenger manifest released by Cypriot communications
minister Haris Thrassou showed.

Details about the Greek dead were still not “100% ” as a group booking
was made through a tour operator, Thrassou said.

Greek aviation experts said on Monday it seemed the plane had a problem
with its oxygen supply, starting about 10 minutes after takeoff from
Cyprus on Sunday.

Greek television reported autopsies would determine whether the
victims died of asphyxiation due to a lack of oxygen in the aircraft.

Plane out of control

Greek air traffic controller Manolis Antoniadis said the plane was
on automatic pilot when it entered Greek air space and began to turn
in circles.

“It was out of control,” Antoniadis said, adding “there had to have
been a fast and brutal problem to cause the death of the pilots in
the cockpit”.

According to the Greek private TV station Alpha, a passenger sent
a text message to a cousin saying: “We’re cold, the pilot is blue.
We’re going to die. Farewell.”

But the authorities are examining the veracity of this claim, as the
same person later apparently claimed to have received the information
by directly speaking to his relative. The SMS itself has yet to be
produced in front of the cameras.

The Helios Airways plane was due to land at Athens airport.

The head of the crash investigation, Akrivos Tsolakis, said on Monday
the plane’s second “black box” containing recordings of the pilots’
cockpit conversations had been discovered but that it was in a “very
bad state”.

Azerbaijan: Spy Scandal Continues To Raise More Questions Than Answers

Wednesday, 10 August 2005
(RFE/RL)

The Azerbaijani authorities and supporters and associates of Ruslan
Bashirli, leader of the opposition youth movement Yeni Fikir, have
offered widely diverging accounts of, and explanations for, the events
that culminated in Bashirli’s arrest last week on charges of plotting
to overthrow the Azerbaijani leadership.

According to a statement released on 4 August by the Azerbaijani
Prosecutor-General’s Office, Bashirli traveled in late July to Tbilisi
at the behest of his mentor, Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AHCP)
Chairman Ali Kerimli. On the sidelines of a conference, Bashirli is
said to have met with three men, one ethnic Georgian and two
Armenians, all of them Armenian intelligence agents, and told them he
was working on instructions from the U.S. National Democratic
Institute to prepare for a revolution in Azerbaijan. His interlocutors
reportedly expressed approval, promised help, and presented him with
an initial payment of $2,000 to help fund the revolution, promising to
provide a further $20,000 within days.

One of the Armenians then informed Bashirli that the encounter had
been filmed, including his acceptance of and signing a receipt for the
$2,000. The Armenian reportedly told Bashirli that if he reneged on
his promise to cooperate, the incriminating film footage would be
handed over to the Azerbaijani authorities.

Bashirli was accompanied to Tbilisi by his deputy, Osman Alimuradov,
who, according to day.az on 4 August, was reluctant to collaborate
with the Armenians and who denounced Bashirli to the authorities on
his return to Baku. Bashirli was duly apprehended on 3 August.

In an interview with Azerbaijan’s Lider TV on 6 August, a transcript
of which was posted on day.az on 8 August, Azerbaijani
Prosecutor-General Zakir Garalov quoted from what he said was a
written statement by Alimuradov. Alimuradov said he spent the night
after the meeting with the three Armenian agents brooding over the
implications of the course of action Bashirli had agreed to, and came
to the conclusion that it was morally wrong. He said he tried to
persuade Bashirli after their return to Baku to abandon the entire
undertaking, but Bashirli said they should wait to do so until he
received the additional $20,000. Therefore, according to Alimuradov,
he decided to hand over to the Azerbaijani authorities the video
footage of the meeting he was given by the Armenian.

A Crude Fabrication?

Bashirli’s fellow oppositionists, however, have dismissed the
prosecutor-general’s account as a crude and clumsy fabrication
intended to discredit the AHCP in the run-up to the 6 November
parliamentary election, and Kerimli personally. Bashirli himself
reportedly told his attorney, Elchin Garalov, on 8 August that he was
being pressured to incriminate Kerimli, whom the website day.az on 6
August identified as one of Azerbaijan’s most popular and respected
opposition politicians. The online daily echo-az.com on 6 August
quoted pro-government political scientist Mubariz Akhmedoglu as saying
Bashirli is clearly guilty of treason, and the links between him and
the AHCP are adequate grounds for revoking that party’s official
registration.

Speaking at a press conference in Baku on 5 August, two deputy
chairmen of Yeni Fikir, Said Nuriev and Fikret Faramazoglu, said that
Bashirli was offered the $2,000 by representatives of Georgian and
Armenian “democratic forces.” They said he was drunk at the time, and
hypothesized that his drink may have been spiked. They said that the
following day, Bashirli returned the money.

Both the official charges against Bashirli and the opposition
objections to those charges are based on the incriminating video
materials, which show Bashirli sipping cognac in the company of three
men and uttering incriminating statements. Specifically, he is said to
have agreed to the proposal made by one of the Armenian agents to take
advantage of the tense domestic political situation in Azerbaijan, and
even open fire at an opposition demonstration.

Questions About Video

But Bashirli’s lawyer Gambarov told journalists in Baku on 8 August
that the video footage was edited, and that Bashirli’s words were
“taken out of context,” zerkalo.az reported on 9 August. Moreover, as
several Azerbaijani commentaries have pointed out, Bashirli’s drunken
pronouncements cannot be conflated with a statement of intent to
overthrow the present leadership.

Even more problematic than the content of the videocassette is the way
the Azerbaijani authorities allegedly acquired it. As Bashirli’s
lawyer Gambarov observed on 8 August, “No intelligence service in the
world would hand over a videocassette with compromising footage to
someone whom it was seeking to co-opt. ”

In an article entitled “Armenian recruitment or planned operation?”
the independent online daily zerkalo.az on 6 August similarly asked
why the Armenians should have given the cassette to Alimuradov. Are
the Armenian special services really so stupid, the daily asked, that
they would play into the hands of their Azerbaijani counterparts?

The daily further noted that the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s
Office acted unprofessionally in immediately making public the
contents of the cassette, rather than handing it to the National
Security Ministry to permit it to try to identify, and obtain more
watertight evidence against, the purported Armenian agents. Zerkalo.az
went to far as to suggest that the case against Bashirli was
fabricated by the Azerbaijani authorities. But Akhmedoglu dismissed
that possibility, telling day.az on 6 August that “I do not think that
the Azerbaijani authorities are powerful enough to try to manipulate
the Armenian special services or certain Georgian circles.”

What Lies Beneath

Pending the emergence of new evidence, it is impossible at this
juncture to determine with any certainty which of the above hypotheses
is correct. But if, as Bashirli’s supporters claim, the case against
him was fabricated in Baku, then the question arises: by whom, and to
what end? Was it simply a bid to discredit Kerimli and his party in
the run-up to the 6 November ballot, or even to trigger widespread
unrest that could be adduced for postponing that ballot?

Or could the real object of the exercise be totally different? Given
the rumored existence of rival factions within the upper echelons of
the Azerbaijani leadership, was the hapless Bashirli simply a pawn in
a larger scheme either to embarrass President Ilham Aliyev and call
into question his professed commitment to building a democratic
society, or to reignite popular hostility towards Armenia at a point
when Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe mediators
have expressed cautious optimism that a negotiated settlement to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict may be closer than ever before?

Cypriot government seeks to explain allegations over bribery of US officials

Cyprus News Agency
8 Aug 05

NICOSIA

The government of Cyprus is following closely developments regarding
assertions in the US magazine “Vanity Fair”, that US MPs have been
bribed to promote Turkish interests in political issues regarding
Cyprus, Armenia and Greco-Turkish relations.

“The government is following the developments and holds explanatory
contacts to ascertain if the magazine’s claims are true” Cyprus
Government Spokesman Kipros Khrisostomidhis said today.|

Asked if the government’s contacts have brought any results, he said
“nothing concrete yet”.

He added that the issue “concerns first of all the US” and expressed
conviction that it will be investigated.

Antiterrorist units from four CIS states compete in Belarus contest

Belapan news agency
9 Aug 05

MINSK

An international contest between antiterrorist units began at the
Belarusian Interior Ministry’s Almaz special antiterrorist unit on 9
August in Minsk. Twelve teams from Armenia, Belarus, Russia and
Ukraine are taking part in the contest. Journalists were told that
antiterrorist units from the Baltic States, France, Germany and Poland
refused to come to Belarus for political reasons.

[Passage omitted: Almaz unit represents Belarus, a Hero of Russia,
Sergey Lysyuk, is the chief judge of the contest.]

Representatives of China and Turkey are observing the contest.

Opening the contest, Belarusian Interior Minister Uladzimir Navumaw,
who was the first commander of the Almaz unit, said that, in addition
to the contest programme, antiterrorist experts will exchange opinions
on some areas of their activities. “I believe that we will strengthen
our cooperation in counteracting the biggest evil of the modern day,
terrorism,” he said.

The contest programme includes competitions in special physical
training (obstacle course), special marksmanship training, sniper
training, special engineer training, specific operational and tactical
training and special hand-to-hand combat.

Lraper Church Bulletin 07/08/2005
Contact: Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970, 517-0971
F: +90 (212) 516-4833, 458-1365
[email protected]

THE PATRIARCH JOINS THE SWISS NATIONAL HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

Photos at (English page)

On Wednesday evening, 3 August 2005, His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian
Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey, participated in a reception
organized at the Swiss Hotel on the occasion of the Swiss National
Holiday. He was accompanied by Migirdic Ardzivyan, chairperson of
the council of the Galata St. Gregory the Illuminator Church and the
Getronagan High School.

Also present were the Governor of Istanbul, His Excellency Muammer
Guler; the Chief Rabbi of Turkey, His Eminence Rav Izhak Haleva;
heads of missions; diplomats in Istanbul; academics; and people from
the worlds of business and the arts.

Following the playing of the Turkish and Swiss national anthems,
there were speeches by His Excellency Walter Gyger, the ambassador
of Switzerland to Turkey, and by the Honourable André Brohy, the new
Swiss Consul General in Istanbul.

After their speeches a representative of the Neighbourhood Natural
Disaster Volunteers took the stage to talk about their work, which is
a joint project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
and the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

The invited guests then sat at the wooden picnic tables in the hotel
garden to sample tasty dishes from the Swiss cuisine. The Governor
of Istanbul, His Excellency Muammer Guler shared the same table with
His Beatitude the Armenian Patriarch; the Chief Rabbi of Turkey,
His Eminence Izhak Haleva; the Swiss Ambassador, His Excellency
Walter Gyger; the Director of the Kandili Observatory, Prof. Gulay
Barbarosoglu; and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Economic Development Foundation, Davut Okutcu.

–Boundary_(ID_NTF9iLodtQmBX6wbWnQT3A)–