Author: Nalchajian Markos

DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF RUSSIAN CB: THE CRISIS IN WORLD FINANCIAL MARKETS SHOWED THAT THE MODEL OF SINGLE FINANCIAL MEGAREGULATOR IN STRUCTURE OF CENTRAL BANKS COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED ITSELF

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 8 2007

ArmInfo. The crisis in the world financial markets, which arose due
to the underestimation of risks in the US mortgage market, showed that
the model of a single body that conducts monetary policy, regulates and
controls financial markets the way it was done in Russia and Armenia,
is correct and the most reasonable one, Alexey Ulyukayev, the first
deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, made this statement in
his lecture delivered at the Yerevan State University, Monday.

According to him, if the monetary function is linked with the
regulation and control functions, the problems in the financial market
may be solved at the initial stage of their formation. He noted that
problems should be solved locally, in a separate weak link, and one
should apply all the necessary mechanisms to render a sufficient
stabilizing support. As a reverse example, A.Ulyukayev spoke about
Great Britain, where the Bank of England is engaged only in monetary
policy, inflation and interest rates. "And now that English banks have
found themselves in a problem situation, there is nobody to support
them. Because the one who must support them (SEC) has no funds,
and the Bank of England is not empowered to do this.

Now they have to find solutions, create joint working groups, etc.,"
he said. "Therefore, unification of monetary, regulating and control
functions is the imperative of our era, and many countries started to
understand that they shouldn’t have criticized us," A.Ulyukayev added.

Speaking of the Russian CB’s policy, he stressed that the Bank of
Russia forecasts that the volumes of bank refinancing will increase as
a result of decrease of the banking system’s liquidity, and they will
reach their peak in October. Every day the Russian CB will give 300-400
bln rubles. These short-term resources should go through the whole
banking system to restore the inter-bank mechanism. The CB stresses
that the period of cheap money is over, perhaps, irretrievably. The
demand for liquidity is higher than the supply.

The credit price will grow and Libor will reach high historic
estimations. The growth of spreads, borrowings by 8-10% yearly interest
is normal, he thinks. Many banks can’t receive foreign funding,
therefore the growth of money price inside Russia is higher than the
world price. "There is nothing bad in it. Another thing is abnormal –
when the money price is higher than the inflation rate," he noted.

CSTO CONCERNED ABOUT IDEAS TO RESOLVE ‘FROZEN CONFLICTS’ BY USE OF FORCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2007 18:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The member states of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization expressed concern over the ideas to resolve frozen
conflicts by use of force.

"The conflict potential accumulating near the CSTO responsibility
zone is pregnant with appearance of new dividing lines, distrust and
jealousy," says a CSTO declaration issued Saturday in Dushanbe.

"Plans to resolve ‘frozen conflicts’ by use of force, beyond
the format of current processes are bearing menace. Prospective
trends of CSTO development, participation in peacekeeping missions,
prevention of illegal migration will strengthen the potential of the
Organization with multifunctional and efficient security structure,"
the document says.

Realizing the responsibility for peace and stability in their
states, the CSTO leaders confirmed determination to cement political
cooperation, improve military cooperation and establish a system of
flexible and quick reaction to crisis developments, the CSTO press
office reported.

US PRESIDENT VOWS TO PREVENT "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" BILL PASSING

Azeri Press Agency
Oct 6 2007
Azerbaijan

US President George W. Bush repeated his opposition to a resolution
on the so-called genocide of Armenians during a phone conversation
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan warned that passing the resolution, although officially
non-binding, would harm the strategic relations and partnership
between Turkey and the United States.

Bush promised Erdogan that he would work decisively to prevent the
bill passing.

In the phone call, "Bush reiterated his opposition to this resolution,
the passage of which would be harmful to U.S. relations with Turkey,"
said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Bush "believes that the determination of whether or not the events
constitute genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not
legislation," Johndroe added.

Erdogan also called Bill Clinton for his support to stop passage of
the bill.

According to media reports, the bill would be taken up by Congress’s
Foreign Relations Committee on October 10.

TEENAGER ‘MURDERER’ SAYS HE ‘REGRETS’ KILLING HRANT DINK

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 4 2007

The 17-year-old, identified by the initials O.S., who confessed
to killing Hrant Dink outside his newspaper office last January,
expressed "regret" for the killing in his testimony during the Dink
assassination trial which resumed yesterday at the Ýstanbul 14th
Criminal Court in Beþiktaþ.

Armenian-Turkish journalist Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on
Jan. 19 in front of the bilingual Armenian weekly, Agos, where he was
editor-in-chief. More than 100,000 people turned out for his funeral
in order to show solidarity and protest against violent nationalism.

"Yasin Hayal forced me to do this job. I shot him out of fear without
even understanding how it happened. I was at my uncle’s place when I
came back to my senses. I could not sleep the entire night. I regret
it; I didn’t know he had a family. I wouldn’t have done it if I had
known" said the youth in his testimony, private CNN Turk television
station reported Monday. He also claimed to be under the influence
of ecstasy pills, given to him by Yasin Hayal two hours prior to
the assasination. The trial is being held behind closed doors since
O.S. is a minor.

As the second hearing of the trial resumed yesterday, hundreds of
demonstrators fearing a state cover-up of Dink’s murder appeared
outside the courthouse, proclaiming: "We are all witnesses. We demand
justice." Police implemented heavy security outside the courthouse
where 19 suspects, eight of which are being held in police custody,
are being tried on various charges relating to the killing of Dink.

Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, daughter, Delal Dink and representatives of
Agos newspaper and Bir Gun daily, where Dink was a regular columnist,
participated in the hearing as co-plaintiffs. Freedom and Solidarity
Party (ODP) deputy Ufuk Uras, German opposition Green Party leader
Claudia Roth, Agos Editor-in-Chief Etyen Mahcupyan and journalists
Yavuz Baydar, Ali Bayramoðlu, Murat Belge and Ayþe Onal also arrived
in court to support Dink’s family.

On Saturday Turkish media aired a recording of a telephone conversation
between one of the suspects and a police officer. The dialogue
clearly suggests the police officer knew about plots to kill the
journalist. Dink’s lawyers have complained that the murder has not been
properly investigated and have expressed fears for the independence
of the court, reflecting concerns about the possible involvement
of Turkey’s so-called deep state — a network of individuals nested
within the state hierarchy, carrying out behind-the-scene operations
they deem to be patriotic.

Erdal Doðan, a lawyer representing the Dink family, reiterated that
concern on Monday. Speaking to the press prior to the hearing,
Doðan said: "It was written everywhere that there was looseness
[in the police force], and that everybody knew Dink was going to be
shot except for Hrant Dink himself." Recalling that it became clear
during the investigation that the plot was being openly spoken about
in Internet cafes and on the streets of Trabzon, the hometown of the
murderer and most of the suspects, he added: "It is irrational to
think that the gendarmerie and the police department were unaware of
this. We have made our application to the Trabzon Criminal Court to
include them in this case." Doðan said the transcript of the recently
discovered phone conversation had been placed in the court files.

–Boundary_(ID_y4zrApm6NKT0hvklISH9jQ)–

THE SHUSHI MASSACRES OF 1920 STILL FRESH IN ARMENIAN MEMORY

HULIQ, NC

O ct 4 2007

10vote The Shushi Massacres were the massacre of Armenian inhabitants
in Azerbaijan in 1920. Around 20,000 Armenians were killed and the
city of Shushi was destroyed.

The massacres had begin when Turkish and Azeri troops organized
clashes against the Armenian population of the city.

When the Karabakh capital of Shusha fell to Azerbaijani forces on
March 1920, its entire Armenian population was killed or expelled.

According to Chairman of the parliamentary Commission for Foreign
Relations of Karabakh, Vahram Atanesyan:

"The massacre of Armenians in Shushi in 1920 is nothing but a genocide,
Chairman of the parliamentary Commission for Foreign Relations of
Karabakh, Vahram Atanesyan, said at a press-conference today. He said
the massacre was perpetrated by Azerbaijan with the support of the
Turkish expeditionary corps. Atanesyan stressed that Karabakh has never
been a part of Azerbaijan and was de facto independent at that moment,
its status being recognized by Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan."

MODEL OF SORROW AND MEMORY MONUMENT TO 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN EARTHQUAKE DESIGNED IN RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.10.2007 13:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A model of a Monument of Sorrow and Memory dedicated
to the 20th anniversary of the devastating Armenian earthquake was
designed by a well-known artist from Lipetsk, member of the Union of
Designers of Russia, Nikolay Rogatnev.

Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia, reports that the
model has a shape of a church gently acquiring silhouette of a funeral
candle based on rock crystal which reminds of the tragedy and resembles
the gravestone.

"I hope I managed to express my feelings by this peace of work. We
should not forget this horrific tragedy," Nikolay Rogatnev said.

Nikolay Rogatnev is the author of a number of monuments dedicated to
liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl calamity and soldiers
killed in local conflicts. He also designed a monument dedicated to
the unification of Russian Orthodox Church.

A monument to the Beatles exhibited in the Beatles Story Museum in
Liverpool in 2007 is one of the latest works of the artist.

The idea to design the Monument of Sorrow and Memory belongs to
another Lipetsk artist, member of the Union of Designers of Russia,
Valentin Bayukansky, who can be named the co-author by right.

This December Nikolay Rogatnev and Valentin Bayukansky are planning
to gift a small model of the monument to President Kocharian.

The 3-5 meter high monument will be evidently inaugurated next year
in one of the cities, which suffered from the earthquake. It will
be made of metal, since Nikolay Rogatnev is a metal painter and the
inventor of his own system of air-metal production.

To be implemented, the project needs sponsors, both Armenian and
Russian. The inauguration of the monument will once again prove the
friendship between the two nations.

TORCHES WILL LIGHT FOR DARFUR

Lexington Winchester Star, MA
Oct 3 2007

The Winchester Common will be filled with local youth and adults from
Winchester schools, churches and temples, who are gathering, torches
in hand, to show solidarity with the people of conflict-ridden Darfur,
at noon on Sunday, Oct 7.

Panther Alier, a "Lost Boy of Sudan," Katie Fallon and Karen
Hirschfeld, Winchester natives who have been active in advocacy for
Darfur, will speak.

The event is part of a national "Torch Relay" to highlight the
connections between China, host of the 2008 Olympics, and the
four-year-old genocide in Darfur, Sudan’s far western region.

Winchester activists will then bring their torch, a symbol of the
Olympic Games to a major rally at Boston’s Government Center at
3:30 p.m.

The people of Darfur have been chased from their homes, attacked,
raped and killed at the urging of their own government since 2004.

This mass violence has led to the displacement of nearly 3 million
people, and is currently one of the world’s worst humanitarian
disasters. Efforts to end this conflict have consistently been
blocked, largely by Sudan’s President, and often by China, Sudan’s
largest trading partner. As one of only 5 Permanent Members on the
United Nations Security Council, China has enormous international
influence. Yet, it has been unwilling to use this influence to
pressure Sudan to curb genocidal militias, adhere to ceasefires,
stop bombing civilian targets and remove barriers to humanitarian aid.

China is also the proud host of the 2008 Olympic Games. Because China’s
leaders are so interested in ensuring that the 2008 Summer Games
in Beijing are successful, they are very sensitive to international
activism. Therefore, the international spotlight on Beijing leading
up to next summer is an ideal opportunity to demand that China wield
its influence to make Sudan stop the violence against its own people
in Darfur.

China’s theme for the 2008 Olympic Games is "One World, One Dream".

They have designed an elaborate route for the Olympic Torch.

Activists have taken the symbol of the torch and created their own
"Torch Relay". This one, which has already started (at the border of
Chad – the country to the west of Darfur – home to many refugees),
will travel to the sites of all previous modern genocides – Rwanda,
Armenia, Bosnia, Poland, Germany and Cambodia, and call attention to
the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

A Torch Relay will also pass through the United Sates, educating
Americans about the China– Darfur connection. The US Torch Relay,
which was launched in September in NYC, will end in December,
first traveling to more than 20 states. For more information, visit

The event in Boston event on October 7th will include a torch-lighting
ceremony and rally featuring survivors of modern genocides and speakers
including Dr. Gloria White-Hammond.

DASHNAKTSUTYUN NEEDS PLACE IN NEXT GOVERNMENT RATHER THAN PRESIDENCY

Lragir, Armenia
Oct 2 2007

The race for presidency in now underway, which had started before the
parliamentary election and is giving us no surprise, said the leader
of the Christian Democratic Party Khosrov Harutiunyan who was hosted
at the Hayatsk club on October 2. He thinks Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
likelihood to return is not a surprise. "Everything complies with the
logic of the election process. The main candidates are now outlining.

We may even not avoid the word favorite. The favorites are outlining,"
Khosrov Harutiunyan says, who mentioned that the society will probably
witness a tense struggle.

Among favorites Khosrov Harutiunyan mentioned Serge Sargsyan, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Vazgen Manukyan. As to Dashnaktsutyun, the leader
of the Christian Democratic Party thinks the impression is that the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun is seeking for a favorable capacity for political
bargain later rather than the post of president. "In fact, the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun has some stable resource, a stable electorate, and
it will have some role, but Dashnaktsutyun’s, I beg your pardon,
presidential games are aimed to get political dividends, place in
the next government, strengthen their position rather that to have
a real president. I am sure that Dashnaktsutyun will eventually be
pursuing this goal," Khosrov Harutiunyan says.

As to the Christian Democratic Party’s participation in the
parliamentary election, Khosrov Harutiunyan said they will not be
naming president, and supporting other presidential candidates will
depend on their programs and approaches.

Panorama.am

13:59 29/09/2007

`DAYS OF EUROPEAN HERITAGE’ KICK OFF TODAY

`European heritage days’ have kicked off today. The event will run
from September 29 to 30 under the heading `Handmade and non-handmade
heritage.’ During these days, all museums under ministry of culture
and ministry of nature protection are open and free of charge. The
event opened at the National Institute-Theater of Architecture with
the presentation of 12th international contest catalogue
`International experience in photography of monuments.’ The events
held within the framework of this program will take place at the
National Library of Armenia with exhibitions held. A trip to
Saghmosavank will be organized on September 30 with the participation
of students from Armenian-Russian (Slavonic) University.

Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan, Deputy Minister Gagik Giurjyan,
Deputy Secretary General of Council of Europe Boyana Urumova and
others were present at the ceremony. `Days of European heritage are an
expression of good will. It has become a tradition with us to
celebrate these days,’ Hasmik Poghosyan said. In the words of Boyana
Urumova, `Days of European heritage’ is a factor to unite and
differentiate cultural heritage and an important tool to understand
each other. Days of European Heritage were launched by the Council of
Europe in 1991.

Source: Panorama.am

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, September 28, 2007

George Soros Meets With Armenian Non-Profits in New York

On Wednesday, September 19, 2007, world-renowned philanthropist and
financier George Soros met with six leading Armenian American non-profit
organizations to exchange opinions on new innovative ways to build civil
society in Armenia. The roundtable luncheon and discussion was organized
by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and was hosted by AGBU
President Berge Setrakian. The event took place at Manhattan’s
University Club and included representatives from the Armenian American
Wellness Center, Armenia Fund USA, Children of Armenia Fund, Fund for
Armenian Relief, the Izmirlian Fund, and philanthropist Jeffrey Acopian.

After brief introductions, George Soros spoke candidly about his hope
that the roundtable would aid in the free exchange of ideas about what
can be done in Armenia to strengthen civil society, an overarching goal
for Soros’ non-profit organization, the Open Society Institute (OSI).
Soros underlined his belief that establishing good cooperation with
diasporan Armenian organizations was important for OSI to accomplish its
work in Armenia. "Our constituency is Armenia’s society in general, and
I know the diaspora has influence in this regard," he said.

OSI and the Soros foundations network–which began in 1984–spent more
than $400 million worldwide in 2006 on improving policy and helping
people to live in open, democratic societies. OSI works on issues
ranging from human rights, to access to education, to freedom of
information. Since 1997, OSI Assistance Foundation-Armenia, the
Armenia-based Soros foundation, has spent $20 million in developing
grassroots programs for Armenians.

Soros introduced the Executive Director of OSI Armenia, Larisa Minasyan,
who elaborated on the media, arts, education and justice programs that
the organization has been able to successfully implement. She explained
that the organization received funding from the British and Dutch
governments, in addition to annual funds from Soros’ Armenian
foundation. "Our goal is to establish democracy in a diverse way,"
Minasian said. "We are trying to bring systematic change in the various
fields and we are achieving success in different ways."

OSI Armenia board member, Lucig Danielian outlined some of the
objectives of the organization and their approach to the problems facing
Armenia, "We feel it is about empowering people and giving them the
skills and the jumpstart, and the funding when required, encouraging
change from below."

Vigen Sargsyan, Board member of OSI Armenia and the World Bank Yerevan,
explained the barriers to democratic reform in Armenia via the media,
"The media [in Armenia] today, suffers from homogeneity and it is
state-dominated, which doesn’t allow for alternatives."

Various individuals spoke about the interconnection of democracy and
economic development, and how the role of each could contribute to a
sustainable and strong Armenia.

The frank discussion touched upon the problems of migration from
Armenia, the sensitivity of Armenia’s relationships with its neighbors,
the continuing economic blockade of Armenia’s borders, and the question
of corruption in Armenia’s public and private sectors.

Soros acknowledged that the Armenian scenario is unique, since a strong,
diverse diaspora can contribute to reform in Armenia, which is not the
case in other Eurasian nations. He concluded on a hopeful note, sharing
a personal anecdote about his own native country of Hungary, which
experienced a short period of freedom in the 1950’s only to be quickly
suppressed by Soviet forces. "I will tell you that the 1956 Hungarian
Revolution came into fruition in 1989. No one could have imagined that,"
Soros said.

AGBU President Berge Setrakian thanked Soros for his participation in
the exchange and shared some of his personal thoughts. "This process is
only beginning and we will certainly continue this dialogue. Hearing
about the successes of the Soros foundation in its efforts to build
civil society in Armenia, we are encouraged to explore new
possibilities. As the world’s leading Armenian non-profit organization,
it is AGBU’s responsibility to seek out effective ways to help Armenians
and Armenia become a strong and stable nation," Setrakian said.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with an
annual budget of $36 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian
identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
programs, annually touching the lives of some 400,000 Armenians around
the world.