Author: Navasardian Karapet

BODIES FOUND IN SEA OF AZOV CREWMEMBERS FROM NAKHICHEVAN SHIP

Itar-Tass
12.11.2007, 20.04

ROSTOV ON DON, November 12 (Itar-Tass) — The bodies of three sailors
found on the Tuzla Spit in the Sea of Azov on Monday morning are from
the dry cargo ship Nakhichevan that sank during Sunday’s storm in the
Sea of Azov, the Federal Regional Centre of the Emergencies Ministry
told Itar-Tass.

The bodies have not been identified yet. "The inscriptions on the
life vests indicate that they are from the crew of the sunken dry
cargo ship," the centre official said.

Meanwhile the weather in the area has deteriorated, upsetting the
cleanup operation to remove the oil spill in the Kerch Strait, chief
spokesman for the Southern Regional Centre of the Emergencies Ministry
Oleg Grekov told Itar-Tass.

"A force 4 storm continues in the area, and the temperature of the
air is falling, causing the fuel oil to sink to the bottom. And the
oil spill area may increase because of the gusts of wind of up to 10
meters per second," he said.

He said, however, that there are no signs of other oil leaks from
the grounded ships.

On Sunday, the gale wind raging in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov
at a speed of up to 32 meters per second scattered dozens of vessels
in the Kerch Strait. The Volgoneft-139 anchored tanker, carrying
4,077,000 tonnes of fuel oil broke into two in the Temryuk district
near the Zhyolty Rog Horn on the Taman Peninsula, leaking about 1,200
tonnes of fuel oil into the sea.

Three dry cargo ships, the Volnogorsk-Balker, the Nakhichevan, and
the Koval, loaded with sulphur sank.

Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said several
teams are collecting the spilt oil on the coast in the Kerch Strait
and the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar Territory.

Rescuers are monitoring the spills from helicopters to keep track of
their drift and predict environmental consequences of the spill in
the area.

Rescuers are also pumping fuel oil from the ships affected the
storm and plan to start transferring oil from the Volgoneft-139
and Volgoneft-123 tankers. The latter, although afloat, has been
seriously damaged.

The search for five missing crewmen from the Nakhichevan is underway.

Thirty-seven people were saved during the rescue operation that
began on Sunday after several vessels had got in distress in the
Kerch Strait and the Novorossiisk port.

"Three emergency helicopters and 11 rescue vessels are involved in the
search operation," Beltsov said earlier. The bodies of three seamen,
reportedly Nakhichevan crewmembers, have been found.

Despite the storm, Russian and Ukrainian specialists continue the
search-and-rescue operation in the strait. They are trying to find
five seamen from the Nakhichevan. The crew consisted of eight people,
and earlier the bodies of three seamen in life vests were found on
the Tuzla Spit. They are believed to be from the Nakhichevan. "The
Russian side has indicated the area of the search, where the people
can be found," a representative of the Russian crisis management
commission said.

The Russian crisis management commission (headquartered at the Kavkaz
port), led by Deputy Transport Minister Boris Korol, is working in
cooperation with the Ukrainian counterpart in Kerch, led by Deputy
Minister for Transport and Communications Valentin Kasapchyuk.

Meanwhile, the Russian Transport Ministry is working out a plan for
recovering the ships that sank in the Kerch Strait on Sunday. However,
the work will begin only after weather conditions improve in the area,
the head of the Federal Agency of Sea and Inland Water Transport,
Alexander Davydenko, told Itar-Tass.

"Workforce and means necessary to begin the operation have already
been sent to the region. Three helicopters and special tugboats will
be working in the strait," Davydenko said. "Ship owners also intend
to participate in the operation," he added.

The ships will be raised with the help of pontoons. "They will
be submerged and divers will fix them to the ships lying on the
seabed. Then, water will be pumped out of the pontoons, and air will
be pumped in, after which ships will get afloat together with them,"
he explained.

According to Davydenko, the ships will be then examined and depending
on their condition and weather conditions, they will be either
transported to the port or the water will be pumped out at the site.

According to the latest reports, the nose part of the Volgoneft-139
is at the place where the ship was anchored, while the aft is four
kilometres west of Tuzla lying aground. A crew of 13 has been taken
to the local hospital.

The Volgoneft -123 has a crack in the body and is moored at the 6th
pier at Kavkaz port, being prepared for the transfer of oil from
its holds.

The Dika barge is standing in shallow waters southwest of Tuzla.l
Its two-member crew has been picked up by a Ukrainian tugboat. The
Demetera barge is anchored 4.5 kilometres west of Cape Tuzla. The
two-member crew is aboard. There is no threat to their lives.

The dry cargo ship Volnogorsk sank with a cargo of granulated sulphur
west of Cape Tuzla. Its crew of eight has been taken to a hospital
in Taman.

The dry cargo ship Kovel is standing in shallow waters off the Crimea,
its nose part is slightly sunken. The 110member crew has been picked
up from the ship and taken to a hospital in Taman. The floating crane
Sevastopolets is in shallow waters off cape Zelezny Rog.

According to the Southern Regional Centre of the Emergencies Ministry,
320 Russian rescuers, 46 pieces of machinery, 13 ships, and four
helicopters are taking part in the search and rescue operation in
cooperation with the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry.

FAMILY STRIKES GOLD IN VET’S OLD UNIFORM
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Rocky Mountain News, CO
Nov 12 2007

Surprise discovery solves mystery of missing heirlooms

A big chunk of Michael Brown’s family history arrived in a UPS box
last month at his Greeley home.

He had no idea how big.

Inside the box was a U.S. Air Force uniform, blue and crisp as the
last day that Brown’s late uncle, John Kludjian, had worn it during
the Korean War as a sergeant in the Strategic Air Command.

The uniform came in a thin plastic cover from the dry cleaners. Stacy
Brown, Michael’s wife, tore the plastic off and spread the uniform
over their bed.

She felt a slight lump in the breast pocket.

Gently unclasping the pin the dry cleaner had affixed to the pocket
flap, she reached inside.

Out came a small gray felt bag. She opened it. Out came a wad of
tissue paper. She unrolled it.

"Just one thing after another started falling out of this tissue
paper," Brown said. "First, there was this 14-carat gold necklace.

Then there was this tennis bracelet. Then this gold broach with
rubies. And there was this huge diamond ring."

Brown got on the phone and called her husband.

He told her his Auntie Mary said there would be some cuff links
and things.

"I don’t think this is something your Auntie Mary was planning on,"
she replied.

It wasn’t. When Michael Brown called his aunt in Haverford Township,
Pa., she almost screamed into the phone.

"Oh my goodness," Mary Kludjian recalled this week. "I was so
surprised, I couldn’t believe it."

She recognized every bit of jewelry as a collection of family heirlooms
that had been missing for 15 years.

And amid the jewels, the most important family heirloom was still
intact: about 18 inches of gold necklace attached to the ruby broach.

Back in 1915, Mary Kludjian’s family had fled their homeland to escape
the Armenian Genocide, during which 1 million to 1.5 million Armenians
were killed by the Ottoman Turks.

In their exile, her relatives carried with them a spool of gold,
which they bartered bit by bit for food and survival.

When they finally reached safety in the United States, all that
was left of the gold was the 18 inches that now spilled out of John
Kludjian’s uniform pocket.

"It was important to me, but I’d given up on it," Mary Kludjian said.

The gold necklace and other valuables vanished one day when she and
her husband were getting ready to visit relatives in Las Vegas.

Mary Kludjian had forgotten to put the jewels in the safe deposit box,
so her husband John went back into the house and put them someplace
for safe keeping.

When she went looking for them about a week after their trip, he
couldn’t remember where he put them.

"We turned the house upside down," she said.

Nothing.

About eight years later, her husband died at the age of 70. Again,
they tossed the house. Again, nothing.

A few months ago, Michael’s mother called to ask if he would be
interested in having his Uncle John’s old uniform.

"It meant a lot to him," she said, because he was very proud of
his service.

Brown said he would be happy to have it.

By coincidence, another relative was visiting Colorado a few days
after the jewels were discovered. She returned them to Mary Kludjian.

As for the Browns, they plan to put the uniform in a shadowbox,
along with some of John Kludjian’s medals.

Michael Brown said he wonders what would have happened to his family
if it weren’t for that gold thread and if he hadn’t accepted the gift
of his uncle’s uniform.

"It’s almost as if this was all meant to be," he said.

/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5745256,00.html

ARMENIA’S AUTHORITIES STILL FOCUSING ON POVERTY, PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SAYS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Nov 12 2007

YEREVAN, November 12. /ARKA/. The poverty issue still remains
the focus of Armenia’s authorities, said RA NA (National Assembly)
Speaker Tigran Torosian during the RPA (Republican Party of Armenia)
sitting on November 10.

According to him, the poverty index has reduced twice recently, but
every fourth citizen is poor and pension is too small to cover the
material needs of the population.

The living standards and educational level in Armenia are not
satisfactory, according to Torosian. In this connection, he believes
it is necessary to amend the country’s political, economic and legal
systems. Only after this it will be possible to implement the second
stage of reforms the goals and objectives of which are set in the
RPA pre-election program, the RA NA Speaker said.

Poverty level in Armenia totaled 24% in 2006 – 4.6% reduction as
compared to 2005. By 2012, the RA Government plans to reduce poverty
and extreme poverty by 11.5% and 1.5% respectively.

POLITICAL CRISIS IN GEORGIA WON’T BE RESOLVED SOON

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.11.2007 14:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The political crisis in Georgia is going on and many
stories will be still invented about Russian agents during next two
months, said Walter Kaufmann, Heinrich-Boll-Foundation South Caucasus
Regional Office Director.

The state of emergency will actually deprive the opposition candidates
of the chance of nomination, according to him.

"The dispersal of the demonstration in Tbilisi reminded the events
of April 9, 1989 when the Soviet Army broke up the rally with tear
gas. This fact irritates the Georgian society," he noted.

"I suppose, West is interested in a sustainable Georgia. However,
proclamation of emergency rule inflicted on Georgia’s image a severe
damage that won’t be forgotten soon," he said, Deutsche Welle reports.

LARGE SUM NEEDED TO PUBLISH BOOK

Panorama.am
23:05 08/11/2007

Eduard Militonyan, the head of publishing agency of the Ministry of
Culture, said, "This year the state disposed 135mln. Drams and we
must publish 124 name books by state order." He said that 30 name
books are already published mainly in cultural themes.

Mr. Militonyan mentioned that other books like translations, fictions,
popular scientific and books for children will be published by state
order, too. He added that children’s books will be educative, as well
as entertaining. Mr. Militonyan said that 135mln.

Drams are not a large sum of money, as for publishing one volume of
children’s encyclopedias 20mln. Drams are needed.

WHO IS ACTUALLY IGNORANT
Armen Tsaturyan

"HAYOTS ASHKHARH" Daily Newspaper
8 Nov 07
Armenia

Of the Slogan "There are no Christians to the East of Armenia"

It was quite predictable that the press belonging to Armenian Pan
National Movement would definitely misrepresent and speculate on the
ideas expressed by Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan during his visit to
America. But what is happening at present can be named in no other
way than ridicule.

Particularly the idea expressed by the Prime Minister "There are
no Christians to the East of Armenia" was evaluated as, no more no
less, a manifestation of an absolute ignorance about our country’s
geographical positions.

But the definition "There are no Christians to the East of Armenia"
given by the Prime Minister refers not to Armenia’s present
geographical situation but to the history of our country. In reality
S.Sargsyan has evaluated the history of the relations between Armenians
and their neighbor Muslims. Speaking about Islam, he said," When we
observe this factor from the point of view of millenniums, probably
this is the only reason for our conflict. There are no Christians
to the East of Armenia and if we can say so, we are on the edge of
Christianity."

But it turns out that there are some know-alls in Armenian Pan
National Movement who are trying to give lessons of geography to
the public, stating that Christians live in Australia and in the Far
East. Really? But, what if the latter ones have settled down in this
territory for some centuries and the relationship of Armenians with
Muslim countries has a history of 1,4 millennium.

We could ignore the cheap tricks of Armenian Pan National Movement,
had S. Sargsyan’s announcement referred to any of a current political
issue.

But the thing is, for the first time in the history of our newly
independent state Armenian Prime Minister hinted to the Western
Community, that for centuries we have played the role of the stronghold
of Christian civilization, in the East.

But beginning from 301, when Armenia was the first to adopt
Christianity as a state religion and thus clarified its political
and cultural orientation, in the arsenal of our foreign policy we
have always had the statement "There are no Christians to the East
of Armenia" and none of our Ministers or Kings have been blamed for
ignorance, when they reminded the rulers of the West about it. Nowadays
only those who have no idea about the history of their own nation
can give a hostile reception to this historical fact.

Moreover the idea expressed by the Prime Minister in the USA was
not only the recording of an evident historical fact, but also an
attempt to remind about the doctrine that has existed in the arsenal
of Armenian diplomacy for around a millennium and a half. The latter
has been the pivotal clause of our relations with the Christian
World and first of all the western countries, both in the period of
the adoption of Christianity and when Armenia was ruled over by the
Kingdom of Kilikia and in the future centuries.

The vision of the medieval Armenian messiah Nerses Mets was based
on the idea of liberating Armenia from the yoke of eastern tyrants,
with the help of Christian Franks. Even in recent times our delegates,
such as Stepanos Salmastetsy, Israel Ory, and Khrimyan Hayrik who
left for Europe and Russia, have been guided by this idea-slogan. The
external orientations of Armenian liberation movement and even the
goals and steps of the leaders of the first Republic of Armenia have
been anchored on the clause of the necessity of being the eastern
strongholds of Christianity.

We should also remind you that our neighbor Georgians, who in
their whole history, had little role as strongholds of Christian
civilization, recently after the "revolution of roses" have owned
the flag of crusaders, that is well known to us, from the time
when Armenia was ruled over by the Kingdom of Kilikia, to represent
themselves to the West with the slogan "There are no Christians to
the East of Georgia". But this open attempt of stealing Armenia’s
geopolitical function has never been considered the manifestation of
Sahakashvily’s ignorance.

By his recent mention about the clause "There are no Christians to
the East of Armenia", that has played a role of a pivotal political
doctrine for Armenian diplomacy and liberation movement, Armenian
Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan didn’t make an invention. It is more
ridiculous that the statement considered by an outstanding historian
Nikoghayos Adonts "The Spur of Armenian History", is called ignorance
by some ignorant people.

By the way if the political doctrine based on the formula "There are
no Christians to the East of Armenia" is ignorance, then by the same
logic the work "Kilikia and the Crusaders" by Levon Ter-Petrosyan
that thoroughly studied one of the most important periods of the
formulation and accomplishment of that doctrine, should also be
considered ignorance.

That is why we hope that at least Levon Ter-Petrosyan will moderate
the ridiculous and ignorant ribaldry of the activists of Armenian
Pan National Movement.

"AMERIA" BECOMES FOUNDING MEMBER OF COMMUNITY OF GLOBAL GROWTH COMPANIES IN CONTEXT OF WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

ARKA
Nov 8, 2007

YEREVAN, November 8. /ARKA/. "Ameria" Closed Joint Stock Company is the
first Armenian company that became a founding member of the Community
of Global Growth Companies in the context of World Economic Forum,
General Financial Director of "Ameria" Ara Hayrapetian told ARKA
news agency.

He reported that summer Davos or officially World Economic Forum is
opened in Chinese Dalian on September 6. The difference of the summit
under the aegis of Davos from Davos Switzerland is the participation
of major rapidly growing companies with annual turnover of up to $5bln.

Under the decision made within the forum a global community of rapidly
growing companies (Community of Global Growth Companies) of different
countries is to be established – the New Champions. First of all,
these are companies from the most dynamic economies of the world –
Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Hayrapetian said that 1,000 major economic corporations with annual
turnover of more than $5-10bln operate currently within World Economic
Forum with only 100 companies of them having the status of founder.

In the coming 10 years 1,000 global multinational companies are to
enter the economic division of so-called "New Champions", Hayrapetian
said.

According to him, today the Community has 100 founding members, with
40% of them representing Asia, 26% – European companies, 20% – American
companies and the rest – companies mainly from Middle East and Africa.

Particularly, Russia was represented in the Community by 11 companies,
Ukraine – by 7 companies, Azerbaijan – by 2 companies and Armenia –
only by one company.

Hayrapetian pointed out that the Community is the biggest and most
influential world forum that also gives exclusive opportunities of
establishing contacts at the highest level of world business elite.

"The membership in the Community of Global Growth Companies is a
serious breakthrough for us as it allows us establishing contacts with
biggest world companies," Hayrapetian said. Particularly, "Ameria"
got an excellent opportunity to reach a new level of development,
establish partnership and exchange experience and ideas with the
companies-members of World Economic Forum and to directly provide
information about Armenia’s market and investment potential to the
participants of the forum.

The second meeting of the New Champions is to be held in the Chinese
city Tianzhin in summer 2008.

"Ameria" is a group of companies providing complex professional
services.

"Ameria" specializes mainly in four fields – management consulting;
audit, accounting and tax consulting; legal consulting;
investment-banking services.

The company was founded in 1998 and soon became the leader on the
Armenian market of consulting services. "Ameria" applied international
experience in its sphere and displayed understanding of local
peculiarities in solving complex tasks in more than 30 fields of
economy and public activities.

EURO-PARLIAMENT HEARING ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER
Mathieu Briens at TEPSA, [email protected]

http://www.insideeurope.o rg/index.php?id=393&backPID=393&tt_news=20 4
s.do

8/11/07

TEPSA, Brussels. On 7 November in Brussels, on the occasion of a
meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European
Parliament Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation
Committee, two authors of TEPSA’s study on "The case for opening the
Turkish-Armenian border", presented the results of their work to the
Members of the European Parliament.

This was the first meeting of the two delegations, and was held in
preparation for possible parliamentary initiatives in support of
opening the border and normalising relations between the Republics
of Armenia and Turkey. The meeting was convened and chaired by
Delegation Chairpersons Marie-Anne Isler Beguin (EU-Armenia PCC)
and Joost Lagendijk (EU-Turkey JPC).

After a presentation of the main findings of the study, Burcu
Gultekin-Punsmann, Research Fellow at the Center for European Studies
at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and Nicolas
Tavitian, Director of the Inside Europe resource centre, answered
the questions of the Parliamentarians. The quality of their work was
acknowledged by the Chairperson of the meeting Marie-Anne Isler-Beguin,
who welcomed it as a contribution to raising awareness on this
sensitive issue, as well as opening new perspectives for discussion.

The study, which was delivered as part of the framework contract
between the Trans-European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) and
the European Parliament, was coordinated by Nathalie Tocci of TEPSA’s
Italian member Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome.

VARTAN OSKANIAN AND PETRAS VAITIEKUNAS ASSESS THE SITUATION IN GEORGIA

armradio.am
08.11.2007 14:43

"The stability of Georgia is a most urgent issue for Armenia. Georgia
is a friend and a neighbor country, and we would like to see it as
a stable country. We are closely watching the processes in Georgia
and we hope that it will be possible to reach a political solution in
the near future," RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said at a joint
press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Petras Vaitiekunas.

Mr. Vaitiekunas noted that no visit to Georgia was envisaged, but
taking into consideration the situation there, it became necessary
to leave Yerevan for Tbilisi. "The European Union and Lithuania are
worries about the situation and wish to send clear messages that
the European path of Georgia is of primary importance and it is the
application of European values that can lead to reasonable future and
solutions," he said. The Minister noted that it is necessary to react
to new facts and tell the Georgian people that they are not alone and
they are important for Europe. To resolve issues, it is necessary to
apply the European values without violence.

NATO MEMBERSHIP WOULD DOUBLE ARMENIA’S PROBLEMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.11.2007 13:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is not aspired for NATO membership but
is efficiently cooperating with the Alliance, RA President Robert
Kocharian stated in Helsinki.

He said he doesn’t see serious contradictions between Armenia’s
membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
and cooperation with NATO.

"NATO is the most influential European security organization and we
should cooperate with it," he said adding Armenia doesn’t intend to
join the Alliance.

"Armenia is located in a region where NATO membership would create
extra problems. We cooperate not to please Brussels. We do choose
cooperation which strengthens our security. NATO membership is not
the thing," he said, ITAR-TASS reports.