Author: nina hovnanian

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SURPRISED BY ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE’S STATEMENT

tert.am
28.01.13

A statement by the Georgia’s Armenian Patriarchate, concerning the
release of “Russian spies from the Georgian prisons”, has reportedly
left Mikheil Saakashvili surprised.

According to Georgia Online, the president has considered the
Patriarchate’s reaction politicized.

The statement says that certain political and public groups in Georgia
guide themselves by phobias, particularly Armenophobia, in building
their political future. The Georgian president has repeatedly stated
that such approaches are unacceptable.

“The Armenian Patriarchate’s statement, concerning [Georgian-Armenian
activist] Vahagn Chakhalyan’s release is surprising against this
background. The president has emphasized that Chakhalyan’s ethnic
background did not count at all as the case was concerned with the
criminal activities of a Georgian citizen,” reads a statement issued
in this connection.

Employees of the Presidential Office have said that Saakashvili has
several times expressed his negative stance on pardon decisions and
especially the release of “Russian spies”.

In the statement released after Chakhalyan’s release, the Patriarchate
called upon the Georgian leader and his United National Movement
party to refrain from provocative statement against Chakhalyan.

AZERBAIJAN’S HOSTILITIES AGAINST NAGORNO-KARABAKH MEANS END TO ALIYEV REGIME – ARMENIAN EXPERT.

tert.am
28.01.13

If Azerbaijan decides to resume hostilities against Nagorno-Karabakh
in an attempt to resolve the problem of domestic tension and enable
the Aliyev regime to retain power, that very step will cause the
regime’s collapse.

“We are not making unfounded claims when we say that Azerbaijan is not
prepared for war. Even if they resort to hostilities their victory
is not guaranteed. Will it save them or destroy completely? In this
case they need a swift victory. If the Azeri army fails, it will
speed up the regime’s collapse,” military expert David Jamalyan told
journalists on Monday.

Mr Jamalyan recalled that Azerbaijan committed its last act of sabotage
last June. “Our response was harsh. They were unable to conceal the
real number of victims for a long time, inventing absurd stories,”
the expert said.

THREE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ISSUE STATEMENT

tert.am
28.01.13

Three presidential candidates – Hrant Bagratyan, Paruir Hairikyan
and Raffi Hovannisian – issued a joint statement.

In their statement, the presidential candidates call for publication
of the lists of voters that are absent from Armenia and for an active
struggle because, they believe, this is the only way of changing the
current situation.

In their statement, the three presidential candidates express their
concern. They consider the February 18 presidential election a
historic event.

“Unfortunately, we have not so far been able to build up an Armenia
of rule of law, in conformity with panhuman democratic standards and
national values,” says the statement.

Forming a democratic government by means of elections in Armenia has
remained a cherished dream for society. This disgraceful situation
made the presidential candidates put forward a number of proposals.

First, publishing the lists of voters absent from Armenia, who, in
defiance of Armenia’s Constitution, are stripped of the opportunity
to exercise their voting right. Specifically, lists of voters that
have been absent from Armenia for more than 180 days must be put up
separately to prevent voting instead of them.

All the presidential candidates, including Armenia’s incumbent
President Serzh Sargsyan, must assume the responsibility (not in
only word, but also in deed) to rule out the use of administrative
resources and intimidation.

“We call on all the citizens to take part in the February 18
presidential election,” says the statement.

Hayrikyan to stop dry hunger-strike

tert.am
16:24 – 27.01.13

The leader of the National Self-Determination Union, who stands as a
candidate in the February presidential election, is stopping his
hunger strike later today.

Paruyr Hayrikyan declared a three-day dry hunger strike on Friday in
support of Andrias Ghukasyan, another contender who has been
protesting outside the National Academy of Sciences since January 21.

Speaking to Tert.am, the politician confirmed the report.

Hayrikyan had earlier said in a Facebook post that he will visit
Ghukasyan once again before ending his protest.

Politika website, Serbia
22 Jan 2013

Are New Countries in Europe Possible?

by Ivana Anojcic:

If borders change in England and Belgium, that model could also be
applied to Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija, K-M] and Bosnia.

Will Europe see major changes in the next 20 years, as predicted by
Russian experts based on documents from America’s CIA, Russia’s GRU
[military intelligence agency], and expert groups headed by Zbigniew
Brzezinski and Samuel Huntington, who have drawn up the map “New
Europe” as of 2035?

According to them, Scotland will declare independence after a
referendum, and that will inspire the unification of Ireland. The
Catalans and Basque will declare independence from Spain, and one
consequence of that will be the collapse of multiculturalism in
France. An Islamic state will emerge in the area around Marseille, the
Lorraine area centred on Strasbourg will be appended to Germany, and
Corsica will declare independence.

Belgium will also fall apart, with the Flemings joining the
Netherlands. Italy will split into a wealthy north and a poor south,
and Sardinia and Sicily will declare independence. The territory of
B-H will be divided by Serbia and Croatia. In order to appease Turkey,
a Greater Albania will come into being, made up of Albania, Kosovo,
the territory that the Albanians call the Presevo valley, and part of
western Macedonia. Hungary will regain part of its former territory in
Romania and northern Banat. Poland will have to give up part of its
territory following new agreements between Russia and Germany. Belarus
will cease to exist and will become part of Russia, as will parts of
the Baltic states and Ukraine. It is also believed that Russia will
not be able to hold on to Chechnya and Dagestan. According to the
Russian experts, the scope of the changes will depend on social and
political instability.

Slobodan Markovic, an associate professor at the Faculty of Political
Science, points out that the Russian experts have included the caveat
that the changes will depend on social and political instability. He
says that it is impossible right now to project whether they will take
place, and he recalls that only Zbigniew Brzezinski projected the
collapse of the USSR. “If you compare the maps of Europe in 1910 and
1920, they show huge changes, because four empires disappeared. No one
could have predicted that.”

Markovic says that this map reflects political interests, not a
serious analysis. “Germany and Russia gain territory, but Russia also
loses territory. Changes in the 20th century occurred after World Wars
I and II and after the Cold War. In our case, changes occurred after
the Cold War. There is also the possibility of new states being
created now. For example, that is allowed under the Constitution of
Great Britain. In Belgium there is discussion in clubs about changing
that country’s borders. In some countries, there will not be big
changes. If Scotland does secede, it will still retain some connection
with Great Britain.”

However, Markovic says that if there is a negotiated change of borders
in western Europe, that will become a model. “If changes in borders
are agreed to, that will have direct consequences for Kosovo-Metohija,
Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Macedonia. The Flemish, Walloon, or Scottish
model will be applied to K-M, B-H, and Macedonia. If there is a
confederation in Belgium, it is not impossible that that will be
replicated.”

Markovic thinks that it is impossible that an Islamic state will arise
in the Marseille region or that the Lorraine area in France will be
appended to Germany. “That seems tendentious.”

Historian Predrag Markovic believes that this map is like the game of
Risk and that the only border changes are in our region. “Yugoslavia’s
borders were redrawn despite the Helsinki Charter. That also happened
in Nagorno-Karabakh, Ossetia, and Abkhazia. The border was changed in
Kosmet, but that cannot be said of Macedonia because it does not exist
as a functional state. In Bosnia-Hercegovina, the two entities are
indifferent to border changes. It is possible that Scotland will
secede and that Albania will change its border.”

[Translated from Serbian]

Cihan News Agency (CNA) – Turkey
January 20, 2013 Sunday

Minister hints at new probe as thousands march for justice in Dink case

ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- Tens of thousands of people marched for justice in
the case against the shooting of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrank
Dink on Saturday and Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said Dink’s
murder may be re-investigated under the fourth judicial reform
package.

The late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink,
was shot dead by ultra-nationalist teenager Ogün Samast. The murder
initially appeared to be a murder staged due to the young hitman’s
ultra-nationalist sentiments. However, during the course of the
five-year trial, both co-plaintiff lawyers and the prosecutor were
able to gather evidence indicating the role of a larger group.

On the sixth anniversary of the murder, thousands of people marched
>From Istanbul’s Taksim Square to the site of Dink’s murder, the Agos
headquarters in Sisli, as they do every year on Jan. 19 to support the
Dink family and demand justice.

Speaking from the window of Agos, Dink’s widow, Rakel, said it has
been six years without Hrant. “But we are again here at the spot where
he was shot. I will share my pain with you. Nobody is doing good for
us, everyone is committing crimes and they are continuing to do so,”
Rakel Dink said in sorrow.

Writer Hidayet Seftali Tüksal also spoke during the commemoration
ceremony, saying Dink’s friends have been waiting for justice to be
served for six years.

Saturday’s commemoration ceremonies were marred by clashes between a
group of demonstrators and police in Istanbul as the commemoration
ceremony ended. Police reportedly used pepper gas during the clashes.

While Samast was sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by a
juvenile court, Yasin Hayal was given life in prison for inciting the
murder. In a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers were convicted
merely on charges of “dereliction of duty” in the run-up to the Dink
murder. During the five-year trial process, both lawyers for the Dink
family and prosecution presented evidence indicating that Samast was
not acting alone.

On Jan. 10, the Supreme Court of Appeals’ Chief Public Prosecutor’s
Office asked the high court to overturn a highly controversial ruling
>From last year that ruled out the involvement of an organized criminal
network in the killing of Dink. The top prosecutor said that Dink was
obviously killed specifically because he is from a different ethnic
group, and his murder was part of the planned and systematic activity
of a criminal network aiming to damage the state’s unity.

Also on Saturday, Justice Minister Ergin held a meeting with the We
Demand Justice Union to discuss the Dink murder trial. Activist Ömer
Faruk Gergerlioglu told the press after the meeting that the minister
gave the green signal that the murder may be re-investigated after the
fourth judicial reform package is endorsed.

“Minister Ergin said information and documents in the murder case of
Dink suggest that there is a collective structure behind the murder,”
Gergerlioglu noted, adding: “The state would save itself by just
paying compensation in such criminal cases in the past, but this will
no longer be the case with the fourth judicial reform package. The
package will impact all the ongoing cases. The cases will be
re-opened. The minister’s remarks hinted that the murder of Dink will
be re-investigated even if the Supreme Court of Appeals upholds the
court ruling in the murder case. It is evident that the murder will be
probed once again.”

Gergerlioglu also said the justice minister has concerns about the
Dink case as the murder happened six years ago, and some of crucial
evidence related to the incident may have been destroyed. “The
minister also said he expects the truth in the case to be exposed as
soon as possible,” he added.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in September 2010
that Turkey had failed to investigate and prosecute those who were
responsible for Dink’s murder and this constitutes a violation of
Dink’s right to life. Friends of Hrant are saying, “We are Here
Ahparig! (“ahparig” means “my brother” in Armenian) this year. Last
week saw a week-long memorial of events ranging from film screenings
to exhibitions, from a symposium to story-reading and musical
performances that started at Cezayir Meeting Hall on Jan. 12-13 with a
symposium entitled “Hrant Dink Operation: Six Years.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 20, 2013 Sunday
Main Edition

Family’s love is part of success

Veronica Buckman; For the AJC

I recently met with a group of young women from Alpharetta, Milton and
Roswell to speak about college and career options. I answered
questions about getting into top schools and spotting hot careers.

As I left, I worried the discussion was incomplete. These were
high-achieving girls who wanted a road map for career success. Ideas
on nurturing a family escaped their concern.

Before the meeting I had spent the holiday talking with my own young
adult daughters about college, work, marriage and kids. Their
91-year-old grandmother had come to visit, and brought strong
opinions. A mother of 12, she expressed how the women’s movement had
left today’s young women with false impressions of work done by wives
and mothers of the past.

“It was different in my time when I started my family,” my
mother-in-law said. “Women could work, go to college — it’s just
that we didn’t often aspire to such things. Most of us wanted to be
educated, but were very content as wives and mothers. The domestic
front was our focus. I know I was domesticated!”

She was being self-deprecating. In fact, she was a college graduate
with a degree in chemistry. Now the matriarch of an extended family of
more than 50, including surgeons, lawyers and business leaders, it was
clear she’d done an amazing job.

I thought about my own grandmothers — Eleanor, a mother of German
stock in Minnesota, and Laura, a Norwegian farm mother nurturing
children, crops and livestock on the North Dakota prairie. Both had
hard-working husbands and homes filled with family.

I thought about my own mother — Joan, the third daughter of six
children, whose Irish Catholic father, a railroad mechanic, died when
she was 17. Mom started working at 15, riding the trolley to a
Minneapolis meatpacking plant. She later was a manager at Montgomery
Ward, where she met my dad.

And this mother-in-law visiting us, Gladys, had quite a life as well.
Her parents had escaped Armenia to live in the Bronx, where her father
was a textile artist. He died when she was 15, leaving her alone with
her Armenian-speaking mother. They both worked, her mother as a
seamstress, and Gladys went on to Fordham University. That’s where she
met my late father-in-law.

If you look at these stories, what might you think of these women?
Their hopes and dreams? Did they find success and fulfillment?

I see hope when I look into the faces of our energetic and creative
young people.Has there ever been so much opportunity for success and
happiness?

If we all take time to imagine the adversity faced by past generations
we can appreciate our situation, and remember that it is in the love
of family that joy most often resides. And that means remembering the
importance of being a good wife and mother.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
January 20, 2013 Sunday 07:35 AM GMT+4

Armenia was the first in the world to start teaching chess in schools-FIDE

TSAKHADZOR Armenia, January 19

– “Armenia has become the first country in the world to include chess
in a school curriculum,” Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the
International Chess Federation, said a meeting of the FIDE
presidential council held at a highland Armenian resort. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan who’s the president of the Armenian Chess
Federation is taking part in the meeting.

The Armenian Chess Federation can serve as a model to other chess
organizations, Ilyumzhinov went on to say. He said that “Chess at
school” was the main topic for discussion in Tsakhadzor. The program
is being brilliantly applied in Armenia.

“It’s not accidental that we have chosen Armenia as the venue for our
meeting, because its chess players have been showing excellent
performance in recent years,” the FIDE president said.

“No one has ever achieved what Armenia managed to achieve by teaching
chess in schools,” Ilyumzhinov said.

-0fil/

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
January 19, 2013 Saturday
METRO EDITION

Suit against Cafesjian has hint of scandal

by DAN BROWNING; STAFF WRITER, STAR TRIBUNE (Mpls.-St. Paul)

HIGHLIGHT: Former aide threatens to tell family secrets of ex-West exec.

A former aide to retired West Publishing Co. Enhanced Coverage
LinkingWest Publishing Co. -Search using:News, Most Recent 60
DaysCompany ProfileCompany Dossierexecutive Gerard Cafesjian is
raising troubling questions in a federal lawsuit that could expose
embarrassing family secrets and worse about the wealthy 87-year-old.

John J. Waters Jr., 56, of Eden Prairie, sued Cafesjian in March
seeking $5 million for what he called “deferred compensation.”

But Cafesjian, who splits his time between Roseville and Naples, Fla.,
countersued and says in court filings that he doesn’t owe Waters a
dime. He said that his longtime former employee embezzled more than $3
million from him over at least a decade, and that he’s now trying to
“extort his way out of this by threatening scandalous revelations.”

Cafesjian, a patron of the arts and Armenian causes, is the primary
benefactor of the historic State Fair carousel that now bears his name
in St. Paul’s Como Park.

Waters, who is acting as his own attorney, could not be reached for comment.

The latest dustup in the lawsuit pertains to Waters’ plans to depose
Cafesjian’s wife, Cleo. His prospective list of questions appears
intended to reveal infidelities by Cafesjian, potentially embarrassing
things about the Cafesjian children and a granddaughter, and Gerard
Cafesjian’s use of friends’ private jets, including one belonging to
Dwight Opperman, the former CEO of West Publishing who runs a venture
capital firm in Minneapolis.

Some questions appear intended to raise concerns about defections by
some business associates, about Cafesjian’s cash purchases and about
his tax reporting.

“I’ve prosecuted a number of embezzlement cases. They always involve a
shocking breach of trust. But I’ve never encountered an embezzler who
turns around and sues his victim and then threatens to expose personal
secrets about the victim,” said Andrew Luger, a former federal
prosecutor whom Cafesjian hired to find his missing money.

“It is an outrage, and Mr. Cafesjian won’t stand for it,” he said.

Cafesjian tried to quash his wife’s deposition.

“Mrs. Cafesjian is 87 years old and in failing health. She has
dementia, hearing loss, cognition, cardiac issues, spinal compression,
collapsed vertebra and exhaustion,” he said in an affidavit. “She
simply cannot endure any more pain.”

Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois said Waters could submit questions to
her in writing.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle is considering a motion by Cafesjian
to dismiss the case.

Waters started working for Cafesjian in sales and marketing at West in
1994. He says Cafesjian reaped about $300 million from his shares in
West when Thomson Corp., Enhanced Coverage LinkingThomson Corp.,
-Search using:News, Most Recent 60 DaysCompany ProfileCompany
Dossiernow Thomson Reuters, bought the company in 1996. Waters left
with Cafesjian to manage his investments and philanthropic activities.
His employment contract called for a salary of $84,000 a year, plus up
to $36,000 more in bonuses, at Cafesjian’s discretion. It says nothing
about deferred compensation.

But Waters claims Cafesjian modified the terms in an oral agreement
that provided for deferred compensation based on the value of
Cafesjian’s holdings. Over the years, Waters has represented Cafesjian
in business deals in Armenia and elsewhere around the world.

Cafesjian says in court filings that after Waters quit in 2009, his
replacement found previously unknown bank accounts and discovered the
alleged embezzlement.

Richard Ostrom, a retired FBI agent who works as a private
investigator, traced the missing cash. He concluded that Waters
embezzled the money, converted some of it to cash and funneled
additional funds to various accounts he controlled or shared with his
wife, his daughter, an Armenian exchange student, and his
then-girlfriend, Cheri Kuhn. Waters divorced his wife and married
Kuhn, who is listed as a co-defendant in the case.

In an interview, Ostrom said, Waters told him that if Cafesjian thinks
he can take any action against him without repercussions, “Mr.
Cafesjian does not realize what he is getting into.”

Cafesjian denies any wrongdoing.

The Inhabitants of the Emergency Buildings in Martouni will Soon Have
Normal Houses

Friday, 25 January 2013 15:03

`6 of the 7 houses built in the town of Martouni in 2012 were
constructed by the Artsakh Investment Fund,’ mayor of Martouni Mher
Khachatryan informed in his interview to Karabakh-open.info.

The construction of one of the houses, that began in 2011, has already
been completed, the houses built by the fund, which were not sold,
have been rendered to the perished soldiers’ families and to those
with dependent children.

As the mayor assured the construction of houses would continue this
year too. It is planned to allocate state funds to the construction of
new houses for large families. The issue of building multi-flat as
well as dwelling houses for the perished soldiers’ families is also
being discussed.

Touching upon the recent announcement concerning the programme of the
Artsakh war first-group invalids’ housing conditions improvement Mher
Khachatryan said that the registers of the mentioned people had
already been presented and the activities aimed at this had already
begun.

Besides the mentioned inhabitants of Martouni, there are other people
in the town who have been waiting to get new flats for many years.
These are the inhabitants of emergency houses. As the mayor stated
there are 5 multi-flat houses of this kind in the town.

`The compensation of the inhabitants of the mentioned houses is in
progress and soon they will be able to buy new flats with the
compensated money. At present the activities in this direction
continue,’ the mayor of Martouni noted.