RA PRESIDENT VISITING KARABAKH
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2008 13:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is currently in
Nagorno Karabakh on a 2-day visit. The President is accompanied by
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan. Near Shoushi President Sargsyan was
welcomed by NKR President Bako Sahakyan, NA Speaker Ashot Ghulyan
and Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan.
ANCA: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO BE BETTER POSITIONED THAN MCCAIN ONE TO REFLECT ARMENIAN AMERICANS’ VIEWS
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2008 15:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
formalized its longstanding support for Barack Obama with an official
endorsement of the Obama-Biden campaign for the Presidency of the
United States.
"The Armenian National Committee of America is proud today to formally
announce our support for Barack Obama – whom we endorsed this January
in the Democratic Primary and have energetically backed with sustained,
grassroots voter mobilization for the past nine months," said ANCA
Chairman Ken Hachikian. "Based on Senator Obama’s strong record in
office, his bold statements as a candidate, and our judgment as to
the types of policies he will pursue as President, we believe that
an Obama-Biden Administration would be far better positioned than
a McCain-Palin one to reflect the views and values of the Armenian
American community."
For over three decades, Vice-Presidential Nominee Senator Joe Biden
has been a voice of moral clarity on issues of concern to the Armenian
American community including:
* Support for U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, dating back to
his work with Senator Bob Dole to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(S.J.Res.212) in 1990, and to promote stronger U.S.-Armenia relations.
* Consistent support for Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act,
adopted in 1992, which restricted U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan due
to its ongoing blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
* Leadership in pressing the Administration to explain its firing
of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans and ensuring that future
nominees as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia and Turkey do not deny the
Armenian Genocide.
DIASPORA LEADER CONCERNED ABOUT PROSPECTS FOR ARMENIAN ECONOMY
Mediamax
Oct 17 2008
Armenia
Yerevan, 17 October: President of the Union of Russia’s Armenians (URA)
and the World Armenian Congress (WAC) Ara Abramyan expressed concern
today in connection with the possible influence of the international
financial crisis on Armenia.
Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
he stated that the crisis, which has hit the USA and EU countries,
may not avoid influencing Armenia.
"We should pay more attention and make more efforts, since the
situation is really complex," Abramyan stated.
URA and WAC president admitted that as to many issues he is not
concordant with the policy, realized by Armenian authorities, and is
not content by the economic situation in Armenia. He spoke for stirring
up the process of attracting foreign and Russian investments into
the Armenian economy and expressed readiness to invest 150m dollars
and create new jobs. In particular, he meant the construction of a
hotel in Yerevan and a cannery in Vayots Dzor marz.
NEW FILM FOLLOWS A WITNESS TO HISTORY US AMBASSADOR REPORTED GENOCIDE OF THE ARMENIANS
by Leslie Brokaw
The Boston Globe
October 19, 2008 Sunday
New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is the man best known
for the criminal case he built against Tyco International CEO Dennis
Kozlowski, who was convicted in 2005 of stealing $150 million from
the global manufacturing firm.
After the decision, Morgenthau wrote, "This verdict is an endorsement
of the principle of equal justice under the law. Crimes committed in
corporate offices will be treated according to the same standards as
other crimes."
The concept of equal justice is hardwired into the Morgenthau
bloodline. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, was the US ambassador to
the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, and in that role he was witness
to the rise of nationalism in Turkey and the deportation and massacre
of Armenians. Henry Morgenthau brought news of the genocide to the US
government, which declined to get involved. He published his accounts
in 1918 as "Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story" and dedicated himself to
providing privately funded resettlement help to Armenian and Greek
orphans and other refugees.
Morgenthau is a hero in the Armenian community, and his story has
been given a new telling in the documentary "The Morgenthau Story,"
by Peabody filmmaker Apo Torosyan.
Torosyan is a native of Istanbul whose father was Armenian and whose
mother was Greek. He came to Boston in 1968 and launched a visual
design company; he sold the company in 1987 and devoted his full
attention to art – drawing and painting first, then multimedia. He
pulled from his family history: his grandparents, who starved during
the Armenian genocide; his father, who as a 5-year-old child had to
look through garbage cans for food.
In 2003, Torosyan picked up a camera. He visited Edincik, a Turkish
village where his father grew up, and made his first movie, "My
Father’s Village." "Voices" and "Witnesses" followed; both are
collections of interviews with Armenian survivors.
That brought him to Henry Morgenthau’s story, one of the few bright
lights in a sea of darkness.
Interviewed in the 56-minute film are Henry Morgenthau III, born in
1917 and the grandson of Ambassador Morgenthau. He’s a television
producer who spent the later part of his career at WGBH-TV. District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau also appears, as well as Dr. Pamela Steiner,
the ambassador’s great-granddaughter and a senior fellow at the Harvard
Humanitarian Initiative and project director of HHI’s Inter-Communal
Violence and Reconciliation Project, where she focuses on improving
the relationship between Turkish and Armenian populations.
Last month, Torosyan traveled to Athens for the world premiere of
his film at the Cultural Center of Constantinopolitans.
"I felt on top of the world," says Torosyan of the trip. Over 200
people attended the gathering, which included discussions about
Morgenthau and about current reconciliation efforts.
"I told the crowd how proud I was with my Turkish and Kurdish friends,"
he says. Their ancestors may have killed his, but people today are
open to talking about the injustice. "Let us hope and not hate."
"The Morgenthau Story" will screen at a half dozen venues in the
region over the next month including Salem State College on Monday
and Endicott College, in Beverly, on Friday; the National Association
for Armenian Studies and Research, in Belmont, on Nov. 6; and Studio
Cinema, in Belmont, on Nov. 10. Visit
NETWORKING EVENT: The Massachusetts Production Coalition holds its
Fall Member Meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Boston University
Photonics Center on St. Mary’s Street. The program includes a
legislative update from state film office executive director Nick
Paleologos and IATSE local 481 manager Chris O’Donnell, a presentation
about the state tax credit by Powderhouse Productions president Tug
Yourgrau, and production insurance info from Jerome Guerard. Details
are at
SILVA ON SCREEN: A lot of the time, Jeff Daniel Silva is on the
planning side of film events: He curates the Balagan Film Series that’s
held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. But Silva is a filmmaker, too,
and the region is finally getting to see what audiences at MoMA in
New York City got to view last February: his latest work.
"Balkan Rhapsodies" will be at the Harvard Film Archive tomorrow
at 7 p.m., with Silva attending. He’ll also present footage from
a work-in-process.
Silva says he was the first US citizen to visit Serbia in the weeks
after the NATO bombing campaign in 1999. The people he met there,
he says, were caught between a rock and a hard place: a government
they didn’t like and bombs that were not making their lives any easier.
The subtitle of his film is "78 Measures of War," a reference to the
78 days of bombings. For more details, call 617-495-4700 or visit
CONVERSATIONS WITH: Mel Stuart, director of the original "Willy Wonka
& the Chocolate Factory," will be at the BU Cinematheque on Thursday
and Friday at 7 both evenings. The talk will be politics, however, not
chocolate. Thursday he’ll be presenting his "Making of the President
1960" (1963), which looked at John Kennedy’s victory over Richard
Nixon, and Friday he’ll be presenting his "Making of the President
1968" (1969), which documented Robert Kennedy’s assassination, the
Chicago riots, and marches against the war in Vietnam. That’s at the
BU College of Communication at 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Room B-05.
German filmmaker Doris Dorrie will be at the Museum of Fine Arts
on Friday and next Sunday, the Wasserman Cinematheque at Brandeis
University on Saturday, and the Goethe-Institut Boston on Oct. 28
as part of a partial retrospective of her work presented by the
institute. Included are a collection of her comedies and relationship
films from 1985 through this year. Details are at
SCREENING OF NOTE: The Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Europe’s Grand Opera
series, which presents high definition versions of current productions,
usually meets just once a month on a Sunday morning, but this week
there are two chances to see the featured show: "La Traviata" plays
this morning at 11 a.m. and again tomorrow at 7 p.m. The series
is co-presented by Boston Lyric Opera. Call 617-734-2500 or go to
D. MEDVEDEV PAYS OFFICIAL VISIT TO ARMENIA
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia
By the invitation of President Serge Sargsyan, RF President D. Medvedev
yesterday arrived in Armenia on a two-day official visit.
At the airport, Mr. Medvedev was met by President Serge Sargsyan,
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, RA Ambassador to the Russian
Federation Armen Smbatyan, RF Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay Pavlov and
other officials. Among the members of the delegation of the Russian
President were RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Transport
Igor Levitin, Minister of Energy Sergey Shmadko as well as Heads of
administrative divisions of the Russian Federation and businessmen,
This is D. Medvedev’s first visit to Armenia in the capacity of the
President of the Russian Federation.
Within the frameworks of the official visit, the Armenian and Russian
Presidents will have a tête-a-tête which will be followed by
negotiations with the participation of more representatives.
After the end of the negotiations, different documents on cooperation
will be signed. Thereafter, Serge Sargsyan and Dmitry Medvedev will
make a statement summing up the results of the talks.
–Boundary_(ID_NoPWka28ynWvStSR7cnq2w)–
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY: REPORTS OUTLINE PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY STUDY FINDINGS FROM V.A. ATOYAN AND COLLEAGUES
Science Letter
October 7, 2008
According to recent research published in the Russian Journal of
Physical Chemistry a, "Methyl heptyl ketone was shown to obey the
law of corresponding states as concerns the velocity of sound and
adiabatic compressibility."
"An equation for the determination of the inversion temperature
depending on the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms in molecules of
liquids of this group was obtained. The inversion temperatures of
11 liquid ketones were found and used to calculate their critical
temperatures," wrote V.A. Atoyan and colleagues (see also Physical
Chemistry).
The researchers concluded: "The paper presents the adiabatic
compressibilities of these liquids over the temperature (273-473 K)
and pressure ranges (from 0.1 to 160 MPa) studied."
Atoyan and colleagues published their study in Russian Journal of
Physical Chemistry a (On the applicability of the law of corresponding
states to liquid methyl heptyl ketone. Russian Journal of Physical
Chemistry a, 2008;82(9):1605-1609).
For additional information, contact V.A. Atoyan, Armenian State
University, Stepanakert, Armenia.
The publisher’s contact information for the Russian Journal of Physical
Chemistry a is: Maik Nauka, Interperiodica, Springer, 233 Spring St.,
New York, NY 10013-1578, USA.
THE SOUTH OSSETIAN CRISIS AND TURKEY (I)
Rafet Davletov
en.fondsk.ru
20.10.2008
Turkey’s reaction towards the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia
came as a surprise to many European politicians. It was not only the
timing of the visit to Moscow of Turkish president Abdulla Gyul and
premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan that took place immediately after the
beginning of hostilities in South Ossetia, but also because the visit
looked like Ankara’s show of support of Russia as an ally.
A number of experts presume that :
a) as the war in South Ossetia grew out of the US attempts to draw
Russia into this local conflict, growing into a regional one and
b) a certain chill began to be felt in the relations between Ankara
and Washington following that; thus signs of outlines of a potential
"condominium" of Russia and Turkey over the Greater Black Sea region
taking shape, and given their intention to build up a system of
regional security from the Balkans to Caspian Sea on their own,
without assistance from non-resident countries in this region, is
not out of the question.
Many in the West grew indignant over these developments as they had
long been accustomed to regard Turkey as a satellite of the leading
nations of the North Atlantic alliance. However, times are changing,
and many in the present-day Turkey stopped viewing the West as their
friend. The reasons are many… They include US policies in Iraq,
especially with reference to the Kurdish problem; and the situation
of Turkmen, Turkish kith and kin, the area of whose residence is
almost identical with the territory of the so-called "Free Kurdistan"
(a quasi-state of Kurds created "under the US security umbrella"),
but with Turkmen living suffering from a genocide on the hands of
military Kurdish formations, and Washington trying to close its eyes on
this. To add up to this is the US intention to implement its project
of "Greater Middle East" with plans to have – among other things –
bringing together the Iraqi, Turkish, Syrian and Iranian Kurds with the
corresponding re-mapping of national borders in the Middle East. (It
must be noted that despite the evident threat to Turkey’s sovereignty,
these plans were supported by "Party of Justice and Development",
the ruling party led by R.T.Erdogan).
Ankara cannot be unconcerned over issues like the absence of a solution
of key issues relating to the Kurds issue, willing to ensure its
energy security, its EU entry, the refusal of the rest of the world
to recognise the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus and the actual
failure to create a Turk-Islamic union, and other issues,
The political crisis in Turkey caused by the standoff of the ruling
Islamic party and nationalist forces represented by the Peo ple’s
Republican Party (Deniz Baikal) that is supported by the pro-US
Turkish top military leaders along with US attempts to weaken Ankara’s
positions in the Black Sea (frontier) states, in the South Caucasus
as well as the Northern Iraq make Turkey face a serious geopolitical
choice. The option will determine both the implementation of Turkish
ruling elites desire to make their country a leading nation in the
Near East and the Greater Black Sea region, as well as the future of
Turkey’s statehood.
What has made the Turkish political leadership respond to the
developments in South Ossetia in a specific way that at first puzzled
the West so?
Washington and Brussels have come to realize that to expect Turkey
act in the Greater Black Sea region as "their own", a 100% ("North
Atlantic") state is now highly unlikely. The US attempts to secure
a foothold in the Trans-Caucasus by way of drawing Georgia into the
NATO orbit at any cost cannot leave Ankara unconcerned given its
claims to create a "strategic corridor" in-between Black and Caspian
seas. For that matter, in turn, the United States keeps a close watch
of the movements of Azerbaijan, Turkey’s principal strategic partner
in the Caucasus.
Matthew Braiza’s recent statements shed enough light on the US
stance on the issue. Stressing that until recently "Georgia acted as
a regional hub setting the political rhythm and dictating political
fashion to other countries", Braiza underlined that as "the Georgian
knot has been severed, the dialogue between Turkey and Russia over
Armenia has become inevitable." Given that Georgia’s former status of
a safe transit state ensuring transport of oil from Azerbaijan and
Kazakhstan, has been dramatically shaken Turkey and Azerbaijan will
need to mend their relations with Armenia, which they now regard as an
"extra route for the transport of Caspian hydrocarbons, which can play
this role only in the conditions of warming of interstate relations
in the "Ankara-Yerevan-Baku" triangle.
This can account for both the Turkish activities regarding Armenia
in August and September that came as a surprise to many, and
Turkish intention to broker the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. Given certain frictions with Washington, the latter is the
factor coercing the Turkish leaders to begin dialogue with Moscow.
It can be recollected that in the early 1990s when preferential
routes of the Baku-Tbilisi-Jeihan oil pipeline were discussed,
the Turkish side proposed the so-called "two-pronged formula" of a
territorial exchange for Azerbaijan and Armenia (this "smart" scheme
was suggested to Turks by US intelligence agent Paul Gobble). In
line with the formula, Azerbaijan was to depart from the mountainous
parts of Nagorno Karabakh with its predominantly Armenian population,
which was to become a part of Armenia. In exchange Yerevan was to
give away to Baku the strategically important Zangezur corridor.
As for Moscow, it appears it is interested in bringing its view of the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh closer to that of Ankara – at least with
an eye to prevent further growth of violence in this sub-region. The
chances are that Moscow would soon boost activities in consolidating
its relations along the axis "Yerevan – Ankara." Russia is capable of
achieving this, given its own and Armenia’s membership in the OTCS
and the pending Armenian presidency in this organisation in 2009as
well as taking into account the roles played in Armenian economy by
Russian companies Gazprom, Rosatom and Inter RAO UPS, the ongoing
restoration by the Russia’s "Rossiyskiye Zhelezniye Dorogi." of the
Armenia-Turkey railroad, and the Russian military base in Gyumri.
The current developments have become one of the factors that motivated
Ankara to propose dialogue with Moscow on the initiative named "The
Platform of Stability in the Caucasus", which many in Ankara view as
a new "venue" for discussion of problems of regional security. The
initiative was discussed during the blitz visit to Moscow of
R.T.Erdogan and Abdulla Gyul. The discussion continued during Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Istanbul Septe mber 2, 2008.
(to be continued)
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
20 October 2008, Monday
Ergenekon case: Trial of the century starts today
Journalist and Kanaltürk founder Tuncay Ã-zkan was taken
into custody in September at his home in Ä°stanbul as part of
the Ergenekon investigation.
Today marks the start of the landmark trial of 86 individuals
suspected of membership in Ergenekon, a crime network with links to
the state — including the military — accused of a number of
political murders and attacks designed to trigger an eventual military
takeover.
The trial is seen as a historic opportunity for Turkey to confront for
the first time a phenomenon coined here as the `deep state’ and
generally used to refer to highly influential individuals and groups
nested within the state hierarchy manipulating the political and
social environment in the country, typically through illegal and
illegitimate means, although definitions of the phrase vary
significantly from person to person.
The suspects, 46 of whom are currently under arrest, will be appearing
before a judge for the first time in 17 months since the investigation
started following the accidental discovery of a house being used as an
arms depot in Ä°stanbul.
The existence of Ergenekon, a behind-the-scenes network attempting to
use social and psychological engineering to shape the country in
accordance with its own ultranationalist ideology, has long been
suspected, but the current investigation into the group began only in
2007, when a house in Ä°stanbul’s Ã`mraniye district that was
being used as an arms depot was discovered by police. The
investigation was expanded to reveal elements of the deep state.
The Ergenekon investigation is not the first time dark elements have
surfaced from the `depths’ of the state, but it certainly is the first
time so many suspects are going to stand trial before the entire
nation.
The closest Turkey came to overcoming the powerful friends of the deep
state in the judiciary and the police was the Susurluk affair of 1996,
when the relationship between a police chief, a Kurdish deputy who led
an army of men from his family clan armed by the Turkish state
fighting against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and an
internationally sought mafia boss was fully exposed.
The three were in a Mercedes that was involved in an accident in the
town of Susurluk, killing the mafia boss and the police chief. The
deputy survived but said he had no memory of the crash and did not
testify in the course of the investigation. The scandal exposed, as
never before, the extent of the state’s links to organized crime, but
those implicated in the case refused to testify. Nor could they be
subpoenaed by the judiciary. Despite public outcry and protests
against deep state links around the country, the case was soon covered
up and forgotten.
Nine years later, a bombing against a bookshop owned by a Kurdish
nationalist in the southeastern town of Å?emdinli, during which
two members of the Turkish security forces were caught red-handed,
gave Turkey another chance to shed light on at least some of the
elements of the complex deep state network. However, the prosecutor on
the case was disbarred by the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges
(HSYK) after indicting the land forces commander of the time as being
the founder of a gang that was responsible for the Å?emdinli
bookstore bombing. The three main suspects — two non-commissioned
officers and a PKK informant — were given nearly 40 years each by a
civil court at the end of a lengthy trial process that lasted close to
two years. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals in May of this year
declared the case a mistrial and ordered the suspects be retried by a
military court.
Notes from the Ergenekon indictment
The indictment, made public in June, claims Ergenekon is behind a
series of political assassinations over the past two decades. Close to
90 suspects will stand trial starting Monday. The victims of alleged
Ergenekon crimes include secularist journalist UÄ?ur Mumcu, long
believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists in 1993; the
head of a business conglomerate, Ã-zdemir Sabancı, who was
shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People’s
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996;
secularist academic Necip HablemitoÄ?lu, who was also believed
to have been killed by Islamic extremists, in 2002; and the 2006
Council of State attack.
The indictment also says retired Gen. Veli Küçük,
believed to be one of the leading members of the network, had
threatened Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by a
teenager in 2007, before his murder — a sign that Ergenekon could be
behind that murder as well.
The Ergenekon indictment accuses 86 suspects of links with the
gang. Suspects will begin appearing in court on Oct. 20 to face
accusations that include `membership in an armed terrorist group,’
`attempting to destroy the government,’ `inciting people to rebel
against the Republic of Turkey’ and other similar crimes.
20 October 2008, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN Ä°STANBUL
ARA ABRAHAMIAN AWARDED ORDER OF HONOR
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 16, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. RF President Dmitry
Medvedev awarded RF Order of Honor to Ara Abrahamian, UNESCO Goodwill
Ambassador, the Chairman of the Union of Armenians in Russia, the World
Armenian Congress, the Soglasie company on October 15 in the Kremlin.
A. Abrahamian was awarded for his great contribution to strengthening
of international cooperation, active public and charity activity. The
Azg daily reported this.
ACCORDING TO INITIAL RESULTS A. HAKOBJANIAN ELECTED MAYOR OF SISIAN, ELECTIONS OF HEADS OF COMMUNITY IN TEGH AND KHOZNAVAR RECOGNIZED INVALID
ARMENPRESS
Oct 17, 2008
GORIS, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS: N37 Electoral constituency, which
includes the regions of Goris and Sisian of the Armenian province of
Syunik, recognized the October 12 elections of heads of community in
Tegh and Khoznavar invalid.
An official from N37 Electoral constituency told Armenpress that in
village Tegh there was three votes’ difference between the candidates
and the number of inaccuracies – 4, which served as a basis for
recognizing the elections invalid. In case of Khoznavar community there
were pen signs on the majority of polling bulletins. Re-election of
the same nominated candidates will be held in two mentioned communities
on November 2.
N37 Electoral constituency re-calculated the polling bulletins of the
elections of head of Sisian community. The re-calculation lasted for
two days with the participation of the head of the Armenian Central
Electoral Commission Garegin Azarian.
In Sisian there was 61 votes’ difference between the two
candidates. The majority of votes got Aghasi Hakobjanian from
Prosperous Armenia Party – 2,002 votes, and Tigran Petrosian from
Armenian Revolutionary Federation got 1,941 votes. The number of
inaccuracies in the elections reached 188.
According to the Aghasi Hakobjanian’s application, the Electoral
constituency re-calculated the polling bulletins and the number
of inaccuracies reduced to 57, and based on this the Electoral
constituency recognized the elections of mayor of Sisian valid.
Thus, according to primary results, Aghasi Hakobjanian has been
elected mayor of Sisian.