Author: Talalian Arpi

Panorama.am

19:09 27/12/2007

SIGNIFICANT ACHIVEMENTS OF PROSPEROUS ARMENIA

`The greatest achievement of ours is that we managed
to send our wrestlers to Baku and there they raised
our flag by their victory. This victory was more than
any other Olympic medal,’ said Gagik Carukyan, the
leader of Prosperous Armenia party and added that
another achievement is becoming second political power
in the political field. `We have good team and we
gained people’s trust and belief. Carukyan did it not
for position or money, but I live in this country, I
love my nation and I want everything to be right. One
swallow does not make a summer,’ said Carukyan.

It is possible that Hovik Abrahamyan or Ervand
Zakharyanc become Prime Minister after Serzh Sargsyan
is elected. Who will the Prosperous Armenia support
and nominate? Carulyan answered that first the
elections should be carried out and after they will
discuss the possible candidate `who is able to carry
such hard work and gain people’s trust’.
To the question why Carukyan did not apply for the
presidential candidature when having such successes,
he answered `Everybody does not have moral rights to
become a president’.

Carukyan expressed his thoughts about Khachatur
Sukiasyan and said that they are friends but business
is business. He said that they are not partners, and
it is possible that Sukiasyan manages to help people
more.
Carukyan said that he is not satisfied with those
gossips and abuses sound by the oppositional
representatives. He said that everybody can do harm
and abuse, but it is more difficult to conduct
positive and good jobs.

Source: Panorama.am

Misinformation regarding ties between Armenia and Kurdistan Workers
Party is possible prelude to aggression: Armen Ayvazyan

Permanent news address:
13:33 12/26/2007

Recently, the Azeri mass media disseminated information claiming that
`Armenia is settling Armenians and Kurds, emigrants from Syria and
Iraq, in Nagorno Karabakh and now it also plans to host terrorists from
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).’ REGNUM asks Armen Ayvazyan,
political scientist and Director of the `Ararat’ Center for Strategic
Research, to comment on this.

The new Turkish deliberations regarding ties between the PKK and
Armenia that were voiced in recent weeks and the immediate joining-in
of the official Baku should be considered in several aspects: first, in
the context of Turkey’s consistently hostile policy towards independent
Armenia; second, in the light of the acceleration in the pace of
Azerbaijan’s preparation for a large-scale war of aggression against
Artsakh and Armenia; and third, in the context of the continued passive
information policy of Armenia.

The Turkish propaganda campaign alleging that Armenia supports and even
provides bases for the PKK was first launched in 1993 and continued at
varying degrees of intensity up to 2000, when the PKK temporarily
extinguished the insurgency. The following headlines from the Turkish
press convey an idea of the scale of the initial campaign: `Syria Flies
PKK Militants to Armenia;’ `PKK Will Attack with ASALA in the Spring;’
`Intelligence Report Details Armenia-PKK ties;’ `PKK Reportedly Moving
to Iran, Armenia.’ (1) Moreover, the Turkish Daily News article
published on April 16, 1998, asserted without any proof that
purportedly the PKK has 7 bases in Armenia, 11 in Iran, 4 in Russia and
1 in Cyprus. At the time Azerbaijan joined in this Turkish propaganda
campaign when its defence minister declared that supposedly "200
Kurdish terrorists are being trained in the Lachin region, occupied by
the Armenian aggressors, and another 457 Kurdish fighters are receiving
full military training in Armenia, to be later deployed in the
territory of Turkey. (2)

A number of high-ranking Turkish officials, including the Chief of
Staff of the Turkish army, have made statements regarding ties between
the PKK and Armenia. On October 11, 1998, Turkey’s Secretary of State
Metin Gurderen openly threatened Armenia with war: `If Armenia supports
separatists, then we have made our decision, the button has been
pressed. A war might break out any moment.’ (3)

Many suggest that the Turkish allegations regarding Armenia-PKK ties
are intended only for `domestic consumption’, that they are put forth
to explain the prolonged nature of the Kurdish armed resistance and to
satisfy the hostile sentiments of the Turkish public towards Armenia.
However, the reality is even more dangerous. The true purpose of this
continuous and well planned false propaganda, coordinated with
Azerbaijan, regarding Armenia-PKK ties is to create new and additional
causes for exerting constant pressure on Armenia, to demonise Armenia
and NKR in the eyes of the international community and to prepare the
information front for the planned military aggression by Azerbaijan,
with a possible direct intervention of Turkey. Let’s not forget that
using the pretext of pursuing PKK, Turkey has periodically been
invading Northern Iraq. Within the period of 1991 and the beginning of
1999 Turkey carried out 55 incursions into Northern Iraq, which the
international community although did not authorize, but neither did it
condemn. Four of them were large-scale operations with the
participation of over 20,000 Turkish soldiers. (4)

Recently, new information was published revealing that Turkey planned
an incursion into Armenia in October 1993, using the very same Kurdish
bases as a pretext. (5) Leonidas Khrisantopolos, the Greek Ambassador
to Armenia in 1993-1994, stated that the then Turkish Prime Minister
Tancu Chiller had come to an agreement with the speaker of the Russian
parliament Ruslan Khasbulatov on launching a few `surgical’ strikes
against Armenia. This information was indirectly confirmed by RA
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in his interview to `Azg’ daily
(October 4, 2001), as well as by the former head of the National
Security of Armenia Eduard Simonyan. (6)

Before that Western sources had reported that twice in 1993, in April
and September, Turkey deployed its tank, mechanized and other units on
the border with Armenia, the Turkish armed forces were brought to high
state of combat readiness and Prime Minister Tancu Chiller warned she
would ask the parliament for authorization to start military action, if
Armenia touched any part of Nakhijevan. (7) Consequently, it is no
accident that reports about PKK bases allegedly located in Armenia
started to appear in the Turkish press as of Fall 1993. It is even less
of an accident that in the above-mentioned reports the Turks indicated
a number of locations in Armenia for supposed PKK bases (including the
surrounding areas of the Armenian Atomic Power Plant and the Lachin
region). (8)

Well affected by the Turkish propaganda some Western information
agencies and think tanks presented the non-existent ties between
Armenia and the PKK as a widely known fact. (9) Thus, in 1999, after
the declaration of cease-fire by the PKK, one of the most famous
American institutions of geopolitical research, Stratfor, apparently at
the bidding of the Turks, trumpeted twice (on August 23 and November
23, 1999) to the whole world that the PKK squads were supposedly
retreating to Armenia, for rearming and retraining in bases prepared
for them beforehand. (10)

The halting of the Kurdish guerrilla war since 2000 (formalized only in
2002 (11)), to some extent deprived Turkey of the possibility to play
the Kurdish card against Armenia. That is why the Chief of Staff of the
Turkish armed forces Hussein Kivrikoghlu made a new false statement in
the beginning of 2002, which alleged that Armenia possesses weapons of
mass destruction, and, consequently, the same measures of punishment
should be applied against Armenia as those against Iraq. (12)

On June 1, 2004, the PKK, now operating under the name CONGRA-GEL,
terminated its 5-year old unilateral truce, (13) thus confirming that
the Kurdish insurgents in Turkey are a long-term strategic factor in
the region.

The latest insinuations coincided almost to the date with the
intensification of Baku’s war rhetoric and particularly with the
statement made by the Azeri Defence Minister Safar Abiyev that `as long
as the Azeri territories remain occupied by Armenia, the probability of
war is almost 100 percent.’ Mr Abiyev’s statement was made on November
27 at the closing press conference of the Meeting of the CIS Defence
Ministers Council in Astana. On November 30, with a direct reference to
the Turkish intelligence, the Turkish pro-government newspaper `Zaman’
disseminated misinformation about talks between Armenia and the PKK and
alleged about the installation of bases for Kurds in NKR, in the towns
of Shushi, Lachin and Fizuli. (14) This bait was immediately caught and
circulated by the American United Press International. (15) On
December 10, Araz Azimov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and
Azerbaijani President’s Special Representative on Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, stated about `readiness of Baku to launch anti-terrorist
operations against the PKK’s military detachments stationed in
Nagorno-Karabakh.’ (16) It is exactly the coordination of activities
between Baku and Ankara with respect to the timing and target of
information attack that should be cause for concern. All these could be
a prelude to not so virtual attacks.

The corresponding government bodies of Armenia should treat this newly
unleashed campaign of Turkish-Azerbaijani propaganda in all
seriousness. The brief refutations voiced by the Armenian MFA in this
case are not at all effective. A well-supported clarification and
condemnation of all the underpinnings of this old/new anti-Armenian row
is necessary, including an exposition of all the dimensions, of its
true purpose and possible consequences for the peace and stability in
the region. Otherwise, it is impossible to expect the understanding and
support of the international community for Armenia’s foreign policy
positions, including for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

(1) Sezai Sengun, `Syria Flies PKK Militants to Armenia,’ Hurriyet, 10
November, 1993, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report
(further in FBIS Daily Report): West Europe, 15 Nov. 1993, p. 72;
Gorsel Polat, `PKK Will Attach with ASALA in the Spring,’ Cumhuriyet,
27 December 1993, in FBIS Daily Report: West Europe, 5 January 1994, p.
29; Sinan Onus, `Intelligence Report Details Armenia-PKK ties,’
Aydinlik, 29 January 1994, in FBIS Daily Report: West Europe, 3
February 1994, p. 36; `PKK Reportedly Moving to Iran, Armenia,’ Turkish
Daily News, 1 February 1994, in FBIS Daily Report: West Europe, 7
February 1994, p. 44.

(2) Elmira Akhundova, "Defense Minister Abiyev: `We are keen on
privileged partnership with NATO,’ Azernews/Azerkhabar 2/17/99 ‘
2/23/99.

(3) RFE/RL Newsline Vol. 2, ?- 197, Part I, 12 Oct. 1998, Transcaucasus
and Central Asia.

(4) Ed Blanche, `Terrorism: Turkey seizes PKK commander,’ Jane’s
Intelligence Review-Pointer, 1 June, 1998. The same source notes that
since the start of the Kurdish rebellion in 1984 through 1998 Turkey
destroyed or deported 3000 Kurdish villages. According to data of the
Turkish army, 39900 PKK fighters were taken out of action. The losses
of the Turkish army amounted to 4600 deaths.

(5) См. Leonidas T. Chryzantopoulos, Caucasus Chronicles:
Nation-Building and Diplomacy in Armenia, 1993-1994 (Princeton &
London: Gomidas Institute Books, 2002), pp. 76-78, 155. `The
Sensational Announcement of Leonidas Chryzantopoulos’, Golos Armenii,
19 September 2002 (in Russian).

(6) `’Turkey Really Was Going To Attack Armenia in Autumn 1993′, Former
Head of State Department of National Security, Major General Eduard
Simoniants Says,’ Noyan Tapan News Agency, Yerevan, September 23, 2002.

(7) R. Ernest Dupuis and Trevor N. Dupuis, World History of Wars. Book
Four: 1925 ` 1997 Saint Petersburg ‘ Moscow: Polygon ` Ast., 1998), pg.
754 (in Russian).

(8) Rouben Paul Adalian, `Armenia’s Foreign Policy: Defining Priorities
and Coping with Conflict,’ in Adeed Dawisha and Karen Dawisha, eds.,
The Making of Foreign Policy in Russia and the New States of Eurasia
(Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1995), p. 318.

(9) For example, see Ed Blanche, `Terrorism: Turkey seizes PKK
commander,’ op. cit..

(10) Stratfor.com: `Where, oh where, has the PKK gone?’ 1999.08.27;
`PKK Wields Pipeline Leverage,’ 1999.11.23.

(11) Officially the temporary halt in the armed resistance was
announced after the regular 5th assembly of the PKK. It became known
on February 6th, 2002, from the announcement of MED TV (see Akop
Chakryan, `PKK decided to halt armed resistance in Turkey’, Azg,
February 8th, 2002, #24, in Armenian).

(12) Here is an excerpt from the announcement distributed by
PanARMENIAN.net on that occasion: `Chief of the General Staff of the
Armed Forces of Turkey Hussein Kivrikoghlu stated the other day that
Armenia possessed mass destruction weapons ¦ This statement is included
in the list of the six `apprehensions’ of Turkey that Kivrikoghlu had
presented to Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit before the latter’s
visit to the U.S.A. Speaking about the negative response of Turkey to
the possible U.S. strikes on Iraq, Kivrikoghlu stated not only Saddam
Huseyn regime, but also Armenia, Syria, Iran and some other countries
possessed weapons of mass extermination. In the words of the chief of
the general staff of Turkey, sanctions like those used against Iraq,
should be applied to Armenia.’ See also. `Azeri ex-military men on
threat if Armenia has weapons of mass destruction,’ Azerbaijan News
Service TV January 8, 2002; `Does Armenia Possess a Mass Destruction
Weapon?’ Azerbaijan News Service, January 9, 2002; `Armenian Defence
Ministry spokesman calls Turkish general’s statement ‘absurd’,’
Arminfo, January 7, 2002.

(13) Selcan Hacaoglu, `Turkey’s Kurdish Rebels End 5-Year Truce’,
Associated Press News, 1 June 2004.

(14) Ercan Yavuz, `PKK looks into relocating to Karabakh,’ 30.11.2007
d=detay&link=128340.
It must be noted that even a month before this, on October 29 the same
`Zaman’ newspaper published an article titled `Relations between
Armenian and PKK terrorism’, full of myths about Armenian-Kurdish
relations during the 1980’s and 90’s, with an indication of dates and
locations, intended to give the `information’ semblance of veracity.
That article seemed to prepare ground for the subsequent direct
accusations.

(15) `PKK reportedly planning move to Azerbaijan,’ United Press
International, Published: Dec. 1, 2007 at 1:49 AM.

(16) Araz Azimov: Azerbaijan is ready to launch operations against the
Kurdish guerrillas in Nagorno-Karabakh, REGNUM News Agency, 10:22
11.12.2007 (in Russian).

RA PRIME MINISTER RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF ALROSA OJSC

Economic News
December 25, 2007 Tuesday

Yerevan. ">OREANDA-NEWS . December 24, 2007. Mr. Vybornov briefed
the Prime Minister on the activities aiming the resumption of the
Armenian-Russian cooperation in the field of jewelry and articles of
gold as implemented after the signing of the cooperation agreement
with the Government of Armenia in the month of August. The agreement
envisages supply of raw materials to Armenian companies on the part
of ALROSA with processing purposes.

The products so processed will be offered for sale to Armenian and
Russian companies on the recommendation of ALROSA. Mr. Vybornov
further advised that in order to prepare for signing the package
of relevant agreements, a recently formed task force consisting of
ALROSA’s experts and representatives of leading Russian silverware
and jewelry manufacturing companies has already carried out a study of
the possibilities of Armenian diamond-processing companies inclusive
of their technological capacity, the quality standards of the output
etc. According to Mr. Vybornov, his company has already formed a
true idea of said companies’ possibilities and believes that there
are good prospects for collaboration. He assured that the first lot
of raw materials is due to arrive in Armenia before this end-of-year.

The President of ALROSA thanked the Prime Minister for willingness
of cooperation and thoughtfulness and went on to mention that Head
of Russian Government Victor Zubkov was keeping this important deal
under his close attention.

SCHIFF REFUTES DEPUTY’S ACCOUNT OF MEETING

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 24 2007

US Congressman Adam Schiff has denied he was "surprised" when a
Turkish lawmaker told him the story of his family, a survivor of
Armenian atrocities in the course of World War I in eastern Anatolia,
during a recent meeting in Washington.

Schiff, in a letter to Today’s Zaman, said a story in the paper based
on lawmaker Burhan Kayaturk’s account and published on Dec. 20,
"grossly mischaracterizes" the meeting he had earlier this month
with a Turkish delegation, arranged by the American Council of Young
Political Leaders (ACYPL).

Kayaturk, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AK Party), said he had explained that Turks and Armenians killed
each other during civil strife when Armenians cooperated with the
invading Russian army and revolted against the Ottoman Empire. He
said his grandfather was one of the Muslims killed by the Armenians
at that time and called on US congressmen not to deepen hostilities
by pressing the administration to recognize Armenian claims that the
events amounted to genocide of Armenians.

In response, Schiff said, according to Kayaturk, that he was surprised
by what he heard and that it was the first time he heard a different
account of the events. In his letter to Today’s Zaman, however, Schiff
denied having made such comments and insisted that he reiterated his
outright position in favor of the Armenian claims.

"I told the delegation that the historical record was unequivocal
— that 1.5 million Armenians perished at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire between 1915-1923 and that this tragedy constituted the first
genocide of the 20th century," he said, adding, "Turkey’s denial
of the genocide is hurting Turkey and jeopardizing the country’s
accession to the European Union."

CRIMINAL CASE INSTITUTED AGAINST HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK ON VAZGEN MANUKIAN’S ORDER

Noyan Tapan
Dec 24 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Vazgen Manukian, the Chairman
of the National Democratic Union party, on December 20, sent an
application-complaint to the RA Prosecutor General asking him to
institute a criminal case against the Haykakan Zhamanak daily with
the fact of slander and insult.

According to the website of the RA Prosecutor General’s Office,
V. Manukian wrote in his application-complaint that the article under
the title "Vazgen Manukian’s "Mein Kampf" – My Struggle" published in
issue 224 of December 15, 2007 of Haykakan Zhamanak publicly spread
obviously false information humuliating his honor and dignity, and
this information was accompanied by accusations of committing grave
and especially grave crimes, he was accused of organized a coup d’etat,
a revolution, of "absolute betrayal."

Taking into consideration the fact that circumstances mentioned
in V. Manukian’s application contain signs of slander and insult,
as well as taking into consideration the fact that investigative
and judicial actions need to be carried out only within the limits
of the criminal case in order to check that fact, a criminal case
was instituted by the Department on Crimes Aimed Against People of
the RA Prosecutor General’s Office on December 20, 2007, by part 1,
Article 135 and part 1, Article 136, RA Criminal Code.

The criminal case was sent to the Investigative Department of the
Kentron Police Station for carrying out examination.

SOMBRE CHRISTMAS IN IRAQ
By Linda Isam Haddad and Nihal Salem

Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Dec 24 2007

Iraqi Chaldean Christians held their first Catholic mass in seven
months at St John the Baptist church in Baghdad in November 2007
[GALLO/GETTY]

Rita and Maria Farid, two Iraqi Christians living in the central
Baghdad district of Karrada, did not want to celebrate Christmas this
year and only bought a tree at the last minute.

"Christmas is very difficult for us. It’s a time for family and
friends, and this year for the first time, our family is incomplete,"
Maria Farid said.

In early May, Majid Farid, their brother, was killed in a car bomb
blast as he walked to a currency exchange centre not far from the
family home.

"He was going to convert Iraqi dinars to dollars to go to Jordan and
meet a lovely Iraqi woman he had hoped to marry," Maria recalled.

"We knew something had happened to him immediately. I tried calling
him on his mobile phone, but I couldn’t get through and I just knew."

Rita and Maria sit with their backs to the small, plastic Christmas
tree which has been relegated from the centre of the family room,
to an unobtrusive corner near the door.

"We didn’t even want to put up a tree," Rita says quietly. "But we did
not want to depress relatives and friends and remind them constantly
of that terrible day we lost Majid."

The Farid family is one of the relatively few Iraqi Armenian families
remaining in the predominantly Shia area of Karrada. They moved from
Basra to Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war in the mid-1980s due to
heavy bombing in southern Iraq.

Although most Iraqi Armenians observe Christmas on January 6, Maria’s
mother is Chaldean Catholic.

She said: "In past years, we’d go to the church on Christmas Eve
and spend Christmas Day visiting friends and family and attending
Christmas parties. Then in January we’d have our personal family
Christmas, sitting around our tree and exchanging gifts."

Christmas past

In San Diego, California, Jennifer Hanna, 53, also a Chaldean Christian
from Karrada, prepares to celebrate this Christmas with her husband
and three children.

She said: "Celebrating in San Diego reminds me of the days I celebrated
Christmas with my family in Iraq, before I moved to America.

"We would go to church and celebrate Christmas festivities in our
communities among our Muslim neighbours."

Hanna said her family would serve delicious homemade Iraqi sweets to
their Christmas visitors, just as she will this year, but jokes about
how she now buys her sweets from the many Iraqi bakeries sprinkled
around San Diego.

Hanna’s tone changes to sombre as she explains that many Christians are
fleeing their homes in Iraq to escape the dangers of "the extremist
outsiders who are creating fear and terror among the Christian
communities in Iraq".

Hanna said: "My brother and his wife moved to Jordan to escape the
violence and it is their Muslim neighbours who are protecting their
home in Iraq now.

"Iraqis have got along and this is what I experienced when I lived
in Iraq. My best friend who I would have sleepovers with was Shia."

According to figures compiled by the Chaldean Federation of America
(CFA), which provides humanitarian relief for displaced Chaldeans in
and outside Iraq, 1.2 million Iraqi Christians practiced their faith
without fear of persecution before the March 2003 US invasion.

Targeting Christians

Sectarian violence and religious persecution have forced an exodus
of Christians to neighbouring countries, with the CFA saying only
about 300,000 remain, many of whom are displaced within northern Iraq.

However, the numbers significantly jumped since the June 2007 killing
of Father Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, and three
sub-deacons who were with him, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The corpses were then rigged with explosives.

Though he had been threatened numerous times and his Holy Spirit
parish attacked, Ganni had refused to leave the country.

Ganni’s death followed a trend of assassinations and kidnappings
targeting the Christian community which began following the fall of
Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003.

On August 2, 2004, more than a dozen Christian worshippers were
killed when five Armenian, Assyrian and Chaldean churches came under
co-ordinated attacks in the capital Baghdad and the northern city
of Mosul.

Nine other churches were attacked before the end of the year.

Christian merchants who sold alcohol or music tapes and CDs were
kidnapped and killed, their shops firebombed for "corrupting Islamic
society".

Iraq’s Christian heritage

In 2006, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF) warned that religiously motivated attacks signalled
"an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient
Christian and other communities that have lived on those same lands
for 2,000 years".

The CFA says an estimated 20 percent of Iraqi refugees seeking asylum
around the world in 2007 were Christian.

Despite the violence and targeting of the Christian communities in
Iraq, Joseph Kassab, executive director of the CFA, said he does not
encourage Iraqi Chaldeans to leave Iraq because it is their homeland.

But he acknowledged: "If there is any Christmas celebration in Iraq
today, it’s a very passive one and quiet one, to say the least."

Alice Marogil, an Iraqi Assyrian married to an Iraqi Chaldean,
who left Iraq in 1976, is a social worker with the Chicago-based
Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries.

She has worked with at least one hundred Iraqi refugees of both
Christian and Islamic faiths in the US.

While she acknowledges that Iraqis once celebrated Christian and
Islamic holidays together, she believes as long as extremist militias
and foreign terrorists stay in Iraq there will never be an end to
the violence.

She said: "I do not see any light at the end of this tunnel. It’s a
very, very dark one.

"As long as there is no strong leader and government that knows how
to take control, the chaos and terror will go on and on. You will see."

/B5081016-3CFE-4E11-8B51-D904B5FFF902.htm

IN JANUARY-NOVEMBER OF 2007 ARMENIA’S GDP GREW BY 13,6%

The FINANCIAL
Dec 21 2007
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — According to BANKS.AM, the growth of Armenia’s GDP
in January-November of 2007 totaled 13,6%, as compared to the same
period of 2006.

As the press service of the National Statistical Service of Armenia
told Mediamax on December 20, the GDP volume in January-November of
2007 totaled 2711420.7mln drams.

The volume of industrial production in the republic in January-November
of 2007 stood at 644815.6mln drams, having increased by 2.7%, as
compared to the same period of 2006.

The average monthly salary in Armenia in January-November of 2007
increased by 20.5%, as compared to the same period of 2006, thus
making 82093 drams.

The salary of budget organizations has increased by 20.1%, making
55064 drams during the accounting period, and the salary of non-budget
organizations stood at 105252 drams (growth – 19.5%).

BARGAVACH HAYASTAN: FAILURE OF THE YEAR
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir
Dec 20 2007
Armenia

At the end of each year different organizations award titles: this of
the year, that of the year. If the nomination of the unintelligible
thing of the year were awarded this year, it would be awarded to
the Bargavach Hayastan Party because the society cannot understand
the purpose of this party in the political sphere. If the purpose
is charity, it can be done without being a political party and
participating in the political processes. If the purpose of charity
is to guarantee political success, the best charity would be helping
the Armenians rid of the Republican majority.

In the beginning it seemed that Bargavach Hayastan was an effort
to solve the problem of political future of Robert Kocharyan. At
least the party started involving all the activists and groups which
related to Robert Kocharyan one way or another, to say nothing of
the godfather-godchild relation of the Bargavach Hayastan leader and
Robert Kocharyan. In other words, it was obvious that the Bargavach
Hayastan was a project that had been worked out at the president
administration and the statement that no high-ranking official would
be admitted to the party was evidence that the Bargavach Hayastan
Party wanted to differ from the Republican Party.

However, it turned out that the Bargavach Hayastan Party was
inclined to support the Republican Party rather than people. In the
parliamentary election, the party which claimed to have 400 thousand
members got only 200 thousand votes. It means that either people
cheated Bargavach Hayastan saying that they were members but voting
for another party, or the Bargavach Hayastan Party cheated people,
collecting their votes and passing them to the Republican Party. Or yet
both at the same time. In the end, it turned out that the political
party aspiring to being the greatest project of the year can hardly
hope for the nomination of the appendix of the year because beside
the Republican Party it has this status. Meanwhile, Bargavach Hayastan
had a real chance for a real change in the political sphere. It only
took courage. Moreover, simple trust in the society would be enough.

There were several favorable conditions for that: certain charisma
of the leader of the party, enough resource, cleanness of the staff.

However, perhaps the lack of political thinking in the leadership of
the party offset these conditions. The leadership failed to realize
what the mission of the Bargavach Hayastan would be and thought in
the traditional way of thinking of the government, which supposes
that the interests of the elite are superior to those of the society.

On the other hand, it is natural that the one who plays orders music.

However, the musicians should not think that if only one of the
audience can pay, the others can listen to bad music ordered by him
all the time. And in this case, the audience deplores not only the
rich man who orders music but also the musicians who play his orders.

If they care about a successful career, they should consider this.

ANCA-ER DIRECTOR TO EXPAND HAI DAT PARTICIPATION ON UPCOMING ARMENIAN HERITAGE CRUISE

armradio.am
20.12.2007 10:32

In less than a month, Armenians from around the world will board the
Costa Fortuna for the 11th annual Armenian Heritage Cruise (AHC). With
close to 2000 registered guests, those attending will have a variety
of activities to choose from, including various cultural, educational,
and social events planned throughout the week, including a presentation
by the Armenian National Committee of America, Eastern Region Executive
Director (ANCA-ER).

The first morning at sea, ANCA ER Director Karine Birazian will
be presenting a lecture entitled A Year of Firsts: Reflecting on
2007 and Future Hai Tahd Activities, on Monday, January 14th at
10:30am. The lecture will focus on the many successes and activities
the ANCA is actively engaged in, including the withdrawal of Ambassador
nomination Dick Hoagland, encouraging local communities No Place for
Hate Chapters to sever ties with the National Anti Defamation League
(ADL), the significant progress of genocide recognition and H. Res 106,
and much more.

"2007 has been such an exciting and overwhelming year for the
ANCA. This will be a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our
accomplishments and future goals and projects for 2008," commented
Birazian. Those that attend the lecture will be entered in a chance to
win a free one-year subscription of the Armenian Weekly or Hairenik
Newspaper as well as meet and hear from ANCA Legislative Affairs
Director Raffi Karakashian, Esq. & ANC WR Executive Director Antranig
Kzirian Esq.

WORLD-FAMOUS PIANIST BORIS BEREZOVSKI’S CONCERTS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. A concert of world-famous pianist
Boris Berezovski will be held on December 19 at Aram Khachatrian
concert hall, within the framework of the Prospects of the 21st
8th international music festival initiated by the Armenian Music
Center. Aram Khachatrian’s Piano Concert and Second Symphony will be
performed at the concert to the accompaniment of the State Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra.

As composer Stepan Rostomian, festival’s Chairman, said at a press
conference held before the concert, pianist’s second concert will
be held on December 20 at A. Spendiarian National Academic Theater
of Opera and Ballet, during which B. Berezovski will perform works
by Chopin.

"We are grateful to Berezovski, as he is one of the best performers of
Aram Khachatrian’s works, and the composer’s Piano Concert performed
by him has been recorded lately," S. Rostomian said.

According to B. Berezovski, for him, it is an honor to perform
Khachatrian’s works. Besides, the pianist also performs with pleasure
works by Avet Terterian and Komitas. "By the way, the majority of
musicians did not know that A. Khachatrian has a Piano Concert. It
was a surprise for me as well, and it is a pity that this work has
never been performed in Soviet years.

While in the 1960-s A. Khachatrian’s works, including the Concert,
were very popular in Europe," the Russian pianist said.

It should be mentioned that Berezovski’s concert is the last within
the framework of the Prospects of the 21st festival this year.