Author: Tvankchian Parkev

POOCHIGIAN SEEKS TO BE STATE’S TOP COP
State Senator Running For Attorney General

KCRA.com, CA
Oct 25 2006

FRESNO, Calif. — State Sen. Chuck Poochigian is one of the candidates
for state Attorney General.

His family runs three generations deep in the San Joaquin Valley.

Poochigian was born in Fresno, and while most of his family farmed,
he started a law practice.

He said he was never especially political until a fellow Armenian —
George Deukmejian — ran for attorney general in 1978.

"That first campaign that I was involved in with Deukemejian really
framed everything that followed for me, because I was then convinced
and absolutely today that George Deukmejian sought higher office out
of a sense of duty," Poochigian said.

It was also the beginning of Poochigian’s battles against the policies
of Jerry Brown. It turns out their contest for attorney general today
has been brewing for more than two decades.

"Those were the years when criminal justice was at the forefront. The
issues we faced then were very, very important — Jerry Brown was
governor, the crime rate was the highest it had ever been in the
history of California and ever since, and the then-governor Jerry
Brown had vetoed the death penalty. That was a bill carried by
Governor Deukmejian. I’m committed to retiring him. His career is
what it is. It’s time for him to move on and I hope to be the one to
make that happen," Poochigian said.

Poochigian’s political career began in the Deukmejian and Wilson
administrations.

One of his jobs was finding judges to nominate. What he asked of
those appointees then, he said he asks of himself now.

"Above all, fealty to the law, a commitment to do what’s right by way
of the law irrespective of personal views or attitudes or prejudices,"
Poochigian said.

His work in the state Assembly and Senate includes bringing down
costs in the Worker’s Compensation System, and public safety issues
ranging from identity theft to sexual predators.

His empathy for victims can be traced back to his own grandmother’s
experience in Armenia.

"She saw the most unspeakable acts committed against her mother
and her father, who was a priest. And all but one member of her
family, a sibling, in a very large family was tortured and killed,"
Poochigian said.

Today, Poochigian is a grandfather, which he said gives him another
reason to seek the job of the state’s top cop.

"For justice and for the safety of our children and our grandchildren,
our seniors and everyone, and I think the attorney general — the role
of attorney general — can have a profound impact on all of that,"
Poochigian said.

Although Poochigian is known today as a conservative Republican, he
said in his early days he was a Democrat and a big admirer of John F.
Kennedy. He said that since then, his politics have matured.

IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE TO BE PUT INTO OPERATION IN LATE 2006, RA ENERGY MINISTER ASSURES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline will
be put into operation this year, the RA Minister of Energy Armen
Movsisian stated in the parliament on October 25. According to him,
the gas pipeline’s construction was to be completed in March 2007,
but by mutual consent with the Iranian side it was decided to finish
the construction work this year. Responding to reporters’ questions,
the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian denied the rumors about
transferring the Irna-Armenia gas pipeline to Russia. "We are not
speaking about sale," he noted. In his words, Armenia may make an
investment in the authorized capital, or do so jointly with Russia. He
said that ArmRusgazprom is already operating in the country, it would
be logical to create two gas distribution networks simultaneously. "If
we succeed in putting the pipe under pressure and receiving gas,
discussions will be more precise," A. Margarian noted. He assured
that the Iranian side is also informed about any negotiation on the
gas pipeline with the Russian side.

DIFFICULTIES WILL BE MOSTLY POLITICAL IN E.U. PROCESS, BABACAN

Turkish Press
Oct 24 2006

ANKARA – Indicating that Turkey will have mostly political difficulties
in the EU accession process, State Minister and Chief Negotiator Ali
Babacan said on Tuesday: "we have to be patient, act resolutely and
defend Turkey’s EU vision in front of difficulties".

Taking the floor at a symposium on "Strategic Prevision: 2003 World and
Turkey in 100th Year of Turkish Republic", Babacan assessed Turkey’s
position as regards EU process.

He stated that it was impossible to regard Turkey’s EU vocation
separately from economy, domestic and foreign politics. "As a matter of
fact, this process paved the way to extremely important developments
in economy. Now,all actors in Turkish economy look at the future from
a wider perspective" he added.

"Turkey approaches EU with strong dynamics and Turkey’s membership
must be regarded as a significant event which could redefine the
future of Europe", Babacan noted.

-CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS-

Regarding the bill in the French Parliament which aims to criminalize
the denial of so-called Armenian genocide, Babacan said : "this
kind of attempts are extremely harmful in terms of understanding and
respect to each other. These attempts take aim tolerance, dialogue
and efforts of understanding and can make harm more than expected" .

"Turkey’s EU membership will be the most important response to this
intolerance that threatens the world. (However) There may be some
negative opinions about Turkey, especially in some countries during
election period. We have to be prepared to these" he added.

-MEETING WITH EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS-

Meanwhile, Babacan had a meeting with The Party of European Socialists
(PES) group co-chairman, Finnish Parliament Speaker Paavo Lipponen
and an accompanying delegation. Turkey-EU relations were reported to
be discussed at the meeting.

ORINATS YERKIR SAYS PRIME MINISTER AND DEFENSE MINISTER STAND BEHIND BLACK PR AGAINST ORINATS YERKIR

Panorama.am
20:22 24/10/06

Heghine Bisharyan, secretary of Orinats Yerkir Party, made an
sensational statement at the parliamentary announcement hour saying
Anranik Margaryan, chairman of Armenian Republican Party (HHK) and
prime minister of Armenia and Serzh Sargsyan, HHK board chairman
and defense minister of Armenia, stand behind the black PR against
Orinats Yerkir. She said, " I am applying to Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan who has privatized thousands of square meters only in
Yerevan and thousands ha land on his name and on the name of his
close people and to Serzh Sargsyan who is well known for dozens of
shadow transactions, his habit to lose millions in casinos, his
shadow supervision of petroleum, fuel, cement and other fields –
stop black PR against Orinats Yerkir, stop unhealthy and indecent
political style through your customers," H. Bisharyan said.

Hamlet Harutunyan, member of HHK, said in his response speech, "I do
not think a party can have a stable place in opposition with similar
unsuccessful speeches filled with above-the-norm doze of hatred." He
also said Arthur Baghdasaryan is the co-author of the speech but
he did not make it himself because everybody knows what role Serzh
Sargsyan has played in the formation of Arthur Baghdasaryan as a
political figure.

Another HHK member, Sukias Avetisyan, said that Orinats Yerkir
"has participated in everything and has taken his share from
everything."

"LA TURQUIE EST A UN TOURNANT; LE MUR DU DENI DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS EST FRACTURE";

Le Temps, Suisse
21 octobre 2006

TURQUIE. Entretien avec Halil Berktay, un des rares historiens turcs
a soutenir la thèse du genocide.

Laissons l’histoire aux historiens. Voici l’argument central
d’Ankara face aux initiatives politiques, notamment suisses, de faire
reconnaître le caractère genocidaire des massacres de 1915 contre
les Armeniens. Un debat ravive par le vote, la semaine dernière,
en France, d’une loi sanctionnant toute negation du genocide. Alors,
que font les historiens turcs? Reponse d’Halil Berktay, professeur
d’histoire a l’Universite Sabanci d’Istanbul, l’un des rares historiens
turcs a soutenir la thèse du genocide.

Le Temps: Où en est la recherche academique turque sur la question
armenienne?

Halil Berktay: A un stade rudimentaire. Il y a peu de specialistes de
la question dans le pays sachant que les historiens turcs sont très
divises. On peut distinguer trois groupes: les historiens critiques
non nationalistes fatigues de la position officielle; les historiens
"avocats" recrutes dans le but de defendre une ligne nationaliste
negationniste. Entre les deux se trouve un nombre important de
personnes qui savent beaucoup, mais qui restent silencieuses.

– Qui sont les historiens critiques non nationalistes?

– Certains pensent qu’il y a bien eu un genocide. Les autres
considèrent que ce qui s’est passe en 1915 ne peut etre defini comme
genocide, mais ils admettent que des ordres ont ete donnes au plus
haut sommet de l’Etat. Ils sont donc en dehors du discours officiel,
et leur nombre est desormais significatif. En septembre 2005, nous
avons organise a Istanbul une conference, unique, sur les Armeniens
a l’epoque de l’Empire ottoman. Membres du comite d’organisation,
intervenants, presidents de sessions, plus d’une soixantaine de
personnes ont participe, dont la crème de la crème des historiens et
des specialistes turcs des sciences sociales. C’est ce qui a choque
et effraye les nationalistes. Car il n’y avait pas seulement Halil
Berktay…

– Où en sont-ils concrètement?

– Ils se trouvent dans une phase non pas de recherche intensive mais
de coming out. Nous sommes a un moment historique de changement de
paradigme, le mur du deni est fracture. La question est de savoir ce
que vont faire les jeunes chercheurs ainsi que leurs successeurs.

D’ici dix a quinze ans, j’imagine qu’au moins 15 ou 20 etudiants
turcs feront des thèses sur le sujet, notamment a l’etranger. A
moins d’un enorme recul en termes de democratie, ce processus me
semble irreversible.

– Sur quoi travaillent les historiens nationalistes?

– Ils mettent en lumière tout sauf ce qui a ete fait par le
gouvernement jeune-turc de l’epoque. Ils demontrent comment
les puissances etrangères ont soutenu les minorites ethniques non
musulmanes de l’Empire ottoman, comment les organisations nationalistes
armeniennes ont ete instrumentalisees, a quel point elles detestaient
l’Empire ottoman, comment elles ont attaque les populations locales
musulmanes forcees de se defendre. Ils reduisent, d’une manière
absurde, le nombre de victimes armeniennes et montrent comment
l’Etat a tente de proteger les vies et les biens des deportes. Tout
cela en deformant les faits. Ils laissent de côte les rapports des
missionnaires, des journalistes etrangers, des officiers allemands
et tous les recits oraux reduits a de simples inventions.

– De quand date cette histoire officielle?

– Des annees1970. La vague d’attentats de l’Asala contre des diplomates
turcs a declenche la construction d’un système defensif negationniste
elabore.

– Le premier ministre turc a propose la creation d’une commission
d’historiens turcs et armeniens. Qu’en pensez-vous?

– Je ne lui accorde pas beaucoup d’importance, surtout si Turcs et
Armeniens nomment des historiens "avocats" intransigeants – car
les Armeniens aussi ont leurs historiens-avocats. L’an dernier,
lors d’une visite en Armenie, j’ai propose la formule suivante:
laissons la Turquie et l’Armenie choisir cinq historiens chacune, mais
permettons aussi a la Turquie de choisir cinq historiens armeniens et
a l’Armenie de choisir cinq historiens turcs. Laissons ensuite l’ONU
ou l’Union europeenne choisir dix autres historiens. Vous verrez que
la donne sera changee. Or, aucun des deux gouvernements n’est enclin
a manifester un tel degre de courage.

– Que repondez-vous a ceux qui exigent que la Turquie reconnaisse le
genocide des Armeniens avant d’entrer dans l’UE, d’ici a dix ans?

– C’est absurde et hypocrite. La règle pour l’adhesion est d’ameliorer
les institutions et les pratiques actuelles. Or la question armenienne
concerne l’histoire. Je ne connais aucun pays qui ait dû changer ceci
ou cela dans son histoire pour pouvoir adherer.

Dix annees suffiraient a la Turquie pour avancer s’il y avait moins
de pression.

–Boundary_(ID_E9NV7zh/8/4Ihd8dKK+x9A)- –

ONLY WINDS OUTSIDE THERE AND ONE MAN – THE INSTRUCTOR

Lragir.am
23 Oct 06

The actions of the leaders of the Republican Party make think that
separate leaders of the party pursue separate aims. While the core,
the traditional part of the political party is busy solving the problem
of giving up or nor giving up Hakob Hakobyan with the president of the
Republic, and worrying why Tigran Torosyan is tenaciously denigrated,
and Andranik Margaryan is televised all over Armenia and the Diaspora
while addressing the empty hall in Paris, the "partest" of the
"extended" part of the Republican Party Serge Sargsyan is engaged
in foreign policies and takes no interest in the problems of the
Republican Party and the domestic issues generally, or he shows that
he is not interested. Well, if the foreign minister of the country has
assumed the functions of the minister of agriculture, and is thinking
on developing rural communities, particularly the border villages,
in other words, the defense of the border, which is basically the
function of the defense minister and the secretary of state security,
it is natural that the defense minister of the country should attend
to foreign policies.

The problem is why the state of things in the system of government
has become mixed to a degree that it is not clear "what function is in
which portfolio". Certainly, it is already considerable progress that
the ministers have started doing something, even though it is others’
business. On the other hand, it is worrying that they do not do their
own job. This may mean that despite having occupied high-ranking
government posts for so long they do not know what their job is, and
when they start doing something, they mix up their work and others’
work. Meanwhile, the goals are never mixed up, and none of them has
so far "mixed their own wheat with the public wheat". And if they
did not mix up the goals, it is also natural that whatever they do is
not by mistake, and if from the point of view of the logic of state
government it is simply strange when a minister does another minister’s
job, everything appears highly orderly as soon as it is viewed from the
aspect of personal aims. Either the defense minister Serge Sargsyan no
longer relies on victory in the parliamentary election, or he thinks
that he has already won this election and is already attending to
the presidential election. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why
the defense minister has recently started appearing in the external
light. For instance, he soon stopped his tour with the chess players
in the regions of Armenia and flew Moscow. Besides, the defense
minister suddenly awarded a medal to the head of the OSCE Yerevan
office. Besides, he met with the deputy foreign minister of Italy.

Another nuance. When the foreign minister of Georgia was in Armenia
on an informal, we may even say a "secret" visit some days ago,
Serge Sargsyan organized the meeting of the Georgian minister with
his Armenian counterpart at dinner. Probably, the contrary would be
logical that Vardan Oskanyan organized the meeting of his Georgian
counterpart with the defense minister of Armenia, let alone why such
necessity would occur if the country has a foreign minister. Most
probably, Vardan Oskanyan disliked this incident as well, because
he admitted publicly that the information about the secret visit of
Bejuashvili was true and revealed the truth about the invitation of
Serge Sargsyan to dinner, to show that first despite his assertions
Serge Sargsyan sometimes breaks the subordination, and second he is not
likely to connive with the shade "power" of the minister of defense.

But Serge Sargsyan would not be Serge Sargsyan if he did everything
in such a simple manner and did not think up the culmination,
at the same time staying in a demonstrative distance. The foreign
political "hobby" of the defense minister, as we could observe,
skillfully avoided the American direction. On October 22, however,
it became known from the H1 Channel that the defense minister had
built the entire "game" on the principle of the "American gambit",
and what is more, he would not appear on the screen.

Meanwhile, an analyst was seen on the screen, who appeared as an
instructor of the American army and with the name Richard Kirakosyan.

And this Diasporan analyst, who speaks English in every seminar,
all of a sudden decided to announce with an English accent and in
broken Armenian that after the fruit and flower revolutions the United
States realized that stability is important of all, and considers
Serge Sargsyan the best figure, who would guarantee stability in
Armenia. Of course, it is not known whether the United States had
told this to Richard Kirakosyan personally or got someone inform the
analyst on his way to Armenia on board of the plane.

It is not even important. After all, it is not important whether
Richard Kirakosyan is telling the truth or is simply making
suggestions. It is important that the election campaign of a candidate
starts a year and a half to go before the presidential election, and
what is more, it is launched by a citizen of another country, though
Armenian by origin. On the other hand, this shows why the defense
minister has his hands off the domestic problems, and does not even
interfere with the affairs of the Republican Party, even though the
Republicans are longing for the fruits of the process since July 22,
when the defense minister, who was elected chair of the council of
the Republican Party, made a promise.

Apparently, the minister of defense no longer relies on support from
the inside. If he relied one someone inside, he would not need support
from the outside. If the Armenian society preferred Serge Sargsyan,
there would be no necessity for a foreign analyst to announce on the
channel belonging to the same society who the preferable presidential
candidate is or who would be a worthy guarantor of stability. When the
time comes, the society will say who they prefer, of course, if this
analyst is patient enough to stay in Armenia until that time. After
all, he is a busy man, an instructor of the American army, although
he has decided out of the air that he can also try to "instruct"
the Armenian society.

WHY AAM DID NOT PUNISH SERGE SARGSYAN?

Lragir.am
20 Oct 06

The regime set a goal of reproduction, and the opposition must prevent
this, stated the chair of the administration of the All-Armenian
Movement Ararat Zurabyan October 20 at the Pastark Club.

"I think this is possible. I think there were such possibilities in
2003. The opposition should have been more determined, and everything
would end quite normally," says Ararat Zurabyan answering the question
on the mechanisms of preventing reproduction.

Ararat Zurabyan thinks that the government hardly gets 15 percent
in elections, and it is necessary not to allow the government to get
more votes. Naturally the news reporters asked the advocate of fair
elections if electoral fraud was not established in the period when
his political party was government. It became clear that electoral
fraud had been established earlier, "In the early 20th century,"
says Ararat Zurabyan, adding that it would be very difficult for
their government to battle this traditions, when the public was used
to unfair elections.

Besides, Ararat Zurabyan says in the years when they were government,
Andranik Margaryan, Serge Sargsyan were also in the government
and they falsified the results of the election to the degree that
their power enabled. "At that time they had 10 percent of power,
and their fraud was 10 percent, now they have 100 percent of power
100 percent of fraud," says Ararat Zurabyan. In that case, it would
be interesting to know why the All-Armenian Movement government did
not punish Andranik Manukyan and Serge Sargsyan for electoral fraud.

Ararat Zurabyan does not know the answer to this question, because
first he pretended having perceived the question differently, saying
that in the years of government of the All-Armenian Movement he was
the head of Armenian Press, whereas Serge Sargsyan was the minister
of National Security, and naturally he could not punish him. But we
certainly gave Ararat Zurabyan additional explanation that not he
was supposed to punish and did not punish but the political force he
represented, which was supposed to punish but failed to punish.

"The force I represent is people, and perhaps people got the
punishment," says the present chair of the administration of the
All-Armenian Movement, the former head of the Center community and the
former director of Armenian Press. If there is someone who understood
from his words why the All-Armenian Movement did not punish Serge
Sargsyan and Andranik Margaryan who had falsified the election for its
favor, we have probably reached our goal, but if nobody understood,
it means it remains unclear why the All-Armenian Movement did not
punish electoral fraud, but handed power to these people and quitted,
enabling them to expand electoral fraud.

Armenian Genocide: Turkish University to Send Millions Appeals to European Court

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2006 18:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In protest against the adoption of resolutions on
the Armenian Genocide by parliaments of different states of the world,
the Bahcesehir University has prepared a million of appeals to be
sent to the European Court of Human Rights. According to university
rector Suleyh Batum, "struggle should be led in political field for
a while yet".

"Unfortunately, political influence of other states is felt in
Turkey. That is why Turkey has to step on the juridical platform. Our
state has a strong instrument – the European Treaty and the Court of
Human Rights.

The aspiration to prevent Turkey from expressing reaction on historical
and not grounded as genocide events is a limitation of human rights. We
have prepared 1 million of application forms for the European Court of
Human Rights over the decisions taken by the parliaments of Argentina,
Russia, Switzerland and other states. We will garner signatures of
people throughout the globe and send them to the European Court of
Human Rights," Batum said, reports Azeri Press.

LOOKING FOR A SPONSOR

A1+
[01:35 pm] 20 October, 2006

The only cultural center for children in Erebouni community is
the former Pioneer Palace where pupils can learn singing, dancing,
embroidery and handicrafts. The center has more than 850 pupils who
periodically organize exhibitions of their works. They have recently
participated in the exhibition organized within the framework of the
celebration of the Yerevan day.

The center exists almost 30 years, but the building is rather old and
needs reconstruction. According to headmaster Mr. Rshtouni, the roof of
the building has been repaired thanks to the donation of the community
head. The backyard has also been cleaned of garbage and trees have
been planted. But the money is not enough for full reconstruction of
the building. The headmaster himself found it difficult to name the
necessary sum.

By the way, the center also has a problem of heating.

The rooms are heated by stoves; as for the fuel, the children bring
it from their own houses.

AZERBAIJANI TV CHANNELS FORBID SHOWING FRENCH FILMS AND CLIPS

Azeri Press Agency
Oct 17 2006

Some Azerbaijani TV channels forbid showing films and clips produced
by France, APA reports. The reason for making such decision was the
adoption of bill by France Parliament which makes it crime to deny
"false" Armenian genocide.

ANS vise-president Mir Shahin proved the fact. He said that ANS decided
not to show the films and clips produced in this country after the
adoption of the law. Azad Azerbaijan TV channel also stopped to show
the films and clips. Azad Azerbaijan TV Programs Department chief
Elshen Dadashov said they did it to object to France Parliament’s
decision. Azerbaijan Television and Radio CJSC department Chief Fuad
Velikhanov also said that they stopped to display French films and
clips. Lider TV News department Chief Veli Akbar told the APA that
they have not made decisions yet and they do not consider displaying
French films and clips according their plan.

Minije Jeferli, Space TV Programs department chief said that they
made the plan of the programs before the bill was adopted so, they
continue to show French films and clips. She said if TV authorities
make decision about it they will stop showing. Chingiz Aslanov, the
assistant of Director of ITV said that they have never shown French
films.