Author: Virabian Jhanna

Armenian National Committee of West San Fernando Valley
P.O. Box 17673
Encino, CA, 91416
Phone: 818 636 2952
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Contact: Nishan Bostanian
E-mail: [email protected]

ANCA-WR Chapter Focus: West San Fernando Valley ANC Continues Strong
Community Outreach

Los Angeles, CA – If Webster’s Dictionary had a photo under its definition
of "grassroots organization" it would be of members of the West San Fernando
Valley chapter of the Armenian National Committee (WSFV-ANC). This ANC
chapter has, for decades, well served the nearly 100,000 Armenian Americans
who live and work in southern California’s San Fernando Valley. By
employing a grassroots approach to public affairs that unites the community,
the WSFV-ANC has successfully represented Armenian Americans in a wide
region encompassing Encino, Granada Hills, Northridge, Woodland Hills,
Thousand Oaks, among other areas.

"The WSFV-ANC is committed to encouraging Armenian Americans to participate
in their local community," stated WSFV Chairman Nishan Bostanian. "Whether
volunteering for a neighborhood councilman or encouraging members of the
community to register to vote, our goal is to raise awareness on issues of
concern to Armenian Americans," the Chairman added.

Over the years, the WSFV-ANC has attracted a collection of vibrant and
dynamic community activists, who understand that you need to have a high
degree of grassroots involvement to succeed. The ANC chapter has been
involved in outreach efforts with local officials like Los Angeles City
Councilman Dennis Zine, state officials like Assemblymember Lloyd Levine and
area Members of Congress, such as Brad Sherman. Aside from maintaining
strong ties with various local, state and Congressional offices, the
WSFV-ANC has begun plans for a massive voter registration campaign to
increase the civic participation of Armenian Americans in the San Fernando
Valley.

This year the WSFV-ANC has worked extensively with Jewish World Watch in
promoting awareness of the current genocide in Darfur and the ongoing denial
of the Armenian Genocide. Earlier this year the chapter participated in a
"Walk for Darfur" to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in Sudan. The
chapter has also sponsored press conferences, including one with Congressman
Brad Sherman in support of the genocide awareness film "Screamers."

As previously noted, the WSFV-ANC is initiating an aggressive voter
registration campaign to increase awareness of the civic process and the
role that citizens play in electing their government representatives. The
goal of the campaign is to double the number of registered Armenian American
voters in the San Fernando Valley.

The San Fernando Valley is home to nearly 1.7 million residents, including a
growing and prosperous Armenian American community. The WSFV-ANC is
committed to expanding its efforts to reach out to all Armenian Americans as
new and old residents look to continue or become involved in local
government.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Tel: 818-500-1918
Fax: 818-246-7353
Email: [email protected]
Web:

According to news reports, LA Times managing editor Douglas Frantz has
resigned from his post at the newspaper.  The ANCA-WR and thousands of
its supporters have called for Frantz’s dismissal based on his role in
obstructing a news article on the Armenian Genocide. 

For more information on this developing news story, please visit
later today. 

For background information on this matter – please visit
I/1278224626.

FORMER EMPLOYEES OF "ARMENIAN AIRLINES" COMPANY CLAIM TO PAY OFF THEIR SALARY DEBTS

Noyan Tapan
Jun 25 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Over 500 employees of the "Armenian
Airlines" company, declared as bankcrupt in 2004, claim to pay off
their salary and benefit debts of about 340 thousand U.S. dollars,
in general. Vladimir Poghosian, an ex-pilot of the "Armenian Airlines"
company, told the journalists at the June 22 press conference that on
June 21 Manuk Tophuzian, the Minister-Chief of the Government Staff,
received them and offered to create a committee for the purpose of
solving that problem and added that representatives of the Ministries
of Justice, Finance and Economy, as well as ex-employees of the
"Armenian Airlines" company will be included in that committee.

In V. Poghosian’s opinion, the government, which was the 100%
shareholder of the "Armenian Airlines" company, is obliged to
pay off their debts. He believes that the 314 million out of the
611 million drams, recieved from the sale of the property of the
"Armenian Airlines", has been allocated to deaf pilots as a pension,
and the rest of the sum "has disappeared."

V. Poghosian is of the opinion that the issue of the non-paid salaries
can be solved by selling the 26 hectare area of land belonging to the
"Armenian Airlines" company in the territory of Sevan. He stressed
once again that the "Armenian Airlines" has never worked with a loss:
it has been declared bankcrupt artificially as the annual profit of
the company made 5 million U.S. dollars.

AZERBAIJANI ARMED FORCES TURN 89

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 25 2007

Azerbaijani Armed Forces turn 89 this year, APA reports. The history
of the modern Azerbaijan army dates back to Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic in 1918, when the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan Republic were
created. Azerbaijani parliament headquartered in Ganja passed a
decision on establishing the army on the basis of 600-men regiment
of former Russian army composed of Azerbaijanis on June 26, 1918.

The officers of Islamic Army of the Caucasus headed by Nuru Pasha
set up an army of 20,000. The army succeeded in releasing Baku from
Bolshevik-Dashnak occupation, crushing the Bolshevik rebellion in
Mughan and military operations against Armenians in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s military ministry was officially closed after Soviet
occupation and People’s Military Commissariat replaced it. Over 15
generals out of 21 of Azerbaijani army were killed by Bolsheviks.

Azerbaijani parliament passed a decision in September, 1991 on
establishing Defense Ministry, and on October 9 on setting up
Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces holds one of the leading places in the South
Caucasus for the number of its staff and its material procurement.

Azerbaijan’s defense expenditures make up $ 1.100bn in 2007.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces cooperate with a number of countries and
international organizations as well as in the framework of various
NATO programs (Partnership for Peace program, PfP Planning and Review
Process, Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP)).

The Azerbaijan Armed Forces consists of four military branches:
the army, air force, navy, air defense force and four sub-branches
the national guard, interior guard, border guard and the coast
guard. The interior and coast guard are only used for emergencies in
the country and are under direct command by the Ministry of Emergency
of Azerbaijan.

In the past 89 years, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry was led by Khosrov
bey Soltanov, Samad bey Mehmandarov (1918-1920), Valeh Barshadli,
Tajeddin Mehdiyev, Shahin Musayev, Tahir Aliyev, Rahim Gaziyev,
Vahid Musayev, Dadash Rzayev, Mammadrafi Mammadov and Safar Abiyev
(1991-2007), and the Armed Forces General Staff was led by Habib
bey Salimov, Mammad bey Sulkevich (1918-1920), Shahin Musayev, Valeh
Barshadli, Safar Abiyev, Rufet Amirov (the last two acted for interim
period), Nureddin Sadigov and Najmaddin Sadigov (1991-2007).

SLOVAK CONSULATE TO BE OPENED IN ARMENIA

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 25 2007

YEREVAN, June 25. /ARKA/. The Consulate of the Slovak Republic
will be opened in Armenia on June 28. The Consulate said that to
participate in the opening ceremony the official delegation of the
Slovak Republic headed by State Secretary Olga Algaerova will arrive
in Armenia on Thursday.

The members of the delegation are Mr. Augustin Chisar, the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic in Armenia,
Mr. Stefan Rozkopal, the Head of the NIS Department of the MFA of the
Slovak Republic, Mr. Gagik Martirosyan, the Honorary Consul of the
Slovak Republic in Armenia, Mr. Metod Spacek, the Chief Staff of the
State Secretary, as well as Mr. Martin Pangrac, the Second Secretary
of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Armenia.

The Slovak delegation will hold a number of official meetings, as
well as Press Conference in Yerevan.

DID KIRO MANOYAN REVEAL A DEAL?

Lragir.am
25-06-2007 15:29:04

The ARF Dashnaktsutyun thinks the next president of Karabakh
must announce that the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are
not effective, and demand involvement of Karabakh in the talks,
and Armenia must recognize the independence of Karabakh considering
the ineffective talks and the defiance of Azerbaijan. Kiro Manoyan,
who is in charge of the political affairs and Hay Dat of the ARF
Bureau, made this statement in a news conference on June 25. Kiro
Manoyan thinks the fact that Karabakh and Armenia will soon have new
presidents is an excellent opportunity for a change of the format.

However, the reporters asked for Kiro Manoyan’s thoughts about the
possible influence of the fact that according to the political
scientist Igor Muradyan the likely presidential candidate in
Nagorno-Karabakh supported by the government is a "drug user" on the
talks. The reporters wondered if in case Bako Sahakyan is elected the
United States may recall Elizabeth Jones’ statement about trafficking
in drugs. They also asked if Bako Sahakyan with such reputation can
represent the interests of Karabakh. One of the reporters even fears
that Bako Sahakyan is unable to fulfill this mission.

"Don’t be afraid, the foreign minister of Karabakh Georgy Petrosyan is
a Dashnak, he can represent the interests of Karabakh in any place,
at any time. The president need not necessarily participate in
the talks. It is important that the president holds the right line
and faces the right direction," Kiro Manoyan says. In answer to the
question if the ARF Dashnaktsutyun supports Bako Sahakyan because the
foreign minister is a Dashnak, Kiro Manoyan said he will not answer
internal questions.

Kiro Manoyan says, however, that the initiative to put up Bako Sahakyan
as a "common candidate" is Dashnaktsutyun’s, not Arkady Ghukasyan’s. "I
do not mean Bako. I mean the common candidate. The problem was to have
a common candidate. Independent from the personality The problem was to
have a common candidate because in Karabakh we cannot afford different
approaches. Kiro Manoyan says. Hence, for Dashnaktsutyun it was not
important who the common candidate would be. Kiro Manoyan disagrees,
however, saying that there were discussions on the personality but
he, for instance, cannot answer the question how Bako Sahakyan was
chosen. He only says the political parties of Karabakh negotiated
and endorsed Bako Sahakyan, and he is not aware why Bako Sahakyan
was chosen. By the way, Kiro Manoyan also stated that he does not
know if Bako Sahakyan uses drugs.

ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHK DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEMS WITH SORBONNE UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR

AKHALKALAK, JUNE 22, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 21, a
professor of the Sorbonne University, the political scientist Zhirayr
Dumouny met with representatives of nearly 20 Armenian NGOs at the
office of the Javakhk Youth Sports and Cultural Union. During the
meeting they discussed a number of issues related to language, higher
education, and religion.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by Javakhh-Info, the discussions passed in
a heated atmosphere: Seda Melkumian, the European Center’s
Samtskhe-Javakhk spokesperson responsible for national minorities,
presented the problems in the educational sphere in detail.

A number of MPs of the Akhalkalak Municipality taking part in the
meeting stated that according to Article 9 of Georgian local
self-government law, the clerical working language at local
self-government bodies is Georgian, but today their activity is
illegal, as only 1% of the Akhalkalak population and only a few of the
32 elected deputies master the Georgian language.

In spite of differing opinions about a number of issues, almost all
participants of the meeting unanimously stated that the Armenians of
Javakhk are ready for dialogue. However, one-sided dialogue is
impossible. The majority’s interest is also needed.

U.S. MILITARY COMMANDERS AGAINST FORCEFUL SOLUTION TO IRANIAN PROBLEM

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.06.2007 17:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Forceful solution to the Iranian problem is the
last variant and I do not support it.

The problem must be resolved through diplomatic ways," Commander of
U.S. Central Command Admiral William J. Fallon stated in Dushanbe
after having a meeting with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmonov.

He said, both the USA and Iran are interested in stabilizing
the situation in Iraq, this proceeds from the interests of both
countries. "US’s priorities in the region is stability in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Iran might play a constructive role in stabilizing the
situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it does not want to play that
role yet," Admiral Fallon said, RIA "Novosti" reports.

OSKANIAN REFUTES THE REPORTS ABOUT A "LEAVE" IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS

ArmRadio.am
20.06.2007 17:09

RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian today refuted the statements
of the Azeri side that "Armenia has taken a leave in the negotiation
process." The Foreign Minister stated this, commenting on the statement
of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov disseminated
by Interfax agency today.

"Armenia and the international community must analyze and evaluate
today’s situation. If the talks are stalled until September, it should
be regarded as an adjournment for Armenia, another opportunity to
review its position.

Vartan Oskanian underlined that the position of official Yerevan
remains unchanged: "Armenia is ready to continue the negotiations on
the basis of the existing suggestions."

RA Foreign Minister declared that during the last meeting between
the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Saint Petersburg "there
emerged the first distinct signs, which evidence that the Azerbaijani
side is trying to refuse from earlier agreements."

"Taking this into consideration, I do not rule out that Araz Azimov’s
statement is an attempt to find the guilty," Vartan Oskanian said.

RA Foreign Minister did not comment the statements that Azerbaijan
has refused from the idea of a referendum in Nagorno Karabakh. At
the same time, Vartan Oskanian repeated that "we see the trend in
Azerbaijan to refuse from the agreements reached earlier."

"We need time to understand what consequences such behavior of
Azerbaijan will have," Vartan Oskanian declared.

WHETHER EUROPEANS WILL BELIEVE KARABAKH’S TEARS
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily – Armenia
20 June 07

In response to our questions, LYUDMILA HAROUTYUNYAN, Dean of the
Faculty of Sociology of the Yerevan State University, touches upon
the NKR Presidential elections

"Let’s try to understand the sense and the logic of the political
processes under way in Karabakh. To begin with, can the key to the
Kosovo conflict settlement, i.e. first principles and then status,
become a precedent for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict? This
means Kosovo first has to become a state living in accordance with
democratic principles and then be granted a relevant status.

The Kosovo variant is currently said to be inapplicable to other
conflicts, but we all realize well that the Kosovo key will open
the doors of the other conflicts. Karabakh believes that the problem
of its status will be resolved through a referendum, therefore the
society Karabakh presently has a very important problem to solve:
to show that Nagorno Karabakh is a democratic state; it is capable
of mastering its own fate independently and is trying to convince
the international community of that."

"Do you think Karabakh will not solve that problem and it still has
something to prove to the world?"

"Let’s not forget that Karabakh is still in a ‘neither peace nor war’
situation, and every day it hears Azerbaijan’ statements on further
settlements through military operation, that’s to say, it is de
facto in a situation of military mobilization. No country is in such
situation can be very democratic.

Moreover, if somebody says Karabakh is a 100 per cent democratic
country, we have no right to call that person’s sincerity into
question. Why?

Because, democracy is first of all pluralism, whereas military
mobilization implies the prevalence of a single opinion. Democracy
implies dissidence, rivalry, conflict of principles and opinions,
whereas military mobilization requires something quite different, But
we should also be realistic and state that Karabakh, nevertheless,
continues to live in a ‘neither war nor peace’ situation and be
grateful to the people of Artsakh for realizing the value of democracy
and appreciate what we have considering certain criteria. First,
have any alternative chances developed in Karabakh? Second, is such
alternative present in the electoral processes? Third, are there
prerequisites for the citizens to express their will freely? And,
finally, are fair and equal starting conditions guaranteed for all
the candidates?

It is the answer to these questions that the public and the authorities
of Karabakh should give, committing themselves to certain obligations
even if there is nothing apparently imposed by the international
community."

"What is your impression as an observer? Is Karabakh ready for
such test?"

"It is difficult to give an answer definitely, looking from aside.

One thing is clear: there is no alternative for democratic elections
in Karabakh. It is a different matter whether an ordinary person
realizes this and whether by doing so heshe forces the authorities to
comply with their commitments. Has the society of Karabakh developed
into civil society, and does it live in accordance with democratic
criteria?"

"The European observers have always expressed positive assessments
with regards to the elections of Karabakh, and they appreciate that
this small country that has waged a war, shed blood and is craving to
confirm its independence is displaying such political will. This, in
my opinion, makes the attitude of the Europeans a little bit emotional
with regard to the processes underway in Karabakh, and they, perhaps,
somehow close their eyes to certain lapses.

Secondly, there also works the factor of encouragement. A European
sees that the first step has been made and he appreciates this to
encourage the second. And thirdly, Europe is willing to help Karabakh,
considering the well-known truth. Help is given to the one who helps
himself. That is, seeing that the people of Karabakh have realized
the value of democracy, it is trying to help them.

In this respect, there is no need to be tempted into the form and
omnipotence in order to show what we don’t have. It is very important
for democratic elections to be really held in Karabakh and for Karabakh
to really become a small democratic country, live in peace and become
recognized by the international community.

And on top of all, in case not all are equal in Karabakh, and people
have no access to democratic freedom, and justice and rule of law do
not become a way of life, Nagorno Karabakh will have no chances to
resist the future challenges. Sober logic says that Karabakh has no
alternative. It remains to the public and authorities of Karabakh
deserve the achievements gained through of Artsakh’s struggle of
existence."

"To what extent to you consider the individual factor, i.e. the
President’s personal features and attitudes, decisive from this point
of view?"

"The new NKR President should have a clear-cut idea with regards to
the limits of concessions and be confident enough to submit it to
the people’s approval.

The next most important problem to be solved by the President is
to make Karabakh an active party to the negotiations again. Today,
Karabakh is alienated from the talks, and society has a feeling that
it is not the master its fate. The mediators arrive in Yerevan;
then they leave for Baku, agree upon certain issues. And where is
Karabakh left? After all, it is the fate of Artsakh and not Armenia
and Azerbaijan that is put to discussion, and this compulsory format
in which Karabakh is left out should be changed if the parties and
the international community are interested in the establishment of
peace in the region."