Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

Ha’aretz, Israel
April 23 2009

Yossi Sarid / Sometimes evil is good for the Jews
By Yossi Sarid
Tags: Obama, Netanyahu, Yossi Sarid

"And the Holy One Blessed Be He rescues us from their hands," cited
the president once again at the memorial service.

"From their hands" – but also from our own hands, he rescues us from
ourselves, from our disgraceful behavior. After all, without Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad – a wicked and confused putz – and disgusting types like
him, the international community, including our friends and allies,
would have long since evicted us from the stolen lands on the other
side of the Green Line. The world is tired of the never-ending
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Were it not for the fact that Ahmadinejad opens his big, ugly mouth at
every opportunity, he would not have forced the best-governed nations
to unite around a gluttonous country that refuses to release its prey;
had he not ridiculed the United Nations and its Human Rights
Conference in Geneva, he would not have provided the speeches of
Jerusalem and Birkenau with such a wealth of lofty cliches.

It’s not at all bad to live in a world of evil. Evil purifies and
excuses other evil, and sometimes evil is good for the Jews.

On this very day, April 24, the Armenians are commemorating the 94th
anniversary of their genocide. Although Shimon Peres this week forbade
the "nation that went through the Holocaust" to close their eyes to
evil governments, the Armenians feel that Israel has closed its eyes
to their disaster and blocked its ears to their cries. And only
recently, only when Turkey condemned our evil deeds in Gaza, did one
local general warn that if they didn’t shut up immediately, we would
open up its past.

That is the method: If our sins are scarlet, they are still white as
snow compared to the sins of Turkey; everything in life, and in death,
is relative.

A slightly better world would have demanded that we mend our ways, and
we would have done so. We’ve been lucky, and it’s an evil world that
is coming to us with complaints, which we reject by giving it the
finger, and asking, who gave you the right? First take care of
yourselves, and who do you think you are anyway?

Even the "leading national newspaper" this week probed the question in
a special edition: Is the Israel Defense Forces really the most moral
army in the world. It probed, and immediately discovered that while
the IDF may not be without flaws, compared to other armies it is
entirely true blue and white; the theory of relativity works.

They say of Raful (Rafael Eitan) that at the end of the Yom Kippur War
he hosted a delegation of United States congressmen on a fact-finding
mission. They visited the Golan Heights and looked out over
Quneitra. One guest asked with fear and trepidation whether all this
destruction was absolutely necessary.

Raful let him have it: "And what did you do to the Indians?" he
asked. At that the members of the delegation stopped asking
questions. We have to learn from Raful, that’s exactly how Israel has
to explain itself, without stuttering.

About a month from now the prime minister will go to Washington for a
first meeting in the White House. When Barack Obama only begins to
harass him, Netanyahu has to hit him between the eyes: And what did
you do to the blacks? That will be the knockout line.

That’s my advice. Let him hit Obama where it hurts, by bringing up his
wife Michelle’s mother. Then the president will fall silent, and we
probably won’t hear from him for another two terms at least.

SPOKESMAN OF ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS "ROAD MAP" MEANS STEPS WHICH WILL BE UNDERTAKEN

ArmenPress
April 23 2009
Armenia

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: ""Road map" phrase in the diplomatic
vocabulary is an accepted and used expression which means program of
steps which will be undertaken," spokesman of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry Tigran Balayan explained mass media, referring to the phrase
used in the joint statement of Armenian, Turkish foreign ministries
and Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The statement said that Armenia and Turkey "have achieved tangible
progress and mutual understanding in this process and they have
agreed on a comprehensive framework for the normalization of their
bilateral relations in a mutually satisfactory manner. In this context,
a road-map has been identified."

TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONSHIP

France 24
April 24 2009

Turkey and Armenia have agreed on a "road-map" to normalise their
relations. The Web comments upon this event, which coincides with
the 94th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

This English blogger of Armenian descent welcomes the thawing of
relations between Yerevan and Ankara. He hails Armenia’s efforts to
rebuild relations with Turkey, despite the refusal by the latter to
recognise the Armenian genocide.

For the occasion, many Net users are passing round this on-line
petition, launched by Turkish intellectuals in December, to request
forgiveness from the Armenians. Thepetition is continuing to collect
numerous signatures.

The Armenian community in the US is also rallying. In this video,
broadcast on-line, several celebrities have called on US President
Barack Obama to respect his electoral promise and recognise the
Armenian genocide.

In order to commemorate this tragedy and keep its memory alive, this
site revisits the events of 1915 with survivors’ video testimonies.

THRU 22
GAREN YEGPARIAN

Asbarez
/2009_1
Thursday, April 23, 2009

In this, the first of my annual two or three part chronicle/commentary
of April 24th events, there’s virtually nothing but bad news, from
near and far. Read on to the end and you’ll see.

First, let me list those events I knew or learned of but could not
make. The reason for this is to parallel previous years reporting,
and to have a compact, though unavoidably incomplete, chronicle of
our commemorative activities.

I missed the Burbank Armenian Club’s event, since I was in the middle
of an election campaign, and the Glendale blood drive and two lectures
(one about the Genocide the other, its Adana antecedent- both looked
interesting) at the Ararad Home, since I was recovering from the
campaign in the mountains (more on this elsewhere). The Orange County
Walk for Remembrance is another. I’ve never made this one, but it
strikes me as a good idea, so I was saddened to hear participation
in it is dwindling. The all-ASA event held at UCLA would’ve been
interesting to compare to last year’s held at CSUN’s campus, but it
conflicted with another event, and was harder to reach. An all-day
carnation planting scheduled for the 23rd on the USC campus is another
I won’t make.

Hye Geen had organized its annual conference on Saturday the 17th. This
has been a good, informative event. But perhaps it ought to be done
NOT in the thick of Genocide related activities. While I missed it
for other conflicts, and I understand that people feel guiltier in
April and are therefore more likely to attend such a seminar format,
I do hope the organizers will consider changing the time frame.

Moving on to something I actually attended, Friday night, the 17th was
the event organized by the AYF Nigol Touman Chapter in Pasadena. While
the turnout was lower, a bit over 150 vs. last year’s 200, the program
was compact and effective, partly for that reason. What I most liked
was the modernized rendition of "Der Voghormia".

Sunday was the ARF Shant/AYF Youth Rally. What a disaster! This
has been a tremendous event with notable speakers attracting
great attendance. This year, it was an anemic 100 people, with the
program being acceptable, certainly Raffi Hamparian and California
Assemblymember Portantino delivered good speeches, but no one was
there to hear. What happened?

Monday, on the USC campus was a screening of J. Michael Hagopian’s
film, The River Ran Red, the third in his series. A measly 75 people
were in the small room. Again, the time of year and the history of
this man’s efforts led me to expect much better. What’s going on?

Tuesday night, I missed a joint Armenian-Jewish panel organized in
a Pasadena synagogue. This is undoubtedly a good step, continuing
in the spirit of what we’ve had in recent years in the San Fernando
Valley. I hope someone details this event in our press. I was at a
Holocaust remembrance in Burbank, organized annually by the Burbank
Human Relations Council. Last year they had a very interesting
speaker. This year, no less so, a Major General of the Army National
Guard spoke about Jewish partisans fighting in the woods during
WWII. We could probably learn something here. We should be bringing
in varying aspects of the Genocide, not just the same-old "we got
massacred" refrain. How about the self defense efforts, Oorfa Van,
and others large and small? How about the Kemalists’ killings and
forced re-expatriation in 1922? You get the idea.

Wednesday the 22nd was the eighth annual commemoration organized
by the Armenian clubs of the Glendale unified School District’s
high schools. While this was once again a bit too heavy on the
arts performances, with consequently a bit too long of a program,
attendance seemed consistent with previous years, in the 400 range.

But the bad news on the same day was the Armenia-Turkey announcement
of a "roadmap". I guess U.S. State Department operatives can be
pretty tone deaf, public relations wise. Can anyone tell me what good
came of the Israel-Palestine "roadmap? This was no doubt at least
partially forced on Armenia. But it is the height of insensitivity,
tone-deafness, and perhaps even treachery, to time such an announcement
on the eve of April 24th activities worldwide. This year, of course,
it carries even more weight because of the much anticipated Obama
statement on the Genocide. Is this the weaseling-out hatch that will
be used to free him of the need to take a stance? As of this writing,
we don’t know, but it sure smells fishy. How much do you want to bet
that as soon as this time passes, this roadmap will be found "lacking",
incomplete", "in need of refinements", containing "oops, we didn’t mean
exactly that" clauses? Perhaps it is a good thing for our Republic’s
current leadership to learn the hard way, first hand, the extreme wile
and guile of the half-millennium-old Turkish diplomatic establishment.

The only good news is the trouble the two-faced Cong Harman finds
herself in. She may have been trying to get leniency for some Israeli
undercover operatives, and was recorded because of a wiretap. So at
least we can now console ourselves. She doesn’t just sell us and human
rights out, but also her country, that which she’s sworn to protect
from enemies foreign and domestic! This story bears watching. It is
very fresh. I can’t help but wonder if this won’t somehow end up
being connected to Dennis Hastert’s Turkish cash and the cover-up
that Sibel Edmunds exposed but was muzzled.

REGIONAL DISASTER HEALTH NETWORK PLANNED FOR ARMENIA
Shushan Stepanyan

hetq.am/en/society/bjshkutyan-kentron/
2009/04/23 | 15:51

Today, RoA Ministry for Emergency Situations Mher Shahgeldyan,
announced plans to set up a program leading to the creation of a not
for profit "Regional Diasaster Health Center" network.

The minister stated that, "One of the most pressing problems to
safeguard the populace from consequences resulting from emergency
situations and warfare is a medical diasaster system. Studies of the
Spitak earthquake show that the absence of such a network leads to
a large number of preventable deaths."

The functions of such a sytem will be both informational and
preventative in nature, the minister noted, adding that the system
could have regional significance as well given that such a system is
lacking in other countries in the region.

Assistance for the project will come from the Swiss development Agency
and a number of diaspora Armenian organizations.

AMERIABANK RECEIVES CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 9001:2008

ArmInfo
2009-04-22 13:45:00

Ameriabank has been granted certificate 01 100 051317 of
compliance with the ISO 9001:2008 international standard quality
management requirements. The certificate was awarded on April 7,
2009 by TUV RHEINLAND GROUP, a major international company based in
Germany. Ameriabank was the first in the financial market of Armenia
to receive certificate of compliance with ISO 9001:2008 standard in
a new edition, Ameriabank’s press service told ArmInfo.

According to the press release, for almost one year the Bank worked on
the development and set up of Quality management system in compliance
with requirements of ISO 9001:2008 Quality management international
standard. CSP Middle East S.A.R.L. was hired as a consultant.

The relevant audit assessment was conducted in early March this
year. The certificate was issued based on positive audit conclusion
on compliance with the standard.

While introducing a system complying with ISO 9001:2008 Quality
management standard, Ameriabank has developed more than 65 business
processes covering not only service provision processes but also
adjacent processes, subject to regular supervision, evaluation
and improvement. The Bank’s guiding principle in the process of
establishment relations with the clients is clear identification of
the clients needs and provision of relevant services. Considering net
promotion score as the most essential indicator of the bank performance
evaluation, the Bank was one of the first on the financial market
of Armenia to introduce net promoter score system (NPS), which is
currently successfully running.

To achieve more efficient Quality management system application in
the Bank, active measures are being taken to install one of the most
modern CRM system (Customer Relationship Management). The system
will ensure a new approach to the client relationship management,
automation of all the business processes related to service provision,
which assumes clients relations quality upgrade and unique approach
in this area within RA.

Ameriabank CJSC is an investment bank, which offers corporate, and
limited number of individual, banking services, by providing with a
complete package of banking solutions. The Chairman of the Board of
Directors of Ameriabank is Mr. Ruben Vardanian, and the Chairman of
the Management Board-General Director is Mr. Artak Hanesyan. Troika
Dialog Group, one of the largest Russian investment banking companies,
is the strategic partner of Ameriabank.

ISSUE OF ARMENIA NOT INCLUDED IN INITIAL VARIANT OF PACE APRIL 27-30 SESSION AGENDA

NOYAN TAPAN
APRIL 21, 2009
YEREVAN

The issue on the process of fulfillment of the resolutions adopted
by PACE on activity of democratic institutions in Armenia is not
included in the initial variant of agenda of the PACE spring session
to be convened between April 27-30 in Strasbourg. It was decided at
the PACE Monitoring Committee March 30 meeting that depending on the
results to be recorded during further use of amended articles of the
RA Criminal Code, before the PACE session the Committee will again
touch upon the issue of Armenia’s fulfilling the commitments.

As NT correspondent was informed by the Armenian delegation in PACE,
the discussion of the issue at the Monitoring Committee is envisaged
on April 27.

According to the report of the Council of Europe Press Service, it was
proposed discussing two issues in the urgent order at the session. The
first was introduced bu the Group of Socialists and regards democratic
institutions’ activity in Moldova and the second by the Committee
of Ministers and it is expected to receive an opinion on the 14th
protocol of European Convention of Human Rights aimed at simplification
of internal procedures of European Court of Human Rights.

The humanitarian consequences of the Russian-Georgian war and
fulfillment of requirements of Resolution N 1647 by the two countries,
as well as the annual report of 2008 activity of Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg are also among the
issues on the agenda.

It should be also mentioned that a ceremony dedicated to the Council of
Europe’s 60th anniversary is also envisaged on the session’s first day.

PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND US VICE PRESIDENT TAKES PLACE

ArmenPress
April 20 2009
Armenia

On the initiative of the American side a phone conversation between
the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and US Vice President Joseph
Baden took place today.

Presidential press service told Armenpress that during the phone
conversation the sides discussed issues on the establishment of
political dialogue between Armenia and Turkey.

ARMENIA TO RECEIVE $400 MILLION LOAN TO BUILD RAILWAY TO IRAN

RIA Novosti
April 20, 2009
YEREVAN

Armenia has reached an agreement with Iran on a $400 million loan for
the construction of a railway between the two countries, the Armenian
transport minister, Gurgen Sargsyan, said on Monday.

An agreement on the construction of the strategic route was signed
by Armenia’s Sargsyan and his Iranian counterpart, Hamed Behbahani,
on April 14 in Tehran. A working group will take about three months
to carry out a feasibility study.

"In addition, Armenia is in negotiations with the Asian Development
Bank, the World Bank and other concerned parties," Sargsyan told
journalists.

The construction of the 500-kilometer (310-mile) railway, with 60
kilometers (37 miles) in Iranian territory, is expected to take at
least five years and cost $1.5-$1.8 billion.

The railway, with the Armenian section connecting the northern city
of Sevan to the southern city of Meghri on the border with Iran,
will ensure the transportation of energy supplies and other goods,
and increase trade between the countries.

Landlocked Armenia, currently under economic blockade by Turkey
and Azerbaijan, has rail links with other countries only through
the territory of Georgia, which is complicated by Tbilisi’s often
fractious relations with Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine have expressed interest in financing the project.

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN RECEIVED HEAD OF THE WORLD BANK ARMENIA OFFICE ARISTOMENE VARUDAKIS AND COUNTRY SUPPORT STRATEGY MISSION COORDINATOR SAMIA MITRA.

Frida y, 17 April 2009

Pleased with the current level of World Bank-Armenia cooperation,
the Prime Minister pointed out that the program on the use of USD 50
million out of the World Bank-allocated USD 85 million-worth of loan
for supporting medium-size enterprise is gathering momentum. Tigran
Sargsyan said to be confident that other joint programs, too, will
be carried out successfully.

Aristomene Varudakis noted in turn that the 4-year bilateral
cooperation program has started quite successfully. He outlined
the draft strategy of country support program for Armenia which
as agreed will be submitted to the World Bank Board of Directors
for approval. Aristomene Varudakis advised that under this promptly
drafted paper, which has been agreed with the RA Ministry of Finance,
USD 20 million will be allocated to Armenia in addition to the already
agreed 525 million dollars. The head of the World Bank Armenia Office
made a point of harmonizing the country support strategy-specified
activities with the GoA-formulated programs with a special focus
placed on the social sector and the creation of new jobs in particular.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted that the Armenian ministers
of finance and economy have already endorsed the draft support
strategy. What matters most now is to have the strategy approved
by the Bank so as to proceed to the practicalities as soon as
possible. According to the Prime Minister, this will second the
Government in its anti-crisis efforts.

Aristomene Varudakis and Samia Mitra expressed readiness to cooperate
with such donor countries and international organizations as are
prepared to provide Armenia with support lending.