Panorama.am
14:15 27/10/06

VTB-ARMENIA BANK DOES NOT PLAN INVESTMENT YET
The management of VTB-Armenia Bank considers it early
to talk about investment. Vasili Titov, senior vice
president of VTB-Armenia Bank, said the bank has its
own capital and does not plan to invest a new capital.
He said the bank undergoes serious audit. `Our aim is
to optimize the work of the network so that it
complies with international standards of service.’
VTB Armenia has the biggest regional network in the
country composed of 100 branch offices. Alexander
Vartanov, chairman of VTB-Armenia Bank administration,
said the bank has a capital of $24 million and serves
89-90% of capital turnover between Armenia and Russia.
Reminder: 70%+1 shares of VTB-Armenia Bank belong to
Russian Bank VTB (Vneshtorbank). V. Titov said VTB is
ready to buy the rest of 30% of shares, which
currently belong to entrepreneur Michael Bagdasarov. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
14:18 27/10/06

FACTION HEAD SAID CONVICTS OF OCTOBER 27 ARE ONLY TOOLS IN EXTERNAL HANDS
FACTION HEAD SAID CONVICTS OF OCTOBER 27 ARE ONLY TOOLS IN EXTERNAL
HANDS Representatives of parliament factions talked about the fatal
crime committed on October 27, 1999 when several leading politicians
were assassinated right in the parliament. Galust Sahakyan, leader of
Armenian Republican Party (HHK) block, said the main criminals have
not got their punishment yet but time will come and everybody will
know who stands behind it. The deputy is sure that the convicts were
just a tool in the hands of external forces.
Stepan Zakaryan from Justice block, who was one of the witnesses of
October 27, believes Armenia has lost a good deal of its independence
after the assassination of those political men. Gegham Manukyan from
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun) said
Dashnakcutiun became a major political force which ensured political
and public stability in the Republic of Armenia after October
27. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
14:34 27/10/06

TIGRAN TOROSYAN: OCTOBER 27 WAS A RESULT OF EVIL AND HATRED
Today the deputies gathered in front of the memorial
erected to the memory of victims of the cruel
assassination of outstanding Armenian political
figures exactly seven years ago. They put flowers in
front of the monument and left with their heads down.
Tigran Torosyan, speaker of parliament, said people
who have known the victims will take the pain with
them till the end of their lives. He is sure that the
incident was a result of evil and hatred.
Viktor Dallakyan, deputy of parliament, said, `October
27 was a planned attempt of coup d’etat and the
terrorists were a tool in the hands of the executors.’
He is sure that in time the offenders will become
known. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
15:01 27/10/06

DEPUTY PINPOINTS TO ARMENIAN FOREIGN POLICY FAULTS
Stepan Zakaryan, member of Justice block, said if
Armenia had not lost its independence because of
incorrect foreign policy, Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
would not have the diameter it has now. In his words,
even the West agreed that the pipeline would be
transit but Armenia could not protect her interests,
he said.
The deputy said Armenia has become a `pillar’ for
Russia because of the faults of the Armenian
authorities. He said in the case of Javakhk Armenia
should protect her interests, too. He said the Armenia
authorities should clearly say that they protect human
rights and will defend the interests of Armenians
living in Javakhk. Speaking about Russian-Armenian
relations, Zakaryan said Russian should be made to
understand that Armenia is not her `pillar.’ /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
15:12 27/10/06

GOVERNMENT DECIDES TO KEEP TO THE CURRENT NATIONAL ANTHEM
The executive approved RA Law on National Anthem with
some changes to be submitted to the National Assembly.
The government did not approve the decision of the
tender committee, which selected music without song as
the national anthem. The government decided to keep
the current national anthem for one more year until a
new national anthem will be selected. Ruben
Hovasapyan, member of Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnakcutiun) approved the decision,
saying, `It will make our motherland stronger for one
more year.’
The tender committee selected the music of Aram
Khachatryan which was the national anthem of Soviet
Armenia. Hovasapyan said Aram Khachatryan’s music was
only attachment to the national anthem of the Soviet
Union, saying it by no means discredits the great
composer. He also said despite of all shortcomings,
Our Motherland, the current national anthem of
Armenia, has biography and reflects the creation and
declaration of our independent republics. /Panorama.am/

Panorama.am
15:27 27/10/06

WB SAYS CUSTOMS SERVICE NOT THE MOST CORRUPT IN ARMENIA

`We do not think that the most corrupt sector in
Armenia is customs,’ Rojer Robinson, head of Yerevan
office of the World Bank (WB), told a news conference
today, speaking about sharp criticism of WB report by
the state customs services of Armenia.
In his words, the report said no progress was reported
in the customs and tax services of Armenia in 2005,
moreover, a reverse process started. `We have been
conducted bilateral consultation with the customs
services for several years and declare that they have
implemented all the agreements,’ Robinson said.
Vigen Sarkisyan, press secretary of WB Yerevan office,
said WB will publish data on the most corrupt sector
in Armenia in 2007. /Panorama.am/

Armenian National Committee of Quebec Presents Quebec Capital with Komitas
Statue
27.10.2006 13:44
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The Armenian National Committee of Quebec (ANCQ)
presented Quebec City with a bust of the famous Armenian composer
Komitas during a special ceremony on the afternoon of October 24, 2006
at the City Council’s Chamber.
Mrs. Andrée Bouchard, Quebec City Mayor, said `Quebec City is
very honoured to receive from the Armenian community the bust of a
musician and poet who has left his mark on Armenian culture. This
symbol will not only introduce Armenian culture to others but will
also help spread the artistic and historic contributions Komitas had
on the evolution of his people, On behalf of the citizens of Quebec, I
express my deepest gratitude to the representatives of the Armenian
community who, with this generous donation, show their support for
multiculturalism.’
Poet, composer and musicologist, Komitas was an apolitical person with
many talents who represented a spirit of openness and unification. His
music is still omnipresent with Armenians on an international scale
and his tragic faith is the symbol of the Armenian Diaspora.
The sculpture, which was donated by the Armenian Community members,
was given to Quebec City as a reflection of the synergy created in
Quebec due to its cultural integration and harmonisation policy. The
ANCQ and Quebec City are planning the permanent display of the
sculpture for 2007.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Schiff: High Time That We as Nation Recognize Armenian Genocide
28.10.2006 15:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ US Congressman Adam Schiff, the
author of Armenian Genocide legislation which passed
the House International Relations Committee, commended
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her support
of Genocide recognition legislation. Leader Pelosi
recently committed to support Armenian Genocide
legislation in the 110th session of Congress if she
becomes Speaker of the House, Schiff’s Press Secretary
Sean Oblack told PanARMENIAN.Net. “There is no hiding
the fact that one and a half million Armenians were
deliberately murdered at the beginning of the 20th
Century, and it is high time that we as a nation
recognize these heinous crimes for what they were – a
genocide,” Schiff said. “I stand with Leader Pelosi in
her commitment to get this important legislation
passed. We need to acknowledge these horrible
atrocities of the past, in order to progress towards a
brighter future.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
History continuously rewritten in Azerbaijan
If the Armenians did not exist then they should have
been thought up to justify their own lack of talent
and weakness.
27.10.2006 GMT+04:00

It is quite a useless and unnecessary thing to answer everything that
is written in the Azerbaijan press concerning the Armenians and the
Armenian history. But lately our neighbors have completely lost their
sense of proportion and they blame the Armenians in anything they
like.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Singer Aygun Kazimova’s imagination played up to the
extent that she blamed AzTV in that `somebody works in the favor of
the Armenians in the television! Before it only seemed to me but now I
am sure that a specified person works for the benefit of the Armenians
in Baku, and the Azerbaijan pop art purposefully directs into the
abyss! They try to bullshit the nation with the help of their stupid
programs and on the quiet they carry out their dirty business. The
number of the songsters is springing up like mushrooms after the rain
and all of them are given certain places in the television,’- she
shares her frankness with the correspondents of Day.az.
Indeed, if the Armenians did not exist then they should have been
contrived to justify own lack of talent and feebleness. But it is so
unserious. The accusations in that it was exactly the Armenians who
expelled the Germans from Azerbaijan in 1941 are more serious. The
author of that version is Abbas Seidov; leading researcher of the
Institute NANA of Archaeology and Ethnography, professor of Azerbaijan
Economic University, Doctor of History. It is rather an unpleasant
thing to prove the truth especially when there is no one to prove it
to. For some reason Azerbaijan is sure that it can assert whatever it
likes in its virtual world and adjust the history to its interests.
It is exactly the case with the Germans from Hanler and Shamkhor who
were evicted by Stalin’s order into the Kazakhstan steppes at the same
time. The same Germans that lived in the neighborhood of the Armenians
and the Caucasian Tatars for about 200 years and they almost did not
communicate. In 2003 Alexander and Rudolf Yaskorskies, emigrants from
Hanler published a book; `Germans of Black sea and the Caucasus’
(concerning the origin and life of the German ethnic group of Black
Sea and the Caucasus)’, where photographs and documents enlightening
the life of the German colony are collected. In particular there is a
remarkable paragraph in the book; `The German immigrants fundamentally
settled in a planned way at the periphery of the Russian empire. It
solved two tasks at one stroke; on the one hand the borders of the
empire were strengthened and a buffer zone was created between the
territories populated with uncivilized tribes and Christian
population. And on the other hand the cultural economies of the
Germans involved new uninhabited areas, that had not been earlier
cultivated, into the economic revolution and fortified them into the
structure of the empire. The Armenians made friends with the Germans,
learned their language and behavior It was a natural striving towards
each other as the Armenians and Russians were the only Christian
neighbors of the Germans in the surroundings of the Caucasian Tatars,
who from time to time organized massacres from which the German
colonists suffered as well’.
Neither the archives nor the contemporaries’ illustrations turn to be
edicts for Abbas Seidov- he has his own sources according to which for
some reason the arrival of the same Germans is related to Alexander I
though they had been invited by Catherine II. But at the same time
everything is all right with the Armenians – they turned to appear
here in the course of the World War I…
But it is not all. Seidov goes on writing `Later the Armenians began
demolishing the graves of the Germans using the tombstones with their
own ends. With all this going on they longed to wipe all the traces of
the Germans’ habitation in Hanler’. However there is nothing
surprising – during all their realized history that means during the
last 40-50 years the Azerbaijanis have been ascribing all their deeds
to the Armenians. And all that began from the times of Heydar Aliev
and it is quite possible that it will be concluded with Ilham Aliev’s
government. Suddenly more responsible people may come to power in
Azerbaijan for whom the Armenian will be just a neighbor, who is
simply not like themselves. But it is not necessary to expect it
without fail-it depends on the good luck. «PanARMENIAN.Net»
analytical department

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 28 2006
EU’s only Plan for Turkey is Membership
By Economy News Desk
Saturday, October 28, 2006
zaman.com
Graham Watson, leader of the Group of the Alliance of Democrats and
Liberals in the European Parliament (EP), is certain Turkey will
become a member of the European Union.
Watson said accession would ultimately take place but some circles
had an unfavorable opinion about free circulation and noted the
European Union had no Plan B for Turkey.
Invited to Turkey by Zaman daily, Watson spoke at a meeting organized
by the Confederation of Turkish Businessmen and Manufacturers
(TUSKON).
Watson focused on Turkey’s E.U. process and said the European Union
should keep enlarging and include countries that fulfill the criteria
in order to continue the success it had so far obtained.
`No matter how long it lasts, this reform process should be a peg to
increase economic stability and life standards,’ he said.
Describing the supporters of Turkey’s E.U. membership process as
optimistic and those who oppose it as pessimistic, Watson believes
the optimists try to turn difficulties into opportunities whereas the
latter group refuses to take advantage of any opportunity.
While there were vast opportunities for optimists, he said,
pessimists remained reluctant in regards to politics, causing doors
to shut in Turkey’s membership process.
There were still some difficulties for Turkey’s membership process
but the Turkish government was determined to do its best, he added.
Calling for calmness in discussions on Cyprus, Watson said, `We
should come through this storm because everything will ultimately
settle down.’
Stating France was influential on the UK’s 10-year wait during the
E.U. membership process, Watson believes the membership process
should continue in agreement with the Copenhagen criteria. Confidence
must be established without worrying over the increasing goals of
politicians because getting public confidence is no easy task.
Seven percent of the Turkey believes in the European Union, a
newspaper survey revealed. Turkey should overcome these obstacles in
the public opinion and struggle against those opposing enlargement,
he said.
Graham added that there were 12 E.U. members in 1980. Today, there
are 27 countries because a single market offers great opportunities
and the trade is an important tool in this sense.
Terming the French parliament passing a bill on an Armenian genocide
as `madness,’ Watson said: `Such a law is totally absurd in today’s
world. If it becomes a law, they will regret it.’