CRIME AGAINST FOREIGNERS ON RISE IN RUSSIA: OFFICIALS
Agence France Presse — English
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 10:37 PM GMT
The number of crimes committed against foreigners in Russia this year
soared by 33 percent compared to last year’s figures, the interior
ministry said Wednesday.
Almost 6,000 crimes against foreigners and people without citizenship
were registered this year, officials quoted by the Interfax news
agency said, adding however that these crimes were only 0.4 percent
of all registered in Russia.
Also, ethnic hatred motivated 18 murders and 129 attacks this year,
rights activist Galina Kozhevnikova of the Sova Center said, adding
that 10 of those murders were committed in Moscow and four more in
Russia’s second largest city, Saint Petersburg.
Recognisable Russian ethnic minorities — especially Chechens and
other Caucasians — as well as Armenians, Roma gypsies and Jews,
and foreign nationals such as Africans and Asians have increasingly
been targeted in racist attacks.
Although a string of murders by skinheads has grabbed headlines,
human rights campaigners also accuse Russian security forces and
semi-official law enforcement militias of routine abuses and point
to a climate of near-impunity.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DM TO PAY VISIT TO LITHUANIA
Baltic News Service
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 11:56 PM EET
Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan is starting a two-day visit
to Lithuania on Thursday.
According to a press release from the Lithuanian Defense Ministry,
Sargsyan is scheduled to meet with acting Lithuanian Defense Minister
Gediminas Kirkilas to discuss Armenia’s relations with NATO, the course
of Armed Forces reforms, participation in international operations,
prospects of bilateral and regional cooperation.
Later on Thursday, the Armenian defense minister will visit the
Lithuanian parliament to meet with members of the National Security
and Defense Committee.
On Friday, Sargsyan is planned to visit the Grand Duchess Birute
Motorized Infantry Battalion in Alytus, where Armenian officers have
been interning since 2005.
According to the press release, Lithuania has been cooperating
with Armenia in the field of defense since 2002. Lithuania finances
Armenian officers’ studies at the Lithuanian Military Academy and
the Baltic Defense College. In early March this year, Lithuania
accredited its first defense attache to Armenia, Lieutenant Colonel
Albertas Charzevskis.
Sargsyan has been heading the Armenian Defense Ministry since 2000.
He also held the office of defense minister in 1993-1995, later worked
as interior minister and national security minister, held other high
positions in the country’s security structures.
This is his third visit to Lithuania. He already visited the Baltic
state in 2002 and 2004.
Irakli Okruashvili, the defense minister of another South Caucasus
country, Georgia, visited Lithuania earlier this week.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YOUNG SCIENTISTS SEEK WAYS TO PREDICT NATURAL CALAMITIES
by Leonid Vinogradov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 05:33 PM EST
Natural calamities that occurred on Sakhalin and Kuril islands will
be the main subject for discussion at an international conference
of young scientists from Russia, Japan, China, Bulgaria, Iran, and
Armenia. The forum is to be held here from June 15 to 20.
The press service of the Sakhalin-based Institute of Marine Geology
and Geophysics has announced that about 60 scholars will make reports
at the conference. Russia will be represented by scientists from
Vladivostok, Magadan, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Those present will endeavour to work out a system to predict
earthquakes, tsunami oceanic waves, and snow avalanches on the strength
of the study of the natural calamities that occurred on Sakhalin and
the Kuriles.
The 1952 tsunami was the Kuriles’ most terrible natural calamity
that devastated the town of Severo-Kurilsk on Paramushir Island. The
oceanic wave that was 15-18 metres high claimed a toll of more than
2,000 human lives. The 1995 earthquake on Sakhalin made havoc of
Neftegorsk township, killing more than 2,000 inhabitants.

PETER SEMNEBY: “EU ACTION PLANS FOR CAUCASUS FEW MONTHS AWAY”
Today, Azerbaijan
June 15 2006
The EU special representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby,
told on Wednesday that European Neighborhood Policy Action Plans
with Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan will be signed “in a couple of
months’ time.”
Semneby told RFE/RL that minor issues remain with Georgia, while
talks with Armenia are also “advanced.” However, he indicated the
negotiations with Azerbaijan are more difficult.
The EU’s high representative for common foreign and security policy,
Javier Solana, indicated after meeting Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Noghaideli on Wednesday for the first time that some countries could
be left behind.
“Of course we would like, as much as possible, to have the relationship
with the three countries as close as possible, as joint as possible,”
Solana said. “But as you know also very well, the Neighborhood
Policy has an element which is important in itself, which is [that it
contains] tailor-made action plans [specific] to the needs of every
country. Not every country is equal, not every country moves at the
same speed, but in general terms if we can do it together [that]
will be better. But the slowing [down] of one will not affect others.”
Semneby confirmed that there are differences between the EU and
Azerbaijan on how to address the Nagorno Karabakh issue. However,
he said he is “quite confident” the differences can be overcome soon.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/15/2006
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1) Committee Adopts Amendment to Block US Subsidy for Armenia Railroad Bypass 2) Matthew Bryza Appointed US Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group 3) Luxembourg PM Proposes Freezing EU Talks with Turkey 4) Kocharian to Visit Iran 1) Committee Adopts Amendment to Block US Subsidy for Armenia Railroad Bypass WASHINGTON, DC--The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed Wednesday the vote by a powerful Congressional panel to block US taxpayer funding for an unnecessary and costly proposed railroad between Turkey and Georgia that would, if built, circumvent Armenia and, in the process, undermine the economic viability of the existing Caucasus railroad route through Armenia. With a unanimous voice vote Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee adopted the amendment offered by panel member Joe Crowley (D-NY). The measure prohibits the Export-Import Bank from providing any assistance ~Sto develop or promote any rail connections or railway-related connections that traverse or connect Baku, Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Kars, Turkey, and that specifically exclude cities in Armenia.~T Representative Crowley serves as the Chief Deputy Minority Whip. His amendment to the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2006 was co-authored by Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA). ~SWe thank Congressman Crowley, his colleagues Ed Royce and Brad Sherman, and all the members of the Financial Services Committee for protecting American taxpayers from subsidizing an ill-advised and over-priced railroad project that--at the insistence of Turkey and Azerbaijan--has been proposed solely to exclude Armenia,~T said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. ~SWith this amendment, we are sending a message to the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan that continually excluding Armenia in regional projects fosters instability,~T said Congressman Crowley. ~SBypassing Armenia is just another attempt to further suffocate this republic, which has made great strides in democratic and economic reforms notwithstanding its neighbors~R hostility. If the Caucasus region is to move forward, we must ensure that all countries move forward together at the same time.~T He added that, ~SThe American taxpayer should not be required to finance a project that goes against the interests of the US government in the South Caucasus. I thank my colleagues for recognizing the importance of this legislation.~T A proposed new Caucasus rail line--at the urging of Turkey and Azerbaijan--would circumvent Armenia. Promoters of the project have sought, even at the planning stages, to secure US financing for this undertaking, prompting Congressional friends of Armenia to preemptively block such attempts. The Crowley Amendment is similar to the South Caucasus Integration and Open Railroads Act of 2006. This measure was introduced in both the House (HR 3361), by Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and in the Senate (S 2461) by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA). The House version has 85 cosponsors; the Senate version has been cosponsored by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD). Both measures stress that US policy should oppose the ~SThe exclusion of Armenia from regional economic and commercial undertakings in the South Caucasus,~T noting that such actions ~Sundermine the United States policy goal of promoting a stable and cooperative environment in the region.~T Thousands of activists throughout the United States have sent ANCA WebFaxes to members of Congress in support of this legislation at anca.org/action_alerts/actionalerts.php?aaid=93 . In October of last year, the European Commission voiced official opposition to the proposed Caucasus railroad bypass of Armenia. A formal statement by the Commission~Rs Directorate General for Transport and Energy noted that its construction was both unnecessary and inefficient in light of the existing railroad connecting Kars, Gyumri, and Tbilisi. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank~Rs mission is to assist in financing the export of US goods and services to international markets. 2) Matthew Bryza Appointed US Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew J. Bryza was appointed the American co-chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said. ~SThe US informed us that Mr. Bryza will replace Steven Mann at the post of co-chair. After confirmation in Vienna he will fully engage into the process of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict settlement.~T Bryza is expected to pay a visit to the region to get familiarized with the situation and the peace process. When news of the replacement was first announced Azeri Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said that changing the American co-chairman will not have a negative impact on negotiations. He said that what is important is that the US remains in the regulation process. He added that Mann~Rs replacement will be fully involved in the process within one or two months. 3) Luxembourg PM Proposes Freezing EU Talks with Turkey PARIS (Reuters)--The European Union should freeze membership talks with Turkey if Ankara does not open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus this year, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker Thursday. It was the clearest signal so far that some leaders will seek a complete halt to the negotiations if Turkey does not fulfill its obligation to extend its EU customs union to all new member states, including Cyprus, which it does not recognize. Juncker was asked by the French daily La Croix whether the EU had shown weakness by agreeing to conclude the first detailed accession negotiations on science and research this week without a move by Turkey on Cyprus. "No. European ministers firmly reiterated to the Turks that this condition should be applied in 2006," he said. "If Turkey were not to implement this condition this year, my view is that the negotiations will have [to] be postponed." Turkey has said it would open air and sea access to Cypriot planes and ships if the EU made good on a promise to end the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus. The EU has rejected any linkage between Ankara's treaty obligation and its own political pledge, which Nicosia has so far impeded. Officially, the EU has not threatened a complete suspension of talks if, as expected, Turkey does not meet the condition. Foreign Ministers said this week "Failure to implement its obligations in full will affect the overall progress in the negotiations" without specifying how. The executive European Commission is due to review Turkey's performance in a report in late October or early November and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has warned of a potential "train crash." Juncker, a veteran center-right politician close to Germany's governing Christian Democrats, suggested the EU would have to reconsider further expansion in the light of the defeat of the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands. "Anyhow, Croatia aside, I think that it will probably not be possible to continue the enlargement process without limits and precautions if we do not manage to restore order to European institutions," he told La Croix. "A large-scale enlargement does not seem feasible to me on the sole basis of the current treaties." 4) Kocharian to Visit Iran YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--President Robert Kocharian will travel to Iran next month for his first face-to-face talks with the Islamic Republic~Rs President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his spokesman said on Thursday. Victor Soghomonian, the presidential press secretary, said that the official visit is tentatively scheduled to take place ~Sin the middle of this summer.~T Energy Minister Armen Movsisian was in Tehran late last month and discussed with senior Iranian officials details of Kocharian~Rs planned trip, suggesting that it will focus on Iranian-Armenian energy projects. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Movsisian told his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, that it could ~Sopen a new chapter~T in the close ties between the two neighboring states. Mottaki, for his part, was quoted as praising ~Scommon interests~T shared by Armenia and Iran and calling for a further deepening of their ~Sprofound relations.~T The remarks are in line with Ahmadinejad~Rs pledges to continue his predecessors~R policy on Armenia, which he made following his election as president a year ago. Kocharian had already visited Tehran in 2003 to meet with Iran~Rs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and then President Mohammad Khatami. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

POLITICAL ANIMAL / FRESH OUT OF SORROW
By Yossi Sarid
Ha’aretz, Israel
June 15 2006
Be merciful unto us and unto yourselves: Cease the sorrow that you
express on your behalf and ours every time civilians are killed in your
bombings and assassinations; during the past month the specialization
has been in children in particular. Sorrow, too, has the quality of
being wasted and already at the start of the summer you have been
very profligate. The earth has seen this. Your sorrow has run out
and now you are using substitutes.
For us, it is easier to live with the “slight tremor in the plane’s
wing” and the “sleeping well at night” of our pilot-cum-chief of
staff than with your always-tortured faces and your comments, like
“We didn’t mean to” and “The Israel Defense Forces is the most moral
army in the world.”
It is easier for us to accept the songs of the contemptible Zimri than
it is for us to accept the songs of the exalted Phineas, who slays
Zimri in Chapter 25 of the Book of Numbers, and kills and wails,
wails and kills – and then demands the rewards of the righteous.
Conspiracy of silence
My weaning from politics has gone well thus far. Ever since I resigned
and ever since the 17th Knesset was formed, I haven’t had delirium
tremens even once; I have not even been overcome by longing.
It seems so far away to me, the Knesset, and not really all that
interesting.
And all of of a sudden, last week, I was gripped by a single moment
of regret – too bad I wasn’t there. The plenum convened for a special
session to hear the remarks of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
who came for an official visit to Israel.
The president, who delivered his speech in his own language, said only
correct things about the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and about the increasingly closer cooperation between Turkey and
Israel. He then ended his remarks with a condemnation of anti-Semitism
“and all the kinds of racism that are crimes against humanity.” And
as befits a speech in the parliament of the Jewish people, he did not
forget to mention the Holocaust and the six million who fell victim
to the greatest crime of all.
How interests coincide: President Sezer forgot to relate even
indirectly to the Armenian genocide, which Turkey has been denying and
shrugging off for the past 91 years – and our own Knesset members also
zealously maintain the monopoly on the Holocaust and therefore find it
best to ignore other people’s disasters. And thus a mutual conspiracy
of silence developed in the plenum hall, in the world, and the words of
the visiting president were met with complete satisfaction. Needless
to say, no one who entered the Knesset bothered to mention the
importance of the principle of every-nation-bearing-its-sins –
whether the Turkish nation or us.
There is no need for vulgar comparisons between the Jews’ Holocaust and
other cases of genocide. Even the Armenians themselves acknowledge the
satanic uniqueness of the Final Solution, and they make no demands for
“equality.” However, they do have a justified demand for recognition
of the terrible pogrom that was visited upon them, for which someone
must take responsibility. Recognition by the Jewish people is of
special importance to them, which is completely understandable. Israel,
for its part, insists on continuing its policy of consistent denial,
yet it is the last country in the world that is entitled to pursue
such a policy; it does unto others what it would not have others do
unto it. And it will yet pay for this in hard currency.
The PM’s daughter
Dana Olmert – “the daughter of” – is a big girl already, who has
known her own mind for quite a while and her right/duty to express
it. My personal acquaintance with her is slight, but I know that she
is a senior editor at an important publishing house. She developed
her worldview well before her father was elected prime minister,
and she apparently has no intention of relinquishing it. Nor need
she: Although the deeds of the father are visited upon the sons and
daughters, they only visit and no more.
The issue Dana has raised, by participating in a left-wing
demonstration earlier this week, is far more interesting and
significant than is commonly thought. It prompts me, personally, to
reveal a secret that politicians do not usually volunteer to tell:
More than they influence their children, their children influence
them – this is the secret (and even for politicians, “children”
remain children at all ages). The common recommendation is cherchez
la femme, but this needs amending: Do look for the wife, but mainly
the daughters and sons. If we pause a moment over the significance
of the position of Politician X and its shifts, it is recommended
to look for the footsteps: In most cases they will lead home, to
the family. Even politicians are sometimes human beings and their
children are their flesh and blood, and they are their reliable and
durable connection to the outside world.
I had no doubt that the late Ezer Weizman, for example, changed his
view of the world in light of the fatal wounding of his son Shaul
during the War of Attrition, from which he never really recovered. In
the shadow of death, Ezer looked at life differently.
And such things do not just happen here: U.S. Vice President
Richard Cheney is one of the politicians I most despise because
of his aggressive conservatism, which is leading America and the
international community into infernal realms. And yet he of all people
evinces a tender and considerate attitude toward single-sex couples,
their status and their rights – all because his daughter is a lesbian.
I myself have more than once obeyed my children, and they have not
always known how to appreciate their influence or did not want to
take advantage of it. I had principled reasons of my own to object
to refusal to serve in the IDF, for instance, but if in moments of
weakness and distress I wavered, it was my two sons and my daughter
who dispelled my doubts: I am entitled, of course, to support refusal,
but without them; they are not accompanying me and from here on in, I
will march alone. And if they, who more than anyone else believe in my
integrity, diverge from my path, then for whom exactly am I fighting
and for whom am I laboring? Dana Olmert is not an oddity. Without
meddling in the domestic affairs of another family, I am absolutely
certain that she has an influence on her father’s way – covert and
considerable.
Although in the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth it was written
that “the daughter is stabbing her father in the back,” no less, I
think that Dana is the best thing that has happened to Olmert since
his election. True, she has fallen far from the tree, but the tree
is Olmert and forevermore shall be. No one can be so terrible if a
daughter like Dana is his daughter.

FISHING BAN AGAIN
A1+
[08:37 pm] 14 June, 2006
Any kind of fishing is prohibited in the Sevan since June 25 until
August 31. Until now fishermen almost exhausted the whitefish stores
of the lake under pretence of catching crayfish. Deputy Minister of
Environmental Protection Artashes Ziroyan said that from now on no
fisherman will be allowed to go into the lake.
The representatives of the national park “Sevan” who were also present
at the meeting promised to do everything possible to prevent the people
from breaking the law. Newly appointed governor of Gegharqounik marz
Arsen Grigoryan expressed his readiness to support the corresponding
bodies.
TV Company “Qyavar”, Gavar

OSKANYAN AND SARGSYAN IN THE SAME PLACE
A1+
[08:44 pm] 14 June, 2006
Serge Sargsyan and Vardan Oskanyan, the RA Ministers of Defense and
Foreign affairs, participated in the meeting of the NATO and Armenia
(format 26+1).
The meeting was dedicated to the discussion of the realization of the
Individual Partnership Action Plan NATO-Armenia. Ministers Sargsyan
and Oskanyan made speech referring to the issues about cooperation
between Armenia and the NATO and the realization of the IPAP.
The Ambassadors of the NATO member-countries also made speech assessing
the progress of Armenia in the realization of the IPAP provisions,
paying attention to the democratic procedures in Armenia as security
guarantee, the reforms of the defense field and the issues about
enlarging political dialogue with the NATO.
The Ministers also answered questions regarding the foreign policy of
Armenia, the security components, regional issues and energy security,
as well as the present phase of the settlement of ht Karabakh conflict.

AFTER SEIZURES, COUPLE HAD $2.54 IN CIBC
By Paul Delean, The Gazette
The Gazette (Montreal)
June 15, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
Retired businessman Haroutioun Markarian was on the road to
Plattsburgh, N.Y., yesterday, when he heard from his lawyer that he’d
won big in his lawsuit against CIBC World Markets.
“I was confident the wrongdoer would be punished, and the Canadian
justice system did not let me down,” said Markarian, 73.
He had $300 to his name when he brought his young family to Canada
from Egypt in 1962. A machine shop that he built “from nothing”
was their ticket to a better life.
By 1993, when he retired and sold his share of the business to his
employees, he and wife, Alice, had assets in the millions.
About $1.4 million was placed with CIBC Wood Gundy. After the brokerage
seized and liquidated their holdings to pay off the trading losses
of people they didn’t know, they had all of $2.54 left at the CIBC.
The Markarians had been clients of Harry Migirdic, a Wood Gundy
broker who misled them about the documents they were signing, since
the mid-1980s. Like them, he was an active member of Montreal’s
Armenian community.
“I had faith in him,” Markarian, 73, testified in Superior Court. “I
felt fortunate to be served by a company vice-president.”
Markarian said he never would have signed guarantees for the trading
losses of strangers.
“Why would I risk the family fortune for people I don’t know?”
Though they still had substantial sums at other institutions, the
couple said the CIBC seizure took a toll.
“We had established a certain standard of living,” Markarian said.
“It was cut in half.”
Alice Markarian, 68, testified the events had a profound effect on
her husband.
“He didn’t want to go to Armenian functions,” she said. “He didn’t
want to face people who wanted to talk about (what happened). He felt
humiliated personally.”
Son Arek, 38, said his father “was a respected man, a founding member
of the Armenian community, one of the builders. It was a tremendous
blow to his ego, his self-esteem. … Losing half what you worked
your life for, in one afternoon, at his age – it changed him.”
Markarian was thrilled by yesterday’s decision, but the ordeal has
shaken his confidence in Canada’s financial institutions.
“I’m very vigilant now. I don’t trust anyone. Financial institutions
are out for themselves. That’s why investors have to watch their
accounts very closely.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RF WILL GIVE MONEY
A1+
[12:48 pm] 15 June, 2006
RF was to assign money for the reconstruction of the old building
of the Gyumri Pedagogical Institute in 2005 in the framework of the
intergovernmental program. But according to Vardyevan Grigoryan, Rector
of the Institute the construction was delayed as there are certain
problems connected with the documents. On this score a special group
of experts has recently come to Gyumri from Moscow to observe the site.
A new building is not constructed, and the foremost issue they counter
today is to preserve the old building of the Institute. The necessary
financial support will be provided by the Russian Federation. In case
the problem is not solved in this way, Rector Vardyevan Grigoryan
intends to apply to the National Assembly.
TV Company “Tsayg,” Gyumri