Armenian Youth Federation-YOARF Eastern US
80 Bigelow Ave
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel. (617) 923-1933
Fax (617) 924-1933

Over 400 Attend Annual AYF-YOARF Junior Seminar
WATERTOWN, Mass.-Over Memorial Day Weekend, over 400 AYF junior
andsenior members, representing over 15 chapters of the Eastern
Region, gathered at Camp Lutherlyn in Prospect, Penn., for the annual
AYF-YOARF Junior Seminar. Attendees, as well as lecturers and guests,
gathered for a weekend of educationals, discussions, and AYF
camaraderie.
This year’s theme was `Identity. Spirit. Tradition: Experience AYF.’
The weekend’s educational content revolved around this central message
where members learned about the various realms that theorganization
encompasses. The educational aspect of the weekend commenced early
Saturday morning where members attended various lectures geared to
their specific age group.
Various topics such as Armenian Kingdoms; the AYF members’ college
experience; AYF evolution; and the AYF members’ role in the
Armeniancommunity, sparked discussion on all levels amongst juniors,
seniors, and lecturers. `This year’s content was exceptional. Given
that we are two years away from celebrating the 75th anniversary of
the AYF, it isimportant for our members to know about the AYF as it
relates to itself, the community, and other organizations with which
it works with,’ saidNora Keomurjian, 2006 Junior Seminar committee
chairperson.
In addition to taking part in eight lectures, attendees rekindled
friendship and met fellow ungers and ungerouhis from various
chapters. `One of my favorite parts about Junior Seminar when I
attended as a junior was meeting new people from so many different
places. I continue to do so today as a senior,’ said 2006 Junior
Seminar committee member Simone Dinkjian-Soultanian.
Evening activities also added excitement to the weekend, including the
traditional Saturday night talent show. DJ Chris Krikorian, Aram
Hovagimian, andSevag Khatchadourian provided entertainment throughout
the weekend. A special addition to this year’s program was a showcase
of young talented members from the New Jersey Arsen chapter. Brothers
Shant and Raffi Massoyan, and Raffi Kouyoumjian played Armenian
melodies on traditional Armenian instruments such as the zurna, oud,
and dhol.
In its 36th year, Junior Seminar continues to be the driving force
that brings together membership, not only providing them with social
outlets, but the tools and knowledge needed to continue their
membership in the AYF.

Armenia president cancelled his visit to CIS informal summit
ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 21, 2006 Friday 04:48 AM EST
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has cancelled his visit to Moscow
because of his illness, the president’s press service reported.
Kocharyan was scheduled to attend an informal summit of the CIS
leaders planned for July 21-22.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian PM reiterates adherence to peaceful Karabakh settlement
ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 22, 2006 Saturday 04:31 AM EST
By Tigran Liloyan
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan has reiterated Yerevan’s
adherence to a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. “We remain
peaceful settlement supporters,” he said when speaking at the tenth
congress of the Armenian Republican Party, the leader of which he is.
Margaryan reminded about the Karabakh conflict settlement principles
backed by the Armenian ruling party.
The premier believes international recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh
people’s right for self-determination and border security must be
ensured. Nagorny Karabakh must not be under the jurisdiction of
Azerbaijan, he said. He believes the region must participate in the
negotiations.
The package of proposals put forth recently by the co-chairmen of
the OSCE Minsk group envisages withdrawal of Armenian forces from the
territory controlled by them and bringing of peacekeeping forces there.
It would be acceptable, if Azerbaijan had not rejected it and
threatened to increase the military budget for a military solution
of the problem, Margaryan said.
The Armenian premier welcomed the Minsk group co-chairmen’s efforts.
He expressed the hope their activities would have a positive effect
on Karabakh conflict settlement.

Youth Dancers Arrive Home From Lebanon
ABC Transcripts (Australia)
SHOW: AM 8:12 AM AEST ABC
REPORTERS: Karen Barlow
TONY EASTLEY: While the politicians continue to wrangle, the real
people still to get caught up in the conflict.
At Sydney Airport last night, 18 dancers and supporters of a youth
dance troupe arrived home after being caught up in the Lebanese
conflict.
The rest of the 81-strong Armenian group is due to arrive back in
Australia over the next 48 hours.
There was a series of moving homecomings at the airport last night,
as Karen Barlow reports.
(sound of dance troupe being met)
DANCER 1: Hi Mum!
KAREN BARLOW: The 18 members of the dance troupe came through Customs
together, causing a mass scramble and a flurry of hugs and kisses.
DAD: Tell me truth: you miss them or me?
KAREN BARLOW: A few of the dancers were as young as 11, and some
hadn’t seen their family and friends for more than a month.
DAD: Hello, my little girl.
CHILD: I love you.
KAREN BARLOW: A simple stopover in Beirut for a few days after
competing in Armenia had turned into siege inside a Beirut hotel,
followed by a dramatic bus ride to Syria.
Fifteen-year-old Annette Mazmanian is relieved to be home.
ANNETTE MAZMANIAN: As much as you’re far away from your parents and
you have your friends around, you just want to come back home as soon
as you can. And with the bombs going on in Lebanon, it was the first
time I’ve ever felt that way.
And just as soon as the wheels got back to Sydney and I felt the wheels
land into Sydney I was really relieved and happy. Home sweet home.
KAREN BARLOW: How was it for you over there?
ANNETTE MAZMANIAN: It was an experience, but it was really scary. You
could just feel the bombs going off.
And as soon as we got into the bus to go to Jordan, and just to escape,
to evacuate from there, we felt one bomb and that was the closest. We
saw the buildings just go off and we felt the vibration, and it was
pretty scary.
KAREN BARLOW: Her mother, Nora Mazmanian, was overwhelmed to see her
daughter again.
ANNETTE MAZMANIAN: For us, Annette looks like she born again for us.
I couldn’t believe it. I can see her again.
KAREN BARLOW: Tina Arabian was welcoming back her siblings and cousins.
TINA ARABIAN: Life hasn’t been normal. We don’t even know what the
day is. We didn’t know what the date is. We don’t know anything,
our life’s upside-down.
KAREN BARLOW: But there are thousands more Australians still in
Lebanon, and there are grave fears for the ones in the south, near
the border with Israel.
Zena Hamka’s parents and two brothers are in the town of Jebbain.
ZENA HAMKA: They tried to leave to Beirut but the car broke down
and they’re just stuck there. And we’ve called up the Red Cross in
Lebanon and they said they can’t get to them. And here they can’t do
anything here for them because it’s just too dangerous area.
KAREN BARLOW: Are they just there on a holiday?
ZENA HAMKA: Yeah, holiday. Yeah, that’s it. It was just a holiday,
seeing their family, and yeah …
KAREN BARLOW: Is it especially hard seeing that there are reunions
here at the airport …
ZENA HAMKA: Yeah.
KAREN BARLOW: … but you’ve got loved ones still there?
ZENA HAMKA: That’s right, yeah. I just told my cousin I shouldn’t
have come.
COUSIN: It’s bittersweet.
ZENA HAMKA: Yeah. Like, I’m …
COUSIN: We’re happy …
ZENA HAMKA: … my Dad’s coming.
COUSIN: But feel very guilty for the people that are still away.
ZENA HAMKA: Yeah. I just wish they could take all of them out of
there and no one gets hurt.
TONY EASTLEY: Zena Hamka, ending that report from AM’s Karen Barlow.

Dance troupe arrives back in Sydney
ABC Transcripts (Australia)
SHOW: AM 8:12 AM AEST ABC
Members of a Sydney dance troupe have arrived back in Sydney to
emotional scenes, after being stranded in Lebanon after the crisis
broke out.
Eighteen dancers and supporters of the the Armenian dance troupe
touched down at Sydney airport overnight, on a flight from Jordan.
The rest of the group will arrive on separate flights over the next
two days.
Fifteen-year-old dancer Annette Mazmanian was clearly relieved to be
back on home soil, and with her parents.
“I just feel much relieved that I’m home,” she said.
“As much as you’re far away from your parents and you have your
friends around, you just want to come back home as soon as you can .
“With the bombs going on, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt that way.
“Words can’t explain I just wanted to hug them and never let go.”
This morning, 65 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are leaving
for the Middle East.
They will be helping the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) evacuate
Australians caught up in violence.
Brigadier Mick Kehoe says 19 ADF members are already in the area
working with DFAT.
“In all likelihood some will remain in Cyprus,” he said.
“Some will be on the ground in Lebanon and operate in direction
and under direction… of the DFAT personnel who’ll be managing the
evacuation of Australian nationals.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Author Faces Trial for ‘Insulting Turkishness’
National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Weekend Edition Saturday 1:00 PM EST
July 22, 2006 Saturday
ANCHORS: SCOTT SIMON
In her new novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, author Elif Shafak
writes about two families, one Turkish, living in Istanbul, and the
other Armenian, living in California. An Armenian character hears
that a family member will marry a Turk and says, Only a handful of
Turks come from Central Asia, right? Then the next thing you know,
they’re everywhere. What happened to the millions of Armenians who are
already there, assimilated, massacred, orphaned, deported, and then
forgotten? How can you give your flesh and blood daughter to those
who are responsible for our being so few, and in so much pain today?
For those words and more, Ms. Shafak, who is a Turk, faces three
years in prison under that nation’s Article 301 for insulting
Turkishness. Now, Ms. Shafak has been on our show before. She filed
a story last year that took us on a journey down an Istanbul street
where she once lived. Ms. Shafak also teaches Near East Studies at
the University of Arizona. She commutes back and forth between Turkey
and Arizona. She joins us now from Istanbul.
Ms. Shafak, thanks very much for being with us.
Professor ELIF SHAFAK (Author, The Bastard of Istanbul): Thank you
for having me.
SIMON: And please tell us the legal side first. I gather that the
charges were first rejected by a lower court. Then what happened?
Prof. SHAFAK: First, the prosecutors interrogated me and my Turkish
publisher. At the end of that process, the prosecutor decided there
would be no need for a trial. And we were all relieved because we
thought the case had been dropped.
SIMON: Yeah.
Prof. SHAFAK: But it turns out, when they heard the prosecutor’s
decision, these ultranationalist lawyers, they took the complaint
to a higher court and somehow eventually they managed to have the
prosecutor’s decision repealed. So we went back to square one, may
be to an even worse point, in sense that trial was automatically
initiated. And right now we are waiting to hear the dates of the
hearings. There will be several hearings. It will be a long legal
battle from now on.
SIMON: Of course, very famously, last year another famous Turkish
novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was brought up on charges of Article 301,
and then eventually the government got rid of the case. There was a
lot international outcry. Is that the best you can hope for in this
situation? Do you want to go to trial?
Prof. SHAFAK: I’m hoping, you know, a similar outcome will take
place. I’m hoping that the case will be dropped eventually. But what is
frustrating is, as you walk in and out of the court, usually there’s
a bunch of ultra-nationalists tramping outside.
SIMON: Mm hmm.
Prof. SHAFAK: (Unintelligible) very, very aggressive, so that process
is also a bit unnerving for me. Just this week we had a negative
conviction under Article 301.
SIMON: Mm hmm.
Prof. SHAFAK: The editor-in-chief of the Armenian newspaper,
(unintelligible) conviction was verified by the higher court. So that
was an unexpected development. There are several intellectuals going
through this process, unfortunately.
SIMON: Mm hmm. And it has been reported in the press – I’m not breaking
a news story here – that you’re also expecting a child soon.
Prof. SHAFAK: That is correct, yes.
SIMON: If you’re amenable to the question, where would you like your
child to be born?
Prof. SHAFAK: Originally, I was planning to come back to the States.
But under these circumstances, it would be more difficult for
me to travel. So I decided to stay in Istanbul. But I’m fine with
that. I mean, as long as the child is healthy, that’s fine. I am not
complaining about that.
SIMON: Ms. Shafak, has your novel appeared in Turkey yet?
Prof. SHAFAK: Yes. And my experience has been quite positive, ever
since the day the book came out. I have been giving readings all over
Turkey from the Diyarbakir to Isnis. The book sold more than 50,000
copies. And it became a bestseller for three months. So the general
reception of the book was quite positive, both in the media and in
the civil society.
That said, I did also receive some hateful messages, some poisonous
letters and reactions. And, interestingly, most of them came from
the Turks living in the States. I sometimes tend to think the Turks
living abroad tend to be more conservative, sometimes more nationalist,
than the Turks in Turkey.
But other than that, my experience with the society in Turkey has
been quite positive, actually. That’s why I think what’s going on
right now is a backlash.
SIMON: Is a backlash to the success of the book?
Prof. SHAFAK: It is a backlash in a more general sense, as well. I
think in Turkey there’s a clash of opinions. On the one hand
are the people who are much more cosmopolitan minded, much more
multi-cultural, who want to keep Turkey as an open society, who very
much wholeheartedly support the E.U. process. But on the other hand
are the people who want to maintain Turkey as an enclosed society,
more xenophobic, more nationalist, more insular. So there’s a clash
of opinions between these two sides.
SIMON: Ms. Shafak’s current novel is The Bastard of Istanbul.
Elif Shafak, thank you very much.
Prof. SHAFAK: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Our conversation with the past has been broken. But our history, our
stories lie here in the layers just beneath our feet. As a storyteller,
it is my job to collect them. Sometimes I liken my writings to walking
on a pile of rubble. Atop the pile, I stop and listen for the sounds
of breathing amid the stones. Look to the stories beneath your feet.
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION. I’m Scott Simon.

Sevillano Cops SCCF Crown in California
Philippine Daily Inquirer; Jul 23, 2006
FILIPINO INTERNATIONAL MASTER ENRI-co Ikong Sevillano topped the 2006
SCCF State Championships recently inLos Angeles, California, USA.
The California based Sevillano, who hails from Cebu City and is a
protege of local chess patron NM Bombi Aznar, beat Japanese-American
Christian Tanaka in
26 moves of a Caro-Kann Defense in his last match to win the title
in the
seven-man single round-robin format.
Sevillano scored 5.5 points on account of four wins (one point came
from a bye) and three draws, the same output of Armenian-American
IM Andranik Matikozyan. After the tie break was applied, Sevillano
tallied 16.25 to edge Matikozyan (15.5) for the title.
Sevillano also beat Francis Chen in round 1 after 40 moves of a
Caro-Kann defense and IM Jack Peters in round 3 after 59 moves of a
French Defense.
He drew with IM Cyrus Lakdawala, IM Matizosyan and Eugene Yanayt. NM
Marlon Bernardino
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ex-Soviet leaders discuss reform of troubled Moscow-led regional body
AP Worldstream; Jul 22, 2006
HENRY MEYER
President Vladimir Putin and leaders of seven other ex-Soviet nations
met in the Kremlin on Saturday to discuss reforming a troubled
regional body seen as a key lever of Russian influence in the former
Soviet Union.
Four presidents did not attend the two-day informal summit in Moscow
_ a sign of the divisions within the 12-nation Commonwealth of
Independent States.
The no-shows included the pro-Western leaders of Ukraine and Georgia as
well as traditional Russian ally Armenia and the authoritarian leader
of isolated Turkmenistan, who does not usually come to such events.
Putin, who has watched with concern at the rise of Western-backed
governments on Russia’s borders, said the meeting should concentrate
on plans to revamp the CIS, which was born from the ashes of the 1991
collapse of the Soviet Union.
“I know that the chairman has prepared a report on the development
of the organization. I suggest we focus on that,” he said in remarks
shown on state television.
Few details of the proposed reforms have been made public.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose oil-rich Central Asian
nation holds the rotating presidency of the CIS, said the aim of the
reform was to make the body “satisfactory to us all, so that no state
feels hard done by.”
He indicated that the loose grouping should concentrate on economic
ties _ a move that could help keep in the fold Georgia, Ukraine and
Western-leaning Moldova, which are all seeking to move out of Russia’s
shadow and have expressed skepticism about the future of the CIS.
Putin himself in March 2005 questioned the body’s usefulness, saying it
had been created for a “civilized divorce” of Soviet republics, unlike
the European Union, which worked to pull its members closer together.
But the CIS and a series of overlapping parallel security and economic
blocs represent the main mechanism for Moscow’s leadership role in
its former empire, and Russia is eager to preserve it.
The tensions within the group, though, were evident as Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili canceled his trip to Moscow at the
last minute because of a flare-up between Russia and the small
U.S.-allied Caucasus Mountain nation over Russian support for two
separatist regions.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko also decided not to attend the
meeting, ostensibly because of his country’s continuing political
turmoil, four months after parliamentary elections.
Yushchenko is facing the unpalatable prospect of the man he beat
for the presidency in 2004, the Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych,
taking the powerful prime minister’s job. The president’s Orange
Revolution rival came out ahead in the March polls and has a formed
a pro-Russian coalition that has put forward
Yanukovych for the premier’s job.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian did not attend the meeting,
his office said, explaining that he has a cold.
The informal summit began with dinner Friday evening at a waterside
restaurant in an upscale Moscow suburb and was to conclude Saturday
with a visit to the track for a horse race dubbed the Russian
President’s Cup.

Newspaper Looks At Flaws In Law To Urge Russian Repatriation
Yuzhnyy Reporter, Rostov-on-Don
10 Jul 06
A Rostov-based independent newspaper comments on President Putin’s
recent decree on state support for the programme to return Russians
from abroad. The programme is criticized for its focus on ethnic
Russians, plans to help returnees settling in a limited number
of regions beyond southern Russia, disregard for diasporas of
non-Russian ethnicity as well as ethnic Russians who returned to
Russia before the decree was signed. The following is the text of
Svetlana Lukyanchikova’s report by Russian newspaper Yuzhnyy Reporter
on 10 July headlined “Signs of compatriot”. Subheadings have been
inserted editorially:
Four million compatriots abroad have been offered a chance to return
home. According to Vladimir Putin’s decree on state support for
the resettlement programme, Russia is ready to provide for the great
return of peoples but only those who agree to settle in under-populated
regions and those who are “Russian
in spirit”. The Southern Federal District comes under none of the
categories
of regions identified for resettlement under the programme. None of
the numerous diasporas of Caucasus peoples come under the notion of
“compatriots” which has greatly surprised experts. Nor can we find
among our long-awaited compatriots those who returned earlier and
are staying illegally across the vast expanses of their homeland.
Programme features
Never has Russia seen so much thought being given to the destiny of
compatriots as of late. The foreign reserves of Russian genes have
for decades been replenished with a steady flow of various waves of
emigration. They recalled the reserve gene stock when, to quote the
apt remark of sociologist Anatoliy Golov, they saw that “there are no
people left to work in Russia”. President Putin’s decree “On measures
of assistance for the voluntary return of compatriots living abroad
to the Russian Federation” and the relevant state programme clearly
define the time frame for its implementation, regions for returnees
to settle and material incentives.
Three phases of return are envisaged for 2006-12. The first phase
(2006) envisages efforts to compile and coordinate regional programmes
for resettlement, prepare and collect regulations and documents. The
second phase of resettlement of volunteers and their families will
start in 2007. Starting from 2009, additional measures will be taken
to make life easier for re-settlers and tackle the influx of new
returnees following in the pioneers’ footsteps.
No pioneers are expected to come to Moscow Region, big metropolises,
economically advanced entities of the Russian Federation and the
problem republics of the North Caucasus. The programme is designed for
three categories of regions. Category A includes “border territories
of strategic importance for Russia”, such as Krasnoyarsk Territory,
Khabarovsk Territory and Maritime Territory; Kaluga Region,
Tver Region, Kaliningrad Region, Lipetsk Region, Tambov Region,
Amur Region, Yakutsk Region, Tyumen Region and Novosibirsk Region.
Category B includes territories implementing large-scale investment
projects which require skilled workforce. Category C includes
territories depopulated through overall decline and migration. The
[part of the] Southern Federal District bordering on the “problem”
North Caucasus republics failed to come under category A. Its borders
are not external: they are Russian internal borders although “hot”
ones. Still… [ellipsis as published]
“Cossack families could be settled in areas bordering on Chechnya,”
said Vladimir Nikitin, deputy head of the State Duma committee for CIS
affairs and relations with compatriots, “or [Russian Orthodox sects]
Dukhobors from Georgia or Molokans from Armenia. Those people can
defend themselves and are good at farming. It would benefit all.
Motivation for return
Resettlement problems have been tackled in federal laws and regional
programmes but without tangible effect. The drastic difference of
the new programme from previous ones is that it offers financial
incentives to resettlers. Subsidies offered by the government attract
people better than nostalgic white birches. “Financial support for
repatriation efforts shall be provided from the federal budget,
budgets of entities of the Russian Federation and local budgets as
well as funds provided by legal entities and individuals,” a programme
clause reads. It lays down clearly who of the returnees is to receive
payments and what for, ranging from the cost of passage to their future
place of residence to travelling allowance and monthly relief. It
does not specify figures although. All that depends on the condition
of the abovementioned budgets and the purse of individuals and legal
entities interested in the inflow of workforce. Yet there is some
mercantilism about the programme that grates upon many local patriots.
“If the programme focuses on the problem of workforce shortage in
under-populated areas, we don’t need such a programme,” Vladimir
Karatayev, chairman of the executive committee of the Union of Slavs
of Adygeya, has voiced his firm opinion. “In terms of liberal market,
it makes no difference for the owner of a transnational corporation
whether workers producing their oil or iron ore are Chinese, Africans,
Tajiks or Russians. We can open our borders for workforce and have
another China here in five years. There is a question of greater
importance for our state: who is to live on these lands in the
end? First of all, it is necessary to return ethnic relatives to
those peoples that created Russia.”
“People coming back here would have the firm motivation of patriotism,”
Mikhail Serkov, chieftain of the Cossack district of the Ter Cossack
Host, echoes him. Their choice to return was conscious. They have
retained traditions and qualities that we lack.
At the start, the state is ready to materially support them to “bring
back” all those things but only in specified places. If the keepers of
traditions want to share them with others in places other than those
listed in the programme, the money invested in their relocation will
have to be returned to the state. Such is the follow-up mechanism.
Definition of compatriots
Last comes a question over which everyone has stumbled: the developers,
researchers and practical executors of the programme. What are the
characteristics of compatriots?
According to the programme, people can be qualified as compatriots
if they were “brought up within Russian culture, know Russian and do
not want to lose touch with Russia”.
“This is a normal programme designed for Russian returnees,” Vladimir
Potnykh, a representative of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration,
said with satisfaction. “This is the first time the legislation of the
Russian Federation features the notion of ‘persons of nationalities
which have or do not have their own statehood outside the Russian
Federation’. For this alone, we are ready to turn a blind eye to all
other flaws,” he said.
Russian patriots hold the view that the state should decide for the
future of which peoples it is going to bear responsibility. Above
all the notion of compatriots should apply to ethnic groups having
no statehood anywhere but Russia. Many experts interviewed by
Yuzhnyy Reporter fear that, having a “Russian speaking” emphasis in
compatriot definition, we may just in a few years see Russia peopled
by Russian-speaking Tajiks and Chinese who do not want to “lose touch
with Russia” for various circumstances.
“The priority position of the Russian language is in glaring
contradiction with the constitution of the Russian Federation and
the earlier state law on compatriots,” said Murat Berzegov of the
non-governmental organization Circassian Congress. “Russia is a federal
state. This is why there are two official languages in Dagestan,
Tatarstan and Adygeya. Why should only a Russian speaker be regarded
as a compatriot? Why can’t someone speaking Tatar (one of Tatarstan’s
official languages) and English become a compatriot? How about the
five-million Caucasus diaspora? Many Adygs would like to come back
home for instance from Syria where Arab nationalism prevails. First,
why should such returnees go to Krasnoyarsk Territory while their
homeland is Adygeya? Second, peoples of the Caucasus somehow don’t
fall under this decree in the first place”.
According to Berzegov, the programme the way it is now can trigger
off an upswing of conflict situations and an avalanche of lawsuits.
“There should be one law on compatriots for all indigenous peoples,”
he said.
Forgotten Russians
Missing from the programme is one more constituent of migration
problems: concern for the future of those compatriots who returned
to their homeland without waiting for presidential decrees.
“We are some 10 years late with this programme,” said sociologist
Anatoliy Golov. “We create absolutely senseless obstacles to people
who returned five or
seven years ago and still remain stateless,” he said.
“I spent five years as a Cossack chieftain in Chechnya,” Cossack
ataman Mikhail Serkov recalls. “I saw Russians’ exodus and their
comeback. Programmes were created and money was allocated for them
but it didn’t reach the refugees. Those people’s children have grown
up since then without documents or school certificates. We need to
simplify the procedure for Russian returnees. We need normal people
with our mindset, people to work rather than roam about in the markets.
The State Duma committee for CIS affairs and relations with compatriots
has suggested a migration amnesty for this category of citizens and
simplifying the procedure for them to receive their documents. At
a round-table meeting devoted to the children of resettled Russian
compatriots held on 15 June, the State Duma worked out recommendations
for the government to introduce an interim document, yet this is beyond
the state programme “On measures of assistance for the voluntary
return of compatriots living abroad to the Russian Federation”. The
state needs foreign compatriots but strictly in places assigned for
their return.

SERGE SARGSIAN: I WILL SPARE NO EFFORTS SO THAT WE CAN WIN THIS STRUGGLE
Yerevan, July 22. ArmInfo. RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsian was
unanimously elected a member of Republican party’s Board at today’s
party congress.
Serge Sargsian emphasized that he has been cooperating with the
Republican party for many years and added that the party managed to
settle the inner party issues, notwithstanding several provocation
cases. “But we still should settle the problems that our motherland
is facing. We should unite and spare no efforts to settle them, as we
have a powerful Army and political will for that,” he said. “I will
do everything within my forces so that we can win this struggle,”
he added.
It’s worth mentioning that 15 new members joined the party today,
namely RA Finance Minister Vardan Khachatrian, entrepreneurs Karen
Karapetian, Levon Sargsian, Haroutiun Pamboukian, Ruben Hayrapetian,
Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharian, Gagik Beglarian, Hovik Shahinian
and Mher Sedrakian, heads of Kentron, Arabkir and Erebouni Yerevan
communities.
Certain amendments were made to the charter and the program
of the party at the congress. It was fixed that the party is a
national-conservative one.