ARMENIAN LGC PARTY TO MAKE ITS PRIORITIES PUBLICS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 25 2006
YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. At its congress this autumn, the Law-Governed
Country (LGC) party will make its political priorities public, LGC
Chairman Artur Baghdasaryan stated at the 5th congress of the LGC
Women’s Union.
“At the LGC’s congress in autumn the party’s political priorities
and our concept of the country’s development will be formed,”
Baghdasaryan said.
According to him, the party will be consistent in its struggle for
“the triumph of the truth.”
He also pointed out that in August the party will start negotiations
with “various healthy political forces of Armenia.”
From: Baghdasarian

S. CAUCASUS ECONOMIC FORUM SHARES BEST PRACTICES
By Haroutiun Khachatrian for Eurasianet
EurasiaNet, NY
June 25 2006
An economic conference in Tbilisi highlights the serious financial
issues that Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia face, including corruption
and tax evasion.
A recent economic conference held in the Georgian capital Tbilisi
sought to lay the groundwork for closer regional cooperation among
the three South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Regional economic integration was not formally on the agenda of the
1-2 June conference, titled the International Monetary Fund and the
South Caucasus in the 21st Century. Participants officially explored
best practices as each state attempts to modernize its respective
economy. However, the underlying hope was that sharing experience would
provide an impulse for officials to explore integration opportunities
down the road, provided that existing political obstacles, including
the lack of a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh, are eventually
removed.
The regional IMF representatives from all three states – James McHugh
in Armenia, Basil Zavoico in Azerbaijan and Robert Christiansen in
Georgia – were featured participants, and all faced a diplomatically
delicate task of outlining economic problems without appearing
to overly criticize government policies and responses. While each
Caucasus country features specific development conditions, conference
attendees generally agreed that corruption and tax evasion were among
the most serious problems prevalent in all three states.
“A large shadow economy should be brought into the formal economy
through an efficient tax [system] and improved corporate governance,”
said McHugh, referring to the situation in Armenia.
Georgian Minister of Finance Aleksi Aleksishvili said Tbilisi had
managed to improve its revenue collection capabilities, while stressing
that the government has stopped a practice common during the first
months following the 2003 Rose Revolution, in which entrepreneurs
were arrested, only to be released after making substantial payments
to the state treasury.
The conference scrutinized the unique economic situation in Azerbaijan,
where oil and gas development is causing revenues to spike. Several
participants focused on the potential threat of “Dutch disease,”
in which a rapid rise of income from the energy sector renders other
economic sectors of a given state uncompetitive in the global market.
Given that only about 1 percent of Azerbaijan’s population is directly
involved in the oil sector, the energy windfall stands to be enjoyed
by relatively few Azerbaijanis. Professor Sabit Bagirov, president of
the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurship Foundation, warned that social tension
could grow worse in the country. “In several years, we may face a
situation that, with huge oil revenues, still a great number of poor
people are in the country, and the unresolved Karabakh conflict will
make their situation even worse. This may [make] millions of people
unhappy,” Bagirov said.
Most participants avoided making direct comparisons about the successes
and failures of economic development in the Caucasus.
Tigran Sargsian, chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, was
perhaps the only participant who sought to place developments
in each individual state within a regional context. “Today, the
countries of the South Caucasus live similarly badly and differently
well,” he said. Sargsian highlighted differences among the three
Caucasus countries. For example, according to Sargsian, Armenia was
recognized as a leader in terms of market reforms, while possessing
a bad record on poverty reduction. Georgia, meanwhile, was labelled
as more competitive than Armenia. Yet at the same time, Tbilisi must
struggle with a deficit of power producing capacity.
Given the underlying political differences, it did not come as a
surprise to participants when Sargsian’s analysis was characterized
by Azer Alasgarov, an Azerbaijani National Bank official, as
“politicized.”
“I agree with your critical notions, but I would like the Azerbaijani
National Bank to have presented its own vision of the situation,”
was Sargsian’s answer. The conference was organized by the Caucasus
Research Resource Centers, the IMF and the National Bank of Georgia.
EurasiaNet () provides information and analysis
about political, economic, environmental, and social developments in
the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia,
the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. The website presents a variety
of perspectives on contemporary developments, utilizing a network
of correspondents based both in the West and in the region. The aim
of EurasiaNet is to promote informed decision making among policy
makers, as well as broadening interest in the region among the general
public. EurasiaNet is operated by the Central Eurasia Project of the
Open Society Institute.

ARTUR BAGHDASARYAN: ARMENIA HAS OLIGARCHIC ECONOMY
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
June 25 2006
YEREVAN, June 26. /ARKA/. Armenia has oligarchic economy now, Chairman
of the Law-Governed Country (LGC) party Artur Baghdasaryan stated at
the 5th congress of the LGC Women’s Union.
“Armenia lack free economy, small and medium-sized business is not
developing,” he said.
According to Baghdasaryan, the centralization of power and money
aimed at “purchasing and taking control of everything in the country”
can be observed in Armenia.
According to him, this is confirmed by that fact that 70% of
revenues of Armenia’s state budge are formed due to 100 out of 52,500
enterprises registered in Armenia.
“In the entire world, small and medium-sized businesses provide 85%
of all budget revenues,” Baghdasaryan said.
“Oligarchic economy cannot provide good guarantees of the country’s
development,” he said.

AT THE EXPENSE OF KURDS: BUILDING A NEW ERA IN U.S.-TURKEY RELATIONS
By Sosun Welat
Kurdish Media, UK
June 25 2006
Every so often, we see an article here and there about the relationship
between the US and Turkey. In most of these articles regardless where
it comes from whether it is from liberals or conservatives they all
point to the alarming deterioration of situation between the two
countries. In addition, they all make the point that the course must
be changed; Turkey must be courted and appeased. They further defend
the point that Turkey is needed in the fight against terrorism as
gateway to spread America’s message to the rest of Islamic World.
Furthermore having a democratic Islamic Turkey in the western bloc is
a proof that an Islamic country able to adapt western democracy and
its values. Moreover, they all emphasize that Turkey can join the EU
only and only at the expense of all Kurds. These ideas are floating
around from Rand Corporation to Brooking Institute and from editorial
pages of NY Times to Washington Post and all other influential think
tanks and media outlets.
None of these analysts, specialists, writers and all others can see
the dynamics of change set in motion in the entire world specifically
in the Middle East right after the collapse of old Soviet Union. They
cannot understand that the good old days are gone and “The New World
Order” as paraphrased by the elder President Bush is taking place
with more liberty and justice for the oppressed.
They cannot win back Turkey by just clipping the wings of Southern
Kurds and preventing Kirkuk to be in Kurds control, because Turks
have more ambitions, such as uniting all Turks from Edirne to all
other Turkic republics such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan and recover all Arab and Greek lands, islands lost during
the First World War I. Recent provocations of Turkish Air Forces and
Greek Air Forces in the Aegean air space just a reminder to these
facts. This is clearly against the America’s and EU interests. They
cannot understand that the status quo cannot go on as did during the
cold war era by helping Turkey of denying Kurdish national rights for
over 70 years. The biggest danger to Turkey is not PKK presence in
Qandil Mountains. The biggest problem to Turkey’s stability is its
denial of other nations within and outside its borders.
In addition, its policies of forceful Turkification of cultures,
languages, nations; its denial of Kurdish rights; its denial of its
own history by denying Armenian, Kurdish, and Assyrians massacres;
its denial of eliminating Greeks from western Anatolia.
Furthermore Turkey cannot see the point that the Turkish national
aspirations and interests are in collision course with the national
interests of United States, whilst the national interests of Kurds are
in tandem with the interests of United States. No matter what they can
do or suggest America cannot win back Turkey as trusted ally. On the
other hand, the relationship between America and Turkey will worsen
as stability and prosperity will take hold in Iraq particularly in
Southern Kurdistan.
Contrary to their suggestion, Turkey was never a democratic and never
will be. Turkey was not established on the basis of law and justice;
it was established on the basis of deceit and theft. Therefor it is
an illegal state. It promised Kurds and other Anatolian peoples a
motherland based on equality and Justice. Turkish National Assembly
in early 1920, there were more than over 30 Kurdish and other ethnic
Members of Parliament. After The Lausanne Treaty was signed all Kurdish
MP were eliminated by assassinations, exiles and imprisonment. One
of those MP requested in his will to be buried at one of crossroads
anywhere in Kurdistan so that passers-by can spit on his grave because
he realized that he betrayed his Kurdish nation by supporting Mustafa
Kemal in his negotiations in Lausanne during the negotiations in
early 1920. All Kurdish MP supported Kemal with understanding and
promise from him that Anatolia was going to be homeland for Kurds
and Turks. However, he retracted on his promises once the treaty was
signed. He started the elimination of all patriotic MPs and suppression
of Kurdish culture, language and severe persecution of Kurdish people.
Turkey has an identity problem. First, it was established by bunch of
losers of Ottoman Generals who run away from the Front Lines of war
with Allied Forces of World War I. They forced on Anatolian people
Turkish ideology, which was not in existence except among “Young Turks
“or “Jon Turks”.
They are not democratic because they are not tolerant to other
ethnic and religious minorities. Up to early 1980 before PKK was
born, Alawi of Anatolia were severely persecuted. As I remember in
my early childhood, our rituals were held with fear of being busted
by the Gendarme of the state. When the Seid (Pir) was visiting our
village and holding a Ciwat (Mass) on one of our holiest days (Xizir
celebrations) some of the older kids had to be on watch out on the
rooftops to watch if any Gendarme regiment were coming toward the
village so that we could have early warning system. During my studies
through middle school to college in various cities in Turkey, I had
to hide my identity and face many slurs, curses, and insults thrown
on many different occasions as part of normal conversation without
any provocation. Only after PKK was born the Alawis were courted in
order to win them back to prevent the Kurdish Alawis to join Kurdish
national movement.
Up to 1980 Kurdish Alawi are seen as threat to the state due to first
Kurdish national uprising was in early 1920 in Kochgiri region of
Northern Kurdistan and then the 1937 Dersim uprising.
Even today, religious liberties do not exist in Turkey. The problems
with Greek Orthodox Church are widely known. There is no way any
Christian missionary can start a work in Turkey. Even previous
Christian churches are either demolished or converted to mosques
as the way the Ottomans Ayah Sofia Church to a mosque. Even today,
a Christian and Jewish or any other non-Muslim citizen cannot become
a judge, a general, a police officer or any other public servant.
It is not a democratic country because it is banning a language of
over 25 million of its own people, whilst even during the apartheid
era of South Africa the black people could spoke their own language.
It is not democratic country because it is denying all other Anatolian
peoples their existence (The Hurriyet Newspaper’s motto says it all
“Turkey Belongs to Turks”) and forcing them to be Turks.
It is not democratic because it is trying to reshape entire Anatolia’s
cities, towns, villages and hamlets by force.
In short, they are suggesting to get rid of PKK, will give Turkey what
it wants and things will be as good as before. However, they fail to
recognize that PKK’s presence is more obstacles to Kurdish national
movement than to Turkey. To true Kurdish patriots PKK is obsolete. Its
demise will unleash the very natural desire of self-determination of
Kurdistan among all Kurds.
They fail to recognize that Turkey’s problems do not stem from under
development of East and South East but failing to recognize the
national rights of Kurdish people. A democratic country would have
done it long time ago. PKK is not Turkey’s problem. It is the product
of Turkey’s policies. It cannot complain to America or EU about it,
Turkey must put its house in order if wants better days ahead.
They fail to recognize that it is not Turkish friendship that America
needs anymore, it is The Kurds that America needs in the New World
Order. Under new socio-economic and political map, Kurds hold the
balancing power. They will rise to the situation as they did by
saving Jerusalem from destruction under the leadership of The Saladin,
the Great.
However, this time for their own National rights not for being the
soldier of Islam or any other religion.
In such hostile region, specifically in Iraq, Kurds have proven to
be reliable allies. Kurds of Southern Kurdistan are proving to Turks,
Arabs, Persians and to the rest of world that can govern by embracing,
pluralism, market economy and multi -culturalism, ethnicities and
religions. By ignoring their basic natural rights and denying, those to
their lands will lead to more catastrophic uncontrollable situations.
Do not trust unreliable Turks on the expense of reliable Kurds.

ARMENIA DOES NOT COMPLY WITH RESOLUTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, ALIYEV
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 25 2006
“The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and all other
international issues should be settled only within some framework.
This problem cannot be solved in accordance with anybody’s desire,
in particular, if this desire does not reflect the reality and is
beyond the framework of the international law”, said President Ilham
Aliyev in his speech at the graduation ceremony at Heydar Aliyev High
Military School.
“International law applies to all countries. If international rules,
norms of behavior, decisions of international organizations are
not observed and the decisions do not result in taking measures,
it will break all international rules of behavior since the world
is governed in accordance with some rules. All countries are members
of the United Nations and UN is the world’s major organization. This
organization has adopted four resolutions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict, which openly state that armed occupation forces should
unconditionally leave the occupied territories” he continued.
“Unfortunately, Armenia disregards this and does not comply with
these resolutions. In this case, we no longer count on international
mechanisms of settlement”, President Ilham Aliyev added.

ARMENIANS CELEBRATE CULTURE, TRADITION
By Janine Anderson
Journal Times Online, WI
June 25 2006
CALEDONIA – Since 1938, Racine’s Armenian community has gathered
together for the St. Hagop Armenian Apostolic Church’s annual picnic
to celebrate the culture they have in common.
Early Sunday morning, church members came to Johnson Park to dig a
pit and build a fire, over which they cooked beef stew and bulgar
wheat. The “Madagh,” or offering, can be traced back to Abraham.
Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son to God, but God told him to
spare the boy and sacrifice a ram instead. The Madagh is an expression
of love, faith and gratitude which St. Hagop’s shares with its members
and guests. Once the stew and bulgar is cooked, families bring smaller
pots and take the stew back to their eating area.
“That’s how the picnic starts,” said Zohrab Kaligian, chairman of the
picnic committee. “People start to come with their pots and pans to
get their stew.”
When people came Sunday, there were families from far-flung places
like Boston, Washington and California. The annual picnic is a time
when people who have left Racine often come back to be a part of the
community again.
Here they can enjoy sarma (stuffed grape leaves), shishkabob,
Armenian pastries, and penelee (deep-fried cheese puffs). Every
Armenian community has a pastry stuffed with cheese, Kaligian said,
but the penelee are hard to find unless you are in Racine.
Women from the church spent Father’s Day making more than 1,600
penelee. Younger men and women took their turns over the deep fryers
Sunday, cooking for the people who lined up to place orders.
“We’re doing our best to pass that on,” Kaligian said. “The little
old ladies aren’t going to be around forever. We’ve got to pass it on,
generation to generation.”
The band that provided music from 2 to 6 p.m. is also committed to
passing on the Armenian folk music tradition. Members of The Mid-East
Beat have been playing together since the early 1980s. Vahan Kamalian
plays the oud, a fretless stringed instrument with a rounded back. He
started playing when he was 15; the instruments were not available in
music stores, and his grandmother helped find one overseas. He and
the other members of the group taught themselves to play, listening
to old records and playing together.
“We just love the music and want to keep the tradition going of the
music and pass it on to future generations,” Kamalian said. “It’s
soulful, melodic and driven, perfect for the kinds of dancing they do.”
The Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, prelate of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America, oversees Armenian churches in the eastern half of
the United States. He was in Racine Sunday for his eighth St. Hagop
celebration. He said the Armenian church and culture are tied together
incredibly closely.
“The Armenian church officially is the oldest (national) church in
the world,” he said. “We embraced Christianity in 301. It’s like
a mother for our nation. Through the church the literature, music,
art, architectures, all these cultures were kept through church. The
church and nation can’t separate.”
Armenians immigrated to the United States in the first quarter of
the 20th century, Choloyan said, after Ottoman Turks killed about
1.5 million of them and drove many others into the Syrian desert.
“Wherever we established, we immediately built a church,” Choloyan
said. “They kept the church alive and the church kept them alive.”
Choloyan loves to come to Racine’s picnic, where the sense of community
runs deep. He said if he had been given a choice as a young man, where
he would be a priest, he would have picked Racine, and now, if he
were given a choice on where to retire, his answer would be the same.
“I love these people,” he said. “You find the true American spirit
here in the countryside. It’s simple, lovely, caring. You see the
closeness. This is the America I know.”

YEREVAN READY TO MAKE PUBLIC “KARABAKH FOLDER” IN RESPONSE TO U.S. REPRESENTATIVE’S REVELATIONS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 25 2006
“The items of a frame agreement on the conflict settlement made
public by the new U. S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk group for the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Matthew Bryza are only
certain elements of the document proposed to the parties that do
not reflect the essence of the draft agreement, which has become the
result of inappropriate comments”, RA President’s Spokesman Victor
Soghomonyan told REGNUM Information Agency.
In his words, “in any case, if the revelations of the kind appear
in the mass media in the future, the Armenian party will make public
all the documents discussed at the talks for the last seven – eight
years”. “In part, the matter concerns a draft agreement on the
principle of “a common state”, a document discussed in Bucharest
not long ago. I am convinced everything will become quite clear
then. By the way, it was the Azeri party that rejected all the three
projects”, Soghomonyan stated. Touching upon AR President Ilham
Aliyev’s statements, RA President’s Spokesman noted, “We believe it
inappropriate to periodically comment on the utterances, which are
different in their form, however, similar in content”.

LENNMARKER’S REPORT ON NK TO BE HEARD AT OSCE PA SESSION
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 25 2006
The regional security, human rights, conduction of elections, secret
prisons and trafficking in people will be discussed at the 15th annual
session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Brussels
July 3-7.
The resulting document with recommendations on the above-mentioned
and other issues will be adopted on the final day, PanARMENIAN.Net
reports quoting OSCE PA Headquarters in Copenhagen. The report on
Nagorno Karabakh prepared by the OSCE PA Special Representative Goran
Lennmarker will be heard at the sitting of the Permanent Committee
July 4.

RADANOVICH LEADS CONGRESSIONAL EFFORT TO URGE
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 25 2006
Four leading Congressional friends of Armenia, George Radanovich (R-CA)
and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Congressional Caucus Co-Chairmen Frank
Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), have strongly encouraged
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reconsider the recall of
Ambassador Evans, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).
In a June 22nd letter, the legislators noted that “after months of
speculation,” the recall of Ambassador Evans “was confirmed when the
President nominated Richard Hoagland to serve as the new United States
Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia on May 23. While there has been
no official acknowledgement that Ambassador Evans removal was a result
of his February 2005 statement that the Armenian Genocide was the first
genocide of the 20th Century, all evidence points to that conclusion.”
“We join with Armenian Americans across the country in thanking
Congressman Radanovich, Schiff, Pallone, and Knollenberg – the four
lead authors of the Armenian Genocide Resolution – for once again
taking the lead in challenging the State Department’s failed policy
of complicity in Turkey’s denial of this crime against all humanity,”
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We share their
belief that Ambassador Evans’ recall should be reversed and look
forward, in the days ahead, to learning more about the circumstances
behind this ill-advised, morally unjustifiable, and increasingly
controversial action.”
The Congressional letter closed with the four legislators expressing
their belief that “the United States must formally recognize the
Armenian Genocide, and we will continue to work towards that goal.
Allowing John Evans to continue as Ambassador to Armenia sends a
strong message on the necessity of Turkish recognition, and will be
an important step in establishing the U.S. position on the Armenian
Genocide.”
The State Department, with the blessing of the White House, fired
Amb. Evans in response to his February 2005 statements at Armenian
American community functions, during which he properly characterized
the Armenian Genocide as “genocide.” Following his statements, Amb.
Evans was forced to issue a statement clarifying that his references to
the Armenian Genocide were his personal views and did not represent
a change in U.S. policy. He subsequently issued a correction to
this statement, replacing a reference to the genocide with the word
“tragedy.” The American Foreign Service Association, which had decided
to honor Amb. Evans with the “Christian A. Herter Award,” recognizing
creative thinking and intellectual courage within the Foreign Service,
reportedly rescinded the award following pressure from the State
Department in the days leading up to Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington, DC to meet with President Bush.

DREAM TURNS REAL WHEN MCC EMPLOYEE BECOMES A CITIZEN
Mohave Valley News, NV
June 25 2006
BULLHEAD CITY – A decision was made, determination set in and the
dream was realized Saturday as Mariam Yesayan was sworn in, by a U.S.
District Court judge in Phoenix, as a naturalized citizen of the
United States.
“I live here, I like it here and I wanted to be a part of this nation,”
Yesayan said. “I had to wait five years to begin the process of
becoming an American citizen and 20 more months during the process
of becoming an American citizen.
“I have been waiting a long time for this day to come,” she said. “I am
grateful to this country and proud that I had and took the opportunity
to become a citizen.”
Yesayan, who is the Mohave Community College coordinator for the
English Language Acquisition for Adults (ELAA) program, was born in
Yerevan, Armenia, which was a part of the former Soviet Union.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in English language and literature
and her master’s degree in linguistics from Armenia State University.
After completing her master’s degree, she taught English language
and literature at the same university.
Yesayan traveled to California in 1997 to visit her only sister. She
liked California and the United States and, at the request of her
sister, she decided to stay.
It was in California in 1999 that she met Sergiy Kuzminsky, a Bullhead
City resident who was visiting California on vacation. The two married
in 2000.
As the newlyweds approached Bullhead City together in 2000, Kuzminsky
pointed out that the city was small and that it had a small college
and a small-city atmosphere.
“As I drove by the MCC campus, I had a feeling I would work there;
it was an enchanting campus,” she said.
In California, Yesayan had worked as an interpreter in a paralegal
office in Burbank, helping out the Russian/Armenian community in
the area.
At MCC, she started in 2000 as a member of the associate faculty
teaching ELAA English courses, and, in 2004, she obtained her present
post as college coordinator of ELAA.
The ELAA program helps non-English-speaking newcomers to learn spoken
and written English.
“The object of the program is to see that not a single adult in the
community is left behind and that we help them learn or improve their
English skills so they are able to contribute to their community
through their knowledge of written and spoken English,” she said.
“Then they can become United States citizens, too.”
In 2002, Kuzminsky became a naturalized American citizen in the same
courthouse in Phoenix, and Yesayan said she couldn’t wait to join
him in obtaining citizenship papers.
“Now I feel that I am a real part of this blessed nation,” she said.
“The United States gives a motivated person the tools available to
accomplish their goals, no matter how high those goals are.”
The family’s Bullhead City home now includes Yesayan, Kuzminsky and
their children, Paul, 5 and Anna, 4, who are both American citizens
since they were born in the United States.
Yesayan had to live five years in the United States before she could
apply for her citizenship papers.
Once the process was started, she had to be fingerprinted in Las Vegas
for a criminal background check, had to interview with officers of
the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Phoenix, pass U.S.
history and civics tests in Phoenix and then take the citizenship oath
in Phoenix. She took that oath last weekend along with 82 others from
around Arizona.