AXA SETTLES SUIT BROUGHT BY HEIRS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Forbes
Oct 13 2005
LOS ANGELES (AFX) – The heirs of victims of the 1915 Turkish massacre
of Armenians have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit against
French insurer Axa for 17 mln usd, lawyers said yesterday.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, accused Axa of failing to
pay death benefits for the insurance policies purchased by Armenians
living in the Ottoman Empire prior to the genocide in which up to
1.5 million people were killed.
‘This is an example where dead men can’t speak but they can file
lawsuits,’ said Vartkes Yeghiayan. ‘It writes another chapter about
persistence and hope. The resolution of the case helps the healing
process.’
Under the terms of the deal, announced in Los Angeles, Axa will donate
at least 3 mln usd to various French-based Armenian charities and
another 11 mln usd towards a fund designed to pay out policyholders
of Axa units that did business in the now defunct Turkish-run Ottoman
Empire.
‘Certain of these policyholders and beneficiaries were among the
1.5 million Armenians who perished and were unable to obtain their
insurance proceeds in the ensuing chaos,’ lawyers for the victims’
descendants said in a statement.
The Axa settlement follows a similar agreement with New York Life
Insurance Company in early 2004 under which it agreed to pay 20
mln usd.
‘The AXA and New York Life settlements are important building blocks
not only toward seeking financial recovery for the losses resulting
from the Armenian Genocide but also in our ultimate goal, which is
for Turkey and the US to officially acknowledge the genocide,’ said
US celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos.
Geragos, who has represented stars including Michael Jackson and
Winona Ryder, is of Armenian descent.
‘These cases are historical because they are the only cases ever
brought on behalf of genocide survivors,’ he said.
No comment was immediately available from Axa.
The settlement, subject to court approval, will be administered
in France, which was one of the first countries to recognise the
Armenian genocide.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated
killings during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
But the Turkish government strenuously denies this, saying that
300,000 Armenians and as many Turks were killed in a civil war when
the Armenians, backed by Russia, rose up against the Ottoman Empire.

KEBABS OF ALL KINDS TO SPICE UP FESTIVAL
By Pat Cahill
The Repubican, MA
Oct 13 2005
There may be people out there who think that shishkebab is the only
kind of kebab in the world.
Not so, as the upcoming Armenian fall festival at St. Gregory Armenian
Apostolic Church in Indian Orchard will deliciously reveal.
The ethnic festival will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
in the church hall at 135 Goodwin St. in the Indian Orchard section
of Springfield.
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Admission and parking will be free, with food and other items priced
individually. All proceeds will go to St. Gregory’s.
In addition to homemade Armenian cuisine from entrees to desserts, the
festival will include raffle prizes and bargain-priced collectibles.
Kebabs (as Armenians call kabobs) are chunks of meat on a skewer.
Shishkebab is made with lamb, while losh kebab is made with specially
seasoned ground lamb and beef.
Chicken kebab will also be served at the festival.
Kebabs of all kinds will come with rice pilaf, salad, and pita bread.
Other dishes on the menu will include stuffed grape leaves and spinach
pie, stuffed grape leaves, pickled vegetables, seasoned cracked wheat,
and a thin-crust Armenian version of pizza with meat called lahmajun.
Baked goods will include traditional Armenian breads and pastries.
Among the prizes to be raffled will be a 3-by-5-foot Oriental rug
donated by Charles Yenian and Co., a guardian-angel pin made by
David Yurman, a 14-karat gold cross donated by Hovsep Atchian, a
handmade clock made and donated by Harry Setian, and a year’s worth
of Megabucks lottery tickets.
Baskets filled with gifts for adults and children will also be
raffled. A “forgotten treasures” booth will feature crafts and
collectibles for sale.
Raffle drawings will take place in the evening, but winners need not
be present if they have bought raffle tickets earlier in the day.

ARMENIAN MASSACRE SETTLEMENT REACHED
Seven.com.au, Australia
Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
The Age, Australia
Oct 13 2005
The descendants of some of the 1.5 million Armenians killed under
Ottoman rule in 1915 will share a $US17 million ($A22.34 million)
settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought against French insurance
giant AXA for unpaid life insurance benefits, lawyers have said.
The settlement was due to be approved in November in the US District
Court in California.
California is home to the largest number of Armenians living outside
Armenia.
The class included Armenians living in the United States and abroad
who were descendants and heirs of policyholders who perished in what
Armenians say was a genocide perpetrated by Turks.
It was the second lawsuit of its kind to be settled in US courts
despite the fact the United States, along with Turkey, did not
officially recognise the deaths as genocide.
In February, New York Life agreed to pay $US20 million ($A26.28
million) to descendants of its Armenian policyholders killed in 1915.
Turkey always denied there was a systematic campaign to annihilate
Armenians, saying the deaths occurred in partisan fighting and chaos
during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Advertisement AdvertisementThe California settlement would be
administered in France, one of the first countries to recognise the
Armenian genocide.
AXA headquarters in France does business in the United States through
subsidiaries.
AXA agreed to donate several million dollars to various France-based
Armenian charitable organisations.
It would also contribute $US11 million ($A14.45 million) toward a
fund designed to pay valid claims of heirs of policyholders with AXA
Group subsidiaries that did business in the Turkish Ottoman Empire
before 1915.
In the chaos that surrounded the killings, many policyholders were
unable to obtain their insurance proceeds.
“The AXA and New York Life settlements are important building blocks
not only toward seeking financial recovery for the losses resulting
from the Armenian genocide but also in our ultimate goal, which is
for Turkey and the US to officially acknowledge the genocide,” said
Mark Geragos, an Armenian descendant who was one of the lawyers for
the plaintiffs.

NKR NA SPEAKER: “PARLIAMENT OF NEW CONVOCATION TAKING ACTIVE PART IN BROADENING POLITICAL TIES”
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005
Previous period of Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly’s
activity should be treated just as a starting point for the further
five years of the Parliament’s work. Today the NKR NA Speaker
Ashot Gulyan has stated it in the course of the press conference
in Stepanakert.
According to Ashot Gulyan, the NKR NA of the new convocation will
continue traditional ties with RA Parliament.
In his words, the new Parliament is taking an active part in the
process of broadening political ties. He added the fact that Karabakh
parliamentarians were taking part in the various international and
regional measures testified to his words.
While commenting on the political situation in Azerbaijan in the run
– up to the Parliamentary elections Ashot Gulyan stated “it fully
coincides with our forecasts”. In his words, “we were sure violations,
non – authorized meetings, pressure upon the opposition and dispersal
of the demonstrators would accompany the electoral campaign”. He noted
Nagorno Karabakh was interested in the stability in Azerbaijan; however
he is skeptical to such events. “I guess international observers will
have a chance to evaluate pre – election situation in Azerbaijan and
compare it with that in Nagorno Karabakh”, stated Ashot Gulyan.
In his words, the NKR citizens are not going to participate in the
elections. “It is clear that we are not going to participate in the
elections, we conduct our elections ourselves”, stated Ashot Gulyan.
Touching upon the process of Karabakh settlement, he noted the
impossibility of the conflict settlement in the atmosphere of mutual
distrust between the Karabakh and Azeri nations. Speaker said the
Karabakh party’s stand based on the NKR people’s will would not
be changed.

GROSSMAISTERS FROM ARMENIA WON INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT IN STEPANAKERT
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005
The Second International Chess Tournament titled “Karabakh – 2005”
has been finished in the capital of Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Stepanakert. The measure was organized by the NKR government and RA
Chess Academy.
According to the De Facto correspondent in Stepanakert, 20
chess players from 11 countries of the world participated in the
tournament. A famous Hungarian grossmaister Liosh Portish arrived in
Stepanakert as the tournament’s honorable guest.
The winners are international grossmaisters from Armenia Levon Aroyan
(A group) and Tigran Petrosyan (B group).
In the course of the solemn ceremony of the tournament’s closing
the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan rewarded Liosh Portish with
“Gratitude” medal and RA Chess Academy President Smbat Lputyan with
“Vachagan Barepasht” medal for “great contribution to the organization
and conduct of the international chess tournament in NKR”.
In his speech a Ukrainian grossmaister Vasily Ivanchuk highly estimated
the tournament’s organization and “creative aura” and suggested that
the tournament should become traditional.
While commenting on Azerbaijan’s negative reaction to conduct of
the tournament in Stepanakert Vasily Ivanchuk stated: “I have come
here to play. I am not interested in the political issues”. He
expressed satisfaction concerning the fact that “Nagorno Karabakh
is reestablishing and developing, and people show great interest
in chess”.

NO VIOLATIONS FIXED IN THE COURSE OF NKR AND AZERI ARMED FORCES CONTACT LINE’S MONITORING
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005
On October 11 the OSCE mission conducted a planned monitoring along the
NKR and Azeri armed forces’ contact line in the direction of Aghdam,
in the region of populated locality of Yusifjanly.
According to the De Facto correspondent in Stepanakert, from the
positions of the NKR Defense Army the monitoring group was headed by
the OSCE Chair – in – Office’s Personal Representative Ambassador
Andrzey Kasprzyk (Poland). The OSCE Chair – in – Office’s Field
Assistants Olexander Samarsky (Ukraine) and Harry Eronen (Finland),
as well as the OSCE Top Level Planning Group Head Tomaso Strgar
(Slovenia) participated in the observation mission.
Monitoring was held according to the schedule, no cease – fire
violations were fixed.
>>From the Karabakh party the observation mission was accompanied
by representatives of Nagorno Karabakh Ministries of Defense and
Foreign Affairs.

OSKANIAN TO VISIT SINGAPORE TODAY
AZG Armenian Daily #184
13/10/2005
Vartan Oskanian, foreign minister of Armenia, left yesterday Australia
for Indonesian capital of Jakarta where he met vice-president and
foreign minister of the country. This was the first ever visit of a
high-ranking Armenian official to Indonesia.
The sides discussed the ways of fostering bilateral relations and
concrete projects in the sphere of economy. The foreign ministers
exchanged information about Banda Ache and Nagorno Karabakh conflicts.
The visit was an opportunity for the sides to get to know each other’s
potentials and problems. Today Vartan Oskanian will head for Singapore.

‘REFERENDUM SHOULD DETERMINE NAGORNO KARABAKH’S FINAL STATUS’
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #184
13/10/2005
Stepanakert Labels ICG’s Second Report ‘one-sided and pro-Azeri’
The International Crisis Group published its second report “Nagorno
Karabakh: A Plan for Peace” on October 11. “The two sides appear close
to agreeing on key principles of a peace deal”, says Sabine Freizer,
Director of Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project. “It is essential that
the governments now begin preparing their people for a compromise”.
“Nagorno Karabakh’s status should ultimately be determined by an
internationally sanctioned referendum with the exclusive participation
of Karabakh Armenians and Azeris”, reads the report. The ICG emphasizes
that the referendum can be held only after the Azeris return to
their homes in Karabakh as well as “an international conference
will determine that NK meets the criteria of statehood”. But before
the referendum the ICG offers the following major steps to take:
withdrawal of Armenia-backed Nagorno Karabakh forces from the occupied
districts of Azerbaijan surrounding the entity (from Aghdam, Fizuli,
Jebrail, Zangelan in the first stage and Kelbajar and Lachin in
the second. The Lachin corridor is supposed to remain a link between
Armenian and Karabakh); renunciation by Azerbaijan of the use of force
to reintegrate the entity and deployment of international peacekeepers
(before withdrawal of Karabakh forces from Kelbajar and Lachin); return
of displaced persons and re-opening of trade and communication links.
When will the referendum take place and what are the possible status
options? The ICG thinks that a referendum is realistic in 10 or 20
years. As a result, Karabakh can get independence, wide autonomy within
Azerbaijan, reunification with Armenia or status of confederation with
Azerbaijan. The ICG suggests leaving Nagorno Karabakh in the structure
of Azerbaijan before the referendum “though in practical terms it
would be self-governing and enjoy an internationally acknowledged
interim status”.
The ICG report is under close scrutiny of authorities in
Stepanakert and comments can be expected in a few days. Yet,
in a phone conversation with daily Azg, Davit Babayan, political
analyst from Karabakh, said that “in general, the second report is
the first one’s continuation. It was prepared with the same spirit
and is clearly pro-Azeri”. Babayan thinks the sequence of regulation
steps unacceptable as offered by the ICG report unacceptable as it
offers first return of territories and displaced Azeris – settlement
of consequences of the conflict – only after which the sides turn
to the status – the cause of the conflict. Moreover, he thinks it
unacceptable to leave Nagorno Karabakh within Azerbaijan before the
day of the referendum.
“This shows that the authors of the report offer no option for conflict
regulation to the sides. Every report has its circles of influence
but when it considers the interests of only one side it throws back
settlement. This second report by the ICG is also one-sided and
pro-Azeris, alas,” Babayan said.
The 40-page repot contains more references to Azeri or pro-Azeri
sources than Armenian and Artsakhi. The cited Armenian sources are
compromising in essence.

TKACHOV: NO XENOPHOBIA IN KRASNODAR REGION’
By Ara Martirosian
AZG Armenian Daily #184
13/10/2005
Answering questions of Armenian journalists whether the region
struggles against racial intolerance, Aleksander Tkachov, governor of
Krasnodar region of Russia, said that there is no xenophobia in the
region and “the rumors are too exaggerated”. He said that there are
more than 300.000 Armenians in the region who are engaged in business
and other spheres. “The Armenians live in the best places: Sochi Anapa,
Gelenjik. There can be no question of xenophobia”, he concluded.

ARMENIAN FAIR IN MOSCOW GATHERS 200.000 VISITORS
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily #184
13/10/2005
Russians Show Interest in Armenian Dairy Products, Dried Fruits
and Juices
“The first open-air fair of Armenian goods in Pushkin Square of
Moscow on September 20-25 gathered around 200.000 visitors”, Vahagn
Movsisian, executive director of Armenian Agency for Development,
told yesterday’s press conference.
The fair was organized within the frameworks of Armenian-Russian
trade-economic cooperation. The Moscow authorities supported the
organizers in opening the fair and did not even charge money for
using the Pushkin Square for two days.
Interestingly, the Muscovite Russians and Armenians were greatly
interested in Armenian cheese, dairy products, dried fruits and
juices. The pavilions selling cheese run out of it in 1.5 hour after
opening the fair; the remaining 20 kg was taken away to put up the
next day.
Among other products on the display there were 48 sorts of Armenian
wines, jewellery, gobelins, goods of ceramic, silverware and canvases
of Armenian painters.
One of the major events of the fair was the sale of self-tuition manual
of Armenian language, 80 percent of which was bought by Russians.