AZG Armenian Daily #169, 21/09/2005
Diaspora
‘WE SHALL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE FOR HIS RELEASE’, CYPRUS AND LEBANON
PROMISE
An Armenian woman has made a tearfully impassioned plea for the release of
her nephew kidnapped in Baghdad and kept hostage by a hitherto unknown group
of Iraqi militant a; who are demanding $2 million ransom for his release.
Rita Medzadourian made her plea on local television here in a voice
interrupted by sobbing. “He has done no harm to anybody in his life”, she
said. “He has been to Iraq many times and this was to be last trip. We are a
poor family, working hard for a living. We don’t have the kind of money
those people are asking.
“I beg with all my heart for the governments of Cyprus and Lebanon to do
everything they can, exert all the pressure in their power to help my Garo
come out alive.”
Rita’s television plea came shortly after the Cyprus foreign minister
officially confirmed the kidnapping of Garabed Djighardjian, 40, a salesman
for an offshore company owned by a Lebanese who supplied Foodstuff and
drinks to Iraq. He had been listed “missing” in Baghdad since September 11,
and was officially declared kidnapped in a bulletin issued late Friday
night.
On Saturday night local television here showed footage said to have been
recorded by militants who called themselves “The Group for the promotion of
virtues and the prevention of vice”. He was shown sitting on a stone floor
hands and feet tied and with a hooded gunman pointing an automatic rifle at
his heats. He looked worn out and terrified.
Speaking in Arabic ha said: “I hold both Lebanese and Cypriot nationality as
my father is of Lebanese nationality and my mother Cypriot. The company I
work for is Jetco which operates in Lebanon, Cyprus and Iraq. It supplies
foodstuff and alcoholic beverages to the occupation forces in Iraq and the
Iraqi army.
“I bag the company to leave Iraq and ask the Lebanese embassy (in Iraq) to
put pressure on the company to sever links with the occupation forces that
terrorize the people of Iraq as they did the people of Lebanon years ago.”
Rita said: “Garo’s kidnappers asked for the withdrawal of the company from
Iraq. The company did so, but Garo was not freed. Then they came back with a
demand for $20,000. When the money was paid, again they did not release Garo
and demanded two million dollars.
“Since then, they have lowered their demand to $500,000 but kept up their
threats that unless it is paid in four days they would kill him.
“I have very little information but from what I have been told, the
kidnappers went to his house disguised as policemen in a police car, and
took him away. I understand it happened late at night.
“Garo’s employer promised my sister at her death bad that he would always
care for his children. Now he has to live up to his promise. My sister Seta
used to be his executive secretary and the backbone of his company.
“If anything happens to my nephew, his boss will have his blood on his
hands,” Rita said.
The Foreign Ministry in Nicosia said: “The Cyprus government has been in
close contact with the Lebanese government as well as with Greece and the
European Union and friendly Arab governments.
“We shall do everything possible for his release.
“The Lebanese government is currently handling the matter via their embassy
in Baghdad”.
By Parthogh

Azerbaijan News Service (ANS)
Sept 21 2005
GUSAR POLICE DETAINS ARMENIAN IN CHILAGIR VILLAGE
An Armenian was detained in Chilagir Village of Gusar. ANS Gusar
Bureau says was detained due to information by local residents.
Ex-Azerbaijani citizen and born in Aghdere Region of Azerbaijan,
Abreik Abramyan is mentally ill and had been treated in Mashtaga
Mental Hospital. Then Red Cross Organization took him to Armenia.
Currently, law enforcement organs are investigating how and for what
reason he entered Gusar Region. Abrik Abramyan is currently kept in
isolation cell of Gusar Regional police department.

Pan Armenian News
RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER ARRIVING IN YEREVAN SEPTEMBER 29
20.09.2005 07:21
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev
will visit Armenia September 29. He will take part in the session of the CIS
Council of Ministers of Internal Affairs. In the course of the session the
parties will discuss issues important to the Council member states,
specifically those referring to struggle against organized crime, illegal
turnover of drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking. R. Nurgaliyev
will leave Yerevan September 30, reported IA Regnum.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 21 2005
Defying Swiss police, Perincek addresses Armenian conference
Lausanne – Attempts yesterday by Swiss police to block Workers’ Party
(IP) leader Dogu Perincek from holding a conference on the so-called
Armenian genocide were unsuccessful.
It was learned that prior to Perincek’s arrival to the hall to
address the conference, Swiss police warned him not to deny the
so-called Armenian genocide. If Perincek speaks about the
controversial issue and this includes an element of crime, as defined
by Swiss law, this would be added to the ongoing investigation on
him.
In July, Perincek was interrogated after he denied the Armenian
genocide claims. The Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office has asked Perincek
to come in for a second round of questioning.
Perincek: Switzerland is biased on Armenian issue
Following the unsuccessful attempts by Swiss police, Perincek
addressed the controversial Armenian issue during his speech, and
said, “Switzerland has accused Turkey of committing genocide without
verifying historical facts and in a biased way.”
Perincek called on Switzerland to conduct a serious investigation
into the Armenian issue. It was unjust to accuse a nation of
“committing genocide” without thoroughly examining events that
happened 90 years ago, he said.
“Turks never committed genocide, on the contrary Armenians — under
the command of Russians — committed a genocide on Turks who were
trying to defend their country,” Perincek said.
Swiss police were present at Perincek’s speech and videotaped it to
add it to the prosecutor’s investigation.
Perincek will hold a press conference in Zurich after first speaking
with the Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office today.
In related news, an investigation was previously this year opened in
Switzerland against Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, the Turkish Historical
Society (TTK) head, for his rejection of the so-called Armenian
genocide allegations. He later said he was wanted by Interpol, a
claim the international police organization flatly denied.

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Pan Armenian News
MONUMENT TO COSSACKS – HEROES OF RUSSIAN-TURKISH AND RUSSIAN-PERSIAN WARS TO
BE ERECTED IN YEREVAN
20.09.2005 06:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 9, 2005 a memorial to Cossacks, who took part in
the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Persian wars, will be opened in Yerevan,
reported the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia. The decision
to open the monument is taken by Novy Nakhichevan Armenian community along
with Yerevan City Administration. The initiative was approved by atamans of
Don and Kuban Cossacks. The monument will be set in Kanaker Yerevan
community, where the Cossack regiment was situated during the
Russian-Turkish war.

The Moscow Times, Russia
Sept 21 2005
>From Soviet Trade Bank to Universal Lender
By Greg Walters
Staff Writer
Michael Eckels / MT
Vneshtorgbank is giving the competition a run for its money as it
expands into retail and corporate services.

Russia’s No. 2 bank, Vneshtorgbank, is emerging from its historic
role as the government’s foreign-trade facilitator and is pushing
hard to mold itself into a diversified financial institution.
Vneshtorgbank, or VTB — sometimes billed as the only bank that could
actually give industry leader Sberbank a run for its money — is
moving into retail and investment banking, expanding corporate
services and buying up smaller banks in the CIS and Western Europe.
The bank even has plans to list shares on a foreign exchange as early
as 2006, although some analysts say a foreign IPO may still be
several years away.
Given its aggressive plans, state-owned VTB appears set to become an
even more important player in the banking sector and economy as a
whole.
“It’s trying to transform itself from a Soviet trade bank into a
universal bank,” said Andrew Keeley, banking analyst at Renaissance
Capital. “It clearly has the support of the administration in what
it’s doing. It’s not to be taken lightly.”
VTB itself says the changes are part of its strategy to take on
global competition. “Only the big and the strong can compete with
foreign banks,” said Vasily Titov, VTB senior vice president and
board member, in an interview. “That’s why we’re doing all this.”

Despite this apparent dynamism, VTB came under blistering criticism
from former Central Bank Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko earlier this
month, who said the bank was in “financial deadlock” and compared it
to a sinking ship. “It seems our Titanic has holes enough to go
under, yet the orchestra is still playing a happy waltz,”
Gerashchenko said, Vedomosti reported.
Gerashchenko blasted VTB’s plans to purchase overseas banks owned by
the Central Bank — Moscow Narodny Bank of London, Eurobank of Paris
and Ost-West Handelsbank of Frankfurt — saying they would not help
keep the ship afloat. “A handful of dinghies won’t do any good. They
will just get drawn into the whirlpool,” he said.
Although VTB reported profit last year of $263 million, Gerashchenko
said that his analysis showed the bank’s core operations actually
lost money.
Titov declined to respond to Gerashchenko’s criticism, saying the
bank would not comment on the personal opinions of a private citizen.
Yekaterina Trofimova, banking analyst at Standard and Poor’s, called
Gerashchenko’s judgment too harsh.
“The bank is in an expansion stage right now,” she said. “The
financial results are, as expected, moderate, which is absolutely
normal for the bank at this stage of development.”
Trofimova said the current results should be weighed against
investments the bank was making in its network and products, as well
as in acquisitions.
The new foreign acquisitions appear to make long-term sense,
Trofimova said. “These links with Western Europe are very important
for VTB’s growing international business and export-import flows,”
she said.
Other analysts agreed that Gerashchenko probably went too far in
criticizing VTB in light of the government’s vested interest in
seeing its own bank succeed.
VTB may be planning to use the government’s proposed 37.5 billion
ruble ($1.25 billion) capital injection — ostensibly for purchasing
the Central Bank’s overseas assets — as a leverage point for
improving its domestic position, said Natalya Orlova, an analyst at
Alfa Bank. “Acquiring overseas banks is a way to secure an increase
of capital from the federal budget,” she said.
VTB’s strategy appeared to be geared toward using its position as a
state champion to move aggressively into new sectors such as retail
banking, Orlova said. “Increasing its capital will have a deeper
effect on VTB’s domestic position than … owning overseas banks,”
she said.
The country’s entire banking sector wobbled briefly in the summer of
2004, after the closure of two second tier banks spooked depositors.
VTB used the opportunity to gobble up Guta Bank, the mini-crisis’
main casualty, for a nominal 1 million rubles ($35,000).
Guta, now rebranded Vneshtorgbank 24, has been turned into VTB’s
retail arm, offering many services online.
Guta and the Central Bank’s biggest remaining European-based assets
are only part of VTB’s acquisition binge. The bank has been steadily
scooping up smaller Central Bank assets in Europe over the years, and
it recently shelled out for 25 percent of St. Petersburg-based
Promstroibank with an option to increase ownership to a controlling
stake.
In a little over a year, VTB has also made waves in the CIS, buying a
majority stake in Armenia’s ArmSavingsBank, and 50 percent plus one
share in United Georgian Bank. In March of this year, VTB opened a
subsidiary in Ukraine.
These CIS banks are “not very profitable, but they’re doing OK,”
Trofimova said.
They also could come in handy for servicing Russian companies
expanding abroad, analysts said.
After months of reports that the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and Deutsche Bank were both negotiating to buy a minority
stake, VTB now says it hopes to list shares on a foreign stock market
as early as next year. “We want to do an IPO, probably in London,”
Titov said. “But only the owner, the government, can decide that. We
have made this proposal, but they haven’t said anything.” Titov said
the listing could be anywhere from 6 percent to 20 percent of VTB.
Renaissance Capital’s Keeley said a VTB listing would be a
significant new target for portfolio investors.
“Investors are very eager to get exposure to Russian banks, but now
they basically have very little choice” about where to invest, Keeley
said.
Vneshtorgbank is still at best a head shorter than its bigger
adversary.
Sberbank’s deposits at the end of 2004, including retail and
corporate deposits, represented 36.3 percent of Russia’s total
deposits, according to an estimate by Standard and Poor’s. VTB came
in a distant second with 4.2 percent.
Sberbank also handled an impressive 29.5 percent of Russian loans,
compared with 7.5 percent at VTB.
Yet VTB is at least a minor giant in a country where most banks have
less than 2 percent in both categories.
In deposits, only Gazprombank (3.5 percent), Alfa Bank (3.2 percent),
Bank of Moscow (3 percent) and Rosbank (2 percent) broke the 2
percent barrier. In loans, only Gazprombank (3.8 percent), Alfa Bank
(3.1 percent) and Bank of Moscow (2.3 percent) did.
Many experts question whether VTB will ever really compete with
Sberbank, as they are both state-owned. As VTB puts down roots in
areas like retail, smaller banks could be left with little option but
to run between the legs of the two state-owned giants.
Russia’s Top 5 Banks by Assets
Bank Total Assets Share of Total
(millions of rubles)* Banking Assets
1. Sberbank 2,219,094 28.87%
2. Vneshtorgbank 504,769 6.57%
3. Gazprombank 379,657 4.94%
4. Bank of Moscow 210,136 2.73%
(Bank Moskvy)
5. Alfa Bank 208,017 2.71%
*Data as of July 1, 2005
Source: Interfax Center for Economic Analysis

AZG Armenian Daily #169, 21/09/2005
Holiday
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Today, the Republic of Armenia celebrates its Independence Day. 14 years ago
this day the exclusive majority of Armenia’s population said “yes” to its
centuries-long dream of free and independent fatherland. 14 years were a
vast period for the republic’s population to become disillusioned with the
first then the second presidents and the authorities as a whole. More than 1
million Armenians left the country, fled from independence. Is this the
independence we longed for?
“… A group of mediocre people heinously deceived the people, broke its
back to the extent of creating a yearning for a dependent Armenia. Only
fancy that: one lives in an independent country and misses his dependent
past”, only 4 days ago wrote publicist Pertch Zeytuntsian.
The Independence Day will not cross the threshold of official holiday to
enter every Armenian family as long as presidential, parliamentary and other
elections are being rigged in Armenia as long as the rights of the owners of
independence, the common citizens, are being violated.
By Tatoul Hakobian

Hovnanian has no plans to go private, CFO says
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Hovnanian Enterprises Inc.’s
<_HOV.N_ (aol://4785:HOV/) > chief financial officer on Tuesday said
the No. 7 U.S. homebuilder has no plans to go private, though fears
of a housing bubble may be weighing on its shares.
“We want to remain a public company,” said the CFO, Larry Sorsby, at a
Bank of America investment conference. “It would probably be easier
for us to go private than any other (big homebuilder) because of the
tremendous insider ownership that we already have, but we would be a
highly leveraged company, or the whole company would (have)
partners. You should not think Hovnanian is going to lever up to go
private.”
Shares of the luxury homebuilder have fallen 17 percent in the last
two weeks, after Hovnanian reported third-quarter profit that missed
analyst forecasts by a penny per share, and forecast fiscal 2006
earnings of $8.05 to $8.40 per share, below the average $8.50
forecast.
Hovnanian shares fell $1.68, or 3.2 percent, to $51.19 in Tuesday
trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Based in Red Bank, New Jersey, Hovnanian builds upscale homes,
particularly in California and the U.S. Northeast, where prices have
posted some of the strongest gains in the recent housing boom.
But as home prices rose, borrowers hoping to buy pricier homes turned
increasingly to adjustable-rate mortgages, which have lower initial
rates, and other newfangled mortgages that let them buy homes that
they otherwise couldn’t afford. This helped fuel higher prices,
leading to growing fears of a housing bubble.
However, 11 rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve, including one
on Tuesday, have made even ARMs less attractive, forcing determined
home buyers to economize elsewhere and, investors fear, hurting
homebuilders.
Sorsby said Hovnanian isn’t seeing such economies, although he again
said home price appreciation has moderated.
“The next thing I would expect to see is (for a purchaser) to buy the
house with less options and upgrades,” he said. “Logic says that’s
what will occur. We have not seen that happen yet.”
Sorsby said Hovnanian has made on average three acquisitions a year
for the last five years, and is looking for more. He cited Las Vegas,
the Pacific Northwest and Denver as places where he would like the
company to expand.
09/21/05 00:46 ET

Pan Armenian News
MARGARYAN CONGRATULATED ARMENIAN NATION ON INDEPENDENCE DAY
20.09.2005 08:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Premier Andranik Margaryan has congratulated the
Armenian people on a national holiday – the Independence Day. The
congratulation message of the Armenian PM says: «Dear compatriots, I
congratulate you on the Independence Day of Armenia. Having chosen the way
of independence on 21st of September 14 years ago, our people fulfilled the
dream of its ancestors. Independence is first of all perception of national
dignity. The past years have shown that uniting around the idea of
independence, we can win in any battlefield and overcome many ordeals and
difficulties. Paying tribute to heroes, who sacrificed their lives to
independence and building our independence step by step, we should not
forget the challenges our young statehood has faced. To overcome these we
should unite, protect our state from upheaval, «saviors», who rate their own
interests higher than anything and constantly look at foreign states. Their
urge to please foreign states has unfortunately have had sorrowful outcomes
in our people’s history. There is much yet to be done on the way of building
a democratic, civil society. The most important – there is sufficient will
and potential to do it. We have already made noteworthy progress in forming
the army, in economy, that are important guarantees of sustaining the
achievements of 14 years and attaining national values in the future. I
again congratulate all of you and wish you good mood.»

Pan Armenian News
ARMENIA-NKR INTERPARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION RECURRENT MEETING TO BE HELD IN
SPRING 2006
20.09.2005 07:29
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Speaker Artur Baghdassaryan today met with
Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly Chairman Ashot Gulyan, reported the Press
Service of the Armenian NA. In the course of the meeting the parties noted
the importance of continuing the cooperation between the two parliaments at
the level of commissions. Agreements were made over legislative and expert
assistance to the NK Parliament, providing technical facilities, as well as
retraining the NKR NA staff. According to an arrangement made, the recurrent
session of the Armenian-Karabakh Interparliamentary Cooperation Commission
will be held in Stepanakert in spring 2006.