Thursday, September 08, 2005
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“Never trust someone who goes out of his way to be nice to you – he is after something,” an older friend once warned me. I dismissed his warning as that of a cynic and forgot all about it. A big mistake on my part.
*
When at the turn of the last century the Great Powers expressed concern about our condition within the Empire and took our side against the oppressors, we did not question their motives. A big mistake on our part for which millions of innocent civilians paid dearly.
*
When you shake hands with a brown-noser, count your fingers and immediately after wash your hands with soap and water. If his nose is brown, the rest of him can’t be white.
*
When in his initial phase as a writer Zarian said some very nice things about the Armenia voki [ethos], he was believed, respected, published, and achieved some degree of popularity. But when he realized he had been wrong and was not afraid to say so, he was dismissed by his contemporaries as a loudmouth egomaniac and acquired the status of a non-person.
*
All religions have produced their share of prophets, martyrs, and saints – that doesn’t make them the only true religion. All political leaders and parties have had their share of partisans — that doesn’t make them superior to any other political party.
*
Political leaders know that all they have to do to acquire followers is to utter such clichés as “You are the brains of the people,” or “You have leadership qualities,” or “You belong to a superior race,” or “You are the Chosen people.” Of course, it takes some degree of cunning combined with some kind of ruthless stupidity to voice such nonsense and believe in it, and when it comes to stupidity, it has been said, “even the gods cannot compete with men.”
*
“If you want our support, you must learn to kiss ass,” is the unspoken message in some of the criticism leveled against me. I was there once and I have no desire to revisit the place. All I want to do now is to echo Zarian’s warning, “Danger, danger, danger!”
#
Friday, September 09, 2005
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A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE ARMENIAN NATION
===============================
If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. If you don’t live by the sword, you will die on the cross.
*
Two Armenians were having a quiet conversation. It could happen.
*
Advice to a young Armenian writer:
Don’t write; but if you write, don’t publish; but if you publish, be prepared to perish.
*
Being an Armenian is hard work. I wouldn’t apply for the job even if they promised a fat salary, the very best in fringe benefits, and a sky-is-the-limit expense account.
*
I could have been a far better writer if I had had critics instead of riffraff hurling insults at me. But alas, it looks like I am destined to remain a minor, negligible, and forgettable scribbler.
*
Self-esteem is not a reliable index of worth, in the same way that dogmatism is not an index of certainty.
*
There is a natural tendency in the brainwashed to resent anyone who refuses to be brainwashed.
#
Saturday, September 10, 2005
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PUNDITS
*****************
A pundit who is very critical of Turks, Jews, and the West in general but never of his fellow Armenians is no better than a one-eyed Jack who sees evil only in others, never in himself. When I once met one of these pundits face to face I asked him if he had any political ambitions, and he replied, yes, he thought he could be useful to the regime in Yerevan. When I dismissed our leadership as a bunch of opportunists and crooks, he said he was willing to concede that, very much like the rest of mankind, we were not perfect. But why stress the imperfections of others and cover up our own? I demanded to know. Because, he explained, at this stage in our history, we needed help and encouragement, not opposition and obstruction. Since he was not a lawyer, he did not know or pretended not to know that if you help a crook you become an accessory.
*
In an encounter with another one of our pundits, I was told that our only solution was to get rid of all our politicians and to replace them with our own religious leaders. When I said that would be like trying to extinguish a fire by pouring gasoline over it, he changed the subject.
*
The trouble with some of our pundits is that they seem to be totally unaware of the fact that all our major writers, from Khorenatsi in the 5th century to Massikian in our own days have been very critical of our political as well as religious leaders; and I suspect one reason they don’t read our writers is that they think, as intellectual giants, they have no use for the input of midgets. I should also add that some of them might read English, French, German, Russian, and sometimes even Turkish fluently, but not Armenian.
#

A1+
| 13:05:04 | 09-09-2005 | Social |
RESISTANCE CONTINUES
The Buzand street is still under control both by the residents and by those
responsible for the `reconstruction’. The menace of destroying the houses
still looms on the horizon.
Several days ago the officials responsible for the reconstruction of the
city said that they must negotiate with the residents of the street to come
to an agreement. But yesterday at about 03:00 – 04:00 p.m. the workers tried
to destroy the 3-storeyed house next to the house of the Mouradyans. As a
result of the resistance of the dwellers, the house was preserved.
It is noteworthy that the workers have put a fence round that area from the
street side, and the destruction can start every minute. `We will preserve
our houses at any cost, we will even become a living wall in order not to
allow it’, the dwellers of the street announce.
By the way, yesterday till midnight the residents of the street celebrated
the 1600th anniversary of historiograph Pavstos Buzand. The residents of the
North and the Main Avenues also joined them. Tonight there will be another
open-air film-watching in the Buzand street.

A1+
| 12:57:34 | 09-09-2005 | Social |
THE COURT CANNOT HELP THE STUDENTS
The students of the University after Hrachya Acharyan are still on strike.
Let us remind you that they are worried about the sudden raise of education
fees at the beginning of the new educational year. Losing the hope to meet
with the rector, the students again turned to the pro rector Aram
Khachatryan, who received several students.
The latters informed the pro rector that they have initiated a collection of
signatures. The decision was made after the latest meeting with Aram
Khachatryan when the pro rector had announced that the appellants for only
20% of all the students.
So, with the help of the collection of signatures, the students want to
represent the real numbers of the appellants. During the latest meeting with
the students, Mr. Khachatryan was unyielding and said that the students can
even apply to court. `We cannot solve the problem all the same’.
According to eh students, after the letter sent to the Government yesterday,
a call has been from the Education department made to the pro rector, who
said that he cannot pay enough wages to the professors stuff. So, the
reduction of educational fees is impossible.

A1+
| 12:23:54 | 09-09-2005 | Social |
THE BUSINESS WORLD OPENS A DOOR FOR THE DISABLED
Since December of 2004 the non-governmental organization of the disabled
`Phoenix Union’ has been realizing a program of making the credit market
available for the disabled people. Within the framework of the program on
September 5 the Union organized 7-day courses during which the disabled
people will be taught the possible mechanisms of business programs
stimulation.
After the end of the courses the next step will be the allotting of loans to
the disabled people engaged in business. Naturally, not everyone will be
able to get loans. Business programs will be represented, as a result of
which the more or less serious programs will get 3000 USD.

Azeri foreign minister, Austrian president discuss ties, Karabakh
Assa-Irada
9 Sep 05
Baku, 8 September: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met
Austrian President Heinz Fischer in Vienna today. During the meeting,
the minister pointed out the progressive development of relations
between the countries a glaring example of which was recent mutual
visits by senior state officials. He said that presidential visits
could boost ties.
“I hope that your official visit to Azerbaijan will materialize in
2006,” the minister said.
Mammadyarov spoke in detail about the current state of the Nagornyy
Karabakh peace process and Azerbaijan’s position on the process.
The Austrian president thanked for the invitation and said that the
date of the visit would be decided via diplomatic channels.
Mammadyarov also met Austrian Speaker Andreas Khol. He stressed the
importance of developing cooperation between the two parliaments. The
two men exchanged views on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and the
regional situation.

The tip of the anti-Turkish iceberg
The angry row over Cyprus is the least of the obstacles in Turkey’s
way as it struggles to fulfil its 40-year ambition to join the
European mainstream, writes Ian Black
The Guardian/UK
Friday September 9, 2005
It is, for the moment, an obscure diplomatic wrangle being played out
largely behind closed doors in the foreign ministries of Europe and in
Brussels meeting rooms. But the signs are that a serious crisis is
looming over the start of Turkey’s long-awaited talks on joining the
EU.
Turkey’s date with destiny, October 3 – the same day, coincidentally,
that Germany was reunited in 1990 – was set last year when the then
15-member EU was finalising its historic 10-country enlargement.
It has been a very long time coming: Turkey has been a stalwart member
of Nato since 1952 and was first recognised as a potential member of
the European club as long ago as 1963, only a few years after the
creation of the EEC. Britain is a keen advocate of its EU membership,
as is the US. Both see the secular Muslim democracy as a key regional
ally, a beacon for Islamic and Arab countries and proof that a “clash
of civilisations” with the west is not inevitable.
But mounting anti-Turkish feeling in several European countries and
last summer’s shock rejections of the new EU constitution in France
and the Netherlands – part of a wider political and economic malaise –
have created grave doubts. Hence this week’s alarm call by Jack Straw,
Britain’s foreign secretary, who is now in the hot seat of the EU’s
rotating presidency, that it is vital to stick to the October 3 start
date even if, as is widely expected, the actual negotiations drag on
for many years.
The immediate problem is the vexed question of Cyprus, one of last
May’s new entrants. The hope had been that a long-standing UN drive to
reunite the divided island would bear fruit before it joined. But
since it did not (though more because of the Greek than the Turkish
side) and because Ankara is refusing to recognise the Nicosia
government (which for the EU legally represents the entire country),
the launch of accession talks is in jeopardy.
Recognition is extremely difficult because without a comprehensive
peace settlement it would undermine Turkey’s own 30-year military
presence and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. But by
flaunting its position at this highly delicate moment, Turkey has
given ammunition to its enemies.
Chief amongst these is France, where polls show much of the
anti-Turkish prejudice expressed by the former president and author of
the constitution, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, whose circumlocutions
about “cultural differences” are only slightly less offensive than the
cruder view of another clever Frenchman, Voltaire: the 18th-century
thinker called the Turks “a reminder to Christians to atone for their
sins”.
But there is an even bigger obstacle looming in Germany – assuming
Angela Merkel’s centre-right CDU wins this month’s election: Ms Merkel
wants Turkey – which supplied so many of the gastarbeiter who created
the German economic miracle of the 1960s – to be offered only a
“privileged partnership”, not the full membership that has awaited all
other candidates, from Estonia to Bulgaria, at the end of their
negotiations.
Another key opponent is Austria, where it sometimes seems that Ottoman
janissaries are still besieging Vienna as they did back in the 17th
century. Its chancellor, Wolfgang Schussel, also favours a halfway
house and “open-ended” negotiations for the Turks.
The problem is that offering something different only for Turkey would
appear to prove the resentful charge that the EU is a “Christian club”
and risk a dangerous anti-European, and perhaps fundamentalist,
backlash. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has warned
that he will “walk away for good” if the talks do not go ahead on
schedule.
If they do start on time, it will be a very big deal indeed: no
country that has begun negotiations on joining the EU has failed
eventually to make the grade.
Although actual membership could be 10 or 15 years away, by then there
will be more than 80 million Turks, probably outnumbering Germans. And
with voting power tied to population size, Ankara will be as important
a player as Berlin, Paris and London – a key reason for the mounting
opposition. Another is the fear of large numbers of poor Turkish
migrant workers flooding western European labour markets, though
restrictions could be imposed for a transition period.
Turkey and its supporters are understandably worried, though they have
a strong case when they argue that the magnet of EU membership has
already generated huge advances under Mr Erdogan’s conservative,
moderate Islamist government.
The country’s old Midnight Express image has faded and torture has
been banned. There are now Kurdish language broadcasts, and the grip
of the powerful military, keepers of the Ataturk flame, has been
weakened. The economy is in good shape after years of crisis and
inflation under the generals. It is an increasingly attractive market
for foreign investment.
Not everything is perfect. Implementation of some new laws has been
patchy, and some worry about minority rights. Until recently there was
greater openness on the ever-neuralgic question of the Armenian
genocide of the first world war. That, however, has faded, and there
is now embarrassment about the case of the internationally renowned
novelist Orhan Pamuk, facing charges of “belittling Turkishness” over
his brave comments about that dark period.
Hectic diplomacy is likely across Europe over the coming days, perhaps
going down to the wire on the eve of October 3. There will be
brinkmanship and haggling over the precise terms of the negotiations,
and attempts to square the circle of Ankara’s non-recognition of
Cyprus. Obscure and complex it may all be, but the stakes are very
high. As Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, put it: “The last
100 metres of the marathon should be run very carefully.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THERE ARE NOT ONLY OPPOSITIONISTS AMONG MALICIOUS ABSENTEES FROM
PARLIAMENT
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9. ARMINFO. Although the small session of the
Armenian Parliament is focused on only one issue – about the absence
of 24 deputies from the opposition Justice bloc and the National Unity
party from more than half of the parliamentary votings absent from as
many votings were also a number of businessman deputies.
Gagik Tsarukyan was absent from 171 votings, Mkhitar Varagyan from
125, Tigran Arsakantsyan from 157 ones. But their absence is
considered to have valid reasons as some of them were on mission,
others have health certificates, some asked the speaker to consider
their absence well reasoned. Strangely enough some other businessman
deputies like Levon Sargsyan, Ruben Hayrapetyan and others who could
hardly be seen at any parliamentary session so far are not on the
absentee list.
Meanwhile Speaker Artur Bagdassaryan and his deputy Tigran Torossyan
were absent from 89 votings because of working missions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1+
| 16:22:04 | 09-09-2005 | Regions |
THERE WILL BE ELECTRICITY IN THE EVENING
The residents of the Alaverdy Sarahart region have been spending the last
three days almost without electricity. According to the residents, they have
electricity for only several hours a day, and they seem to have returned to
the 1990s.
The workers of the Electricity net «Toumanyan» department informed by phone
that there has been an accident, and at present they are trying to eliminate
its result. Most probably the electricity provision will be re-established
in the evening.

A1+
| 15:07:17 | 09-09-2005 | Social |
VIOLATIONS ACCORDING TO THE LAW
While selling areas for state needs the Yerevan authorities do not violate
any laws, claimed the Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharyan during today’s press
conference.
According to him, they do everything according to the law and corresponding
legislative acts. Yervand Zakharyan claims that the municipality has no
right to interfere with the evaluation of property, and if the resident is
displeased he can appeal the decision. As for the 10% income tax taken from
the compensation, according to the mayor, it is fully legal.
In the areas of North and Main Avenues, 997 contracts have been signed up to
now. 29 of them which are in court cases, do not form even 3%, the mayor
says. Yervand Zakharyan enumerated the names of the people who have brought
about a court case demanding 2000 USD for one square meter. `It is a
groundless demand’, he said, mentioning that the resident have been offered
up to 980 USD. Yervand Zakharyan announced that they have clear-cut programs
of reconstruction which will be realized without taking into account
anybody’s opinion.
As for the report of the RA Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan about the law
violations in the North and Main Avenues areas, Mr. Zakharyan announced, `I
have heard nothing about it. It is the opinion of Mrs. Larissa Alaverdyan’.

GERMANY ALLOCATES 2.2 MLN EUR TO ARMENIA FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT
“BIO-DIVERSITY AND NATURE PROTECTION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS REGION”
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9. ARMINFO. German Govenrment has approved 2.2 mln
EUR to Armenia for implementation of a program “Bio-diversity in the
South-West of Armenia” and “Protection of bio-diversity in Javakheti
through transboundary cooperation.”
A relevant agreement was signed today by Ministry of Nature Protection
of Armenia Vardan Ayvazyan and Representative of German KfW bank in
Armenia Karapet Gevorgyan. The programs are designed for 30-50 years
under a regional project “Protection of bio-diversity and nature in
the South Caucasus region.” Minister Aycazyan said the programs aim
prevention of conflict situations at transboundary Armenian-Georgian
territories and planning of joint measures on protection of
environment in Javakhk plateau. Under the projects, a National Park
Arpi will be developed which will embrace Lake Arpi with its drained
basin, brooks and water reservoirs near the villages of Ardenis,
Akhuryan, and those near Stepanavan-Tashir highway. The park will
occupy a territory of 74 ha and will be divided into three protected
zones: reserved territories, on protection of ecological system and on
stable development of the park’s territories.
The territory of the park Arpi is bordering Georgia and Turkey and
located not far from large populated areas in Armenia. Local residents
having mass social and economic problems will be attracted to
implementation of the project of National Park. Some 70 jobs will be
opened for local residents there, the minister said. Under the
projects, scientific research will be carried out for possible
creation of reserved territories in waterlogged areas to protect
water- marsh flora and fauna.
KfW Representative said the regional program was provided to the
Georgian an Azerbaijani parties as well, however Azerbaijan has not
considered it so far; and in Georgia the government has recently
approved the project “Protection of bio-diversity and nature in the
South Caucasus region.” Factually, implementation of the given
ecological program for the South Caucasus has started in Armenia,
Gevorgyan said. He added that one of the most important details of the
project is solution to social problems of the population in bordering
regions, taking into account the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. “Each time when CE member-states propose joint programs to
the South Caucasian three, political motives hinder their
implementation. However, the given program is necessary as nature has
no borders and it must be protected without any political conditional
characters,” Gevorgyan said. The project office will be in Tbilisi for
three years then the head office will be moved to the country that
will show the most successful and effective implementation of the
project. 0.3 mln EUR is allocated to each country for project
coordination under control of KfW.
It should be noted that since 1993 the German Government has allocated
Armenia some 127 mln EUR through the German bank KfW under various
programs in the sphere of energy, finances, water supply and
ecology. 100 mln EUR of the above sum were credits and the remaining
were grants.