STUDENTS OF ARMENIAN UNIVERSITIES ORGANIZE PROTEST ACTION
AT BUILDING OF GEORGIAN EMBASSY IN ARMENIA UNDER SLOGAN “NO GEORGIAN NAZISM”

YEREVAN, APRIL 14. ARMINFO. Students of Armenian universities
organized today a protest action before the building of Georgian
Embassy in Armenia supporting Armenian people of the
Samtskhe-Javakhetia region of Georgia.

They held posters saying that “Policy of Armenians assimilation is
fulfilled in Georgia”, “No Georgian nazism”, “A white Genocide is
fulfilled against Armenians in Georgia”, etc. Action’s organizers
assert that they pursue no political goals and the meeting is only
peaceful.

They handed over a letter to embassy’s representative Georgy
Saganelidze expressing anxiety with the state of Armenians of
Samtskhe-Javakhetia. Students say that Saganelidze had guaranteed
that a policy of settlement of Turks-Meskhetians will not be
conducted in Armenian-populated regions of Georgia.

As regards the destruction of Armenian historical and cultural
monuments, Saganelidze assured that the guilty have been already
punished and the rest monuments are in no danger and protected by the
state. The action’s organizers promised that no new actions of
protest will be organized till the autumn of 2005. -r-

The Messenger, Georgia
April 15 2005

Armenia and China: targets of velvet revolutions

Russian newspaper GazetaSNG reports that on the eve of the ninetieth
anniversary of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire, Turkish analysts and mass media unanimously forecast the
“Orange Transformation” of Armenia.
The paper writes that this looks like to be a response to the effort
by Yerevan to force Ankara to recognize the genocide and take
responsibility for it. According to an expert of the organization
Eurasian Strategic Researches (Ankara) Sinan Ogan, the revolution in
the Kyrgyzstan will not be the last in CIS countries.
He forecasts that in the next 10 years the target of the United
States will be not Russia, but China. According to him, they want to
spread their influence to China, because Americans need a base and
“Kyrgyzstan will play this role.”
He also thinks that the second target of the United States will
become Armenia, because the policy in Yerevan does not coincide with
Washington’s policy in the Caucasus. “Armenia will remain
pro-Russian, will fight with Turkey and impede the construction of
the Georgian part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,” he said. The
paper writes that the socioeconomic situation in the territories of
Armenia bordering Turkey and Georgia is rather deplorable.
“In addition, possible Russian interference should also be taken into
consideration,” the paper writes, adding that such forecasts can
entirely impede the construction of Iranian-Armenian gas pipeline and
aggravate relations between these two countries. “However, the export
of such events is inevitable for Nagorno-Karabakh,” GazetaSNG
reports, adding that there is impression that the next targets for
revolution have become these two countries – potential strategic
partners of Russia.

The Messenger, Georgia
April 15 2005

Reviving business in Georgia
By Mary Makharashvili

Business leaders and economists at Thursday’s forum
How to stimulate investment and the establishment of new businesses
was the focus of a round table discussion on Reviving Business in
Georgia on Thursday.

Economists, businessmen and government officials met in the Courtyard
Marriott hotel to discuss how to stimulate business activity, why
there is so little direct investment, and what the Georgian
government should do to increase exports to European markets

Economist Ivan Samson from the University of Grenoble in France
explained that the aim of the discussion was to understand and
classify the obstacles to setting up new enterprises and investment
more generally, particularly in areas where domestic demand exists,
but tends to initiate more trade than production.

“Another major issue is to identify the incentives for legalizing
gray or semi-gray activities,” he added.

He recommended that in Georgia small enterprises should become the
engine of economic growth: “They will become the basis of the birth
of medium size firms, which are currently totally absent.”

“Business needs a sound, transparent and stable economic environment
for working. This is what a strong state, supported by a large amount
of its population, is available to provide,” Samson said.

The new Tax Code, the conference participants felt, was a step
forward, but they said it still needs refinement, particularly
regarding the simplification of rules.

Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce Georgia Amy
Denman added that other aspects of the government’s work had helped
too.

“I do think that the government was successful in working with
businesses in order to weed out corruption and help them to do
business more legally. I think that the new customs code will help as
well,” she said.

However, Denman added that, “the long term step is to relieve fiscal
pressure. We understand that the country is desperately looking for
revenues, but it also needs to look long term and reduce the fiscal
pressure and create incentives to compete with neighboring
countries.”

According to her, companies that are currently working on the ground
have seen a number of changes over the past year. She says that the
Tax Code and an Amnesty initiative have together allowed businesses
to work more legally.

“This is good for business and good for government. There is more
work to be done because, in general, in order to attract new
investment you need to make current investors happy,” she said.

Talking with The Messenger General Manager of Nestle Georgia &
Armenia Esben Emborg said that good legislation is essential.

“It is important to have a level playing field; conditions have to be
the same for everyone. Businesses are impatient but the government is
definitely on the right track,” he said.

One particular area he felt the government had done well was to work
together with business. “I think what was very interesting about the
tax code was that the government and business sat down and worked out
a tax code, which was far from perfect, but it’s not bad. It is much
better in comparison with the old one. We are moving forward,” he
said.

Speaking with The Messenger Deputy State Minister for European
Integration Tamar Beruchashvili said that the government clearly
understands that a stable environment is one of the main components
for stimulating business in Georgia.

“We know that a number of legislative acts needs to be changed, but
on the other hand the changes, even though positive, create a very
unstable environment. That is why it is very important that business
be actively involved in not only the decision-making, but also in the
process of formulating this decision,” she said.

According to her, a second important issue is deregulation, which she
says also has “its rules of the game.” She says that deregulation
should not be understood as anarchy, as those issues which concern
the security of people’s lives and health will always remain under
the subordination of the state.

Nevertheless, there is a need for deregulation, and changes to
legislation, Beruchashvili said, citing the Customs code as one
example.

“Creating a Customs Code according to international norms and
standards is vitally important. The functions of customs should be
clearly determined and the procedures should be maximally simple.
There should be no discrimination,” she said.

Formulating new laws is not enough, however, the deputy state
minister said, admitting, “unfortunately our weak point is that the
written laws are much better on paper than in implementation.”

Talking about the European market Beruchashvili said that this is the
most attractive market for Georgia. “Georgian mineral waters, fruits,
vegetables and honey have real perspective of entering the European
market,” she said.

Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest to enter. For example,
she said that it took a full year for Georgian wine to pass through
all the procedures to be formally recognized and legally sold on the
European market.

Deputy Minister for Economic Development Tamar Kovziridze, meanwhile,
highlighted three areas in which the government can support business.

“The first is legislative changes with regard to deregulation and
more concretely the issuing of licenses and permits. Our ministry is
now working on how to simplify legislation. This will be a very
important legislative package,” she declared.

“The second component is institutional. The prime minister has
started regular meetings with businessmen – the so-called Investment
Council. It is very important that certain decisions will be made
within the framework of this council and based on such discussions.”

The third component highlighted by Kovziridze relates to
international PR. “I mean the regular investment forums in different
countries organized by the ministry. It is known that the first
investment forum was held in London and then in Rome. At the end of
May a similar forum is planned in Berlin and Vienna, and in September
in Japan,” she said.

“At this forum there will be a presentation of the country’s economic
and financial policy. Over 200-250 people will participate in these
forums and I think this is one of the most important initiatives to
get the representatives of international business acquainted with
everything that is taking place in Georgia,” the deputy minister
added.

The Messenger, Georgia
April 15 2005

Reconnecting Akhalkalaki

Government officials and local residents offer recipe for bringing
the remote region back into the social and economic life of Georgia
By Keti Sikharulidze

Bad roads and the lack of a railway line are two of the many problems
in the Javakheti region, a region that local politicians and
government officials note is disconnected from the rest of the
country for much of the year.

Besides transportation woes, the region’s difficult socio-economic
condition is compounded by language problems since the region is
heavily populated with ethnic minorities who speak little Georgian.

“The government should work out a special program and solve these
issues on a state level. These problems are in every Georgian region
but in our region it is more complicated, partly owing to the severe
climate but mostly because of the lack of Georgian language,” a
member of Parliament from Akhalkalaki Melik Raisian told The
Messenger on Thursday.

With the aim of working out just such a program, MPs, government
officials and international consultants gathered on April 14 to
discuss Interregional Social-economic Integration of Javakheti
(Ninotsminda and Akhalkalki) regions at a conference organized by the
European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI).

“Earlier there was a very large knowledge gap in Tbilisi about the
region while in the region there was no knowledge about what was
going on in Tbilisi,” ECMI’s project manager Mikael Hertoft told The
Messenger, “ECMI’s task is to help fill this gap and hold
constructive dialogue.”

Deputy Head of the State Road Department Giorgi Tsereteli said on
Thursday the government intends to rebuild roads in the Javakheti
region, connecting Tbilisi-Tsalka-Ninotsminda, as well as
Akhlakalaki-Ninotsminda-Armenian border. The projects, he said, would
be made possible by the U.S. financed Millennium Challenge Georgia
program.

“We have not implemented such a major project in Georgia yet. The
project is still is on the drawing board and will be ready soon.
Construction will start in 2006,” Tsereteli told The Messenger.

Tsereteli also stated that road works will start from May that will
be funded by the central budget. “We will simply carry out repairs of
roads to maintain those parts of roads that can still be saved,” he
said.

“GEL 1.9 million lari was allotted from our budget to rebuild roads
and make the necessary traffic signs. With this money we intend to
pave five kilometers of road to Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki and on
the other parts we will fill in potholes,” Tsereteli stated.

Hamlet Movsesian, the majoritarian MP of Akhalkalaki region, noted
that the Tbilisi-Tsalka-Akhalkalaki road is always blocked during the
winter by heavy snow. In addition, he says funds from the Millennium
Challenge program should also go to rebuilding the
Akhaltsikhe-Akhalkalaki road.

“This road is never closed during the winter … otherwise the
government will need to spend lots of money to keep the roads clear,”
said Movsesian.

Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday
that they want to make the region the country’s main producer of
potatoes in order to support its agriculture..

“We also intend to create an agricultural service center in
Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki which will serve farmers with tractors
and other agriculture equipment, “the deputy minister of agriculture
Nugzar Sarjveladze told journalists.

As for language problems, the Samtskhe-Javakheti is seeing a renewed
effort by the government to teach the Georgian language.

The government has already opened a “Georgian House” in the
Akhalkalaki region where residents can study Georgian free of charge.

Georgian teacher Dali Aghdgomeladze says that although some people
were skeptical, afraid they would forget their own first language,
Armenian, she has nevertheless seen an increase in enrollment at the
language center.

She says local residents and particularly students became very
interested in studying Georgian after President Mikheil Saakashvili
stated on a trip to Akhalkalaki that the government would give
privileges to those students who intend to study at Tbilisi
universities and institutes.

“As a result many young people started studying Georgian language at
the Georgian House. There are four groups of children of all ages
both young and old,” said Aghdgomeladze

Aghdgomeladze states the government intend to open a similar center
in the Ninotsminda region which is densely populated with Armenians
as well. But she said local interest in learning the language remains
the key factor: “If the people do not desire to learn Georgian, our
interest alone is not enough to do anything.”

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
April 15 2005

Ankara is waiting for Yerivan’s response

Erdoðan said that resolving the problem of so-called genocide would
open the way to bilateral relations with Armenia.

April 15 – Turkey’s Prime Minister has sent a letter to
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan calling for an objective study of
claims the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against its Armenian
citizens during World War I.

The letter from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, submitted by
Turkey’s embassy in the Georgian capital of Tblisi as Turkey and
Armenia do not have direct diplomatic relations, said that historians
should research the claims of genocide and that this work should be
conducted by a joint committee.
Not only Turkey but Armenia and other countries should open
the holdings in their archives on the Armenian issue, the Prime
Minister said.
Ankara is waiting for the response of Yerivan on the matter.
Turkey has long denied that any massacre of the Ottoman
Empire’s Armenian citizens took place and points to the killing of
many thousands of Turkish civilians in the east of the country during
the war.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Human rights body says Croatia made moderate progress in 2004

HINA news agency
15 Apr 05

Zagreb, 15 April: In the course of 2004, Croatia made moderate
progress in the area of human rights, but some problems remained,
reads a report on the human rights situation in Croatia released by
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF).

The IHF regularly issues annual reports on the human rights situation
in a number of countries. The report on Croatia was released this week
together with reports on 15 other countries, including Austria,
Albania, Belgium, Canada, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Armenia. The report
focuses on a number of topics ranging from freedom of expression, free
media, rule of law and independence of the judiciary to freedom of
religion and rights of homosexuals and asylum seekers.

“Similar to the past few years, Croatia made moderate progress in the
field of human rights during 2004. In many aspects, progress was
frustratingly slow, but an overall positive trend could be discerned,”
reads the report.

The deeply unsatisfactory situation of returnees (mostly of Serbian
ethnicity) and frequent abuses against the Roma population remained
major concerns, but there was increasing public readiness to react to
such violations of human rights, it is stated in the report.

The parliamentary elections held in late 2003 represented a return to
normal in so far as radical political groups were largely marginalized
in public life. However, right-wing radical groups remained active and
it appeared that the fact that some segments of the electorate were
disappointed with the new government – composed of the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) – worked in their favour.

The HDZ government that took up office at the end of 2003 made more
explicit attempts than its predecessor to instrumentalize the media
and individual journalists for political purposes. In particular, it
tried to re-establish political control over the Croatian public
broadcaster, HRT, the IHF said, citing cases of ministers phoning news
editors and trying to exert influence on their editorial policy. These
cases resulted in public protests led by NGOs and the media, the
report said.

Last year saw several cases of civil society and the media
successfully exerting pressure on the authorities by revealing full
facts about scandals involving highly positioned officials. As a
result, several officials had to resign, the IHF said, citing as an
example the case of free-lance journalist Helena Puljiz, whom the
Counterintelligence Agency unsuccessfully tried to blackmail into
cooperating with it.

Although the country’s media legislation was reformed in 2003, it
still had shortcomings, the IHF said, citing as an example legal
provisions on media coverage of election candidates imposing an
obligation on electronic media to give an equal amount of coverage to
all election candidates. The privatization of the television market is
cited as a positive example of changes to the media legislation.

A Penal Code provision on defamation was amended so as to make it
easier for journalists to defend themselves against defamation charges
in court. Despite this positive development, it remains a concern that
defamation continues to be criminalized, the IHF said.

The IHF regrets that serious and professional journalism was often
sacrificed for sensationalist and scandalous reports and considers the
low quality of journalistic work one of the main problems of the
Croatian media.

The Croatian judiciary is still burdened by a large number of unsolved
cases, it said, citing as a positive example courses which the Justice
Ministry organized for judges and the opening of four court
departments to conduct war crimes trials.

As in previous years, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church had a
strong influence on nationalist and conservative political parties
regarding various political and social issues, the IHF said, adding
that the legal situation of “nontraditional” religious communities
remained problematic.

The social situation in the country was difficult due to a large
number of unemployed persons, low maternity allowances, and the
outstanding issue of the state debt to pensioners.

The process of returning property to Croatian citizens who fled to
Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Hercegovina during the war
remained problematic, the IHF said, adding that Croatia still lacked
legislation regulating relations between property owners and tenancy
holders.

The new HDZ government made efforts to establish a respectable
reputation with regard to minority rights and its members repeatedly
made statements in favour of tolerance and respect for ethnic
diversity, which contributed to a positive societal
atmosphere. However, the situation of the Serb and Roma minorities
remained deplorable. Although the government had good intentions, it
did not take enough concrete measures to prevent discrimination
against Serbs and Roma, it is stated in the report.

Organizations promoting the rights of homosexuals received threats on
an almost daily basis, the IHF said, adding that the Catholic Church
repeatedly used fierce and intolerant language against homosexuals,
including in media statements.

Only seven criminal charges concerning racial and other forms of
discrimination were raised in the period 2001-2004, the IHF
said. During the year, efforts to extol the Ustasha movement included
public parades, the erection of monuments, the promotion of lyrics,
and revisionist interpretations of historical events.

In mid-2004, a new law on asylum seekers was adopted. During the year,
141 requests for asylum were submitted and all requests were rejected,
reads the report.

Journal of Turkish Daily
April 15 2005

Turkey Repeats Dialogue Call to Armenia

Jan SOYKOK, ANKARA (JTW) Turkish Prime Minister repeated Turkey’s
dialogue call to Armenia. Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to
Armenian President Robert Kocherian. Erdogan used `memories which
hurt’ words for the 1915 events. In 1915, many Turks and Armenians
were killed in the communal clashes and war circumstances. Erdogan
said in his letter `a joint commission should be established to
discuss all historical disputes. This will serve to normalize our
relations’. The letter was handled by Turkey’s Tbilisi Embassy to
Yerevan. `Turkey and Armenia interpret the past in different ways’
Erdogan added. Erdogan continued in the letter:

`Turkish and Armenian peoples not only shared a common history and
geography in one of the most volatile regions of the world, but also
lived together for a very long time. However it is not a secret that
there are differences in interpretation some parts of the past
between two nations. These memories gave sorrow to our peoples in the
past, and now still play a role which does not help to develop
friendly relations between us.”

“As the leaders of our countries, our foremost duty to the next
generations is to leave a peaceful and friendly environment. All
these ideas are shared by the main Turkish opposition party leader
Mr. Deniz Baykal as well. In this framework, we kindly call you to
establish a joint group including Turkish and Armenian historians and
other experts to research the 1915 events by using not only the
Turkish and Armenian documents but also all archives in the third
countries, and to declare all the findings to international
community. I think, such an initiative will shed light on a
disputable part of the past and also will serve to normalization
relations between our countries.”

“I hope that, our offer aiming to leave a more friendly and peaceful
environment will be welcomed. We are ready to discuss the details
when you accept our offer to set up a joint historian and other
experts group to make researches in archives. Regards.’ (JTW’s Note:
This is not an offical transilation)

ARMENIAN FM OSKANIAN: TURKEY TRIES TO RECONSIDER HISTORY WITHOUT ANY
SHAME

Despite all dialogue calls from Ankara, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian uses very strong and even aggressive language towards
Turkish politicians. “Turkey not only tries to reconsider its history
without any shame but also wants to force other countries do the
same,” said Oskanian on 13 April 2005 press conference. Oskanian had
rejected Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s call to establish a joint
commission to discuss the historical disputes.

Mr. Oskanian claims that the recognition of the `genocide’
allegations is an issue of security for Armenia. “We can’t feel
secure near a neighbor that exceeds in the military aspect and
definitely supports Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh issue,”
Armenian Foreign Minister said.

Turkish Republic never attacked or threatened Armenia since the
beginning, while Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories and has threatened Turkey to occupy the eastern parts of
Turkey. The First Armenian Republic attacked the Turkish forces, yet
failed to advance. Under the Soviet rule, the Armenians demanded some
of the Turkish towns. However when Turkey entered NATO, the USSR
could not make more pressure on Turkey. Armenia gained its
independence after the USSR collapsed. However the Armenians
continued to their irredentist demands, and named Turkey’s eastern
provinces `Western Armenia’. Armenian forces not only attacked the
Karabakh and other Azerbaijani cities, but also to Naxcivan province
of Azerbaijan. Armenia also encourages the separatist Armenian
movements in Georgia.

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO find Oskanian’s security concerns
baseless: `Armenia attacks almost all neighbors and perceives
security threats.’

ARMENIA TRIES TO BLACKMAIL TURKEY

Mr. Oskanian further said “Turkey wants to be a member of an
organization that is built on the bases of the human rights
protection. When Turkey wants to become an EU member country, the
genocide issue becomes of European, human importance.”

However Dr. Gulcan says Armenia abuses Turkey’s EU bid:

`Armenia tries to blackmail Turkey in EU case. Armenia has occupied
20 percent territories of a European country, Azerbaijan. The EU
named Armenia occupier and aggressive. Despite all these Armenia can
blackmail Turkey. I think there are anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim
biases in the EU institutions. They are discriminative. The EU
Parliament for instance calls Turkey to improve its relations with
Armenia, yet says nothing to Armenia about occupation. The EP makes
pressures on Turkey to open territorial borders with Armenia, however
they have done nothing to lift embargo and isolation on Turkish
Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots cannot make business with any country
except Turkey. If you want justice you must be fair. Armenia is
occupier and aggressive country in the region. They threaten Turkey,
Azerbaijan and Georgia, and they can say that Armenia perceives
threats. `

According to Dr. Nilgun Gulcan, Armenia’s aim is not to establish a
dialogue, but to damage Turkish interests. Gulcan says Armenians are
not sincere in `genocide claims’: `They started to use `genocide’
term in 1965. Before that year they never used the term. After the
First World War they applied to the Allies to join the Lausanne
negotiations claiming that they were a part in the wars against the
Ottoman Empire. They confessed many time that they joined the Allies
against the Ottoman Armies. And now they can claim with no shame that
the Ottoman Government committed genocide against Armenians. They do
not question what Armenian militants did in Khojally in Karabakh War.
They do not speak about the Khojally genocide just committed 10 years
ago, but accuse the Turks for the events happened almost a century
ago. This is a political war. The allegations are baseless.’

JTW
15 April 2005

Orange County Register, CA
April 15 2005

Hambarian lawyer tries to discredit accusers

Geragos, as fraud trial opens, says ex-trash king cut Orange good
deals.

By JIT FONG CHIN
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – Former trash-company executive Jeffrey Hambarian
negotiated good deals for the city of Orange and was wrongly accused
of crime by unreliable people, his attorney told jurors Thursday.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer whose clients
have included Scott Peterson and Winona Ryder, gave a 50-minute
opening statement that strove to improve Hambarian’s image by
comparing him to his parents, Sam and Alyce Hambarian.

Jurors then started listening to 20 hours of taped testimony from Pat
Augimeri, a key witness who apparently cashed hundreds of checks for
Hambarian and agreed that their interaction was “shady.”

Hambarian’s late father, Sam, was an Orange County pioneer who built
a trash empire over 45 years on the values of hard work and
frugality, the defense said.

“There’s an old Armenian expression: ‘Falls out of your father’s
nose.’ And Jeff was just like his dad, just like his dad,” Geragos
said.

Hambarian, arrested in 1998, is accused of defrauding Orange of $4.3
million by underreporting revenue and inflating costs when he was an
executive at Orange Disposal Service and Orange Resource Recovery
Systems.

He has pleaded not guilty to 57 charges, including fraud, money
laundering and commercial bribery.

Sam Hambarian had three passions: garbage, the Angels and his family,
Geragos told 12 jurors and six alternates.

The business failed to excite his two older sons, Michael and Donald.
But Jeffrey Hambarian latched on and started helping his parents at
age 13 or 14, Geragos said.

Sam Hambarian did business with the city on a handshake. Even when
contracts were later written, the terms were “always subject to
dispute,” Geragos said.

Over several decades, the Hambarians’ business grew to extend outside
Orange.

Phil Pierce, an Orange street division manager who “didn’t like the
fact that Sam was getting progressively wealthier,” started accusing
the Hambarians of not sending all recyclables revenue to Orange, even
though the family also collected recyclables from outside the city,
Geragos said.

Geragos said Hambarian might have negotiated a lower fee for dumping
trash with BKK Landfill in West Covina than what he charged Orange,
but that was simply good business. Orange residents still paid less
than if Hambarian had used an Orange County landfill, Geragos said.

The defense also denied that Hambarian diverted money to dummy
accounts. Sam and Alyce Hambarian knew about the accounts, and urged
their son to set aside money in a trust for their grandson. Some
money was used to buy Alyce Hambarian jewelry – “her one
extravagance,” Geragos said.

Several accusers changed their testimonies and agreed to support the
prosecution because they were frightened, Geragos said.

After Hambarian resigned and the family businesses were sold to Waste
Management in 1999, city trash rates rose – proof of the benefits of
the Hambarians’ frugality, Geragos said.

Witness Pat Augimeri talked about how he cashed checks for Hambarian
at a bank and check-cashing stores owned by Augimeri and his
relatives. The interviews were taped in 2000, ahead of the trial
because of Augimeri’s poor health.

“He was taking money from his company and putting it in his pocket,
as far as I could see,” said Augimeri, then 87.

Augimeri said he drove from Huntington Park to meet Hambarian at
different locations in Orange County, where he would get into
Hambarian’s pickups to receive the checks.

Augimeri said he then left to cash the checks – sometimes endorsing
them with made-up names such as “Don Williams” and “Jack Adams” – and
returned the money to Hambarian, minus a 2 percent commission, on the
same day.

He was granted immunity from prosecution for his cooperation.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 15 2005

Prejudice ise Worse than Poison (On Turkish-Armenian Relations)

Nursun Erel

We now have a historic opportunity for both Armenia and Turkey to
reconcile their relations, but it seem that, once again, it will be
lost to prejudice.

– “How do you know?” I hear your question, so let me tell you.

It was four years ago, on behalf of the TV channel I was working for,
I asked for an appointment from Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan to evaluate the Turkish-Armenian relationship. After our
request was accepted, we went to Yerevan. Let me not go in to the
details of our tough journey (Ankara-Istanbul-Tbilisi-Yerevan,
because the direct flights were cancelled once again).

But once I arrived in Yerevan, I spent perhaps the most interesting
days of my professional life, because I could see things with my own
eyes.

What do you mean?

I’m sorry to say this, but an unparalleled prejudice is in every
Armenian’s thoughts.

In schools, universities, churches, government offices, even on the
streets.

Why on the streets?

Because as you’re walking along, all of a sudden you’re confronted
with a huge building facade on which the Armenian flag is painted,
but with a slight (!) difference. On the flag, Mt. Ararat appears in
its all magnificence.

Why in the schools?

Because all the students, even very young pupils, were conditioned
towards one goal:

– Our ancestors were the native citizens of Ararat, it was once our
capital. One day we will take it back.

– Thousands of our relatives were killed by the Turks, we must take
our revenge.

– Mt. Ararat was the longtime home of our ancestors, we have to have
it back.

– Okay, we don’t want war, but Turkey must compensate the Armenians.

Even take a look at the lyrics of the Armenian national anthem:

“Our motherland should be free, but it is under invasion. So our sons
say: Let’s take our revenge. Do it my brother, do it. Man dies once,
but if he dies for the sake of his people and freedom, it is a sacred
death�”

While talking to these people and seeing all the poverty in the
suburbs of Yerevan, I was thinking to myself:

– What a pity they condition their citizens towards such impossible
dreams. Do they think this is the way to get rid of their hunger?

One of the most striking pictures that stuck in my mind was in front
of the U.S. Embassy. Hundreds of Armenians, waiting for hours in a
long long queue, to get visas to go to the States.

I thought to myself:

– The Armenian politicians keep on complaining about the deportation
once applied to Armenians by the Ottomans. So what about today? Isn’t
it almost the same situation for the citizens of today’s Armenia that
they are deporting their own citizens because they can’t give them
any hope in staying, besides poverty and disappointment?

Because I heard that, every day, about 30 families were leaving
Armenia, choosing to live in other countries.

So I asked this question to the ambitious-looking Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanyan during our interview. Because he told me
that his Turkish-origin family once lived in Turkey, in Urfa and
Maras. Because of the deportation decision, they left Turkey and
moved to Syria in 1922. First, he told me that he had been raised
with stories of Turkish genocide and deportation in his childhood and
than added:

– In fact, Turkey accepts that there was a genocide towards the
Armenians, but due to the fear of compensation the Turkish
politicians prefer to deny it.

Then I reminded him the long queue in front of the U.S. Embassy and
asked:

-You complain of the Ottomans’ deportation of the Armenians. But what
about your own citizens today? Since every day 30 families are
leaving their homeland, isn’t it the same for your government, as if
you’re forcing them to leave?

He kept his silence for a moment and said:

– Well, there is immigration from almost every country, even from
Turkey. We work for the future of our people, but we can’t force them
to stay here”(*)

So, once again, I believed that prejudice is worse than poison for
the human brain”

Stanford Daily
April 15 2005

Armenian genocide must not be forgotten

By Ani Kardashian
Friday, April 15, 2005
last updated April 14, 2005 6:09 PM

Throughout the 1990s and today, crimes against humanity in Rwanda,
Kosovo and the Darfur region of Sudan have compelled Stanford students
to take an active role in addressing worldwide issues of human rights
crimes and genocide. Last Saturday, about 100 students joined in
STANDFast, a nation-wide fast commemorating the 11th anniversary of
the beginning of the Rwandan genocide, to raise money for the victims
of the crisis in Darfur. The burgeoning interest among the
undergraduate population in genocide affairs is a small step toward
galvanizing national action against these recent crimes against
humanity. Stanford students took an even bigger moral step forward
this week with the passage of an Undergraduate Senate bill
commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

And it’s about time.

I am always pleasantly surprised by the few people I meet on campus
who know of the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian
genocide of 1915, perpetrated by the Young Turks in an attempt to
systematically eradicate the Armenian population throughout the
Ottoman Empire. Yet my elation is always clouded by the disturbing
fact that the majority of the people on campus have not even heard of
the genocide, an event that accounts for more than 1.5 million deaths
and for the displacement of an entire ethnic population from their
homeland.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Young Turk regime emerged,
consisting of radical young military officers who were troubled by the
decline of Ottoman power, the numerous minority groups inhabiting the
empire and the stagnant environment of the empire. They espoused a
form of Turkish nationalism called Pan-Turkism, or Turanism, which
created a new and improved empire sans the problem of minorities. As
U.S. Ambassador Morgenthau observed, “The time had finally come to
make Turkey exclusively the country of the Turks.” The Armenians, as
the biggest minority within the empire, became the main obstacle to
Turanism and beginning in April 1915 the defenseless victims of
genocide. Under the guise of World War I, the Young Turk regime
displaced the Armenian population from their villages to the Syrian
Desert for the next eight years, using deportations as a new form of
massacre.

While making no attempt to conceal these atrocities, the Turkish
government denies that the Armenian genocide ever occurred. Turkish
denial of the genocide and attempts to erase their past atrocities
from the history books has prompted the members of the international
community, including the United States, to refuse acknowledging that
the genocide actually occurred. This denial has arguably contributed
to future genocides, including the Holocaust and more recent genocides
in Rwanda and Darfur. Only three decades after the Armenian genocide
for example, Hitler realized this international ignorance and used it
as fodder for executing the Jewish Holocaust, remarking “Who, after
all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Nine decades later, as the memory of the Armenian genocide lives on,
it is imperative that we recognize this abhorrent crime against
humanity and fight inaction, which inevitably leads to future
genocide. Hopefully the passage of the genocide bill by the Senate
will promote greater awareness on campus and stress the need to act
against such inhumane offenses that occur today. In conjunction with
the passage of the genocide bill, the Armenian Students Association is
holding Fast For Armenia, a charity event commemorating the victims of
the genocide and constructing a brighter future for the Republic of
Armenia.

While the Armenian community is promoting awareness on campuses like
Stanford and throughout the world, the active denial from Turkey
hinders closure from the past. The wounds inflicted by the Turks,
still raw and tender, continue to fester, unable to heal from the
stigma of denial. And while we wait for the day to come when Turkey
will own up to its responsibilities as it proceeds to join the
European Union, we must recognize the importance of shedding light on
the memory of such minority groups as the Armenians, Jews, Sudanese in
Darfur, and Rwandans that flicker with hope for a brighter future
rather than fade away with the past.

Ani Kardashian is a freshman majoring in biology and a member of the
Armenian Students Association.