RA SECURITIES COMMISSION BECOMES IOSCO FULL MEMBER

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the decision made at the
April 5 sitting of the Committee of Chairmen of IOSCO (International
Organization of Securities Commissions) in Sri Lanka, the RA Securities
Commission has become a full member of this organization. NT was
informed from the RA Securities Commission that this will enable
Armenia to establish international cooperation in the securities and
financial markets and exchange the respective information. It was
noted that the Armenian commission submitted to IOSCO the official
application for membership as far back as 2003. For this purpose,
certain amendments and additions were made to the RA Law on Securities
Market Regulation last year.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sunday, April 3, 2005

Clark has role in recognition of Armenian genocide

Albert B. Southwick
Commentary

It was doubly fitting that the event was held in Worcester, the beacon
light for so many Armenians over the generations. The link between
Armenia and Worcester is one of the more fascinating chapters in the
immigrant saga.

A short time ago I was at Clark University for an unusual event –
the official announcement that a section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway
between Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Christopher Columbus Park in
Boston is to be designated Armenian Heritage Park in memory of the
Armenian genocide of 1915. The Rose Kennedy Greenway is to be a series
of parks and recreational spaces built above the Big Dig and featuring
an array of plantings, pedestrian walkways and memorials. It will
cover almost 30 acres and will be a striking contrast to the rusting
ironwork of the old Central Artery.

It was a festive and somber affair. Matthew J. Amorello, chairman of
the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and Jordan Levy, authority vice
chairman, were on hand to comment on the ethnic heritage of America
and the special contributions of the Armenian communities. State
Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian, D-Waltham, and Rachel Kaprielian,
D-Watertown, expressed their appreciation to all who had worked to
bring the project to fruition, including the 14 Armenian churches
and 24 Armenian organizations who participated. The monument itself,
a dodecahedron, designed by Donald J. Tellalian, can be reconfigured
in various ways and will periodically be separated and reassembled
to symbolize the historical efforts of a fractured people to achieve
unity in their native land.

As I observed the well-dressed, attentive crowd, I reflected on
what they were thinking. These were the children, grandchildren and
possibly great-grandchildren of those who perished in the killing
fields of Turkey and Syria 90 years ago. Every one of them, I am sure,
had heard grim family stories of that bloody time. Every one of them
had a deep, deep awareness of what is meant by the term, “genocide”
– the attempted extermination of a people not because of something
they did, but because of what they were.

It was fitting that the ceremony was held at Clark, home of the
Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. It
originally was set up to commemorate and study the Jewish Holocaust
of 1942-45, but the Armenian genocide of 1915 is also on its
agenda, thanks to a generous donation by the Kaloostian and Mugar
families. Unfortunately, as shown by recent events in Africa and the
Balkans, genocide remains a corrosive problem for the human race.

It was doubly fitting that the event was held in Worcester, the beacon
light for so many Armenians over the generations. The link between
Armenia and Worcester is one of the more fascinating chapters in the
immigrant saga.

It began when some New England missionaries arrived in Turkey about
180 years ago in the hope of converting Muslims to Christianity. That
proved not feasible, but the missionaries were astonished to find,
deep in the Caucasus, a nation that professed a form of Christianity
going back almost to the time of St. Paul. The New Englanders soon
moved to establish contact with that faraway people. According to
Martin Deranian’s evocative account, “Worcester Is America – the
Story of the Worcester Armenians,” “in 1830 two young New England
ministers, Eli Smith and Harrison Gray Otis Dwight, set out under the
auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
on a journey of over 2,000 miles into the interior of Turkey, Russia
and Persia to conduct a survey of the Armenians.” After a journey
taking more than a year, the two reported back that the Armenians
had never heard of America. A year later, a Worcester County native,
the Rev. William Goodell, arrived in Kharpert, Turkey, to organize
the initial mission to the Armenians. Rev. Goodell and members of his
family would be involved for generations in that missionary work. By
the 1850s a Protestant evangelical church and a theological seminary
had been established in Kharpert, and Armenians began to be aware of
the strange land across the sea.

The first Armenian in Worcester is thought to have arrived shortly
after the Civil War. Mr. Deranian estimates that there may have been 15
Armenians here in 1880. At least one of them was working for Washburn &
Moen, the huge wire and steel company located on Grove Street. He was
the first of many. By 1887, Armenians in Worcester numbered about 250,
most of them employed at Washburn & Moen.

Philip Moen, head of the firm, was a devout Christian and supporter
of Christian missions. He also was a shrewd businessman who valued
his Armenian workers for their loyalty, diligence and general
attitude of gratitude for the jobs they were given. They were not
trouble-makers. They did not support union-organizing efforts.

One exception was when Armenian workers struck the Whitin Co. in
Whitinsville because the company refused to fire its Turkish workers
after a report of massacres in Turkey.

We would consider Moen’s treatment of his Armenian workers as
exploitation. They were paid as little as 20 cents a day for work that
was hot, dangerous and exhausting. They lived in squalid conditions,
jammed into tenements, sometimes 15 or 20 to a room. They were often
insulted and abused by other workers.

To be called a “Turk” was a deep insult, but it was often heard in
those days. Corrupt mill bosses sometimes exacted bribes for anyone
hired. Mr. Deranian has many graphic accounts of the difficult
conditions those early Armenians faced at Washburn & Moen. Yet the
Armenians, in the main, were grateful to Philip Moen. They considered
him a fine Christian gentleman with their interests at heart. Many
attended his funeral.

One tribute to him noted that “he was always ready to sympathize with,
counsel and assist Armenians.” The large wreath that they presented
was emblazoned “Our Helper.” And largely because of Philip Moen,
by 1900 Worcester had the largest colony of Armenians in the land.

The Armenian Apostolic Church on Laurel Street, dedicated in 1891,
is said to have been the first in America.

Many of those early Armenians had never intended to become
Americans. Known as “sojourners,” they originally planned to make a
pile of money and return to their homeland. Some did return, sometimes
with tragic consequences.

But most remained, and became an important strand in the American
fabric.

As I observed the group at Clark, I could not help being impressed by
all that has been accomplished in three generations by the descendants
of those bewildered newcomers who filed into the Washburn & Moen
factory on Grove Street so long ago.

It’s the old immigrant story, of course, but the Armenian saga is
something special.

PRESS RELEASE

The Armenian Studies Program
Phone: +972-2-588-3651
Fax: +972-2-588-3658
E-mail: r [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Michael E. Stone

April 2005

BREAKING THE SILENCE

HEBREW U. COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITH SPECIAL EVENT

JERUSALEM — The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will host on May 2 an
emotional evening of reflection and introspection in commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide. Ninety years after the massacre of about
1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, the event will feature
an insightful lecture by Professor Israel Charney, Executive Director
of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, and His
Beatitude Patriarch Torkom Manoogian will be joining the ceremony.

His Excellency Mr. Tsolag Momjian, Honorary Consul of the Republic
of Armenia, and Professor Michael E. Stone, Professor of the Armenian
Studies at HU, will also offer inspiring speeches. Reception at Beit
Belgia on the Hebrew University Givat Ram campus begins at 6:30pm
and the event commences at 7:00.

Charney will speak out against the denial of genocides, with a focus
on much of the world’s refusal to recognize the Armenian massacre.
He will praise those who have recently been willing to devote some of
their energies to caring about the murder of other peoples alongside
their major focus on their own situations.

“We have an absolute moral responsibility to recognize the Armenian
Genocide,” said Charney. “Respecting and honoring the memory and
history of each and every genocide is the first essential step towards
creating new means of preventing genocide to all people in the future.”

With only around 100,000 survivors of the Armenian Genocide alive
today, Mr. Momjian, the Honorary Consul of Armenia, expressed hopes
that such an evening would “open the minds of young people” to the
concept of the Armenian Genocide.

“For 90 years the Armenians have been living with the tragic memory
of the family they lost,” he said. “To deny the genocide is to deny
a very important part of Armenian culture, history and life.”

ARMENIAN DRAM’S RISE IS RESULT OF STRENGTHENED ECONOMY

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. At the April 5 press conference, the
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) representatives
expressed an opinion that the growth of the Armenian dram’s exchange
rate against the US dollar and the euro is the result of the
strengthened economy. According to the bank’s regional director Mike
Davey, the exchange rates of currencies in Armenia are also influenced
by substantial amounts of remittances coming into the country from
abroad. In his view, the RA Central Bank’s policy should be cautious
in this regard, which, however, is not the case.

DELAYED-ACTION MINE MAY BE LAID IN SEVAN, ECOLOGISTS STATE

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. A delayed-action mine – this is how
the environmental community has defined the project of transferring
Ararat gold-mining enterprise to the area of Sevan basin. The Canadian
company Sterlight Gold LTD intends to implement the project through
its Armenian subsidiary. The company held on April 5 public hearings
on the issue. According to chairman of the Union of Greens of Armenia
Hakob Sanasarian, the hearings “should have been stopped at the very
beginning” since the project contradicts most of the environmemtal
laws, first of all, the Law on Lake Sevan. For example, it is laid
out in the law that ore processing activities are forbidden in the
catchment basin of Lake Sevan, whereas the the factory carries out
gold ore processing and dressing activities with the use of such
environmentally dangerous substances as cyanides. The tranfer of
the factory is conditioned by the bad state of the railway from
the mine in Sotk to the Ararat factory, as a result of which ore
transportation is quite costly. The company claims that in case of
such a transfer and the consequent profits it will operate the mine
for about 10 years, creating jobs and promoting the development of the
local community. The company’s assuarances that it will take all the
necessary measures for environmemtal protection did not meet with the
ecologists’ understanding. For exapmle, it is claimed the project of
tailing pits excludes any flows into the lake. Yet it is well known
that over 70% of man-caused accidents in the world are connected to
tailing pits. The explanations provided by the experts maintaining
that the global experience of such enterprises should be adopted were
not accepted by the ecologists who believe that the best experience
lies in observing the law, because the whole Sevan basin may become
a death zone even in case of a single accident.

FRENCH ARMENIAN CONDUCTOR ALEXANDER SIRANOSIAN AND CELLIST ASTGHIK
SIRANOSIAN TO HAVE CONCERT DEDICATED TO 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF GENOCIDE
IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The concert of Alexander Siranosian, a
French Armenian Conductor and his daughter, cellist Astghik Siranosian,
dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, will
take place in Aram Khachatrian concert hall of Yerevan on April
8. According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan from the
State Philharmonic Orchestra, some works of Edvard Mirzoyan will be
performed at the concert to the accompaniment of the Philharmonic,
and the performance of “Italian Symphony” of Vincent D’Indi, a French
composer, will be presented to the memory of Pope John Paul II.

SURVEY ON PROMOTION OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IS CARRIED OUT IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. “Involvement and promotion
of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms(ADR) in Armenia will
increase legal and administrative barriers and assist development
of business in the country.” Anna Minasian, the President of
“Advanced Social Technologies” NGO stated at the April 6 roundtable
dedicated to the representation of results of the research on ADR
development. According to her, for a country like Armenia, it is very
important to develop ADR as a way of democratic settlement of economic
conflicts among businessmen. According to A.Minasian, the goal of the
sociological research, carried out by the NGO in 100 small and middle
enterprises of Yerevan, Giumri, Yeghegnadzor and Abovian with the
help of “Euroasia” fund, was estimation of opportunities, existing in
Armenia, of ADR development. According to the results of the research,
most of responders doesn’t trust courts and prefers to solve arguments
out of court system. At the same time, as the research showed, there
is a number of obstacles for ADR development in Armenia. Among them
is: absence of standards of concluding treaties among businessmen,
considering that it is not necessary to follow the concluding
treaties. Besides, populations’ having no necessary information,
unclearmess of legal norms in this sphere are also obstacles for ADR
development. According to A.Minasian, though AMCSs are not aimed to
replace judicial processes, but this system cannot completely act in
conditions of absence of normal judicial system.

ON INITIATIVE OF US EMBASSY JAZZ DAYS TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA ON APRIL 6-16

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The US State Department and the Smithson
Museum of National History announced April a month of jazz in the
whole world. In connection with this the Public Relations Department
of US State Embassy in RA organizes jazz days in Armenia. According
to the report submitted to Noyan Tapan from the US Embassy, the cycle
of events to be held in Armenia includes jazz concerts, competition
of young artists and exhibitions, lectures, film reviews, etc. At the
invitation of the Embassy American jazz singers will arrive in Armenia
on these days, including Frank Amsalem’s authoritative quartet, singer
Sara Lazurskaya, as well as the quartet of Otar Magradze from Tbilisi.

EBRD TO LAY STRESS ON PRIVATE SECTOR IN ITS ACTIVITIES IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The fact of appointing a resident
representative in Yerevan by the European Bank of Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD) means that Armenia has become a most
important partner for the bank. The newly appointed head of the
EBRD Armenian Office Michael Weinstein stated this at the April 5
press conference. According to M. Weinstein, EBRD is going to lay
stress on the private sector during its activities in Armenia. At
the same time he did not exclide the possibility of big projects’
implementation. It was noted that in 2004 alone, agreements on the
implementation of 7 new programs of a total of 8 mln euros in Armenia
were signed. Besides, it is envisaged that this year the bank will
conclude 12 transactions of 15 mln euros in Armenia. The total value
of the Armenian agreements signed by EBRD made about 88 mln euros as
of Decemer 31, 2004. In the opinion of the former EBRD representative
to Armenia Nikolay Hadjiyski, over the last 2.5 years, SME, services,
the information technologies sphere, the financial sector and banking
system have undergone a considerable development. It was indicated that
Armeeconombank was the first Armenian bank, in whose capital ERD had
its share. At present, the same activities are being carried out with
respect to other commercial banks. In 2004, the Eurobank made direct
investments in the concern Shen. Negotiations on two other similar
transactions are underway, in case of success at least 20% profit
from each one are expected by the bank. At the same time N.Hadjiyski
pointed out that a great deal has to be done in order to develop the
investment environment in the country. According to him, recently
the investment climate in Georgia has been substantially improved
– the state started assisting the private sector. Incidentally,
the Eurobank expects similar processes to take place in Ukraine as
well. According to the EBRD regional director Mike Davey, although
the RA banking system has stabilized, it is far from being considered
developed. The amounts of deposits and loans are quite small compared
with the GDP. At the same time, M. Davey stated that he is “inspired
with what he has seen”. It was noted that EBRD is also interested in
agriculture and mortgage crediting.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN-BELGIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION STILL HAS CONSIDERABLE POTENTIAL

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia’s active participation in the
economic programs being implemented in the region under the aegis
of the European Union will have a positive effect on the settlement
of the conflicts in the region, including the Karabakh problem. The
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian stated this at the April
5 meeting with the delegation headed by Chairman of the Belgian
parliament’s House of Representatives Herman De Kroo who are on a
2-day visit to Armenia. Underling the activization of the bilateral
relations between Armenia and Belgium in recent years, especially
after the RA President’s working visit to Brussels in December, 2003,
the Prime Minister expressed confidence that this will contribute
to further development of political and economic relations between
the two countries. According to the RA Government Information and PR
Department, during the meeting, A. Margarian presented the process and
results of economic reforms in the country. Noting with satisfaction
that Belgium is Armenia’s number one trade and economic partner,
A. Margarian and Herman De Croo stated that the economic cooperation
of the two countries still has considerable potential, which can also
be promoted by activizing the parliamentary links.