Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
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PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Serouj Aprahamian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ARMENIAN AMERICAN ISSUES SUPPORTERS
WIN BIG IN CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

— 100% of ANCA Endorsed Candidates for Senate
and 98.5% of House Endorsees Win Reelection

— 138 of 142 Armenian Caucus Members to Return to the House

WASHINGTON, DC — The Armenian American community scored bipartisan
Congressional victories across the political landscape yesterday,
with 199 of 202 Senate and House candidates endorsed by the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) winning their
elections.

“We are extremely pleased that such an overwhelming majority of our
supporters won yesterday, including over 98% of those we endorsed
in the House of Representatives and 97% of the Congressional
Armenian Caucus,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We
look forward to working with these friends and the many new members
of the 109th Congress on issues ranging from affirming the Armenian
Genocide to strengthening Armenia and defending Nagorno Karabagh’s
right to self-determination within secure borders.”

“More than ever, we were gratified by the dramatically increased
involvement of Armenian Americans in the electoral process, in
particular, by the positive response to our voter education
campaign on the ground in local communities and on our website –
In the weeks prior to the election, we registered
over 50,000 unique visits from Armenian American activists
interested in learning more about where their candidates for office
stood on the issues of importance to our community,” added
Hamparian.

In a separate statement issued earlier today, ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian congratulated President Bush on his election victory,
thanked Senator Kerry for a hard fought election campaign, and
praised the Armenian American community for an unprecedented level
of activism in this season’s electoral contests

U.S. Senate
————
All ten ANCA endorsed Senate incumbent candidates were re-elected,
including Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Evan Bayh
(D-IN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Harry Reid (D-
NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
and Russell Feingold (D-WI).

In a stunning upset, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) lost
his seat yesterday to former South Dakota Congressman John Thune.
Daschle, who had received a “C” grade on the ANCA report card, had
been largely unresponsive to Armenian American concerns,
withholding his support for the Genocide resolution (S.Res.164) in
the 108th Congress.

Of the eight members of the Senate retiring, two – Illinois
Republican Peter Fitzgerald and Oklahoma Republican Don Nickles –
had received an “F” grade from the ANCA. The others, including
Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Bob Graham (D-FL), Zell
Miller (D-GA), John Breaux (D-LA), and Fritz Hollings (D-SC)
generally failed to take a stand on Armenian American concerns. Of
the incoming Senators, the ANCA had endorsed Barack Obama (D-IL),
who had reached out to the Armenian American community in the
months leading up to the elections and Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-GA),
who, as a House Member, had supported Armenian Genocide recognition
initiatives. Rep. David Vitter (R-LA), who will be replacing Sen.
Breaux (D-LA), had received an “F” rating in the House from the
ANCA for his opposition to Armenian American concerns.

A consistent supporter of Armenian American issues, Democratic
Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards, will be replaced by Rep.
Richard Burr (R-NC), who has received a “C” rating from the ANCA.

U.S. House of Representatives
—————————–

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and
Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) both will return to the 109th Congress,
along with 138 of the 142 Caucus members from the 108th Congress.
Also returning are Armenian American Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-
CA) and John Sweeney (R-NY) each winning re-election by large
margins.

Caucus member Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX) lost, in what emerged as one
of the most expensive House races, to Rep. Jeff Sessions, who has
received an “F” rating from the ANCA. Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-PA) lost
his bid for the Pennsylvania Senate to Republican Senator Arlen
Specter. Other Caucus members retiring are Gerald Kleczka (D-WI)
and Jim Greenwood (R-PA).

ANCA endorsed non-incumbents Jim Costa (D-CA-20), Kenny Marchant
(R-TX-24), Joe Schwarz (R-MI-7), Dan Lungren (R-CA-3) and Cynthia
McKinney (D-GA-4), each of whom won their election bids. Central
California ANC members worked closely with the Costa campaign in
the months leading up to the vote. McKinney, who served in the
House of Representatives until 2002, was an outspoken advocate of
Armenian Genocide reaffirmation efforts, serving on the House
International Relations Subcommittee on Europe. Michigan area
Armenian American activists worked with and fundraised extensively
for Joe Schwarz, who is replacing outgoing House member Nick Smith,
who has received an “F” rating from the ANCA. Other House Members
with “F” ratings leaving Congress include New York Republican Amo
Houghton and Florida Republican Porter Goss.

For a full listing of ANCA endorsements visit

Solid State Technology
Synopsys acquires assets of Armenia-based LEDA Design
November 3, 2004 – Synopsys Inc. has acquired certain assets and hired the
engineering team of LEDA Design, a developer of mixed-signal intellectual
property (IP). The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
LEDA Design has a team of more than 80 experienced digital and mixed-signal
IP design engineers and support personnel located in Yerevan, Armenia, who
will join the Synopsys DesignWare IP engineering team. These engineers have
a proven track record of developing and delivering IP and will help Synopsys
meet increasing customer demand for Synopsys’ portfolio of DesignWare IP.
The LEDA Design team has worked together for more than four years
developing, marketing, and selling silicon-verified analog, digital and
mixed-signal IP, as well as digital core and IO libraries.

Caucasus Reporting Service
Armenia: Displaced by a Prestige Project

Householders complain of forcible eviction to make way for a grand avenue
through Yerevan.
By Rita Karapetian and Susanna Petrosian in Yerevan (CRS No. 260, 03-Nov-04)

Dozens of families who have lost their homes as part of the Armenian
government’s ambitious project to build a new avenue in the capital Yerevan
say their rights have been trampled on.
Now they are fighting to win compensation.
The multi-million dollar Northern Avenue begun three years ago is a prestige
project championed by the government. It will run through the centre of
Yerevan from the opera house to Republic Square.
The road is due to be finished next year, but only in the last few months
has the construction programme started to hit large numbers of local people.
While the government is taking pride in the new avenue, residents and
opposition politicians have accused the government of destroying the old
city of Yerevan and forcing people onto the street.
“The process of growing stratification in society that began over ten years
ago is continuing,” opposition parliamentary deputy Shavarsh Kocharian told
IWPR.
“And that polarisation now has a geographical form. The face of central
Yerevan is changing year in, year out, as its inhabitants are forced by
economic hardship to sell their homes and move to the outskirts.”
Another contentious issue is the threat the road construction could pose to
the Dalma Gardens, one of the largest green zones in the city. The gardens
are an ancient feature of the city and have their own irrigation system.
They also have 1,800 tenants, who tend allotments to grow grapes, peaches,
apricots and vegetables. For many of them the gardens are their main source
of livelihood.
But under a government decree from March last year, about half the area of
the Dalma Gardens is to be put up for auction and then used for real-estate
development.
“Yes, on 50 per cent of the gardens’ territory they will build elite
apartment blocks,” Suren Melikian, one of the tenants, told IWPR. “Those who
took that decision care nothing for the social position of the people or
their sources of subsistence,”
Another allotment holder, Ambartsum Khachatrian, said, “Not one of those who
conquered Armenia touched or damaged the Dalma, and we don’t understand why
the authorities want to destroy these gardens.
“We’re not only fighting for our own rights, we are also concerned about the
fate of the Dalma Gardens, which are effectively the lungs of Yerevan.”
The government has made a concession by allowing 580 plot-holders to renew
their contracts. However more than a thousand other tenants are still
awaiting their fate.
Parliamentary deputy Viktor Dallakian said that by law, anyone who has
farmed a plot of land for ten years must be given priority rights to rent or
privatise that land.
A number of people have lost their homes to the Northern Avenue project,
saying they were forced under duress to sign contracts selling their
property.
Vachagan Akopian, one of the evicted residents, claims that the
government-created Office to Implement the Northern Avenue Programme, OIP,
put unfair pressure on residents. “OIP representatives offered us agreements
which completely failed to take our interests into consideration.
“We were told: if you don’t sign the agreements and leave your houses in
five days, we will take you to court, after which a forced eviction will
follow.”
Mariam Gishian, a disabled person who refused to sign the agreement, said
she was forcibly evicted from her home by the court along with her five
children. “My children and I are sleeping in the open air,” she told IWPR.
“The money they gave me for selling my home is not enough even to buy a
garage,” Karine Palian, who has had to rent accommodation with her family
for eight months now, told IWPR.
Another resident, Gohar Sarkisian, told IWPR that her neighbour Shavarsh
Grigorian tried to kill himself when he saw an excavator demolishing his
house.
Vagram Abrahamian, an official in the presidential monitoring office, denied
that pressure had been applied to get people to leave, saying, “Everything
happened by people’s free will. Who could make someone sign the agreement?”
The OIP’s director Karen Davtian, who has been in the post for three month
now, also assured IWPR that the agreements were signed voluntarily.
Davtian said some homeowners had been paid as much as 280,000 US dollars,
while others who did not actually own their properties had received payments
of 3,500 dollars. He conceded that the latter group “really suffered” and
said he was investigating their complaints, as well as those of people who
had refused to sign contracts and were evicted from their homes.
Many residents said that their houses were protected by the state and could
not be subject to demolition.
However, Narek Sarkisian, a former chief architect of Yerevan who was until
recently the manager of the Northern Avenue project, said, “The problems to
be solved by town-planning change with time. There are some ulcers in the
centre of Yerevan – old barrack-like houses – and this is why we are doing
this project. Instead of these barracks, high-rise apartment blocks that
meet European standards will be built, and their ground floors will be made
into offices.”
A number of court cases are now in progress over the Northern Avenue scheme,
but Major-General Vaginak Kazarian, a legal expert, said that residents had
yet to win a single case.
Court rulings have cited two government decrees of October 2001 and August
2002, rather than the law, angering the plaintiffs.
“The government effectively took over the functions of the judicial body,
thus exceeding its own authority,” said Kazarian.
Government spokeswoman Meri Harutiunian told IWPR that every government
decree receives prior approval from the justice ministry to ensure it
conforms with the law – and that this had happened with the decrees on the
Dalma Gardens and the Northern Avenue.
The justice ministry refused to comment, saying it was inappropriate to do
while legal proceedings were still going on.
According to Vachagan Akopian, an activist in the Northern Avenue case, 27
lawsuits are ready to be filed to the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg.
“We, the people who worked the Dalma Gardens, sparing no effort or our own
health, will not give up an inch of the land,” said plot-holder Khachatrian.
“We are prepared to fight till the end.”
Rita Karapetian and Susanna Petrosian are journalists for the Noyan Tapan
news agency in Yerevan

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov. 3, 2004

UN Discussions on Conflict Not to Promote Settlement – Russian Foreign
Ministry

The initiative to consider the Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the United
Nations General Assembly session will not have a positive influence on
peace talks, Russian Foreign Ministry information and press department
officials said.

The statement comes after the proposal to include a provision on the
`Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan’ into the meeting
agenda.

`Russia abstained from voting, along with the other OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs. We believe that consideration of the issue at the UN General
Assembly session, along with the OSCE, is not likely to favorably
affect the negotiations process’, the same source said and added that
the results of the vote indicate that most of international community
adhere to the same position.

Sunday, October 31, 2004
************************************
BUGGERING ON.
FAITH, RELIGION, AND IDEOLOGY.
MASTERS OF THE BLAME GAME.
********************************************
Very early this morning I opened my eyes with the words: “Many have tried before me and failed. When they were not silenced, they gave up in despair. Why go on?”
And here I am again, “unwashed, unshaved, unshat” (Auden), “buggering on” (Churchill).
*
What matters about an idea is not whether it is positive or negative, or pro-this or anti-that, but how accurately it explains a situation. Which is why, whenever we approach reality with preconceived notions and prejudices, it blows in our face. Our recent history provides us with so many instances of this occurrence that we, or rather, our political parties, have become masters of the blame game in order to avoid all responsibility for their miscalculations.
*
An argument between a commissar without a license to kill and a writer without an audience is like a fight between two bald-headed men over a comb.
*
The difference between faith and religion is that faith unites and religion divides. Religion divides not only in relation to other religions but also within itself – Sunni and Shi’a, Catholic and Protestant, sometimes even Catholic and Catholic, and Protestant and Protestant. The same applies to ideologies, like Marxism or Communism (Stalinist and Trotskyites) and nationalism (Tashnak and Ramgavar).
*
When religions and ideologies divide, they declare their moral and political bankruptcy by ignoring the central message of their faith (love, compassion, tolerance and mercy) or the interests of the nation (strength in solidarity). Because without solidarity, a nation makes itself more vulnerable to the enemy or to social, political and economic forces “beyond its control” – or so the political leaders say in obedience to the rules of the blame game.
#
Monday, November 01, 2004
************************************
THE ALIENATED,
THE ASSIMILATED,
AND THE FORGOTTEN.
*********************************************
The Armenian critic or dissident may not be the rule, but neither is he the exception we may think he is. Just because we silence critics, it does not mean they cease to exist. And just because we alienate our fellow Armenians, it does not mean they cease being Armenian.
*
The alienated Armenian is not a second-class citizen. Rather, he is a reflection of our own cult of intolerance and hatred.
*
An alienated Armenian means what he says and he says it with his feet. And what he says is what I have been saying: our institutions are run by charlatans who legitimize Ottomanism in the name of Armenianism.
To forget, or to ignore, or to dismiss them as defective Armenians is to compound the felony. They are as much our victims as our parents were of Turkish atrocities, and like our victims of the massacres, they number in the million.
*
The alienated Armenian is our responsibility. Not to recognize this is nothing but an Armenian variation on a Turkish theme.
*
Let us not emulate our leaders who have become such masters of the blame game that they see themselves as infallible role models whose every word has the authority of Holy Writ.
*
Imams and bishops may pretend to speak in the name of God, but all politicians, regardless of nationality, will behave like pathological liars for the sake of expediency and whenever it is in their own interest.
#
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
************************************
A new idea will be a source of dread only to the man who is infatuated with his own ignorance.
*
The purpose of an Armenian argument is not thesis-antithesis-synthesis (or consensus) but “You are full of s***! that’s who I am.”
*
As perennial victims, our only chance to achieve top-dog status is in verbal vitriol.
*
Nothing illustrates our Ottoman heritage better than an exchange of views.
*
For every insecure Armenian who needs to assert superiority in argument, there will be another who has developed strategies to avoid confrontation.
When asked which church he goes to, a friend of mine is in the habit of replying: “I am with the good guys.”
Another friend has trained himself never to say, “I disagree with you.” Even when he disagrees with a fellow Armenian violently he says, “You may be right.”
*
In an argument, our unstated aim in not consensus but the total destruction of the adversary.
*
If our bishops, who speak in the name of the Almighty (Who knows everything) cannot agree, why should we?
*
Two people disagree because neither knows the whole truth.
*
When we disagree, we cling to our partial knowledge the way a drowning man is said to cling to anything, including a venomous serpent.
*
To think to know everything is as bad as to know nothing.
*
The only reason some people think they know everything they need to know is that their standards are mighty low and their demands minimal to the point of non-existence.
*
He who cannot tell the difference between knowledge and information is a complete ignoramus even when he is well informed.
#
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
**************************************
To understand another you must walk a hundred miles in his moccasins. To know him, to really know him, you must share his beliefs, superstitions, prejudices and misconceptions.
*
I understand Armenians because I grew up in an Armenian ghetto; I had an Armenian education; and I have spent most of my life working for them. I could write a dictionary of Armenian fallacies, clichés, misconceptions, and prejudices, all of which have been mine at one time or another.
*
When we silence dissent, we cease to have a balanced view of ourselves, and an unbalanced view of ourselves might as well be the initial stage of insanity. To those who say, individuals may go insane, but not nations, may I remind them of what happened to the Italians under Mussolini, the Germans under Hitler, and the Soviets under Stalin. (And today, I am tempted to add: the Americans under Bush.)
*
What could be more ridiculous, not to say absurd, than to suggest that a nation that has endured six centuries of brutal oppression, a series of massacres, dispersion, and destitution in alien environments, can be threatened by the criticism of a single minor scribbler?
*
If you take things seriously, happiness for you is taking nothing seriously, not even death.
*
I love this sentence by Saint-Simon: “My self-esteem has always increased in direct proportion to the damage I was doing to my reputation.”
#

ArmenPress
Nov. 2, 2004

NORAYR BAKHTAMIAN PLACES SECOND IN AIR PISTOL COMPETITION IN BANGKOK

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Norayr Bakhtamyan of Armenia placed
2nd in the 10m Air Pistol competition at the International Shooting
Sport (ISSF) World Cup that took place in Bangkok, Thailand, October
25-31.
Bakhtamyan was ranked 8th in the sport. First ranked Mikhail
Nestruev took the championships. The 34 year-old Bakhtamyan
participated in the Men’s 50m Pistol and 10m Air Pistol competitions at
the 2004 Summer Olympics, and has been a scholarship holder with the
Olympic Solidarity program since August 2002.

St. John’s Telegram (Newfoundland, Canada)
November 1, 2004 Monday

Diamonds are Forever

by Hebbard, Gary

In less than a decade, Canada has gone from not producing any diamonds
to being the third largest producer in the world, behind Bots-wana and
Russia.

Diamonds are measured in carats, with the weight of a diamond expressed
as a fraction of a gram.

One carat equals 1/5 of a gram. A five-carat diamond, therefore, would
weigh one gram.

There are two diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, producing
between them about 11 million carats per year.

Two more mines are expected to come on stream in the next few years.

In October, Pat Thompson of Diamond Design in Churchill Square, St.
John’s, hosted Canadian diamond cutter Chad Snider of A.C.W. Ltd.,
Yellowknife, who demonstrated his art and answered questions for
customers and visitors to the store. A.C.W. is one of four
diamond-cutting factories in the Northwest Territories. Snider was
hired four years ago and spent three years training with Armenian
diamond-cutting craftsmen to reach his current level of proficiency.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 2, 2004 Tuesday

Russia abstains from voting on UN GA agenda item on Karabakh

By Yelena Pankratyeva

MOSCOW

Russia abstained from voting in favor of putting an item concerning the
situation on Azerbaijan’s occupied territories on the agenda of the
U.N. General Assembly session.

Moscow believes that “the initiative of considering this issue at the
U.N. General Assembly session in parallel with its consideration by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe can hardly produce
a positive impact on the negotiating process related to the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” a Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry
official said.

The results of the voting “show that a majority of the members of the
international community stick to a similar position.”

Russia “is interested in a prompt solution to the Karabakh issue and is
doing all in its power to facilitate the solution, be it in a bilateral
format or in a its capacity as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group.”

Moscow believes that the Minsk group format “enables it to handle any
issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to secure progress
towards peace.” “A recent meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia outlined prospects for the resumption of the talks aiming to
find a mutually acceptable solution,” the Russian Foreign Affairs
Ministry official noted.

The U.N. General Assembly took a vote on the motion to put an item on
the situation in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories on the agenda of its
current, 59th session. Forty-two delegations voted in support of
Azerbaijan’s request, two delegations voted against with ninety-nine
states, including Russia, abstaining.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 2, 2004 Tuesday

Good relations with Russia mustn’t hamper ties with NATO-Scheffer

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Armenia is a proof that a country can have close relations with Russia
and be an active partner of the alliance at the same time, NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the Mediamax Armenian news
agency in view of his Yerevan visit. He will come to Armenia on Friday.

NATO member countries, Russia and Caucasian republics are interested in
the regional stability, he said. All of them encounter similar threats
from terrorists, who do not recognize borders, as well as proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and rogue countries, de Hoop Scheffer
said.

He said the countries’ ability to respond to new challenges would
depend on merging of old division lines and prevention of rivalry. The
partnership between NATO and Russia is based on this understanding, de
Hoop Scheffer said.

Armenia really has good relations with Russia, but that must have no
effect on the development of relations with NATO, he said. He said NATO
and Russia had been successfully working to overcome old suspicions in
recent years, and currently they cooperate in many concrete issues
within the Russia-NATO Council.

RosBusinessConsulting Database
November 2, 2004 Tuesday

Armenia posts its foreign trade

The trade volume between Armenia and Russia dropped 15.5 percent in the
first nine months of 2004 compared to the corresponding period last
year and reached $186.6m, the Armenian National Statistics Service
reported. Armenian exports to Russia decreased 10.3 percent while
imports lost 17.6 percent in the reported period. The negative trade
balance was $71.5m.

Armenia’s trade with CIS members was $299.7m in January to September
2004, which was 20.2 percent of the total volume of foreign trade.
Exports to CIS members were $86.9m compared to $212.7m in imports.

The total foreign trade volume increased 3.1 percent in the first nine
months of 2004 against the same period in 2003 and amounted to about
$1.486bn. The share of the European Union in the structure of Armenia’s
foreign trade was 36.9 percent ($548.8m).

Major importers from Armenia are Belgium, Israel, Russia, the USA and
Germany.