Youth Wings Deepen Armenian Coalition Friction
By Nane Atshemian 22/11/2004 08:54
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Nov 22 2004
Leaders of the youth league of the Republican Party (HHK) publicly
castigated their counterparts from the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on Friday, in a further sign of mounting
tensions between two key members of Armenia’s ruling coalition.
The young Republicans, who control student councils at virtually all
state-run universities, rejected Dashnaktsutyun allegations of
large-scale corruption in the Armenian system of higher education.
Leaders of Dashnaktsutyun’s Nikol Aghbalian student organization said
on Tuesday that an opinion poll which they conducted among over 1,000
students found a widespread perception of corrupt practices affecting
their studies. The State Medical University was rated as the most
corrupt, with 72 percent of respondents there saying that their
professors routinely take bribes to give high marks during admission
and other exams.
Nikol Aghbalian said they have also found that virtually no
professors and lecturers at the 11 universities have been fired for
bribery in recent years.
The accusations prompted an angry rebuttal from representatives of
the student councils that are mostly affiliated with the HHK and have
close ties with university rectors. Speaking at a news conference,
they dismissed the poll conducted by the Dashnak students as
fraudulent.
Armen Ashotian, the leader of the HHK’s youth wing and an aide to the
Medical University rector, claimed that the corruption allegations
are politically motivated. He also charged that Dashnaktsutyun has
links with private medical schools and wants to discredit his
university to benefit them. “We as well as some sections of the
public are well aware of that,” he said.
Robert Makarian, who heads the student council at the State
Agricultural Academy, said Nikol Aghbalian leaders have never raised
their grievances with the councils. “Dashnaktsutyun’s student union
is absolutely unaware of how students live and what their problems
are,” he said.
The accusations come amid increasingly tense relations between the
Republicans led by Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and their junior
coalition partners. Dashnaktsutyun and the third coalition party,
Orinats Yerkir, have been pushing for a major change in Armenia’s
electoral system that would increase the number of parliament seats
contested under the proportional system.
The HHK, on the other hand, has a vested in maintaining the 56 of the
131 seats distributed in individual constituencies. Its
uncompromising stance has led Dashnaktsutyun to threaten to pull out
of the coalition.
The news conference by the Republican student leaders also featured
verbal attacks on Education Minister Sergo Yeritsian, a senior member
of Orinats Yerkir. “Our education minister is dealing with anything
except student problems,” said Makarian.

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 22 2004
MP warns of attacks on Georgian energy
In Chile, Russian minister rejects claims and blames Georgia for
stalling
By M. Alkhazashvili
Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense Givi
Targamadze says that, according to credible information which he has
received that has been double-checked and verified, Russian Military
Intelligence is planning to destabilize the Georgian energy sector
through any possible means, including carrying out subversive acts on
Georgian territory.
By Sunday, Russian officials had rejected the claims, saying that
Georgia and Russia have in fact cooperated in many fields in the
energy sector.
On November 19 Targamadze openly accused Russian intelligence of
attempting to cause chaos in the Georgian energy sphere, saying that
because Georgia is so dependent on electricity imports, it is as a
result very sensitive to any disruptions in supply. If the
electricity transmission lines from Russia or Armenia are attacked
and destroyed, virtually the whole of Georgia will be without
electricity.
Speaking at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile on
Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov categorically rejected
the claims, RIA Novosti reported.
“As to the sphere of power industry, in the past, Moscow and Tbilisi
coordinated the issue of the urgent reconstruction of the Inguri
hydroelectric power station,” Mr. Lavrov stressed, before accusing
Tbilisi of stalling to implement recent electricity agreements
between the two countries.
“These agreements have never been implemented for some reason,”
Lavrov said, “I think the Georgian side should carry out the
provisions of the agreements, instead of inventing some artificial
reasons.”
Not long ago the electricity transmission line in Shida Kartli
exploded and required a great deal of time and energy to restore. The
saboteurs were eventually detained by the Security Service, but only
after the sabotage had been carried out. According to newspaper Alia,
Targamadze says that Russian Military Intelligence plans to carry out
similar attacks on South Ossetian territory using local separatists.
Besides the damage to the Georgian energy sector, such attacks will
intensify the Georgian-Ossetian conflict as well, Targamadze warns.
Alia says that it is noteworthy that on the very day of his statement
unknown persons wearing masks blew up the 7th radio station on the
Baku-Supsa pipeline, only a few hundred meters from the Ossetian
village of Tsnelisi.
Targamadze’s information is yet to be verified openly, and some
Georgians have responded by saying that he is trying to pin the blame
for Georgian failings in the energy sector on Ossetian separatists
and the Russians, failings that are likely to be further exposed
during the coming winter. But if what he says is found to be true, it
leaves the government with the difficult job of trying to protect the
country’s energy infrastructure.
According to reports, Minister of Energy Nika Gilauri has not been
informed about possible attacks on transmission lines, although it is
not the responsibility of his ministry to provide protection.

Rostam & Sohrab Opera ready for stage
IranMania, Iran
Nov 22 2004
LONDON, Nov 22 (IranMania) – The Opera ‘Rostam and Sohrab’ directed
by Behrouz Gharibpour will go on stage in January.
According to Mehr News Agency (MNA), Gharibpour had earlier announced
plans to stage ‘Rostam and Sohrab’ opera in marionette style, but
Ferdowsi Hall was not prepared for the performance.
The director said that his group is currently rehearsing to bring to
stage the opera using marionettes.
The composer of the opera, Loris Tjeknovarian, the composer of the
opera said that it took 20 years to compose ‘Rostam and Sohrab’
and epic poetry from Ferdowsi.
Preparations for the opera took at least two years during which
$100,000 was spent on ordering puppets from Austria which were
manufactured with Iranian features and in line with the culture
of Shahnameh.
The music of the opera has been performed by Roudaki Symphonic
Orchestra. All vocalists are Armenians singing in Persian.

FrontPageMagazine.com, CA
Nov 22 2004
Turkey’s Dark Past
By Gamaliel Isaac
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 22, 2004
On November 16, 2004, Frontpage magazine posted an article from the
New Europe Review, by Mustafa Akyol, titled “European Muslims and the
Quest for the Soul of Islam.” In the article Akyol argued that a new
more tolerant interpretation of Islam should be constructed and that
“A great deal of shariah laws — like killing of apostates, stoning of
adulterers, seclusion of women, compulsory prayer, required dress
code, punishments for drinking or even possessing alcohol — have
simply no basis in the Qur’an.” He wrote that Turkey has an Islamic
heritage free of anti-Westernism and anti-Semitism and argued that it
will benefit the West if Turkey is admitted into the European Union.
Does Turkey have an Islamic Heritage Free of anti-Westernism and
anti-Semitism?
The statement of Mr Akyol that Turkey has an Islamic Heritage free of
anti-westernism and anti-semitism is inaccurate. We need only look at
Turkey’s long history of conquest of Western countries and
persecution of conquered westerners.
In the 14th century Turkey conquered Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia,
and Romania. Turkey was stopped only as it lay seige to Vienna. For
hundreds of years thereafter Turks oppressed and engaged in periodic
slaughters of their Christian subjects. In his history of Islam, The
Sword and The Prophet, Serge Trifkovic wrote about the history of the
Turkish oppression of the Armenian Christians as follows:
“The Ottomans lurched from outrage to outrage. Regular slaughters of
Armenians in Bayazid (1877), Alashgurd (1879), Sassun (1894),
Constantinople (1896), Adana (1909) and Armenia itself (1895-96)
claimed a total of two hundred thousand lives, but they were only
rehearsals for the genocide of 1915. The slaughter of Christians in
Alexandria in 1881 was only a rehearsal for the artificial famine
induced by the Turks in 1915-16 that killed over a hundred thousand
Maronite Christians in Lebanon and Syria. So imminent and
ever-present was the peril, and so fresh the memory of these events
in the minds of the non-Moslems, that illiterate Christian mothers
dated events as so many years before or after “such and such a
massacre.” Across the Middle East, the bloodshed of 1915-1922 finally
destroyed ancient Christian communities and cultures that had
survived since Roman times-groups like the Jacobites (Syrian
Orthodox), Nestorians (Iraqi Orthodox), and Chaldaeans (Iraqi
Catholic)…
The burning of the Greek city of Smyrna and the massacre and
scattering of its three hundred thousand Christian inhabitants is one
of the most poignant – if not, after the vast outrages of the 20th
century, the bloodiest – crimes in all history. It marked the end of
the Greek community in Asia Minor. On the eve of its destruction,
Smyrna was a bustling port and commercial center. It was a genuinely
civilized, in the old-world sense, place. An American consul-general
later remembered a busy social life that included teas, dances,
musical afternoons, games of tennis and bridge, and soirees given in
the salons of the highly cultured Armenian and Greek bourgeoisie.
Sic gloria transit: sporadic killings of Christians, mostly
Armenians, started as soon as the Turks overran it on September 9,
1922. Within days, they escalated to mass slaughter. It did not “get
out of hand,” however, in the sense of an uncontrolled chaos
perpetrated by an uncommanded military rabble. The Turkish military
authorities deliberately escalated it. The Greek Orthodox Bishop
Chrysostomos remained with his flock. “It is the tradition of the
Greek Church and the duty of the priest to stay with his
congregation,” he replied to those begging him to flee. The Moslem
mob fell upon him, uprooted his eyes and, as he was bleeding, dragged
him by his beard through the streets of the Turkish quarter, beating
and kicking him. Every now and then, when he had the strength to do
so, he would raise his right hand and blessed his persecutors. A Turk
got so furious at this gesture that he cut off his hand with his
sword. He fell to the ground, and was hacked to pieces by the angry
mob. The carnage culminated in the burning of Smyrna, which started
on September 13 when the Turks put the Armenian quarter to torch and
the conflagration engulfed the city. The remaining inhabitants were
trapped at the seafront, from which there was no escaping the flames
on one side, or Turkish bayonets on the other. This was the end of
Christianity in Asia Minor, whose history goes back to events
recorded in the New Testament itself.”
Marjorie Housepian in her book The Smyrna Affair, quoted a missionary
eyewitness who said the Turkish Muslims actually enjoyed massacring
the Armenian Christians. He said:
“The slaughter of the Armenians was a joy to the Turks, a massacre
was heralded by the blowing of trumpets and concluded by a
procession. Accompanied by the prayers of the mullahs and muezzins,
who from the minarets implored the blessings of Allah, the slaughter
was accomplished in admirable order according to a well arranged
plan. The crowd, supplied with arms by the authorities, joined most
amicably with the soldiers and the Kurdish Hamidieh on these festive
occasions. The Turkish women stimulated their heroes by raising a
gutteral shriek of their war cry, the Zilghit, and deafening the
hopeless despair of their victims by singing their nuptial songs. A
kind of wild cannibal humour seized the crowd…the savage crew did
not even spare the children.”
The Turks have committed atrocities against other minorities as well,
The Tower of skulls of Chele Kula shown below, is a monument to the
Turkish savagery against the Serbs in the early 1800s
Lest we think “Well that was ancient history”, as recently as 1974
Turkey invaded Cyprus. Just as the Romans renamed Israel, Palestine
in order to erase the memory of the Jewish State, the Turks have
renamed all the cities and towns in Cyprus. They have also destroyed
concrete evidence of the Christian and Greek history of the area of
Cyprus under their control. According to an article in the Guardian
(‘The Rape of northern Cyprus’, 5.6.1976)
“…The vandalism and desecration are so methodical and so widespread
that they amount to institutionalized obliteration of everything
sacred to a Greek […] In some instances, an entire graveyard of 50
or more tombs had been reduced to pieces or rubble no larger than a
matchbox…we found the chapel of Ayios Demetrios at Ardhana empty
but for the remains of the altar plinth, and that was fouled with
human excrement[…] At Syngrasis […] the broken crucifix was
drenched in urine.. At Lefkoniko […the interior of Gaidhouras
church…] was overlooked by an armless Christ on a smashed
crucifix.. Tombs gaped open wherever we went… crosses bearing the
pictures of those buried beneath […] had been flattened and
destroyed.”
Cypriots who oppose the Turks are treated severely; in 1996 the Greek
Cypriot demonstrator, Anastasios (Tasos) Isaak, was beaten to death
by the Turkish occupation forces. According to the Greek Cypriot
Magazine Selides. August, 1996, one thousand six hundred and nineteen
Greek Cypriots and Greeks who were taken as prisoners of war during
the Turkish invasion of Cyprus are still missing.
The Turkish Heritage of Anti-Semitism
Although there have indeed been periods when Turkey has been more
tolerant of Jews than Christian Europe, Mustapha Akyol’s claim that
Turkey has an Islamic heritage free of anti-semitism is false. Andrew
Bostom, in his article Turkish “Tolerance of Jews”, A Sobering
Historical Assessment” quotes Professor Maoz who wrote that:
“Like their Christian fellow subjects, the Jews were inferior
citizens in the Muslim-Ottoman state which was based on the principle
of Muslim superiority. They were regarded as state protégés (dhimmis)
and had to pay a special poll tax (jizya) for that protection and as
a sign of their inferior status. Their testimony was not accepted in
the courts of justice, and in cases of the murder of a Jew or
Christian by a Muslim, the latter was usually not condemned to death.
In addition, Jews as well as Christians were normally not acceptable
for appointments to the highest administrative posts; they were
forbidden to carry arms (thus, to serve in the army), to ride horses
in towns or to wear Muslim dress. They were also not usually allowed
to build or repair places of worship and were often subjected to
oppression, extortion and violence by both the local authorities and
the Muslim population.”
Professor Tudor Parfitt in his comprehensive study of the Jews of
Palestine during the 19th century wrote about the Turkish oppression
of the Jews of Palestine as follows:
“…Inside the towns, Jews and other dhimmis were frequently attacked,
wounded, and even killed by local Muslims and Turkish soldiers. Such
attacks were frequently for trivial reasons: Wilson [in British
Foreign Office correspondence] recalled having met a Jew who had been
badly wounded by a Turkish soldier for not having instantly
dismounted when ordered to give up his donkey to a soldier of the
Sultan. Many Jews were killed for less. On occasion the authorities
attempted to get some form of redress but this was by no means always
the case: the Turkish authorities themselves were sometimes
responsible for beating Jews to death for some unproven charge. After
one such occasion [British Consul] Young remarked: ‘I must say I am
sorry and surprised that the Governor could have acted so savage a
part- for certainly what I have seen of him I should have thought him
superior to such wanton inhumanity- but it was a Jew- without friends
or protection- it serves to show well that it is not without reason
that the poor Jew, even in the nineteenth century, lives from day to
day in terror of his life’.”
During World War I in Palestine, the embattled Young Turk government
actually began deporting the Jews of Tel Aviv in the spring of 1917 –
an ominous parallel to the genocidal deportations of the Armenian
dhimmi communities throughout Anatolia. A Reuters press release
regarding the deportation states that:
” on April 1 [1917] an order was given to deport all the Jews from
Tel Aviv, including citizens of the Central Powers, within
forty-eight hours. A week before, three hundred Jews were expelled
from Jerusalem: Jamal Pasha [one of the triumvirate of Young Turk
supreme leaders, Minister of the Navy, and commander of the Fourth
Army in the Levant] declared that their fate would be that of the
Armenians; eight thousand deportees from Tel Aviv were not allowed to
take any provisions with them, and after the expulsion their houses
were looted by Bedouin mobs; two Yemenite Jews who tried to oppose
the looting were hung at the entrance to Tel Aviv so that all might
see, and other Jews were found dead in the Dunes around Tel Aviv.”
It was not clear why the slaughter did not occur. One hypothesis put
forth by the British Zionist movement suggested that the advance of
the British army (from immediately adjacent Egypt) and its potential
willingness “..to hold the military and Turkish authorities directly
responsible for a policy of slaughter and destruction of the Jews”
may have averted this disaster.
Turkish hostility to the Jews during World War II led them to refuse
to allow Jews to flee Hitler into Turkey. In one instance 769 Jews
packed an old, dilapidated cattle boat called the Struma and made it
to the shores of Turkey. The Turks denied them entry and eventually
towed them out to sea where they sank.
The Pro-Western Leanings of Turkey
Although it is wrong to say, as Mustapha Akyol did, that Turkey has a
pro-Western heritage, the fact that Turkey has been a member of the
NATO alliance since 1952 and has a democratic government suggests
that there are influential people with pro-Western and pro-democratic
sentiments in Turkey. Unfortunately the influence of Turkey’s great
Westernizing leader Kemal Ataturk is waning, and there is growing
pro-fundamentalist Islamic sentiment in Turkey. The Pew Research
Center’s Global Attitudes Survey from March this year noted that “in
Turkey “as many as 31 percent say that suicide attacks against
Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable.” The growing
pro-Islamist sentiment in Turkey is the reason why the Turkish army
has been forced more than once to overthrow democratically elected
Islamic leaders who might have turned Turkey back into a Shariah
state. The recent election of Mr. Erdogan as Prime Minister of Turkey
raises such concerns again. Before his election, Mr. Erdogan was
convicted of inciting religious hatred because of a speech he gave at
a political rally in 1998. Under Erdogan’s leadership Turkey is
trading with Iran despite U.S. calls to isolate Iran. It is possible
that Turkey’s membership in the NATO alliance has less to do with
pro-Western sentiment than with fear of Russia and eagerness to
benefit from the generous military and economic aid from the United
States that comes with being an American ally. Likewise the desire of
Turkey to join the European Union is based on hopes that such a move
would help the Turkish economy.
The Missing Step Toward Islamic Tolerance
In his article, Mr. Akyol outlined a series of steps for Muslims and
the West to take to reduce Islamic militance and to encourage
tolerance among Muslims. One of those steps was for France to allow
Muslim girls to wear head scarves in French public schools. This
suggestion ignores the reason France had to impose this rule to begin
with. Muslims were intimidating both Muslim and non-Muslim girls into
wearing head scarves against their will. Although Mr. Akyol may be
right that further Muslim militance may result from the French law,
the French law was made necessary by Muslim militance to begin with.
Mr. Akyol outlined a series of steps for Muslims to take to reduce
Islamic militance but he left out the most important step which is
that Muslims should acknowledge that the attacks on infidels that
they have committed in the name of Islam are wrong. U.S. ambassador
James Gerald wrote that “The principles of Justice are more important
than oil or the railroads” and that “the Turks should not be accepted
into the society of decent nations until they show sincere repentance
for their crimes.”
Another step Mustapha Akyol listed was to replace Shariah with a new
interpretation of Islam. He wrote, “A great deal of shariah laws —
like killing of apostates, .. have simply no basis in the Qur’an.”
While reform of Islam is indeed essential, the killing of apostates
has a basis in the Koran. The command to “Slay the idolaters wherever
you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in
wait for them in every ambush. ” is from the Koran ( 9:5). So is the
command: “Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips
of them. (8:12)”. This command is undoubtedly treated as religious
grounds by those who commit the many recent beheadings in Iraq.
Should Turkey be Admitted into the European Union?
There is one overriding reason to be concerned about admitting Turkey
into the European Union, and that is the potential effect of Turkish
membership on the Muslim population of European countries which are
already having serious problems as a result of their large Islamic
populations. If Turkey joins the EU, a significant percentage of
Turkey’s over 60 million Muslims may enter Europe. Furthermore, many
millions of Muslims from other Islamic countries are likely to use
Turkey as their gateway to Europe. Once they attain legal status in
Turkey, these Muslims from other Islamic countries will be free to go
anywhere in Europe.
Bat Yeor in an article in frontpagemagazine (Arafat’s Legacy for
Europe 11/16/04) wrote that
“Islamist terror from within and without is overwhelming Europe.
Today it is not uncommon to hear Europeans express their disgust for
Europe and their wish to emigrate. Europe, they say, is dead and has
no future.”
It may be that it is already too late for Europe. The countries of
Europe are slowly becoming subjugated to hostile rapidly growing
Muslim populations. Bat Yeor in an article in frontpagemagazine
(Arafat’s Legacy for Europe 11/16/04) wrote that
“Islamist terror from within and without is overwhelming Europe.
Today it is not uncommon to hear Europeans express their disgust for
Europe and their wish to emigrate. Europe, they say, is dead and has
no future.”
In its jealousy of American power and determination to create a
counter-power, France, with support from Germany, has looked to ally
itself with Islamic countries in order to help create that
counterweight to the United States. On October 26, 2004, France and
Germany stood behind Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.
Admitting the Turkish Trojan Horse may give them the power to counter
the United States but the price they will pay will be further
subjugation to a growing hostile European Muslim population.
–Boundary_(ID_x3+h0Kcph/FkbrYLvLbegg)–

Blacks Demand Equal Justice From New York Life Insurance Company
Emediawire (press release), WA
Nov 22 2004
Outraged over what they call a Jim Crow standard for justice,”
Black descendants of enslaved Africans launched an online campaign
against New York Life Insurance Company entitled, “Justice 4 One –
Justice 4 All”. The campaign raises questions about why, on January
26, 2004, New York Life forced Black descendants of African slavery
victims out of court with a class action lawsuit for restitution, and
three (3) days later settled a similar case for $20 million with
White descendants of Armenian genocide victims. The website is
located at:
New York, NY (PRWEB) November 22, 2004 — Outraged over what they
call a “Jim Crow standard for justice,” Black descendants of African
slavery victims launched an online campaign against New York Life
Insurance Company entitled, “Justice 4 One – Justice 4 All” – at
The campaign raises questions about
why, on January 26, 2004, New York Life forced Blacks out of court
with a class action lawsuit for slavery restitution, and three days
later settled a similar case for $20 million with White descendants
of Armenian genocide victims.
The slavery case was filed against New York Life in May of 2002, and
is entitled, In Re: African-American Slave Descendants,
CV-02-7764(CRN) (United States District Court, Northern District of
Illinois, Eastern Division). Black plaintiffs claimed that New York
Life committed a crime against humanity via its early company that
wrote life insurance policies enslaving their African ancestors in
mid-1800. Slave owners were the beneficiaries.
Over one third of New York Life’s first revenue came from writing
slave policies. This practice encouraged the employment of enslaved
people in ultra-hazardous capacities, like coal mining or
constructing railroads, which sometimes resulted in burning and
drowning deaths. The website contains a copy of a company policy
enslaving an African named Robert Moody who was employed in a
Virginia coal pit.
The Armenian genocide case, Marootian v. New York Life Insurance
Company, CV-99-12073(CAS),(United States District Court, Central
District of California), was filed in November of 1999. The
plaintiffs claimed that New York Life wrongfully failed to pay
benefits under life insurance policies they issued as far back as the
1870s in the Turkish Ottoman Empire on the lives of their Armenian
ancestors. New York Life denies any wrongdoing.
Slave descendants say critical factors in the cases were identical
and should have resulted in the same outcome:
– Both cases involved insurance policies from the 19th century;
– Both involved descendants making claims on behalf of
themselves and their ancestors; and
– Both cases resulted from some of the worst crimes committed
against humans in world history — the enslavement of Africans, and
the genocide of Armenians.
“Race is the key difference in these cases. This looks like
discrimination against African-Americans,” said Deadria Farmer-
Paellmann, Executive Director of the Restitution Study Group — the
New York non-profit sponsoring the campaign.
The slavery case was amended in the Northern District Federal Court
in Chicago, Illinois on April 5, 2004. A decision is pending.
Contact:
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann
Phone: 917-365-3007
–Boundary_(ID_Y05TPXSn7u3vUCxyqLm/kQ)–

Southland leads country in stolen auto exports
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Nov 22 2004
With two of the nation’s largest ports and a U.S. border nearby,
Southern California leads the nation in one line of auto exports —
stolen cars that are being shipped overseas, where they fetch as much
as four times what they’re worth here.
Organized crime rings in Los Angeles, aided by scores of body shops,
contribute heavily to an auto theft industry that adds to an annual
loss of $8 billion nationwide.
About 1.2 million vehicles are stolen every year in the United
States — 70,000 of them in Los Angeles County — and some 200,000
are illegally exported.
“It’s like a kid in the candy store. There are so many vehicles out
there to look at and to steal,” said California Highway Patrol Lt.
Jeff Lee, an expert in Russian organized crime. “The money these
people are making, shipping them overseas, is phenomenal.”
In recent years, police in the San Fernando Valley have noted an
increase in activity by an organized ring of Russian Armenians who
have been lured from cigarette and jewelry store burglaries to auto
theft. The pickings are easy in car-crazy L.A., the risk of getting
caught is minimal and the penalties are lenient, officials said.
“You’ve got guys you could call career auto thieves,” said CHP Sgt.
John Antillon, who supervises a cargo theft team at the Port of
Los Angeles.
While it is unknown how many cars are shipped out or driven over the
border every year, the CHP said it intercepted nearly $8 million worth
of stolen vehicles at the Port of Los Angeles in 2003, and recovered
up to 5,000 stolen vehicles in Mexico.
“That amount of money makes it a lucrative endeavor for organized
rings and professional operators,” said Robert M. Bryant, president
and chief executive officer of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Greg Terp, who chairs the North American Export Committee —
a coalition of authorities committed to combating the global auto
theft problem — said he has seen auto theft rings run by the Mafia,
as well as Asian, Eurasian, Eastern European, South American, Central
American and Caribbean crime groups.
“They’re organized,” he said. “They’re making a lot money out of it.”
State and national authorities are working together to break up
auto-theft rings. CHP officers are now in Ukraine to train police
there on auto theft detection techniques.
U.S. authorities also are using computer technology to read the
license plates of vehicles passing through the U.S. borders with
Mexico and Canada.
Investigators conduct regular inspections of chop shops, sifting
through tons of metal and debris, but it’s a tough fight.
“The challenge is trying to take down these organized groups and stop
it before it gets overseas,” said Sgt. Rodney Ellison of the CHP’s
Vehicle Theft Unit, headquartered in Sacramento. “It’s a big problem.”
Ray Unsell, a special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau,
based in Las Vegas, said car thieves take advantage of the relatively
low risk and huge payoffs. But taking down a tangled criminal
organization can be frustrating.
“It is difficult to prove any actual connection because you don’t have
people talking,” said Unsell, who regularly works with Los Angeles
and California authorities on auto theft cases in Las Vegas.
“You have a choice in Russian organized crime — if you talk, you’re
dead. The people inside know what their status is.”

The Denver Post
November 14, 2004 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
Wide-open arms, wider need Nonprofit organization plans second
facility, near Fitzsimons campus, to meet growing demand The current
house on Downing Street cares for about 1,200 families a year. When
the new site opens, the Denver operations would be the largest in the
U.S.
by Mike McPhee Denver Post Staff Writer SEASON TO SHARE
The Ronald McDonald House is recognized by many but understood by
few. Inside the house on Downing Street are terrific examples of how
fragile life can be and, for some, how horribly unfair.
Yet the place is filled with hope.
Elmira Poghosyan is an Armenian woman whose 7-year-old son, Arsen,
has endured unimaginable suffering in his short life. In just the
past 12 months, Arsen has suffered through 46 throat surgeries. He
was born with a rare form of cancer that forms polyps in his
windpipe, gradually choking him.
“I think the next few surgeries will cure him,” says Poghosyan, who
has lived in a small room with her son for the past 16 months.
But she has reason to hope. Arsen spent two years in an Armenian
hospital, only to be discharged as incurable. Another year in a
German hospital failed to help him.
Back home in Armenia, a national appeal on Armenian television caught
the attention of an international firm, as well as some Armenians
living in America. A connection was made with Dr. Nigel Pashley at
Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, one of two doctors
in the world able to treat Arsen’s cancer successfully by using mumps
vaccine. Contributions of $7,500 flowed in, British Airways helped
with flights, and the mother and son came to Denver.
Pashley and Presbyterian/St. Luke’s have covered the entire cost of
Arsen’s care while the Ronald McDonald organization has covered all
the costs of housing them.
“This is my family now,” says Poghosyan, quickly breaking into tears
of gratitude. “They have a very big heart.”
The nonprofit Ronald McDonald organization was founded in 1974 by
former Philadelphia Eagles player Phil Hill to care for displaced
families of children undergoing intense medical care. There are 238
houses worldwide and 180 in the United States. Denver’s was the third
to be built.
Four years ago, the house moved from a Victorian on Ogden Street to a
$7.5 million, 30-room facility it built between Children’s Hospital
and Presbyterian/St. Luke’s. But even the large facility, which cares
for families from all over the world, has a waiting list of 18 to 20
families.
Ironically, the same week the new Ronald McDonald house opened,
Children’s Hospital announced it was moving to the Fitzsimons campus
in Aurora. So Pamela Whitaker, executive director and indomitable
force behind the Denver operation, announced she would build a second
facility near Fitzsimons. Land prices near the new medical facilities
have skyrocketed to almost $1.5 million per acre. Undaunted, she is
well underway on a $9 million drive to build a 60-room facility
there. Combined, the two facilities would make Denver the largest
operation in the U.S.
“Denver is a very generous community,” says Whitaker, who came to
Ronald McDonald House when she was laid off from Rose Hospital 15
years ago. Donation canisters at all area McDonald’s restaurants
provide a significant amount of funding, she added.
The organization has applied for a grant this year through the
Post-News Season to Share campaign.
The current facility, which cares for an average of 1,200 families a
year, has an annual budget of $1.25 million, which comes almost
entirely from donations. Whitaker runs a lean operation, with only
four paid staffers, supported by 300 volunteers.
The immaculate building has a large kitchen and dining room. Despite
a well-stocked pantry of donated foods, local families frequently
will bring in or prepare meals for the residents.
Whitaker has a knack for getting everyone involved.
“Even Elmira has cooked a number of Russian meals for us,” Whitaker
said, smiling.
GRAPHIC: Kathryn Scott Osler | The Denver Post Wendy Oleskevich is
staying at the Ronald McDonald House on Downing Street with her son,
Caleb, who is awaiting a heart transplant. The group, founded in
1974, has 238 houses worldwide, including 180 in the United States.
Denver’s was the third to be built.
PHOTO: Kathryn Scott Osler | The Denver Post Wendy Oleskevich is
staying at the Ronald McDonald House on Downing Street with her son,
Caleb, who is awaiting a heart transplant. The group, founded in
1974, has 238 houses worldwide, including 180 in the United States.
Denver’s was the third to be built.

Azeri Finance Ministry uncovers widespread misuse of public funds
ANS TV, Baku
21 Nov 04
Presenter The 12.5bn manats 2.6m dollars of budget funds misspent in
19 districts of the republic could have been used for solving social
problems in hundreds of villages.
Correspondent over video of a man in office Cavansir Yusifov, head of
the financial monitoring department of the Finance Ministry, has told
ANS that over the last 10 months of 2004, financial violations have
been uncovered mainly in Xocali, Xocavand, Susa, Haciqabul, Davaci,
Beylaqan, Ucar, Saki, Tartar, Agstafa and Qazax Districts. Much of
the public funds were misused in the education, health, culture and
forestry spheres in these districts. There were also cases when public
funds were misspent under the guise of renovation work. It has been
established that 38m manats 7,800 dollars were misused in Haciqabul
District central Azerbaijan alone.
There were serious violations in the use of 100m manats 20,000 dollars
in the education sphere in the town of Xocali. It has been uncovered
that public funds were misused mainly in the education field in
Susa and Xocali Districts which are under Armenian occupation. The
cases of misuse are related to the number of lessons and extra jobs
at schools. Another violation of the law was related to accountants
artificially increasing salaries.
Cavansir Yusifov said that 3.5bn manats 714,000 dollars of the misused
12.5bn manats have already been returned to the budget. As for the
remaining 9bn manats, Mr Yusifov said that evidence regarding several
cases has been submitted to the law-enforcement bodies. He said that
it would be impossible to return all the remaining funds since they
have been paid as salaries in some districts.
Employees have already received that money. It is already impossible to
get the money back, end quote. The Ministry of Finance has dismissed
nine people directly responsible for spending public funds and
85 people will receive an administrative punishment, he said. Mr
Yusifov added that inspections are under way in the financial
departments of Ismayilli, Salyan, Neftcala, Kurdamir, Samux and
Zaqatala Districts. The executive authorities in 14 districts will
also be inspected by the end of the year, he said.

Land and Culture Organization
c/o Haig and Hilda Manjikian
1435 Old House Road
Pasadena, Ca 91107
Press Release:
Memorial Tribute For ARCHBISHOP MESROB ASHJIAN
Archbishop Surpazan Mesrob Ashjian was a scholar and author of our
past Armenian history. He was a leader in the activities of daily
life; religious, social, and cultural. He understood the importance
of investing in our youth for our future. He honored our past, lived
in the present and worked for the future. He was a man for all seasons
True friendship, like sound health, is seldom valued and appreciated
until it is lost. The Hamazkayin Western Regional and the Land
and Culture Organization (LCO) are honored to organize and pay
tribute to their friend on the occasion of the one year anniversary
of his death. This event is open to the public and held under the
joint Auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate,
Western Diocese and His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, Western Prelacy. The Master of Ceremonies for the evening is
Prof. Richard Hovannisian. The program will include guest speakers,
Mr. Kegham Kevonian, Land and Culture Organization, Paris, France and
Rita Vorperian, Ph.D. The program includes performances by Hamazkayin
“Kousan” Chorale, conducted Prof. Ara Manash and slide and video
presentations of Surpazan Ashjian’s life.
Please join us on Friday, December 10, 2004 at United Community Church,
333 Colorado Blvd., Glendale, CA at 8 PM, as we honor Surpazan’s
spiritual strength, humble presence and gentle humor with which he
blessed and touched us all.

Agence France Presse
21 novembre 2004 dimanche 8:54 AM GMT
Les Turcs meskhets déportés par Staline rêvent d’un retour en Géorgie
(MAGAZINE)
ATSGOUR (Géorgie) 21 nov
Nouraddine Tsatsiev avait tout juste 12 ans lorsque l’Armée Rouge a
fait monter sa famille et les 80.000 autres Turcs meskhets du sud de
la Géorgie dans des wagons à bestiaux à la fin deuxième Guerre
mondiale pour être dispersés en URSS.
Ce que les Meskhets croyaient être une réinstallation temporaire
organisée par Staline et le chef de sa police secrète Lavrenti Beria,
s’est avéré être un exil de plusieurs décennies.
“Nous voulons renter, nous voulons vivre dans nos villages”, explique
M. Tsatsiev, un des chefs des 30.000 Meskhets vivant en Azerbaïdjan.
L’errance de ce peuple a commencé il y a 60 ans, lorsque les
autorités soviétiques ont en trois jours vidée la Géorgie de ses
musulmans, les embarquant à destination de l’Asie centrale dans des
trains de marchandises.
Contrairement à d’autres peuples du Caucase déportés, les Turcs
meskhets n’ont pu retourner chez eux après la mort de Staline et
l’URSS et la Russie n’ont quant à elles jamais reconnu son tort.
La volonté de ce peuple n’a pas pour autant diminué. Les familles
gardent vivant le souvenir de leurs villages et transmettent la
mémoire de leur peuple aux enfants.
“Nous y retournerons lorsque la Géorgie passera une loi définissant
clairement nos droits là-bas”, explique M.Tsatsiev plein d’espoir.
Aucun progrès n’a été fait sur la question malgré les promesses
formulées par la Géorgie lors de son adhésion au Conseil de l’Europe
en 1999.
Le manque d’empressement de Tbilissi à résoudre ce problème
s’explique par la ferme opposition des chrétiens orthodoxes géorgiens
et arméniens qui peuplent désormais cette région de
Samtskhé-Javakhetia (sud).
“S’ils veulent vivre ici, qu’ils se convertissent au christianisme et
qu’ils apprennent le géorgien”, dit fermement Jujina Gogolaouri, une
commerçante de 48 ans de Atsgour, le village dont est originaire
M.Tsatsiev.
Niché dans les montagnes du Caucase et dominé par une forteresse
médiévale en ruine, Atsgour a été repeuplé de Géorgiens après le
départ forcé des Meskhets.
“Je ne veux pas que ma fille aille à l’école avec un Turc”, déclare
furieux Charko Moumladzé, un autre villageois.
“D’abord ils construiront une mosquée, puis une école turque, avant
de déclarer l’autonomie”, dit-il pour expliquer son opposition au
retour de la diaspora meskhète.
Les autorités locales ne sont guère plus enthousiastes.
“Rien que physiquement, ce n’est pas possible, il n’y a pas de place
pour eux”, explique le gouverneur adjoint de la région de
Samtskhé-Javakhetia.
Et puis, “si j’allais dans les villages pour essayer de convaincre
les habitants de vivre avec des Turcs, ils me lapideraient”,
conclut-il.
Il faut dire que la population de la région a triplé depuis 1945,
passant à 250.000 habitants, et les Turcs meskhets éparpillés en
ex-URSS sont désormais 300.000.
Malgré tout, Nouraddine Tsatsiev reste optimiste. Il est convaincu
qu’un jour un accord sera trouvé soulignant que 86 des 300 villages
meskhets avaient été complètement détruits et que son peuple pourrait
les reconstruire.
Et dans les autres, “on s’entendra avec la population actuelle, les
anciens savent que nous sommes un peuple bien”, affirme M. Tsatsiev.
Seule une douzaine de familles turques sont retournées en Géorgie,
elles savent qu’un retour en masse ne sera pas facile.
“Dans les villes, peut-être que ce sera possible”, raconte Tamara
Béridzé, 21 ans, dont la famille a pu revenir dans les années 1980 à
Mougareti, un autre village de la région.
“Mais dans les villages il y aura de la résistance”, poursuit-elle.
“Ici ils ont menacé de brûler notre maison lorsque nous sommes
arrivés”.
–Boundary_(ID_mY9pIiVBrMPqpeL8KcTyUQ)–