Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

"WE SHOULD NOT ALLOW SERGE SARGSIAN TO HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS," CHAIRMAN OF PEOPLE’S PARTY SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Aug 24, 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, NOYAN TAPAN. We should not allow Serge Sargsian,
the RA Prime Minister, to have no alternative as a candidate
in the 2008 presidential elections. This statement was made by
Tigran Karapetian, the Chairman of the People’s Party, at the press
conference, which was held on August 24. At the same time he did
not regard as serious the conversations around the nomination of the
candidature of Levon Ter-Petrosian, the first RA President.

According to Tigran Karapetian, in the presidential elections he will
receive votes several times more, than those "he was presented on the
tray" during the parliamentarian elections held in May. "I pretend
on the role of being the candidate of the people, who, in difference
to certain opposing forces, will not scold, but will fight against
falsifications," the Chairman of the People’s Party mentioned.

Touching upon the rumours about the sale of the "ALM" TV company,
Tigran Karapetian classed them as "an instigation, all in all" by
certain media.

Armenian National Committee – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200

Glendale, California 91206

Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353

[email protected]

PRES S RELEASE
: August 23, 2007

Contact: Haig Hovsepian

Tel: (818) 500-1918

United States Senators Serve as Honorary Chairs for ANC-WR Annual Banquet

Los Angeles, CA – The Armenian National Committee – Western Region (ANC-WR)
is proud to report that United States Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara
Boxer will be serving as Honorary Chairs for the ANC-WR 23rd Annual Banquet.
The ANC-WR’s Annual Banquet, which organizers expect will be a solr out
event, will be held on September 30, 2007, at the Universal Sheraton in
Los Angeles.

"I applaud the ANC-WR and their unyielding efforts to serve the needs of the
Armenian-American community," stated Senator Dianne Feinstein. In a
separate statement issued by Senator Barbara Boxer, she shared that "I am
pleased [to] serve as [an] Honorary Chair of the ANC-WR’s Annual Banquet. I
am proud to represent many Armenian Americans in California and look forward
to continuing to work with all of my friends at the ANC-WR."

Senator Dianne Feinstein has cosponsored several pieces of important human
rights legislation in the 110th Congress. She has been an ardent supporter
of resolutions marking the Armenian Genocide and bills to stop the ongoing
genocide in Darfur. In a recent address, Feinstein stated, "The Armenian
National Committee has provided an invaluable service to the Armenian
American community by working tirelessly to promote widespread understanding
of the Armenian heritage. Their ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the
Armenian Genocide of 1915, one of the defining events in Armenian history,
have effectively promoted the universal ideals of tolerance and humanity in
the US and abroad. By representing the interests of Armenian Americas to US
policymakers and in other forums, the ANC has remained steadfast in its
commitment to the community, its culture, and value."

Senator Barbara Boxer has been a strong supporter of the Armenian American
community over the course of her long and distinguished career. Senator
Boxer has also spoken repeatedly on the Senate floor in remembrance of the
Armenian Genocide as well as signing a letter to President Bush urging
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. "We must teach our children and
succeeding generations the story of the Armenians so that future genocides
will never again occur," stated Senator Boxer.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the
Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated
organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances the concerns of the
Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

Looking forward to heal old wounds

By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, August 23, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League has arrived at the conclusion it should have
reached long ago, before the hurt and confusion, the finger-pointing, the
abrupt firing of the head of its local chapter and the damage to its
reputation.
With a four-paragraph statement issued late Tuesday, ADL national
director Abraham H. Foxman took one step toward healing the deepening
divisions within the Jewish community over the semantic question of the
Armenian genocide.
"We have never negated but have always described the painful events of
1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as
massacres and atrocities," Foxman wrote. "On reflection, we have come to
share the view of Henry Morgenthau Sr. that the consequences of those
actions were indeed tantamount to genocide."
As long as we’re talking about the path to healing, another step would
be to rehire Andrew Tarsy, who was fired for making essentially the same
statement as Foxman before he changed course.
Of course, some critics will never be satisfied, parsing Foxman’s
statement for ambiguity – and frankly finding it, in such phrases as
"tantamount to."
And for many, the ADL’s continuing refusal to sign on to a proposed U.S.
congressional resolution condemning the genocide (Foxman calls it a
"counterproductive diversion") is an outright betrayal of its mission.
But the ADL has framed its opposition to the resolution around concerns
that it threatens current friendly relations among Turkey, Israel and the
U.S. – while jeopardizing the security of the small Jewish population that
calls Turkey home.
Those who have criticized the ADL to this point are on solid
ideological footing. But our attention would now be more usefully focused on
the question of whether the ADL’s stated concerns were well-placed – or just
a convenient fig leaf.

.bg?articleid=1018539

HUNTING SEASON OPENS

Lragir.am
17-08-2007 18:15:02

On August 18 the hunting season starts in Armenia. The hunters will not
only have a chance to hunt but also to boast on their adventures all
year round. The president of the Union of Hunters of Armenia Grigor
Grigoryan says Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan is fond of such talks.
According to him, the head of the police Haik Harutiunyan is a good
shooter.

In Armenia hunters certainly have to pay. A wild boar is the most
expensive, 50 thousand drams, said Arthur Beglaryan, an inspector of
the Ministry of Environment.

He says 25 thousand hunters are registered in Armenia. For breaching
hunt regulations civilians will be fined 30 to 80 thousand drams,
officials will be fined 50 to 100 thousand drams.

For his part, the president of the Union of Hunters complained of
restrictions on the hunt on wolves. He evoked the Soviet times when the
government encouraged hunt on wolves.

NEW WEBSITE FEATURES ARMENIAN BIRDS WHILE HUNTING SEASON OPENS

Armenpress
Aug 17 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, ARMENPRESS: A new website dedicated to the wild
birds of Armenia has just been launched. The Armenian Ecotourism
Association said the entire resource is richly illustrated with
original photographs.

Although the site is still under development it already features
descriptions of bird habitats, draft checklist of the birds occurring
in Armenia, and practical recommendations and useful links for
birdwatchers visiting the country.

Of special interest is a photographic gallery of Armenia’s birds,
covering a high percentage of the country’s avifauna and including
pictures of recently discovered species. This website should be
particularly interesting for professional and amateur ornithologists.

The authors of the project are freelance ornithologists: Vasil Ananyan
(Armenia) and Chris Bradshaw (United Kingdom).

The website is at

Meantime Armenia’s Nature Protection Ministry and the National
Association of Hunters announced the opening of another hunting
season. Grigor Grigorian, the Association chairman, said to journalists
hunting quotas were established after thorough studies. He also said
many members of the Association are government officials.

All Armenian citizens aged 18 and higher can join one of three
hunting organizations after they get the police permission to carry
weapons. Currently some 25,000 Armenians are members of 3 hunting
organizations paying an annual membership fee of 1000 Drams (a little
more than $3).

Grigor Grigorian admitted that there are problems concerning fighting
poaching, saying 200 nature protection inspectors are not enough to
supervise the situation. About 60 species of animals and birds are
allowed in Armenia as hunting ‘objects."

JEWISH LOBBY SUPPORTS FAIR POSITION OF AZERBAIJAN REGARDING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: ISRAELI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 17 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / Avigdor Lieberman, the
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, stated that the Jewish lobby supports
the fair position of Azerbaijan in international organizations
during the meeting with Oktay Asadov, the Chairman of the Azerbaijani
Parliament.

Speaker, Oktay Asadov, noted that he emphasized strengthening of
cooperation with Israel in policy, economy, science, culture, and
humanitarian spheres. There are huge prospects in developing economic
and trade relations between both countries.

Opening of the Israeli Cultural Centre will serve the development of
Azerbaijani- Israeli relations.

Lieberman noted that Israel recognizes the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

THE ADL’S CURIOUS INDIFFERENCE TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Thomas Lifson

American Thinker, AZ
dls_curious_indifference.html
Aug 16 2007

AT contributor Andrew G. Bostom examines the imbroglio over the
curious unwillingness of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to condemn
the genocide perpetrated against Armenians by the Turks in the early
part of the last century, in an op-ed op-ed in the Providence Journal.

THE CAMPAIGN sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to combat
bigotry and celebrate diversity ("No Place for Hate") has sparked
bitter resentment in Watertown, Mass., a Boston suburb whose 8,000
Armenian-Americans make up nearly 25 percent of the population. Local
Armenians do not object to the initiative, rather to the group behind
it, the ADL and its director, Abraham Foxman – whom they charge,
correctly, with denying the ugly established legacy of the World War
I era Armenian genocide.

Under the authoritarian Young Turk (Ittihadist) regime, the bulk of the
Armenian population from the territories of the Ottoman Empire – some
1 million to 1.5 million Armenians – were purged by violent and lethal
means, which reproduced the historic conditions of a classic Islamic
jihad: deportation, enslavement, forced conversion and massacre.

Mr. Foxman maintains that dismantling a program designed to fight
hatred simply because the ADL does not share what he refers to as the
"Armenians’ viewpoint" would be "bigoted." Moreover, Foxman and the
ADL, who have spoken out in recent times against ethnic cleansing of
Muslims in the Balkans and the genocide against the syncretist black
African Animist-Muslims in Darfur, are, in effect, oddly "neutral"
on the Armenian genocide: "We’re not party to this, and I don’t
understand why we need to be made party."

Foxman and the ADL have long worried more about America’s evangelicals
and the imaginary danger of The Passion of the Christ igniting
anti-Semitism than about the real perpetrators of genocide in
Armenia. Hitler reportedly remarked that the world would not care
about his genocide of the Jews, since it had not minded the Turks
doing the same to the Armenians.

One has to wonder at the priorities of Foxman and the ADL.

PRESS RELEASE August 15, 2007
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348

Ambassador of Armenia Meets U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense

On August 14, 2007, Ambassador Markarian met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of
Defense Gordon England. U.S.-Armenian bilateral military cooperation and
regional security issues were discussed during the meeting.

On behalf of the Armenian government, the Ambassador of Armenia thanked the
U.S. government for organizing full medical treatment and rehabilitation of
Lt. Georgi Nalbandian at the Washington Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The
Armenian officer was wounded in Iraq, where he was serving in the Armenian
humanitarian contingent. In turn, Deputy Secretary England expressed U.S.
government’s appreciation for Armenia’s continuing participation in the
international coalition in Iraq.

Armenia’s Defense Attache Col. Armen Sargsyan also took part in the meeting.

WHY OPPOSITION WON’T UNITE
Vardan Barseghyan

"Hayoc Ashkharh" daily newspaper, Armenia
Aug 15 2007

Classical Model Doesn’t Work

There is a widespread opinion that pro-governmental and pro-opposition
powers are conjoined by the common logic of the development of
political domain. Consequently the stronger the pro-governmental
powers the stronger opposition and vise verse. But this formulation of
political sciences doesn’t work in the present condition of Armenia. On
the contrary the more disorganized is the pro-governmental domain
the more disorganized is the opposition.

When we count the individuals and organizations working in the
opposition sector of the political domain we get a significantly big
number. Such as – "Orinats Yerkir" and "Heritage" parties representing
parliamentary opposition, ex-parliamentary opposition "National Union",
"Ardarutyun" and Armenian Pan National Party with its satellites and
branches, "Nor Jamanakner", Communist Party and others. In short we
have pro-opposition powers of any color, approaches and taste.

But if the picture is quite satisfactory in terms of number and
variety, the same can’t be said about its concept and gravity. For the
recent many years Armenian opposition has been facing one problem –
to unite and appear with a united candidate.

Moreover we can’t even expect a unification of a kind in the near
future. And this is the reason?

The first reason is that the pro-opposition activists are of different
"origins". That is to say their motives of being in pro-opposition
domain are different.

The second reason is their ideological and geopolitical differences
(if they really exist). Today’s pro-opposition domain consists of
radical liberals, nationalists, Bolshevik-revolutionists.

In addition to this some of them are confirmed pro-westerns and some
are sworn pro-Russians.

Besides that they have diametrically contradicting viewpoints about
the future of the country.

Another "anti-uniting" factor is their personal inaptness. These
people hate one another and separately they hate others. Meanwhile
they all consider themselves presidents.

But even in such conditions it is possible to unite. Of course if
there is an axis of unification – a goal, an idea, and finally a strong
power to achieve this goal. From the first sight it seems there is a
goal, which is "to carry out a coup d’etat through elections". But
the problems is, though the activists of the pro-opposition domain
are of the same opinion as regards the coup d’etat, they still can’t
reach an agreement about the united candidate.

And finally the most important condition that hinders the unification
of the pro-opposition powers is that they don’t trust one another. Each
of them states that he is real opposition activist and the others
are false and any time they are ready "to sell themselves". And this
statement of course is far not groundless.

THIRD MEETING OF INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMISSION FOR COORDINATION OF WORK ON DRAFT MILITARY DOCTRINE OF ARMENIA

arminfo
2007-08-16 09:41:00

Inter-department Commission for Coordination of Work on draft
Military Doctrine of Armenia met for the third time at Armenian
Defence Ministry.

Defence Minister Mikael Haroutunyan heads the Commission.

Press Secretary of the Armenian Defence Minister, Colonel Seyran
Shakhsouvaryan told ArmInfo that the Commission summed up the work
results, discussed and coordinated all the notifications and proposals
by the Commission-members. The meeting resulted in a decision on
further organizational work. M. Haroutunyan gave the Commission-members
some instructions.