Author: Chatinian Lara

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

March 11, 2010
___________________

A NEW GENERATION OF CHURCH LEADERS DEVELOPS SKILLS, BUILDS CONFIDENCE,
AT THE 11th ACYOA YOUNG ADULT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

The Eastern Diocese saw the bright future of the Armenian Church in the
faces of participants at the 11th annual ACYOA National Young Adult
Leadership Conference, which met in Tarrytown, N.Y., from March 5 to 7,
2010.

The two-day conference attracted close to 100 people, including 67 young
participants from 32 parishes in the Eastern Diocese, led by clergy,
Diocesan Council members, ACYOA Central Council members, and seminarians.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church
of America (Eastern), presided over the conference, which gave participants
an opportunity to hone their leadership skills and to network with ACYOA
members from parishes throughout the Eastern Diocese.

"I trust you to lead our church," Archbishop Barsamian told the delegates in
opening remarks Friday evening. "I have faith in your vision, in your
commitment, in your spiritual strength, in your feelings of respect and
reverence for our Armenian Christian heritage." He added that the large
turnout from throughout the Eastern Diocese "testifies to the great
potential for leadership we have in the young adults of our church."

The Primate thanked everyone for their passion for leading the Armenian
Church into the future, and stressed that the church needs the leadership of
its youth.

"You are the kind of leaders I want future generations-your own children and
grandchildren-to look up to, for guidance, and inspiration. You are the
kinds of men and women I want the world to think of, when they hear the
word, ‘Armenian.’"

He remarked that organizing the conference had itself been a good model of
leadership in action. "Working alongside our excellent ACYOA Central
Council members-listening to their creative ideas, suggestions, concerns and
criticisms; and working also with Fr. Yeprem Kelegian and Fr. Vasken
Kouzouian, with Oscar Tatosian and Nancy Basmajian-all of this has been very
rewarding for me, personally."

Archbishop Barsamian also expressed gratitude to Aso Davitian, Dr. Sarkis
Kechejian, Nazar Nazarian, Charles Simonian, and Harry Toufayan, whose
generosity made the leadership conference possible.

* New Level of Commitment

A dynamic, motivating talk about the need for leadership was delivered by
guest speaker Dr. Marvin Zonis, from the University of Chicago’s Booth
School of Business. In an animated Q-and-A session, he engaged participants
on the question of whether leaders are made or born, and outlined ways to be
a better leader.

"With the inspiring words from Dr. Zonis and the support of our Central
Council liaisons, I saw a sense of responsibility and maturity emerge from
the youth," said Taleen Terjanian, an ACYOA Seniors member from St. Stepanos
Church in Elberon, NJ. She also appreciated the chance to "strengthen old
friendships and form new ones."

Conference sessions on the Bible, Models of Leadership, Leadership
Potential, and Leadership in Action were held throughout Saturday. ACYOA
members explored the decisive traits that made for good leaders, and
discussed the qualities embodied in such diverse Armenian leaders as
Catholicos St. Nersess the Great and philanthropist Alex Manoogian.

Seminary dean Fr. Daniel Findikyan, and pastors Fr. Vasken Kouzouian and Fr.
Yeprem Kelegian led break-out sessions and prayer services.

"This leadership conference shows growth," said Fr. Kouzouian, a Diocesan
Council member and pastor of the Holy Trinity Church of Cambridge, Mass.
"There are a great number of parishes represented here, and it shows that
the young adult programs at the Diocese are unified."

St. Nersess seminarians Justin Ajamian, Levon Asdourian, Vahagn Azizian,
Mkritch Ksachikyan, and Stan Sheridan helped facilitate throughout the
conference, working alongside ACYOA Central Council members Alex Derderian,
Danielle Der Assadourian, Talin Hitik, Ara Janigian, Lydia Kurkjian, Danny
Mantis, and Gevork Vartanian.

The conference concluded with a dinner and closing program on Sunday night,
during which participants were encouraged to express their individual
talents. Mher Saribekyan and Davo Gevorkian played the duduk and the dhol
to thunderous applause. Arman Avedyan and Alyne Corrigan sang a lovely
Armenian song. The Primate presented certificates and small gifts to each
of the attendees.

On Sunday the group attended badarak at the nearby St. Gregory the
Enlightener Church in White Plains, N.Y.

"I was very pleased with the outcome of the weekend and the spirit of
group," said ACYOA executive secretary Nancy Basmajian. "I think
participants felt affirmed and valued as young leaders. That’s quite an
accomplishment, and I was thrilled to be part of it."

Participants who had attended leadership conferences in the past said they
appreciated changes to the format this year.

"This year the ACYOA Central Council and Srpazan took the leadership
conference to a new level," said Arpi Paylan, from the St. James Church of
Evanston, Ill. "I came away from the weekend inspired to redouble my
commitment to parish life-not only because I felt motivated by the
dedication and passion of my peers, but also because I left with a specific
skill set and a renewed vision for my role in my church."

For other attendees, the gathering was their first time at an ACYOA
Leadership Conference, but probably not their last.

"It was a wonderful learning experience that makes me want to come back next
year," said Arese Soghomonian, a Leadership Conference first-timer from the
St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Church of Wynnewood, Pa.

Ara Janigian, a member of the ACYOA Central Council, from the Sts. Sahag and
Mesrob Church of Providence, R.I., extolled "the level of commitment and
passion our youth have within our Diocese. Once again, I left an ACYOA
event feeling more confident about our future."

He added: "It’s vital for our church that we continue to get support and
guidance from our elders."

The same theme was struck by Diocesan Council chairman Oscar Tatosian.
"There are leadership capabilities in each of us, and it’s our obligation as
Diocesan leaders to encourage, foster, and cultivate that potential. We
need to give our young adults the tools to bring out the great leadership
abilities within them."

>From that perspective, Mr. Tatosian added, "This weekend was a tremendous
success."

–3/11/10

***

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Photo 1

Young church leaders from across the Eastern Diocese met in Tarrytown, N.Y.
for the 11th annual ACYOA National Young Adult Leadership Conference.

Photo 2

Diocesan Primate Abp. Khajag Barsamian presided over the Youth Leadership
Conference, which ran March 5-7.

Photo 3

A breakout session on leadership qualities, at the ACYOA National Young
Adult Leadership Conference.

Photo 4

Guest speaker Dr. Marvin Zonis, of the University of Chicago, delivered a
dynamic, motivating talk about the need for leadership.

Photo 5

Leadership expert Dr. Marvin Zonis and Diocesan Council chairman Oscar
Tatosian.

Photo 6

Fr. Vasken Kouzouian addresses the Diocese’s Young Adult Leadership
Conference.

Photo 7

Some 67 young leaders from parishes across the Eastern Diocese gathered to
exchange ideas and build leadership skills.

Photo 8

Abp. Khajag Barsamian addresses the youth leaders attending the ACYOA
National Young Adult Leadership Conference.

# # #

ASHOT MELKONYAN: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – INCONTESTABLE FACT

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.03.2010 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution 252 by
the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs once again proved that
the Armenian Genocide is an incontestable fact, Ashot Melkonyan ,
Director of the Institute of History of RA NAS told a news conference
in Yerevan. According to him, Armenia has no longer have problems with
international recognition of the genocide. "International recognition
of the Armenian Genocide is a part of history and now we need to think
and talk about the elimination of its consequences. The best way for us
is an appeal to the International Court in The Hague," Melkonyan said.

According to the historian, until now no one except Russia recorded
that in 1915 Armenians were deprived of their homeland. "We will not
deviate from the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
but that process should be moved to the politico-legal field in
order to speak of elimination of the consequences. Prior to this
recognition by the international community, the Armenians spoke only
abouyt the return of territories, but in 1965 there was a turn in
consciousness, and today we demand not only territories but also
financial compensation," Melkonyan said.

However, in Ashot Melkonyan’s opinion, the resolution 252 will not
be put to a vote in the Congress."Previously, there was no Iraq
or Afghanistan and the resolution was not put to a vote, and now
even more. Even if the Congress votes, there will not be a positive
decision. The United States and Turkey have agreed that the resolution
will remain at the Committee, and in return, Turkey will not worsen
relations with the United States," the director of the Institute of
History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia said.

On 4 March the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs adopted the Resolution 252 on the Armenian Genocide (23 votes
in favor and with 22 votes against).

OBAMA’S IRAN POLICY COLLAPSES TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT OF MOCKERY AROUND THE GLOBE
By Joel J. Sprayregen

American Thinker
mas_iran_policy_collapses_t.html
March 9 2010

Barack Obama, in his first press conference after his election, called
Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons "unacceptable." He repetitively
offered Iran "engagement." He set a deadline of year-end 2009 for
Iranian compliance, now unilaterally extended another three months.

Iran contemptuously and repetitively responded that it had no intention
of abandoning its nuclear program. Obama’s Iran policy is collapsing
to the accompaniment of open mockery around the globe.

Obama assured us that his "engagement" would make it easier to enlist
other countries to stop Iran. The result is the opposite: Virtually
every country Obama approached has rebuffed him. Without a credible
threat of force, it is now clear that "engagement" has no chance
to stop Iran’s military nuclear program. It is indisputable that
Iranian possession of nuclear weapons would destabilize the Mideast
and gravely threaten world peace.

Let’s leave China and Russia to the end on the grounds that it may be
more difficult to persuade major powers. In recent weeks, the Obama
administration launched a curious charm offensive with the announced
purpose of weaning Syria — Tehran’s closest ally — from Iran. Syria
has been ruled by the Alawites — a despised Muslim minority considered
heretical — since the French colonialists elevated them to military
leadership. The country has since 1970 been the Mafia-like fiefdom
of the Assad family, which murdered more than 15,000 of its own
rebellious citizens in Hama in 1982.

Syria has been on the State Department’s list of terrorist countries
since 1979. Syria routinely dispatched terrorists into Iraq to kill
American soldiers. Syria dominates Lebanon, from which it extorts
wealth through violent means, including arming the Iranian proxy
terrorist forces of Hezb’allah. The U.N. authorized an interminable
tribunal to investigate charges that Syria murdered Rafik Hariri,
Lebanon’s prime minister, in 2005. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador
from Damascus in protest of the Hariri assassination. I have personal
insight into this tragic killing and farcical investigation because
Saad Hariri, Rafik’s son, desperately asked me in Riyadh in 1998 to
pass on his fears that the Syrians would kill his father to preserve
their hegemony in Lebanon. What a difference twelve years makes! Saad
Hariri is now Lebanon’s prime minister. Seeing the weakness of U.S.

policy, he now embraces Hezbollah and the Syrian forces who killed
his father.

Appeasing Syria Provokes Mockery from Assad and Ahmadinejad

The current Obama approach to Syria includes dispatching six high-level
State Department delegations, announcing that our ambassador will
return to Damascus, rescinding banned shipment of aircraft parts, and
deals worth several billion dollars. Secretary of State Clinton purred
over this "slight opening" with Syria and expressed hope that it would
lead Syria to curb support for Iran as well as Hezb’allah and Hamas.

Syrian President Bashir Assad, responding instantly following
departure of the U. S. Under-Secretary of State from Damascus, invited
the Iranian president to his capital. The Assad-Ahmadinjead press
conference can be described most tactfully as a roast of the Obama
administration. The two presidents announced removal of travel visas,
meaning that Iranian terrorists are free to travel to the borders of
Europe and Israel. Assad, not ordinarily known for humor, said of U.S.

hopes of separating Syria from Iran that "[w]e must have understood
Clinton wrong because of bad translation." The Iranian president
reliably played straight man: "The Americans are forced to leave the
region, leaving their reputation, image, and power behind in order to
escape. The U.S. has no influence to stop expansion of Iran-Syria,
Syria-Turkey, and Iran-Turkey ties. God willing, Iraq too will join
this circle."

The failure of Obama’s appeasement was understood in the region.

Editor Michael Young asked in his Beirut Star,

"Just what does Barack Obama stand for?" His answer: "The Assad
regime’s abuse of its own population, Syrian involvement in myriad
bombings in Iraq, support for Iraqi Baathists, and its permissiveness
toward Al-Qaeda in Iraq have not made the Administration reconsider its
Syrian opening. Violence works, and Obama has not proven otherwise. The
Obama Administration these days provokes little confidence in its
allies, and even less fear in its adversaries" [emphasis added].

Rebuffed by Lebanon, Brazil and Turkey

Syria is not a member of the U.N. Security Council. But Lebanon,
Brazil, and Turkey are among the nine non-permanent members. Since
Obama has unwisely delegated to the Security Council power to defend
American interests, their votes are important. It is clear from what
is written above that Lebanon, until recently a U.S. ally with its
large but no longer dominant Christian minority, will now vote as
directed by Syria and Iran.

Mrs. Clinton made a pitiful visit to Brasilia last week. It is not
far-fetched to presume that Brazilian leadership contrasted the empty
words of Obama with the deeds of their neighbor, President Chávez
of Venezuela, who is assiduously expanding the western hemisphere
bridgehead of his Iranian ally. A weekly flight from Tehran to Caracas
carries unregistered passengers who can infiltrate our porous southern
borders. The president of Brazil told Mrs. Clinton that his country
would not "bow" to demands for sanctions against Iran. He suggested
that it would be "prudent" to instead pursue negotiations. As in the
Middle East, Obama "provokes little confidence" among our traditional
good-neighbor allies.

Even more ruinous is the state of Obama’s relations with Turkey, a
country he has fulsomely praised as a Muslim democracy, notwithstanding
the apparent drive of its present government to create an Islamist
police state. Last week, Obama did nothing to prevent a symbolic
23-to-22 vote in a House of Representatives committee for a resolution
labeling as "genocide" Turkish massacres of Armenians during World War
I. I have lobbied on this issue and understand its intractability. Most
historians call the events genocide, but a minority say it occurred
during the fog of a war of reciprocal massacres in which Armenians
aided invading Russians. The resolution is driven by understandable
pressure of Armenian-Americans on California congressmen. But analysts
of U.S. foreign policy understand that passing the resolution would so
alienate Turkish voters that vital U.S. interests would be undermined
— e.g., supply of U.S.

forces in Iraq, our air base at Incirlik, and the role of Turkish
military (NATO’s second-largest) in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Ankara Decries America’s "Lack of Strategic Vision"

The Turks did not distinguish themselves by the bullying tone
of their comments on the vote, and Obama may feel hamstrung by
campaign promises he made — which he cannot conceivably honor —
to recognize the "genocide." Turkey has resisted sanctions against
Iran because Ahmadinejad was correct when he boasted in Beirut of
blossoming Turkish-Iranian ties. But if Obama thought he might get
any help from Turkey, whose government he courted by visiting its
capital on his first overseas trip, his inaction on the genocide
resolution provoked this blast from Ankara:

This decision, which could adversely affect our co-operation on a
wide common agenda with the U.S., also regrettably attests to a lack
of strategic vision [emphasis supplied].

Obama’s difficulties in obtaining cooperation on sanctions from smaller
countries underscore his better-known problems with veto-wielding
Russia and China, whose interests are diverse from ours.

These countries, in different ways, see themselves as rivals of
the U.S. and have extensive commercial relations with Iran, by whom
they do not feel threatened. Russia at times has indicated support
for mild sanctions — rather than the "biting" sanctions aimed at
energy import/export (Iran is already rationing refined petroleum),
insurance, and banking — understood by many congressmen as the only
method short of war to influence Iran.

There were reports at week’s end that the administration would retreat
to seeking diminished sanctions that exempt China and other permanent
members of the Security Council from compliance. This would confirm the
complete collapse of "engagement." One might call it "diss-engagement,"
warranting the mockery of Obama’s policies echoing from Damascus,
Beirut, Brasilia, and even Ankara.

Joel Sprayregen is associated with think-tanks dealing with issues
of security and human rights in Washington, Jerusalem, Istanbul,
and Ankara.

WHEN FILLING THE BUDGET BECOMES A STATE PRIORITY
Babken Tunyan

March 6, 2010

Back in the day, when a number of economists and journalists were
warning that the credits and loans received from foreign donors will
became a headache for Armenia, the officials of relevant sectors
would try to calm them down by saying that the foreign debt is in the
allowable limits and would advise not to worry about the state. The
time showed (in the near it will become more evident) that they
were right. But in this case in order to determine the right or
wrong we should understand whether the headache is caused to the
state or average citizens. And if we take into account that there
is enormous difference between the people and the state and that the
officials are demonstrating information far from reality it turns out
that there is no headache for the state. The headache is for average
citizens in the form of taxes and customs fees. A week ago the head
of the World Bank in Armenia Aristomene Varudakis mentioned that the
foreign debt is growing rapidly. But on the other hand he added that
there is no need to worry. All is necessary to be done is to be able
to acquit the debt. "And for that it is necessary to levy more taxes,"
mentioned Varudakis. Now it is this provision that is demonstrated in
the policy course of the government. We even reached the point that
we get to pay to the state for holding a dog in our homes. The rest,
such as fight against oligopolies, diversification of the economy,
supporting the domestic producer, are merely nice words. According
to logic, concrete steps should be taken to recover the economy from
the crisis. It means that first of all the base of taxation should
be increased. This assembles the tactics of trying to scrape the
empty jar of honey to get whatever possible left. However, first of
all it is necessary to fill in the jar with honey (or at least not
ban the jar-filler from doing this) and only then be sufficed with
the desire of eating the honey. In our country the exact opposite
is being done and this is depicted as victory. Two days ago, almost
all the media outlets of the country adverted to the information on
the January-February inflows of the State revenue Committee. Armenian
tax and customs authorities collected a total of 51.1 billion Drams of
different revenues in the first month of 2010, by 22.3% or 9.3 billion
Drams more than a year ago, the ministry of finance reported. According
to the ministry, 40.2 billion Drams were collected as taxes and duties,
of which 21.9 billion Drams were collected as VAT, by 20.5% more than
in 2009 January. Also 3.5 billion Drams were collected as excise taxes,
4.6 billion Drams as profit taxes, 4.4 billion Drams as income taxes,
2 billion Drams as customs duties, 916,2 million Drams as state dues
and 1.7 billion Drams as fixed payments. According to the ministry, the
amount of collected mandatory social insurance payments rose by 41.7%
from 2009 January to 6.8 billion Drams. Other non-tax revenues totaled
4.2 billion Drams or 68.5% of the quarter projection. The Armenian
government plans to collect this year 742 billion Drams in revenues
and spend 935 billion Drams. The projected deficit is 193.4 billion
AMD. It is really good that a positive dynamics is formed. The thing
is that they have tried to impressively deliver this information to
the TV audience. And one of the media outlets added by its part that
the Committee doesn’t mention at the expense of what these revenues
were added. We thought that the media reporters are supposed to ask
questions like this to the state officials and not make guesses. For
example, they were supposed to find out how come the economy grows by
2.4% and the state budget inflows – by 8.4%. Maybe if asked they could
have found out that the budget was filled due to the reduction of the
black market. The release would turn out to be more impressive. The
State Revenue Committee is doing its work by trying to collect as much
revenue as possible and as much as mentioned in the budget. Let us
agree that it is possible to collect money only when it exists. But
in this case the Committee has a problem in creating and getting this
money. And it is not its function to reform the economy. In fact
the other state bodies should be in charge of this. It means there
must be a joint approach, the basis of which shouldn’t be only levy
maximum amount of money but the increase of the base of taxation. In
our country the logic is different though. As of the activation of
the business then in this field these are only words. As a rule,
when the government speaks about the small and medium businesses it
always mentions the facilitation of the crediting process. Meanwhile,
any bank of Armenia demands stable incomes and mortgage. These are
conditions, the existence of which doesn’t require credits any more.

Any businessman, who had to deal with the banks, will confirm these
words. In fact great efforts are needed to strengthen businesses.

There is simply no need to hinder the development of businesses. For
instance, one state structure shouldn’t demand from the same citizen
to submit a state form from some other state structure. The citizen
wastes time and energy for some simple piece of paper and gets to
deal with the "sassy" faces of low-class state officials. And this is
happening in the era of high technologies when any 7-year-old kid can
send my e-mail any information to another kid living in Mozambique. By
the way, two days ago our government started to speak with real about
the investment the system of electronic governance, which will reduce
the amount of time spent on documentation, will decrease bureaucracy
and the communication of the citizen with the statesmen and thus lower
the corruption risks. This is a good initiative but as you know it is
not going to be exactly like this. Let us bring another example. The
international partner of the domestic businessman sends the latter
of a catalog with a few sample (let’s say perfume) to demonstrate it
to the members of the domestic market. The foreign partner sends the
stuff via the DHL so that it gets here fast. But this stuff remains in
the customs service instead of reaching the domestic businessman. As a
result the businessman here has to pay 10.000 AMD for some paperwork
to get his stuff (worth 10-15 thousand AMD). It seems like a minor
nuance but many people have encountered this and got discouraged even
before they’d start their business. The solution of this wouldn’t take
too many efforts from the state. And the use will be more tangible
than all kinds of trainings with their coffee breaks. All is needed
is goodwill to help the businesses and not just levy money.

CNN AGAIN BROADCASTED "SCREAM BLOODY MURDER" FILM ABOUT GENOCIDES

news.am
March 8 2010
Armenia

Several days after the Armenian Genocide Resolution adoption in the
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs CNN channel broadcasted a
"Scream bloody murder" film about Armenian Genocide first time shown
on March 4, 2008.

According to Turkish Haberler, U.S. Turks are irritated about this
fact. CNN telecasted the film on March 7 night, that tells about
genocides of 20th century, where the episode about Armenian Genocide
hardly takes one minute.

Besides, February 28 CBS Company in its "60-minutes" showed a "Battle
over history" video about Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915.

It tells about displacing and killing of over 1 million Armenians,
calling it a Holocaust, "but Turks reject to call this occurrings
genocide."

Agence France Presse
March 5, 2010 Friday 6:25 PM GMT

Clinton: ‘We will work very hard’ to block Armenia bill

guatemala city, March 5 2010

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday the Obama
administration will "work very hard" to block passage of a bill
labelling the Ottoman-era massacre of Armenians as "genocide."

"We will work very hard to make sure it does not go to the House
floor," Clinton told reporters when asked to comment on Turkey’s
withdrawal of its ambassador over a congressional panel’s adoption of
the bill.

Washington Post: 11-year-old son of Ilham Aliyev becomes owner of nine
waterfront mansions in Dubai

2010-03-06 13:23:00

ArmInfo. Even by the standards of a city that celebrates
extravagance, it was a spectacular shopping spree: In just two weeks
early last year, an 11-year-old boy from Azerbaijan became the owner
of nine waterfront mansions, says Washington Post.

The total price tag: about $44 million – or roughly 10,000 years’
worth of salary for the average citizen of Azerbaijan. But the preteen
who owns a big chunk of some of Dubai’s priciest real estate seems to
be anything but average.

His name, according to Dubai Land Department records, is Heydar
Aliyev, which just happens to be the same name as that of the son of
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The owner’s date of birth,
listed in property records, is also the same as that of the
president’s son.

Officials in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, declined to comment on
how the president’s son – or at least an Azerbaijani schoolboy with
the same birth date and the same name as the son’s – came to own
mansions on Palm Jumeirah, a luxury real estate development popular
with multimillionaire British soccer stars and others with cash to
burn. Ilham Aliyev’s annual salary as president is the equivalent of
$228,000, far short of what is needed to buy even the smallest Palm
property.

Azer Gasimov, the president’s spokesman, declined to discuss the Dubai
real estate purchases. "I have no comment on anything. I am stopping
this talk. Goodbye," he said when contacted by telephone and told
about the names on the property records. Gasimov did not respond to
requests for further comment sent by fax, e-mail and cellphone text
message.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic blessed with plentiful oil and
gas reserves yet blighted by widespread poverty outside its glitzy
capital, has long had a reputation for corruption. But the Dubai
purchases, which have not been reported before, could provide a rare
concrete example of just how much money the country’s governing elite
has amassed and of the ways in which at least part of this wealth has
been stashed overseas.

The transactions sharpen a dilemma that has shadowed Washington’s
relations with Azerbaijan for years: how to reconcile the United
States’ security and energy interests in the oil-rich Caspian Sea
nation with what the State Department, in a report last year on human
rights around the world, described as the "pervasive corruption" of
its increasingly authoritarian regime.

Azerbaijan has sent troops to support U.S. democracy-building efforts
in Afghanistan and Iraq but at home has retreated steadily from
democratic practices, according to diplomats and experts on the
region. Transparency International, in a 2009 survey of global
corruption, ranked Azerbaijan among the worst at 143 out of 180
nations.

In addition to recording nine properties owned by Heydar Aliyev, the
now-12-year-old schoolboy, Dubai’s Land Department also has files in
the names of Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva. President Aliyev has two
daughters with the same names and roughly the same ages. Their exact
dates of birth could not be established, but various reports indicate
Leyla’s birthday is the same as that of the Azerbaijani woman who
figures in the Land Department records.

In all, Azerbaijanis with the same names as the president’s three
children own real estate in Dubai worth about $75 million, property
data indicate. Dubai real estate dealers with knowledge of some of the
transactions said the purchases were made by a buyer representing
Azerbaijan’s ruling family. The dealers said the properties were paid
for upfront.

Ali Kerimli, chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front, an opposition
party, said in a telephone interview, "We all know that our country is
one of the most corrupt." But when told about the Dubai purchases, he
added that he was surprised at the apparent lack of effort to conceal
them.

Azerbaijan’s leaders, Kerimli said, "face no danger" because the
judiciary, anti-corruption bodies and most of the country’s media
outlets are firmly under their control.

Le Matin, Suisse
5 Mars 2010

Ankara appelle Washington à bloquer la résolution sur le "génocide" arménien

La Turquie a rappelé jeudi son ambassadeur a Washington après le vote
en commission de la résolution, par 23 voix contre 22.
AFP – le 05 mars 2010, 22h57

Ankara a appelé vendredi Washington à bloquer une résolution
qualifiant de "génocide" les massacres d’Arméniens sous l’Empire
ottoman, votée la veille par une commission du Congrès américain, et a
prévenu que le texte allait nuire aux efforts turcs de réconciliation
avec l’Arménie.

L’adoption de la résolution par la commission des Affaires étrangères
de la Chambre des représentants prouve que l’administration américaine
"n’a pas suffisamment pesé" pour empêcher ce résultat, a estimé le
chef de la diplomatie Ahmet Davutoglu, ajoutant qu’Ankara était
"sérieusement gêné" par le vote.

"Nous attendons de l’administration américaine qu’elle fasse dès
maintenant des efforts plus efficaces" pour empêcher un vote du texte
en séance plénière, a-t-il déclaré.

"Nous espérons que les relations turco-américaines ne serons pas
soumises à une nouvelle épreuve (…) Sinon, les perspectives
auxquelles nous allons être confrontées ne vont pas être positives",
a-t-il ajouté, évoquant une "affaire d’honneur national".

Le texte, qui n’a pas force de loi, appelle le président américain Ã
"qualifier de façon précise l’extermination systématique et délibérée
de 1.500.000 Arméniens, de génocide".

La résolution peut désormais faire l’objet d’un vote devant la Chambre
dans son ensemble. Mais cette prochaine étape dépend de la direction
démocrate de l’assemblée, qui ne s’est jusqu’à présent pas engagée Ã
faire adopter la résolution en séance plénière.

M. Davutoglu a indiqué qu’Ankara, partenaire stratégique de Washington
au Proche-Orient et membre de l’Otan, allait évaluer d’éventuelles
mesures de rétorsion mais n’a pas développé, indiquant juste que les
consultations avec son ambassadeur "pourraient durer longtemps".

Il a aussi prévenu que le texte ne saurait servir de moyen de pression
sur la Turquie dans ses efforts de normalisation de ses relations avec
l’Arménie.

"Nous n’avons jamais pris de décision sous la pression et nous n’en
prendrons pas", a affirmé M. Davutoglu, ajoutant que le vote en
commission avait au contraire fait naître le "risque d’un arrêt" des
efforts des deux voisins.

Le vote intervient alors qu’Ankara et Erevan ont signé en octobre deux
protocoles prévoyant l’établissement de relations diplomatiques et
l’ouverture de la frontière entre les deux pays. Mais leurs Parlements
respectifs tardent à ratifier ces textes.

A Istanbul, une centaine de manifestants réunis à l’appel d’un petit
parti nationaliste ont dénoncé le vote aux cris de "Maudit soit
l’impérialisme américain" et "nous n’avons pas commis de génocide,
nous avons défendu notre patrie". D’autres manifestations étaient
prévues dans les grandes villes.

Le vote a été accueilli favorablement par l’Arménie, dont le ministre
des Affaires étrangères, Edouard Nalbandian, a salué "une nouvelle
preuve de l’attachement du peuple américain aux valeurs humaines
universelles et un pas important vers la prévention des crimes contre
l’humanité".

Les Arméniens, représentés par une importante diaspora aux Etats-Unis,
font pression pour que soient reconnus comme "génocide" les massacres
et déportations qui, entre 1915 et 1917, ont tué selon eux plus d’un
million et demi d’entre eux.

La Turquie reconnaît qu’entre 300.000 et 500.000 personnes ont péri,
non pas victimes d’une campagne d’extermination mais selon elle dans
le chaos des dernières années de l’Empire ottoman.

Elle récuse la notion de "génocide" reconnue par la France, le Canada
ou le Parlement européen.

info/monde/genocide-armenien-ankara-rappelle-ambas sadeur-etats-unis-adoption-resolution

HSBC BANK ARMENIA: HIGH QUALITY BUSINESS-CREDITS FOR OLD AND NEW CUSTOMERS
By Lilit Aslanyan

ArmInfo
04.03.2010

ArmInfo. Exclusive interview with HSBC Bank Armenia newly appointed
Chief Executive Officer Ms. Astrid Clifford

During the difficult 2009 HSBC Bank Armenia showed gains in all its
indexes. According to the official forecast the year 2010 should be
more positive. What is your 2010 forecast for GDP, financial market,
dynamics of the aggregate credit portfolio of the banking system and
HSBC Bank Armenia? Do you think we can expect to have less overdue
creditors in 2010?

We have noticed some signs of stability in the market and hope that
the economy will begin to grow again in 2010. Most forecasts are
predicting GDP growth of 1-2.5% this year, which is what we expect.

The demand for lending is still loose, however, we have noticed
some pick-up in activity during January and February and overall we
expect positive growth dynamics for the credit market during 2010 and
increasingly intensified competition. In general, we are continuing to
see some impact of the downturn on borrowers’ debt servicing ability
and it may still affect the overall portfolio of existing loans in the
banking system. However, we are comfortable with the quality of the
assets on our books and, with continued close monitoring, we expect
to end the year without impairments. For obvious reasons we were
cautious with our lending in 2009 but expect to be more active in
2010. We are eager to discuss quality business lending opportunities
with new-to-bank customers and our existing relationships.

Today Armenian mortgage market is not experiencing good times. Do you
find resuming HSBC mortgage lending from the point of demand and risk
management justified? What is the size of the mortgage portfolio of the
bank, as at today? What are the current conditions of mortgage lending?

We actually never stopped providing mortgage loans. The dram’s
devaluation last year resulted in a shortage of AMD deposits, as
a result of which we had to temporarily stop providing mortgage
loans in AMD. Mortgage lending in USD continues to be available,
for individuals and legal entities having a USD source of income.

Today our mortgage portfolio is AMD 20 million. This includes all
retail loans that are secured by property.

Our AMD mortgage lending is currently provided under the re-financing
agreement signed with the National Mortgage Fund. We are also looking
at the new Accessible Housing for Young Families scheme.

HSBC Bank Armenia has always stood out by its focus on international
services (lending to export – import businesses). Did the created
world situation affect this position to the benefit of the local
market? What is the size of lending portfolio offered to large, small
and medium companies, as at today? (Please indicate lending terms
for large businesses excluding counting small and medium enterprises).

Throughout the global economic downturn, HSBC Bank Armenia continued
to adhere to its strategy to be the leader in providing financial
solutions to companies engaged in international trade. Our worldwide
presence provides us with unique positioning and opportunities in
providing trade finance, including export and import documentary
credits, acceptances and guarantees, as well as export and import
loans. Despite the negative effect of the recent economic downturn
on the volumes of international trade (exports contracted by c. 34%
and imports by c. 25%), we have managed to increase our volumes of
our trade finance activity, and assisting internationally oriented
businesses will remain a top priority for the bank in 2010. Our
commercial lending portfolio was close to USD 108 million at the end
of January, of which c. USD 30 million was represented by exposure
to small and medium enterprises. We continue to remain competitive
in our pricing, as well as in other terms and conditions, in line
with our strategy of active growth in banking products and services
provided to the SME sector.

According to the strategic development plan what are the bank’s main
forecast parameters (indicators) for 2010? Which market segments are
a priority for the Bank in 2010?

We have planned for growth in all of our lines of business as our aim
is to provide a full range of services to both individuals and legal
entities (including small, medium and large businesses). As mentioned
above, given our international connections and expertise, one area of
focus will be on customers with international needs. On the personal
side, we would like to expand our services to the Armenian Diaspora.

On the commercial side we aim to be the leading bank for international
trade, and have a number of initiatives planned to support this. In
addition, we will look at products aimed at encouraging long term
savings, and will continue to invest in our direct banking proposition.

How do you evaluate the developments of co-financing large enterprises
together with EBRD?

We currently have a number of large-scale projects, which we consider
for co-financing under the respective agreement with EBRD. We believe
this scheme offers good opportunities to provide large scale finance
and meet the borrowing requirements of our customers.

HSBC Bank Armenia seriously invested ($2 million) in Telephone and
Internet banking services in 2009. How many clients did the bank manage
to attract through these services? How much is the local population
ready to use innovative banking technologies? Do you plan to attract
branch network extension in 2010?

Around USD 2,5 million was invested in Telephone and Internet banking
last year. Telephone banking was launched in March, and internet
banking in July, and the services had attracted 12,000 and 2,000
customers by the end of the year respectively. The high utilization
rate in this short period of time indicates to us the readiness of
the local population to use these innovative banking technologies. Of
course one of the main advantages of direct channels is that they allow
customers to transact from their homes or offices at a time convenient
to them. Our aim is always to serve our customers in the way that
best suits their requirements – whether this in the traditional branch
or via a direct channel (including ATMs of which we have the largest
network in Yerevan) – and this will drive our investment decisions.

What are the Bank’s plans in card business? Please indicate the number
of active cards issued by the Bank, as well as the number of ATMs and
POS-terminals. Do you plan to increase their number in 2010? If yes,
how much?

We currently have around 15,000 credit cards (ArCa and Mastercard)
and plan to increase this number by around 30% in 2010. The Bank
has 50 ATMs, which is the largest network in Yerevan as said before,
and around 100 POS-terminals at key merchants in Yerevan, and plan
to increase this number quite significantly. In terms of plans, we
will mainly look at implementing ArCa Link, introducing debit cards
and Chip and PIN cards by the end of the year. We also have plans
to install multi-functional ATMs which will allow customers to make
cash deposits, the late being part of our ongoing strategy to enhance
direct banking channels.

TURKEY BEGINS ANOTHER FIGHT AGAINST UNITED STATES’ RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2010 GMT+04:00

The ballyhoo used in the American and Turkish press aims to prepare
Armenia for the inevitable.

It has become a tradition for Turkey to begin a fight against United
States’ recognition of the Armenian Genocide every year before
April 24. She may succeed this time too, taking into consideration
the fact that existence of the Turkish state depends on recognition
or non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide. However, voting in the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs will not change anything, like it
was in 2007.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ However, that has nothing to do with the Speaker,
or with the White House administration, which now more than ever
hardly desires strained relations with Turkey, and consequently with
the whole Islamic world. Thus, recognition or non-recognition of the
Armenian Genocide is a matter of human pragmatism and not a matter
of morality for the United States.

Turkey knows it perfectly well, and all this hype raised in the
American and Turkish press only aims at preparing Armenia for the
inevitable. That is, the Committee will approve and send it to the
House for voting. But because for final conclusion 228 votes are
necessary and this number cannot be reached even in the near future,
it can be assumed that this time too adoption of Resolution 252 will
be indefinitely shelved. We once wrote and would like to repeat that
this resolution is simply a House Resolution. It is not a law, but is
simply statement of a fact and nothing more. And the Diaspora is at
least naïve to believe that adoption of the resolution, even in the
form it now is, can make Turkey recognize the Armenian Genocide. They
say times have changed and the USA may be ready to go rather far
for normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. But the question is
how far the Obama administration will actually go and how good these
steps will appear to be for the Armenian people in general. It goes
without saying that evil must be punished and remembrance of victims
of the monstrous massacre should not become a bargaining chip. But,
unfortunately, it is exactly what recognition of the Armenian Genocide
has recently become for the USA and other countries. Let us note that
the Genocide has been recognized only by those countries, which do
not depend on Turkey. And cruel fate of the Armenian people has long
been a bargaining chip in the hands of the powerful, this situation
lasting for 95 years already. Or, at least, so it looks, if emotions
are left aside. By the way, emotions only deteriorate the situation,
and we should follow the example of Turkey, which simply says: it’s
up to you to decide whether to adopt the resolution or to utter the
word "genocide" on April 24. But do not be offended if, after it,
the United States is considered an enemy, or at least an unfriendly
country, to Turkey and even to all of the Middle East.

All these considerations lead to the assumption that we’ll witness the
same situation as in 2009. Thank God, there is no need to ‘invent’ a
new term. There exists "Mets Yeghern", which, by the way, is synonymous
with the term "genocide". However, a different development is also
possible, as, in the opinion of experts, the probability of adoption
of Resolution 252 is greater than ever. And here a question arises:
Is the Armenian nation, and the Diaspora in particular, ready for
such turn of affairs? We are afraid to be regarded as pessimists,
but it is exactly what the nation is unprepared for; the nation that
has been waiting for justice for 95 years, and has been consistently
getting recognition of evil for at least the last 40 years. Under
the present circumstances we would be delighted to be mistaken in
our considerations, but it is essential to realize that no one will
ever give back territories or pay compensation for nothing. They’ll
have to pay for it, and the price may turn to be excessive…