BAKU: Azeri speaker, EU rep for South Caucasus discuss ties

Azeri speaker, EU rep for South Caucasus discuss ties

Lider TV, Baku
17 Mar 06

A resolution issued by the European Parliament on the destruction of
Armenian monuments in Naxcivan is wide of the mark and this cannot
be the parliament’s final document on the issue. At their meeting,
Azerbaijani Speaker Oqtay Asadov and new EU representative for South
Caucasus Peter Semneby mainly discussed the so-called document. Asadov
said that the fact that only 90 MEPs had taken part in the vote on
the resolution showed that it was biased.

The two men also discussed the future development of Azerbaijani-EU
ties. Asadov stressed the great importance of the EU projects,
especially the TRACECA [Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia]
project, for Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe.

[Video showed the meeting]

BAKU: Aliyev:”If We See Armenia’s Participation In Settlement Proces

ALIYEV: “IF WE SEE ARMENIA’S PARTICIPATION IN THE SETTLEMENT PROCESS IS OF IMITATIVE CHARACTER, WE WILL STOP TALKS”

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006

“Azerbaijani Army’s budget will exceed Armenia’s state budget in
a few years. Military expenditures allocated from the state budget
were increased by 70% last year and 100% this year,” President Ilham
Aliyev said in the World Azerbaijanis Congress II (APA).

Mr. Aliyev said that besides continuation of peaceful negotiations
for the settlement of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict, the army should
be reinforced.

“Azerbaijan has been living at cease-fire for 12 years, we have not
achieved peace yet. Peaceful talks are ongoing. But Armenia are
avoiding from this process in different forms. We are concerned
to continue negotiations. But if we see Armenia’s participation
in the settlement process is of imitative character and Yerevan is
not frank, we will stop negotiations. Azerbaijan wants the Nagorno
Garabagh conflict to be solved within international legal norms
which recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. The processes
have changed in favor of Azerbaijan recently and we will achieve
liberation of our lands”.

ANKARA: Armenian Inspectors: Turkish Goods In Armenia Are Safe

ARMENIAN INSPECTORS: TURKISH GOODS IN ARMENIA ARE SAFE

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
March 16 2006

An Armenian State Quality Inspection official published the findings of
studies of 46 names of Turkish products imported and sold in Armenia,
assuring the media that they are all safe for use, Anna Saghabalian
from Armenia Liberty reported.

Thus, the Inspection responded to a series of recent
“we-don’t-need-Turkish-junk” publications in the Armenian press
alleging that products imported to Armenia from neighboring Turkey,
in particular chocolate, put human lives at risk.

Though the territorial borders between Turkey and Armenia are closed
Armenia import Turkish goods from Georgian and Iranian borders. It is
estimated that Turkish-Armenian trade has reached 300 million dollars.

Kemal Durucan from ISRO said that there is a strong anti-Turkih
lobbying in Armenia supported by the diaspora institutions. “Turkey
is the biggest market in the region and not only Armenia but almost
all the regional countries need Turkish goods. Because Turkish goods
are chip and qualty goods. The Armenian nationalist do not want to see
anyting Turkish in Armenia. However they cannot prevent the increase
in trade, becuase no country but Turkey provides what Armenians want
to get” Durucan added.

Natural Genius?

NATURAL GENIUS?
By Frederica Saylor

Science & Theology News, MA
March 15 2006

Anthropologist Henry Harpending says intelligence may be genetically
predetermined by cultural background.

Sidestepping political correctness, Henry Harpending says intelligence
may be genetically predetermined by cultural background.

The Thomas Chair Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the
University of Utah, he and two colleagues say they believe central
and northern European Ashkenazi Jews until the 17th century may have
been naturally selected for enhanced intellect. Their hypothesis
was published in the November 2005 issue of the Journal of Biosocial
Science.

Though admitting more research needs to be done to substantiate their
argument, Harpending explained the premise of their theory to Science &
Theology News’ Frederica Saylor.

Q: Will you give an overview of your theory on the influence of
Ashkenazic genes on intelligence?

A: With a couple of colleagues, we started chatting a few years ago
about the biology of Northern European Jews. They’re one of the more
interesting populations in the world from the viewpoint of human
biology for two reasons. First is their high intelligence, and the
second is the high prevalence of inherited disorders in the population.

I think Greg Cochran, the lead author of the paper, threw out the
idea one day that the two might be related, and we started looking
into that hypothesis. The more we looked, the better the idea seemed.

We found that several of the disorders were intelligence boosters,
so when we’d done about as much as we could just doing mathematics
and going to the library, we published this paper saying, “Here’s a
good-looking hypothesis, somebody ought to test it.” There’s a lot
of substance in the paper, and everything we found supported that
hypothesis, but it’s still a hypothesis.

Q: Can you outline this hypothesis a little more specifically?

A: If you look at the history of Northern European Jews, they first
show up around the year 800. They are traders and financiers – almost
all of them are in these professions of trade and finance. They were,
for whatever reason, pushed into these occupations that require a high
IQ, and they were confined to these occupations for about 800 to 900
years. It’s well known from the history that those who did better –
the wealthier ones – had a lot more children. So it looks like a
situation where there’s strong selection for IQ.

Q: What does this mean in terms of natural selection?

A: We know from studies of domestic animals and studies in the
laboratory that when you have a strong natural selection of the
population, strong selection for something new, what selection often
picks up first is advantageous heterozygotes.

We thought an interesting hypothesis was that these Ashkenazi Jewish
diseases were advantageous in heterozygotes and in particular that
they boosted intelligence. We know that seems to have been the strong
selective force under history. We know that whatever favors these
Ashkenazi mutations must have been social. It wasn’t a disease because
it never happened to the people who lived literally across the street
from them: the Lithuanians, Poles. It only happened to the Ashkenazi.

Q: Why do you suggest this link may be found only in the Ashkenazi
Jews and not in the Sephardic Jews?

A: Northern European Jews were surrounded by zealous Christian
politics, where there were two things that a male could do that
were approved: He could be a warrior and kill people, or he could be
celibate. Nobody wanted these jobs, and management, finance, trade were
kind of sneered at among the Christian aristocracy. The Sephardic, they
were in Islamic regions where they had a lot of competition: Armenians,
Greeks, Arabs who were quite happy to take high-intelligence jobs. The
Sephardic had competition and the Ashkenazi really didn’t. There wasn’t
anyone else trying to get into finance, at least in Eastern Europe.

Q: What do you think is true today in Ashkenazi genes?

A: Today, two things are going on, at least in North America. One is
Ashkenazi Jews aren’t having very many children, and two, there’s a
lot of marriage with non-Jews. So, I doubt that this process is going
on today.

Q: Are there any ramifications today based on your hypothesis?

A: I think there are none, except they continue to have this high
intelligence.

Q: What kind of data do you think needs to be selected for further
research?

A: If we’re right, then in a family where some siblings are carriers,
say of Tay-Sachs, and some aren’t, the prediction is that the
Tay-Sachs carriers would have higher SAT scores than their brothers
and sisters. If carriers do seem to have an increased IQ, it’s worth
looking further into our theory. If they don’t, then we’re wrong,
and we try something else.

Q: Have you encountered roadblocks in terms of people arguing on the
other side of your hypothesis?

A: I’ve had lots of nice, interesting commentary and comments from
people. We’ve had delightful, helpful correspondence with lots of
different people.

Northern European Jews have kind of an origin myth that the reason
they’re smart is that the prettiest girls always wanted to marry the
best scholars, so that smart boys got the prettiest girls. There’s been
a lot of cordial, usable discussion about that with people. It’s not
politically correct these days to talk about one group being smarter
than another. We thought we’d get a lot of hostile reaction, and we
haven’t had a trace of it.

Q: Do you think religion is something to consider when looking at
evolutionary patterns?

A: Religion certainly affects behavior, affects human society,
and human society is the context for human evolution. The one thing
we point out in this paper is that people make history, but history
makes people, and religion is part of history. I don’t think you can
study human biology without considering religion, but I don’t think
we have any very good evolutionary theory of religion.

Q: What are your specific research interests?

A: My interest has always been human evolution, specifically human
social evolution and human population genetics. I’ve done a lot of
fieldwork in southern Africa with several different tribes there. And
I’ve written a lot about human genetics, modern human origins and
human social evolution.

Frederica Saylor is health editor at Science & Theology News.

Russian Servicemen Not Involved In Georgian Rallies – Commander

RUSSIAN SERVICEMEN NOT INVOLVED IN GEORGIAN RALLIES – COMMANDER

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 1:08 PM MSK

Georgian claims that Russian servicemen participated in Akhalkalaki
rallies demanding a more effective probe into the March 8 murder
of a village resident of Armenian origin are groundless, Colonel
Igor Luzhnikov, deputy commander of the Russian 62nd base, told
Interfax-Military News Agency by phone on Wednesday.

“Servicemen of the 62nd base stationed in Akhalkalaki do not take
part in any rallies. All accusations made by Georgian officials are
unfounded,” he said.

The entire personnel of the base are engaged in planned training and
preparation of hardware and materiel for the upcoming withdrawal from
Georgia, Luzhnikov said.

“Taking into account the deterioration of the political situation
in the region, I was instructed to personally make sure that our
servicemen stay out of politics. Let me say with full responsibility
that there were no cases of their participation in rallies,”
he stressed.

Gigorgi Khachidze, Georgian presidential envoy to the Samtskhe-
Javakheti region, said earlier this week that local residents serving
at the 62nd Russian base have taken part in protest rallies.

Locals have been rallying in Akhalkalaki daily since March 11. They
demand a more efficient investigation into the March 8 murder of a
village resident of Armenian origin.

Weightlifting: Yurik Pushes For Gold Repeat

WEIGHTLIFTING: YURIK PUSHES FOR GOLD REPEAT
Digby Beacham

The Advertiser, Australia
March 15, 2006 Wednesday
State Edition

AT an age when many are reflecting, Yurik Sarkisian will push his
body to the limit once more in the men’s 69kg weightlifting division.

For the 44-year-old, who was born in Armenia and is a former Russian
national champion but now calls Australia home, it is what he does
best.

Sarkisian, who competes on Saturday, produced a clean sweep in the 62kg
class at Manchester, but will this year contest the 69kg division as
Australia seeks to repeat its achievements of four years ago in the
face of stiff opposition from usual suspects India and Canada and
the improving Nauru.

Sarkisian is viewed as a strong favourite to take gold.

PBS’ perverse genocide debate

PBS’ perverse genocide debate

Big Bird stabs Armenians in the back

Los Angeles Times
March 9, 2006
Op-Ed

By Aris Janigian

I am a devoted viewer of PBS. From “Masterpiece Theater” to “Sesame
Street,” I have always considered it a bastion of creative and
intelligent TV. But two weeks ago, PBS stabbed me and every other
Armenian American in the back when it announced that its upcoming
documentary, “The Armenian Genocide,” will be followed on some stations
by a panel discussion featuring two so-called scholars who claim that
the genocide is a myth. Worse, according to genocide historian Peter
Balakian, PBS threatened to pull the documentary if he and another
genocide scholar declined to participate “on the other side” in the
panel discussion, which was taped in January. Although the documentary
is not slated to run until April, programmers across the country are now
deciding whether to air it at all, air it alone or air it with the taped
debate.

“We believe [the genocide] is settled history,” said Jacoba Atlas,
senior vice president of programming at PBS, but “it seemed like a good
idea to have a panel and let people have their say.”

This is perverse. Either there was a genocide or there wasn’t. Would
anyone tolerate David Irving, the notorious Holocaust revisionist,
hashing it out on a panel with Elie Wiesel after a documentary on the
Nazi concentration camps? Should we give janjaweed reps airtime the next
time we run a documentary on their genocide in Darfur?

Why has PBS resorted to double-speak in regard to the Armenian genocide?
The answer is simple: PBS is capitulating to politics. For years the
Turks, America’s so-called allies, have issued threats against any
organization or country that challenges their quack reading of history.
When the French recognized the Armenian genocide, the Turks recalled
their ambassador to France, boycotted French products and canceled
military contracts. They have threatened to withdraw strategic support
from our country if we should dare make the same mistake.

Article 301 of the Turkish penal code makes it a crime to “denigrate”
Turkey by, for instance, mentioning the Armenian genocide in public. In
March, the famous Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk did just that and faced
charges. International outcry and a technicality got his case dismissed,
but others are still in peril.

One of PBS’ genocide deniers, University of Louisville history professor
Justin McCarthy, was invited by the Turkish Grand Assembly – reeling
from European Union pressure to come clean about its genocidal past –
for a pep talk in March. “I know that the Turks will resist demands to
confess to a crime they did not commit,” McCarthy intoned, “no matter
the price of honesty. I have faith in the integrity of the Turks.” These
rousing words brought the lawmakers, many of whom had sanctioned Article
301, to their feet. Does PBS really want to give such a belligerent
falsifier airtime?

“It seemed like a good idea,” Atlas said.

Raphael Lemkin wouldn’t agree. He coined the word “genocide” in 1944,
and viewed the Armenian case as a seminal example of such an atrocity.
Norman Mailer, Carol Gilligan, John Updike and Cornel West wouldn’t
think so either. They signed a petition, along with 150 other scholars
and writers, reaffirming the genocide’s historical truth. Directors of
Holocaust research centers around the world – including Wiesel and
Yehuda Bauer in 2000 – also signed a statement declaring the Armenian
genocide an incontestable historical fact. Even the Turks are on the
record as acknowledging the truth. When Turkey was defeated in World War
I, the allied powers created a tribunal that included members of the new
Turkish government. The butchers behind the genocide had fled by then,
but they were found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia.

Certainly the few remaining genocide survivors, now in their 90s,
wouldn’t think it “a good idea” to give the deniers a forum. They were
children when hundreds of thousands of Armenians were herded like cattle
through the scorching slaughterhouse of the Anatolian desert toward one
of 25 concentration camps. They watched as their people were murdered,
raped, tortured and left to starve in those camps. Armenian homes and
shops were occupied and looted; ancient churches were turned into
mosques or barns, used for target practice by the Turkish army or burned
to the ground to eliminate any trace of Armenians in those lands.

By the time the Turks were finished, an estimated 1.5 million people had
perished – more than half the Armenian population in Turkey. Armenians
called it Medz Yeghern: “The Great Cataclysm.”

The denial of genocide, as many have rightly observed, is the
continuation of genocide. It should be clear to PBS, to Atlas and to
programmers across the nation that the American public broadcasting
system should not be complicit in a murderous lie.

ARIS JANIGIAN is the author of the novel “Bloodvine.”

commentary/la-oe-janigian9mar09,0,5500780.story?co ll=la-home-commentary

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/

U.S.-Based Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund Initiates Programs

Emediawire (press release), WA
March 8 2006

U.S.-Based Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund – Known as the AAEF –
Initiates Full Slate of Programs for Improving Children’s Education
at Public Schools in Armenia

Founder of Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund – the AAEF,
Anoushavan Abrahamian, embarks on four-week Armenian tour to mark the
transition of the AAEF to active projects including school
renovations, teacher training, and distribution of books and learning
materials. The AAEF is a unique fund dedicated specifically to
children’s educational needs in Armenia.

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) March 8, 2006 — Founder of
children’s education fund for Armenia, Anoushavan Abrahamian, embarks
on four-week Armenian tour to mark the transition of the Anoushavan
Abrahamian Education Fund – the AAEF – to active projects including
school renovations, teacher training, and distribution of books and
learning materials.

“I am very pleased to be bringing the Anoushavan Abrahamian Education
Fund – the AAEF – to this active and operational moment,’ said
Anoushavan Abrahamian, founder of the AAEF. “We have been focused
since our inception in 2004, with needs assessment, program scoping,
and of course, fundraising. Now it is time for the actual work to
begin.”

Abrahamian’s remarks came as he made plans to embark on a four-week
tour of Armenian educational facilities and meetings with local
school and governmental officials. His trip begins in Yerevan,
Armenia on March 10, and is intended to initiate the funding of
several renovation, training, and educational material distribution
programs.

The work of the Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund has been
recognized by the Western Diocese of The Armenian Church of North
America. In a written statement, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian noted,
“It is a source of inspiration for us to witness the beneficial work
of the AAEF, the Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund. By adopting
neglected schools in Armenia and giving the necessary funds,
equipment and resources to better serve the children of Armenia, the
AAEF ensures the prosperity of the Motherland.”

The Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund – the AAEF – is dedicated
expressly to children’s and adolescent’s trade school education in
Armenia. Alll necessary funding to organize AAEF and provide for its
initial projects was provided at that time by American entrepreneur
Anoushavan Abrahamian.

“I am confident that the AAEF will make a significant and long
lasting impact on the youth of Armenia,” said Levon Thorse, a
newly-installed AAEF Board Member and Chairman of the Ardaz Lodge of
the Knights of Vartan, “I look forward to providing support and
guidance to the AAEF as it pursues its mission in Armenia.” The
Knights of Vartan is a worldwide brotherhood of Armenians dedicated
to sustaining Armenian culture and improving economic and living
conditions in Armenia. Mr. Abrahamian was recently invited to become
a member of the Knights of Vartan.

The mission of the Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund includes a
commitment to repair and upgrade Armenian schools in accordance with
local standards and to assist with the continuing education and
improvement of Armenian schoolteachers. The AAEF also plans a Social
Fund to provide textbooks and other learning materials for needy
children and families, as well as after-school programs for arts,
culture, and sports. A Scholarship Fund is also envisioned to support
gifted students in their higher education and advanced studies. The
Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund is an independent, non-profit
non-governmental 501(c)3 organization.

With the AAEF now moving to active funding and program operation in
Armenia, a lifelong aspiration of Anoushavan Abrahamian has been
fulfilled. Abrahamian began working to help his family at a very
young age, and resolved even then that he would help Armenian youth
to have an opportunity for education that he had not experienced.

Anoushavan Abrahamian serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of A&O Properties Management, Inc., a real estate development and
asset management firm which he founded, and is managing partner of a
number of real estate investment entities active in U.S. real estate
properties. A native Armenian, Mr. Abrahamian moved to Germany in
1963, later relocating to the United States where he resides today.
In Germany and in the U.S., he successfully created and operated
numerous businesses that contributed to his present financial
success.

Abrahamian is active in numerous charitable and community
organizations. He resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife
of 28 years – Ofik Abrahamian and their three children, with an
extended family in the area that includes his brother, his three
sisters, and numerous uncles and cousins.

For more information about the Anoushavan Abrahamian Education Fund –
the AAEF – please visit or call 818.866.4471
(U.S.). For general information and media queries, please contact Amy
Giggins at Adventure Studios Communications at 818.973.3141.

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198 participants register to the International Bank Conference

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006

198 PARTICIPANTS REGISTER FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL BANK
CONFERENCE IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/. 198 participants, more than half of them
are foreigners, registered for participation in the International
Bank Conference on the subject of foreign commerce financing in
Armenia, according to the Executive Director of “Armeconombank” Ashot
Osipyan.
“We hope that within the framework of this conference rather
interesting discussions will be conducted”, Osipyan stated.
The main themes of the International Bank Conference, on the subject
of foreign commerce financing, which will be held on March 28-30,
2006, are the role of banks and banking instruments for stimulation
of international trade as well as cooperation between banks and
exporters in the sphere of trade financing in Armenia.
Within the framework the conference issues of control over credit
risks, balance of payment of Armenia, evaluation of risk of
documentary operations and development perspectives of the
international trade in Armenia will be discussed.
The main organizers of the conference are EBRD and Armeconombank.
Among media-sponsors of the conference are “ARKA” Armenian News
Agency, “Armnews” TV-channel and “Republic of Armenia” newspaper.
S.P. –0–

U.S: Causalities Prove Karabakh Conflict Not Frozen

PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S: Causalities Prove Karabakh Conflict Not Frozen

10.03.2006 22:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. take active part in the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict during the
recent two years, U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno
Harnish told journalists. He noted that the
causalities at the frontline prove that the conflict
is not frozen.

Mr. Reno Harnish reiterated the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict should be settled via negotiations. He also
noted that after the failure of the Rambouillet
meeting recurrent meetings of Presidents and FMs as
well as between the Armenian and Azeri peoples are a
necessity. `The Co-chairs and the Foreign Ministers
should exert greater effort for the settlement of the
conflict,’ Mr. Harnish said. He added that March 13
U.S. Co-chair Steven Mann will pay a visit to
Azerbaijan to hold consultations on the conflict
settlement, reported APA new agency.