Author: Hunanian Jack

Agence France Presse
25 février 2005 vendredi 9:57 AM GMT

Ephéméride du lundi 28 février

LUNDI 28 FEVRIER 2005
———————

59ème jour de l’année

SAINT-ROMAIN

Mort en 463. A partir de l’ge de 35 ans, il vécut plusieurs années
en ermite puis de nombreux disciples l’ayant rejoint, il btit deux
monastères: Condat qui a donné naissance à la ville de Saint-Claude
(Jura) et Leucone

Les Romain ont de l’authenticité et de la fantaisie

Couleur : le rouge, chiffre : le 7

QUELQUES 28 FEVRIER

——————-

1895 : naissance de l’écrivain et cinéaste Marcel Pagnol (mort le 18
avril 1974)

1916 : mort de l’écrivain américain Henry James

1922 : fin du protectorat britannique sur l’Egypte

1974 : inauguration du Palais des Congrès à Paris

1986 : assassinat du premier ministre suédois Olof Palme

1987 : la Cour d’assises spéciale de Paris, condamne Georges Ibrahim
Abdallah, chef présumé des Fractions Armées Révolutionnaires
Libanaises (FARL), à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité

1988 : à Soumgaït (Azerbaïdjan) : début des affrontements entre
Arméniens et Azéris: 32 morts

1989 : mort de Konrad Lorenz, fondateur de l’éthologie moderne

1991 : Golfe, fin des combats après l’offensive terrestre alliée
contre l’Irak

1991 : annonce par le ministère de l’Agriculture de la première
apparition en France d’un cas d’encéphalite spongiforme bovine

Le soleil se lève deux minutes plus tôt à 7H36 et se couche une
minute plus tard à 18H31

Le dicton : “beau ciel à la Saint-Romain, il y aura des denrées et du
bon vin”

PRESS RELEASE

February 25, 2005
Gary Gartner (415) 533-2003 cell
Norman Williams (916) 492-3566

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and attorney Mark Geragos help
distribute settlement MONEY TO ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS FROM $20 MILLION
CLASS ACTION SUit

Monday morning in pasadena

Nine Armenian charitable organizations receive $3 million on behalf of
descendants of the 1915 Armenian Genocide

WHO: California State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi

Martin Marootian, 89 year old lead plaintiff in
the class action suit against New York Life

Attorneys Mark J. Geragos, Brian S. Kabateck,
Vartkes Yeghiayan and William Shernoff

Bill Werfelman, New York Life Insurance

Representatives from Armenian charity
organizations

WHAT: Ceremony in which three California Armenian charities
will receive $333,000 each from a $20 million class action settlement
between New York Life and descendants of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

WHEN: Monday, February 28, 2005

10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Brian Kabateck Residence

215 South Grand Avenue

Pasadena

Directions: 134 Freeway North, Exit and turn Right on Orange Grove
Blvd.; Right on West Green Street; Left on South Grand Ave.

BACKGROUND:

Before 1915, New York Life sold life insurance policies to thousands of
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. New York Life policyholders were
among the 1.5 million Armenians massacred during the Armenian Genocide
at that time.

California State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi helped negotiate
the final agreement for the distribution of the $20 million settlement.
“During the late 1800s and early 1900s New York Life sold thousands of
life insurance policies to ethnic Armenians in the Turkish Ottoman
Empire. Many of those who bought the policies were killed during a
deliberate, systematic and government-controlled genocide that began in
April 1915.

Many of the survivors of these policyholders live in California and I am
gratified that due to the parties’ hard work in this matter, justice
will finally be served,” Garamendi said.

In the ensuing chaos, many of the rightful policy heirs were unable to
obtain insurance proceeds while others were unaware that they were
entitled to benefits. During litigation, New York Life acknowledged its
records indicated an estimated 2,400 policies sold to Armenians before
the Genocide may remain unpaid. The class includes Armenians living in
the United States and abroad who are descendants and heirs of
policyholders. They will share the bulk of the settlement.

Legal Significance:

The class action is the oldest resolved case in U.S. history-90 years
have passed between the original events and the settlement. It is also
the first recorded case addressing issues involving the Armenian
Genocide. The United States and Turkish governments have never
officially acknowledged the Armenian Genocide despite overwhelming
evidence and eyewitness accounts. In direct contrast, a private company
(New York Life) acknowledged the tragedy and fulfilled its obligation to
the victims.

The class action was originally filed in November 1999 in Federal
District Court in Los Angeles (Martin Marootian, et al. v. New York Life
Insurance Company). Class co-counsel includes California attorneys Brian
S. Kabateck, Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP, Vartkes Yeghiayan, Yeghiayan &
Associates, Mark J. Geragos, Geragos & Geragos and William Shernoff,
Shernoff, Bidart & Darras.

During the course of litigation, New York Life acknowledged its records
indicated an estimated 2,400 policies sold to Armenians before the
Genocide may remain unpaid. The class includes Armenians living in the
United States and abroad who are descendants and heirs of policyholders.
They will share the bulk of the multi-million dollar settlement.

Three Armenian organizations in California will receive $333,333
including the Armenian Church of North America Western Diocese
(Burbank), Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Los
Angeles), Armenian Educational Foundation (Glendale). The Armenian
Relief Society, United States Chapter of Watertown, Massachusetts will
also receive an equal portion of the proceeds at the ceremony on Monday.

In a ceremony in New York City on January 26, 2005 five additional
organizations received $333,333 each. They include the Armenian Church
of North America Eastern Diocese (New York), Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church Eastern U.S. and Canada (New York), Armenian Apostolic
Catholic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics in the U.S. and Canada (New
York), Armenian Missionary Association of America, Inc. (Paramus, New
Jersey) and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (New York).

Descendants have until March 15 to make a claim for a portion of the
settlement.

Details of the settlement and the New York Life policies involved are
available at
<file:///GLOBALFP01GLOBAL_DOISACCOMMUNICATIONS2004%20Press2004%20
Media%20Advisories6-2004;

###

Glendale News Press
23 February 2005

Father, teen son’s pleas postponed
Torgom and Gayk Gzoyan of Glendale are accused of having attempted to kill a
man on Saturday.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press and Leader
GLENDALE — A Glendale teenager, who faces attempted-murder charges for
allegedly shooting a North Hollywood man in the face and neck Saturday, will
be tried as an adult, authorities said.
The arraignment for Glendale 17-year-old Gayk Gzoyan and his father, Torgom
Gzoyan, 55, was postponed Wednesday. The father and son are accused of
trying to kill 27-year-old Aram Aslanian Saturday afternoon near the corner
of Glendale Avenue and Maple Street. They are scheduled to reappear March 4
in Burbank Superior Court, authorities said.
advertisement
Aslanian was still alive in a local hospital Wednesday but “gravely”
wounded, said Glendale Police Sgt. Ian Grimes, who oversees the department’s
robbery/homicide division.
If Aslanian dies, the father and son will face murder charges, he said.
Police pushed to have Gayk Gzoyan charged as an adult for several reasons,
Grimes said.
“This is a serious crimes, and there were a combination of factors, like the
circumstances of the crime and his maturity,” Grimes said. “He’s going to be
18 in May.”
The Gzoyans were driving their car when they spotted Aslanian outside
Express Auto Repair about 4 p.m. Saturday on Maple Street, Sgt. Tom Lorenz
said.
Torgom Gzoyan got out of the car, confronted him, and a “heated” argument
ensued, Lorenz said. The tension culminated when Gayk Gzoyan exited the car
and shot Aslanian twice, Lorenz said.
There was an ongoing dispute between Aslanian and the Gzoyan family, he
added.
Police responded to the scene, and witnesses said they saw a man with a gun
in his hand escaping on foot.
Detectives tracked them to a Pomona truck stop off the Corona (71) Freeway
early Sunday morning. Police spoke with the father and son and convinced
them to return to Glendale, Lorenz said.
“The dad is a truck driver, and that is the depot for the truck that he
drives,” Grimes said. “I believe he went out there to establish an alibi.”
Detectives presented the case to the district attorney’s office Wednesday
morning, and charges were filed, police said.
Gayk Gzoyan remains in custody on $2 million bail, and his father is being
held on $1 million bail, Grimes said.

PanArmenian News
Feb 24 2005

NATO APPRECIATES ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN IRAQ AND KOSOVO

24.02.2005 17:05

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The terms of signing of the Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP) between Armenia and the NATO depends on the
Armenian party, stated NATO Secretary General’s Special
Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert
Simmons. In his words, the NATO appreciates Armenia’s desire to start
implementation of the IPAP and is ready to promote the process of
preparation of the document. At the same time Robert Simmons noted
that the Armenian party determines the content and terms of signing
the document. In his words, Liaison Officer Romualds Razuks will
advise the Armenian interdepartmental group, working over the
document. Besides, Robert Simmons reported that a group of NATO
experts on defense planning will arrive in Armenia soon. They will
meet with representatives of the Defense Ministry of Armenia. The
Special Representative appreciated the peacekeeping activities of
Armenian servicemen in Iraq and Kosovo. In his words, it evidences
Armenia’s frank desire to make its contribution to international
security. Answering journalists’ questions, Robert Simmons noted that
Armenia’s participation in the CSTO and close Armenian-Russian
relations have no impact at Armenia-NATO relations. “We have good
relations with Russia. Besides we have stated many times that the
NATO does not build its relations with countries based on competition
or taking into account participation of these countries in some
organizations or alliances,” R. Simmons stated.

Vera-Dardz (return)

Yerkir/arm
February 18, 2005

By Tamar Gasparian

Recently, the Modern Experimental Art Center hosted an exhibition of Hamlet
Hovsepian’s works entitled as `Vera-Dardz’ (return). Sixteen paintings and
three video works were presented. When you look at the works you see what he
implied by `return.’ It is about a human being born on the earth and returning
back into it.

Hamlet Hovsepian was born in Ashnak village. He is an artist struggling
against the boring life and trying to pass movement to it by capturing art on
video.

The exhibition included his old video works starting from 1975. It is abouta
part of the nature that keeps returning to the point of its birth.
Hovsepian uses a number of innovative means like bronze and copper powder for
creating his panting works.

He also covers the works with a layer of sand which gives a specific flavor
to the whole thing. This is a man that turns into sand but leaves values in
that sand which secure his return into succession.

Azeri opposition leader calls on Bush to tackle breakaway conflict

ANS TV, Baku
21 Feb 05

[Presenter] The Azerbaijani opposition wants power to be changed in a
peaceful and democratic way only, the chairman of the People’s Front
of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali Karimli, today told a news conference
dedicated to his visits to Europe and the USA. Since the international
community is now focusing its attention on Azerbaijan following the
developments in Georgia and Ukraine, the opposition badly needs the
support of international organizations, he said.

[Correspondent, over video of news conference] PFAP chairman Ali
Karimli said that he had appealed to US President George Bush to help
solve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. He called on the USA, as
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, to step up its role in finding a
fair solution to the conflict. The party leader wants the USA to back
Azerbaijan, which is suffering as a result of the Armenian
occupation. Karimli said that he had made this appeal in the presence
of representatives of the State Department and of the presidential
administration at the Nixon Centre.

[Ali Karimli, PFAP chairman, captioned, shown speaking] Since
President Bush has given priority to the settlement of frozen
conflicts and has taken certain steps towards the settlement of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it would be good if he could again give
his attention to the Nagornyy Karabakh problem.

[Correspondent] Karimli stressed that the Karabakh conflict was
discussed in meetings with the US co-chairman of the Minsk Group,
Steven Mann, French co-chairman Bernard Fassier and [the special
representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on Nagornyy
Karabakh, Goran] Lenmarker. He is convinced that the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly’s report on Karabakh will be impartial.

Although Karabakh took centre stage in the meetings, the forthcoming
November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were also
discussed. Karimli said that he had not asked for any foreign
assistance either for himself or for his party in the run-up to the
polls. All I asked for was to support democracy, end of quote.

Then, Karimli said that they know abroad about the eavesdropping bug
found in his party’s headquarters. They did not hide their negative
attitude to this fact. One should not undermine the standing of the
Azerbaijani government in such a way, end of quote.

Afat Telmanqizi, Ramin Yaqubov for ANS

7 states ready for world fencing fights in Iran

IranMania News, Iran
Feb 16 2005

LONDON, Feb 16 (IranMania) – Iran’s Fencing Federation on Wednesday
announced that seven foreign teams have till now voiced their
willingness for participation in the world youth meet in the central
city Yazd.

According to the IFF, Kuwait, Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkmenistan, Jordan, and Kazakhstan have voiced their readiness for
the event. Turkish federation has also announced it will dispatch
a team to Yazd but it has yet to release the list of swordsmen.

The world competitions are held in three fields of saber, foil,
and epee from Feb 23-25.

Pan Armenian Network

IF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN COULD COME TO AGREEMENT ON KARABAKH CONFLICT THEY
WOULD HAVE DONE IT LONG BEFORE

14.02.2005 13:18

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan is viewing the Minsk Group as a
single whole and would not like to draw a distinction between
the Co-Chairs”, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated in his
interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta Russian newspaper. However Russia
is the only chair-state bordering with Azerbaijan and is a power of
our region. Surely, this circumstance increases her responsibility
for the Karabakh conflict settlement, he stated. “We think that the
activities of the Minsk Group should not proceed from the principle:
“you will come to agreement and we will confirm”. “If we could come
to an agreement, we would have done it long before. The Minsk Group
was formed because the conflicting parties could not arrive at an
agreement themselves. That is why we hold the opinion that the MG
activity should be directed at the asserting of principles and norms
of the jus gentium according to which the territorial integrity of
any state is inviolable. Azerbaijan did not violate the territorial
integrity of any country while our own territorial integrity was
violated. This fact was recorded in some document of the leading
international institutions, in part, in the resolution by the Council
of Europe”, Azeri President said. In his words, official Baku sees
the settlement of the conflict in thew following way: Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity should be restored, Armenian forces should leave
the Azeri territories, and the refugees should return their homes. Then
peace will be established”. According to him, this approach becomes
more and more acceptable for the international community and the
latest activation of the OSCE Minsk Group may be efficient.

Gaylord Herald Times, MI
Feb 14 2005

Hindsight – Migration: a ritual of survival

Nicole Laskowski

Birds seem to live in a different world: somewhere between land and
sky, a wing’s reach away from touching stars. Their shadows command a
presence on glassy waters.

They travel through a landscape I only dream about.

They possess an innocence, or maybe a purity, because they are
capable of making the impossible, possible.

Together they can mass into one giant storm cloud, become the crests
of ocean waves or the islands of marsh lands, or create the illusion
that the sky is falling.

By flapping wings hard enough, stretching neck and body skyward,
paddling webbed feet, they can walk on water.

They soar innocently through soot, above the sounds of machinery,
about the complexity of modernity. Their legs tucked tightly against
their tails, their wings curve in perfect angles to create flight.

They fly above the foolishness of man-made maps where invisible lines
marking a country’s borders mean nothing to them.

They enact the ritual of migration out of survival, but they burst
through early morning vapor, waving to the land below with a promise
to return to this place.

My grandmother made no such promise when she left Armenia with her
family.

I imagine her at the age of 4, standing in front of her home, waving
goodbye. The images come like slow motion stills from an old black
and white movie.

In my daydreams, her hair is tousled into kiddy curlycues. She is
standing in her prettiest dress. She is holding her father’s hand.
Everything has that yellow tint to it.

Shortly after her migration to America, the Armenian genocide began.
Her village was targeted, pillaged and destroyed by the Turks.

She escaped this crude persecution, where so many Armenians were
shot, left to starve, and even pushed by the thousands into a cave
whose entrance was guarded and then erased by scrub set on fire.

They were left to suffocate.

My grandmother and her family were left with the fragments of their
country’s history.

They faced the awkwardness of being foreign, the humility of having
nothing, the loneliness of starting over for survival. A newborn
chick puffed with down feathers stands at the edge of a cliff; below
it, an enormous pool of water. It doesn’t stand peering over the
edge, doesn’t look at the hundreds of feet between sky and sea. It
doesn’t hesitate to jump.

The newborn chick begins flapping its wings in the hopes of flying,
somehow instinctively knowing that flight is equated with survival.
It works tirelessly to try and catch a wave of wind. But it smacks
into the surface of the water.

It will no doubt try again.

Who else is that fearless?

PanArmenian News
Feb 11 2005

HEIKKI TALVITIE: WE BELIEVE KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL BE SETTLED

11.02.2005 14:23

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The OSCE Minsk Group deals with the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement. As you know, the US, France and Russia
are the MG Co-Chairs and the activities of the group are efficient
enough”, EU Special Representative for South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie
stated in Baku. In his words, the EU is assisting to the conflict
settlement and believes that this problem will be resolved. The EU
will go on forming peacekeeping forces to be sent to the region. He
also stated that the EU can contribute to the restoration and
reconstruction of the territories after the conflict is settled.