Author: Nahapetian Boris

RESEARCH ALERT-Wachovia starts Hovnanian with “market perform”

BANGALORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Wachovia Capital Markets on Friday
initiated coverage of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. <_HOV.N_>
with a “market perform” rating.

In a research note, the brokerage firm said the eighth largest home
builder in the U.S. has a strategic focus on return on invested
capital (ROIC) and a strong land position in the supply-constrained
Northeast and California. However, 2006 growth will likely be largely
driven by 2005’s acquisitions.

It also said the company shares are traded at a slight 3 percent
premium to the group. It is a higher-risk, higher-reward concern and
the shares are fairly valued.

Shares in the New Jersey-based company closed at $61.51 on Thursday on
the New York Stock Exchange.

08/12/05 12:25 ET

VIVA CELL COMPANY TO LAUNCH MOBILE SERVICE IN LAKE SEVAN AREA

YEREVAN, AUGUST 1. ARMINFO. The Viva Cell company announced that Aug
1 it is launching mobile service in Lake Sevan area.

The Viva Cell press service says that this is a proof that the company
is consistent in keeping its promise – to ensure mobile service all
over Armenia in a shortest possible period of time. Lake Sevan area
is of special importance as this is one of the country’s tourist
centers and high quality mobile communication is indispensable there.

At the same time Viva Cell is sponsoring two initiatives to develop
tourism and to improve ecology in Lake Sevan area. More specifically
the company is going to provide mobile service to the participants
in the Pure Sevan ecological camps organized by Red Cross Armenia.

The company hopes that its mobile service will promote the development
of tourism in Gegarkunik region and Armenia as a whole.-

Reform no reason to nominate Armenian leader for third term, adviser says

Arminfo
29 Jul 05

YEREVAN

Constitutional reforms cannot serve as a reason for nominating
[incumbent Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan for a third term in
office, the Armenian president’s adviser, Armen Arutyunyan, said
during the discussion on the subject of “constitutional reforms after
the Venice commission’s [of the Council of Europe] suggestions” today.

Asked by the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vigen
Khachatryan, whether these words reflected the president’s view,
Arutyunyan said it had to be kept in mind that he is a lawyer and
adviser to the president. He added that the question wasn’t quite
correct.

The chairman of the Democracy public organization, Vardan Pogosyan,
noted that the definition of a “new constitution” in the Venice
commission’s draft conclusion is a misprint because such definition of
constitutional amendments is legally ruled out.

CONGRESSMAN TANCREDO AVENGED BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT

AZG Armenian Daily #141, 30/07/2005

Neighbors

Several weeks ago Colorado Congressman Tancredo stated that America
could bomb Muslim Holy sites if there was a need. The Congressman’s
unbalanced statements were exploited by the Turkish government to
avenge him.

First of all, I strongly disagree with Mr. Tancredo’s statements,
because sacrilege is not a solution for any kind of a problem. The
bombing of Mecca would not only give birth to a sinister and
indescribable war, but it would also be an attack on the world
civilization.

The Congressman’s unbelievable comments, nevertheless, are not as
absurd as the condemns expressed by the Turkish officials. The Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul called the Colorado congressman
fanatical person ignoring the fact that his own Turkish government
denies the Armenian Genocide (the systematic massacre of the oldest
Christian people in its motherland between 1915-1923); that his own
Turkish government is responsible for bombings and desecrations of
more than 2000 Christian Armenian churches and cathedrals, some as old
as 1700 years; that his own Turkish government occupies northern part
of Cyprus; that his own Turkish government beheaded 30,000 Kurds in
the last two decades and that his own Turkish government is a violator
of basic human rights.

There are two apparent reasons why the Turkish government suddenly
emerged into this issue as an accuser. First of all, Turkey truly
dreams of joining the European Union, thus this engagement would speak
of Turkey’s democratic standards (at least the Foreign Minister thinks
so). Second, Turkey wants to use this opportunity to punish Tancredo
and turn him to its side. Congressman Tancredo lately voted in favor
of Armenian Genocide’s recognition by the US House of Representatives,
thus the Colorado Representative is on the black list of Turkey. As
the Associated Press reported on 19 July 2005, Tancredo talked with
the Turkish ambassador Tuesday afternoon during a long-scheduled
meeting about a House bill on the Turkish-Armenian conflict. Turkey
simply aims to exploit Congressman Tancredo’s situation to get him off
the black list. Otherwise, why would the Armenian conflict emerge
during these negotiations? Is this the way Turkey condemns offensive
speeches?

By exploiting the Congressman’s comments, Turkey wants to kill two
birds with one stone: to praise itself as a democratic country and to
avenge Mr. Tancredo for recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

As a resident of Littleton who was paid tribute by Congressman
Tancredo in the House of the Representatives last year, and as an
Armenian whose family survived the Armenian Genocide, I find
Mr. Tancredo’s comments shocking and offensive. At the same time,
Turkey’s sudden statements in this situation are sinister and
ridiculous.

The sick man of Europe should solve its problems first.

By Simon Maghakyan in Littleton, Colorado

ArmenPress
July 28 2005

ARA ABRAHAMIAN AWARDED LEGION OF HONOR

PARIS, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS: France’s president Jacques Chirac
signed a decree yesterday to award Ara Abrahamian, a Russia-based
businessman of Armenian origin< the highest medal of Legion of Honor.
Abrahamian is the chairman of the Union of Russian Armenians and a
UNESCO good will ambassador.
“Ara Abrahamian has made great contributions to strengthening of
French-Russian relations,’ Russia’s ambassador in Paris, Alexander
Avdeyev was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying. He said Abrahamian is a
cochairman of Russian-French Dialogue civic association, initiated by
Chirac and Putin.
Avdeyev said Abrahamian was instrumental in helping to erect a
monument to Soviet soldiers at Paris Per-Lachez cemetery and also did
a great deal to help organize Russian-French business forums.

Glendale firm’s license revoked
*Cal Repair Services Inc. has license taken away for five years following hundreds of complaints.
By Robert Chacon, News-Press and Leader

Glendale News Press
Published July 27, 2005

GLENDALE — After a more than two-year investigation, the state
as revoked the license of a Glendale-based company for five years
following hundreds of customer complaints.

Following a six-week hearing with an administrative law judge in
Sacramento, the California Contractors State Licensing Board found
that Cal Repair Services Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer Zohrab
Mkhitarian had committed several infractions, including forging
signatures on license applications, misrepresenting information on
license application forms, failing to get necessary permits for work
and charging homeowners for unnecessary work.

The license will be revoked effective Aug. 10, pending an appeal by
the company.

The 3-year-old company will appeal the decision, Mkhitarian said.

“Essentially, the [board] left thousand of customers without
warranties,” he said, claiming that the company with its headquarters
on Brand Boulevard serves about 50,000 customers a year. “The
license will not be revoked. We are going to fight it. It’s an
idiotic decision.”

Cal Repair, which does a majority of its business as Pick Red, has
had more than 150 complaints filed against it with the Better Business
Bureau, and numerous others with the Contractors State License Board.

“This has been a long investigation in to the company,” said Pamela
Mares, spokeswoman for the board. “It has been several years and it
has been a maze of different interweaving webs.”

Cal Repair does business under many names, and each off-shoot has
had complaints filed against it, Mares said.

“They are a big company with a lot of businesses and it gets real
confusing,” she said. “We have all kinds of different people with
different licenses sharing facilities and phone numbers and customers
but every time it comes back to Cal Services.”

But receiving complaints is just a natural part of doing business,
Mkhitarian said. “When you serve 50,000 customers a year, you will
get some complaints,” he said. “I’ve had people call and say they
only want a white guy to come to their house. These are the kind of
people we deal with some times.”

Many of the complaints are without merit, and customers with
justifiable complaints have been refunded their money or jobs have
been repaired, he said. The company has only responded to 50% of the
complaints filed against it, said Katie Mitzner, spokeswoman for the
Better Business Bureau. “You would expect that a company that big,
doing that many jobs would have a higher level of competency and a
lot more duty and care for its customers,” said Gary Almond, general
manager of the bureau.

The company is one of the most egregious violators of state contracting
laws he has seen in a long time, he said.

SwissInfo, Schweiz
25 Juli 2005

Protest gegen Festnahme von Genozid-Leugner

Doðu Perinçek leugnete am 82. Jahrestag des Vertrags von Lausanne
erneut den Armenier-Genozid. (Keystone)

Die Türkei hat die Schweiz nach der vorübergehenden Festnahme eines
türkischen Politikers wegen möglicher Verletzung der
Antirassismus-Strafnorm kritisiert.

Gegen den Vorsitzenden der türkischen Arbeiterpartei wird ermittelt,
weil er in der Schweiz öffentlich den Völkermord an den Armeniern
geleugnet hat.

“Wir können nicht tolerieren, dass mit dem Vorsitzenden einer
politischen Partei der Türkei so umgegangen wird”, zitierte die
türkische Zeitung “Hürriyet” Aussagen des türkischen Aussenministers,
Abudllah Gül. Ein derartiges Vorgehen passe nicht zur Schweiz und
deren Grundsatz der Meinungsfreiheit.

Der grüne Genfer Nationalrat Ueli Leuenberger seinerseits forderte
den Bundesrat in einem Communiqué auf, bei der Regierung in Ankara
vorstellig zu werden. Derartige Provokationen auf Schweizer Boden
müssten aufhören.

“Lüge der Imperialisten”

Doðu Perinçek, der Vorsitzende der nationalistischen türkischen
Arbeiterpartei, geriet am Wochendende ins Visier der Zürcher und
Waadtländer Justiz.

Perinçek war am Freitag zusammen mit 300 Landsleuten in die Schweiz
gereist, um den Vertrag von Lausanne zu feiern, mit dem 1923 der
türkische Staat gegründet wurde. Die Feier fand vor dem Hintergrund
der Beitrittsverhandlungen der Türkei mit der EU statt, die im
Oktober beginnen sollen.

Bei einer von der Kantonspolizei Zürich aufgezeichneten
Medienkonferenz stellte Perinçek den Völkermord an den Armeniern als
“Lüge von Imperialisten” dar.

Damit verletzte er nach schweizerischer Rechtsauffassung die
Antirassismus-Strafnorm. Weil Verstösse gegen diese Norm als
Offizialdelikt gelten, nahm die Zürcher Staatsanwaltschaft
Ermittlungen gegen Perinçek auf, wie die Kantonspolizei mitteilte.

Zwei Stunden lang befragt

Der türkische Politiker wurde am Samstag am Rande einer
Podiumsveranstaltung in Winterthur während über zwei Stunden vom
Staatsanwalt befragt, wie ein Kapo-Sprecher auf Anfrage sagte.
Perinçek sei freiwillig mitgegangen und habe sich danach wieder
seiner Gruppe angeschlossen.

Ob die in Winterthur am Samstag in türkischer Sprache gemachten
Aussagen ebenfalls gegen die Antirassismus-Strafnorm verstossen, ist
laut dem Kapo-Sprecher noch nicht klar. Die Auswertungen seien noch
nicht abgeschlossen. Am Freitag jedenfalls sei Perinçeks Aussage der
einzige Verstoss gewesen.

Perinçek ist nach einem Bericht der Tageszeitung “24 Heures” auch im
Visier der Waadtländer Strafverfolgungsbehörden. Die Gesellschaft
Schweiz-Armenien habe gegen den Mann Strafanzeige wegen
Rassendiskriminierung eingereicht, weil er sich schon im Mai dieses
Jahres in Lausanne in ähnlicher Weise geäussert habe.

Armenierfrage scheidet Schweiz und Türkei

Die Türkei und die Schweiz liegen sich wegen der Armenier-Frage seit
2003 in den Haaren. Damals entschied das Waadtländer
Kantonsparlament, den Mord an den Armeniern von 1915 als Genozid
anzuerkennen. Drei Monate später folgte auf Bundesebene der
Nationalrat diesem Entscheid.

Die offizielle Türkei bestreitet, dass es sich bei den Ereignissen
von damals um einen Genozid handelte, und betont, dass es auf beiden
Seiten Opfer gegeben habe. Es sei zu Deportationen gekommen, nicht
aber zu einem Völkermord.

Nach der Abstimmung im Waadtland hatte Ankara eine Einladung an die
Schweizer Aussenministerin Micheline Calmy-Rey zurückgezogen. Der
Besuch in der Türkei fand dann schliesslich im letzten März statt,
nachdem sich die Situation etwas entspannt hatte.

Im letzten Juni sagte der türkische Handelsminister, Kürsad Tüzmen,
seine Teilnahme am “Swiss-Turkish-Business-Council” (STBC) in der
Schweiz ab. Tüzmen begründete seinen Rückzug mit den Vorermittlungen
der Justiz in Winterthur gegen den türkischen Historiker Yusuf
Halacoglu, der den Armenier-Genozid verharmloste.

Kundgebungen ohne Zwischenfälle

Die Kundgebungen von Türken und Kurden zum Jahrestag der türkischen
Staatsgründung 1923 fanden am Sonntag an zwei verschiedenen Orten in
Lausanne statt und verliefen ohne Zwischenfälle.

Im Stadtzentrum von Lausanne versammelten sich am Sonntag ihrerseits
ungefähr 300 Kurden, Armenier und Assyrer vor dem Palais de Rumine.
Dort war am 24. Juli 1923 der Vertrag von Lausanne unterzeichnet
worden. Die Demonstranten prangerten den Vertrag von Lausanne an.
Dieser habe die Hoffnung auf Freiheit für alle Minderheiten in der
Türkei zerschlagen.

Detroit Free Press, MI
July 25 2005

Edward Jamian: Longtime businessman faced each day with a smile

July 25, 2005

BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

In his wallet, across from his driver’s license, Edward Jamian always
carried a photo of his wife of 57 years, Kora.

He’d pull the wallet from his pocket, open it up to display his
wife’s smiling face next to his license mug shot. Then, he’d fold the
wallet shut with a quip: “Look, now we’re kissing.”

Mr. Jamian’s good humor and never-ending optimism were hallmarks of
his life.

The longtime businessman and insurance agent from Bloomfield Hills
died Friday from complications of congestive heart failure at
Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. He was 83.

“He faced each day with a smile and never surrendered to negative
thinking,” said his son, John Jamian, a former state representative
from Bloomfield Hills who is now acting administrator of the U.S.
Maritime Administration.

Mr. Jamian was born in Turkey. When he was a toddler, his family
escaped the turmoil following the Armenian genocide by fleeing to
Banes, Cuba. In Cuba, the family owned a general store called the
Republic of Armenia. As a youngster, Mr. Jamian helped out by fixing
toys for sale.

At age 15, he and his family immigrated to Detroit, where Eduardo
Jamgotchian became Edward Jamian. He learned to speak English with
the Spanish accent he acquired in Cuba.

He graduated from Northwestern High School in Detroit and enlisted in
the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he was a staff sergeant and aerial
engineer teaching recruits aboard Mitchell B25 bombers during World
War II.

Mr. Jamian dubbed the B25 he piloted the Detroit Flash, painting the
name in bright red letters.

After the war, he courted his future wife at church socials at St.
John Armenian Church, when it was located in northwest Detroit, and
he impressed her with his dance moves.

He also studied accounting at the Detroit Business Institute, and
like several members of Detroit’s Armenian immigrant community, owned
or operated hotels and apartments in and around downtown Detroit.

Mr. Jamian once owned three hotels, including the La Plaza at the
corner of Grand River and Cass. From 1962 into the early 1990s, he
worked as a real estate broker and insurance agent.

“We didn’t measure anything in finances. My father measured
everything in honor,” his son said. “My dad didn’t have
acquaintances. He had true friends. He gave to anybody who asked him.
… If he had it, he would give it.”

Among his proudest moments were when his two sons were elected to
public office. John Jamian was elected to the state Legislature in
1991 and served through 1996. Gregory Jamian was elected in 2002 to
the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, representing Bloomfield
Hills, West Bloomfield and Orchard Lake, where he still serves.

Besides his wife and sons, Mr. Jamian is survived by a daughter,
Christina Johnson, and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. today at St. John Armenian
Church, 22001 Northwestern Highway, Southfield.

A Knights of Vartan service will be at noon in the church’s cultural
building. There will be a Masonic burial service under the auspices
of Ashlar Lodge No. 91 F&AM at 2:15 p.m. in Woodlawn Cemetery Chapel
in Detroit.

FM says peace talks focus on return of occupied land

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 18 2005

Baku, July 15, AssA-Irada — The Azerbaijan-Armenia talks on the Upper
Garabagh conflict settlement are focusing on the return of the seven
regions around Upper Garabagh, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
said on Friday.

Baku has reiterated its position on the matter during the recent visit
by the mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to Azerbaijan, he said.

Mammadyarov and his Armenian counterpart Oskanian are due to hold
talks in Moscow on August 22 four days prior to the meeting of the
two countries’ Presidents in the Russian city of Kazan.

With regard to reports on holding a referendum on the Garabagh status
in the future, the Minister regarded this as ‘subversion of Armenian
sources’, as an agreement may be reached strictly within Azerbaijan’s
Constitution.

Mammadyarov continued that the parties have already come to terms on
some of the ‘elements’.

“After the Warsaw meeting, the Presidents instructed foreign ministers
to coordinate certain details. The elements that we do not agree
upon will be further put on discussion of the next meeting of the
two Presidents.”

The Minister emphasized that peace talks continue and it is premature
to speak of reaching a certain agreement. He did not rule that the
Azeri and Armenian communities of Upper Garabagh main joint the
negotiating process in the future, but said this is possible only
after Azerbaijanis that were driven out of their land return home
and an ‘end is put to ethnic cleansing in the region’.*

Leaders in waiting out to conjure a new vision of Europe

The Times/UK
July 18, 2005

By Charles Bremner and Roger Boyes
Stars of a new Paris – Berlin axis against the old guard meet with a new authority

THE outline of a new European landscape, both welcome and a challenge
to Britain, will be sketched in a Paris townhouse tomorrow when Angela
Merkel, Germany’s probable next Chancellor, meets Nicolas Sarkozy,
France’s would-be next President.

Frau Merkel, the Christian Democrat leader, holds a comfortable
lead on the Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder before the election
in September. M Sarkozy, the chief of President Chirac’s Union for
a Popular Majority and the most dynamic figure in French politics,
is hoping to replace M Chirac in 2007. The meeting is their first
since Frau Merkel won her party leadership.

She is a stolid east German and he is a slick Paris lawyer-politician,
and they are not close personally. But the ambitious 50-year-old
conservatives share so much common ground as pro-Atlantic,
market-minded reformers that their possible rise to office in tandem
conjures visions of a remarkable shift in continental power.

Under a Chancellor Merkel and a President Sarkozy, today’s weak and
defensive Paris-Berlin axis could give way to an easier alliance
with Britain.

Although she avoids the obvious comparison, last week Frau Merkel
praised the “very positive role” that Margaret Thatcher had played
in overhauling the British economy, which has now overtaken Germany’s
in per capita income.

M Sarkozy infuriated M Chirac last week by saying that France, also
trailing Britain, needed a Thatcher and a Blair to kick life into
its economy and scrap “the policies of 50 years ago”.

Both say that their nations need to move away from their old view
of themselves as the EU’s managing partners and repair links with
Washington. The French press refers to “Sarkozy l’Américain”.

Yet a healthy new ParisBerlin alliance, while broadly aligned with
Tony Blair’s view of the world, may not be such a welcome prospect
for the Prime Minister. A Merkel-Sarkozy agenda, potentially more
self-confident than any since the days of President Mitterrand and
Chancellor Kohl in the 1980s and 1990s, would create a different type
of axis, but it would remain opposed to some important British goals.

These include further EU enlargement. Both Frau Merkel and M
Sarkozy want Turkey to be excluded from Europe permanently —
a position popular in both countries but not supported by their
present goverments.

The pair, although more open to globalisation than their defensive
elders, would continue to pursue deeper European integration despite
difficulties over the constitution. Pragmatic and market-friendly,
they nevertheless remain sympathetic to industrial policies in which
the State promotes national “champions”. Frau Merkel is M Chirac’s
guest this week and her aides are reluctant to feed speculation of
a rift. “The thinking in the Merkel camp is plainly that Chirac has
passed his sell-by date,” one diplomat said. “But she would be really
ill-advised to let that seep into the public domain. She will have
to work with or around him on some key European projects from the
day after she wins.”

–Boundary_(ID_Z/xhgfYWE+xeyuHuBar+qg)–