Author: Nalbandian Albert

Los Angeles Times
March 26 2010

Nevada Tea Party groups steamed at candidate: Jon Scott Ashjian talks
about his upstart candidacy

March 26, 2010 | 5:52 am

On Saturday, the dusty Nevada town of Searchlight ` population: 700 `
will be in the national spotlight when the Tea Party Express launches
a nationwide bus tour from the pit-stop that Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid calls home.

Headlining the self-proclaimed `conservative Woodstock’: former Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin.

It’s an appropriate venue for the newly minted TV star ` the run-up to
the Searchlight event has fueled enough drama for a daytime soap. One
of the major plotlines is the emergence of a `Tea Party’ candidate
who, established tea party groups now fear, could split the state’s
conservative vote against Reid and hand the Democrat a victory. (Check
out our story in Thursday’s paper.)

How worried are the tea party followers? Tea Party Express released an
online ad this week denouncing Jon Scott Ashjian, whose candidacy has
also been challenged in court.

As a candidate, Ashjian is a mixed bag. He’s articulate and
well-groomed, but is also saddled with debt ` including a $200,000 IRS
lien ` and a lawsuit-checkered business record.

This week, the Nevada State Contractors Board revoked his license,
which officials said also bars him from contracting work in
California, Arizona and Utah.

If tea party drama is your thing, read on for excerpts from an
interview last week with Ashjian, in which….

… he addresses Nevada’s top GOP candidates, his tea party critics
and, sort of, Rosa Parks. (You’ll see.) Answers were edited for length
and clarity.

(Also, if anyone’s curious, Reid will be spending Saturday in the
company of men with guns.)

Ashjian said he was born in Fresno and moved to Las Vegas in the
mid-1990s. He and his wife have three teenage children. He listed his
top issues as job creation, banking reform and reining in government
spending and estimated he’d need to raise $5 million for his campaign.

Both he and the Reid campaign have denied accusations that he’s a
Democratic plant to split the GOP votes.

Why try to oust Reid, who wields a lot of power in the Senate?

I believe Harry Reid is powerful. I don’t think Harry Reid has done a
lot for Nevada. I don’t think he’s used his power appropriately. I
think what he’s done is made us beholden to communist countries. He’s
not used his power for the people; he’s used his power for political
gain and self-ambition.

How do you expect to compete with Reid’s anticipated $25 million war chest?

I don’t think Americans vote on money. Does that mean if you’re rich
that you can only run for office? I think that’s the whole purpose of
the tea party movement. Sarah Palin’s claim to fame is that she asked
normal Americans to run for office. That’s why we answered the call.

What do you make of the tea party activists who’ve denounced your candidacy?

The tea party movement in general has been co-opted by the Republican
Party. I think what Republican Party has done is used that energy in
the tea party to give them a false sense of security that they’re
going to do the right thing at the end of the day, which I don’t think
they are. ¦

We’re not excluding anybody from our Tea Party. I think it’s deceptive
to say there’s a list of tea parties. A tea party can consist of one
person.

Can you respond to the numerous lawsuits regarding your business
dealings in Nevada and California?

We’re going to respond to each one of those allegations on our
website. If there are business or tax issues, we’re dealing with those
issues. It will all be cleared up. ¦

We believe it’s pressure from the other side that doesn’t want us to
run why all of this is an issue. I think Sarah Palin got more bad
press than anybody and it turned out at the end of the day that 99% of
it was BS.

How do you feel about GOP front runner Sue Lowden?

I think that she probably will get the nod. I think she’s probably
least conservative in the race. I think she’s pandering to Tea Party
activists who don’t want anything to do with her, according to what
they tell me. Their choice is not Sue Lowden.

How about Danny Tarkanian?

(Tarkanian, another GOP contender, recently suggested to CNN that
Ashjian was a Democratic plant partly chosen because he, like
Tarkanian, is Armenian.)

I think Danny Tarkanian is a crybaby who knows he can’t win. I think
at the end of the day Danny Tarkanian can make whatever excuses he
wants to make, but Armenians don’t make excuses. Armenians battle
through adversity.

There are other Senate contenders unaffiliated with major parties. Are
they a threat to your candidacy?

I think there’s three people in this race: Sue Lowden, myself and Harry Reid.

Are you going to the Searchlight event?

We’re going to show up. We are the Tea Party of Nevada. We may be the
Rosa Parks that’s not allowed on the bus, but we have our own bus. You
can write that.

— Ashley Powers

SERZH SARGSYAN."IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL A NATION THAT DOES NOT WANT TO DIE".

Noyan Tapan
March 25, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. We present remarks by the President
of the Repiublic of Armenian in Deir es Zor given by Press Office of
the RA President.

"Your Eminencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am here today since I could not but be here. It is the greatest
grief of my nation that has brought me here, the grief of the first
genocide of the 20th century and the greatest disgrace of the civilized
humanity. Up to this moment, in the 21st century, the stigma of that
disgrace still remains on the foreheads of all those who have turned
the denial of the evident facts into their policy, turned it into
their bargaining chip and into their lifestyle and norm of behavior.

In the desert of Deir ez Zor the most monstrous acts of the tragedy had
taken place, and it is neither possible to articulate the particulars
of that tragedy in the language of human beings, nor am I going do that
since these particulars are well-known even to those who publicly deny
the veracity of the Genocide. Bereft of home and property, bereft of
children and parents, bereft of health and the last hope, and finally
bereft of the most important their homeland, these people were doomed
to lose the last thing they had their life in accordance with the
state orchestrated and meticulously developed plan of extermination.

Quite often historians and journalists soundly compare Deir ez Zor
with Auschwitz saying that "Deir ez Zor is the Auschwitz of the
Armenians". I think that the chronology forces us to formulate the
facts in a reverse way: "Auschwitz is the Deir ez Zor of the Jews".

Only a generation later the humanity witnessed the Deir ez Zor of
the Jews. Today, as the President of the Republic of Armenia, the
homeland of all Armenians, I am here to ask: "Where and when will be
held our Nuremberg?"

I’m here to commemorate and to pray for the vast majority of my
slaughtered nation that had suffered both physical and cultural
extermination. I will elaborate neither on the quality, nor on the
quantity of the loss. Let me recall a single fact: as a result of
the Genocide the greatest share of the dialects of one of the most
ancient Indo-European languages – the Armenian had been irreversibly
eradicated along with its speakers.

In spite of all that happened, we say that we are ready to establish
normal diplomatic relations with the modern Turkey, we are ready to
have open borders and economic relations, we are ready to make efforts
towards building confidence between the peoples of Armenia and Turkey,
we are ready to bring closer the two societies by breaking stereotypes
and myths that have nothing to do with the reality and developed in
decades of dearth of any sensible contacts.

We do this sincerely since we believe that there is no alternative
to the living and development between the neighbours through
implementation of what is proposed and still at the table, at least to
start it up. The signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols presented
us with an historic opportunity that should have a logical destine.

We, however, do not accept the style of references to the
Armenian-Turkish dialogue in attempts to avoid the recognition
of the Genocide. I do not think it helps the process. Moreover,
it is irrelevant to cite some Commission of Historians, since
the Armenian-Turkish protocols provide for merely a governmental
sub-commission on historic dimension. I assume everyone understands
what it means and what the difference is. I ask all those who will
have an occasion to elaborate or express themselves on the topic of
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide: remember of this dessert,
millions of ruined human fortunes and this ancient people deprived
of their motherland and with pain in their hearts, before you make
up your minds.

In 1915 the greatest Armenian poets of the 20th century – 35 years old
Daniel Varuzhan and 37 years old Atom Yarjanian (Siamanto) had also
been slaughtered. Before being tortured to death, they were undressed,
because they wore European clothes. In those times and places European
clothes were quite expensive. The executioners dressed up into the
European clothes – stolen from the Armenian geniuses encompassing
millennia old civilization, stolen from ordinary Armenians. I would
not interpret symbols signified in these images but I am unequivocally
convinced: while preaching European apparel, manners or values no
one has a right to cast these images in oblivion.

I am here to remind of the well-known words: "It is impossible to kill
a nation that does not want to die". We mean to live and to grow. It
is no more possible to intimidate or blackmail us since we have seen
the most horrible. We shall continue to live and create with double
vigor for us and for our innocent victims. We look forward since we
have a lot to say and to share with each other, a lot to say and to
share with the world: the brightness and glow that Daniel Varuzhan
and Atom Yarjanian had no chance to share.

And here, in Deir ez Zor, we firmly and loudly say over and over
again that we are, shall exist and will flourish".

ARMENIA: YEREVAN MULLS FISHING MORATORIUM

Eurasianet

3/23/10

Armenia is considering the introduction of a three-year ban on fishing
in Lake Sevan to save the lake’s diminishing fish population.

Unrestrained fishing and water drainage from the lake has depleted
Sevan’s salmon and trout population, according to Boris Gabrielian,
the director of Armenia’s Hydrology and Ichthyology Institute. The
lake’s salmon population has shrunk by almost six times since 1980, the
Kavkazsky Uzel news website quoted Gabrielian as saying on March 22.

A Soviet-era irrigation plan has also supposedly damaged the lake’s
ecosystem. One of the world’s largest high-altitude lakes, Lake Sevan
contains 34 billion cubic meters of water.

Authorities plan to introduce tighter licensing rules for fishing,
as well as enforce fishing quotas. Vladimir Movsisian, the head of
an ad hoc government committee to help Sevan, said that a three-year
fishing embargo would allow fish to spawn and enable the fry reach
maturity, Kavkazsky Uzel reported.

TCHOTCHKAN TAILINGS DAM A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN, MAYOR SAYS
Larisa Paremuzyan

2 010/03/23 | 12:45

Tchotchkan Mayor Samvel Gigolyan is concerned about the tailing dam,
property of the Akhtala Mining Enrichment Combine, left over from
the Soviet period. He stated that the threat of fissures in the dam
is growing by the day.

The tailings are in a liquid state and flow down into the gorge,
where there is a railway, and into the Debed River. "It can cover
the entire valley below. I mean, there are poisons contained in that
dam. I really couldn’t say what will happen here," Mayor Gigolyan said.

There are signs around the dam warning of its dangers, People and
animals are free to enter the site.

"The dam had been all but abandoned till now. It seems that they want
to operate it again. Some of the canals have been cleaned out but no
one is following up on the recultivation," Mayor Gigolyan said.

In a January 8, 2010 interview with Hetq, Seyran Minasyan, Deputy
Director of the "Hayecomonitoring" SNOC noted the dangers inherent
at the dam and pointed out that no one can state categorically who
it has belonged to for the last twenty years. "It’s belonged to no
one. There are more problems awaiting us. The drainage pipes are
clogged and one day the entire dam will fall apart. The outflow will
reach down into the Debed River. I’d estimate that there’s 20 million
cubic meters of tailings stored in the dam."

Despite these red signals, the Akhtala Enrichment Plant continues to
skirt its responsibilities to guarantee the safety of the dam. Perhaps
American-Armenian businessman Serop Der-Boghosian isn’t aware that
he must also adhere to RoA law in his mining operations at Akhtala
and Shamlugh.

He continues to evade carrying out RoA Government Decision 750, adopted
on May 26, 2006, that stipulates recultivation and that safety measures
be taken.

SPOKESMAN FOR AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY ELKHAN POLUKHOV: "AZERBAIJAN HAS THE RIGHT TO ENSURE ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY, USING ALL THE MECHANISMS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW"

APA
March 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Elnur Mammadli – APA. "In his speech, Armenian President,
speaking about one of the discussed principles at the negotiation
table, forgets about the others.

It should be recalled that the updated Madrid principles has 3 basic
principles", the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Azerbaijan Elkhan Polukhov told journalists in his interview,
APA reports.

Commenting on the recent statement of President Serzh Sargsyan,
Polukhov said the talks were based on respect for sovereignty and
territorial integrity of states, principles of non use of force and
ensure the people of their own destiny: "To base one of the principles
and try to forget about the others – it is one of the political
games of the Armenian side. These principles were put forward at the
negotiating table by Minsk Group co-chairs states. Azerbaijan as a
whole has accepted the updated Madrid principles. But Armenia is still
escapes from the unambiguous answer to this question. Azerbaijan’s
position is unambiguous. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can
not raise doubt and the right to determine their own destiny can be
realized only in the framework of territorial integrity. To implement
this principle Armenian armed forces must leave the territory of
Azerbaijan. Once occupation forces will be withdrawn, the essence of
military rhetoric will be lost".

To Polukhov, Azerbaijan continues negotiations due to the fact that
negotiations have the potential: "But we have always said, and state
that Azerbaijan has the right to ensure its territorial integrity,
using all the mechanisms of international law".

Note that, Serzh Sargsyan, in an interview with Euronews television
channel, announced his intention to appeal to Azerbaijan with a
proposal in connection with the signing of an agreement on nonuse
of force.

POLICY OF INITIATIVE MET WITH COMPLETE FAILURE, ARTSVIK MINASIAN SAYS

NOYAN TAPAN
MARCH 23, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. "It is obvious that the policy
of initiative has met with complete failure, causing much damage
both to Armenia’s international reputation and the opportunity
of domestic unification," the member of ARF parliamentary faction
Artsvik Minasian declared at the March 22 press conference. In his
words, if the Armenian authorities now again try to rouse Turkey’s
interest in ratification of the protocols, it means that "they did
not draw any lesson and grow wiser". A. Minasian noted that the unity
of the Armenians worldwide is endangered today, and if the Armenian
authorities do not see that, it means that they have no idea of
national ideology. The ARF deputy called for withdrawal from the
Armenian-Turkish process.

A. Minasian considered the acceleration of the Karabakh conflict
settlement as one of the negative consequences of the policy of
initiative. By his forecast, it will lead either to solution not in
favor of the Armenians or to the higher probability of war renewal.

According to him, the statements of some foreign figures about not
allowing Karabakh to return to the negotiation table are "situational
opinions rather than system ones".

In response to the question about why the ARF defends the second
president of Armenia, during whose tenure Karabakh was removed from
the negotiation process, A. Minasian replied that inappropriate
speculation over this issue has begun. He added that under Robert
Kocharian, the matter only concerned the competence of presenting
the Karabakh problem, and the president actually had such competence.

"Nagorno Karabakh was not forced out of the negotiation process,
there was no policy of forcing it out," A. Minasian said.

TURKEY TO BECOME A VERY SERIOUS RIVAL FOR RUSSIA IN THE CAUCASUS

ArmInfo
2010-03-22 16:04:00

Interview of Aleksey Malashenko, member of the Scientific Council of
Moscow Carnegie Center, with ArmInfo news agency

Mr. Malashenko, many people suppose that having been activated in 2009,
the Karabakh peace process has now reached a deadlock again. Do you
share this opinion?

I agree with those experts, who compare the Karabakh conflict
with the Near-Eastern one. Of course, they differ by their size,
nevertheless, the Karabakh conflict is a long-playing record and I
think the Armenian and Azerbaijani parties understand it very well. It
is another thing that one should look for some ways out that appear and
disappear now and then, which is quite natural as there is a problem
of recognition or non-recognition of Nagornyy Karabakh, and it is
obvious that Azerbaijan will never recognize Karabakh and Armenia
will never return it to Azerbaijan. For this reason, they should
look for some avoiding routes. Here the situation is paradoxical,
as just Armenia and Azerbaijan should take a decision. But they
cannot do it independently without involvement of Russia, France or
America. The problem of giving an opportunity to Karabakh residents
to express their viewpoint is a very sensitive problem, as everybody
understands it should be done, but nobody knows how to do it.

How real is resumption of military actions in Karabakh?

I think the current situation in the Nagornyy Karabakh peace process
may last for an indefinitely long time. There is no military solution
– absolutely nobody may win here. Let’s just suppose that Azerbaijan
will win. The response will be very strong. Now let’s suppose that
Armenia has won. So what? Nobody will win if the war starts, so it
is not serious to think about a military solution.

There are two factors in the post-Soviet area: psychological factor and
factor of stupidity or, in other words, factor of nervous breakdown. In
highly tensed situation the possibility of nervous breakdown and
consequent war is high. But no matter what attitude we have towards
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, there are also factors of
wisdom and pragmatism, which say that nobody needs war.

Why is Russia so much interested in normalization of relations between
Yerevan and Ankara?

I think Russia’s position in this matter is not so clear. In the
created situation all the problems should be watched in complex. That
is to say, besides the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Russian-Georgian
and Turkish-Abkhazian ones should also be taken into consideration. At
present quite an intriguing game is taking place between Moscow and
Ankara. Turkey is behaving quite independently in the Caucasus. This
is not an Ottoman policy or imperial thinking.

Turkey understands very well what it wants, especially having not
so simple relations with Europe. By the way, it also depends on
the Armenian-Turkish relations whether Turkey will join EU. Russia
still likes Ankara’s activeness. It supports Ankara. But I think
that Turkey is a very serious rival for Moscow in the Caucasus, and
I think in Russia they do not understand it well. Turks are active
and rich; they have learned how to talk to Russia. For this reason,
at present there are no special problems between these two states,
but they will undoubtedly appear as Turkey is a very serious rival.

Has Russia’s role in the region been revised after the five-day war
in August 2008?

It is some transitive period now. Russia has proved to itself and
everybody that it can fight and give not a damn about the United
States, NATO or Europe. But I would consider this situation as an
exception. The situation with Georgia is the last exception made for
Russia; this will happen no more and nowhere. Both Europeans and
Americans know very well what Russia is capable to do. Nobody was
ready for what happened in Georgia. Anyway, Russia won something in
the war, but it lost much.

Are you optimistic about normalization of relations between Yerevan
and Ankara? How much is it perspective if one takes into account the
current realities?

I am optimistic about this. The Armenian-Turkish process is moving
slowly and achingly, but in the right direction. Certainly, this
is an issue connected with the historical memory of Armenians, and
historical issues are the most provoking ones, especially in the
Caucasus. I understand both parties. It is clear why Turks would like
to forget the fact of the Genocide, but how can Armenia forget that
fact? Anyway, I believe that the Armenian-Turkish process is moving
slowly, but in the right direction.

Interviewed by Aram Araratyan, ArmInfo, 17 March 2010.

MRS. AL-ASSAD, MRS. SARGSYAN VISIT BASMA

SANA – Syrian Arab News Agency
.htm
March 22 2010

Mrs. Asmaa al-Assad and wife of the Armenian President Mrs. Rita
Sargsyan visited on Monday the first Specialized Unit for the diagnosis
and treatment of childhood cancer in Syria (BASMA) at al-Baironi
University Hospital in Damascus.

Mrs. al-Assad and Mrs. Sargsyan toured the Unit’s pavilions equipped
to accommodate 16 children, in addition to the small measures room,
an activity room for children and a daily clinic.

Mrs. Sargsyan admired BASMA’s qualitative and free-of-charge services
and its equipment that provide a comfortable environment for children.

She stressed the important role of the Unit in upgrading the conditions
of children with cancer.

Mrs. Asmaa inaugurated the first Specialized Unit for the diagnosis
and treatment of childhood cancer in Syria (BASMA) at al-Baironi
Hospital in Damascus on September 15th, 2009.

The Unit is the first of its kind in the health sector in Syria,
representing an official and legal partnership between a civil sector
and a state sector.

DISPATCHES FROM TURKEY: KARS, KARS, KARS
Khatchig Mouradian

-from-turkey-kars-kars-kars/
Mar 22nd, 2010

KARS, Turkey-I arrived in Kars this afternoon and checked in to my
hotel room. This was my fourth day in Turkey and I had already seen
and heard a lifetime’s worth of outrageous things (and, to be fair,
I also had many great moments). But nothing had shaken me-yet.

I looked at Kars through my hotel window. The entire city was looking
back at me. A bare tree nearby with several crows perched on it caught
my attention.

And there and then, I broke down in tears. A bare tree and a few
crows had done what no one and nothing else had been able to do over
the past few days.

My first stop after leaving the hotel was the 10th-century Armenian
Church, Sourp Arakelots (St. Apostles Church) in the Kale Ici
neighborhood. The church was turned into a mosque, now called the
Kumbet Mosque.

I removed my shoes at the entrance (as required when entering mosques)
and went in. A local was praying. After an initial hesitation,
I silently said my Hayr Mer (the Lord’s Prayer).

It felt like I had never prayed before.

THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF EUROPE CONDEMNS TURKISH PM’S STATEMENT

armradio.am
22.03.2010 10:31

The Armenian Congress of Europe condemns the statement made by the
prime minister of Turkey, Regip Erdoghan, in London, according to
which if the need arises, Turkey will expel 100.000 citizens of the
Republic of Armenia who sojourn and work illegally in that country.

"This proves that a spirit of intolerance and hostility towards the
Armenian people still prevails in modern Turkey. It is surprising
that this statement comes from the prime minister of a country of
which a considerable number of citizens live as political refugees or
immigrants in several European countries. It is even more surprising
that a country which adopts such dogmas and behavior cherishes
aspirations to become a member of the European family.

We appeal to all the responsible organizations of Europe to condemn
the above statement and to adopt any measures needed in the face of
the conditions that prevail in Turkey as far as the human rights and
its intolerance towards other nations are concerned.We call upon all
European goverments to condemn the crime of genocide in general and
to recognize the factuality of the genocide that has been commited
against the Armenian people," the Armenian Assembly of Europe said
in a statement.