Author: Zakarian Garnik

Glendale News Press
March 26 2005

N.Y. to host arms cases
Local men Garegin Gasparyan, Tigran Gevorgyan are accused of dealing
military weapons.

By Jackson Bell, News-Press and Leader

Two local men accused of belonging to an organized crime ring that
plotted to smuggle military firearms into the United States will have
their cases moved to New York, federal officials said Friday.

Garegin Gasparyan, 28, of Burbank and Tigran Gevorgyan, 21, of
Glendale, are among 18 alleged members of a crime syndicate accused
of trying to sell $2.5 million worth of weapons — including
rocket-propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-to-fire
surface-to-air missiles — to an FBI informant. The informant posed
as an arms trafficker with ties to Al Qaeda, prosecutors said. The
two were arrested locally March 16.

Gasparyan and Gevorgyan agreed Friday in a Los Angeles federal
courthouse to have their case handled by the New York U.S. Attorney’s
office, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s local
office.

“They waived their hearing, essentially agreeing to appear in New
York,” Mrozek said. “It’s [New York’s] case, we were just assisting
them in the initial proceedings out here.”

Armand Abramian, a 27-year-old Glendale man police were searching for
at the time of the arrests, has contacted authorities through his
lawyer, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles
office.

“Earlier in this week, his attorney was negotiating his surrender,
but it was unclear if he was in custody earlier today,” Eimiller said
Friday.

Representatives from New York’s FBI office were unavailable late
Friday.

The arrests were a result of a year-long investigation that included
15,000 wire-tapped phone conversations, according to the criminal
complaint unsealed March 16 in a New York federal court. The suspects
were arrested during roundups in Los Angeles, New York City and
Miami.

The ring’s alleged masterminds — Arthur Solomonyan and Christiaan
Dewet Spies, both of New York — were arrested after meeting with the
informant to finalize plans to import the military weapons from
Eastern Europe, prosecutors said.

The suspects sold eight illegal machineguns and other assault weapons
to the informant, prosecutors said.

Gasparyan and Gevorgyan were being held Friday at Metropolitan
Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Mrozek said. U.S.
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson set bail at $500,000, but
prosecutors have until Wednesday to appeal the bond setting to a New
York judge, he said.

* JACKSON BELL covers public safety and courts. He may be reached at
(818) 637-3232 or at [email protected].

GOAL.com

European World Cup Qualifying Group One Preview

3/26/2005 1:58:00 AM

Group One is finely poised with the top four teams separated by just
one point, although Holland and the Czech Republic have played a game
less than Finland and Romania.

It is tough to predict how the group will finish, although after
Saturday’s matches the situation should be clearer as the top four
are playing each other.

Romania and Holland, the top two teams on ten points, meet in
Bucharest, while the Czech Republic play host to Finland – a match
they’ll be expected to win. On Wednesday they travel to Andorra and
so will be expecting to pick up six valuable points that will put
them in prime position to qualify for Germany 2006.

Marco van Basten’s side will take a giant leap towards qualification
if they leave Romania with all three points, but his young squad
face an experienced Romanian team notoriously hard to beat on their
home turf. In their last trip abroad the Dutch outfit came unstuck
at Macedonia, only drawing 2-2, but they have main striker Ruud van
Nistelrooy back in contention, as is the red-hot Arjen Robben.

The makeweights in the group, Armenia and Andorra, meet in the
remaining fixture on Saturday

Putin: CIS Should be Preserved

Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 25 2005

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 25 while visiting
Armenia’s capital, Yerevan that it is necessary to preserve the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

“Expecting from the CIS outstanding achievements in the spheres of
economy, political and military cooperation, naturally led to nothing,
since there were no prerequisites for that,” news agency RIA Novosti
quotes Vladimir Putin as saying.

The Russian President describes the CIS as a “useful club” for exchange
of information as well as for the determination of opinions on common
problems, economic and humanitarian issues.

“Which platform would be the most suitable for the discussion of
these issues,” says the Russian President.

According to him, the main purpose for setting up the Commonwealth
of Independent States was to symbolically have a civilized divorce
after the Soviet Union’s disintegration. “It had no other integrated
purpose,” the Russian President added.

Tensions mount over disputed Karabakh regionby Simon Ostrovsky

Relief Web

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 20 Mar 2005

BAKU, March 20 (AFP) – Long-simmering tensions over the disputed
enclave of Karabakh in the volatile Caucasus have flared recently,
sparking fears that the escalation of hostilities along a ceasefire
line between Armenian and Azeri forces could lead to a new war.

“In the eleven years since the ceasefire was signed there have only
been two or three occasions when tensions were at this level, and each
time the situation could have deteriorated into war,” Azad Isazade,
a prominent military analyst in Azerbaijan and a former information
official in the 1988-1994 war for Karabakh told AFP.

Armenia has controlled Karabakh and seven surrounding regions which
make up 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory
since the two former Soviet republics ended large-scale hostilities
with a ceasefire in 1994.

But an escalation of ceasefire breaches and a mounting death toll
reported in recent weeks by the Azeri media have given observers
pause and caused concern in Washington, as efforts to resolve the
territorial dispute diplomatically have disintegrated.

In the past month alone there have been reports of numerous exchanges
of fire between Azeri and Armenian forces resulting in the deaths of
at least four Azeris and the capture of another three. During 2004,
six Azeri soldiers were killed.

Officials in Armenian-controlled Karabakh have also confirmed the
casualties, but did not provide figures.

“This shows that the conflict is not frozen and it is necessary to
work to resolve it,” the United States’ ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno
Harnish was quoted by Azeri media as saying last week amidst calls
by the radical Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) in Azerbaijan
to prepare for war.

“We can only free our lands using force, we can only get results by
following the principles of force against force, blood for blood and
death to the enemy,” the KLO said in a statement.

Meanwhile the foreign ministers of the two Caucasus countries have
cancelled talks that were scheduled for this month in Prague, and
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said there could be no compromises
over Karabakh and last week threatened to resolve the issue “by other
means” if negotiations fail.

Raising the stakes is a four-billion-dollar oil pipeline being built by
Anglo-American BP that will represent one of the West’s main non-OPEC
sources of oil when completed later this year, and portions of which
lie dangerously close to the ceasefire line.

War over Nagorno-Karabakh ended with some 35,000 casualties and
displaced one million people. Analysts warn that today, Armenian and
Azeri armies could inflict significantly more damage onto each other,
compared with the poorly-equipped rag-tag battalions that formed
after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

According to Isazade, today’s escalation is the result of a
geopolitical tug-of-war for dominance in the Caucasus between the
United States, backing Azerbaijan and Georgia, and Russia, which
backs Armenia.

“There have been rumors that America wants to use Azerbaijan as a
platform to attack Iran, in exchange Azerbaijan expects help getting
Karabakh back. Armenia understands this so they have been shooting
as if to say ‘we’re still here,’ probably goaded on by Russia,”
Isazade said.

But separatist officials in the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh
Republic blamed the escalation on Azeri forces which they said have
been making dangerous attempts to capture new positions closer to
Armenian lines.

They are purposefully “moving their firing positions closer to the
Nagorno Karabakh defense army’s forward lines, thereby thinning the
so-called ‘no man’s land,’ which has resulted in the escalation of
tensions along the front line,” the republic’s self-styled deputy
foreign minister Masis Mailyan told AFP.

An analyst in Yerevan said the frequent shootouts were Azerbaijan’s
way of destabilizing the situation to show that negotiations headed
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
were failing so that discussions could be moved to a new arena such
as the United Nations.

“They want to show that the OSCE can’t control the situation … In
the UN they hope to find the support of other Muslim nations,” said
the Stepan Safaryan, an analyst with the Armenian Center for Strategic
and National Research.

mkh-son/yad/jmy AFP 201320 GMT 03 05

Copyright (c) 2005 Agence France-Presse Received by NewsEdge Insight:
03/20/2005 08:22:58

ARMENIAN PERFORMANCE AT HOLLYWOOD GALLERY THEATRE

Azg/arm
22 March 05

Nor Or weekly informed about “Women Can Be Different” play by Shuoshan
Partizpanian. The play deals with the changes that take place within
the soul of an Armenian woman. The director chose 4 types of women
that express their viewpoints on family, marriage, love, loyalty,
womenâ~@~Ys rights and their activities. Certainly, these issues are
developing within the framework of the relations with men. The play
depicted a new character of a woman shaped by the American lifestyle,
who hasnâ~@~Yt given up her traditional features fully. The main
character of the play is a divorce lawyer that has to deal with many
problems of the women.

The play was staged by Nazareth Kjurtoghlian. The company consists of
amateur actors Nazareth Kjurtoghlian, Haroutyun Saghrian, Meliqset
Kjurtoghlian, Becky Chinpashian, Lena Melkonian, Vickie Ohanian,
Perch Pultukian, Elizabeth Hzor and Gevorg Gazanchian.

The comedy is written and performed in Western Armenian.

–Boundary_(ID_8OLKz3mVQGdelq6IDzX4Eg)–

CONGRESSMAN RADANOVICH PLEDGES TO SUPPORT GENOCIDE REAFFIRMATION EFFORTS

WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 18. ARMINFO. The Armenian Assembly’s campaign
for reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide gained strength today as
Representative George Radanovich (R-CA), a member of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues, vowed to sponsor and support initiatives
leading to U.S. recognition of the attempted annihilation of the
Armenian people.

AAA reports that in a speech before Congress today, Radanovich thanked
current and former U.S. Ambassadors to Armenia John Evans and Harry
Gilmore for publicly using the term to characterize this crime against
humanity. “I thank the Ambassadors for their statements and pledge to
continue my ongoing efforts to sponsor initiatives that would build on
the U.S. record towards an inevitable, full and irrevocable
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide,” Radanovich said. Evans,
who has studied Russian and Ottoman History at Yale and Columbia
Universities, as well as the Kennan Institute, publicly affirmed the
Armenian Genocide during meetings with major Armenian-American
communities last month.

During those exchanges, Evans declared, “the Armenian Genocide was the
first genocide of the twentieth century.” Gilmore, who has also
studied the subject extensively, recently told Radio Free Europe/
Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that, “There is no doubt that the Armenian
events were genocide.” The former diplomat told the news agency that
the United Nations Genocide Convention, which was adopted following
World War II, “sets up a standard and the massacres and deportations
of the Ottoman Armenians meet that standard fully.”

On the heels of these and other pubic declarations, the Armenian
Assembly launched a national campaign to urge President Bush to
properly recognize the Armenian Genocide in his statement of
remembrance next month.

To that end, the Assembly mobilized its nationwide network of
activists to join this effort, and those of Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ), who are rallying Members of Congress to urge the President
to formally recognize the Genocide.

15 PEOPLE INJURED IN MASS SKIRMISH IN EASTERN GEORGIA

TBILISI, March 18, ARMINFO- /BLACK SEA PRESS/. Fifteen persons were
injured in mass fight in the village of Avralo in Tsalka region in
East Georgia. The incident took place because of everyday reasons.

The press service of Interior Ministry of Georgia informs RIA
“Novosti” that members of several families of migrants from Achara
attacked upon the local residents of Greek nationality and beat them
up. Greeks and Armenians from the same village beat the initiators of
the fight, Georgians by nationality.

Police group of Kvemo Kartli left for the place. Criminal proceedings
were instituted, and one person was detained.

They declared in the Interior Ministry that the situation was under
proper control, and there was no necessity of placing of extra forces
from the capital.

New York Daily News
March 16 2005

Gang of arms peddlers held

18 arrested in fed sting

By ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF

Armenian national Artur Solomonyan was one of 18 men collared by the
feds yesterday in an arms smuggling sting.

A New York-based gang allegedly peddling Russian-made surface-to-air
missiles and rocket-propelled grenades was blown away yesterday in an
FBI sting, officials said.
The heavy weapons pipeline stretched from Eastern Europe to the
Brooklyn home of an alleged arms smuggler who once boasted of being
able to get uranium to bomb the subways, authorities said.

Artur Solomonyan, a Armenian national who lives in Sheepshead Bay,
was among 18 men arrested by the feds after a year-long
investigation.

The probe was mounted with the help of a gun-savvy informant who
reeled in the arms dealers posing as a moneyman eager to buy weapons
for Al Qaeda terrorists, officials said.

“The defendants showed they were willing to sell anything to anybody
for the right price,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.

Investigators grabbed Solomonyan, 26, and Christiaan Spies, 33, also
of Sheepshead Bay, Monday night outside the Embassy Suites Hotel in
Battery Park City, police said.

The rest of the alleged dealers were routed from their beds in New
York, Miami and Los Angeles early yesterday.

“This case posted a big ‘Keep Out’ sign for arms traffickers
everywhere,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Solomonyan and Spies, a South African, allegedly offered to ship more
than 200 rocket propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-fired
surface-to-air missiles from Armenia and Chechnya to New York, Los
Angeles and Miami.

Solomonyan touted alleged connections to ex-KGB officials and former
military leaders in Chechnya and Georgia willing to sell weapons to
the highest bidder, officials said.

“They had the connections and weapons terrorists need to turn a
deadly dream into a deadly reality,” said Andrew Arena,
agent-in-charge of the FBI’s New York criminal division.

Solomonyan and Spies provided the informant with a Web site and
password to view a catalogue of military hardware, authorities said.

Solomonyan allegedly set the informant up with a host of arms
dealers, and sold him eight weapons – including an Israeli Uzi, SKS
fully automatic assault rifle and AK-47s.

Solomonyan and Spies were arrested before they could travel to Europe
with the phony IDs and green cards provided by the informant,
officials said.

Solomayan was “unbelievably determined to be a major arms dealer,”
said a law enforcement source. “Combine his level of determination
and the arms bazaar in Eastern Europe and you have trouble.”

Afraid that the informant thought he was too young to be a weapons
dealer, Solomonyan also boasted he could get “enriched uranium …
which could be used in the subway,” according to court papers.

But investigators found no evidence that he could make good on the
one-time claim, and uranium was never mentioned again in more than
15,000 intercepted phone calls.

With Melissa Grace and Celeste Katz

PanArmenian News
March 15 2005

PRESENTATION DOCUMENT OF ARMENIA-NATO PARTNERSHIP INDIVIDUAL ACTION
PLAN WILL BE PRESENTED IN APRIL-MAY

15.03.2005 06:56

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Presentation Document of the Armenia-NATO
Individual Partnership Action Plan will be presented in end of April
– beginning of May, Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, lieutenant
general Artur Aghabekian stated. In his wrods, with the support of
George Marshall Center a seminar devoted to the working out of the
Individual Partnership Action Plan will be held in Yerevan in April.
He also noted that with the NATO PfP Planning and Review Process-PARP
delegation questions of expansion of cooperation within PARP are
being discussed in Armenia at present.

Turkish Press
March 15 2005

Gul: Turkey Is Willing For A Solution In Cyprus
Published: 3/14/2005

LONDON – ”The Turkish side did its best to find a solution to Cyprus
problem,” Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday,
recalling the efforts exerted within the framework of Annan plan.

Gul replied to questions following the speech he made in a luncheon
in Bloomberg building in London.

Gul said the Turkish party fulfilled its responsibilities by saying
‘yes’ to the Annan plan. ”Despite this, isolation of the Turkish
Cypriot side continued, and the Greek Cypriots were honored despite
their negative attitude” Gul added.

Gul said his Justice & Development Party (AKP) was not an Islamist
but a conservative party, and denied the rumors that his party has a
secret agenda.

Replying to a question about relations with Armenia, Gul referred to
the problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and noted that there was
a very big improvement in Armenia-Turkey relations in the recent
years. Gul also said efforts were underway to solve the problem
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

When recalled the discussions stemming from headscarf problem, Gul
said the problem could be solved through a comprehensive consensus.

Evaluating the developments in Iraq, Gul said the elections that took
place in Iraq was very important. ”There is no other choice but
political solution,” Gul noted.