Author: Zakarian Garnik

BY "INFORMATION WARS" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "ARMENPRESS" NEWS AGENCY’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY MARKED

ARMENPRESS
Dec 18, 2008
YEREVAN

With the launch of the "Information Wars" international conference
in Yerevan State University the 90th anniversary of "Armenpress"
news agency was marked. With the December 18, 1918 decision of the
National Council of Republic of Armenia state information agency –
Armenian Telegraph agency was created being named "Armenpress".

The two-day conference was organized by state jubilee commission
of "Armenpress" 90th anniversary, YSU Journalism Department and
"Armenpress" news agency.

Secretary General of the Armenian National Security Council Arthur
Baghdasarian, on behalf of the state jubilee commission – deputy
culture minister David Muradian as well as heads of leading foreign
and local mass media participated and delivered speeches at the event.

The representatives of Russian "ITAR-TASS", Georgian "GHN", Belarus
"BELTA", Ukrainian "Ukrinform", Moldavian "Moldpres", Bulgaria’s "BTA"
news agencies referred in their speeches to the current methods of
information wars, their peculiarities and goals and their impact on
the formation of public opinion.

Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly’s science, education,
culture, sports and youth affairs permanent commission Armen Ashotian,
Armenian deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharian, general director
of "Armrusgasard" company Karen Karapetian, chairman of the Armenian
Manufacturers and Businessmen Union Arsen Ghazarian, director of
"Noravank" scientific-educational foundation Gagik Harutyunian,
general director of Microsoft RA Grigor Barseghian, head of public
relations department of "ArmenTel" company Anush Beghloyan, head
of IREX-Program of Support to Armenia’s Mass Media Robert Evans,
YSU professors and exerts also delivered speeches at the conference.

Within the frameworks of the conference photo exhibition "90 Years
with Armenia" opened.

As part of celebrations of 90th anniversary of "Armenpress" a number
of other events are expected to take place.

RETIRED DIPLOMATS AGAINST INTELLECTUALS’ APOLOGY

Today’s Zaman
Dec 17 2008
Turkey

Deniz BölukbaÅ~_ı claims that in Turkey there is an Armenian lobby
and a campaign of apology forms a part of their objectives.

A group of retired Turkish ambassadors signed a declaration on Monday
urging intellectuals Baskın Oran, Ahmet İnsel and Ali Bayramoglu,
who had recently launched a campaign to apologize for the Ottoman
killings of Armenians in 1915, "not to be a part of an insidious plan
against Turkish national interests."

Recently, some Turkish intellectuals began to collect signatures for
a statement that contained a personal apology for the events of 1915,
which the Armenian claims of genocide are based on.

"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the
denial of the Great Catastrophe that Ottoman Armenians were subjected
to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my part, I empathize with
the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them,"
the intellectuals’ statement said.

But the group of retired diplomats, which includes former Foreign
Ministry undersecretaries Korkmaz Haktanır, Å~^ukru Elekdag and
Onur Oymen, in a counter-declaration stressed that the move was a
"disrespectful act toward Turkish history and its martyrs."

"Such a wrong and unilateral initiative is disrespectful to our
history and also to our people who lost their lives in violent
terrorist attacks during the history of the republic and during the
last years of the Ottoman Empire," the declaration stated.

The diplomats’ declaration made a point of mentioning the Armenian
Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in which 70 people,
including five ambassadors, four consul generals and 34 public workers,
lost their lives and 574 people were wounded.

It further claimed that "concessions such as unilateral apologies"
do not serve the aim of improving relations between Armenia and Turkey.

"If the aim is to improve relations between Turkey and Armenia and
come closer, the proper way to do this is not to make concessions
such as unilateral apologies, but to mutually recognize borders and
territorial integrity and it will be inevitable that we will share the
pain that both sides suffered during history," the declaration claimed,
and added, "Otherwise unilateral acts like apologizing will be wrong,
against the facts of history and will have grave consequences."

The diplomats underlined that the forced immigration of Armenians in
1915 had "bitter results" under war conditions, "but the pain of the
Turks were no less than that of the Armenians due to the Armenian
insurgency and terrorism," the diplomats claimed.

"First of all, Armenians who have killed innocent Turkish diplomats,
public servants and their families in the recent past should apologize
to the Turkish nation. These killers are still alive and unpunished
as they have been protected by Armenia and some other countries,"
the declaration noted.

The diplomats also claimed that the apology was the second phase of
a plan, the first phase of which was to influence world opinion with
terrorist attacks. They claimed that they are aware of the third phase
of plan, which is to demand compensation and make territorial claims.

The other diplomats who signed the declaration include former Foreign
Ministry spokesmen Necati Utkan and Omer Akbel. It was also signed
by former Ambassadors Akın Alp Tuna, Ertugrul Cıragan, Onur Oymen,
Candan Azer and Gun Gur, together with some others.

The retired Ambassadors are supported by Oktay Vural, the deputy
chairman of the parliamentary group of the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), who said the retired ambassadors had done the right thing but
interestingly the Foreign Ministry had kept quiet.

Former ambassador and now-MHP deputy Deniz BölukbaÅ~_ı claimed that
in Turkey there is an Armenian lobby and a campaign of apology forms
a part of their objectives.

"Who is apologizing for who? If there is anyone who should apologize,
it should be the intellectuals and Armenians. They should apologize
to the thousands of Anatolian people who suffered the Armenian
atrocities. Are these intellectuals apologizing to the Armenian
terrorists who killed Turkish diplomats and are still living in
Armenia?" BölukbaÅ~_ı asked.

–Boundary_(ID_BCjhXpspq5+QXzMdJcdADA)–

THE IDEA OF TURNING GYUMRI INTO A TECHNO PARK REALISTIC

AZG Armenian Daily
16/12/2008

Economy

The business-model for converting Gyumri into a techno park was
discussed in Gyumri on the initiative of the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) and the Academy of Educational
Development.

The Minister of Economy Nerses Eritsian mentioned that from the
programs directed to the development of the earthquake zone’s economy
the idea of turning Gyumri into a techno park is more realistic.

The research on Gyumri has been carried out by the head of "Shannon
International", expert Kevin Thomson. According to the latter, the
town has the necessary territories to create a techno park. The expert
also mentioned that the most important thing available in Gyumri is
the state and private cooperation.

"Gyumri is a crossroads in sense of infrastructures that is a good
prerequisite for export", Minister Eritsian told the journalists.

Le Monde, France
5 décembre 2008 vendredi

Un crime contre l’Histoire

LE MONDE DES LIVRES; Pg. 7

Taner Akçam démontre la responsabilité de l’Etat turc dans le génocide
des Arméniens

A ceux qui s’interrogent encore sur la réalité du génocide des
Arméniens, perpétré en 1915 par les Jeunes-Turcs au pouvoir à
Constantinople, le livre de Taner Akçam devrait ôter leurs derniers
doutes. Paru aux Etats-Unis en 2006, l’ouvrage de ce sociologue turc
prend à contre-pied la thèse officielle turque sur ce crime commis
pendant la Grande Guerre.

Pour la première fois, un chercheur turc a le courage d’ouvrir les
archives ottomanes sur cette période sensible et d’assumer pleinement
ce qui s’est passé : ici, la catastrophe est disséquée non du point de
vue des victimes mais à travers le regard des assassins. La
représentation du drame s’en trouve transformée. Avec Taner Akçam, ce
qui compte, ce n’est plus le témoignage des rescapés, mais d’abord
l’analyse d’un empire paranoïaque capable de transformer ses
dirigeants en bourreaux. A 55 ans, cet enseignant au Center for
Holocaust and Genocide de l’université du Minnesota concentre ses
travaux sur une question : " Avons-nous des preuves d’une
planification centrale et déterminée des autorités ottomanes visant la
destruction totale ou partielle du peuple arménien ? "

En Turquie, la tragédie de 1915 est encore aujourd’hui présentée comme
une cruelle conséquence de la guerre, et non comme un acte volontaire
et formalisé : selon cette thèse, les sources officielles ne
comporteraient aucune preuve de l’élimination délibérée et
systématique des Arméniens. L’auteur démontre ici que ce discours est
sans fondement. De façon irréfutable, il souligne la responsabilité du
régime au pouvoir, de l’Etat, de son administration, et d’abord de
l’armée. La bureaucratisation du meurtre collectif apparaît évidente,
dit-il, dès lors que l’on se fonde sur " les minutes des débats
parlementaires, la correspondance privée des organisateurs du crime et
les procès-verbaux de soixante-trois tribunaux militaires jugeant en
1919 les dirigeants du CUP – le Comité union et progrès, le parti au
pouvoir – ", qui accablent ce dernier ainsi que l’armée turque.

Outre la responsabilité de l’Etat, Taner Akçam insiste sur la
continuité entre les Jeunes-Turcs et les kémalistes qui fondent la
République en 1923 : en effet, la majorité des dirigeants de la
Turquie moderne sont issus des rangs jeunes-turcs, y compris Mustapha
Kemal, et nombre d’entre eux sont compromis dans l’entreprise
génocidaire.

Cette idée de continuité est rarement examinée par les historiens ;
elle rompt avec la thèse selon laquelle la République kémaliste
n’aurait rien à voir avec les événements de 1915. En réalité, les lois
adoptées dans les années 1920 parachèvent le processus d’éradication
de la présence arménienne dans le pays.

C’est le nationalisme qui fait le lien entre les deux régimes. Taner
Akçam en décortique l’ambition : créer une Turquie homogène. Un
dessein interrompu par les échecs militaires (1912-1915) attribués à "
l’élément arménien ". Enfin, il aborde l’aspect économique de ce crime
contre l’humanité, considérant que c’est dans la spoliation des
Arméniens de l’empire, souvent aisés, que sont jetées les bases d’une
bourgeoisie turque, pilier de la proto-modernité kémaliste.

Telles seraient donc les origines du négationnisme d’Etat toujours en
vigueur en Turquie, mais désormais bousculé par une société turque
désireuse de s’approprier son histoire. En ce sens, ce livre salué par
Orhan Pamuk, Prix Nobel de littérature 2006, invite la Turquie à
revisiter sa mémoire. L’exercice est courageux : à Ankara, tout auteur
qui soulève le tabou arménien voit sa liberté menacée par les
tribunaux. Ancien militant d’extrême gauche, qui a connu la prison
dans les années 1980, Akçam n’en prend pas moins, désormais, ses
précautions : " Un acte honteux " n’est-elle pas l’expression utilisée
par Kemal lui-même pour qualifier l’extermination des Arméniens ?

Hier comme aujourd’hui, l’identité arménienne, prolongement de la
culture occidentale, demeure une pierre d’achoppement entre Turcs et
Européens. Tant que la Turquie ne s’interrogera pas " sur sa
perception des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie ", prévient-il,
le dissensus sur les normes éthiques perdurera. Selon Taner Akçam, il
revient donc à la Turquie de s’affranchir de cet " acte honteux " par
un acte courageux : la reconnaissance du génocide.

Gaïdz Minassian

Un acte honteuxLe génocide arménien et la question de la
responsabilité turque de Taner Akçam Traduit du turc par Odile
Demange, Denoël, 490 p., 25 ¤.

BULGARIAN, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS TO OPEN BUSINESS FORUM

Focus News
Dec 11 2008
Bulgaria

Sofia. Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov and his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan are to open Thursday Armenian-Bulgarian
business forum, presidency press office informed.

The forum will be held at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, in hall 2 at 10.00 a.m. /local time/.

At 10.40 a.m., the two presidents will attend the opening an exposition
by Sergei Paravanov. The event will take place at the National Gallery
for Foreign Art.

LAND BORDER BETWEEN ARMENIA AND BULGARIA WILL BE OPENED SOON, PRESIDENT SARGSYAN ASSURES
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
11.12.2008 15:36

In a few hours the delegation headed by President Serzh Sargsyan will
return to Armenia. This morning the Armenian-Bulgarian Business Forum
took place in Sofia, at which the Presidents of the two countries
called on businessmen, as well as the Bulgarian Armenians to actively
participate in the establishment of economic ties.

The economic cooperation was at the core of yesterday’s talks between
the Presidents of Armenia and Bulgaria Serzh Sargsyan and Georgi
Parvanov.

Serzh Sargsyan assured today that very soon the land border between
Armenia and Bulgaria will open, and it will make the perspectives of
productive economic activity more realistic.

ARMENIAN CONVERSEBANK ORAGNIZES SEVEN WONDERFUL DAYS ACTION

ARKA
Dec 10, 2008

YEREVAN, December 10. /ARKA/. Conversebank (Armenia), in cooperation
with the VISA payment system, is conducting a bonus campaign Seven
Wonderful Days.

According to the information available on Conversebank’s official
website, the campaign is an opportunity for card-holders to get one
bonus point for every 1,000 AMD in noncash transactions at 25 million
service points of the VISA system worldwide, with highest number of
points for one transaction being ten.

The fifteen participants that score the highest number of points will
participate in a raffle and receive bonuses.

The winner will receive a 2-person tourist voucher for a trip to Egypt
with a special program and visits to the seven wonders of the country.

The second winner will receive a VISA GOLD card with a positive
balance of 500,000 AMD.

The third winner will receive a Visa Classic card with 150,000 AMD,
fourth to tenth winners Visa Classic cards with 80,000 AMD on each
account, and 11th to 15th winners will receive souvenirs.

Started on December 8, 2008, the campaign will last until February
18, 2009.

The results are to be summed up February 19 through 25. The raffle
is scheduled for February 28.

The Conversebank CJSC was incorporated on December 20, 1993. Eduardo
Eurnekian, an Argentina-based Armenian businessman, became holder
of 95% of Conversebank shares, with the rest 5% being hel d by the
Armenian Apostolic Church. As of October 31, the bank’s total capital
reached 13bln AMD, assets 63.9bln AMD and liabilities 50.9bln AMD.

According to the information at ARKA’s disposal, at the end of the
3rd quarter of 2008 Conversebank registered the sixth largest assets,
customer crediting volume, liabilities and total capital, as well as
the 3rd largest amount of deposits attracted from individuals and
legal entities. The bank also registered the 5th largest profits
this January-September.

Conversebank is currently rendering services by means of the following
international payment systems: Migom, Contact, Blizko, InterExpress,
Leader, Allure and Gold Crown.

The bank has 25 branches, with eight of them in Yerevan.

EVENTS DEDICATED TO THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF SPITAK EARTHQUAKE

AZG Armenian Daily
09/12/2008

Spitak earthquake

Delegations of 20 countries visited Armenia to participate in the
events dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Spitak earthquake.

Representatives of the countries that gave a helping hand to Armenia
in those days were invited to participate in the events. Guests
from the former Soviet republics, Hungary, Vatican, Switzerland,
also Serbia and Russia arrived in Armenia.

35-40 representatives of different diplomatic centers accredited in
Armenia were present at December 7 events.

On December 6, the delegation members visited Tsitsernakaberd memorial
to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, Sergey Parajanov museum,
Matenadaran and the Holy See of Ejmiatsin.

An exhibition of documentary materials under heading "Your pain is
my pain – 20 years later" was held at the National History Museum.

"Moscow Virtuozi" chamber orchestra performed at Aram Khachatrian
concert hall presenting Mozart’s "Requiem".

TULARE COUNTY AG MUSEUM SET TO GO UP
By Lewis Griswold

Fresno Bee
Dec 5 2008
CA

Construction of the Museum of Agriculture and Farm Labor at Mooney
Grove will begin in January, said Brian Summers, capital projects
coordinator for Tulare County.

Bids were opened Tuesday, and Webb & Son of Porterville had the low
bid of $2.3 million for the two-story building, which was designed
to look like a barn. It’ll be 17,000 square feet.

For drama, architect James Cioffi of Palm Springs put glass from floor
to roof on the entire north end wall. Rooftop solar panels will be
installed for an extra $90,000.

The county will spend $2.4 million on the project. Supervisors are
scheduled to review the winning bid on Dec. 16 and vote yes or no.

Twelve bids were received, and all came in under the engineer’s
estimate, probably reflecting the state of the economy, Summers
said. The building should be completed in September 2009.

The Tulare County Historical Society won a state grant of $1.5 million
from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. The historical
society has pledged to seek contributions from the community toward
the cost of the building, and the county’s Millennium Fund will cover
the remainder.

When the museum opens, the contribution by Armenians to local
agriculture and farm labor will be highlighted, with other ethnic
groups added over time, said historical society past president Carl
Switzer.

FOSSILS HOLD GIFT DAY: The Exeter Fossils club will host its 14th
annual Children’s Christmas Store on Saturday at the First Southern
Baptist Church in Farmersville, starting at 8 a.m. until all gifts
are gone.

The Fossils spend the year finding gifts, then on the big day they
let children from kindergarten through eighth grade come in, select
a gift, and have it wrapped to take home for Christmas, said Barbara
Fowler. They’re not free, but cost only 5 cents to $1.

No adults are allowed in while the child selects his or her gift, but
each child is escorted by student volunteers from Farmersville High.

PARADE WINNER: Girl Scout Unit No. 12 won the sweepstakes award in the
Candy Cane Lane Parade for its float on the theme "A Child’s Christmas
Fantasy." The Girl Scouts got $500, a plaque and bragging rights.

The float had a train and a candy cane house, built by Charles Spencer,
husband of longtime Girl Scout leader Aloah Spencer. The girls made
the ornaments.

ABC30 will air a tape of the parade at 7 p.m. Sunday.

CALENDAR BOYS: Visalia Community Bank released its 10th annual calendar
of historical photos. Copies are free at bank branches.

The April photo shows four Cub Scouts — Bill Bohland, Stan Simpson,
Tom Link and Duane Davis — selling raffle tickets to the county
Board of Supervisors in 1950.

All four are still alive and showed up for a calendar party at the
bank this week.

12TH CONFERENCE OF ORGANIZATION FOR PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN HAGUE

ArmInfo
2008-12-08 11:44:00

ArmInfo. The 12th conference of the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons was held in Hague on December 2-5. As the Armenian
Foreign Ministry press service reported, the delegation of Armenia
at the conference was headed by Permanent Representative of Armenia
to the Organization Samvel Lazarian. The delegation also included
adviser of the Foreign Ministerial Department for Control of Armament
and International Security A. Aznavouryan.

Secretary of the Organization Rogelio Pfirter presented a paper
at the session. He introduced the process of implementation of the
Convention for the prohibition of chemical weapons, the results of the
second conference on revision of the document. He also touched on the
situation in separate regions, as well as the existing problems. In
2008, Congo and Guinea-Bissau joined the Convention, and it will become
obligatory also for Lebanon till late, 2008. Thus, 185 members will
enter the Organization and only 10 countries will not join it. Armenia
joined all the EU statements adopted at the conference.