Another innocent bystander killed

I’m always saddened to hear when criminals are shot dead and innocent bystanders are killed. What is wrong with hit-men these days? What happened to professionalism? I guess this is another indicator of corruption reaching all areas of life in Armenia. I wonder how much of a bribe the suspected hit-man paid to get into hit-man school? Probably never attended a day of class, got his diploma and secured himself employment. They need to track this guy down and take his license to kill away until he learns how to conduct himself professionally. The same is true for doctors and law enforcement. If we can’t re-establish professionalism among those who need to act professionally, many innocent people are facing the possible loss of life.

Anyway, my condolences to Gyulnara Karapetyan's family. I truly am sorry for the loss of the life of another Armenian mother.

WELL-KNOWN UNDERWORLD LEADER BY NICKNAME "HAY-HOOY" KILLED

Yerevan, August 8. ArmInfo. A well-known underworld leader, one of the leaders of the Armenian organized criminal gang of Moscow Alexander Givoyev by nickname "Hay-Hooy" was killed on highway Ashtarak-Gyumri at 1:30p, today.

Armenian Prosecutor General's Office official web-site says A. Givoyev was driving from Yerevan to Gyumri with his family. When he stopped his "Grand Cherokee" to make purchases in a nearby shop, a red VAZ32109 with unknown state number plate approached the Jeep and fired at A. Givoyev with a machine gun. Givoyev died in the place.

Accidentally, the seller Gyulnara Karapetyan was also killed.

Investigation is underway. A criminal case on the articles 104.2 and 235.1 was initiated.

To be noted, in 2002 A. Givoyev presented his candidature for the office of Yerevan's 'Center' community. In his pre-election program he promised to solve all the social problems of the community and later, of Armenia in general, due to organizing donations of Russian Armenian businessmen. Alexander Givoyev was born in Yerevan, 1954, and in the middle 1990's was one of the renowned leaders of the Russian organized criminal underworld. He had close relations with certain Armenian underworld leaders, particularly ex-president of the so-called 'Armenian Assembly' Serge Jilavian, opponent to the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian.

THE LISTS OF THE ARMENIAN CRIMINAL IS MADE

Lragir.am
9 Aug 06

We have learned that the establishment of the anti-criminal pact in Armenia is underway, and the initiators are likely to conduct a highly systematized survey of the structure and activities of the criminal contingent of the Armenian government. We have learned that the anti-criminal pact will have different task forces, which will study the past and the present of the criminal. In particular, the university diplomas and the ways they were acquired will be investigated.

The pact will also deal with the property of the administrative criminal resource, the history of its formation, its activities in the past, facts of cooperation with the police in relations with criminal authorities, nicknames. We have learned that the anti-criminal pact will also study the army-criminal and criminal-universities relations.

Our source informs that the anti-criminal actions are not confined to a single pact. We have learned that similar organizations are set up inside different political parties. Almost all the anti-criminal movements consider their prime problem to clarify the list of the criminals to reach a nominal and clear investigation. The initial list of the criminal in the government is ready. It is interesting that the lists of all these anti-criminal lists basically overlap.

Our source also informs that certain circles of the Republican Party support the idea of joining the anti-criminal, though not openly but practically, because they have also started to dislike that the Republican Party is becoming a shelter for the administrative-criminal resource.

"ASALA IS NOT A TERRORIST STRUCTURE" HISTORIAN VLADIMIR PETROSIAN IS SURE

YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. "I came to the conviction that there is no international terrorism: who did not like a national-liberation movement, he called it "terrorism." Vladimir Petrosian, Doctor of History, Professor made such a statement at the August 7 presentation of his "Let's not Forget..."

("Chmoranank...") book. According to him, "the main author and organizer of terrorism is the United States of America which, to mask their own terrorism, ascribe it to others just at the beginning." According to V.Petrosian, when writing the "Let's not Forget" book, he made an attempt to find out if the Armenian Secret Army, ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia), is a terrorist organization. Studying the ASALA activity of the last three years, the author came to conviction that one may not qualify this organization as a terrorist structure as the Armenian Secret Army was created based on patriotic ideology and led a national-liberating struggle. Even more, according to V.Petrosian, the ASALA ideology may be put in the basis of today's state foreign policy.

Stands Devoted to Khojalu to Be Set at Holocaust Museums

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.08.2006 18:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Stands devoted to the so-called "Azeri genocide" in Khojalu will be established worldwide, Head of the Department of Propaganda, Information and Analysis of the State Committee for Work with Azeris Living Abroad Javanshir Veliyev said.

In his words, certain work is done to that end. "After working out the final project of actions of Azeri and Jewish Diaspora, the process of establishment of stands will begin. This meets the interests of not only Azeri, but also Jewish Diaspora organizations," Veliyev stated, reports Trend.

Genocide warning

The Washington Times
August 4, 2006 Friday

EMBASSY ROW; Pg. A15

By James Morrison, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is angered that President Bush's nominee to serve as ambassador to Armenia refuses to recognize the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota told the Associated Press this week that he plans to vote against confirming Richard E. Hoagland, a career Foreign Service officer who recently served as ambassador to Tajikistan.

In a committee hearing, Mr. Hoagland followed administration policy by declining to use the word, "genocide," to describe the killings between 1915 and 1917 by troops of the old Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Mr. Coleman told the AP, "I continue to be troubled by our policy that refuses to recognize what was a historical reality."

Like previous administrations, the Bush White House declines to call the killings genocide to avoid angering officials of the modern Turkish republic who insist the Armenians died in an uprising.

John Evans, the former U.S. ambassador to Armenia, was forced to resign after he publicly referred to the Armenia genocide.

Baptized in Shushi

Yesterday we baptized Arsen. Arsen is 6 years old and though only now being baptized, has been accompanying his mother and older sister to Church for many years.

When we returned from the Church, we found Lavrent’s brother in front of their house tending to the fire we barbequed the pork we purchased in Stepanagert earlier that day.

Lavrent’s brother asked Arsen a few questions about the baptism, one asking him if he was now Armenian? Arsen looked to his uncle and said in a sarcastic tone, “did you think I was a Turk before I was baptized? I’ve always been Armenian, I’m now a Christian.”

A discussion about religion and what is means to be a Christian went on as we barbequed. The issue of our recent visitors to Martuni and learning that the same people had stopped in Shushi, preaching to those that would listen while they passed out bibles, one boy saying they also passed out natural juices. One man commenting that the Armenians of Artsakh are like children when it comes to religion and if someone from the outside comes and preaches, they suck up what is being said.

We took our barbeque pork and made our way to Lavrent’s house where we had a feast to celebrate Arsen’s re-birth. One of our guests asked Arsen who was that person affixed to the cross he wore? Arsen looked at the cross and said it was Jesus babig. Babig in Armenian is grandfather and in the day of the Soviet, Lenin was known as “Lenin babig.”

After our meal with many toasts to Arsen, his family, friends and all those who are a part of his life, I departed for Martuni, leaving Arsen with a few words of wisdom as to how he should live his life as a good Christian. Everything good he does adds points to my record with God and anything bad he accidentally might do, God punishes me since I’m the one responsible for guiding him in being a good person. He assured me he would do his best.

The heat is on...

It’s been quite hot here in Martuni. Last Saturday we had some unexpected rain which helped cool things and settle the dust. I’m hoping for more rain, but it really does not look like there will be any in the near future.

BBQ season for me is coming to an end as I’m sick of pork and know that consuming the quantities I’ve been putting away can’t be healthy at all. For this reason as of this coming Saturday, I’ll give up pork all together and stick to chicken and fish.

So why should I wait until Saturday to give it up? Well on Friday I will become the Godfather to Lavrent’s son Arsen. The baptism will take place in Shushi and following will be a feast of BBQ pork. For those of you who don’t know who Lavrent is, he is one of my Godchildren who was baptized 2 years ago and is a war veteran who had 30 encounters with landmines.

For the last year I’ve been documenting my father-in-law’s life. Yesterday I video interviewed his mother and today after much convincing his mother-in-law agreed to a video interview.

My father-in-law, Saribek had a very interesting life that was cut short on June 12, 1993 in Mersulu, Azerbaijan after an operation to connect Askern and the Martuni region. The operation didn’t go well and in the end Saribek, along with Monte Melkonian lost their lives.

I plan to prepare a documentary about him, which with the materials I have paints a very colorful life of a man who seemed to have no fears and was ready to and did give his life for what he believed in. He was a singer who traveled all over the former Soviet Union to perform at weddings, a human-rights activist and a freedom-fighter.

The music for the documentary I plan on using a recording of nationalist songs sung by Saribek himself.

I’m hoping to have the documentary ready before our first child is born so when it is old enough and want to know about his/her family history it will have the documentary to learn about who it’s grandfather was, told by those who knew him.

Anyway, I have to get going. My wife went to her mother’s house where they are preparing lunch. From there I will go to my grandmother-in-law’s house to interview her for the documentary.

IN KARABAKH THEY ARE EAGER TO KNOW WHY ARMENIA FOUNDATION DOES NOT HURRY

Lragir.am
01 Aug 06

The society in Nagorno Karabakh is worried why Armenia Foundation (All-Armenia Fund, Inc.) does not hurry to start the reconstruction of Martakert, for which 7 million dollars were raised during the November 2005 telethon. The Lragir has wrote about this for several times, pointing to the controversies between the NKR government and the leadership of Armenia Foundation. We have written that the Karabakh government does not want Naira Melkumyan to continue to be the chief executive of the foundation. The prime minister of Karabakh announced two months ago that the foundation is to blame for postponing the project of reconstruction of Martakert. Afterwards the foundation made an official release on the reconstruction of the project of Martakert.

The Karabakhopen.com published an article by Murad Petrosyan, the editor of the Chto Delat Newspaper in Stepanakert where the author says the reason of the slow pace of the foundation is that in the Armenian reality moral reputation, sense of duty and organizational abilities are overlooked in appointing key officials.

"If Ms. Melkumyan, the executive director of Armenia Foundation possessed the abovementioned traits, would she sit on 5 million dollars, which have a definite addressee, for 8 months?" asks Murad Petrosyan.

He says the later construction of infrastructure in Martakert is put out to tender and the longer the money for construction remains in the bank, the more income the money will bring. "And if now Ms. Melkumyan pays herself a salary of 2000 U.S. dollars, soon she will be able to increase this sum up to 3-4 thousand. If presently she has three managers and three assistants, soon she will be able to increase their number up to 6," writes Murad Petrosyan. However, he says, it would be wrong to blame only Naira Melkumyan for the slow reconstruction of Martakert.

"First of all, the one who appointed her is to blame. Second, the NKR government and NKR President Ghukasyan are to blame for this situation, as well as the government of Armenia, and especially Robert Kocharyan, who is the president of the board of trustees of Armenia Foundation," thinks Murad Petrosyan.

According to him, the laziness of the president of the board of trustees would be explicable if only Artsakh were dissatisfied with the activities of the foundation. Murad Petrosyan says, however, that complaints were heard on the airwaves of Radio Liberty, which is broadcast in the large Armenian Diasporan communities. Murad Petrosyan writes that this is the reason why he cannot understand the calm attitude of Robert Kocharyan towards all this, especially that soon there will be another telethon for Shushi and Hadrut.

This Friday on PBS...

This is for the L.A. area. Those of you that have access to PBS, check your listings...


COMING UP ON LIFE & TIMES
At 6:30 p.m. (repeated at 1a.m.)


ARMENIAN DANCE MASTER
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