U.S. Congress announced Office of President will be outsourced overseas

Congress today announced the Office of President will be outsourced overseas to save $400K a year in salary and preclude another record $521 billion in deficit expenditures. "We simply can't afford the recent spending level and expect to remain competitive on the world stage," said Congressman Adam Smith (D - Wash). "And, championed by President Bush, exporting American jobs has become the done thing."

Bush was informed of the termination of his position by e-mail. He will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Then, after a two week waiting period, he'll be eligible for $240 dollars a week of unemployment insurance for 13 weeks, but he won't receive state Medicaid coverage because his unemployment benefits are over the limit." I'm in shock," Bush lamented. "I figured fer sure I'd have job security around this here place. I have no idea what I'll do now."

Sanji Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India, will assume the Office of President as of July 1. Born in America while his parents were on student visas, Singh is thus eligible for the position. He'll receive a salary of $320 a month but no health coverage or other benefits. Owing to the time difference between the US and India, Mr. Singh will work primarily at night, when America is open for business. "I am excited about this," Singh stated. "And working nights will let me keep my day job at the American Express call center."

Congress called for patience noting Singh may not be au fait with all the issues, but he has been given a script file which will enable him to respond to most questions. "For additional savings, these scripts were previously used by Bush. and will enable Singh, like Bush, to provide answers without having to actually understand what he's talking about."

Congress continues to explore other outsourcing possibilities including such positions as Vice-president, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of the CIA, and other Cabinet level positions including National Security Adviser.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA / HETQ ONLINE

http://www.hetq.am/eng/photostory/

1 February 2005

THE RIGHT TO LIFE

Hetq Online Stages Event to Raise Awareness of the Problem of Homelessness in the Armenian Capital

YEREVAN, Armenia -- On 27 January 2005, over one hundred representatives of local and international NGOs, diplomatic missions, the local media and private individuals attended the presentation of a film and photographic exhibition highlighting the problem of homelessness in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The event, entitled "The Right to Life," was staged by the Investigative Journalists of Armenia / Hetq Online and held at the recently opened Naregatsi Art Institute in central Yerevan.

At the event, 19 photographs illustrating the problem of homelessness by British photojournalist Onnik Krikorian were displayed and a 19-minute documentary film produced by Edik Baghdasarian and Yerkir Media TV was presented to the assembled audience. The event was also used to launch a collection of articles and photographs by Krikorian. The book, "Armenia: Poverty, Transition & Democracy" was printed in Armenia and will be distributed worldwide by the Gomidas Institute (Princeton and London) and the UK-based Garod Books.

According to Edik Baghdasarian, Editor-in-Chief of Hetq Online, the event was necessary in order to raise public awareness of the increasing problem of homelessness in the capital city and the fact that neither the Mayor's Office, the Government nor local and international organizations seem too concerned about the fact that dozens of homeless people die on the streets of the Armenian capital each winter. According to the Yerevan Mayor's office, fourteen bodies had been buried in numbered pauper's graves reserved for the "unclaimed" at the back of the Nubarashen cemetery in the first 19 days of January alone.

Highlighting this fact, in just one month investigating the problem, Baghdasarian says that at least two homeless people he came into personal contact with are now dead. One of those men, fifty-eight year old Gor, was filmed by Baghdasarian just days before his death. In the film that received its premier at the event, Baghdasarian, the photographer and a film crew were seen stumbling upon Gor as he lay freezing in the basement of a new construction on the prestigious Northern Avenue. A few days later, despite Baghdasarian's attempts to help the man, he was dead.

However, according to the United Nation's definition of homelessness, the term does not just refer to those sleeping temporarily or permanently on the streets. In fact, as in the other more developed countries, homelessness also refers to those living in sub-standard accommodation or hostels and who lack access to safe water, sanitation and other public services and opportunities. Such a reality was also represented at the event through the photographic exhibition and in Baghdasarian's film which will be broadcast on Yerkir TV on 5 February at 10 p.m.

Media interest in the event was high with interviews conducted for the broadcast and print media. Later that evening, Baghdasarian was also interviewed live on air by Yerkir TV and used the occasion to highlight the reasons why the Armenian Government and city officials should tackle the problem now. Although an article of a draft law will refer to the need to offer 60 days shelter to those without accommodation, it is well known that laws rarely work in Armenia, if at all. There is also the question of when this provision will be implemented.

Such an opinion was expressed by Krikorian in televised and printed interviews conducted on the day. "Usually, when such a situation is reported on in the West, society demands that the Government act immediately," he said. "For example, if over twenty homeless people died on the streets of London in just a month and half, there would be calls for the Mayor to resign. However, in Armenia, nothing much happens at all and I doubt that the situation will change anytime soon. Yet, a shelter for the homeless was opened in Tbilisi, capital of the neighboring Republic of Georgia, six years ago."

Indeed, according to Baghdasarian, when the film-maker and journalist contacted local hospitals in order to secure treatment for one homeless man, they refused despite their legal and ethical obligation to do so. In fact, it was only after Krikorian contacted Medecins Sans Frontieres - France that the Armenian medical services agreed to treat the sixty year old -- probably out of fear that international assistance might be revoked if they didn't. Yet, even so, because of their initial refusal to help the homeless man in question, treatment came too late. Bash died days after being admitted into hospital with severe frostbite.

Although the event was an undoubted success in terms of raising public awareness of the issue, the two journalists nonetheless remained pessimistic about any possible change in the situation. Although Baghdasarian had met with Lise Grande, the Residential Representative of the United Nations in Armenia, a week earlier, the Armenian Government and local authorities still refuse to accept the fact that they have an obligation to prevent the deaths of scores of individuals on the streets of Yerevan each year. Grande promised to take this issue up with the authorities as well as international donors.

"We have been talking about the problem of the homeless in Yerevan for several weeks now," wrote Baghdasarian in a commentary published by Hetq Online a day earlier. "Is there anything that journalists can do about it? If we can't change anything with the articles we write, if we can't improve any lives, then it is pointless to keep doing this work. Even if hundreds of people respond to our articles, if nothing changes as a result, it means that something is wrong."

"All human rights follow from one basic right – the right to life," concluded Baghdasarian. "If that right is not guaranteed, everything else is meaningless."

---
Edik Baghdasarian's articles on the problem of homelessness in Yerevan can be found in the archive section of the Hetq Online web site. A presentation of some of the images exhibited and articles published by Hetq Online is now available for viewing online (4.93 Mbytes) or downloading (5.45 Mbytes) at:

http://www.hetq.am/eng/photostory/

The presentation is optimized for viewing at a minimum resolution of 1024x768. A second version of this presentation with a 19-minute documentary film produced by Edik Baghdasarian and Yerkir Media TV is also available on CD-Rom. Please contact Hetq Online for more details.

Guess who was picked up by the police in Dubai a little while back with his son and a friend? Click here to see who gets in trouble even when outside of Armenia?

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
31 January 2005

Deadly Car Crash Highlights Reckless Driving By Armenia’s Rich

By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Emil Danielyan

Two people were killed and at least six others injured in a car crash in Yerevan late on Sunday, the latest deadly consequence of reckless and unchecked driving by Armenia’s wealthiest citizens.

A spokesman for the Armenian police, Zarzand Gabrielian, confirmed on Monday reports that a luxury SUV car rammed three other vehicles on a busy street intersection near the city center. The incident occurred during a heavy snowfall that made traffic particularly dangerous.

The dead persons were the driver of a taxi and one of his passengers, a 30-year-old woman identified as Nata Ayunts. She was in the car with her husband and infant child. They both were hospitalized with serious injuries along with four other victims.

Gabrielian said the driver of the Hummer jeep, a certain Armen Tovmasian, fled the scene and sought medical aid at a hospital five hours later. “An investigation is underway,” he told RFE/RL without elaborating.

It was not clear if the man was questioned by the police or underwent alcohol tests the next morning. Gabrielian said only that Tovmasian is not the formal owner of the car, the hugely expensive civilian version of the Humvee personnel carriers widely used by the U.S. army. He also identified the car’s license plates as 77 SS 776.

Many wealthy and government-connected Armenians consider it highly prestigious to have as many repeated numbers on their cars’ license plats as possible. The most powerful of them usually ride in motorcades made up of several SUVs with virtually identical numbers.

The presence of several 8 digits, for example, indicates their ownership by millionaire businessman Gagik Tsarukian, while 6s are seen as the exclusive domain of another “oligarch,” Samvel Aleksanian. Individuals close to a brother of Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and a top army general, Seyran Saroyan, are thought to have three or more 7s on their plates.

The police spokesman claimed that it is still not known who is the officially registered owner of the Hummer in question. Another, more senior, police source said that there are only 11 Hummers in the impoverished country.

Luxury cars, especially those with “fancy” numbers, routinely ignore traffic lights and breach speed limits in Yerevan. Armenia’s notoriously corrupt traffic police rarely stop or fine them.

The virtual impunity enjoyed by them prompted a high-profile inquiry from President Robert Kocharian’s Oversight Service last autumn. Officials from the service had state television broadcast images of delinquent cars breaking traffic rules as part of the declared crackdown. Some of those cars were later impounded by the police. Their unpublicized owners were reportedly forced to donate 250,000 drams ($500) each to a government-linked private charity to get their property back.

Critics say the presidential agency has no legal authority to fine anybody and should have instead made sure that the police enforce the rules fairly and equally.

Armenialiberty.org

Turkey Wins Censorship of Armenian Genocide in German Schools

Those charming Turks appear to be taking lessons from their only ally in the middle east.

Wednesday 26, January 2005

Pressure from Turkey has resulted in the removal of a reference to the Armenian genocide from a German school curriculum, reports said Wednesday.

The eastern German state of Brandenburg has eliminated half a sentence on the Armenians included in ninth and tenth grade history classes after a Turkish diplomat complained to state Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck, the newspaper Die Welt reported.

In a chapter entitled "War, Technology and Civilian Populations" the school book text said "for example, the genocide of the Armenian population of Anatolia." That passage has now been removed from school textbooks, the newspaper said.

Platzeck met regularly with Turkish diplomats and was "steeled" against their influence, the newspaper quoted him as saying. The prime minister added that genocide was too important an issue to be dealt with in just half a sentence. "Brandenburg's curriculum was the only one in Germany which up until now included a reference to the murder of the Armenians," said Die Welt.

Most historians say that between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and 1916 under the Ottoman Turks during World War I. The Turkish government, which denies that a genocide took place, speaks of 200,000 dead.

A Turkish embassy spokesman in Berlin declined to comment directly on the report, but noted the initiative had come from the Turkish consulate responsible for Berlin and Brandenburg - not from the embassy itself.

Prime Minister Platzeck is a member of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social
Democrats (SPD). Schroeder is a strong supporter of Turkey's bid to become a
member of the European Union. Germany has almost two million resident Turks -- the biggest Turkish minority in the EU.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which serves as junior coalition partner in Brandenburg's government, is infuriated over the change to the state's schoolbooks. "The impression created is fatal," said Sven Patke, the state CDU secretary general.

The head of the Central Committee of Armenians in Germany, Schavarsh Ovassapian told Die Welt the move was "a scandal... It is depressing, if what's in schoolbooks in Brandenburg can be dictated from Ankara," he said.

Wales-Armenia Solidarity
Press Release

Uk government recognises the Armenian Genocide by the "back-door"

For the first time ever, an UK government web-site has referred to the "Armenian Genocide" and "Armenian Holocaust" This was in the official Holocaust Memorial Day web-site, with reference to the Commemmoration in Cardiff, Wales of the Commemmoration of the Armenian and Jewish Holocausts at the Temple of Peace, Cardiff on 26th January. Taking part was the First Minister of the National Assembly of Wales, Rhodri Morgan.

This might be the way of testing the water by the British government, who are fearful of debating the matter in full view of the media, but are hoping for a gradual softening by the Turks on the issue. It seems that they are happily allowing Wales to take the moral lead, seeing what the Turkish response will be.

During the meeting, Jenny Randerson, a senior figure in the Welsh Liberal Democrats and a former minister in the Assembly government conveyed that she was astonished at the sustained pressure to which she was subjected since speaking out on the Genocide issue in 2001. We are proud that she has not wavered once in her support.

We can assume that those in the pay of Turkish authorities are putting similar pressure on our prime minister Rhodri Morgan. We call on Armenians world-wide to send messages of support for the Recognition of the Genocide by the National Assembly for Wales to Rhodri.morgan@wales.gov.uk and Dafydd.Elis-Thomas@wales.gov.uk to counter this menace

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA / HETQ ONLINE

http://www.hetq.am/

26 January 2005

Every one has a right to life

Yerevan, January 19, 2005. We were informed by the by the Undertakers' Office of the Yerevan Municipality that this month, as of January 19th, fourteen corpses had been buried in the area of the Nubarashen Cemetery reserved for “the unclaimed”.

“I am dying,” says Gor, who was proud of his solitude just days ago. “If you hadn't come I would have been dead in an hour.” On January 20th, we had decided to visit Gor on the spur of the moment. We aimed our flashlight in every direction and called, “Gor! Gor! Are you here?” No response. Then we saw something wrapped in rags in the corner of the huge basement of a newly erected building. Suddenly the rags moved and we saw a dog's head. Then Gor's face appeared next to the dog. “Why are
you bothering me? I'm sleeping,” he mumbled.

Gor wasn't sleeping. His body was freezing. He had been lying on the wet ground for two days and his body was entirely drenched with the water dripping off the walls. “Would you give me some vodka?” he asked. “I can't feel my body. Would you light a fire, please?” We managed to bring Gor to his senses. He drank half a bottle of vodka, and after he had sat by the fire for a while it was as if his frozen brain cells began to thaw, and he spoke. “I want to go and see my mother. Would you help me get to Byurakan? My mother lives there,” the fifty-eight year old Gor said. He hadn't seen or heard from his mother in a year.

We got him into a taxi somehow at around 10 p.m. and sent him to Byurakan.

On January 21 st we met with the resident coordinator of the UN office in Armenia, Lise Grande. She told us she would raise the issue of the homeless people at a January 24 th meeting between the members of the Armenian government of Armenia and representatives of donor organizations. She also promised to keep the problem of homelessness at the center of her own attention, with special focus on two crucial
issues — documents and shelter.

Also on January 21 st, having taken a bath and dressed in new clothes, Noro, Miko, Rafo, and Lolo moved to an apartment Hetq had rented for the for one month. Thanks to $200 from the Association of Armenian Student of New York, $100 from an Armenian American doctor who didn't want his name made public, and other donations by staff members, we were able to find shelter for these men, at least for the coldest winter month. The four homeless men promised not to go back to the streets, and to find
work. We were also able to help Gohar, a homeless woman, move back in with her son in Sevan.

At the Hetq office, we have been talking about the problem of the homeless in Yerevan for several weeks now. Is there anything that journalists can do about it? What is our mission? If we can't change anything with the articles we write, if we can't improve any lives, then it is pointless to keep doing this work. Even if hundreds of people respond to our articles, if nothing changes as a result, it means that something is wrong. All human rights follow from one basic right – the right to life. If this right is not guaranteed, everything else is meaningless.

On January 27, 2005 Hetq will organize an event entitled The Right to Life. Article 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia states that everyone has the right to life. This will be the subject of a discussion to take place at the Narekatsi Art Union. The will be an exhibit of photographs by Onnik Krikorian at the event, as well as the premiere of a film on the problem of homelessness in Yerevan, a joint
production of Yerkir Media TV and the Investigative Journalists of Armenia.

Edik Baghdasaryan

Photos by Edik Baghdasaryan, Onnik Krikorian

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0501-bm.html

I am late to post this story and just want to not that after this story was run, Gor died.

For all you Orhan fans, here is another letter to share:

From: "orxan huseyinli"
Subject: from Oran
To: ara_manoogian@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 08:31:57 +0300

Hi Ara! hOw are you? i hope you,re well! so i m very glad that you and
your people want to choose this problem with peace way! I dont like
war too! If the second war will began between us so i thing Armnenia
and azerbaijan will give a lot of his sons to this war! but why? Lets
choose this problem with civil way! Because we have a ways to choose
this problem1 I thing and i belive that we will choose this problem!
Azerbaijan and Armenia killed a lot of people during the war! You
killed azeris, we killed armenians1 But why?! But we lived in soviet
union with peace! Dont you remember! We lived together with armenians
here in baku! And armenians lived in armenia with azeris together1 i
thing our people(armenian and azeri people) cant do anything because
this is polytics and we cant do anything1 But i know just one! We are
ready to live with armenian people in Karabakh! Because we want to
return back to karabakh!! But what about polytics? Are they want this?
i dont know! and thats all! i hope you understand me! thank you again
and take care!
with best regards,Orhan

Here is an e-mail I just received that I wanted to share with you.

From: MihranK
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 15:25:59 EST
Subject: Karabakh resolution.
To: info@armeniaforeignministry.com

Dear Mr V.Oskanian,

Sadly it has become abundantly clear that under your leadership the Armenian Foreign Ministry is not working as it should be, after the negative resolutions on Karabakh and also the statement by Ms Jones of the State department on Karabakh, although she apparently apologised to you on the phone but no written apology or statement has been seen to date, not to mention your other foreign policy failures.

Mr Oskanian it's time you moved on for the good of Armenia as Armenia needs a smart Foreign Minister who can lead his team to successes, so far you have been a miserable failure.

Yours sincerely.

Mihran Keheyian
London

28 Jan. 2005

French Man Dies Of Carbon Monoxide In Armenia

(AP) - A French man died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his Yerevan apartment, emergency officials said Thursday, the latest in a rash of deaths in Armenia caused by gas leaks and faulty heating stoves.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said Christophe Kyababchyan, a 34-year-old French citizen, was found dead in his apartment by his business partner. The ministry said an improperly installed gas heater was likely to blame.

The incident brings the number of gas poisonings in Armenia in the past year to 26, 16 of which occurred in December alone, according to emergency officials. The prosecutor general's office, however, says there were 24 deaths in 2004 by natural gas poisoning alone.

Many people in the ex-Soviet republic use makeshift stoves and homemade gas heaters, sometimes tapping illegally into gas lines, because their homes lack heaters, which are expensive.