NKR NEW GOVERNMENT FORMED

By Kim Gabrielian

AZG Armenian Daily
27/09/2007

On September 25, NKR President Bako Sahakian signed a decree on formation of the new government. Bako Sahakian signed another decree on appointing members of the government.

Former Ministers of Finance and Economy, Foreign Affairs, and Defence, and also the Minister-Head of the Government Staff kept their portfolios.

Former Minister of Urban Development Armo Tsaturian is appointed Minister of Agriculture and simultaneously takes the post of Vice-Premier.

Arthur Mosiyan, representative of ARF office of Artsakh, is appointed Minister of Justice. Executive Director of "Arevik" medical center Armen Khachatrian is appointed Minister of Healthcare, former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy Narine Azatian - Minister of Social Security, Director of "Capital Construction" Aleksandr Mamunts - Minister of City Building, Head of the National Statistical Service Benik Babayan - Minister of Economic Development.

NKR President also signed a decree on resigning the newly appointed Minister of Economic Development from the post of the Head of the Statistical Service.

Ministries of Education, Culture and Sports underwent structural changes. As a result of their splitting new ministries and a state committee have been formed: Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Culture and Youth Issues and also State Committee of Sports.

Former Deputy Head of NKR Armed Forces Staff Vladik Khachatrian is appointed Minister of Education and Science, Head of the National TV of Artsakh Norek Gasparian - Minister of Culture and Youth Issues.

Changes in other governmental structures would end in several days, not later than October 1, according to NKR Government Press Office.

RA PRIME MINISTER: ARMENIA PAYS SPECIAL ATTENTION TO HIGH TECHNOLOGIES AND INNOVATION ACTIVITY

ArmInfo
2007-09-17 13:56:00

Armenia pays special attention to high technologies, innovation activity and the issues of economy development based on the science and innovations, RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan said today in view of opening of the conference "Advancing Innovation in ECA 2007".

As RA governmental press-release reports, S. Sargsyan said that the intellectual technologies become a locomotive of the economy development in the whole world and Armenia cannot lag behind these processes. There is no alternative to the economy development, S. Sargsyan said. In view of this, the Armenian government attaches importance to cooperation of the private and state sectors aimed at enhancement of the country's competitiveness in general.

To note, the prime minister said in his recent TV- interview that there is no problem of tightness of money in Armenia's economy but that of qualified managers and enhancement of economy's competitiveness.

Armenian Patriarch of Turkey in U.S. On Turkish Propaganda Tour Once Again

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

This week Mesrob Mutafyan, the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, is making his second visit to the United States in the past 6 months.

During his highly controversial first visit in April, the Patriarch participated in a conference organized by a Turkish group at the Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Turkey. The conference was titled, "Turkish-Armenian Question: What to do Now?"

Despite intensive efforts by various Armenian-American groups to persuade the Patriarch not to speak at that conference, he went ahead with his speaking engagement. All other Armenian invitees, for one reason or another, refused to take part. The concern was that the Turks would use the conference as a ploy to convince the outside world that Armenians and Turks were "reconciling" with each other, and therefore, there was no need to pressure Turkey into genocide recognition.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Primate of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern Diocese), was so incensed by the Patriarch's planned participation that he wrote to University officials objecting to its sponsorship of this politically tendentious and one-sided "Armenian-Turkish dialogue." The University complied with the Primate's request and withdrew its support from the conference. Archbishop Barsamian rightly pointed out that Patriarch Mutafyan "has a very limited ability to freely express his true thoughts and concerns because of oppressive Turkish free-speech laws." The Primate aptly described the Patriarch as "a virtual 'prisoner of conscience' of the Turkish government."

Interestingly, the Patriarch repeated word for word in Dallas what he had said a year earlier during a similar conference held at Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey. The April 2006 conference was entitled: "The Art of Living Together in Ottoman Society: The Example of Turkish-Armenian Relations."

Patriarch Mutafyan will most probably repeat the same remarks during his talk on September 20, at the Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The sponsors of both the April and September conferences are affiliated with the Islamic Fethullah Gulen group.

To gain an advance insight into what the Patriarch might say this week, here are some excerpts of his previously delivered talks in Kayseri and Dallas which consist of some straight talk mixed with words meant to appease Turkish officials.

"It is certainly not possible to idealize every phase in the history of Ottoman-Armenian relations and to say that Armenians never had any problems. Being Christians, the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire were never first class citizens. And they certainly did suffer discrimination. However, we know that the first acquaintance between Turks and Armenians dates back to at least 1300 years ago. In this long history of commercial and political interactions between neighbors, there are relatively few instances where we observe exchanges of physical violence," the Patriarch said.

He then went on to say that "especially towards the end of the 19th century there was an increase in tension in relations, whether responsibility for this was due to the Ottoman government, or the German, American, French, British and especially Russian governments, Armenian political parties, or even the Armenian Patriarchs of Istanbul of that period, who discharged their obligations under the surveillance of the Temporal Affairs Council that then consisted of Armenian secularists in Turkey. Even if the various parties were not all equally responsible, it is not a moral approach in view of the painful after-effects for any one of them to deny any accountability in the development of these events, or to place all the responsibility on the other parties."

After several Turkish propagandists delivered their talks at the Dallas conference, the Armenian Patriarch responded by making the following statement outside of his written text: "Did some Armenian political parties promote armed rebellion in the Armenian community? They did. In some areas, did armed Armenian gangs work together with the Russian army? They did. But the Government of the Committee for Union and Progress, being in charge of the country, is chiefly responsible for the painful events that occurred and the great suffering that was endured. If you do not hold the government in charge of the behavior of the country as responsible for that behavior, then whom will you hold responsible? Instead of eliminating in their local areas the armed Armenian factions who were in rebellion, the Government of the Committee for Union and Progress sent all Armenians in the Ottoman Empire on a sort of death march to the Syrian Desert; it sentenced them to death. Therefore this party is chiefly culpable for the 1915 events."

A day before his Georgetown speech this week, the Armenian Patriarch is invited to participate at the 2nd Congressional Interfaith and Intercultural Ramadan Iftar Dinner on Capitol Hill, where he will speak along with several other clergymen from various faiths.

There has been some speculation as to who arranged for the Armenian Patriarch to come to Washington, D.C., shortly before the anticipated vote in the House of Representatives on the Armenian Genocide resolution and less than a month before the Pontifical visit of His Holiness Karekin II to the nation's capital? Many see the sinister hand of the Turkish government orchestrating the Patriarch's speaking engagements, using the connections of high-powered lobbying firms hired by Ankara.

This writer has repeatedly urged the Armenian Patriarch to stay away from
involvement in political matters and instead tend to the spiritual needs of his flock. He must at all cost resist the pressures exerted upon him by Turkish officials, in order not to allow them to use him as a propaganda tool serving Turkey's denialist agenda.

In the meantime, Armenian religious and secular leaders have an obligation to point out that the Patriarch does not speak for the Armenian Church and that his political statements are made under Turkish pressure and do not reflect his true views on the Armenian Genocide.

Full Steam Ahead

The State Department is encouraging Congress not to pass U.S. House of Representative's Resolution 106.

They are claiming that it will undermine relations with Turkey and hamper efforts in Turkey of coming to terms with the 1915 Genocide of 1.5 million Armenians.

I don’t know what games the State Department thinks they are playing or if they think that Armenian are naïve children, but I can tell you that if they were serious about Turkey opening their boarders and normalizing relations with Armenia so 106 would not be considered by anyone, they should have worked and had results by now so 106 would be not necessary. Believe me, the U.S. has the power to do what they claim to be encouraging Turkey to do.

All I can say is that the U.S./Turkey’s best bargaining chip will be that before 106 comes up to vote, Turkey needs to take concrete steps NOW and open the boarders and start to normalize relations. Until we see this happen, it should be business as usual and full steam ahead to get 106 passed. No empty promises from the Department of State, like the ones we have seen in the past should even be a consideration for us to change course. If they want us to back down, then open the boarders and normalize relations first and then we can talk about other options of Genocide recognition.



U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE WARNS CONGRESS AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.09.2007 15:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The United States condemnation of this tragedy is not at issue; the question is how best to facilitate reconciliation of all concerned parties with each other and with their painful and shared past," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said when addressing the Department of State with a report titled "The future of the U.S.-Turkey relations.

"We believe passage of the U.S. House of Representative's Resolution 106, which would make a political determination that the tragedy of 1915 constituted genocide, would undercut voices emerging in Turkey for dialogue and reconciliations concerning these horrific events. We therefore have recommended to Congress that it not pass such a resolution," he said.

"We strongly encourage Turkey to normalize its relations and reopen its border with Armenia, steps that will help bring peace, prosperity and cooperation to the Caucasus. Now, in the wake of the AKP's resounding electoral victories, is the time for Ankara to make a bold opening toward Armenia. And we hope that Armenia will respond in kind.

In conclusion, the United States and Turkey have enjoyed a relationship of Allied friendship for over half a century of enormous complexity, success, and promise. We have weathered a difficult period over the past four years. We now stand at the edge of a potentially new era in Turkish politics that offers a chance to restore a sense of strategic partnership in U.S.-Turkish relations," Mr Burns said.

TRAFFICKING A NEW WAY OF HUMAN SLAVERY

By Marieta Makarian

AZG Armenian Daily
13/09/2007

120 People Underwent Sexual Exploitation

Human trafficking became one of the most serious problems for the world. Every year the number of the trafficking victims, who are mainly women and children, being sexually exploitated both in their home countries and in the foreign ones. Unfortunately, lately, Armenia
became not only a transit country but also a providing one in the issue of the human trafficking. The Armenian women make money mainly in Turkey, the Arabian states and in Greece. It's quite strange, but RA Justice Minister David Haroutiunian still denies that trafficking is a growing problem for Armenia, stating in particular, that it's too early to say that trafficking exists in Armenia as a phenomenon.

In response to the abovementioned attitude of the Minister, we would like to represent the data provided by the relevant department of RA Prosecutor's Office.

Thus, according to the articles # 132, 132-1, 261, 262 of RA Criminal Code (all of the articles are on the trafficking issues), in the course of the first half of this year there had been 25 criminal cases instituted. In the period under review, in fact, 120 people became victims of sexual exploitation.

Moreover, according to unofficial data, the number of trafficking victims surpasses several hundreds. Thus, 63 people of 120 were exploitated in Armenia, 57 in foreign countries, 30 in the Arabian Emirates, 27 in Turkey. 39 people underwent administrative punishment for prostitution.

Legal Remedies in Claiming Restitution for Genocide Losses

By Harut Sassounian,
Publisher, The California Courier

September 8, 2007 could be a turning point in the pursuit of the Armenian Cause. On that date, University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies organized an unprecedented symposium on "International Law and the Armenian Genocide: Recognition, Responsibility and Restitution."

After opening remarks by Prof. Richard H. Dekmejian, Director of the Institute, Sarkis Bezelgues, an international lawyer and doctoral candidatein law at the Free University of Berlin, presented a paper on "International Liability and State Succession: the Responsibility of the Turkish Republic for the Armenian Genocide." He stated that the Republic of Turkey is liable for themassive deaths and destruction inflicted upon the Armenian population, because the modern state of Turkey is a continuation and not the successor to the Ottoman Empire. According to Bezelgues, Turkey can be held responsible for the Armenian Genocide since a complete transmission took place of the Ottoman Empire's rights and duties.

Michael J. Bazyler, Professor of Law at Whittier Law School, spoke on "Litigation for Restitution: Comparative Analysis of Armenians and Other Groups." He stated that most lawsuits against foreign governments in U.S. federal courts have not been successful due to the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA) of 1976. Several lawsuits against foreign corporations were settled out of court. Nevertheless, Bazyler pointed out that according to the FSIA, a foreign state is not immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts if "rights in property taken in violation of international law are in issue." In response to a question from the audience on the denial of the Armenian Genocide by Shimon Peres, the President of Israel, Prof. Bazyler boldly stated that Peres "doesn't speak for the Jewish people nor he speaks for the Israeli people."

Dr. David L. Nersessian, Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession, spoke on "Human Rights Litigation in Federal Courts: an Overview." He discussed the complex issues involved in civil claims brought in US federal courts for violations of fundamental human rights, including the Armenian Genocide. These included procedural obstacles such as sovereign immunity, political abstention, and acts of state.

The next speaker was Dr. Payam Akhavan, Professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His topic was "Criminalizing Historical Truth: Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and the Armenian Genocide." He spoke about the case he recently filed with the European Court of Human Rights against Article 301, in defense of Prof. Taner Akcam.

After warm welcoming remarks by Prof. Howard Gillman, Dean of USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, attorney Mark Geragos spoke on the federal class action lawsuits that he and attorneys Vartkes Yeghiayan and Brian Kabateck initiated against New York Life Insurance and AXA Corporation for unpaid insurance policies issued before the Genocide. These two cases were settled for $37.5 million. Two other lawsuits are pending against the German Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank.

John Evans, the former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia (2004-06), a special guest speaker at the symposium, spoke on "The Armenian Genocide: the International Political and Diplomatic Context of Recognition and Redress." He said that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was making great strides in the court of public opinion and that a favorable international political climate for the pursuit of the Armenian Cause has developed in recent years. Public opinion within Turkey was also changing gradually in favor of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. He said that taking responsibility for the genocide could take various forms, including setting up a Turkish Fund for compensating the victims and their descendants, financial contributions by Turkey to a future Armenian Genocide museum in Washington, D.C., the rescue and renovation of Armenian cultural monuments in Turkey, and granting a special status for the Ararat and Ani regions.

Dr. Alison Dundes Renteln, Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at USC, spoke next on "Holocaust Denial Litigation: a Comparative Analysis." She said that if Holocaust denial is outlawed in several European countries, then genocide denial by a state such as Turkey could also be outlawed. Prof. Renteln also said that freedom of speech is not an absolute right. For example, hate speech is banned in many countries. She made a clear distinction between laws against Holocaust denial in Europe and Article 301 in Turkey. She saidthat in France and Germany, there is censorship in order to accept the past, while in Turkey, censorship is used to deny the past.

The next speaker was Dr. John Torpey, Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He spoke on "Beyond Recognition: Truth, Reparations, and the Armenian Genocide." He examined a number of cases of reparations claims-making in order to assess the propriety and prospects of reparations for the Armenian Genocide.

Dr. Alfred de Zayas, Professor of International law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy, could not be present. In his absence, Harut Sassounian read his paper on "The Armenian Genocide in the Light of the Genocide Convention." According to Prof. de Zayas, the U.N. Genocide Convention of 1948 can be applied retroactively because it is declarative of pre-existing international law. Logical consequences of the application of the Genocide Convention to the Armenian Genocide should be the return to the Armenian people the churches and other assets of historic and cultural significance, as well as granting a measureof compensation to the descendants of the victims of the Genocide.

It is noteworthy that in recent years, Turkish leaders, after cockily declaring that they are considering legal action in international courts against Armenians to disprove the reality of the Armenian Genocide, have quietly backed down realizing that they may end up losing such a lawsuit. It was, therefore, not surprising that Turkish Consulate officials in Los Angeles initially contacted USC symposium organizers last week indicating their interest in attending the conference. Regrettably, according to highly reliable sources, U.S.

officials blocked the attendance of the Turkish diplomats. Now that this groundbreaking symposium has taken place, it is up to political leaders in Armenia and the Diaspora to carefully study the materials presented at this conference by international legal experts in order to seriously consider the steps that could be taken to seek redress for the Armenian Genocide in national and international courts.

10 more days

I got a call from Haygazyan late last night to tell me that the electrical wiring and meters have been installed and all that is left now is the turn on the switch, but there is something holding things up in terms of paperwork.

I gave Ernist, the Governor of Kashatagh a call and he said that all that is left now is the agreements with the owners of the houses needing service to be signed and that process is not one he can sped up and said it will take 10 days. As a man of his word, I have no reason to doubt him, since he promised 2 months to get the power to the village and he made good on that. With that said, September 23rd or 24th is our target date for turning on the switch.

I invited Ernist to join us to celebrate this accomplishment, which came about from a collective effort from many people, he in the end being the most instrumental, even though it is his job.

As for the tractor fund, donations are trickling in. We received two more donations, of $100 and $50. This brings us up to $880. I’m so confident that we will reach our goal, that I have advanced the balance of the money needed, since the tractor that Armen found for Haygazyan was going to be sold to someone else if we didn’t pay for it yesterday, thus it’s been delivered and we won’t have to look around at the last minute for a tractor, like we did with the electrical generators last winter, which we were unable to find.

If there is anyone that is in Armenia and would like to join us on the day we light Haygazyan and the surrounding villages, and see the look on the faces of the people who had lost hope they would ever see this day and then sit down to a meal together, please e-mail me at: haygazyan@snff.org to let me know your interested so we can make arrangements for your getting there on that day.

THE MOST LONG-LIVED PRIME MINISTER OF KARABAKH LEAVES

Lragir.am
11 Sept 2007

Yesterday the NKR government held an enlarged meeting in which Anushavan Danielyan addressed the members of government. He pointed to the achievements of his government, in particular the GDP has tripled, he said. "The budget now is 70 billion drams compared with 20 billion in 1999. ...The average salary rose almost five, and the retirement benefit rose 4.8 times. In 1999 public revenues totaled 1 billion 600 million, now public revenues total 7 billion 300 million. It should be noted that the progress was enabled by the economic and structural reforms adopted by the government," the Azat Artsakh Newspaper reported.

Anushavan Danielyan was appointed prime minister of NKR in a dramatic period for the country, during the clash between Arkady Ghukasyan and Samvel Babayan. He managed to sustain political stability and improved the economy. The economists can give a professional evaluation of what Anushavan Danielyan did or failed to do but it should be noted that for 7 years pensions and salaries have almost never been delayed, and the quality of life has improved. The mentioned disadvantages are the unfavorable tax administration and the lack of confidence in work with the Diaspora, karabakh-open.com reported.

The new president of NKR Bako Sahakyan accepted the resignation of the government and appears unlikely to reappoint Anushavan Danielyan as prime minister.


####

Some of his less talked about accomplishments were he allowed most of our walnut tress to be chopped down for a factory he had an interest in, he didn’t increase the population to 300,000 like he said he would be 2005, he didn’t repay all the money he approved to be barrowed by “business ventures” that he ended up getting a cut from that in 2001 alone his share was over $500,000, and which many of said ventures defaulted on their loans, this just to mention a few things that come to mind.

I can only hope that Bako will appoint a Prime Minister who will be thinking more about the people than himself.

My mother-in-law things very highly of Bako and I myself have not hear nor come across anything bad about him, so many Artsakh is finally maturing and our government for the next 5 years will be working for what is best for our people. Time will tell.

I can tell you think, I and many others sure won't be missing Anoushavan.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT ACCEPTED GOVERNMENT'S RESIGNATION

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
10/09/2007 14:30

YEREVAN, September 10. /ARKA/. Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Saakyan accepted the government's resignation on Saturday.

Presidential press office told ARKA News Agency on Monday that ministers will keep fulfilling their duty until a new government composition.

According to the press release, the president signed a decree relieving Keren Baburyan, the head of presidential staff, from duty.

By another decree, the president appointed Marat Musaelyan to this post.

Musaelyan was born in 1957 in Stepanakert. He graduated from Stepanakert Pedagogical Institute.

After completing his military service, Musaelyan worked at various responsible posts.

In 1992, he completed a post-graduate course in Russia's Governance Academy and earned Ph Dr degree.

Musaelyan worked in Armenian Defense Ministry's system from 1992 to 1995.

From 1995 to 2007, he worked at Armenian National Security Service. He is colonel.

Nako Saakyan won presidency on July 19, 2007. About 64% of those eligible to vote supported his candidacy in these elections.

A little bit of music for your review

For those of you who are interested in hearing a couple more of Nick’s songs, you can click in the links below to be redirected to a site that I’ve uploaded a couple of them.

Candle of my Soul

Hard to say Goodbye

For those of you who would like to give feedback, I’m sure Nick would be interested to hear what people living outside of Armenia think of his music.