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AZG Armenian Daily #175, 27/09/2007 Genocide Recognition ARMENIANS WALK OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE Dialogue between the Human Rights Committee and local Armenian-Americans apparently broke down at a meeting Thursday nightspot 20.Frustrated descendents of the Armenian Genocide walked out on the committee when it appeared unlikely it would recommend suspending ties with the Anti-Defamation League before the national organization discusses its stance on the genocide at its annual meeting in November. "A month has gone by, and we're no further along," said Charles Sahagian of Hunting Road, before walking out. "We, the discriminated, sit here for word from the perpetrator. For shame what has transpired.[The committee] has forfeited its right to represent me on human rights issues. "The Needham Human Rights Committee sent a letter in early September expressing the town's intention to end participation in ADL programs —including No Place for Hate, which the organization co-sponsors with the Massachusetts Municipal Association — if the organization doesn’t unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide and support Congressional legislation doing the same. The genocide, which the Turkish government denies, saw the mass deportation and murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during the World War I era. The ADL has yet to respond to the letter. "We have to give other people time to respond," said committee member Sandra Walters. "It's a process." The committee agreed to follow up with the ADL to confirm receipt of the letter and to send a second letter clarifying that the November meeting would be the tipping point for when they would make a decision on whether they would sever ties. There was also a motion before the committee, set forth by committee member Mark Smith, to instead suspend ties with the ADL until November and re-evaluate the situation then. "The letter was the right thing to do," Smith said. "Not hearing back, we should take the next step and not wait until November. My little No Place for Hate sweatshirt — I just can't wear it anymore." The motion was voted down, with Smith and committee member Olly Harari casting dissenting votes. "Is this a practical issue rather than a moral issue?" Harari said. "We need their programs, but they need us to be in their programs. We are a human rights committee, and we must listen to the people whose rights have been violated. "Needham's main involvement with No Place for Hate revolves around student-led activities at the high school during the month of March. The town also works with the ADL through the World of Difference anti-bullying program at Pollard Middle School. Before the vote, the meeting teetered on the brink of chaos, as thosein attendance interjected comments during the board's discussion, believing eye contact and rhetorical questions from committee members were cues to respond. "We agree with you on everything, except severing ties," said committee Chairwoman Debbie Watters, which elicited groans from those in attendance. "We're neighbors. This is the first time we're dealing with something this controversial." Then, after offering to read the initial letter sent to the ADL for those who did not attend previous meetings, more people walked out." You can tell this is difficult for us," Watters later said. "We would appreciate your respectful presence." After the meeting, Needham Armenian-Americans vowed not to attend thenext Human Rights Committee meeting, tentatively scheduled for Oct.10, and to appeal directly to the Board of Selectmen."This committee is not doing what it's supposed to do," said Dorothy Esperian of Great Plain Avenue. The Massachusetts Municipal Association, the other co-sponsor of NoPlace for Hate, designated Needham a No Place for Hate town in 2000through the Board of Selectmen. Selectmen could end that designation with or without input from the Human Rights Committee. Members of the board said they would not consider taking such unilateral action. In the past two weeks, Newton and Belmont dropped out of the No Place for Hate program. Watertown, where the issue first took hold, was the first community to end ties, while Arlington, which had not yet been designated a No Place for Hate community, pulled out of the certification process. "Are we going to be one of the last ones?" said Gary Najarian, of Lexington Avenue, before the committee voted Thursday night. "Are we going to fall in line or are we going to be leaders?" Over the past couple of months, the ADL fired Regional Director Andrew Tarsy after he publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. He was rehired on Monday, Aug. 27. In between the firing and rehiring, the ADL's national director, Abraham Foxman, issued a statement claiming the "consequences" of the tragic events of more than 90 years ago were "tantamount" to genocide. Armenians feel the wording circumvented acknowledgement of the genocide, and the ADL has not budged on not supporting the Congressional legislation. By Steven Ryan, GateHouse News Service © Copyright AZG

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Patriarch Mutafyan’s speech cancelled by decision of Georgetown University administration 24.09.2007 12:40 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The decision to postpone the speech by Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan, religious leader of Turkish Armenians was taken by the Georgetown University administration after a meeting with the Armenian community,” Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director Aram Hamparian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “We shared with Georgetown our concern that - as a leading American center of learning - it should not allow itself to be used as a platform for the Turkish government’s hateful campaign of the Armenian Genocide denial,” Mr Hamparian underscored. Patriarch Mesrob II, who arrived in the U.S. capital last week, was scheduled to deliver a speech called "The Impasse between Turks and Armenians Must Be Broken" at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center. The Turkish Daily News reported that “the event had been cancelled following pressure on the university by U.S. Armenian groups over Partiarch’s opposition to the Armenian Genocide Resolution.” A Turkish diplomat said the event did not take place because “the Armenian lecturer doesn’t share the opinion of the Armenian community of the U.S.” Asked by reporters if his speech was canceled because of U.S. Armenian pressure, the patriarch said, "it may have been."

Patriarch Mutafyan’s speech cancelled over Armenian pressure? 22.09.2007 14:49 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ A planned speech at a Washington university yesterday by Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan, religious leader of Turkish Armenians has been canceled. Mesrob II, who arrived in the U.S. capital earlier in the week, was scheduled to deliver a speech called "The Impasse between Turks and Armenians Must Be Broken" at Georgetown’s University’s Woodstock Theological Center. But an announcement on the center’s Web site said Wednesday the speech was "postponed due to logistical conflict." Turkish Daily News reports that “the event has been cancelled following pressure on the university by U.S. Armenian groups over Partiarch’s opposition to the Armenian Genocide Resolution.” Asked by reporters if his speech was canceled because of U.S. Armenian pressure, the patriarch said, "it may have been." The Armenian National Committee of America recently sent a letter to all 535 Congressional offices regarding the upcoming visit of Patriarch Mutafyan of Constantinople. As ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the letter stresses that: "the Patriarch - like the leaders of all religious minorities in Turkey - lives in constant fear of acts of discrimination and retribution by a Turkish government that actively persecutes those who speak freely on human rights and other “sensitive” issues. As a virtual hostage, the Patriarch - whose life has been threatened on many occasions - will, as has in the past, be forced to follow the Turkish government’s line. It is truly shameful that Turkey has resorted to using coercion - cynically taking advantage of the concern of Patriach Mesrob for the safety of his flock - in a last ditch bid to block the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution."

AZG Armenian Daily #172, 21/09/2007 "VIASPHERE" TECHNICAL PARK RECOGNIZED THE BEST IN SOUTH CAUCASUS IT Months Becoming Tradition in Armenia This year the "IT Month" will last longer than the previous one; it was launched on September 13 and will last until the end of October. According to Armen Grigorian, the head of the Prime Minister’s Council for IT Development, the IT Month is aimed at increasing the role of the government in the process of development of the IT sphere in Armenia. The IT Month is organized by the Council for IT Development, the IT Foundation of Armenia, the Enterprise Incubator Foundation, the IT Enterprizes Union, the UNIDO, the UNDP "Competitive Private Sector in Armenia" program, and the "Microsoft" and "Sun Microsystems" companies. In the frameworks of the "IT Month" event the fifth symposium dedicated to the Electrotechnics and Radioelectronics International Institute and the presentation of the "Real advantages of Microsoft Windows" program have been already held. An agreement about realizing joint education programs has been signed between the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and the "National Instruments" company, USA. At present the "ECAbit 2007" international innovation symposium (September 20-21) and the "Imagine Cup - Armenia" competition of young programmers are being held. The last event of the IT Month shall become the international "DigiTech 2007" exhibition, October 26-28. The director executive of the "Synopsis-Armenia" company Rich Goldman said that the IT sphere is the future of Armenia. Armenia can get the supremacy in this sphere; therefore there is much to do. Head of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation Bagrat Engibarian stated that the IT Month of 2007 remarkably differed from the previous ones both by its quantity and quality indexes. He emphasized the activity of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and "Viasphere" in the region of South Caucasus. Head of "Viasphere" technical park Aram Vardanian informed that over 30 companies, structures and services are quartered at present at the technical park. Due to "Synopsis" the number of the employees of "Viasphere" reached 800. According to data provide by the World Bank, "Viasphere" is the best in South Caucasus By A. Haroutiunian, Translated by A.M. © Copyright AZG

20.09.2007 13:28 GMT+04:00 Number of Armenian Genocide Resolution cosponsors steadily growing /PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a sign of the growing momentum toward the adoption of Congressional legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and newly elected Representative Laura Richardson (D-CA), this week, added their names as cosponsors of this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). "Armenians in Washington, California and around the nation are encouraged to see Senator Murray and Representative Richardson – both first-time supporters of federal legislation commemorating the Armenian Genocide – join the growing Congressional majority in support of the recognition of this crime against humanity," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "We look forward for Members of Congress – at long last – to have the opportunity to steer America back to the right side of this fundamental issue of justice and basic human rights." The House version of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, was introduced on January 30th by lead author Rep. Adam Schiff, along with Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). With Rep. Richardson’s support, the legislation now has 226 cosponsors. A similar resolution in the Senate (S.Res.106), introduced by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) currently now has 32 cosponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Both resolutions call upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide has been officially recognized, through legislation or proclamation, by 40 U.S. states. It is also supported by the Genocide Intervention Network, National Council of Churches, American Values, Jewish groups including the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for Peace Now, as well as by a diverse coalition that includes organizations representing the Ukrainian, Greek, Filipino, Polish, Hungarian, Arab, Bulgarian, Latvian, Romanian, Lithuanian, Slovakian, and other communities. ! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».

15:34 20/09/2007 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN IN OCTOBER FOR THE AGED UP TO 20 At the decision of World Chess Federation, world chess championship 2007 for the aged up to 20 years old will take place in Yerevan on October 12-17. The government session decided today to allocate 12 million drams from the reserve fund to the chess federation in order to properly manage the championship, Armen Grigoryan, minister of sports and youth affairs, told a briefing swiftly after the government session. According to data presented by the minister, 40 countries have submitted applications for participation so far. The neighboring Azerbaijan is not in the list yet. The head of the agency emphasized that the security of Azerbaijani chess players is guaranteed in Armenia. Source: Panorama.am

JULFALAKYAN DISCONTENT WITH REFEREEING [12:17 pm] 20 September, 2007 [ http://www.a1plus.am/en/?page=issue&iid=52456 ] The Armenian delegation was in the center of everyone’s attention at the World Championship in Baku. Azerbaijani journalists were not allowed to interview Armenian coaches or wrestlers. Instead, representatives of Russian mass media talked to the Armenian national team. Levon Julfalakyan, the chief coach of Greek-Roman style and Olympic Champion expressed his discontent with partial refereeing. “I am not satisfied with the performances of my team. My team was prepared to bring 2-4 medals from Baku and 5-6 Olympic allowances. We won only one bronze medal and 2 allowances. The referees did not allow us to compete properly. I ensure you, that I do not like to complain and always look for the reasons of our failure in my team, but here I have to point out the negative attitude of referees toward the Armenian national team”, he said. According to the coach, specialists of any neutral country will express the same point of view. “Roman Amoyan, 55 kg, European champion in 2006 competed with Rovash Bayramov, European champion in 2007. The referees often helped the hosts, and I wonder why they did not give any points to Amoyan. Their judgment was also partial toward Arman Adikyan, 66 kg, who fought for a bronze medal. The referees simply mocked at Denis Forov, 84 kg. At least the Armenian flag was raised in Baku owing to Yuri Patrikeev”, said the coach. Julfalakyan finds that here everything was normal. “Yuri was the only wrestler whom the referees treated fairly and the result was the medal”. Julfalakyan thanked the employees of Azerbaijani security service for their professional work. “Of course, we felt embarrassed. It was difficult that we were unable to attend public places, since the security employees always accompanied us. But no incident took place due to the professionalism of the employees of security service”. The Armenian team of Greek-Roman style took the 12-th place. The winner was the US. Russia and Georgia followed the US. Members of Turkish delegation complained of the World Championship in Baku. The Turkish media wrote that the participants of the championship faced many problems in Baku.

ARMENIA POSTS 13.6 PERCENT GDP GROWTH IN JANUARY-AUGUST YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s economic growth in January-August grew 13.6 percent amounting, in terms of money, to 1.6 trillion Drams, according the chief of the National Statistical Service Stepan Mnatsakanian. He said today this was an unprecedented GDP growth in just eight months. Armenia’s industrial output rose to 446.4 billion Drams, a 1.7 percent growth from a year ago. Power production not counted the growth was 369 billion Drams. Armenia’s power plants produced in the reported time 4.03 billion kilowatt/hours electricity, 1.6 percent down from a year ago. Despite late spring and early summer flooding agricultural GDP grew 7.6 percent to 329 billion Drams. Construction accounted for the biggest growth-19.6 percent. A total of 328 billion Drams were invested in this sector. Retail trade grew 11 percent to 510 billion Drams. Services to population rose 20 percent to 335 billion Drams. Population income rose to 1.2 trillion Drams and expenditures to 1.6 billion Drams. The inflation rate was 3.9 percent. By the end of August there were 82,000 officially registered unemployed people, down 8 percent from a year ago. Average wages rose 21.5 percent to 73.630 Drams ( $216). Wages in public salary rose to 54,000 Drams and to 92,000 in public sector. Armenia’s foreign trade rose nearly 40 percent to $2.660 billion. Exports rose 23 percent to $734 million and imports rose 47 percent to $1.926 billion.

Bomb kills deputy and threatens to topple Lebanese government By Robert Fisk in Beirut Published: 20 September 2007 Antoine Ghanem was an easy target. Few bodyguards, no one would think that a member of parliament who represented the Armenians of Lebanon was a target. The little street in which he lived – tall tower blocks, boutiques, flower shops, was not a place where you would try to kill an enemy of Syria – if he was an enemy of Syria – but Antoine was blasted to pieces in his car as he left his home yesterday evening. And that means there is one left in the government to make up the numbers. In other words, it only takes one more murder for the democratically elected government of Lebanon to fall. Only a few weeks ago, Walid Jumblatt called me after Ghanem's predecessor was murdered. "Two more to go, Robert," Walid said. And so, tonight, it is one. To describe the tangled wreckage of the car bomb, the vile, obscene, traces of Mr Ghanem and his bodyguards, has become a kind of routine horror in Lebanon. Those of his cortege who did not die took me last night to the revolting remains of his death. Lebanon is not a democracy in our Western sense of the word. Nor, for that matter, is Israel. "Democracy", as we like to call it in the West, does not sit easily in this part of the world. But Lebanese politicians – for the most part but not always, men, are brave folk – who know the cost of standing up for their country against its more powerful neighbours, be those neighbours Israel or Syria. There will be few in this country last night – and today – and tomorrow – who will not see Ghanem's murder as another attempt by the Syrians to destroy any form of freedom in this little country. There will be equally little proof that shows Syria to blame. The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy – not to mention Gordon Brown – will not "tut-tut" this outrageous killing, but it is only a few days before the Lebanese must vote for their next president, and now they will have one less member of parliament to vote for that president. And that is what yesterday's massive car bomb was about. Mr Ghanem, who was a 60-year-old member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party – founded in Lebanon when its leader, Pierre Gemayel, was inspired by the Nazi Olympics of 1936 – was the eighth anti-Syrian politician murdered since 2005. His assassination occurred only six days before parliament in Beirut was to elect a new president. At least 22 people were wounded in the explosion of the bomb which killed him in the capital's Sinal-Fil district. It appeared that the car bomb was detonated by remote control. Ghanem's car was blown at least 150ft away by the explosion. One of the pro-government ministers Ahmed Fatfat, later said that it was "clear that lawmakers from the majority party are being liquidated". It was, he said, "The only regime that does not want presidential elections in Lebanon to be held. The only response to the crime should be for parliament to convene on 25 September and to elect the president. "Every member who does not take part would be a direct or indirect participant in the crime." Lebanese parliamentarians, who now take part in a bidding for next month's parliamentary elections, were outdone yesterday by the former president Amin Gemayel, whose son was assassinated last year. "It's no more a question of presidential elections," he said. "It's a question of the survival of this country and democracy in the country that's at stake for the time being. This criminal act aims at undermining efforts paid by Syria and others to achieve Lebanese national accord."

AZG Armenian Daily #171, 20/09/2007 National Interests ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF TURKEY IN U.S. ON TURKISH PROPAGANDA TOUR ONCE AGAIN 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. By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier © Copyright AZG

http://english.aljazeera.net TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007 9:51 MECCA TIME, 6:51 GMT US team inspects Russian radar A team of US military experts has inspected a Soviet-era radar station in Azerbaijan that Russia has offered as an alternative to anti-missile defence sites located in central Europe. The Pentagon delegation said it had gathered data to prepare response to Moscow's offer to share the Gabala station, which Russia leases from Azerbaijan. But a US general suggested that Garbala was too outdated to defend against an Iranian threat - the US argument for the radar. "Our impression here was that it is a radar that has performed the function it was designed to by the Russians back in the '80s," said Brigadier-General Patrick O'Reilly. The general, who is deputy director of the US Missile Defence Agency, said: "We are evaluating how that would fit in with a mutually beneficial cooperative way ahead." Upgrade proposed Major-General Alexander Yakushin, the deputy head of Russia's space forces, said Russian experts were convinced by the meeting that the US is interested in co-operating. "We showed the basic characteristics, parameters and prospects of this facility," he said. Yakushin said Russian experts had explained how the Soviet-era radar could be upgraded to work with US missile defence systems. "We showed the perspectives for the radar's development and modernisation if there is a political decision to co-operate," he said. Moscow has offered to share Gabala station with the US instead of it using bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Relations between Moscow and Washington have been tense due to the proposed missile defence system plans, with the Kremlin threatening to re-deploy nuclear missiles if the US decides to go ahead with the project. 'No negotiations' Russian officials have also said that three-way consultations would be held between Azerbaijani, Russian and US experts in Baku. But US officials said the visit was only technical and that no negotiations would be held. Azerbaijan is located north of Iran and Russia says the station would be more practical in thwarting potential Iranian missile attacks than sites in Europe. The Gabala station is set in the mountains of northern Azerbaijan, and was put into operation in 1984 as one of the most powerful radars in the Soviet Union's missile-attack early-warning system. Gabala feeds information to installations in Moscow and has a range of 6,000km, capable of monitoring the Middle East, Asia and parts of Africa. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Azerbaijani government agreed to lease the station to Russia until 2012.

"A jet so huge that the Wright brothers first flight could have taken place in the cargo bay" i must get one of those!

ARMENIAN WRESTLER QUALIFIES FOR BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES BAKU, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: One more Armenian athlete has won the right to represent his country at 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. It is Arman Adikian, a 66 kg Greco-Roman style wrestler, who upset rivals from Japan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine at the world championship hosted by Azerbaijani capital Baku. But in the semi-finals he was defeated by a French wrestler and will be fighting for a bronze medal. Earlier two Armenian wrestlers, Roman Amoyan (55 kg) and Khosrov Melikian (60 kg) were defeated by Azerbaijani and Ukrainian wrestlers. Arman Adikian has become the fourth Armenian athlete so far to have qualified for the Games. The others are shooter Norayr Bakhtamyan and judoists Hovhaness Davtian and Armen Nazarian.

Turkey indignant over song and video praising Dink’s murderers 17.09.2007 17:23 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ A video prepared for a song, the lyrics of which praised Ogun Samast, the teenager who murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, and Yasin Hayal, one of the inciters behind the assassination was posted on the hugely popular video-sharing Web site YouTube, creating controversy in Turkey, as many branded it as ultra-nationalist hate propaganda. The video quickly received a high number of user hits. Thousands of people sent the link to each other, especially on Friday, as the issue marked the agenda in many e-mail groups. Finally, the amateur video made it to the headlines of mass circulation newspapers yesterday. While the song mentioned the names in different contexts, in the video the photograph of murderer Ogun and inciter Yasin are seen. In the lyrics, meanwhile, there is a direct threat to those who "support Armenians," saying "they will be taken care of." As these words are heard, the now infamous photograph of Dink, right after he was gunned down, lying on the ground and covered with newspaper pages, is seen. The video not only praises those involved in Dink’s assassination but also shows photographs of author Orhan Pamuk, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, musician, author and columnist Zulfu Livaneli, folk music singer Selda Bagcan, and former president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, labeling all as "betrayers." The lyrics of the song named "Do Not Make Plans" was written by an ultra nationalist poet, Ozan Arif and is sung by Ismail Turut, a well-known singer. But ultra nationalists unrelated to the two supposedly prepared the video. There are nearly 10 different versions of the video being broadcast on YouTube, but the version that created reactions around Turkey was removed yesterday. Dink’s lawyers are preparing to file a complaint about the song and the video. One of Dink’s lawyers asked the prosecutors "what they were waiting for" and said the video incites people to commit hate crimes by abusing race and religion and by praising a murderer. This Thursday, the Human Rights Association and many other organizations will meet in front of the Sultanahmet Court at 1:00 p.m. and file a joint complaint against Turut and Arif, Turkish Daily News reports. The first court session on Dink murder case was held July 2. The following day it was postponed to October 1.