Political Role of Church & Armenian Programme by Velichko
Velichko's Free E-Book "Caucasus" . .
Who are Armenians?
Their authentic origin is not definite yet. Historical datas show their unification with jews during Vavilonian Captivity, and also after Jerusalem had been ruined. From the anthropological point of view, in majority, they are brahicefals, i.e. short-headed, so, they are very similar to mountainous Jews (dagli cuut) and siro-haldeys (i.e. Aysors); all these are according to Schantre, Erkert, Pantyukhov’s research.
English scientist Bertin considers them as people of the same type with jews of prepalestinian period. Professor D.N.Anuchin writes, that Armenians are- tribe not Arian, but Arianized (by language). Moreover, absolutely not all those, who consider themselves as Armenians, belong to aboriginal Armenian population. . . In the end of 90es of XIX century, Armenian magazine “Moorch”*, talking about Armenians’ significant capability for assimilation of another nations, points out the fact of presence between them of big percentage of assimilarized gitanes. To the much more interesting conclusion, concerning big Armenian groups, came Caucasian anthropologist I.I.Pantyukhov, who used the opportunity, when Tiflis was full with semiwild refugees from Turkey, and submitted many Turkish Armenians to anthropological analysis.
He recovered, that most of those refugees, by their physical characteristics,- are pure kurds. This creates area to suppose, that some epizodes of Armenian slaughter in Turkey are the results of longstanding counts between Kurdish tribes of different confession
The question, concerning Caucasian Albania, or in Armenian- Agvania, is also extremely interesting. This was the kingdom, which included modern Elizavetpole province (Ganja), parts of Tiflis and Dagistan, populated by nationalities of non-Armenian origin, but who received Christian confession from Armenians. Until the beginning of XIX century autonomous aAgvanian or Gindzasarian Cathalicos was existing , he was competing with Echmiadzinian one all the time and was completely autonomous from him. At presence, Christians, which were the pasture of Agvanian Cathalicos, are considered as Armenians, and being mixed with them, accepted their character.
Armenians also came through violent mixes with other nationalities: Armenian tribe has contributions in its genealogical structure from Persian troops, Azeri Turks, Turks, Georgians, representatives of mountainous nations.
In such circumstances, it is clear, that pure Armenian without any mixes in his blood is of the great rarity. They have lots of mixes from other nations in their blood, by this fact we can explain- how nation, which cowardice had become a refrain in Asia, can sometimes bear talented and brave commanders- they are big exclusion from whole nation, because of contributions in their blood from other brave and bellicose nations; therefore, normal, pure Armenian, according to caucasian refrain, “is affraid from hare”.
This feature is undoubtly semitic. In general, Armenians have lots of semitic features, which are as follows: historical incapability to preserve stable state organization, disappearance of aristocracy, and transition to underground policy of theocratic regime; until nowadays sharp features of collectivism in usage of cultivate lands are seen in peasantry, also significant inclination to trade, userery, etc. Arrogance and cruelty towards weak and slave grovel in front of stronger power, and phenomenal capability for advertisement, and insatiable vanity- all these are semitic features, but in Armenian character they are much rough and intensive.
Armenians extremely dislike, if they are compared with Jews, and always try to insist on Arian origin of gaykan nation.
Armenian businessmen intensively care about creation of very special history of Armenia, about exalt of this small nation and its heroes, starting from casual generals, worthy of respect, and terminating with uncasual contrabandists, worthy of... respect, but from another side. They always try to stress their historical “merits” and present dignities in parazitic way, i.e. depriving neighboring nations, who have history much more clear, undoubt and valueble. They rob Georgians in historical- archeological field: for example, they scratch Georgian inscriptions from monuments, seize ancient orthodoxal chapels** and try to demonstrate as ancient Armenian lands places, where everything is witnessing about past of Georgian kingdom.
The first mercenary of Armenians in Russian literature was Senkovskiy, who was writing in such mood under pseudoname of baron Brambeus. Then Armenian “historians”- Emin (“The History of Moisey Horenskiy”), Hudobashev (Review of Armenia), later- Yeritsov (Caucasian Olden Times, 1872, #1), -despite such obvious witnesses of past, as monuments, worked in the same direction; they, for instance, try to rob Georgia its historical rights to Saatabago region, i.e. atabeck Jakeli’s possessions (at presence, Ahalcih district). Every caucasian knows, that undoubt traces of Tamara the Great’s reign found in this region, and muslim population of the district cosists of turkisized georgians, speaking georgian, but Armenians came there in the 1st half of XIX century as refugees from Turkey, and they are not aborigins there.
Such scientists as Patkanov, Senkovskiy, Koh, Marr always try to rob georgians of their historical property in order to benefit Armenians and still try to prove, that marvelous georgian poem “Bars skin” (obviously, author is talking about Shota Roustaveli’s poem “Knight in Tiger Leather”, notice of edition) is not authentically georgian.
All this is beneficial for Armenian politicians, because their nation never ever have had any significant poetic work, i.e. necessary feature of flowerishing of nation’s spirit.
Armenians’ morbid ambitions and vanity, inclination to advertisement of own “grandeur” in the past and presence can been expalined and partly justified by such fact, that they during their history acquired negative reputation for themselves, and want to get rid of it.
Impartial, humanistic and moralistic roman historian Tacitus speaks about Armenians in 2nd book of Ab excessu Augusti, in the paragraph 53, he says the following: “They are really double-faced nation, either by character and by geographical condition...; Permanently hate romans and envy to perphenians”. In the book 12, paragraph 46 he points to “enough known perfidy of Armenians” –“satis cognitam Armeniorum perfidam”.
“You are coward, you are slave – you are Armenian!” – says Pushkin in the old man’s retort. Georgians say: “movida somehi-moytana skhva mehi” – Armenian came and brought new disaster.
German traveller Alfred Kerte in his “Anatolian sketches”, which were dedicated to well-known German representative in Turkey Colemar fon-der-Goltz, say the following : “approximately everybody, who touches the local culture in these provinces, learns to love Turks, do not respect Greeks, hate and despise Armenians... Everywhere the proverb- “greek will deceive two Jews, Armenian- two Greeks”-justifies. If you were deceived somewhere in Anatolia, so, surely, you dealt with Armenian. The same author quote one businessman from Eski-Sheher: “when I deal with turk, concerning business, I do it without written contract, because his word is enough. With Greek or other levantinian I make written contact, because it is absolutely unavoidable and optional, but with Armenians I do not have any business, because it is impossible to avoid their mendacity and intrigue even within written conditions”.
That is to say, intelligent Armenians longly realize, that reputation of their nation is extremely bad, so, among people, who don’t know Caucasus well, some of representatives of Armenian intellectuals call themselves as Georgians, or, for poetical feelings, chekesians. Up to present, Armenians themselves and publicists, who sympathize them, always try to substitute “Armenian” with “aborigin”, “Caucasian”, and especially “Christian”. Such a stress on Christianity is very characteristical, because of their permanent claims towards their Muslim neighbors, and because title “Christian” gives them some privilege.
Written Armenian History is very unclear, unexact, but it has many edifying points -in chroniclers’ tremendous unceremounisity as well as in facts. Beginning from cathalicos Johann VI (“The History of Armenia from the begining of time until the year 925”, Sent-Martin’s interpretation) and till later period, Armenian historians are pretending to accuracy in datas, which concern most fabulous period of history. Armenians, allegedly, derive from Noah. According to Armenian archbishop Joseph, Armenians’ genealogy is as follow: Noah born Afet, Afet born Gomer, Gomer born Tiras, Tiras born Torkom, Torkom born Gayk, who together with Nemvrod provided Vavilonian crowd. Later, Gayk won Nemvrod in a war and killed him. Because of it, tribes, which were submitted to Gayk, considered him as a father and began to title themselves as gaykans. Then, there is a number of such “true” and “proved” facts. Pages are full with “great” names, unknown in official historical science, besides the Armenian one, known figures sometimes appeare in very exaggerated form.
If it was necessary to find word to characterize facts from Armenian history, besides “fiction”, word “treason” should have been used. Dubious rulers of Armenia, country with permanently hesitative borders, are always dependent on stronger neighbour monarchies and systematically betray them. Nobelsmen (narahars) betray tsars, nations betray them both. Cruelty of customs and unreliance of interrelations are phenomenal.
In Armenia itself, i.e. on Armenian plato, sovereign state had been abolished long-long time ago, in V century, when Armenia became persian province and, factually, theocratical leadership with cathalicos in head came to existence over Armenian nation.
Some feature of sovereignty appeared in fall of XI century in small Kilikia and finally disappeared in 1375.
* “Moorch”, 1897, article “Armenians from Gitanes”.
“There are only two nations on Earth without national language and without homeland- jews and gitanes. Neither Asian tyranny, nor medieval ruthless chasing , nor even modern humanistic culture couldn’t assimilate them to other nations; and all these strong factors, therefore, were not able to abolish material greediness of one and unlimited aspiration to wander of another. Everywhere in Asia and in Europe, old and new world, gipsy remain gipsy, jew remain jew. Only Armenian nation could assimilate gitanes, and this is supported by facts. Erivanian, Shemahan, Elizavetpolian, Tiflisian and other gitanes assimilated to Armenians, and they maintained only their family names, as far memory about their origin. Researching data, we can come to conclusion, that no nation was capable to such mass assimilation besides Armenian one. There are even talented persons from assimilated gitanes-Armenians. For instance, professor of Saint-Peterburg University Kerobe Patkanyan, monk and poet Alamdaryan and others.
** There are many such facts. We’ll describe two of them. “Kafkaz”, June 1897, “Parishioners of St.Nicolas’s dushet church appointed two persons to intercede to Higher Caucasian Commander askingto take measures for prevention from capture by Armenians of “Bodavis-tsminda Georgis-nishi” chapel with its piece of land. Ancient icons are stollen and brought to dushet Armenian church, and chapel itself now called “Soorp-Geurkan”, orthodoxal priests are not allowed to messa in it.”
“Iveria”, April 1897, Ahalcih town. “There is curative spring near the town on opposite bench of Potskhovi river. Near spring there is old georgian chapel. From different parts of Georgia people come to the spring for cure. Water was available for free. In the begining of March 1896 somebody brought and put Armenian icons in chapel, made doors in chapel and locked them. Priest D.Hahutov acknowledged exzarkh of Georgia about this incident.”
V.L.Velichko: Political Role of Church and Armenian Programme
Undoubtedly, disadvantages of Armenian clerical organisation and fatal errors of Armenian church theocratic policy have pernicious sequences not only for Russian common and state affairs in the region, but for Armenian ethnos itself. Impossible not to mention that rise of Armenian manifestation and disobedience in Turkey and common nervousness of Armenians on Russian territory came to an existence at the time when His Holiness katalikos Mkrtich I became bishop of Echmiadzin.
During bishop's election part of Armenian bourgeoisie and pseudo-intelligent estate, united by "Mshak" newspaper, which was established by well-known Artsruni, remained as opponents of Mkrtich, in sake of bourgeois-liberal and liberal-atheistic thoughts. Now, many merchants, bankers, oil magnates, feeling disgust to clericalism, after familiarizing with European cafechantans and smoking, attitude towards their spiritual leader without any respect, but, having common goal of ethnic sovereignty, suggest, that the process may accelerate with help of so-called social-economic evolution. This disagreement is basically academic, than live, because both parties always come along, when they can unite in front of common enemy.
In Echmiadzin Armenian church rule is not uni-headed, but, according to the law, katalikos is the head of Sinod, prosecutor of which is appointed by Russian government. Echmiadzin Ecclesiastical Academy should have been governed by legal set of rules, because time of temporary rules, substituting them, expired long time ago. Finally, competence of Russian power in political issues or common criminal ones, naturally, was in force in Echmiadzin as well. Meanwhile, justified requires of government are not always fulfilled and often remain without response of provide unsuitable one. Oath of recruits and participators of court issues, by Senate's order, has to be given in Russian, but, involved in political affairs clergy forbid priests to do it.
Echmiadzin has vast estates, which governed extremely mysteriously. Equipment, lists of property, etc. are hidden there very well. Properties are sold and pawned. Church institutes also have big credits in banks. Within such economic chaos hard to define where expenses go - to church needs or somewhere else. There is fact that some years ago one gang of Russian money falsifiers sheltered in one of Echmiadzin abbeys.
Poor history of Armenian nation resulted with significant mix of spiritual aims of church with secular affairs. This makes damages to spiritual development of Armenian nation and moral prestige of katalikos and rest of clergy as well.
Secularization of Armenian church's property is very necessary mean in order to provide calmness among Armenian and, mainly, in order to give Armenian church opportunity to execute its holy mission, not disturbing with secular affairs. Their leaders escape Armenian people from the educational point of view, they are harmed and separated from Holy True and Virtue. Primarily and mainly, it is fault of Armenian highest clergy, which mainly consists on ordinary and ignorant peasants.
By organs of Ministry of education was revealed, that Armenian parish schools, is spite of ordinary people's aspiration to study official language, not only hamper this process of development of sense of citizenship, but also spread fanatism and rudeness. Absolutely absurd books, talking about Armenians to civilize their neighbours, maps of Great Armenia (where capital is in Tiflis, and state includes territories to Voroneje) are spreading in this schools.
Former curator on educational affairs in Caucasian district K.P. Yanovskiy gained decree about transmission of some schools under competence of Ministry of education, but with preserving Armenian language and Armenian religious dogma there. Armenian clergy didn't accept it and at the moment closed many schools preferring to keep people in the darkness of ignorance, but not let them to get rid of obscurantism. Council on education on Caucasus could shift a number of schools under its competence, where only secular education was given. Apparently school's property moved together with schools, i.e. sources of financing, equipment, which Armenian clergy couldn't hide or waste. That is to say, that this process was characterized with vast scandals in front of all Tiflis, where Council on education didn't find any support.
Concerning funds (unmovable property and capitals), which armenian schools were financed with, ruse and lie of local moneymakers brought education affairs in extremely hard situation- when primarily school property appeared under monastery and church labels.
Ordinary Armenian people ardently want to study Russian language, which can provide lots of opportunities to earn and to join real culture. Idea of establishing sovereign state on Russian territories, widely cultivated among pseudo-curators of Armenian people, doesn't seem to decline, but rise. There wasn't any territory in Turkey and it is artificially creating on Southern Caucasus.
Thousands of emigrants invade Russian territories, but Russian soldiers may not shot this "peaceful bands", because they let women and children in forward. There is nothing witnessing about Turkish atrocities; and Turkish government doesn't want to accept these people back. Most of these "refugees" refuse to accept Russian citizenship, and laziness and idleness, diseases and crimes of all kinds characterize all of them.
South Caucasian Armenians, behavior of which significantly tenderized during decades of living in Russia, consider arrive of Turkish Armenians as great disaster.
Armenian pseudo-politicians want to extirpate Muslim population on Caucasus, damaging their reputation in order to possess their lands. Government's inactivity in this issue causes nervousness and disobedience among Caucasian Muslims; resolving of affairs, concerning entire vast group of population, always have been put backward during many decades (by the way, there are no reasons for it). It isn't difficult to guess who is interested in such kind of situation. As a result, entire Muslim population of South Caucasus is already covered with Armenian net, despite, partially, Kutaisi district. Armenian millionaires, who are basis of Armenian industrial-political terror, bye vast territories of Georgian princes, Tatar agalars for very low price and capture public lands (this lands are totally populating by Turkish Armenians).
There is another anomaly concerning Caucasian Muslims, i.e. in many Southeastern Caucasian cities Muslims are prevailing part of population, but, nevertheless, they don't have equal with Armenians rights in municipal government, because Armenians are "Christians". Such kind of right restrictions have to derive from life conditions, but not be based on formal features. Exploiters, rebellions, pseudo-politicians, people of dangerous behaviour, as Armenians, should be restricted, but not Muslims, who aren't characterised by above-mentioned features. At the same time, giving Muslims wider rights is absolutely natural, moreover in the places, where Muslims comprise bigger and aboriginal part of population. Caucasian government were conscientiously aspirating for it, and during short time the situation was already resolved in desired mode, suddenly Armenian mass media, newspapers started to scream about panislamism; and central government, yielding them, canceled this distinguished process.
It is extremely characterising, that Armenian pseudo-politicians do not tolerate any positive reference or protection directed towards other, really aboriginal nations on Caucasus. One of the basic fears of Armenian pseudo-politicians is fear in front of publicity. Especially, they are indignant by statements like Armenian hegemony is pernicious for other Caucasian nations; then they scream about rousing of inter-ethnic animosity.
Huge capitals, in hands of people, politically ignorant, can state serious danger not only in complicate situations, but also at ordinary time. Being product not of hard work and knowledge, but of stupid occasional, illegal acquire, this capitals in ignorant and rude hands state social danger, a factor of bribery and debauch.
Delirium and lie of Armenian pseudo-politicians, probably, will remain deliriums, but economic and spiritual damage made by Armenian leaders on Caucasus is huge. These leaders are awful as demoralizers, as viruses of social corrupt, as parasites.
* Vasily Lvovich Velichko - The famous Russian journalist, editor of the semi-official Kavkaz gazette and historian, who had lived in the Caucasus by the end of the XIX century and first years of the XX century and studied the rich culture and history of this region. As an editor of the ``Caucasus`` newspaper, published in Tbilisi, he had traveled all over the Caucasus, and learned local peoples` traditions and way of life.
His book titled Caucasus, Russian Affairs And Inter-tribal Problems includes several articles of historical-ethnographic contest, written by the famous journalist.
The book is published in 2005 and available for download/view online:
Dialogue Between Vice President Biden and An Armenian Activist
Updated 30 Oct 2010 7.30pm GMT
The full text of the dialogue between Vice President Biden and Armenian activist is as follows;
Armenian Activist: “I’m Armenian, and I want to thank you for the work you did in the Senate. I have a question. I am very involved in the Armenian American community and as you know we’ve been…”
Biden: “I know.”
Armenian Activist: “… we’ve been very, very burned. I want to know what is the message that we should be giving to our community?”
Biden: “What you should be giving to your community is that we are not backing off. The Turks have to come to the realization of what the reality is. And what we got to do is, you know, this, the compromise that was going on and being worked at for a while… Tell them that it was the ArmenianPresident that called me and said ‘Look, do not force this issue now, while we are in negotiations. We passed. That’s past right now.’ So anyway, reality has a way of intruding.” Commenting on the YouTube video of a conversation between an Armenian American activist and Vice-President Joe Biden, during which the latter said that Armenian President Serge Sarkisian had asked him to refrain from recognizing the Armenian Genocide on the eve of the roadmap agreement between Turkey and Armenia, the U.S. embassy in Armenia issued the following statement:
“The Vice-President and President Sarkisian spoke twice in April 2009. In these calls, the vice-president told President Sarkisian the United States believes that the normalization of relations with Turkey and the opening of borders would provide a path to a better future for Armenia and expressed the support of the United States for his leadership. The vice-president expressed the Obama Administration’s support for a Swiss proposal for a joint Armenia-Turkish statement on progress made toward normalizing relations. President Sarkisian did not raise the issue of the content of President Obama’s statement for Armenian Remembrance Day or seek a delay in consideration of House Resolution 252. Instead, the discussions between Vice-President Biden and President Sarkisian that were recently referenced by the vice-president were about the need to take immediate steps to improve Armenian-Turkish relations. The two leaders agreed that there should be no preconditions to normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey.”
The video had generated a harsh and prompt response from the Armenian president’s office on Oct. 27.
Commenting on the video, Sarkisian’s press secretary Armen Arzumanyan said the president had not called Biden, nor had he made the statement attributed to him. Arzumanyan invited the White House to release the official records of the conversation.
“Upon Joe Biden’s request, two phone conversations were held in 2009, during which time the president of the Republic of Armenia did not make the statement attributed to him in the video—either directly or indirectly. On the contrary, in all his public speeches and official meetings, President Serge Sarkisian has emphasized the importance of the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, and urged not to justify the delay of recognition with the ongoing negotiations with Turkey. Being confident that the White House has at its disposal all of the U.S. vice-president’s official records and phone conversations, the RA presidential administration officially gives its agreement to publicize the noted phone conversation records,” he said. Comments At Asbarez & Armenian Weekly
-So this means Biden was lying???
-As with all Washingtonian criminals, the American VP is a liar. The self-destructive peasants in Armenia’s so-called “opposition” were quick to disseminate this news, as they do with every other anti-Armenia propaganda that is thrown at them by Western or Turkish intelligence agencies. The White House has since retracted the VP’s statement. Is the “opposition” in Armenia courageous enough now to do the same with this followup?
- Joe Biden is full of it. It’s election time and he has to pander for votes. If he is not backing off, how come i can’t hear him use the word GENOCIDE in this video.. Yes reality has a way of intruding. I used to respect him. As it turns out, he is just another windbag, that’s all…
- I say baloney. Another attempt by the obama administration to cover their behinds in respect to their broken promises to the Armenian community of the US.
- I didn’t believe the “sellout” rhetoric before but after hearing this from Biden, Serzh really did sell us out to the Turks.
- The usual empty words.The Armenian president fell for the turkish trickery AGAIN. Wait and see ,when April 24 2011 approaches,they will pull another fast one .You guys are so naive,to fall for this. The ARF was right from the beginning to oppose the protocol trick.If you guys fall to this again,then you deserve it.
- Incorrigible Joe Biden! Everyone should take this Youtube video with a grain of salt. Things can be taken out of context. President Sarkissyan probably thought that the Protocols were a done deal when he called the VP. Now he knows that no Protocol can be a done deal unless the Armenian people says so.
Let’s be careful not to fall in traps meant to divide the Diaspora and Armenia further.
It is encouraging that Biden realizes that the “truth” cannot be covered for too long, and nothing can overcome the strong will of a people.
- Everyone, keep up your efforts in fighting for our just cause.
- Politicians twist words and even outright lie as a matter of course. Don’t believe anything Biden says; like the other writer noted, he could have easily used the words ‘Armenian Genocide’….
- Democrats are desperate, so Biden had to manufacture something … from bits and pieces of conversations … to mollify Armenian-American voters.
- Throughout our history, whenever we have allowed ourselves to be divided by outside interests, we have been weakened and lost much.
- When we have closed ranks and presented a united front, we are immovable as Mount Ararat. Best recent example: when Turks/Azeris attempted a 2nd Genocide against Artaskhtsi; had we fallen for attempts to divide us then, we’d now be begging ‘world leaders’ to recognize a 2nd Armenian Genocide, and to do something about it.
- Instead, our brothers and sisters of Artsakh are alive and free.
- Thank you Mr. Biden
- Turkey has to have her past in order to have a meaningful present and future. The USA should also review her policy with regards to the Armenian Genocide. I don’t believe that Obama refrained from recognising the Armenian Genocide just because Serj Sarkissyan told him to do. We all know the lethal combination of policies and the dirty politics that go on behind stopping this great historical tragedy to be recognised once and for all. Don’t kid yourselves and most important, don’t kid us!!!!!!!!!!
- “Tell them that it was the ArmenianPresident that called me and said ‘Look, do not force this issue now, while we are in negotiations. We passed. That’s past right now.’ So anyway, reality has a way of intruding.” Joe Biden
- What did the Vice President mean with that comment? Was he saying that the Obama administration was forcing this on us, and the Armenian president said do not force (recognize) this issue (Genocide) now, because we’re in negotations?
- “So anyway, reality has a way of intruding.” Joe Biden. What reality is he refering to? I think a clarification is in order from the Vice-President’s office.
- I’ve heard about the Armenian President calling on a US President to recognize the Armenian Genocide but for our very own President Sarkisian to call Biden up and urge him not to recognize the truth is just plain ludicrous. Did the Turks spend one penny lobbying Washington to ignore truth during the signing of the so called protocols or did benevolent Sarkisian help the Turks out during this economic downturn and agree to do their work for them pro bono? Have you no shame Sarkisian?
- Either Serge Sargsian is lying, or Biden is. We need some clarification from the White House and Armenia.
- I just do not believe this VP guy. Now he does not have any excuse, trying to blame armenian president. That is ridiculous. We all know what Mr. Biden promised to get elected including Mr Obama and Mrs klinton, they all tricked Armenians.
- And just upon that we should vote for them??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
- Any Armenian who believes this garbage- 6 days before the midterm election- is a FOOL, plain and simple.
- Very well said
- I agree with Harry, what does Biden mean when he said, reality has a way of intruding?? So disappointing.
- Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us!
- Hello ANCA, any comment?
- I think Joe Biden is not telling the truth. It would be interesting to ask Mr. Biden to reveal “the stenographies and recordings of all official phone conversations of U.S. Vice President”, as “Armenian President’s Administration gives its official consent to publish the mentioned phone conversation’s recording.” www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/10/27/president-biden/
- If both parties want to get out dry out of the water it will we decided that the translators of the phone conversation did a poor job.
- Every self respecting Armenian should press more clarification of this issue and evidence to the contrary if any… Any one fallowing the events of the now “frozen” Armenian-Turkish protocols will clearly remember how the Sarkisyan administration was using all the resources available to it (legal or illegal) to force the protocols on the Armenian nation, they also will remember how the Armenian administration was playing with words on its position of the Armenian genocide recognition and its fundamental place for the Armenian nation. Everyone clearly remembers that the Armenian president and its administration/ the coalition, only started talking and emphasizing the genocide issue well after they were badly fooled and in the process embarrassed when the Turks cleverly tricked them, left them alone in the room, scrunching their …
As much as everyone knows that there are no angels on any sides specially when one talk about politics and politicians, IE / Vice President Joe Biden, or the rest of President Obama / administration, I think it is the President Sarkisian’s office that should publicize any recorded tape of the conversation. The Ball is in the President Sarkisian’s court and not the Vice-President Biden’s.
- Couldn’t agree with you 1,2,4. Armenian President’s Administration publicly labeled Biden as a liar. It is now up to Biden to clear his name or to swallow the insult.
- Ara jan, lol You might have had a point if either of the two parties had any credibility or for that matter any dignity left…
And then again, I think after all said and done, Vice-President Biden/ President Obama and rest of the Administration are not the President of Armenia, or have a constitutional obligation, like President Sarkisyan ( chapter11 of Armenian constitution) in connection to the Armenian Genocide. As much as everyone hoped that the Obama administration will be more honorable then it’s predecessors in keeping their pre election pelage, the genocide issue never was nor anytime will be a responsibility, a central issue for them like it is, and always will be for any Armenian president. America’s President is not accountable to the Armenian nation, the Armenian President is. Beggars can’t be choosers after all.
Armenian nation everywhere always has and always will expect Armenia’s President to come true on this issue 100%, may the name of a President be SERJ, POGHOS , PETROS or MARTIROS…
- Don’t be surprised if Mr. Biden tells later I mean after elections are over “Oh, you know guys I was supposed to say that Turkish president called me. I’m an old guy, have problems with memory, sorry about it”. I for instance do not believe that Mr. Sarkissian would have said such a thing to him. But wait and see what kind of noise will ANC make out of this.
- Biden is lying at least in the part where he says that Sargsyan called him. Biden called Sargsyan twice on April 20 and April 23, 2009. The rest is on the record and at least the Armenian side does not object the release of the tape to media. Does Biden have reservations? Why? If the protocols were the obstacle to the US recognition, then why did not Joe Biden do so last year on April 24 when the protocols were frozen beyond repair?
- I read it in Asbarez, (A video showing an Armenian activist talking to Vice-President Joe Biden was posted on YouTube earlier today. In the video, Biden says, “The Turks have to come to the realization of what the reality is.”
Question: “I’m Armenian, and I want to thank you for the work you did in the Senate. I have a question. I am very involved in the Armenian American community and as you know we’ve been…” Vice-President Biden: “Oh, I know.” Question: “… we’ve been very, very burned. I want to know what is the message that we should be giving to our community?”
Biden: “What you should be giving to your community is that we are not backing off. The Turks have to come to the realization of what the reality is. And what we got to do is, you know, this, the compromise that was going on and being worked at for a while… Tell them that it was the ArmenianPresident that called me and said ‘Look, do not force this issue now, while we are in negotiations. We passed. That’s past right now.’ So anyway, reality has a way of intruding.”)
If this so-called “Armenian Activist” character is really exist, then Why he or she doesn’t come out of his Mouse-hole and throw light on this …”Tazzag” (excuse my Tikranagerd language Mr Biden, if not your invention) news? instead goes on pasting the news on a You Tube.
- For this very reason those liars should be voted out, they think their old strategy of divide and conquer still works, taking Armenians as naive and simple minded, though they claim to be university grads I bet they cannot spell Armenian Genocide,
Reality sure does have a way of intruding Mr. Biden. You can tell members of your administration that they will face that reality point blank come November.
- VP Biden is a liar.
- Yes, Biden may well be lying.
On the other hand, what does it say about President Sargsian that many of us think that the story could be true?
And what does it say that we feel that Sargsian does not put forth the Genocide issue as strongly or frequently as he should?
This is where our skepticism comes from. The lack of credibility on Sargsian’s part is his own doing, not Biden’s.
One example is the Protocols where the implication seemed to be that the factuality of the Genocide would be subject to a debate by Turks and Armenians. Even if that was not what it would be, why was it put in the Protocols to begin with? What was the compelling reason?
Sargsian should take this Biden incident as yet another wakeup call.
- Let vp biden clarify his statements and substantiate his claims about what the Armenian President may have said by publicizing his phone conversations with President Sarkisian.
If he can prove it, I may believe him.
Kudos to the yerdasart for asking and recording this question to his face. The next time the VP tries to place his hands on you while trying to attribute his administrations faults to something else, back off a bit and remove his hands asking him politely not to touch you. Tell him his hands have blood on them…
- First of all,it seems that my original letter was discarded;either by the editor or internet moderator.
I had stated that chalk this event as a proof of inexperienced Armenian president and as a win for turkish influence on US government.This is another proof that ARF’s stand against the so called protocols was RIGHT from the beginning.That was a gimmick by Turkey to delay the recognition of ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. Let’s see what kind of trick they will pull out this time when April 2011 approaches,and what kind of evasive response will President Obama give to this .The only president in recent history who mentioned THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE as such was the late president Ronald Reagan;the rest all are/were evasive and no balls.
- Dear Ham. Maj.
You are dead wrong, VP Biden is the most open, transparent and honest of all, his words are right from his heart which among politicians is an extremely rear commodity to an extend that to their standards even sometimes he sounds stupid to them.
Now let me educate you.
The Sevres Treaty of 1920 signed by Turks and the WW I allies; assigning USA as mediator where after US congressional approval and President Woodrow Wilson signature with grate seal of USA alond with a map which clearly has drawn boundaries between Armenia and Turkey with provision of a wide buffer zone in between; to date is the only valid document in the world which unfortunately is being held back by US just to keep Turks tamed, and Russia by learning that by using the disputed lands between Armenia and Azerbaijan are exactly doing the same thing on those two Independent countries.
Later Pentagon did use the same control tactic by introducing a new map of that region showing a large area named “New Kurdistan” which also includes the northern part of Iraq which has large Kurdish population; assigning less territories that what was assigned by above mentioned map to Armenia.
These are all games without any legal basis because as I mentioned above The Sevres Treaty to date is the only International legal documents signed by countries.
Now all above said if we go back to the so-called “Protocol” between Armenia & Turkey if we read it carefully; top to bottom is nonsense and formality garbage except when it talks about the borders between Armenia and Turkey where the language is trying to get consent from Armenia as a nation to nullify “The Sevres Treaty” by agreeing to stay within EXISTING BOARDERS; because nullifying the 1920 treaty requires a document signed between two COUNTRIES only, any other legal document which lacks that condition in one or both sides (which there are some on the table) is not valid to nullify such document.
I’m sure VP Joe Biden comment was based on having that knowledge; something that either you didn’t have or if you are a “Politician” was hiding it.
Now that you got educated, I think at this point an apology to Honorable VP Joe Biden is due, go ahead…..
- Let me get this straight.
Armenia’s President said the following during the signing of the protocols and then restated it again today: the RA doesn’t have a problem with the US recognizing the Armenian Genocide and in fact official Yerevan urges them to do so without delay.
Biden is now saying that we didn’t recognize the Armenian Genocide because official Yerevan asked us not to. In other words US officials may want us to believe that they supposedly misunderstood the RA. I think its safe to say that the RA has clarified and restated their sentiments quite clearly for the administration now.
So now that this supposed misconception is out in the open, what are Obama and Biden waiting for…or is there another lame excuse waiting for our community?
- I’m writing to you as to the most educated person among all Armenians to share with you my finding that among the beings created by Our Almighty Creator there is no such creature as HONORABLE Joe Biden. Armenian President’s Administration publicly labeled Biden as a liar. It is now up to Biden to clear his name or to swallow the insult. My guess is he will swallow.
- Yes, Joe Biden is not only a liar, he is an EVASIVE LIAR!
- Was this a Biden gaff again? Did Sarkisyan really say it? It all depends on whether the US withheld aid to Artsagh or Armenia in exchange for Sarkisyan’s acquiescence about the Diaspora’s rights. Don’t forget, Sarkisyan is from Artsagh and he may have horse traded the Diaspora’s 2 Trillion dollar property rights against Turkey so as to preserve his and the Oligarch stooges property interests in Artsagh. This could be a ploy from president Obama (his father was Muslim) to pressure Sarkisyan to make concessions to the Azerbadeljanis.
I would like the full comments in proper context. Let us see.
- FOR SURE ONE OF YOU ARE LYING …………………………………………………………. SIR, BE CAREFUL ARMENIAN PEOPLE ARE SMARTER THAN YOU. THEY WILL FIND OUT THE TRUTH.
- I would believe Biden over Sargsyan any day. Biden has a reputation for unedited comments. He gets in trouble for this once in a while. This sounds like another honest, unedited fact.
- Like you were on conference call with them to know about all the details!
- I don’t trust either man, but I’m going to need some proof though if I am to believe that Biden’s comments are indeed fabricated. The Armenian president was stupid enough to agree to the protocols after all. He may in fact be a bigger enemy to Armenia than either the Turks or the Azeris.
- Both Sarkisian and Biden politically are right…..it all depends who “decoded” the genocide word from English into Armenian or ViceVersa …it’s seems to me that “real genocide” word play a huge politics between US and Turkey these days!!
After all this “sensitive” word of Genocide translated into White House dictionary as Mez Yeghern two years ago by Biden’s master..
- This Biden dude is a liar and a shame! The Armenian President never said that and that’s why he has asked the White House to reveal its records! Damn liars!
- Thanks for your attempt to educate us on a historical discourse! In no way does it refute the fact that Joe Biden, if not a liar, is certainly evasive!
- The 50th anniversary was a turning point for the Armenian Genocide in the world but at that time it was mostly for educating ourselves (Armenians) and Mets Yeghern was used at that time and no one complained about, later when it started infiltrate in news media of the host countries in Europe and US with significant amount of Armenian population, the foreign language media first and then us started using The Armenian Genocide instead.
We all know that always was and still is a big joy if a high ranking none Armenian official uses an Armenian word in any public event, it elevates that gathering to its highest point, now if some bias comrades of mine allow me to say something without getting sarcastic comments back, We all know that Joe Biden has been around for a long time; now IF he has used that M. Y. Before April 2010 comment of the President Obama; then everybody should agree with me that it is an unfair low blow to bring it in this context.
- I for one am flattered when a non Armenian utters an Armenian word. However, in the context of the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE on the international arena ,it is not acceptable.If you ask why? because the rest of the world does not know that “Medz Yeghern” is the same as THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.That’s why.No it is not acceptable by a world figure and on the eve of April 24 to say that and NOT the GENOCIDE word.No balls.You cannot defend that evasive statement in NO shape and form.
I hope the truth comes out sooner rather than later;who said what and when. Bottom line is ,we heard him say the “The Armenian Genocide” during his running for the most powerful position in the world,but he laughed yes laughed at us by reneging on his promise and did not say the true powerful words “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’.
- Unfortunately we are all still evading the fact that “The Cold War” still exists and by giving the total credit to President Reagan; every night we go to bed with peace of mind.
Do I need to say that it still exists and after the collapse of the USSR in the Chess game the side (I don’t want to use colors) which was hibernating when woke up faced with the sour reality that the other side has already gobbled some of its items from the board and soon after started retaliating to get even in the game.
Having that in mind that those two blocs with some modifications still exist and considering that which side the Armenia nowadays is; then isn’t it naïve to assume that the other bloc would and should dance to the opponent’s tunes?
- Mez Yeghern is good for the moral of Armenians…Genocide to force Turkey to accept Mez Yeghern…just like Shoha, Jews used among themselves and Holocaust in world stage..21 advanced countries use word of Genocide and only one country used Mez Yeghern, which morally is wrong for Armenians!! Unfortunately Genocide word is a useful tools in the world of politics, especially for USA, in order to manipulate their immediate political wills…
Politician like Biden is not HOLY and he does not care for the truth of Mez Yeghern, or “Armenian cause” Mr Biden’s goal, to bring Turks into “forced negotiation” table, where “stupid bird” tried to be free for a while in the land of Ottomans!!…all I can say that no politician is born to be holy, and Biden is not exceptional, even Sen. Edward Kennedy shortly before his death, wrote a letter to Pope and asked God’s forgiveness, for unholy decisions, that he made during his political life…according to Bible we all born sinners, especially POLITICIANS…
- U.S. Senator Barak Obama promised to recognize the Genocide, not the Medz Yeghern, when he’d become U.S. President.
I never ever said to use M. Y. instead of Genocide it is even stupid to use any word from one language in the other, I was just explaining the history of the M. Y. in reply to Grish that as he says himself Joe Biden used that about 2 years ago and I was telling him that it is not fair to say he did it with bad intentions.
Look Greg, we can’t go back and dig the records of those phone conversations its national security issue on both sides and to my knowledge further debate about it to find out who is right or wrong is just waste of time so let’s leave politics to politicians because politics means to hide something from someone to gain advantage and that to me means LYING.
BTW, One thing from video that I wasn’t clear for me is what the hell Biden is doing to that youngster; looks like he is conducting a body search on him. :-) ))
- Please read it carefully I’m not suggesting to swap Genocide with anything I’m just giving the history of the M. Y. which has been used before just by Armenians.
1. Dispersed Armenians vs. Diaspora “Fixed Menu” Institutions that make up the organized community – e.g., schools, churches, cultural, charitable, social, athletic, political parties, lobbies, conferences, trade associations. The Silent Majority and the institutional vacuum in which they live
2. Homeland vs. Armenian State
3. Relationship Modalities of Relationship Patterns of human interaction between Diaspora and Armenia - tourism, exchanges, family ties Economic relations between Diaspora and Armenia – charity, consumption, direct vs. indirect investment, support for culture, Conferences East is East and West is West? Repatriation – Bad Legacy of Repatriation during Soviet period Attitudes of Diaspora toward Armenia, Armenia toward Diaspora, attitudes of others toward both, attitudes of various Diasporan communities toward each other
4 Sub-Groups 184.1 Religious affiliation - Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Armenian Evangelical Protestant, other non-Armenian Christian, believer, agnostic, non-believer Post-Genocide & Cold-War Legacy Inner Diaspora (within the CIS vs. outside the CIS), residual cold war mentality External Diaspora – relationships and diverse cultures of Armenian communities and hyphenated Armenians - Europe, Mid-East, Turkey, Australia, South America communities New Diaspora (from Armenia) vs. Old Diaspora Eastern vs. Western Armenian language and subcultures The role of the causes underlying dispersion on the Diasporan mentality- Genocide, economic emigration, political persecution Centrifugal vs. Centripetal forces, Convergences, Divergences, Hybrids Internalized multiculturalism Blurring of old boundaries, emergence of new faults along cultural lines, new alignments, cross-cutting institutions and individuals
5. Micro Issues - Individual Identity Issues Typical life-cycle/patterns of a Diasporan individual/family Tension between self-actualization and ethnic identity Intermarriage, Assimilation Positive Armenia/Armenian image, reputation incentive to identify as Armenian
6 External factors that impact relationship between Armenia and Diaspora, including geopolitical orientation, economic disparities Relationship to non-Armenian Communities & Cultures – Ghettoization vs. Integration
7 Descriptions of Diaspora-Homeland Scenarios (“DH” Scenarios) Hub & Spokes Bilateral – Organized Diaspora vs. Organized Armenia Organized Decentralization Ad Hoc Decentralization Repolarization Alienation . . .
8. Evolution of DH Scenarios
9. Compatibility of Diaspora-Homeland Scenarios with preliminary Armenia2020 Scenarios
Barack Obama has a long track record of commemorating the Armenian Genocide, has spoken compellingly of the moral imperative of U.S. condemnation of this crime against humanity, and has publicly pledged several times, in clear and forceful language, to fully and properly recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Obama Presidential Campaign: 1)January 19, 2008 Obama campaign statement outlining Barack Obama’s views on the importance of U.S.-Armenia relations, including his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
2)September 21, 2008 Obama campaign statement from Barack Obama celebrating Armenian Independence Day.
3)October 31, 2008 Obama campaign fact sheet reaffirming Barack Obama’s pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
United States Senate: 1)April 18, 2005 Senate sign-on letter, signed by Senator Obama, urging President Bush to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
2)April 20, 2006 Senate sign-on letter, signed by Senator Obama, . . urging President Bush to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
3)July 28, 2006 letter from Senator Obama to Secretary Rice concerning the firing of Ambassador Evans, which includes strong language in support of Armenian Genocide recognition.
4)June 19, 2008 responses to Senator Obama’s written questions to Ambassador to Armenia-designate Marie Yovanovitch.
5)April 28, 2008 U.S. Senate floor statement in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
6)June 16, 2008 constituent email response text to Illinois resident (and ANCA Chairman) Ken Hachikian in support of Armenian Genocide recognition.
7)April 12, 2007 YouTube video of Senator Obama during a public Capitol Hill constituent meeting, during which he stated: “For those who aren’t aware there was a genocide that did take place against the Armenian people. It is one of these situations where we have seen a constant denial on part of the Turkish Government and others that this occurred.”
The ongoing dispute between the Turkish and Armenian nations concerning responsibility for the pogroms against Ottoman Armenians in the ‘Hamidian massacres’ of 1894-1896, the ‘Adana massacre’ of 1909 and, especially, the massacres and forced deportations of 1915 (‘the pogroms’) . . . has been the longstanding sore in Turkish-Armenian relations during the past century. However, despite an ongoing series of campaigns during that period by various Armenian lobby groups to pressure mainly European and North American States to recognise responsibility of the Ottoman Empire for the ‘Armenian Genocide’, there remains a remarkable absence of clarity and purpose concerning the Armenian cause.
The forthcoming signing of two ‘Protocols’ between the Republics of Turkey and Armenia has caused great controversy and illuminated this lack of Armenian organisation and focus concerning coherent priorities, methodology and demands towards Turkey
Through analysis of the political aspects of the dispute, contemporary Turkish-Armenian relations are viewed primarily from the perspective of inter-State relations owing to the current intergovernmental negotiating framework. However, strong pressures rendering the success of the ‘roadmap’ initiative unlikely, it is submitted that the more modest and practicable goal of establishment of diplomatic and consular relations be pursued instead towards an incremental, long-term improvement of relations by constituting a forum for direct, public dialogue – including mutual protest concerning the pogroms dispute.
In considering the legal aspects of the dispute, it is advanced that it is not amenable to compulsory adjudication as a dispute resolution method. This is due to the inapplicability of the Genocide Convention 1948 and the fact that the Ottoman Armenian victims were not Armenian nationals at the time of the pogroms. The various forms of negotiation – including mediation, arbitration and voluntary adjudication – are accordingly more suitable to this intractable dispute, the just resolution of which would benefit Turks and Armenians alike. It is submitted, however, that Turkish responsibility for the Armenian pogroms does exist and that it can entail a duty to make reparation, the form of which is explored. In that context, the formulation of a clear, common Armenian strategy is a matter of utmost urgency in order to advance the dispute resolution process.
Incremental Improvement of Bilateral Relations Methodologically, an incremental approach towards improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations by resolving less emotive issues whilst delaying the genocide recognition dispute for later consideration is preferable over attempting to resolve the Armenian pogroms dispute conditionally with détente.
In decoupling the border 1 and diplomatic relations issues from the pogroms dispute by striving to improve bilateral relations through the establishment of diplomatic relations 2 and the opening of the shared border (reducing currently inflated commercial transit costs) would incrementally relax currently tense relations and prepare the respective populations for direct engagement concerning the Armenian pogroms dispute. Whilst a comprehensive settlement approach by which resolution of one issue would be linked to that of every other is possible, the bargaining game that this entails would render it difficult to compose a sufficiently balanced compromise in order to satisfy the domestic pressures placed upon both governments. In general, the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of the border are discretionary matters in international law. 2009
Karabakh Knot: Identifying Myths and Clarifying Realities, 14 March 2012 Update
Nagorno-Karabakh And Other Azerbaijani Occupied Territories Against A Background Of Armenian-PKK Cooperation
Karabakh Knot: Identifying Myths and Clarifying Realities, 14 March 2012 Update By Yusif Babanly, Contributor
Since the ceasefire in May 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been deadlocked in the so-called frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh. Continuous meetings of the heads of state, ministers of foreign affairs, religious leaders and intellectuals have brought no substantial progress in the resolution of what is considered to be one of the bloodiest conflicts in the post-Soviet space.
As highlighted by the Armenian commentator in his op-ed “Karabakh Knot: Myths and Realities” in Foreign Policy (http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/03/10/karabakh-knot-myths-and-realities/), 2011 was indeed “another year of wasted opportunities.” Uncompromising stances from both sides makes it nearly impossible to come close to the long-awaited peace treaty. Although, the agreement on basic principles has not been reached, Azerbaijan, eager to settle the conflict soon, had even proposed to simultaneously start working on the final peace treaty in December 2011.[1] However, the Armenian side has so far been unwilling to contribute to the process of peace-building, ironically, ever since the peacemakers began to intervene to end the bloodshed in 1991.[2] It is worth noting that some of the most strategic locations in Karabakh were occupied by Armenian troops in the periods of mediated trilateral meetings planned to halt the hostilities, when the Azerbaijani side concentrated on peace talks and did not expect any offensives on the front lines.
The commentator Aram Avetisyan, who distinctively claims that there are three parties to the conflict (Azerbaijan, Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), must get acquainted with the peacemaking formats used during peace negotiations, mediated both during the existence of the Soviet Union (Zheleznovodsk Accords, mediated by Russia and Kazakhstan [3]) and after its collapse (Tehran Agreement [4] and subsequent OSCE Minsk Group-sponsored talks). None of the state leaders or their representatives mediating any of the aforementioned peace agreements recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a separate party to the conflict. Not then, not now. Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran have all mediated between Azerbaijan and Armenia only. Similarly, from the inception of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group in March, 1992, the format of the negotiations was set up according to Baker Rules, named after the United States Secretary of State, James Baker.[5] Within the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Baker Rules recognized only two principal parties to the conflict—Armenia and Azerbaijan, and identified two interested parties—the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. This format has been retained to this day. During their periodic visits, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs meet with Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, followed by meetings with the head of the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh, who depicts himself as “President of NKR” in Khankendi (Stepanakert), and the head of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh, currently in exile, in Baku. Therefore, there are no irregularities or inconsistencies in the format of peace negotiations and Azerbaijan is not to be accused of “rejecting” any contacts with Nagorno-Karabakh. On a separate note, reconciliation measures have always been welcomed by Azerbaijan, as many intellectuals and public diplomats have been in contact with their Armenian counterparts in Armenia and occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, and have hosted them in Baku many times.
Azerbaijan does not mislead the international community with any international documents as the commentator claims. Futile arguments to misinterpret the nature of official documents to present the conflicting sides as “Azerbaijan and NKR” will only add to the existing set of misrepresentations of facts by the Armenian side. One undeniable fact is that Armenia, in a quest for the outright annexation of Azerbaijani territory, had demanded transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia through the end of September 1991. Understanding the repercussions of demands within international law, the Armenian leadership soon denounced the claims to Nagorno-Karabakh and switched to the “self-determination” principle to gain sympathy and some legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.[6]
Baku rightfully refers to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 in an effort to underline the stance of the international community vis-à-vis Armenia and its aggression against Azerbaijan. To get clarification and understand what the documents stipulate, one must read through the texts of the resolutions in full, while also paying attention to the timing of when these documents were adopted. Resolution 822 was adopted on April 30, 1993 in relation and response to the occupation of the Kelbajar district of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Armenian forces attacking from the eastern occupied district of Agdere and by the Armenian armed forces aided by the 127th division of the Russian army from the west (across the Armenian border) on April 2, 1993.[7],[8] The resolution clearly reaffirms the “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory,” calling for the withdrawal of occupying forces from Kelbajar District and the other areas of Azerbaijan.[9]
Subsequent UNSC Resolutions 853, 874 and 884 were passed due to the ongoing advance and occupation of Azerbaijani districts by the Armenian army, reaffirming the stance of the U.N. Security Council on previously adopted documents calling for occupying Armenian forces to withdraw. Resolution 853 was passed on July 29, 1993, six days after occupation of the Agdam district of Azerbaijan and in accordance with the report by the Chairman of the OSCE (CSCE) Minsk Group.[10] Resolution 874 was adopted on October 14, following the occupation of the districts of Fizuli, Jabrayil, and Gubadly on August 23, 26 and 31, respectively.[11] Finally, Resolution 884 was adopted on November 12, 1993 after the last region in southwestern Karabakh, Zangelan and the city of Horadiz were occupied on October 29.[12] Remarkably, Mr. Avetisyan also chooses to forget four critical points:
1)The term “occupying forces” in the resolutions is used in reference to the occupying Armenian armed forces, because Azerbaijan, in all of the districts specified in the resolutions, was on the defensive, not offensive; 2)Azerbaijani forces could not have ever been an “occupying force” in Nagorno-Karabakh, simply because Nagorno-Karabakh is a constituent part of the Republic of Azerbaijan (duly recognized so by the international community). Hence, there are no grounds to misinterpret and play around the term “occupying forces”; 3)“Local Armenian troops” would never have been able to withstand campaigns of the Azerbaijani army should they have not been aided by the Armenian army and Russia’s 127th division stationed in Gyumri (Armenia) and 366th regiment deployed in Khankendi (Stepanakert). The latter had already become notorious for its role in the joint operation in Khojaly on February 26, 1992, which ended up in the slaughter of 613 Azeri civilians by Armenian detachments [13],[14]; 4)There is ample evidence of the Armenian army participating in hostilities against Azerbaijan in Karabakh. Reputable sources, including Human Rights Watch, state that as much as 30 percent of Armenian army soldiers interviewed in Yerevan fought in Karabakh.[15] Many Armenian soldiers, who currently serve in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, are a part of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia. The deaths of Armenian conscripts in Nagorno-Karabakh every now and then often make their way into the media and shed light on the denials of the Armenian side about the Armenian army being deployed in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.[16]
Yet, the aforementioned four UNSC resolutions are not the only documents clarifying the stance of the international community. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution 1416 on January 25, 2005 on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and called for compliance with four UNSC resolutions.[17] The U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution A/62/L.42 on March 14, 2008 reaffirming the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demanding the withdrawal of occupying Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh.[18] Many more resolutions condemning the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory were passed by other international organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. From the EU presidency to Minsk Group co-chair states, leaders have called on Armenia to respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and withdraw the occupying forces from its territory.[19],[20] By contrast, no documents by international bodies and governments were issued condemning any “Azerbaijani aggression,” as implied by Mr. Avetisyan, not even during the Azerbaijani campaign from December 1993 to January 1994 when Azerbaijani forces were able to liberate Horadiz, just because the restoration of the territorial integrity of a sovereign state is the right of any country, maintained by every legitimate government on the planet. Furthermore, no international organization or government has recognized the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ruled by a regime branded by U.S. Assistant of Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones as one run by “criminal secessionists.”[21] It is noteworthy that U.N. member Pakistan does not even recognize Armenia itself, due to its aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan.[22]
Unsurprisingly, commentator Avetisyan reiterates the official rhetoric of the Republic of Armenia on the continuing blockade of Armenia by the Republic of Azerbaijan, but fails to provide precedents from the history of conflicts where and when a country, a part of which had been occupied, extended a lifeline to the economy of the occupying country. This would be similar to Nazi Germany complaining about a blockade of the Allies during WWII, imposed on it untiil the end of the war while it maintained the occupation of a large part of Europe and Northern Africa. Needless to say, Azerbaijan sees no point in opening borders with Armenia or extending all economic opportunities to it, which would bring Yerevan money to sustain its occupation of Karabakh, so long as Armenia is unwilling to compromise. Unfortunately, the Armenian leadership has imprisoned the Armenian population and Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh, depriving them of all economic incentives and projects which enriched all countries in the region, including Georgia and Turkey. Undoubtedly, Armenia, which was left behind all major international energy and communication projects in the Caucasus, has been ranked by Forbes magazine as the second-worst economy in the world.[23] Therefore, due to deteriorating economic conditions in the country, Armenia has ranked third among 28 post-socialist countries for having the most decreasing population, losing 15.1% of its population between 1989 through 2007. By contrast, Azerbaijan’s population grew by 20.8% in the same time period.[24] A strikingly worrisome concern is that over 1.1 million people have left Armenia since 1991.[25]
The core of the problems Armenia faces today is the irredentist and decrepit ideology of the state, imposed on the Armenian public, impeding the economic and social development in the country. It is the only state in the South Caucasus which lays territorial claims on Azerbaijan (its Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan regions), Georgia (Samtskhe-Javakheti region) and Turkey (eastern provinces) simultaneously. It is the only state violating international laws and norms in the region. And it is the only state depriving its own population of economic benefits other countries have been enjoying. Yerevan should seriously rethink its strategies and start integrating into the region instead of conspicuously calling on the younger generation of Armenians to ominous causes such as “fighting to annex eastern Turkey.”[26] The mere fact that the international community has not recognized the regime in Khankendi (Stepanakert) in the last two decades and does not endorse the occupation of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia should give it a hint. Saber rattling against Azerbaijan does not supply the Armenian public with income, nor does it increase their chances of justifying the occupation of a sovereign state’s territory in the eyes of the international community. Only through good-willed compromise and respect for international laws can Armenia overcome this impasse.
[1] News.az agency, Azerbaijan ready to start work on major peace agreement. December 6, 2011 (http://www.news.az/articles/50317) [2] Yusif Babanly, History of peace process disruptions: starring Armenia, July 14, 2011 (http://www.todayszaman.com/news-250436- opinion-history-of -peace-process-disruptions-starring -armenia.html) [3] BBC Russian, Karabakh: Chronol ogy of the conflict (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/ news/newsid_3681000/3681079.stm) [4] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Jean-Christophe Peuch. Caucasus: Iran Offers to Mediate in Nagorno-Karabakh Dispute, RFE/RL (http://www.rferl.org/content/ article/1097022.html) [5] Russian News Portal, State Secret ary arrives in Azerbaijan. July 4, 2010 (http://old.er.ru/about/text.shtml?14 /4223,110989) [6] The New York Times, Bill Keller, Armenia Yielding Claim on Enclave, September 23, 1991 (http://www.nyt imes.com/1991/09/23/world/armenia-yielding- claim-on-enclave.html?scp=1&sq=Arme nia%20Yielding%20Claim%20on%20Enclave&st=cse) [7] UN SC Resolution 822 (1993) Adopted by the Security Council at its 3205th meeting, on April 30, 1993 (http: //www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f15764.html) [8] Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, Azerbaijan: Seven years of conflict in Nagorno- Karabakh: Human Rights Watch, 1994 , p. 116 (http://books.google.com /books?id=4ipKwifQaNIC&printsec= frontcover&dq=Azerbaijan:+ Seven+years+of+conflict+in+Nagor no-Karabakh&hl= en&sa=X&ei=1wVbT4miGMPi2QWH1uDlDg&ved= 0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false) [9] See note 7 [10] UN SC Resolution 853 (1993) A dopted by the Security Council at its 3259th meeting, on 29 July, 1993 (http://www.unhcr.org /refworld/docid/3b00f15a60.html) [11] UN SC Resolution 874 (1993) Adopted by the Security Council at its 3292nd meeting, on 14 October, 1993 (http://www.u nhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f1684.html) [12] UN SC Resolution 884 (1993) Adopted by the Security Council at its 3313th meeting, on 12 November, 1993
[13] The New York Times, Massacre by Armenians Being Reported. March 3, 1992 (http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/03/ world/massacre-by-armenians-being-reported. html?scp=7&sq=Khojaly&st=nyt) [14] The Journal of Turkish Weekly, The Debacle: From Kafan to Khojaly, Yusif Babanly (http://www.turkishweekly .net/news/131697/the-debacle-from-kafan-to- khojaly.html) [15] Thomas De Waal, Black Garden: New York University Press, 2003, p. 236 (http://books.google.com/books?id=pletup86P MQC&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=Armenian+conscript+ Vanadzor+Karabakh&source= bl&ots=A_72xSz9FQ&sig=xi52D1UWoIZhpccU9- CelQNyisc&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false) [16] Human Rights Watch World Report 1999: HRW, 1998, p. 240 (http://books.google.com/books?id=LdWZrfsd qAEC&pg=PA240&lpg=PA240&dq=Armenian+conscript+ Vanadzor+ Karabakh&source=bl&ots=UGuVnwhvJT&sig=M5Y3S xkMkkznsHrWaMI18Q455mA&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f= false) [17] PACE Resolution 1416. The conflict ov er the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Text adopted by the Assembly on 25 January 2005 (2nd Sitting) (http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents /AdoptedText/ta05/ERES1416.htm#_ftn1) [18] General Assembly calls for removal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, 14 March 2008 (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp ?NewsID=25986&Cr=general&Cr1=assembly) [19] Leonidas Themistocles Chrysanthopoulos, Caucasus chronicles: nation-building a nd diplomacy in Armenia, 1993-1994: Gomidas Institute , 2002, p. 134 (http://books. google.com/books?id=cELfINDAH0oC&pg=PA141&dq=Horadiz &hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false) [20] Chicago Tribune, Azerbaijan, Armenia take step s toward cease-fire in enclave, May 7, 1993 (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotr ibune/access/24283152.html?FMT= ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+7%2C+1993&author =ASSOCIATED+PRESS&pub= Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage =6&desc=Azerbaijan%2C+ Armenia+take+steps+toward+cease-fire+in+enclave) [21] U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones , Speech on 13 January 2005: Karabakh Factsheet, Excerpt from the website of Embassy in Moscow (http://karabakh.usazeris.org/) [22] Senate of Pakistan World View, 7 July 2008 (http://www.foreignaffairscommittee .org/includes/content_files/Report%2021%20-%20Visi t%20to%20Azerbaijan.pdf) [23] Forbes Magazine, Daniel Fisher, The World’s Worst Economies, 5 July 2011 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2011/07/ 05/the-worlds-worst-economies/) [24] World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2009 , adapted from Elizabeth Brainerd , “The Demographic Transformation of Post-Socialist Countries: Causes, Consequences , and Questions”, Brandeis University, August 2009 [25] Eurasianet.org, Mariana Grigoryan, Armenia: Russian Guest Worker Program Highlights Population Drain. 25 march 2011 (http://www.eurasianet.org/ node/63157) Sargsyan for Western Armenia remarks (http://www.armenia.com.au/news/Armenia-News/ English/3283/Erdogan-wants-apology-from- Sargsyan-for-Western-Armenia-remarks)
* Yusif Babanly is the co-founder and secretary of the US Azeris Network (USAN) and a member of the board of directors of Azerbaijani American Council.
The Kurdish issue, particularly the matter of founding a homeland for Kurds, has complicated efforts to stabilize a situation in Iraq. Recently, there is growing concern among international experts that the Kurdish issue could become a source of tension, and possibly conflict in the South Caucasus.
In 1997 an Armenian samizdat author suggested that restoring Kurdish autonomous . . districts in the southern Caucasus could help resolve the Karabakh dispute, but later Armenia's 60,000-strong Kurdish community has taken a step likely to make finding a solution to that conflict even more difficult. In December 2007 the leaders of that community endorsed Serzh Sarkisyan for president of Armenia in the hopes that the latter would work to re-establish the Kurdish autonomous district in the Lachin corridor of Azerbaijan, where in 1992, the Kurds played a key role in breaking through Baku's military encirclement of Karabakh. And now Kurds in Iraq support the restoration of a Kurdish district in the Lachin district of Azerbaijan, viewing it as analogous to and a precedent for a Kurdish region in Iraq.
And Armenians across the Middle East have spoken in support of Kurds in both places. Among the Armenian activists doing so are members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), well-known terrorist organization. Moreover, in December 2007 Seyran Barzani, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) representative in France, threatened that in case of a Turkish invasion into northern Iraq, Kurds would start military actions in Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, while some analysts consider the prospect of establishing a new Kurdish state in the Caucasus as mere fiction, other experts do not deny the possibility of such a scenario developing. Before moving to an analysis of the current situation, it is worthwhile to look at the historical aspects of the problem.
The idea of establishing a Kurdish state in Azerbaijan is not new. After the Bolsheviks seized power in Azerbaijan in 1920, the idea of using Kurdish nationalism to spread proletarian revolution over the Middle East occupied the minds of the Soviet leadership. In 1923 the communist government of Azerbaijan decided to establish Kurdistanskiy district (referred to as "Red Kurdistan"), encompassing Kelbajar, Lachin and part of the Gubatli region. Lachin city was chosen as the administrative capital of the new district. Soviet authorities hoped that the creation of a Kurdish district would serve as an inspiration for oppressed Kurds in the Middle East. In the case of a possible separation of Kurdish areas from Iran or Turkey, it would have been easy for Soviet authorities to "accommodate" or unite them with an already existing Kurdish district. Later in 1929, however, the Soviets abandoned this idea, abolished Kurdish administrative unite and deported most of the Kurds to Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
The "Independent Kurdistan" scenario was reanimated again in the early 1990s. After finishing the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian forces captured Lachin and six other districts of Nagorno-Karabakh, including areas constituting the former "Red Kurdistan." In 1992 the Armenian-backed but unrecognized government in Karabakh announced the establishment of a Kurdish republic with its capital in Lachin. Using the Kurdish card, Armenian authorities were trying to show that not only was the Armenian minority fighting for independence from Azerbaijan, but the Kurdish minority was as well. However, this last attempt to revive the Kurdish issue failed again because of several reasons. First, due to the ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories, most of the Muslim Kurdish population had already fled to other regions of Azerbaijan. Second, by creating a Kurdish state in the region, Armenian authorities would have contradicted the basic Armenian argument in the Karabakh war: that Karabakh belonged historically to Armenia.
Azerbaijan has not been directly involved in Turkey's conflict with the PKK, instead limiting its assistance to information-sharing. After the launching of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, PKK activities in Turkey began to endanger this economically lucrative regional project. In October Murat Karay?lan, leader of the PKK's military wing, announced that "since pipelines that cross Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) provide the economic resources for the Turkish army's aggression, it is possible the guerrillas will target them". With the BTC pipeline crossing through territory in which the PKK operates, the possibility of such an attack cannot be discounted. An attack of this sort would send a shock wave all over the Caucasian region and would result in Azerbaijan being less attractive to foreign investors.
In early December 2007, both Turkish and Azerbaijani sources started to express their concerns about possible relocation of PKK bases from Northern Iraq to Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. The Turkish "Zaman" newspaper informed that many intelligence reports had revealed that the PKK planned to move ten of its camps, previously established in the Qandil mountain range in the border areas of the Kurdistan region, to the Armenian occupied areas of Karabakh. The reports also say that a number of PKK gunmen had visited twelve Kurdish villages in the Karabakh region and asked the villagers to help them. The newspaper also revealed that a PKK gunman who had escaped from the camp and surrendered to the Turkish forces had given important information on the PKK and their plan to move their camps to Karabakh. Allegedly, the PKK bases would be located in Azerbaijani cities Shusha, Fizuli and definitely Lachin.
The news about PKK bases did not surprise Azerbaijani establishment. Already in April of 1998, the Turkish press was reporting that Armenia had seven PKK camps on its territory. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's minister of defense stated in 1999 that up to 200 Kurdish terrorists were getting trained in Lachin region of occupied Azerbaijan. During the Turkish military operations in 1999, Stratfor reported that PKK members were retreating to Armenia for replenishing and re-training. Meanwhile, for a last couple of years Azerbaijan was collecting information and reporting to the international organizations about settlement of Armenians and Kurd from Middle East in Karabakh region. During visit of the Turkish President to Azerbaijan in November 2007, both sides discussed possible PKK relocation to Azerbaijan and the establishment of new Kurdish settlements in Karabakh. Araz Azimov, deputy Foreign Minister stressed that in case of necessity Baku could consider to apply anti-terrorist measures against PKK bases. The PKK is a terrorist organization according to the US, EU, UK, Turkey and many other states' laws.
As we see PKK terrorists have been settling in Nagorno-Karabakh and in portions of Armenian-occupied Azerbaijan, with the tacit support of the Armenian government in Yerevan. Many of the Kurds are reputed to have resettled in the strategically important Lachin Corridor, a strip of territory now occupied by Armenia that was formerly part of Azerbaijan proper. Control of Lachin is one of the main obstacles in the search for a Karabakh settlement. PKK terrorists have established training camps in and around Karabakh, and that Armenian authorities have given Kurds access to state broadcasting facilities. Political organizations in Armenia, including such a terrorist organization as Dashnakstoutiun, are actively assisting the Kurdish separatists, seeing them as a means to strengthen Armenians' hold on Karabakh. According to the Jerusalem Post, the PKK is under the protection of foreign intelligence organizations and financed by some of the separatist Kurdish businessman and international drug smugglers. Furthermore, Israeli Debka File accuses Armenian Government of giving Armenian citizenship to the PKK militants. However Armenia cannot decide on PKK move issue without support of another country. Such countries could be Greece, Russia and Greek Cyprus
The Karabakh authority wins from relocating PKK bases on its territory. First, hundreds of Kurdish families will move to Karabakh along with PKK terrorists. By this move Armenian authorities try to increase Karabakh's diminishing population. Second, Karabakh get hundreds if not thousands experienced guerilla fighters. If Azerbaijan decides to wage war to get back its territories, its army would need first to fight through PKK controlled areas before reaching Karabakh's heartland. Third, the establishment of PKK's base in Lachin and Kalbajar would be the first step for creation of Kurdish state. It is important to mention also that Kurdish minority of Armenia numbering sixty thousand people, hopes that Armenia would help them to get their autonomy. The PKK, as a professional terrorist organization, has all features of government and can take such responsibility. Some experts draw a parallel stating that Kurdistan in Karabakh is a miniature of Iraqi Kurdistan. It is interesting that idea of Kurdistan in Caucasus was met with great sympathy in Iraqi Kurdistan calling for direct relations with this region. They also believe that both Kurdistans can be a counter-balance for Pan-Turkism.
For a long time experts in international relations warned that non-recognized territories could become rogue states - sources of terrorism and criminal activities. These territories are de facto independent, but not bound by any international treaties. Thus, no sanctions can be applied there to comply with international law. They have their own armies, law-enforcement, and political institutions. But lack of financial viability and absence of economy force them to earn money through weapon sales, drug-trafficking and places for training of terrorists and guerillas.
Karabakh, for example, remains one of the most militarized patches of earth in the world. The PKK's decision to move to Karabakh is rational, well-thought out and of benefit to both sides. Karabakh is the only territory in the Middle East and the Caucasus that can be immune from any military actions of Turkey. Most of the countries of the region would hardly host PKK, risking the wrath of the Turkish army. Even for Armenia it would be suicidal to establish PKK camps on its territory. Armenian government would need to give explanations to the world community and can get sanctions. But Karabakh is a different story. The Turkish army would hardly chase PKK terrorists in Karabakh. Any Turkish military actions in that area would definitely involve Armenian troops deployed in that region. Armenian participation would automatically bring Russia into the conflict as a guarantor of security of its southern ally. Russian involvement into the conflict with member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a nightmare scenario for many politicians in the world. PKK also will not be considered as an alien element in Karabakh.
Many Armenian terrorist organizations including notorious Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) had successfully cooperated for a long time with PKK. For example, in April of 1980, both organizations held a press conference in Sidon, Lebanon, where they issued a joint declaration on fighting against Turkey. Later, ASALA members, including famous Monte Melkonyan, took part in a war against Azerbaijan. Together with them, many PKK militants fought in Karabakh against Azerbaijani army in summer of 1992.
At a moment when some officials are expressing hope about a breakthrough via the Minsk Group and others, including the International Crisis Group, are suggesting that there is a threat of renewed fighting, the Kurdish initiative in Armenia provides those opposed to any settlement with yet another means to block it. It is very difficult to predict how the situation will evolve, but one can be sure that the introduction of a new nationalist-terrorist element in a volatile region like the Caucasus would play a severely negative role. While Azerbaijani and Armenian authorities are trying to reach peace accords over Karabakh, the PKK factor could significantly undermine the entire process. If all peace initiatives are exhausted and Baku begins to view conflict as the only means of regaining lost territory in Nagorno-Karabakh, the presence of the PKK could be used by Azerbaijan's hawks as yet another argument in favor of war.
Armenian Power Organized Crime Group Convicted For One Of The Largest Identity Theft And Bank Fraud Schemes
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The Guardian: ARMENIAN MAFIA @ Lragir.am Armenian Criminals Smuggled Weapons Grade Uranium For Terrorists @ AGRC
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Armenian Criminals Smuggled Weapons Grade Uranium For Terrorists
Armenian Criminals Go Sophisticated, Hi-Tech and… Nuclear November 8, 2010 The Armenian Observer
Smuggle Weapons-Grade Uranium @ BBC
Two Armenians Slipped Aboard A Train With A Nuclear Bomb Grade Uranium @ AP
Capture Of Armenians Smuggling Highly Enriched Uranium Suggests Existence Of More Extensive Black Market @ The Guardian UK
Hrant Ohanian, A Retired Nuclear Physicist From A Science Institute In Armenia, Pleaded Guilty To Smuggling The 90 Per Cent-Enriched Uranium From The Armenian Capital Yerevan. . . Sumbat Tonayan Had More Uranium To Sell @ Independent UK
Armenians To Smuggle Weapon Grade Uranium To Terrorists @ Daily Mail UK
Why Nuclear Smuggling Matters : See The Research Paper Attached Below
Armenian Power Organized Crime Group Convicted For One Of The Largest Identity Theft And Bank Fraud Schemes
March 25, 2012
A member of the Armenian Power organized crime group and three associates were convicted of one of the largest identity theft and bank fraud schemes in the history of California, authorities said : www.justice.gov. The trial lasted five weeks. Dozens of victims in four states were affected, and millions of dollars stolen.
Arman Sharopetrosian, a member of the Armenian Power organized crime group, and the group’s three associates Karen Markosian,
Artush Margaryan and Kristine Ogandzhanyan were convicted of conspiring to commit bank fraud, attempted bank fraud and various counts of aggravated identity theft. Sharopetrosian, Markosian and Ogandzhanyan waived their right to a trial by jury, and consented to trial by the judge. The fourth defendant, Margaryan, was tried by jury.
Ogandzhanyan was found guilty on March 22, while the remaining three defendants were convicted on March 16.
Sharopetrosian and his co-defendant Angus Brown conducted a large scale fraud scheme while serving time at Avenal State Prison. Sharopetrosian and Brown used cell phones smuggled into the prison to coordinate with Ogandzhanyn, Markosian and Margaryan and others. The group was able to obtain confidential information on the victims’ bank accounts, and steal their money.
With the victims’ names, social security numbers and dates of birth on hand, the defendants impersonated the victims when calling the banks, and were able to transfer money between accounts and order checks. They would then use the victim’s signatures found on public documents to forge the checks. The group usually targeted high-value bank accounts. Over six years, the group stole more than $10 million from victims in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
“These defendants, including two individuals who were operating from a prison cell, perpetrated a massive fraudulent scheme on behalf of a dangerous criminal enterprise,” said Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General. He added that “We are doing everything possible to shut down dangerous gangs like Armenian Power.”
These four defendants associated with the Armenian Power group are among 20 people charged with running the bank fraud and identity theft scheme. The indictments were unsealed on Feb. 16, 2011.
Sharopetrosian, Margaryan, Markosian and Ogandzhanyan face sentences of up to 30 years for each count of bank fraud, 30 years for each count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, as well as an additional mandatory two year sentences for each count of aggravated identity theft. Their sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6, 2012.
Source: Hetq.am Armenian Power Member and Three Armenian Power Associates Convicted in Los Angeles for Roles in Identity Theft Ring U.S. Department of Justice
March 22, 2012 Office of Public Affairs (202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888
WASHINGTON—After a five week trial, four defendants have been convicted for their roles in one of the largest bank fraud and identity theft schemes in California history, with dozens of victims in four states and millions of dollars in losses.
The convictions were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte, Jr. of the Central District of California; Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Steven Martinez; and Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Joseph Beaty.
Arman Sharopetrosian, Karen Markosian, Artush Margaryan, and Kristine Ogandzhanyan were found guilty of conspiring to commit bank fraud, attempted bank fraud, and various counts of aggravated identity theft. Sharopetrosian, Markosian, and Ogandzhanyan waived a jury trial and consented to trial by the judge, and Margaryan proceeded with a jury trial.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter found Ogandzhanyan, 28, of Burbank, California, guilty of one count of bank fraud conspiracy, two counts of attempted bank fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft. On March 16, 2012, the judge found Sharopetrosian, 33, of Burbank, guilty of one count of bank fraud conspiracy, four counts of bank fraud, and seven counts of aggravated identify theft. On March 16, 2012, the judge also found Markosian, 39, of Glendale, California, guilty of one count of bank fraud conspiracy, one count of attempted bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. A jury convicted the fourth defendant, Artush Margaryan, 28, of Van Nuys, California, on March 16, 2012 of one count of bank fraud conspiracy, one count of attempted bank fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
Evidence was presented at trial that Sharopetrosian is a member of the Armenian Power organized crime group, and Margaryan, Markosian, and Ogandzhanyan are Armenian Power associates.
According to evidence presented at trial, Sharopetrosian directed the massive fraud scheme along with co-defendant Angus Brown while the two were incarcerated at Avenal State Prison. Using cellular telephones that were smuggled into the prison, Sharopetrosian and Brown worked from behind bars to coordinate with others, including Ogandzhanyn, Markosian, and Margaryan, to obtain confidential bank profile information and steal money from victim account holders. Often targeting high-value bank accounts, the defendants used account holders’ personal identifying information—including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth—to impersonate victims in phone calls to the bank. The defendants gathered account information, transferred funds between victims’ accounts, and placed unauthorized check orders for the accounts. They then stole the checks, obtained the victims’ signatures from public documents, and paid conspirators to cash the forged checks. Over the course of the six-year conspiracy, the defendants and their co-conspirators caused more than $10 million dollars in losses to victims in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas.
“These defendants, including two individuals who were operating from a prison cell, perpetrated a massive fraudulent scheme on behalf of a dangerous criminal enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “As members and associates of Armenian Power, they stole sensitive personal and financial information from innocent consumers and caused millions of dollars in losses. Whether organized criminal groups traffic in drugs, commit financial fraud or wreak other havoc to keep themselves going, they must be stopped. We are doing everything possible to shut down dangerous gangs like Armenian Power.”
“The safety and sanctity of confidential financial information is paramount in today’s society,” said U.S. Attorney Birotte. “Identity theft is a fundamental invasion of consumer privacy that cannot be tolerated. These convictions demonstrate that violators, whoever and wherever they may be, will be caught and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the federal law.”
“The defendants were convicted in a trial that uncovered a sophisticated and lengthy scheme that targeted victims in multiple states and included disturbing details, such as orders made from within prison walls and assistance from bank insiders enlisted by the defendants,” said FBI Assistant Director Martinez. “This case is also indicative of the growing trend of gang or organized crime-affiliated groups now engaging in identity theft and other financial crimes in furtherance of their enterprise.”
These defendants are four of 20 defendants who were charged with operating the bank fraud and identity theft scheme in one of a series of federal indictments unsealed on February 16, 2011. The indictments allege various federal crimes against members and associates of the Armenian Power criminal organization. To date, 19 of the 20 defendants charged in the bank fraud indictment have been convicted, including Brown. One defendant, Faye Bell, was arrested earlier this year and is still awaiting trial.
Sharopetrosian, Margaryan, Markosian, and Ogandzhanyan face maximum sentences of 30 years in federal prison for each count of bank fraud, 30 years for each count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and additional mandatory two year sentences for each count of aggravated identity theft.
Sentencing for all four defendants is scheduled for August 6, 2012 before Judge Carter.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin Estrada and Joseph McNally of the Central District of California and Trial Attorney Cristina Moreno of the Organized Crime and Gang Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The case was investigated by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, which includes the FBI, the USSS, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Glendale Police Department, the Burbank Police Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
4 Convicted in Major Bank Fraud, Identity Thefts LOS ANGELES March 23, 2012 (AP)
Four members of an Armenian organized crime ring were convicted in one of the largest bank fraud and identity theft schemes in California history, the U.S. attorney's office announced Thursday.
All four were Armenian Power members or associates who targeted dozens of victims in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas, according to assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer. Over the course of the six-year conspiracy, more than $10 million was stolen.
Arman Sharopetrosian, 33; Karen Markosian, 39; Artush Margaryan, 28 and Kristine Ogandzhanyan, 28, were found guilty of conspiring to commit bank fraud, attempted bank fraud and various counts of aggravated identity theft on March 16. They are due for sentencing Aug. 6.
Sharopetrosian is a member of the Armenian Power organized crime group and was a ringleader of the massive fraud scheme, while the rest of the defendants were associates, prosecutors said.
Using cellphones smuggled into Avenal State Prison, the incarcerated Sharopetrosian and co-defendant Angus Brown coordinated a scheme to obtain Social Security numbers and birth dates and use the information to steal money from the account holders.
"These defendants, including two individuals who were operating from a prison cell, perpetrated a massive fraudulent scheme on behalf of a dangerous criminal enterprise," said Breuer. "Whether organized criminal groups traffic in drugs, commit financial fraud or wreak other havoc to keep themselves going, they must be stopped."
The scheme targeted high-value bank accounts, transferred money out of the accounts, had unauthorized checks printed for the accounts and used forged signatures to write checks.
In all, 20 defendants were charged in the sophisticated and lengthy scheme, which involved orders made from within prisons and the assistance of bank insiders who had been enlisted by the criminal organization.
To date, all but one of the defendants involved in the scheme have been convicted. Faye Bell is awaiting trial.
Those convicted face maximum sentences of 30 years in federal prison for each count of bank fraud, 30 years for each count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and additional mandatory two year sentences for each count of aggravated identity theft.
The convictions announced Thursday were:
— Sharopetrosian: One count of bank fraud conspiracy, four counts of bank fraud and seven counts of aggravated identify theft, for a maximum possible sentence of 164 years.
— Ogandzhanyan: One count of bank fraud conspiracy, two counts of attempted bank fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft, for a maximum possible sentence of 98 years.
— Margaryan: One count of bank fraud conspiracy, one count of attempted bank fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft, for a maximum possible sentence of 66 years.
— Markosian: One count of bank fraud conspiracy, one count of attempted bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, for a maximum possible sentence of 64 years.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/ Armenian Pleads Guilty in Medicare Fraud Case By Louie Brogdon
After being flown from Los Angeles to stand trial in federal court in Brunswick, an Armenian man accused of laundering money for phony medical supply businesses pleaded guilty Monday.
Sahak Tumanyan, 43, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to launder money in an $8 million Medicare fraud scheme that involved Brunswick Medical Supply, a fake business at 1603 Gloucester St., and other bogus businesses in Savannah, Macon and other cities.
U.S. Attorney Brian Rafferty alleged the false businesses were stealing Medicare information from doctors and patients and then making false claims for medical goods that never existed.
As a part of a plea offer from Rafferty, the charge against Tumanyan's wife, Hasmik Tumanyan, 38, was dropped.
Hasmik Tumanyan originally faced the same count as her husband on a 10-count federal indictment.
The Tumanyans were rearrested after making bond because prosecutors said they tried to flee back to Armenia before their trial.
Sentencing for Sahak Tumanyan will happen at a later date. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison and up to $500,000 in fines, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durham.
Along with the Tumanyans, nearly 40 federal witnesses had been scheduled to fly to Brunswick. Durham said Monday he did not know if all the now-unnecessary plane tickets had been purchased.
The lead defendant in the case, Arthur Manasarian, 49, pled guilty Aug. 4 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and another count of aggravated identity theft.
Manasarian is also awaiting sentencing. He faces 12 years imprisonment, more than $500,000 in fines and possible restitution when he is sentenced.
Also charged are two other Armenians, Gegham Sargsyan, 56, and Khoren Gasparian, 27, who are hiding in Armenia and Russia, according to Durham.
Toni R. Lowery, 27, of Savannah was charged in an original indictment, but his case was dropped in December.
The case is believed to be part of a nationwide crime syndicate that has fleeced Medicare of $163 million, according to U.S. Attorney Edward J. Tarver.
The Brunswick News, August 16, 2011
July 9, 2011 Update Armen Kazarian "Pzo" Pleads Guilty in Medicare Fraud Case
The reputed head of a vast network of Armenian gangsters has pleaded guilty in New York to racketeering charges.
Armen Kazarian entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan on Friday. Kazarian was accused of being the boss of a network of criminals who used bogus health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.
When the FBI announced the charges in October 2010, they had said that it was the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program's history.
The 47-year-old Glendale, Calif., resident could face up to 20 years in prison.
Kazarian, is alleged to be a "Vor," a term translated as "Thief-in-Law." The term "Vor" refers to a member of a select group of high-level criminals from Russia and the countries that had been part of the former Soviet Union, including Armenia. This is the first time a Vor has ever been charged and arrested for federal racketeering crimes.
Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 6. 13 March 2011 Armenia in "waiting mode" The results of the investigation into the Armenian mafia case in the United States may have a serious impact on the world's attitude towards Armenia and the Armenian lobby
Sahil Isgandarov, political scientist Baku
In the second half of October, the world learnt about a major scam involving an Armenian criminal group in the United States. As a result of the scam, US taxpayers suffered substantial damage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has already arrested 70 members of this criminal syndicate comprised mainly of Armenian immigrants and citizens led by a criminal boss named Armen Kazaryan, alias Pzo. According to the information available, this organized criminal group also dealt illegally in weapons, precious stones and rare-earth metals, smuggled drugs and was involved in kidnappings and extortion. A court in Los Angeles has already refused to bail three members of the Armenian criminal group – Armen Kazaryan (Pzo), Vardan Boyajian and Grayr Bagumyan, explaining that they pose a danger to society. The charges also say that the criminals misled the US immigration authorities and "used representatives of a foreign government to ensure that that government refuses to accept people deported from the United States, thus depriving the US authorities of the possibility of deporting them home". There appears to be a clear link between this group and the former Armenian consul in Los Angeles, Norayr Galumyan, who was arrested in the USA some time ago. Together with four of his accomplices, Galumyan, on behalf of the Armenian government, sold counterfeit letters to interested persons, saying that Armenia could not provide immigrants with travel documents and thus preventing their deportation home. Most of those who bought the forged documents have been charged with murder, assault and other crimes.
Even a cursory analysis shows that there is a well-established structure linking closely the Armenian criminals, terrorism and the Armenian state. It is no coincidence that Pzo was present as an honorary guest at the wedding of the son of Armenia's former president, Robert Kocharyan; bringing very expensive gifts. Kazaryan is also reported to be linked to the country's current leadership and its circle, specifically Aleksandr Sargsyan, brother of the Armenian president. It is otherwise impossible to explain Pzo's strange release from custody in Yerevan.
According to several Armenian and Russian news agencies, the clan of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has developed a unique scheme for creating criminal syndicates in the USA and Russia. It became known that 32 representatives of the Armenian political and business elite had been involved in criminal cases launched by the Russian law-enforcement agencies. We are talking about criminal cases related mostly to human trafficking, drug trafficking and money-laundering. Russia raised the issue of bringing these people to criminal accountability, and among them are the Armenian president's brother Aleksandr Sargsyan, Armenian Speaker Ovik Abramyan, the head of the state revenue committee, Gagik Khachatryan, and members of parliament Ruben Ayrapetyan, Samvel Aleksanyan, Levon Sarkisyan and Gagik Tsarukyan. Despite undeniable evidence and the Russian demands, the Armenian Prosecutor-General's Office and National Security Service (NSS) do not dare or, to be more precise, do not want to open criminal cases against them, for fear of not just tarnishing the reputation of the country's authorities, but also revealing Armenians and the Armenian state in their true colours.
Meanwhile, the Armenian president's brother runs away from especially hair-splitting journalists, hiding in the toilet. Recently, when a correspondent from the Aykakan Zhamanak newspaper tried to ask him about possible links with Pzo, Aleksandr Sargsyan said that he had to go to the toilet urgently. Then, raining curses on the journalists, he left the parliament building. To all appearances, the Armenian authorities and their close circle have taken on board this Armenian "know how" in the field of international relations which was first used by the country's former president, Robert Kocharyan. During his negotiations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Rambouillet in February 2006, Kocharyan suddenly walked out of the meeting, saying later that he left because he had to go to the toilet.
But it seems the tactic of pleading a call of nature is not going to work. The US law-enforcement agencies have got down to business in earnest, realizing at last who hides behind the mask of the world's "poorest" and "longest-suffering" people which has turned Washington into a milch cow. The US authorities demanded that their representatives be allowed to inspect banks in Armenia. According to the US intelligence service, some of the stolen money had gone there via banks. The FBI suspects that money was laundered in Armenia through real estate deals and, as the FBI does not trust information from the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), it decided to check every bank itself.
There is no doubt that the investigation will expose many of the criminal secrets of the Armenians and the Armenian authorities. If you remember, in February this year Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan refused to visit Israel, pleading a sudden fever. In fact, he was scared that he might be arrested by the Israel law-enforcement agencies. There was reason for this because when he was chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia he was engaged in money-laundering and helped to transfer illegal money to some Arab countries. The Israeli intelligence service found out that some of this money was used to support terrorist organizations. Several high-ranking Armenian officials learnt that Israel was aware of Sarkisyan's machinations, and they advised him to forego his trip to Israel.
Along with inspections of all Armenian banks, the FBI also intends to delve into documents at notaries' offices to ascertain whether the purchases of numerous expensive flats, offices and mansions by representatives of the criminal group were legal. Such a scale of investigation greatly worried Robert Kocharyan and the current Armenian authorities, who urgently started to dissociate themselves from their partners in crime and even found scapegoats. For the time being, the scapegoat is the head of the Armenian state revenue committee, Khachatryan, whom they are going to blame for the fact that Armenia has become a conduit for drugs and weapons, especially as there is undeniable evidence of his close links with Pzo. But Khachatryan was probably just a reliable link between the criminal boss and the Armenian authorities. We see that the Armenians and Armenia are clearly trying to save face and, most importantly, to prevent the cessation of the influx of huge financial resources from the West, including the USA, which are then used to militarize Armenia and the separatist regime in Nagornyy Karabakh and spent on the needs of Armenian terrorist organizations.
In June last year, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation decided to stop financing a road construction programme. The reason was that steps taken by the Armenian government did not correspond to one of the corporation's three criteria – fair management. Since then, Yerevan has had "operational hold" status (i.e. it has been in waiting mode). Over the past year, the corporation was supposed to study whether Armenia satisfied the necessary requirements. If the conclusion was positive, Armenia would be given 68 million dollars to finance a road construction sub-programme by the official end of the programme in September 2011. Now a source at the Millennium Challenge Corporation says that no funding will be allocated. The activity of the Armenian criminal group arrested in the USA, particularly the fact that some of the stolen money was invested in real estate and business in Armenia, was a significant factor in the Washington administration’s decision, and the board of the corporation will soon hold a meeting at which this decision will be officially endorsed.
Another Armenian criminal scandal shook Russia recently. In late October, Armenia finally extradited Telman Mkhitaryan, one of the leaders of the Novgorod criminal community, to the Russian Federation. He had been hiding in Armenia for a long time. This criminal boss, who heads several joint-stock companies, such as the Novgorod Glass Fibre Factory, Proyektstroy and a number of other enterprises and organizations, controlled a considerable section of the region's economy. Under the region's former governor, Mikhail Prusak, he served as the governor's adviser for political affairs and, according to the Russian law-enforcement agencies, he was the region's godfather or, to be more precise, its true master for 11 years. After the Russian law-enforcement agencies charged him with illegal entrepreneurship in 2007, Mkhitaryan managed to flee to Armenia. A peculiar aspect of the story is that in 2000 an essay was published about him in the collection "The 100 Leaders of Novgorod Land". He received honours "for many years of hard work, for strengthening friendship and cooperation between peoples, developing the urban economy and high achievements in public activities". In 2001, the leadership of the Velikiy Novgorod city administration, represented by Mayor Aleksandr Korsunov, gave Mkhitaryan the title of honorary citizen of Velikiy Novgorod. In the summer of 2002, he was given the Order of Friendship (by Decree 426 of the Russian president on 27 April 2002). The order was timed to coincide with Telman Akopovich's 55th birthday. One of the regional newspapers wrote at the time: "What else can you give someone who has everything?" He is also an active member of the UN's International Information Academy with General Consultant status and the World e-Parliament. What regalia?! Perhaps he came to believe in his own omnipotence and once, in the heat of the moment, he called Governor Prusak a tramp, saying that he was registered in a village. In one of his interviews, he promised to "give" the city of Velikiy Novgorod to his grandchildren.
It is also worth noting the actions of Ashot Yegiazaryan, a member of the Russian State Duma from the LDPR faction. This is the same Yegiazaryan who once played a role in the sacking of Russian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Skuratov. Recently, at the request of the investigation committee of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, the Russian State Duma stripped Yegiazaryan of his immunity as a deputy and decided to open a criminal case against him. He is being charged with the theft of almost two billion roubles from two businessmen. Yegiazaryan himself, outraged by this action, left Russia. It is interesting that the deputy speaker of the State Duma, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, vehemently defended his MP and tried to protect him from fair punishment. But he forgot to mention how much money (according to some reports, at least 20 million US dollars) Yegiazaryan had donated to LDPR funds during two Russian parliamentary election campaigns. Incidentally, this is the second time that an ethnic Armenian member of the Russian Federal Assembly, has been brought to criminal accountability. Several years ago, a senator from Kalmykia, Levon Chakhmakhchyan, was sentenced to 9.5 years' imprisonment for major fraud.
According to Smbat Karakhanyan, chairman of the Miabanutyun Armenian National Club, Armenia does not have a true state system, while the government was knocked together from representatives of the oligarchy, criminals and foreign protégés via falsifications and pressure.
Not only the Armenian authorities, but also some foreign countries, are touchingly concerned about the fate of former and current Armenian officials involved in criminal dealings. The secretary of the Armenian Security Council, Artur Bagdasaryan, who is a personal protégé of Serzh Sargsyan, was declared a traitor by the then president Kocharyan, after a scandal involving representatives of the British embassy (according to some reports, representatives of the British intelligence service) and was publicly accused of espionage against Armenia. But he was suddenly appointed secretary of the Armenian Security Council several months later. According to Armenian sources, Bagdasaryan is the country's first politician to burst into the government elite not just with support from officials and business circles, but also from foreign forces (France). He has been awarded French, Austrian and Kazakh medals, and a medal "For Service to the Kaliningrad Region" (?!) by the governor of the Kaliningrad Region on 3 November 2009.
In this context, the personality of A. Arutyunyan, chairman of the board of Armenian Public TV (H1 TV channel) and former secretary of the National Security Council (1998-2002), is also of interest. After the terrorist attack on the country's parliament in 1999, he was arrested on charges of organizing it. Prior to that, he had maintained close links with the terrorists' ringleader, Nairi Unanyan. After several months in prison, Arutyunyan was released in April 2000. President Kocharyan played a major role in this, while the French embassy was also active in this matter.
According to the Russian law-enforcement agencies, the "godfathers" of the Armenian mafia have been using their connections in the Russian government since the 1990s to participate in the distribution of quotas, licences and loans and in the conversion of currency. Some of the money earned through crime is spent on bribing politicians and to support "their own people" against the courts, prosecutor's office and police. The group specializes in the economic sphere and establishes illegal ways of importing precious metals and stones into Armenia from Russia in order to process them and sell them abroad. They also engage in highway robbery, drug trafficking and ordinary muggings. An analytical note concerning the crime situation in the Sverdlovsk Region in the context of ethnic crime, prepared by experts of the region's Department of Internal Affairs and Department of the Federal Security Service, contains an interesting point: "Caucasian criminal groups are continuing their expansion in the Urals. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora have gone further than others in this field. After the forestry business in which some representatives of the Armenian diaspora have been doing well, they started buying up land plots that can be used for construction or sale. The Armenians also suppress other ethnic groups. One of the most graphic examples is the seizure of land in Atiga (Nizhneserginskiy District of Sverdlovsk Region). Chinese businessmen, who planned to open two factories in and around Atiga, failed to set up their business independently. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora placed the Chinese under their control and are now looking after them, reaping good dividends from this business. At the same time, influential Armenians cite their good connections in the law-enforcement agencies. The Armenian diaspora is also taking control of businesses in the Taganskiy Ryad market. The Chinese no longer have a monopoly on trade in consumer goods at Taganskiy Ryad, which was once the richest and most profitable market in Yekaterinburg.
Armenians now have a share in footwear sales. The next target is the housing market. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora easily worm their way into people's confidence and occupy top positions in commercial organizations. Then they take over company property using false documents, corrupt officials and fellow Armenians. They use blackmail and threats, criminal cases and rough physical violence. Buildings and flats are held and used illegally, while the legal owners are not allowed in. The seized buildings are used to arrange criminal gatherings, open brothels, use drugs and openly demonstrate weapons. At the same time, there is almost no hope for an impartial investigation into complaints filed by Ural entrepreneurs, because the diaspora covers everything up. Rare witnesses of these atrocities are hunted and intimidated, and the raiders from the Caucasus get away with everything."
As we can see from the note, the main coordinators of these criminal actions are in fact the leaders of the Armenian diaspora in Russia. This is also proved by numerous other criminal charges brought against the leaders of Russian Armenians.
Armenians who have made their way into Russian academic circles are also engaged in criminal activities, like their compatriots. For example, several years ago, a major scandal broke out involving one of the "fathers of market reform in Russia", Academician Abel Aganbekyan. He was charged under Articles 285 and 289 of the Russian Criminal Code (abuse of office and illegal entrepreneurship). The academician was charged with misappropriating 4.8 million roubles in real estate operations at his Agriculture Academy.
The latest events prove that serious tests await the Armenian lobby. The Armenian diaspora, the criminal world and the authorities are under great pressure from the US and Russian law-enforcement agencies. Incidentally, it is possible that their position on this issue is becoming tougher due to one more issue. Moscow suspects that the Armenian special services, closely linked to the criminal world, are supplying information not only to bandits, but to foreign intelligence services. Because of this, there was a serious scandal when, several months ago, a number of Armenian agents were exposed and arrested in the USA thanks to a tip-off from the former head of the human resources department of the Armenian NSS, Vardan Yegiazaryan, who was mentioned in the case of the arrest of Russian agents in the USA. Some Russian and Armenian media claim that Yegiazaryan, who knew about the Russian agents in the USA, simply "surrendered" their names to the US intelligence service in exchange for the right to move to the United States. We may suppose that being caught in the crossfire between the US and Russian intelligence services, the Armenians and the Armenian authorities are trying their best to minimize the negative consequences to themselves. Otherwise, they might lose huge financial handouts from abroad.
regionplus Raids Targeting Armenian Gang Net 74 Fraud Suspects Scams By Armenian Power Took $20 Million From Discount Store Shoppers And The Elderly, Authorities Say.
Department of Justice Press Release For Immediate Release February 16, 2011 United States Attorney's Office Central District of California Contact: (213) 894-2434
Armenian Power Organized Crime Group Targeted in Federal Indictments That Allege Racketeering Offenses, Including Bank Fraud Schemes, Kidnappings, and Drug Trafficking
Seventy Accused in RICO Indictment that Outlines Criminal Conduct Across Southern California; Investigation Conducted by Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force
LOS ANGELES—As a result of two federal indictments and state cases that charge a total of 99 defendants with a wide range of crimes—including kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud, and narcotics trafficking—law enforcement authorities this morning arrested 74 members and associates of the Armenian Power organized crime group.
The majority of the defendants arrested this morning are named in two federal indictments that charge a total of 88 defendants linked to Armenian Power, which is commonly called AP.
One indictment accuses 29 defendants with participating in a RICO conspiracy in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The RICO charge alleges a host of illegal activities, some of which are sophisticated white-collar crimes such as identity theft, credit card skimming, and manufacturing counterfeit checks. Among the conspiracies charged in the racketeering indictment is a bank fraud and counterfeit credit card scheme that victimized hundreds of customers of 99 Cents Only Stores throughout Southern California. AP members allegedly caused more than $2 million in losses when they secretly installed sophisticated "skimming" devices to steal customer account information at cash registers and then used the skimmed information to create counterfeit debit and credit cards.
The 134-count racketeering indictment returned three weeks ago by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles charges a total of 70 defendants. In addition to the RICO count that includes nearly 450 overt acts, the indictment includes charges against AP members for kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, credit card fraud, marijuana distribution, and conducting an illegal gambling business.
"The indictments that target the Armenian Power organized crime enterprise provide a window into a group that appears willing to do anything and everything illegal to make a profit," said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. "These types of criminal organizations—through the use of extortions, kidnappings, and other violent acts—have a demonstrated a willingness to prey upon members of their own community. As we have seen in Los Angeles and elsewhere, these groups also engaged in various fraud schemes that clearly have had a significant impact on financial institutions and their customers who have lost millions of dollars and lost their sense of security through identity theft and credit card fraud."
Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles, stated: "Investigators from nine agencies leveraged their collective expertise to identify the threat posed by members of Armenian Power, a criminal enterprise with over 200 members, bent on generating illicit revenue to expand its power base. While some organized crime groups have been largely suppressed, others, including AP, have managed to grow from a street gang into an international organized crime group, carrying out criminal activity that runs the gamut from bank fraud schemes to extortion to kidnapping, and capable of making every citizen of the community a potential victim."
The second federal indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Orange County and charges 20 defendants, two of whom are also charged in the racketeering indictment. Similar to the some of the schemes alleged in the racketeering indictment, the Orange County case alleges that AP members engaged in a bank fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims. Investigators found that members of the Armenian Power organization were working in conjunction with members of African-American street gangs and bribed bank insiders to gather information that allowed them to take over bank accounts and cause losses of at least $10 million.
In addition to the federal indictments, the Los Angeles County District Attorney has charged 11 defendants in seven cases filed in superior court, which means that a total of 99 members and associates of Armenian Power have been charged.
In separate actions brought by federal authorities in Miami and Denver, and announced along with the Los Angeles indictments by the Department of Justice, more than a dozen additional defendants, some of whom are linked to Armenian Power, were charged with extortion and fraud offenses.
"Members of the organized crime groups charged today have allegedly committed literally hundreds of criminal acts—running the gamut of extortion, kidnapping, bank fraud, health care fraud, drug trafficking, and more. The common denominator among these defendants and their criminal enterprises is their willingness to commit any crime for profit, and to use any means of violence and intimidation to further their goals," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "In less than one month, however, the department has undertaken the largest one-day takedown of La Cosa Nostra; a coordinated national effort against street gangs; and today, taken action against Armenian Power and others with ties to international organized crime. These groups bring fear into our communities, defraud innocent victims, and put the safety and security of neighborhoods and our country at risk. We are taking an aggressive stand against these organized criminal groups and will continue our efforts to put them out of business."
The Los Angeles investigation into Armenian Power—dubbed Operation Power Outage—was conducted by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, which is made up of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, IRS - Criminal Investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Glendale Police Department, and the Burbank Police Department. The Orange County bank fraud indictment is the result of an investigation by the United States Secret Service and the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force.
"This investigation has been a collective effort of our Orange County Resident Office and the Los Angeles Field Office for over the past five years," said Wayne Williams, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service. "As with everything we do, our success is only achieved with the continued support of our local and federal counterparts. Operation Power Outage demonstrates that collaborative efforts between local and federal law enforcement is alive and well in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area."
Operation Power Outage focused on Armenian Power, a criminal enterprise whose membership consists primarily of individuals whose heritage goes back to Armenia and other Eastern Bloc countries. AP is an international organized crime group that started as a street gang in East Hollywood in the 1980s. While members often identify themselves with tattoos, graffiti and gang clothing, the organization is less concerned with controlling "turf" than traditional street gangs and has long maintained a presence in several communities in the Hollywood area and the San Fernando Valley.
"We enjoy a strong relationship with federal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Attorney's office," said Chief Ron De Pompa of the Glendale Police Department. "Operation Power Outage is sending a strong message to the criminal element victimizing the citizens of our communities. The cooperation and the marshalling of resources with our allied agencies enable us to dismantle these organizations."
The federal indictments allege a wide variety of different violent and fraud-related crimes—offenses that were allegedly conducted repeatedly and routinely. The alleged crimes include kidnapping, extortion, assault, witness intimidation, and drug distribution. In one kidnapping scheme, several AP members seized a victim and forced him to pay ransom by taking him to an auto body shop belonging to an AP member and threatening him with violence. Several defendants allegedly targeted another victim in an extortion scheme lasting several months, in which they threatened the victim and his family in order to extract repeated payments from the victim. The indictment alleges that the defendants repeatedly possessed and distributed marijuana and firearms.
"It is with a great deal of satisfaction that Operation Power Outage has successfully concluded," said Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse. "The Burbank Police Department's primary objective has been to work in collaboration with allied law enforcement agencies to ensure that our community is safe and secure. The teamwork involved in Operation Power Outage underscores the commitment and professionalism of all involved personnel and agencies."
The financial fraud crimes committed on behalf of Armenian Power were highly sophisticated, targeting hundreds of victims and resulting in millions of dollars of actual and intended losses to banks and individual victims. In addition to the scheme involving the 99 Cents Only Stores, AP members allegedly engaged in a large-scale check fraud scheme in which they unlawfully obtained customer information for high-value bank accounts, impersonated the bank customers to acquire checks, and then cashed and deposited checks in an effort to deplete the accounts. At times, members of the conspiracy allegedly went to victims' residences to steal blank checks that had been mailed to them.
"We are concerned with the increased level of fraud committed by these organized groups," said Glenn Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services. "The charges levied here today are similar to the identity theft schemes we are seeing in health care fraud investigations, that allow criminals to steal millions from the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs. We intend to aggressively pursue those who are committing these acts."
"Today's takedown of the Armenian Power street gang is indicative of law enforcement's resolve to investigate and prosecute those criminals who use violence and intimidation in promoting and protecting their criminal enterprises," said IRS-Criminal Investigation acting Special Agent in Charge Joel P. Garland. "IRS-Criminal Investigation plays a unique role in federal law enforcement's resolve to dismantle the criminal gang enterprises terrorizing our streets. Our agents target the profit and financial gains of organized criminal gangs, essentially following the money, to disrupt these organizations and enhance criminal prosecutions."
The investigation revealed that some Armenian Power members continued to be involved in various schemes even after they were convicted in state court and incarcerated. Two of the defendants are accused of using smuggled mobile phones to coordinate bank fraud schemes while in state prison, and one of those defendants allegedly helped organize a scheme to threaten and extort another person while he was in prison.
According to the racketeering indictment, Armenian Power, which is also known as AP-13, is closely allied with the Mexican Mafia, a prison gang that controls much of the narcotics distribution and other criminal activities within California correctional facilities. In addition to its connections to criminal groups operating in California, such as the Mexican Mafia, AP leadership maintains ties to Armenia and Russia and deals directly high-level Armenian/Russian organized crime figures. Among those high-level crime figures are traditional "Thieves-in-Law," who are used to resolve disputes and address criminal activity. Because of its large network of members and associates, its demonstrated ability to carry out acts of violence, and its strong relationship with the Mexican Mafia, Armenian Power leaders interact with traditional Thieves-in-Laws as equals. At times, AP members and associates confront and commit acts of violence against associates of traditional Thieves-in-Law in a demonstration of the authority of AP leadership.
"This successful multi-agency investigation concentrated on a racketeering criminal organization comprised of high-level Russian/Armenian crime figures responsible for violent acts on innocent victims and numerous fraudulent activities," stated Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. "The criminal activities of these enterprises threaten our communities; economy and undermine the positive efforts of law enforcement."
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
If convicted, the defendants indicted as a result of Operation Power Outage face varying prison sentences, depending on the charges. For example, the defendants named in the RICO count faces up to 20 years in federal prison for that offense, and those charged in the marijuana-related offenses face mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years for the narcotics offenses.
The Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force Task Force worked with several other law enforcement agencies that provided substantial assistance during this morning's takedown, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Bureau of Investigation; the United States Marshals Service; and investigators with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr. announces arrests of members and associates of the Armenian Power gang, which is accused of committing two kidnappings. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
By Andrew Blankstein and Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times February 17, 2011
U.S. prosecutors accused an Armenian organized crime gang of bilking victims out of an estimated $20 million in an audacious series of financial scams that included replacing the credit-card machines at more than a dozen 99 Cent-Only stores with their own scanners designed to steal customers' banking information.
The charges filed Wednesday against alleged members and associates of the Armenian Power gang included allegations of two kidnappings, theft of money from elderly bank customers, the smuggling of cellphones into state prisons, and trafficking in drugs and weapons. Seventy-four suspects were arrested in early-morning raids at about 90 locations throughout Southern California in an operation that involved nearly 1,000 local, state and federal law enforcement officials. Additional arrests were made in Miami and Denver.
The charges, detailed in two lengthy indictments, are the most sweeping in what has been a campaign by law enforcement agencies to crack down on white-collar crime involving Armenian and Eurasian gangs in Glendale, Hollywood and other areas. In October, authorities arrested 52 members of an alleged Armenian crime group, charging them in a $160-million nationwide Medicare fraud.
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A 134-count indictment in the current case was returned under seal three weeks ago by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, charging 70 defendants. A second 102-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Orange County charged 20 defendants.
Authorities said the credit-card swapping scam was detected last year when the manager of a 99 Cent Only store in Huntington Beach noticed that a cash register was not processing credit and debit cards properly. The manager informed police, who caught two suspects as they were removing one of the credit card skimmers from a store, federal officials told The Times.
Officials later determined that the gang had a system for leaving the number-skimming machines in place for about a week, gathering banking information, then replacing the store's own machines.
The information was used to create phony credit and debit cards. Gang members and associates allegedly sold the credit card information to other criminals and used the forged debit cards to drain the bank accounts of victims.
After being contacted by store officials, Huntington Beach police informed federal authorities, who determined the scam was taking place across the region — one of several types of banking fraud allegedly perpetrated by the gang.
Prosecutors also accused Armenian Power of teaming up with several African American gangs to target elderly bank customers in Orange County. The gang "unlawfully obtained customer information for high-value bank accounts, impersonated the bank customers to acquire checks, and then cashed and deposited checks in an effort to deplete the accounts," netting $10 million, according to the Orange County indictment.
Gang members allegedly impersonated customers and ordered new checks from banks, which they stole out of the victims' mailboxes. Two suspects allegedly smuggled cellphones into an unidentified state prison to help with coordinating bank fraud schemes.
The indictment alleged strong ties between Armenian Power and the Mexican Mafia, which federal authorities allege controls the narcotics trade and other crimes in state and federal prisons. According to the court filing, the Mexican Mafia provides "protection and status" to imprisoned Armenian Power members and their associates. In return, Armenian Power "assists Mexican Mafia members … with collecting money or 'taxes' within prison and outside of prison."
Authorities allege the two gangs also exchange "high-value gifts, including vehicles and weapons." The indictment also alleges that Armenian Power leaders had strong ties to organized crime in Armenia, Georgia and Russia.
Officials said Armenian Power allegedly kidnapped a Glendale auto body shop owner and held him for a $500,000 ransom. The indictment details a phone conversation in which suspects said they showed the man a hole in the ground, prompting him to start crying. The two then speculated that the man "might die of a heart attack" because he was so scared.
Authorities said at a news conference that Armenian Power was able to connect with other gangs because of its technological sophistication in white-collar crime. The gang had a cadre of younger members who were highly computer savvy, officials said.
The Armenian Power organization began as a street gang based in Glendale and Burbank two decades ago to protect new Armenian immigrants, according to officials. Since then, it has morphed into a formidable financial crime syndicate with about 200 members, according to the FBI.
At the 99 Cent Only store in Silver Lake on Wednesday, customers were stunned to learn about the scam and questioned how the suspects could have accessed the store's machines.
"They should make sure that nobody can get access to the machine," said shopper Billy Prasom, adding that he hoped the store had beefed up customer protections.
Officials with 99 Cent Only stores said that they have installed new security measures to protect against potential future scams.
In addition to the federal indictments, the Los Angeles County district attorney has charged 11 defendants in seven cases filed in L.A. County Superior Court.
Thirteen Arrested in Miami in Massive Mafia Crackdown By Kyle Munzenrieder, Wed., Feb. 16 2011
Organized crime is still alive in Miami, but after a crack down today not so well. Thirteen people throughout South Florida have been arrested and charged with ties to an organized crime syndicate. The arrests were part of a larger crackdown on a group called the Armenian Power gang. 100 people total were charged with crimes in South Florida as well as Denver and Los Angeles.
The thirteen men arrested in Florida were charged with a dizzying array of crimes between them, including but not limited to extortion, firearm smuggling, credit card fraud, money laundering, and health care fraud.
Aram Khranyan, 41, of Sunny Isles Beach, was one of the highest profile arrests in Miami. According to the Department of Justice he "was the 'overseer' of the extortion conspiracies and maintains strong ties to Armenia and Russia."
Officials also claim he entered into a fake marriage with 35-year-old Mira Shatkhin, also of Sunny Isles, in order to obtain American citizenship.
In addition, Andranik Itchmelyan, 48, of Davie, Fla.; Gegam Kalashyan, 41, of Hallandale Beach, Fla.; and Vladimir Okun, 44, of Davie were charged with smuggling firearms.
Vladimir Okun; Andrey Schegolev, 49, of Hollywood, Fla; Harvey Lerfelt, 51 of North Miami Beach, Andranik Itchmelyan, 48; Anahit Karapetyan, 40 of Davie; and Frank Rodriguez, 52, of North Miami Beach, Fla. were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Through two separate clinics they billed private insurance companies for fraudulent procedures.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.For those whom are unaware, Southern California particularly the Los Angeles area has the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia. These people are notorious in California for their frauds and scams, especially medicare fraud. Its a damn shame too, because I know soo many people whom need medicare but cannot get on it . . . www.asiafinest.comMost of the defendants "were Armenian nationals or immigrants and many maintained substantial ties to Armenia" and criminals there, the indictment said. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia. . . http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101013/ap_on_bi_ge/us_medicare_fraud_arrests A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program's history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday. Fox News NewYork The Guardian: ARMENIAN MAFIA @ Lragir.am Armenian Criminals Smuggled Weapons Grade Uranium For Terrorists @ AGRC
Zhamanak: Owner of Atlantic Café among Armenian criminals in US
October 16, 2010 The U.S. police published the names of Armenian criminals and their associates, cheating Medicare out of $163 million, charged with using phantom health care clinics and other means.
According to the information at the Zhamanak daily’s disposal, Poghos Satamyan, the co-owner of Atlantic café in Yerevan, is also among them.
He is also famous for organizing Armenian signer Tata’s concert in the United States.
Interestingly, Satamyan attended the wedding party of Yerevan Chief Police Nersik Nazaryan’s son.
Armenian Mafia targets American Shows
Famous American show host, Uygur and Kasparian, from TYT, were threatened by the Armenian lobby. In their response TYT quickly removed their video "Dozens Arrested For Medicare Fraud". American freedom is under attack! Wake up America! First they target our medicare now our media!! And what is even more funny is the fact that Kasparian is ethnic Armenian!! Here is the text:
Kasparian: "Dozens of Armenians throughout the United States have recently got arrested for Medicare fraud. Now this is an age-old trick of Armenians. This is what Armenians do. OK. And that’s a gross generalization. And a large majority of these offenders lived in Glendale, California. I am not kidding. That’s a fact.
Uygur: That’s literally true![Chuckling]. By the way, I am amused by the Armenian community Medicare fraud in Glendale.[Imitating an Armenian accent]:“You do Medical fraud? Of course. Who doesn’t do Medicare fraud? Come now!” Is that close to an Armenian accent?
Kasparian: It’s close. So, what these individuals would do is, they would steal the identities of doctors, identities of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the United States and they would make false claims. They would create these phantom health care clinics that don’t even really exist and then bill Medicare for treatments that never happened and then Medicare would send this money to these fake doctors or these doctors that have their identities stolen….
Uygur: Let me give you a little detail how it works. It’s kind of interesting. So, they steal a list of doctors’ names….
Kasparian:…There is shame on two different sides here. Shame on the Armenians and shame on the government for not realizing it until now -- until these Armenians stole $163 million from Medicare [The correct figure is $35 million].
Uygur: You know what? That is a pretty good scam. You gotta give it up to them. They are working up in Glendale.[Chuckling].
Kasparian: And it wasn’t just in Glendale. These are Armenians throughout the country. Like, we got Armenians in New York City, we got Armenians in California, a couple in Ohio, some in New Mexico, some in Florida, all over the place. It’s a massive operation. They’re all connected. They all know what they’re doing. It’s insanity. In fact, officials equated this to the mafia. This is like the Armenian mafia operating in the United States. Part of me felt like I should be a little proud of that, because I am kind of a bad ass, but another part of me of course was humiliated. I feel so bad for the people that are victims of this. Because not only the government gets millions of dollars stolen from them, there are people who have their identity stolen. So these Armenians can sit at home, drive their Rolls Royces, and not do anything.
Uygur: I’m gonna take a little controversial view on this. Obviously, they couldn’t be more wrong -- busted, go to jail, etc. We are not having any of that conversation. On the other hand, it is a little ingenious…. You know what happens! People get greedy. Once you got that scam going, and you haven’t got caught in a long time, you think let’s churn this thing out. Everyone wants a piece of the action. Next thing you know, everybody in Glendale knows, and they all want their cut in it. Of course, there is an ugly side to this. One of the guys I believe you saw in the picture was "vor."
Kasparian: By the way, "vor" means "ass." I’m wondering why all of the news articles refer to him as "vor." . .
Yes, Armenians!
Today it’s all over the news! Millions of dollars have been ripped off from US taxpayers and the Medicare program in 25 states—the perpetrators are Armenian-Americans. Here we go again, another scam to join our growing list of medicare/medicaid and food stamp scams orchestrated by immigrant networks. (Someone really needs to write a whole blog just on these scams!)
From the New York Times: An Armenian-American crime syndicate stole the identities of doctors and thousands of patients and used them and more than a hundred spurious clinics in 25 states to bill Medicare for more than $100 million for treatments no doctor ever performed and no patient ever received, the federal authorities announced on Wednesday
Prosecutors said the case represented the largest Medicare fraud operation ever carried out by a single group that resulted in criminal charges. The group succeeded in stealing $35 million in Medicare reimbursements, officials said, before the charges were leveled and arrests were made on Wednesday.
The “highly organized massive scheme” is at the heart of a racketeering indictment and other charges unsealed in federal court against 44 people, including a number of members of the Armenian crime group, according to the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors in New York and Georgia.
“With 118 phantom clinics and over $100 million in bogus billings, this group of international gangsters allegedly ran a veritable fraud franchise,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement announcing the charges. “As charged, they stole taxpayer dollars earmarked for the elderly and infirm and got away with it, until now.”
Did we take Armenian refugees?
Sure enough! A little scouting around produced this 1988 article, in the New York Times no less, about bringing an emergency 12,000 Armenians here from the Soviet Union that year. I find it interesting that when something goes down, like this fraud bust, no mainstream media reporter ever asks how did all these Armenian gangsters get here in the first place.
Reagan Administration officials report a sharp increase in the number of Armenians trying to leave the Soviet Union, and the State Department has drafted a proposal to admit 12,000 of them to the United States as refugees.
The proposal suggests that President Reagan should begin emergency consultations with Congress so that the United States can take in the Armenians by doubling the maximum number of refugees who may be admitted this year from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
At the same time, Administration officials said, the State Department is proposing to raise the United States worldwide refugee admissions ceiling to 83,500 for the current fiscal year. That is 15,000 more than the number approved by Mr. Reagan in October.
Refugee numbers are set each year by the President. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, he can change numbers, but must first consult with Congress. Looking for Sources of Funds
Administration officials said they did not know how the Government could pay for processing and resettling the extra refugees. State Department officials estimate the cost at $25 million to $30 million, and they are searching for possible sources of funds.
Armen Kazarian Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Aleksandr Avetisyan Herayer Baghoumian Pogos Satamyan Artur Yepiskoposyan Vagan Stepanian Varujan Amroyan Jacob Pogosian Karen Simonian Vartan Boyadzhyan Artur Manasarian Gourgen Mirimanian Manuk Muradakhanyan Liana Soghoyan Tikran Takvoryan Gayane Khatchaturyan Gagik Kyurchyan Anna Zaichik Aron Chervin Karen Aharonian
Life imprisonment; fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
2
Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud
Armen Kazarian Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Aleksandr Avetisyan Herayer Baghoumian Pogos Satamyan Artur Yepiskoposyan Jacob Pogosian Karen Simonian Vartan Boyadzhyan Gourgen Mirimanian Manuk Muradakhanyan Liana Soghoyan Tikran Takvoryan Gayane Khatchaturyan Gagik Kyurchyan Anna Zaichik
10 years in prison; fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
3
Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud
Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Artur Yepiskoposyan Vartan Boyadzhyan Gourgen Mirimanian Anna Zaichik Arman Grigorian Anna Termartirosyan Rafik Terjanian
30 years in prison; a fine of $1,000,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss; five years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
4
Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Herayer Baghoumian Pogos Satamyan Artur Yepiskoposyan Jacob Pogosian Karen Simonian Manuk Muradakhanyan Arman Grigorian Karen Markosian Anna Termartirosyan Rafik Terjanian
Twenty years in prison; fine of $500,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
5
Conspiracy to Commit Fraud in Connection with Identity Theft
Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Herayer Baghoumian Pogos Satamyan Artur Yepiskoposyan Liana Soghoyan Tikran Takvoryan Gayane Khatchaturyan Anna Zaichik
Five years in prison; a fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
6
Conspiracy to Commit Credit Card Fraud
Davit Mirzoyan Robert Terdjanian Aleksandr Avetisyan Vagan Stepanian Varujan Amroyan Karen Aharonian Samvel Hakopyan
10 years in prison; a fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release; $100 mandatory special assessment.
7
Conspiracy to Commit Immigration Fraud
Robert Terdjanian Vagan Stepanian Michael Dobrushin
Five years in prison; a fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; 3 years of supervised release;
Defendants in U.S. v. Aron Chervin, et al.
Defendant
DOB
Residence
ARON CHERVIN
7/18/1947
North Brunscwick, NY
ROBERT TERDJANIAN
11/14/1974
Brooklyn, NY
VYACHESLAV DOBRER
3/22/1960
Dingman’s Ferry, PA
HAROLD PINA
2/8/1969
Valley Stream, NY
ROSS KUFLIK
1/19/1958
DelRay Beach, FL
MICHAEL LAMOND
4/21/1970
Long Island City, NY
VADIM CHERVIN
3/22/1960
North Brunswick, NY
GALINA VOVK
3/19/1976
Brooklyn, NY
VALIANTSINA LAHUN
9/4/1965
Brooklyn, NY
LYNN BRAUNSTEIN
10/17/1961
Belle Harbor, NY
WILLIAM GIBBS
YURI ZELINSKY
6/17/1948
Brooklyn, NY
LUBA GODIN
8/1/1978
Brooklyn, NY
JUDSON DARIO JUST
5/3/1962
Brooklyn, NY
BEAGY FRANCOIS
11/16/1955
Dacula, GA
NATAN PEYSAKOV
1/30/1970
Brooklyn, NY
MARTA ROMAN
8/11/1970
Merrick, NY
MILANA NIKHMAN
12/23/1957
Staten Island, NY
Ct
Charge
Defendants
Maximum Penalties
1
Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and Health Care Fraud
ARON CHERVIN ROBERT TERDJANIAN VYACHESLAV DOBRER HAROLD PINA ROSS KUFLIK MICHAEL LAMOND VADIM CHERVIN GALINA VOVK VALIANTSINA LAHUN LYNN BRAUNSTEIN WILLIAM GIBBS YURI ZELINSKY LUBA GODIN JUDSON DARIO JUST BEAGY FRANCOIS NATAN PEYSAKOV MILANA NIKHMAN
20 years in prison; 3 years of supervised release; fine of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; $100 mandatory special assessment; forfeiture; restitution
2
Conspiracy to Sell Protected Medical Information
ARON CHERVIN MARTA ROMAN BEAGY FRANCOIS
5 years in prison; 3 years of supervised release; $250,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; $100 mandatory special assessment
3
Conspiracy to Launder Money
ARON CHERVIN ROBERT TERDJANIAN VYACHESLAV DOBRER MICHAEL LAMOND GALINA VOVK LUBA GODIN WILLIAM GIBBS
20 years in prison; 3 years of supervised release; fine of 500,000, or twice the pecuniary loss or gain; $100 mandatory special assessment; forfeiture
Source: http://newyork.fbi.gov/ * POGOS SATAMYAN 12/3/1978 Glendale, CA – Listed on this LinkedIn page as Chief Operating Officer of Seacliff Diagnostics Medical Group, Inc. * TIKRAN TAKVORYAN 4/23/1966 Pasadena, CA - Arrested and listed as a defendant in a 2009 criminal case involving charges on criminal penalties for acts involving Federal health care programs.
Armenian Organized Crime Grows More Complex
By THOMAS WATKINS - Associated Press Writer
GLENDALE, Calif. -- Endeavor Diagnostics billed itself as a thriving medical laboratory that performed more than $1 million of work for Medicare patients.
When two FBI agents went to inspect it, they found an empty San Fernando Valley office with only a desk and a fax machine. There were no workers, no patients and no biological samples.
Behind the door of the facade were signs tying the operation to a sprawling network of phantom enterprises allegedly set up by Armenian mobsters to try to defraud Medicare of $163 million for services never provided.
Dozens of arrests around the country Wednesday highlighted a criminal demographic rarely seen, but one that officials say is rooted in California and growing in reach and sophistication.
"They are victimizing our systems, they are victimizing business, they are victimizing private citizens," said Glendale police Lt. Steve Davey, who heads up a task force tackling Eurasian crime. "Their ultimate goal is oligarchy - to see if they can infiltrate government."
Few criminal groups can match the sophistication of Armenian scammers, who developed an uncanny savvy for probing weaknesses in government systems and were hailed as heroes when they exploited their Soviet republic homeland, authorities said. They have been known for devising complex white collar schemes such as credit card fraud, identity theft and mortgage fraud.
Indictments released Wednesday in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere show how various cells, largely working on their own but often sharing techniques, set up fraudulent medical businesses using stolen physician identities.
After becoming licensed Medicare providers and submitting claims, the fake office billed the government, which would pay money to fraudulent bank accounts. Many claims were bogus but sometimes criminals would provide a small service then submit an inflated bill.
In Los Angeles, for example, they would provide a scooter worth about $1,000, but profit after billing Medicare for a top-end electric wheelchair worth six times as much, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matt McLaughlin said.
The groups have been known to recruit people with a nominal sum to become a fake patient, then bill Medicare for services supposedly rendered.
"It's great camouflage," McLaughlin said. "We have to deconstruct each element to prove a fraud."
Prosecutors also allege that conspirators paid corrupt doctors to carry out unnecessary testing on purported accident victims, then charged the government for the treatment.
In all, $163 million in fraudulent bills were submitted, with Medicare actually paying out $35 million, according to the documents.
The complex operation was allegedly overseen by Armen Kazarian, who melded into Glendale's large Armenian population after arriving as an asylum seeker in 1996 and mostly stayed out of view of the police.
Kazarian, 46, who is in custody in Los Angeles, is known by the Soviet term "thief in law," which is the rough equivalent of a "godfather." Authorities say it is only the second time such a figure, known in Russian as a "vor v zakone," has been arrested in the U.S.
Nearly half of Glendale's 200,000 residents have an Armenian background. Following the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey, a diaspora spread around the globe, with many arriving in Fresno and the East Coast.
Successive waves of immigrants followed major geopolitical upheavals, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and a small Armenian community in Hollywood quickly expanded to Glendale and the surrounding areas.
In the mid-1980s, sons of Armenian immigrants from the Hollywood area banded together to form a gang called Armenian Power to protect themselves against Hispanic gangs. The community initially saw members as vigilante protectors but the group soon morphed into a street gang like any other, carrying out drive-by shootings and other crimes such as kidnappings, drug deals and burglaries, Glendale Officer Rafael Quintero said.
But most crime in the Armenian community is carried out quietly and centers on sophisticated identity theft schemes. Police started picking up on these activities at the end of the 1990s and Glendale's task force was established in 2000, Davey said.
Several police agencies have task forces focused on Eurasian crime but Los Angeles police Lt. Stephen Margolis said this operation illustrates how the law enforcement community overall should pay closer attention.
"The sophistication and the pervasiveness of this type of criminal activity is years in the making," Margolis said. "Hopefully this will serve as a wake up to the extent of the seriousness this problem presents at a national level."
Zaven Kazazian, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Armenian-American Chamber of Commerce, said much of the crime in the community is carried out by people raised under communist rule in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, where exploiting a corrupt government was seen as fair game.
Prosecutors say the crime ring was known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, named after its principal leaders Davit Mirzoyan, 34, of Glendale and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn.
Most of the 44 people charged are from the Los Angeles area and New York but arrests were also made in Georgia, New Mexico and Ohio.
The seven defendants named in the Los Angeles indictment have all pleaded not guilty. Defendants named in the New York portion of the case had either pleaded not guilty or were due to be arraigned Monday.
A call to Kazarian's defense attorney, Vicken Hagopian, was not immediately returned Friday.
As the "thief-in-law" of the operation, Kazarian was touted by authorities as the big catch. But the role of such "vor v zakones" is more subtle than that of a Mafia boss, Lt. Davey said.
Armenian crime bosses typically are nominated by other criminals and their main task is to mediate disputes between groups.
Though they describe no actual violence, authorities allege Kazarian helped the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization and would use threats to resolve disputes in the U.S., Armenia and other places.
The 33 Chilean miners were not the only ones brought to daylight last week; a massive criminal Armenian immigrant ring defrauding the Medicare by a whopping $135 million was, also. While the former delighted us and uplifted our spirits, the latter shocked and outraged us.
How can one not be incensed? While those gold chain wearing, hairy and smelly thieves were lining up to buy 350,000 dollar sports cars with American taxpayers’ hard-earned money, most American families, faced with job cuts, dwindling incomes, and foreclosures, were dreading to put food on table.
But there is worse. What the Armenian crooks perpetrated has far reaching implications impacting a wide range of policies and programs affecting all of us well into the future. These range from the cost of recent health care reforms, identification theft, and safety of senior citizens, all the way to the security of government archives, abuse of taxpayer funds, and foreign policy influenced by Armenian crooks and terrorists with access to some gullible or corrupt American politicians.
ARE BOXER AND MENENDEZ, RECIPIENTS OF ARMENIAN MONEY, CLEAN?
This is why I think Boxer’s campaign chest must be investigated: “Armenian organization to back Barbara Boxer at November elections”, news.am, October 15, 2010: http://news.am/eng/news/34644.html ; )
“ The committee on political affairs of the Armenian Council of America will back Sen. Barbara Boxer at the elections scheduled for November…The Armenian Council of America made the decision due to close ties of Sen. Boxer with the Armenian community and pro-Armenian activities in the Senate…Barbara Boxer is an advocate of the Armenian Genocide recognition and has repeatedly been the author of relevant bills. She also raised the issue on unblocking of the Armenian border by Turkey. Senators Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez have jointly placed a “hold” on U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan nominee Matthew Bryza, noting his close ties with Azerbaijan.”
Here is my beef with all this: ambassadors to Turkey and Azerbaijan, both staunch American allies, cannot be appointed, as the vetting process is taken hostage by the Armenian lobby through their proxies in the Senate, Boxer and Menendez. I am wondering, therefore, how much of that dirty Armenian money found its way into the coffers of Boxer, Menendez, Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other passionate “genociders” who bend over backwards to appease the Armenian lobby, even at the cost of sacrificing American interests.
I am in the process of getting a copy of the official indictment. I plan to check the Armenian names against the Armenian donors of Boxer and Menendez, as the Federal Election Commission reports are public. If names match, then Boxer and Menendez must resign immediately for using Armenian fraud money to serve Armenian interests. Whether American interests were hurt or not by their actions does not even matter at that moment, because they will have served the interests of a foreign government (Armenia) without first registering as a foreign agent or lobbyist, thus breaking the law. This goes for Schiff, Pallone, Radanovich, and other bogus “genociders” on the hill.
I appreciate that it could be hard to check, since Boxer has had over 8,000 donors in 2010, and the tricky Armenians use different spelling variations of their names making it much harder to track them down without serious investment of time and resources. But I think FBI should do it to protect the American taxpayer. If FBI finds some of those Armenian crooks in the donor rolls of Boxer, Menendez, or others, then so be it! If they do the crime, they should do the time. Let’s throw the trash out! Impeach them!
One of the alleged Armenian gangsters arrested in the record-breaking $163 million Medicare fraud scheme was also a major donor to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pogos Satamyan of Glendale, CA, reportedly arrested today, gave the DCCC $10,000 just this July, according to public records. (Only $10K? What a cheapskate! )
OUTSMARTING THE SYSTEM: A “SKILL” REVERED IN ARMENIAN CULTURE
Armenian fraud is not something new. “Outsmarting the system” seems to be a national pass time among most Armenians. Deception, fraud, lies, in the finest tradition of Andonian of the fake Talaat telegrams fame, should give any fair minded American a clue about the Armenian psyche.
What I wonder is not that organized Armenian fraud makes the news for the millionth time, but did any of this Armenian fraud money, even a cent, found its way into the campaign funds of some gullible and/or corrupt politicians. After all, these politicians sold America’s interests time and again, just for a few dirty Armenian dollars, didn’t they? Shouldn’t we impeach corrupt politicians for siding with Armenian criminals?
ARMENIAN FRAUD AND DECEPTION: A CHRONIC DISEASE
This is not the first case of medical fraud by Armenians in US, nor is it the biggest. For example, just two years ago, in 2008, some 6 Armenians were indicted by the FBI on a $2 million fraud case: http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/080404losangeles2.htm . Here is what was said in the April 4, 2008 report “ Six arrested and charged in connection with $2 million health care fraud ring”:
“ LOS ANGELES - Six men charged with running a crime ring that stole nearly $2 million from federal and private health insurers were arrested here today following a federal and local probe involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a health care fraud scheme.
Collectively, the defendants face 62 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering and grand theft of personal property. The alleged crimes occurred between March 2005 and September 2006.
‘On a national level, health care fraud continues to milk billions of dollars annually from government-funded health plans and private health insurers,’ District Attorney Steve Cooley said. ‘Health care fraud affects us all. These criminals not only squander health funds for underserved populations who truly warrant subsidized aid, they also affect the average consumer who is hit in the pocket book by fraud-related costs incurred by private health companies.’
Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Investigations in Los Angeles, said ICE will continue to work with its local and federal law enforcement partners to attack and dismantle these kinds of schemes.
‘Aside from the obvious harm to insurers and needy patients, the money siphoned off in fraud schemes like this is often funneled into other forms of criminal enterprise,’ Schoch said.
Those charged in the case are: Karapet Khacheryan, 37; Hovik Joe Altunyan, 30; Edkar Mikirtijyan, 25; Grigor Khorikyan, 29; Vahan E. Harutyunyan, 32; and Smbat Khachtryan, 26. The six men are due to be arraigned at the Criminal Justice Center April 7. Bail is recommended at $1.98 million for each defendant.
The case, which was referred to the District Attorney's Office by ICE and the United States Department of Health and Human Services - Office of the Inspector General, began as a drug and money laundering investigation, later expanding to include health care fraud.
‘Fighting Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a top priority," said Glenn Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the Office of Inspector General for the federal Department of Health and Human Services. "We will work tirelessly with our federal and state law enforcement partners to bring those who perpetrate such frauds to justice.’
The men were taken into custody early this morning by federal authorities from residences in North Hollywood, Glendale, and Van Nuys, Calif. A seventh suspect was taken into custody on an unrelated gun charge. Search warrants also were executed at two businesses in Burbank. Of those named in the case, the highest number of charges faced by a single defendant is 31 counts. ..”
It was a coordinated effort The Los Angeles County Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT), the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes and COPS bureaus, and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medical Fraud and Elder Abuse assisted federal agents in this investigation. All defendants faced special allegations because the offenses involved fraud and embezzlement with a pattern of related felony conduct. The special allegations also stemmed from the fact the defendants were suspected of taking more than $500,000, with estimated property losses exceeding more than $1 million.
ARMENIAN THIEVERY HAS DEEP CULTURAL ROOTS
I remember well how back in 1999, we were all shocked to learn that a bunch of Armenian crooks defrauded Medi-Cal (that's California's Medicaid) of $1 billion USD! That's by far the largest medical fraud case in the history of the world: http://articles.latimes.com/1999/dec/08/news/mn-41634
Here is what was reported by Rone Tempest , Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bureau Chief, on December 08, 1999, in his article titled “Medi-Cal Scandal Alarms Armenians”:
“ Culture: Leaders stress that those caught are a tiny minority, and that they may have learned such behavior as a survival skill in former Soviet Union.
Chagrined by the estimated $1-billion Medi-Cal fraud scandal among new immigrants in their community, Armenian church and civic leaders say that an explanation may lie not in Los Angeles, where most of the crime occurred, but in the culture and politics of their homeland in the former Soviet Union.
Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Gregory Armenian Orthodox Church in Pasadena, said members of the largely ethnic Armenian network charged with bilking the state and federal governments using phony medical billings came from a place ‘where the government was the government you cheated from.’ “
Nice try by the Armenian priest to control damage, but unfortunately for Armenians, the organized fraud cases unearthed since this 1999 report shows that the Armenian community supports such illegal activities, just like they supported Armenian terrorism victimizing Turks, both in the Ottoman Empire from 1882-1922 and in the United States 1973 to present. Violence and corruption, the twin evils, seem to find fertile grounds in the Armenian culture.
Armenian Consul General in Los Angeles and Mayor are in jail as we speak for selling fake documents to Armenian murderers and rapists to get a permanent residence in USA, for a mere , $35.000… A bargain!
ARMENIA IN PANIC
Alarmed by the developments, the government of Armenia embarked upon a hastily put together damage control program (See “Armenia to help US investigate Medicare scam”, By AVET DEMURYAN, Associated Press, YEREVAN, Armenia, October 14, 2010: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9IRK2H00.htm . ) Too little, too late.
Armenia now says it will cooperate with the United States in an investigation of Armenian gangsters accused of using bogus health care clinics to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said today that Armenia was sorry. The operation was reportedly led by captured crime boss, Armen Kazarian, who is known by the Soviet term "thief in law," or "godfather" in English. Here is the rub: a top Armenian police who wanted to remain anonymous apparently told The Associated Press that about 40 ethnic Armenian godfathers operate in Europe, the U.S., Australia and the Middle East. U.S. authorities, who say this is the largest fraud in Medicare’s history, are not amused.
“A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program's history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday. (Scroll down to watch a "60 Minutes" report on Medicare fraud from earlier this year)
Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.
CBS News reports that more than 60 people were in custody as of Wednesday afternoon.
The scheme's scope and sophistication "puts the traditional Mafia to shame," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. "They ran a veritable fraud franchise." ( Read the First Indictment (PDF) , Read the Second Indictment (PDF) )
Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was "completely notional," Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, said in a statement. "The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage." (video:
Medicare Fraud: A $60 Billion Crime )
The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a "vor," prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.
Bharara said it was the first time a vor - "the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather" - had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.
Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders - Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn - were named in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan.
Most of the defendants were to appear in court later Wednesday on charges including racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York - including Social Security numbers and dates of birth - were reported stolen.
The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.
Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams…”
In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics' banks accounts, according to the investigators. Most of the defendants were reported to be “ Armenian nationals or immigrants” with substantial ties to Armenia and even criminals there, in the indictment. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added. Prosecutors were reportedly seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of expensive cars like a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.
***
This is far from over as the saga of Armenian thieves, crooks, swindlers, fast talkers, and genocide peddlers continues…
Stay tuned ! Responses1) If these individuals are naturalized Americans the fraud is even further evidence that American citizenship obtained to commit crimes should be revocable. — EdnaTN
2) Thank you, thank you, thank you! It’s about time these thieves are exposed. A prison sentence, which includes room and board and entertainment, (paid for by the taxpayers of America), is not bad enough for them. There has to be a way to make them cough up the money they swallowed! How easy it is to steal millions of dollars, go to prison for a few years, their families luxuriating in the spoils, and then when released, spend the rest of their lives in luxury.
I hope the Social Security rolls are examined for fraud as well as SSI. These programs were created to help the needy, not to foster a “get rich easily” plan! — Carolyn
3) This is unbelievable. There used to be a time when people emigrated to the U.S to make honest living. Now they come here looking for short cuts and stealing from this country. — Will
4)I left my suburban Los Angeles neighborhood because of the Armenian pimps and drug dealers that had invaded my building. The police did nothing. They run rampant all over Los Angeles and get away with it. Lovely. — GlendaLane
5)why are some readers perturbed at the mention of the crime syndicate’s national/ethnic background? that’s relevant information. it’s a fact, part of the story. especially since the funds were being filtered out of the country. the US ought to pressure the Armenian govt to return the funds. in exchange, we can return their criminals to them. — elliott ness
6) We ere a lot better off when these kind of people where trapped in the former Soviet Union. There they had the kind of government they deserved. These individuals are not worthy of Democracy. — John
7) Grish With the help of same criminal elements of Armenia, money laundry businesses transferred out side of Armenia, for much better results..Soviet era corrupted mentality is well preserved within Armenia’s top ranking government officials!! This is why Armenia, ranked 120th among 180 most corrupted nations of the world in 2010..
8) Gina What a shame. I cannot find the right words to express my anger. I hope they rot in jail for the rest of their lives.
9) Robert What can I say…you’ve all earned the reputation which the world knows you all for! But, as usual, the Armenian diaspora will find a con job approach to somehow try to blame Turkey and/or Azerbaijan, while at the same time trying to spin the facts so that they (Armenians) will be the usual “innocent and pure victims” of the barbaric Turk!
10) Kirlikovali Armenian fraud is not something new. What I wonder is if any of this Armenian fraud money, even a cent, found its way into the koffers of corrupt ploticians. After all, these politicians sold America’s interests time and again, just for a few Armenian dollars, didn’t they?
11) Grish Armenia’s corruption disease, spreading like a viruses around the globe…these shameless Armenians destroying other Armenians reputation in US, where they set up as hard working, smart, intellectual people, over a century within US population..I wonder when Armenia’s government finally will put up an “end” for corruption in Armenia…I wonder sometimes how these criminals get Armenian passport and emigrate out!!
12) Preston The blame rest squarely on Serzhigs shoulders. The other two thugs, LTP and Kocharyan enriched themselves and left office. Serzh is doing absolutely nothing…why? because he too has to amass wealth and fortune before leaving office. How could someone who was poor, becomes president and suddenly he is playing with millions of dollars? You see the problem in Armenia is so severe, if it continues unchecked, corruption will overtake Armenians government, and Armenia will become like Mexico is today..a lawless land of thieves.
I am more scared of corrupt and murderous regime and civil servants in Armenia, then the might of all world powers
13) george Based on stories of Armenians in the U.S., Armenian organized crime is supported by the Armenian government after independence. It is a shame that a government can be so corrupt and to export their criminal activities to the rest of the world. I have heard it is the organized crime running that country. The few Armenians I know are honest, decent and hard working individuals that I can trust fully.
14) Mos I wish they could go arrest all the mafia criminals in Armenia that rule and steal from the country....
15) Levon They won't get solitary confinement for this, and they'll end up in Federal prison, if they don't get out of it. None of them will get anything close to 100 years. I'd say if their lawyers do their jobs correctly, the worst would be around 20 years in Fed confinement.
It all really depends on their priors, and how aggressively the prosecutor(s) will push the charges. Many times the initial charges are extremely exaggerated to instill fear onto the defendants with the hope of doing a quick plea-deal and not even going into formal trial. Plus, there is a difference between violent and non-violent offenders. Non-violent offenders usually get off easier (might get the same sentence, but will usually parole earlier)
16)Sarkis We are no longer proud to say I am Armenian. There are 20,000 Armenians in prison in California
17) yasha Please do not send them back to Armenia, we have a lot of people like them here. example is The generals, who made the Armenian army a terrible mess, continue to expand their business, the Zhamanak daily writes.
Major-General Arshaluys Paytian, the deputy chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff has already expanded his business abroad.
According to the source, he opened a restaurant in Odessa. He runs many businesses in Armenia as well. Yerevan-Vanadzor minibus route, an elite business-center building and wood processing companies belong to him. The constructions on the books of the Armenian Defense Ministry also belong to him.
“Meanwhile, the soldiers are sick or just killed in the army he leads,” the newspaper stresses.
http://news.am/eng/news/34168.html
18) Mark Not only that Armenian Consul General in Los Angeles and Mayor is in Jail as we speak for selling fake documents to Armenian murderers and rapists to get a permenent residence in USA, price? $35.000
19) Wilson We should impeach Boxer and Menendez for using Armenian fraud money in a federal election campaign. These corrupt politicians used the Armenian criminals' money to attack a US ally, Turkey.
20) bob Well, this is not for a first time - Armenians do it again, again and again. How long Americans can tolerate it ??
Russian classic PUSHKIN told for Armenians: Armenian you are thieves, cowards and slaves.
21) Tony_Lee I was told by an Armenian friend of mine back in the 80′s that they had to put up signs in communities where the Armenian “refugees” settled. The signs, in Armenian, read “It is agaisnt the law to steal”.
22) Via Refugee Resettlement Watch, quoting the New York Times: “An Armenian-American crime syndicate stole the identities of doctors and thousands of patients and used them and more than a hundred spurious clinics in 25 states to bill Medicare for more than $100 million for treatments no doctor ever performed and no patient ever received, the federal authorities announced on Wednesday.Prosecutors said the case represented the largest Medicare fraud operation ever carried out by a single group that resulted in criminal charges.”
23) Here’s the important bit from Refugee Resettlement Watch:
“Did we take Armenian refugees?
Sure enough! A little scouting around produced this 1988 article, in the New York Times no less, about bringing an emergency 12,000 Armenians here from the Soviet Union that year. I find it interesting that when something goes down, like this fraud bust, no mainstream media reporter ever asks how did all these Armenian gangsters get here in the first place.”
Look, I’m all for the idea that our country is a beacon of freedom that welcomes those fleeing oppression. That’s a kinda big chuck of our national identity.
But sometimes I sure get the feeling that we are too trusting, and folks take advantage of our cultural wish to do good.
24) Outsmarting The System: A “skill” Revered In Armenian Culture
Armenian fraud is not something new.“Outsmarting the system” seems to be a national pass time among most Armenians. Deception, fraud, lies, in the finest tradition of Andonian of the fake Talaat telegrams fame, should give any fair minded American a clue about the Armenian psyche.
What I wonder is not that organized Armenian fraud makes the news for the millionth time, but did any of this Armenian fraud money, even a cent, found its way into the campaign funds of some gullible and/or corrupt politicians. After all, these politicians sold America’s interests time and again, just for a few dirty Armenian dollars, didn’t they? Shouldn’t we impeach corrupt politicians for siding with Armenian criminals?
This is not the first case of medical fraud by Armenians in US, nor is it the biggest. For example, just two years ago, in 2008, some 6 Armenians were indicted by the FBI on a $2 million fraud case:
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/artic... . Here is what was said in the April 4, 2008 report “ Six arrested and charged in connection with $2 million health care fraud ring”:
25) When caught,they can always blame the Turk. When taught that they are perennial victims, there is a ready made excuse.
26) Are you upset that Armenian crooks are more talented than your SSK thieves? But they can not even match a nation who still sit on the spoils of a Genocide with a TURKUM DOGRUYUM smirk on their faces.
27) Armenian Thievery Has Deep Cultural Roots
I remember well how back in 1999, we were all shocked to learn that a bunch of Armenian crooks defrauded Medi-Cal (that's California's Medicaid) of $1 billion USD! That's by far the largest medical fraud case in the history of the world: http://articles.latimes.com/1999/dec/08/news/ ...
Here is what was reported by Rone Tempest , Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bureau Chief, on December 08, 1999, in his article titled “Medi-Cal Scandal Alarms Armenians”:
“ Culture: Leaders stress that those caught are a tiny minority, and that they may have learned such behavior as a survival skill in former Soviet Union.
Chagrined by the estimated $1-billion Medi-Cal fraud scandal among new immigrants in their community, Armenian church and civic leaders say that an explanation may lie not in Los Angeles, where most of the crime occurred, but in the culture and politics of their homeland in the former Soviet Union.
Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Gregory Armenian Orthodox Church in Pasadena, said members of the largely ethnic Armenian network charged with bilking the state and federal governments using phony medical billings came from a place ‘where the government was the government you cheated from.’“
Nice try by the Armenian priest to control damage, but unfortunately for Armenians, the organized fraud cases unearthed since this 1999 report shows that the Armenian community supports such illegal activities, just like they supported Armenian terrorism victimizing Turks, both in the Ottoman Empire from 1882-1922 and in the United States 1973 to present.
Violence and corruption, the twin evils, seem to find fertile grounds in the Armenian culture.
Armenian Consul General in Los Angeles and Mayor are in jail as we speak for selling fake documents to Armenian murderers and rapists to get a permanent residence in USA, for a mere ,$35.000… A bargain!
Armenian Criminals Smuggled Weapons Grade Uranium For Terrorists
Armenian Criminals Go Sophisticated, Hi-Tech and… Nuclear November 8, 2010 The Armenian Observer
Highly enriched uranium was smuggled from Armenia to Georgia in a lead-lined cigarette packet in March. Two men involved in transporting the substance were arrested in April.
In a closed hearing, Sumbat Tonayan, a former dairy factory owner and Hrant Ohanian, a retired nuclear physicist from a science institute in Armenia, pleaded guilty to smuggling the 90 per cent-enriched uranium from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Tbilisi. They face 10 years in jail. It remains unclear whether the 18g of uranium contained in the cigarette packet was a sample of a larger shipment, which has yet to be located.
Before his arrest, Tonoyan suggested to an undercover agent that he had more uranium to sell. Investigators are now working to determine the origins of the radioactive material.
Two Armenians Slipped Aboard A Train With A Nuclear Bomb Grade Uranium @ AP
Capture Of Armenians Smuggling Highly Enriched Uranium Suggests Existence Of More Extensive Black Market @ The Guardian UK
Hrant Ohanian, A Retired Nuclear Physicist From A Science Institute In Armenia, Pleaded Guilty To Smuggling The 90 Per Cent-Enriched Uranium From The Armenian Capital Yerevan. . . Sumbat Tonayan Had More Uranium To Sell @ Independent UK
Armenians To Smuggle Weapon Grade Uranium To Terrorists @ Daily Mail UK
Why Nuclear Smuggling Matters : See The Research Paper Attached Below
The Guardian: ARMENIAN MAFIA Highly enriched uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb is on sale on the black market along the fringes of the former Soviet Union, according to evidence emerging from a secret trial in Georgia.
Two Armenians, a businessman and a physicist, have pleaded guilty to smuggling highly enriched uranium (HEU) into Georgia in March, stashing it in a lead-lined package on a train from Yerevan to Tbilisi.
Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, informed other heads of state of the sting operation at a nuclear summit in Washington in April, but no details about the case have been made public until now. The trial has been conducted behind closed doors to protect the operational secrecy of Georgia's counter-proliferation unit, officials said. But investigators have given the Guardian an exclusive first-hand account of the case. It reveals that the critical ingredient for making a nuclear warhead is available on the black market and is reasonably easy to smuggle past a ring of expensive US-funded radiation sensors along the borders of the former Soviet Union. What is not clear is how much nuclear material is in circulation and whether any has already been bought by extremist groups.
The US has made the prevention of nuclear terrorism its national security priority. Barack Obama persuaded 50 world leaders at the April summit to pledge to secure all vulnerable nuclear material within four years.
Billions of dollars have been spent upgrading security at nuclear sites around the globe, particularly in Russia, which has an estimated 700 tonnes of HEU in hundreds of facilities. But it is unclear how much has already been stolen. 'The question is: of what iceberg are we seeing the tip?' said Matthew Bunn, a Harvard expert and former White House science adviser, who compiles an annual assessment of the nuclear terrorism threat titled Securing the Bomb.
The uranium sample that Sumbat Tonoyan and Hrant Ohanyan were peddling is thought to have been stolen several years ago. US tests have confirmed it is 89.4% enriched, usable in a nuclear warhead. The Armenians only had 18 grams, but had been told by their supplier in Armenia that much more was available. They smuggled it into Georgia by train in a cigarette box lined with lead to fool radiation sensors at the border. Tonoyan, a 63-year-old who once ran a successful dairy business but gambled away his fortune, and Ohanyan, a 59-year-old scientist at the Yerevan Institute of Physics, had arranged to meet their buyer in a hotel in the Georgian capital on 11 March. They thought they were selling their 18g sample to a representative of an Islamist group as a precursor to a bigger consignment. But the buyer was an undercover police officer.
It is the third time in seven years HEU has been intercepted in Georgia. There have been 21 seizures or attempted thefts of weapons-grade material, uranium or plutonium, in the region since the Soviet Union collapsed. In every case the material seized had not been missed and mostly the theft was by an insider.
'There has never been a good physical inventory. Accounting rules in the Soviet Union were not designed with an internal threat in mind,' said Elena Sokova, of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. 'No one registered that this material was missing and we still don't know whether other material went missing.'
'Most likely, the materials were stolen in the mid- or early 1990s when a big amount of material disappeared. It's hidden somewhere and from time to time, someone is trying to find new buyers,' said Archil Pavlenishvili, head of Georgia's radioactive materials investigation team. 'We think that the game is not over. There will be more attempts.' What is Highly Enriched Uranium? The level of enrichment in uranium refers to the concentration of U-235, its most fissile isotope. The higher the concentration the easier it is to trigger a chain reaction. Highly enriched uranium (HEU) refers to anything above 20%.
What does weapons-grade mean? To make a nuclear weapon small enough to transport anywhere, you need HEU that is about 90% enriched.
How much weapons-grade uranium do you need to make a bomb? It depends what kind of bomb you are making - but to build a crude device you would need about 50kg (110lbs) to achieve critical mass. You can also make a bomb out of plutonium, but such a bomb is harder to build, and it is more dangerous to handle.
How easy is it to smuggle? It is surprisingly easy and safe to handle. It is so mildly radioactive that small amounts can be held with bare hands or smuggled in an ordinary bag. A minimal amount of shielding, with lead for example, would stop it triggering a radiation sensor.
How much is unaccounted for? Nobody knows, but in the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union, hundreds of tons of HEU was kept in hundreds of sites, some with absurdly little security. In one case, a Russian naval officer walked through a hole in the fence at a military base, snapped the padlock on a shed, put several kilograms of HEU in his backpack, before walking out unchallenged. A military prosecutor concluded that "potatoes were guarded better".
13 March 2011 
