Month: June 2005

ARMENIAN DELEGATION HEADED BY RA PREMIER ARRIVES IN NAGOYA, JAPAN
YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. The Armenian delegation headed by the RA
Premier Andranik Margaryan arrived today in Nagoya, Japan (prefecture
Aichi), where Expo 2005 Aichi world exhibition is held. According to
the Public Relations and Press Department of RA Government, Armenian
delegation will visit the sights of Nagoya and will acquaint
themselves with historical and cultural heritage of Nagoya. Tomorrow,
the Armenian delegation will visit Expo 2005 Aichi, where a solemn
event dedicated to the national day of Republic of Armenia. On the
same evening, the Armenian delegation will leave Nagoya for
Tokyo. L.V.-0-

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS VISITED HOSPITAL IN GLENDALE
YEREVAN, JUNE 6. ARMINFO. His Holiness Garegin II Catholicos of All
Armenians, continuing His Patriarchal visit to the Western diocese of
the USA of the Armenian Apostolic Church,visited the “Memorial”
hospital in Glendale, California State.
As ARMINFO was informed in the press-service of the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin, this hospital has cooperated actively with Holy
Etchmiadzin and various Armenia’s medical institutions since 2001.
Supreme Patriarch noted that the Church has always assisted to medical
institutions. His Holiness visited the department of intensive therapy
and blessed a few new-born children.

ARMENIAN ECOLOGISTS PREPARING COUNTER-ATTACK ON ISSUE OF LAYING
HIGHWAY VIA SHIKAHOGH PRESERVE
YEREVAN, JUNE 6. ARMINFO. Armenian ecologists will be thoroughly
prepared for the public hearings of the issue for laying a highway
Armenia-Iran via Shikahogh preserve, say a number of ecological NGOs.
President of the Association for Sustainable Human Development Karine
Daniyelyan says that today there is nothing more important than the
protection of the preserve. The very idea of laying a road via the
preserve is unacceptable. The Armenian government cannot lay a road
at nature’s detriment even if it is strategically important. There
have been many examples of the authorities damaging nature for the
sake of declared national and economic interests. “But officials
inhale the same air as ordinary people do,” says Daniyelyan. He also
quotes UN as reporting that in Armenia forests are in 8 times worse
state than worldwide while with the above highway to cause a 6 bln AMD
damage to Shikahogh.
NOTE: opened in 1958 Shikahogh preserves rare species of flora and
fauna – over 1,100 species of plants with 70 of them on the verge of
extinction.

Armenian president decorates top army officers for bravery
Noyan Tapan news agency
6 Jun 05
Yerevan, 6 June: A group of servicemen of the Armenian Defence
Ministry have been awarded orders and medals for bravery and loyalty
under Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s decree of 4 June.
The Vardan Mamikonyan Order was given to the commander of military
unit No 14018, Col Stepan Galstyan, and Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen
Alik Mirzabekyan, a source in the press service of the Armenian
president said.
The Fighting Cross Order of the second degree was given to the deputy
commander of military unit 14018, Col Egor Gambaryan.
The chief of the air equipment team of military unit 53661, Capt
Grachya Arakelyan, the aviation technician of the same unit, Senior Lt
Gevorg Khurshudyan, and the aviation technician, Senior Lt Artur
Nikogosyan, were awarded medals for their military contributions.

At a Crossroads
Holocaust museum says it need more room for its ‘life changing’ exhibits
By Paul Logan
Staff Writer, Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal
Jnue 6, 2005

Keith Smith of Bedford, England came to the New Mexico Holocaust
& Intolerance Museum because friends said it was a must see.

After viewing the newest exhibit on black slavery, Smith said the
little Downtown Albuquerque museum is a permanent reminder of what
hate can cause.

“Ignorance of what happened in the past will cause us to repeat
these terrible tragedies in the future,” Smith said.

“We see it in parts of Africa…where one group becomes
marginalized for any reason, and they become easy targets for
destruction.”

The museum is in a modest storefront next to the KiMo Theatre on
Central, but its supporters hope it will become a big-time player.

“We’ve reached the crossroads,” said museum president Andrew
Lipman.

The museum wants to move from its 3,100-square-foot building to
another, much larger location in the Downtown area. A site has not
been selected, but Lipman said the goal is to move in two years.

He said the museum will soon receive $985,000 approved in the
last legislative session. That money–along with the potential for
additional state funding in the future–will help to plan, design,
purchase and equip a new site. Lipman said the museum has received
“very strong” support from the governor, mayor and the Downtown Action
team.

Werner Gellert, a museum founder, said the exhibits set the place
apart from other venues worldwide. They reflect American Indian
cultural genocide, Armenian and Greek genocide, the Bataan Death march
and the Holocaust. Gellert, a Jew whose family fled Nazi Germany in
1939 hopes a new site will have space to honor the 5 million non-Jews
who were killed by the Nazis. The Nazis killed about 6 million Jews.
There will also be an exhibit on the gulag, a Soviet system of
forced-labor camps that caused the deaths of about 3 million from 1931
to 1953.

Alfredo Achecar, formerly of the Dominican Republic and now of
New York City, is considering a move to Albuquerque. He said he
“stumbled across” the museum. “It exemplifies a lot of those social
struggles and social dynamics of oppressed minorities,” Achecar said.

Lipman said that about 6,000 people visit the museum annually.
More than 600 students came in April. The museum has received grant
money to provide buses for school field trip transportation. It also
sends information packets on dealing with intolerance to schools
statewide.

“We have young kids that come here and they’re speechless, they
cry, they get angry, they’re very affected by the museum as are the
adults,” Lipman said.

Fifth-grade students from Carroll Elementary in Bernalillo sent
thank-you letters after their museum visit. One student wrote that the
museum “helped our class understand how terrible the Holocaust and
Armenian genocide were.” Another note said, “It changed my life.”

ELECTION OF BSBTD PRESIDENT POSTPONED UNTIL LATE JUNE (ARMENIA)
YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. The election of the President of the Black
Sea Bank for Trade and Development (BSBTD) has been postponed until
the end of June, RA Minister of Finance and Economy, Chairman of the
BSBTD Board of Directors Vardan Khachatryan told reporters,
rpresenting the results of the 7th meeting of the BSBTD Directors
held in Yerevan. He accounted for this by the fact that it is for the
first time that, besides Turkey, Russia has nominated itself for the
BSBTD President. “Geopolitical discussions have got under way, and the
election has been postponed until June 29-30, for additional
consultations to he held, as the voters have been halved,” Khachatryan
said. He also reported that a decision has been made on holding the
next meeting in Azerbaijan, and in 2007 Moldova will host the guests.
The Minister pointed out that the Yerevan meeting agenda included over
a dozen issues, with agreements reached on all of them. Among the
issues are the BSBTD 2005 budget and a 2004 report. “In 2004, the
bank’s activities were rather efficient: in 2003 the bank’s losses
totaled 2-3mln USD, whereas last year only 400,000 USD. In the first
quarter of 2005, 300,000 USD profit was recorded,” Khachatryan
said. He also reported that an agreement have been reached on the
signing a memorandum on cooperation between the BSBTD and EU. The 7th
meeting of the BSBTD Director was held in Yerevan on June 5. No
reporters were invited to cover the meeting. P.T. -0–

Azerbaijan and democracy
A watermelon revolution?
Jun 2nd 2005 | BAKU
>From The Economist print edition
AP
Not likely, says Azerbaijan’s president
AS HIS capital, Baku, swelters, Ilham Aliev should be sweating. He
inherited the presidency from his father, Heidar, after a flawed
election in 2003. Parliamentary elections are due in November.
Azerbaijan is as corrupt as almost anywhere on the planet. The parallels
with pre-revolutionary Georgia, Ukraine and Kirgizstan are painfully
clear. So is Mr Aliev nervous? “No”, he says firmly.
Why not? Because, he declares, his regime is more popular than those of
other ex-Soviet countries, and because the opposition is discredited by
violence in 2003, and by its association with the government before his
father, a Soviet-era boss, returned in 1993. “I am a new generation,” Mr
Aliev says, glossing over his dynastic succession. His country also has
energy. A new pipeline will pump oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey via
Georgia. This may explain why the West has tolerated the Aliev clan’s
excesses. (Rumours of possible American military bases in Azerbaijan are
denied by Mr Aliev.)
“We do not have human-rights abuse in our country,” says the president,
cracking his knuckles. But Elmar Mammadyarov, the foreign minister
admits that the police were over-zealous when violently breaking up a
street demonstration on May 21st. International watchdogs have
documented a string of dreadful police and judicial abuses. The big
difference in Ukraine, says Isa Gambar, who claims to have beaten Mr
Aliev in the 2003 election, was that its leaders were persuaded not to
use force. Ali Kerimli, another opposition leader, says that, for
Azerbaijan’s sake, the West must now be stern with Uzbekistan over its
massacres last month.
The oil also makes it easier to grease palms and secure loyalties.
Baku’s bureaucrats are said to receive two salaries: paltry official
ones, and cash supplements. For ordinary folk, oil revenues seem to
offer the chance of a share in the narrow prosperity evident in Baku’s
designer shops and Mercedes-crowded streets. Yet the lesson of Ukraine
and Kirgizstan is that revolutions can strike even apparently stable
regimes.
If Mr Aliev stays on, there are two prognoses for Azerbaijan’s future,
resting on contrasting assessments of his personality. The optimistic
version is that he means what he says about creating a middle class,
tackling corruption and using oil revenues to diversify the economy,
much of which collapsed with the Soviet Union. By the time Azerbaijan’s
share of Caspian oil runs out in about 20 years, the 40% of the
population living in poverty will have been lifted out of it. And Mr
Aliev may, in time, replace the old-school cronies he inherited from his
father with modernisers.
The gloomier version is that, for all his talk of media impartiality and
against corruption, Mr Aliev has kept on the old elite because he agrees
with them. The oil money will be wasted, and the country’s gaping
inequality will widen. Radical Islam may encroach from Dagestan to the
north or Iran to the south. Or oil may finance the reconquest of
Nagorno-Karabakh, a bit of Azerbaijan seized by Armenia in the 1990s.
“Every patience has limits,” says Mr Aliev. Bellicose talk puts pressure
on Armenia. One day, the threats may even be fulfilled. They certainly
appeal to angry Azeris: Karabakh comes up in conversation almost as
often as Heidar Aliev’s image appears on plinths and in portraits.
A small test of direction will be an opposition rally this weekend. A
bigger one will come with the November election, for which Mr Gambar, Mr
Kerimli and others are trying to unite. If he could overcome the usual
post-Soviet neurosis about elections, there would probably be little
cost for Mr Aliev in allowing the free vote that he says he wants. Can
he?

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AREA IN ARMENIA SEMINAR
HELD IN TSAKHKADZOR
YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. Public Relations in Information Technologies
Area in Armenia seminar was held last weekend in
Tsakhkadzor. Executive Director of Enterprise Incubator Foundation-
EIF – Bagrat Yengibaryan said it is necessary to understand today how
much IT-related problems are comprehensive to ordinary people. In his
words, there is an opinion that IT area capability and development and
its further success is connected with public awareness. “The area is
interesting not only in itself, but also constitutes a significant
impetus for development of other areas, particularly advanced
technologies”, Yengibaryan said. In his opinion, the key problem in
the course of work with media is connected with the complexity the
problems. He said explanation of the problems not always produces
results. The EIF Executive Director said constant search of intrigue
and news in IT area is not always effective. “We are trying to
understand how such an intermediate kink as mass media can present IT
goals to private sector and community”, Yengibaryan said. In his
words, the main aim of the seminar was to understand stile of
journalists’ activity, not inform them. “It is obvious that any area,
upon reaching success, wants to be noticeable, journalists play
exclusive part in this matter”, Yengibaryan said. In his opinion,
previous seminar was one of the most successful ones, as journalists
freely expressed their views and speak on what they interested in. He
thinks right inferences need to be drawn now from the chaotically
raised issues and proposals heard at the seminar. The seminar’s
participants came up with concrete proposals on enhancement of
IT-sphere covering in Armenia. In particular, it was proposed to
create some virtual territory to be in touch with the journalists
engaged in this area, to conduct courses to upgrade their
qualification, to take incentive measures for the best IT coverage and
to institute PR specialist or Press Secretary post in IT companies.
The seminar was organized by Enterprise Incubator Foundation in
association with P. aRt company. M.V. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAGAZINE FOCUSED ON INFORMATION AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES TO BE
LAUNCHED IN SEPTEMBER IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, June 6. /ARKA/. A magazine focused on information and
advanced technologies as well as innovation processes in society is to
be launched in September 2005 in Armenia, Information Technologies
Enterprises Union’s Executive Director Karen Vardanyan said at a
seminar titled Public Relations in Information Technologies Area in
Armenia. In his words, the magazine format will be analogous to that
of Expert magazine. According to Vardanyan, the issue of whom the
magazine should target is now under discussion. In his opinion, it
will be a scientific popular magazine like Tekhnika Molodezhi targeted
the youth, or it will be focused on project and problems existing in
Armenia. However, it isn’t ruled out that it will be a mixture of
these two magazines. He also said the magazine would be issues in
5thnd copies. M.V. -0–

Armenian National Committee of Greater Washington
4906 Flint Drive
Bethesda, MD 20816
PRESS RELEASE
June 5, 2005
ANC-GW URGES U.S. CORPORATE LEADERS TO END COMPLICITY IN GENOCIDE
DENIAL EFFORTS
— Protest Vigil at Turkish Embassy Coincides with Welcoming
Reception for Leaders of American Turkish Council
WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian Americans stood vigil in front of the
Turkish Embassy today calling attention to that government’s
ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide, as Turkish and American
government officials and industry leaders attended a kick-off
reception for the American Turkish Council (ATC) annual conference,
reported the Armenian National Committee of Greater Washington
(ANC-GW).
Over 50 Armenian Americans held signs calling for recognition and a
just resolution of the Armenian Genocide as well as the end of
Turkey’s twelve-year blockade of Armenia and the implementation of
human rights reforms. ANC-GW representatives passed out flyers to
reception attendees informing them that the ATC “has used your good
name to deny genocide – a misguided act that embarrasses you,
disgraces the Council, and calls into question the core values of
the company you represent.” The flyer called on ATC members to
“perform a true service for U.S.-Turkey relations: Urge the ATC
and Turkey to stop denying the Armenian Genocide.”
“It is morally reprehensible that Turkey continues to coerce U.S.
companies to become complicit in the Armenian Genocide through
their misguided participation in anti-genocide recognition
efforts,” stated ANC-Greater Washington representative Arsineh
Khachikian. “Our protest vigil today was aimed to urge our U.S.
corporate leaders to disassociate themselves from this destructive
campaign and create a U.S.-Turkey relationship based on truth and
justice.”
Reaction from the attendees was mixed, with most accepting and
reading the flyers as they entered or left the function. One
Turkish attendee refused the flyer, proudly stating “my father had
killed many of your families.” Embassy staff and organizers were
clearly disturbed with the protest, which garnered extensive media
coverage from Turkish television and print journalists representing
a broad range of news agencies.
The protest coincided with the opening reception of the American
Turkish Council three-day annual conference bringing together top
U.S. and Turkish government and industry leaders, focusing on
expanding U.S. Turkey relations and commercial ties. Speakers at
the conference include Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Gul
and other top Turkish Ministers. U.S. officials slated to speak
include the Honorable Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President on
National Security; Matt Bryza, NSC director for the Aegean,
Caucasus and Central Asia; Eric Edelman, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey;
and Elizabeth Jones, former Assistant Secretary of State, among
others.
The Council has consistently lobbied against successive Genocide
resolutions, using the names of top U.S. companies including
Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and others in their advocacy
efforts. For more information about the ATC and their member
companies, visit:
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NOTE TO THE EDITOR: Photos available upon request