Month: June 2005

A STEP TO INTEGRATE THE ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHQ
A1plus
| 12:56:08 | 01-06-2005 | Social |
In order to integrate the young Armenians of Samtskhe-Javakhq into
the Georgian society a camping program will be realized starting from
June in the Bakurian resort town.
The program supported by President Sahakashvili will be realized in
11 phases, lasting 10 days each. Within the framework of the event
1700 Armenian youngsters aged 16-20 will have the possibility to
communicate with the Georgian youngsters of the same age.
The information is provided by the agency “A-Info”.

ARTHUR AGHABEKYAN MET THE PEACE-KEEPERS
A1plus
| 12:38:50 | 01-06-2005 | Official |
RA Defense deputy Minister General-lieutenant Arthur Aghabekyan,
together with the US Kansas state General-mayor Todd Bunting, had
meetings with the whole group of Armenian peace-keepers on May 29-June
1 in Kosovo, in order to get acquainted with the everyday life and
the needs of the Armenian soldiers.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AKHALKALAKI AND BATUMI MILITARY BASES STOP FUNCTIONING
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Region
>>From May 30 Russia begins the withdrawal of its military bases from
Batumi and Akhalkalaki. According to the joint statement of Georgian
and Russian foreign ministers, “Batumi and Akhalkalaki military bases
have stopped functioning and are in process of withdrawal.” As a result
of Russian~VGeorgian long-term negotiations, the sides achieved final
agreement in the issue, according to which the two military bases
will be withdrawn from the territory of Georgia by January 1, 2008.

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN LEBANON
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Diaspora
Four Armenian Deputies from Beirut Elected to Parliament
Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated former prime minister Rafik
Hariri, won in the first independent parliamentary elections in Beirut,
Lebanon. According to the Electoral Code of 2000, the citizens of
Lebanon, representatives of all the religions, can be candidates in
the parliamentary elections. In the course of the first stage of
the elections Hakob Gasarchian (Liberal Democratic Party), Yeghia
Jerejian (Hnchakian Party), Jacques Oghasabian (non-party) and Serge
Toursargsian (Metn) were elected to the Parliament of Lebanon again.
On June 5 another hot stage of the elections is expected to take
place in the elections of the Highland Lebanon, where the Armenian
political forces belonging to various Christian and Durze political
orientation will be represented. The votes of General Michael Aun’s
supporters will be decisive here. The elections will continue in all
the regions of the country, in the North, in Beqaa and in the South,
where the pro-Syrian forces and the Shiites may win.
ARF Dashnaktsiutiun didn’t participate in the elections on May 29,
expecting that its candidate can lose to the representatives of
Saad Hariri.

TURKISH LAWMAKERS TO VISIT YEREVAN IN JUNE
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Visit
Hurriyet newspaper informs in May 29 issue that Turkish deputy
Turhan Comez from ruling Justice and Prosperity Party together with
other lawmakers will arrive in Armenia on June 9 with a three-day
visit. Reportedly, Justice and Prosperity Party has approved of the
visit. Though there is no schedule of the visit so far, Comez’s
delegation will probably meet RA President Robert Kocharian and
government representatives. Comez will deliver a lecture at Yerevan
State University.
Comez has recently opened the exhibition of “Turkish genocide at
hands of the Armenians”. He has been collecting documents at the
Turkish History Foundation and the Supreme Headquarters for the last
4 months. The last facts allowed Hurriyet to conclude that Comez
will send Armenia’s leadership a signal, “There was no genocide but
rather an exile. For opening borders with Turkey and for development
of trade-economic relations you have to give up genocide claims”.
Turkish NTV notes that Comez is visiting Yerevan “on invitation
of Samson Ozararat, Armenian President’s adviser”. Hurriyet adds,
“Ozararat is the person who organized the meeting of head of National
Movement Party Alparslan Tyurkes and first Armenian President Levon
Ter-Petrosian 12 years ago”.
By Hakob Chakrian

MICHELLE LEGRAN: THE FRENCH WILL NEVER FORGIVE TURKEY
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Opinion
“Ankara will never be admitted to EU, as France will always be against
it. The French didn’t forget the Armenian Genocide and will never
forgive Turkey for seizing the Western Armenia,” Michelle Legran,
French composer said on May 30. He also stated that a country like
Turkey has no right to enter the European family, and if the French
Government and President Jacques Chirac try to impose anything on
the French people, a real revolution will begin.
The composer said in the interview to Izwestia newspaper that his
grandfather fled from the Western Armenia in 1915, reached France and
married a French woman there. “So I am an Armenian, too,” Legran said.
By Ruzan
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST AFTER ARAM KHACHATURIAN OPENED IN YEREVAN
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:19
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An international contest after Aram Khachaturian
opened in Armenia today. 18 violinists from 7 countries will compete
with each other May 31- June 6. Yerevan State Conservatory, secondary
musical school after Chaikovsky, Cologne High Musical School,
Paris National Higher Conservatoire, Tbilisi Conservatory after
Sarajashvili and London Royal Musical Academy students will take part
in the contest. It should be noted that 23 musicians have applied for
participation in the competition, however, 5 of them will not take
part in it. In the course of the first tour 9 violinists performed
today. It should also be noted that an exhibition of photographs,
made during Aram Khachaturian’s last visit to London will open in the
composer’s house-museum today. Author of the photos Susy Meider, Aram
Khachaturian’s friend Asatur Gyuzelian, composers Karen Khachaturian
and Edvard Mirzoyan will be present at the event.

INTER-GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA ON TURKEY’S AGENDA
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Turkey
On April 10, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter
to Armenian President Robert Kocharian. On April 26, Kocharian sent
a reply letter. The exchange of correspondence seemed to suggest a
meeting between two leaders in Warsaw summit of the Council of Europe,
May 16-17.
But Armenian President’s speech at the summit and Turkish side’s
morbid response stifled all hopes for a meeting. Turkish Prime Minister
preferred responding to Kocharian’s speech in a press conference rather
than discuss issues face to face. But before the President’s speech,
Turkish side had to officially respond to Kocharian’s letter of April
26. On May 31, Turkish Zaman daily wrote on this occasion in an article
titled “If Yerevan Does Not Take A Step Forward, Kocharian Will Not
Get Second Letter”, “The correspondence launched between Turkey and
Armenia after hot discussions over the so-called Armenian genocide
is falling short because of Yerevan’s inappropriate approach. Given
this situation, Ankara will not reply to Armenian President Robert
Kocharian’s letter. Though PM Erdogan’s proposal of ‘leaving the
study of the events of 1915 to historians and other specialists’
meet Kocharian’s ‘establishment of diplomatic relations first and
then discussing all issues’ was far from fully satisfying Ankara,
but it still was taken ‘positively’. But during the last month Yerevan
displayed no approach we hoped for. The failure of Kocharian-Erdogan
meeting in Warsaw as well as Armenian President’s tough stance at
the CE summit made it impossible to reply to the letter”.
Zaman notes that diplomatic circles complain that “Planes fly from
Istanbul to Yerevan and Turkish goods enter Armenia via Georgia,
meanwhile thousands of Armenians work in Turkey but the authorities
do not inform the people about this”.
Zaman quoted those circles as saying, “The only good news that
reached Ankara from Yerevan recently was Armenian foreign minister
Vartan Oskanian’s statement about Kars Treaty, ‘As long as there
are no new treaties, ones signed by the USSR are in force’. Ankara
wants to receive this statement from the RA Foreign Ministry website
‘via official ways”.
This publication of Zaman should be considered kind of a signal. We
don’t exclude that it was launched to check out moods in Armenia. Yet,
this signal shows that though Ankara avoids diplomatic relations
with Armenia, establishment of intergovernmental relations is high on
its agenda. Otherwise Turkey simply would not touch upon Kocharian’s
reply to Erdogan’s letter, the Turkish press would not occasionally
return to RA President’s speech in CE summit nor would it write about
Kocharian-Erdogan might-have-been meeting.
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EARLY ENLARGEMENT OF EUROPE TURNED INTO «HEAVY BURDEN»
Pan Armenian News
31.05.2005 08:32
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Europe began efforts on enlargement, which turned
into a “heavy burden” for it, Nagorno Karabakh PM Anushavan Danielian
told representatives of the French Department of Hayastan (Armenia)
All-Armenian Foundation, when commenting on the negative outcome
of the referendum in France, reported the Press Service of the
NKR Government. In his words, the “burden” is felt just by the old
European countries, which are the EU locomotive. He also noted that
if the referendum over the European Constitution was held in other
old European countries, France would have not been the only one to
vote against it. At that Mr. Danielian said he was sure that Europe
will find ways to solve the puzzle using a more realistic approach
to its own future.
–Boundary_(ID_z8rkPYYzU/ls6uBFedpIdQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RETURN OF TERRITORIES AGAINST STATUS
AZG Armenian Daily #099, 01/06/2005
Karabakh issue
Negotiation Process Develops in Two Directions: Withdrawal of Armed
Forces from Neighboring Regions of NKR and Future Status of NKR
After the meeting in Warsaw, new opportunities can be observed
in Nagorno Karabakh settlement issue. Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign
minister, said that there is an agenda in the current stage comprising
several issues that may well “turn into a package if progress if there
is progress in resolution process”. Vartan Oskanian stated that the
issues of NKR status and the return of the neighboring territories of
NKR, the rerun of the refugees, the security guarantees are mutually
connected.
RA foreign minister believes that the public discussion of certain
elements of the negotiation process may cause misunderstanding and
make harm to positive developments in negotiations, that were fixed
after the last meeting of RA and Azeri presidents. RA foreign minister
told this to a press conference.
After Kocharian-Aliyev meeting in Warsaw official Yerevan and Baku
made optimistic statements. The Armenian side states that certain
progress is fixed in the issue of NKR status, while the Azeri side
emphasizes the issue of 7 neighboring regions, stating that Yerevan
is ready to return them. It’s worth mentioning that Bernard Fassie,
OSCE French co-chair, stated that the negotiation process develops
in two directions, i.e. the withdrawal of the armed forces from 7
neighboring regions of NKR and the future status of NKR.
On May 26-27, the OSCE Minsk group met with Safar Abiyev and Elmar
Mamediarov, Azeri defense and foreign ministers, as well as with
Ilham Aliyev. Yuri Merzliakov, OSCE Russian co-chair, dwelt on the
positive impressions from the negotiations. Mediamax agency informed
that Merzliakov considered the meeting with Ilham Aliyev a very
important one.
“Our last visit to Baku was not an ordinary visit to the region,
we had the aim to meet with Azeri foreign minister. We are thankful
to Ilham Aliyev that he found time to receive the co-chairs. We had a
very interesting and important discussion that allows us to hope that
the process will undergo constructive development,” Merzliakov said.
If Yerevan and Baku, as well as the mediators express certain optimism
for the current stage of the settlement, Stepanakert differs in
its opinion. Touching upon the negotiations in Warsaw, NKR foreign
minister said that the process aroused great interest but the results,
“not a single visible progress was made.”
“The co-chairs state that there is a progress. The foreign ministers
believe that they may speak of a progress, but it isn’t clear yet
what progress they mean. Not a single preliminary agreement connected
with NKR issue can never be carried out without the content and the
participation of NKR people and its authorities. In this respect, we
should be calm and wait for the obvious results of the process. There
are no results yet. There are mutual optimistic statements that are
grounded, which is not bad,” Arman Melikian, NKR foreign minister said.
These statements can be commented in two ways. Yerevan sends signals
to the mediators through Stepanakert, according to which the position
of NKR people and authorities is a primary one in the settlement
process, or there are some contradictions in the positions of Yerevan
and Stepanakert in the methodology issue. At least, one thing is
clear that Karabakh has become an object in the settlement process,
i.e. an object for dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
By Tatoul Hakobian