Month: June 2005

TELEPHONE CALL ON THE BOMB LAID IN THE BUILDING OF RA GOVERNMENT WAS
FALSE – DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. Telephone call on the bomb laid in the
building of RA Government was false, stated Colonel Vrej Gabrielyan,
the deputy Chief of the RA Department of Emergency Situations, ARKA
News Agency correspondent reports from the scene of developments. He
said that a call was received at 14.00 local time on the control panel
of the police about the bomb laid by the external wall of the RA
Government building. The RA Police, Department of Emergency Situations
and National security Service groups immediately drove out to the spot
of the incident and undertook active measures. “As a result of the
action taken, no trace of a bomb or other explosives was found, the
call was false”, said Gabrielyan. He noted that proceedings would
instituted in connection with the case and “the guilty will be
punished”.
The active measures were carried out without the evacuation of the
people from the RA Government building. The Head of the Government,
Andranik Margaryan did not leave his workplace for the time of the
alarm. Until now, the officials of the security agencies are at the
scene, ambulance and fire services are on duty. Note, this is the 4th
false call about a bomb. Previously, similar calls were received in
Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, State Pedagogical University,
French University of Armenia and one of Armenian schools. L.V. -0–

“ARMENIAN TIME TROUBLE” AT PACE
YEREVAN, JUNE 23. ARMINFO. Today PACE is to hold special debates on
the constitutional reform process in Armenia while the ad hoc
committee on Nagorno Karabakh is to have its first meeting and Venice
Commission experts to meet with the Armenian delegates to the CE.
The co-rapporteurs of PACE monitoring committee Georges Colombier and
Jerzy Jaskiernia and the co-rapporteur of the PACE committee on legal
affairs and human rights Erik Jurgens will attend the debates.
A CE source reports that the debated document contains an urge to the
Armenian authoriites to fully comply with the Venice Commission’s
recommendations and to organize second parliamentary reading of the
issue by Aug at latest. Besides the document urges the Armenian
authorities to take urgent measures to establish a political dialogue
with the opposition and to hold a constitutional reform referendum in
Nov at latest.
The ad hoc committee was set up in the structure of the PACE Bureau
and comprises 19 representatives of the countries interested in the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution.
The source says that the meeting of the Venice Commissioners with the
Armenian delegates to PACE may be continued on Friday.

INFORMATION ON BOMB PLACED AT ARMENIAN GOVERNMENTAL BUILDING PROVES TO
BE FALSE
YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMINFO. Information on the bomb placed at the
Armenian Governmental building has proved to be false, reports
ARMINFO’s correspondent from the building of the executive power.
He reports that Head of the Department for Civil Protection of the
Armenian Emergency Situations Department Hakob Haroutiunyan informed
journalists that approximately at 14:00, the reception hall of the
Prime Minister received a call warning of a bomb placed in the
building. The call proved to be false, at present measures to expose
the deliberate criminal are taken, he says.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARFD YOUTH UNION CHARGES LEADER OF YOUTH PARTY OF ARMENIA WITH MAKING
IRRESPONSIBLE STATEMENTS
YEREVAN, JUNE 23. ARMINFO. The representative of the Youth Union of
ARFD Zinavor Megryan accused today the leader of the Youth Party of
Armenia Sargis Asatryan of making irresponsible statements about
“Armenia having no claims to Turkey concerning the Armenian Genocide.”
Megryan says that 4 representatives of the ARFD Youth Union took part
in the June 16-19 Istanbul conference on the prospects and protection
of national minorities in Europe. The event was organized by EUSY
(Turkey) and attending it were youth representatives of the Kurdish
PPK party.
The Armenian delegates raised the Armenian Genocide issue and it
turned out that Turkish youths were completely unaware of the fact due
to Turkey’s many year policy of silence and also owing to “Armenian
politicians like Asatryan who coming to Turkey says that Armenia does
not need the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and that the whole
process is initiated by the Armenian Diaspora.”
Megryan says that the Armenian delegates provided their colleagues
with printed materials about the Armenian Genocide and discussed the
issue with them a lot outside the conference hall.
Megryan says that the Azeri delegates called Nagorno Karabakh an Azeri
territory and the local population as Armenian national minority
living in Azerbaijan but the chairman of the conference asked the
Azeris no to politicize the event.

Sacramento Bee, CA
June 23 2005
Books: An ‘Essential’ first
By Dixie Reid — Bee Staff Writer
William Saroyan left Fresno in 1928, but it never left his thoughts.
He mined his memories of the Central Valley town for his writings,
although the folks back home didn’t always like his portrayal of
them.
Saroyan, who in 1940 won – and refused to accept – a Pulitzer Prize
for his play “The Time of Your Life,” is the subject of the first
volume in the Essential Collection, a series of titles from
Berkeley’s Heyday Books showcasing internationally known California
writers.
“I think Saroyan is essential now because there’s something about the
simple joy of his view of humanity that has gotten lost but is still
true,” said William E. Justice, who edited and wrote the introduction
to “Essential Saroyan” (Heyday Books and Santa Clara University, 208
pages, $11.95 paperback).
“As our culture gets more fractured and chaotic, and we become more
isolated, the commonness of his vision of what people really are like
speaks to a lonely and estranged current population,” Justice said.
For the book, Justice chose excerpts from Saroyan’s writings,
including “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze,” “Radio Play”
and “The Human Comedy.”
“Time has treated William Saroyan poorly,” said Justice, who is 25.
“People who are in charge of saying what should be preserved feel
that he has had his day, and almost anyone under (age) 35 has never
heard of him. Those I’ve shown his work take to it immediately and
are baffled as to why they’ve never heard of him.
“So there’s a tremendous new audience that would eat up the work if
they found it.”
Justice also is working on a vast Saroyan omnibus, to be published in
2008, the 100th anniversary of Saroyan’s birth.
Saroyan, who was of Armenian heritage, returned to Fresno in his
later years and died there in 1981, at age 72.
“The Valley has kept his memory alive,” Justice said, “and the
Armenians are tireless supporters of his work. He lives on in the
community he wrote about, but the rest of the country doesn’t pay him
any attention. Many of his books are out of print, so the Essential
Collection is nice, taking something from the best of his works you
can’t find in stores anymore.”
Future editions of the Essential Collection will feature John Muir
and Mary Austin.
“It’s not just redoing ‘Daring Young Man’ or ‘Human Comedy,’ ” Heyday
Books founder and publisher Malcolm Margolin said of launching the
Essential series with Saroyan. “It’s throwing out something that
lures someone to look at the best of Saroyan, to let someone like
William Justice write an introduction that redefines him, to get him
into bookstores once again.”
– Dixie Reid

Independent Bangladesh, Bangladesh
June 23 2005
Burden of memory
CHARLES TANNOCK
It is believed that the Armenian genocide inspired the Nazis in their
plans for the extermination of Jews. However, in comparison with the
Holocaust, most people still know little about this dark episode.
Indeed, it is hard for most of us to imagine the scale of suffering
and devastation inflicted on the Armenian people and their ancestral
homelands. But many members of today’s thriving global Armenian
Diaspora have direct ancestors who perished, and carry an oral
historical tradition that keeps the memories burning.
It is particularly ironic that many Kurds from Turkey’s southeastern
provinces, having been promised Armenian property and a guaranteed
place in heaven for killing infidels, were willingly complicit in the
genocide. They later found themselves on the losing end of a long
history of violence between their own separatist forces and the
Turkish army, as well as being subjected to an ongoing policy of
discrimination and forced assimilation.
All wars end, eventually. But memories of atrocity never seem to
fade, as the government-fanned anti-Japanese riots now taking place
in China remind us. The 90th anniversary of the Armenian massacres of
1915, ordered by the ruling Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire and
carried out with the help of the Kurds, is another wound that will
not heal, but one that must be treated if Turkey’s progress toward
European Union membership is to proceed smoothly.
Historically, the ancient Christian Armenians were amongst the most
progressive people in the East, but in the nineteenth century Armenia
was divided between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Sultan Abdulhamit
II organized the massacres of 1895-97 but it was not until the spring
of 1915, under the cover of the First World War, that the Young
Turks’ nationalistic government found the political will to execute a
true genocide.
Initially, Armenian intellectuals were arrested and executed in
public hangings in groups of 50 to 100. Ordinary Armenians were thus
deprived of their leaders, and soon after were massacred, with many
burned alive. Approximately 500,000 were killed in the last seven
months of 1915, with the majority of the survivors deported to desert
areas in Syria, where they died from either starvation or disease. It
is estimated that 1.5 million people perished.
Recently, the Armenian Diaspora has been calling on Turkey to face-up
to its past and recognize its historic crime. Turkey’s official line
remains that the allegation is based on unfounded or exaggerated
claims, and that the deaths that occurred resulted from combat
against Armenians collaborating with invading Russian forces during
the First World War, or as a result of disease and hunger during the
forced deportations. Moreover, the local Turkish population allegedly
suffered similar casualties.
Turkey thus argues that the charge of genocide is designed to
besmirch Turkey’s honor and impede its progress towards EU accession.
There are also understandable fears that diverging from the official
line would trigger a flood of compensation claims, as occurred
against Germany.
For many politicians, particularly in America, there is an
unwillingness to upset Turkey without strong justification, given its
record as a loyal NATO ally and putative EU candidate country. But,
despite almost half a century of membership in the Council of Europe
– ostensibly a guardian of human rights, including freedom of speech
and conscience – Turkey still punishes a crime against national honor
any suggestion that the Armenian genocide is an historic truth.
Fortunately, this article of Turkey’s penal code is now due for
review and possible repeal.
Indeed, broader changes are afoot in Turkey. The press and
government, mindful of the requirements of EU membership, are finally
opening the sensitive Armenian issue to debate. Even Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under increasing EU pressure as accession
negotiations are due to begin this October, has agreed to an
impartial study by academic historians, although he has reiterated
his belief that the genocide never occurred. In France, the
historical occurrence of the Armenian genocide is enshrined in law,
and denial of its occurrence is regarded in the same way as Holocaust
denial.
The European Parliament is pressing for Turkish recognition of the
Armenian genocide. It is also calling for an end to the trade embargo
by Turkey and its close ally Azerbaijan against the Republic of
Armenia, a reopening of frontiers, and a land-for-peace deal to
resolve the territorial dispute over Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan
and safeguard its Armenian identity.
Armenia, an independent country since 1991, remains dependent on
continued Russian protection, as was the case in 1920 when it joined
the Soviet Union rather than suffer further Turkish invasion. This is
not healthy for the development of Armenia’s democracy and weak
economy. Nor does Armenia’s continued dependence on Russia bode well
for regional co-operation, given deep resentment of Russian meddling
in neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan. There is only one way forward
for Turkey, Armenia, and the region. The future will begin only when
Turkey – like Germany in the past and Serbia and Croatia now –
repudiates its policy of denial and faces up to its terrible crimes
of 1915. Only then can the past truly be past.
Charles Tannock is Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Human
Rights Subcommittee.

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
June 23 2005
The Revolution Business

by Emil Danielyan
23 June 2005
The United States adopts a cautious stance on Armenia’s
democratization. From EurasiaNet.
The United States has stepped up efforts to promote democratization
in former Soviet states in recent years. Accordingly, opposition
leaders in Armenia are hopeful of receiving Washington’s support for
a renewed push to force President Robert Kocharian’s administration
from power in Yerevan. But U.S. officials seem anxious to squelch
such expectations, insisting that they harbor no regime-change
ambitions for Armenia.
During a visit to Georgia in mid-May, US President George W. Bush
offered effusive praise for the Rose Revolution led by Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili. Some politicians and pundits in
neighboring Armenia interpreted Bush’s statements as a thinly veiled
call for democratically oriented regime change throughout the
Caucasus. Media outlets in Yerevan have since speculated on who might
be Washington’s preferred successor to Kocharian.
Members of the Bush administration now adamantly deny they want
political turnover in Yerevan. `We are not in the revolution
business,” a senior Bush administration official said in an
interview. The official went on to downplay Washington’s role in the
recent revolutionary trend, saying the United States was `not
responsible’ for the successful popular uprisings in Georgia,
Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. The official noted that the United States
had maintained good relations with the toppled leaders of the three
ex-Soviet states, Georgia’s Eduard Shevardnadze, Ukraine’s Leonid
Kuchma and Kyrgyzstan’s Askar Akaev. “We didn’t do anything to
trigger those events,” he said.
The senior administration official indicated that recent statements
made by President Bush should not be interpreted as a call for street
protests, or other anti-government action that undermines stability
in the region. `The [Armenian] opposition should not launch a
dangerous revolution or seek to humiliate the [Kocharian] regime,”
the senior administration official said, adding that Washington now
favors an `evolutionary process’ of democratization.
Officials at the State Department made a similar point, saying that
the United States supports only the use of `legal means’ in any
effort to bring about political change. U.S. enthusiasm for regime
change seems to have cooled markedly since the 13 May violence in
Andijan, Uzbekistan.
Armenia’s leading opposition parties have never recognized the
legitimacy of Kocharian’s disputed re-election in 2003, and they have
maintained a boycott of the country’s parliament. Apparently
encouraged by the rhetoric of the Bush administration, opposition
leaders have sent signals that they may organize another round of
mass rallies aimed at forcing Kocharian to step down. The
opposition’s first protest effort stalled in 2004 in the face of
stiff governmental resistance.
Of late, the opposition’s rhetoric has taken on a more aggressive
tone. Embracing a pro-Western foreign policy agenda, some opposition
politicians have gone as far as to call for Armenia’s withdrawal from
the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty, and the country’s
accession to NATO. Russia and Armenia have traditionally enjoyed a
special strategic relationship.
Aram Sarkisian, the outspoken leader of Armenia’s most radical
opposition party called Hanrapetutiun (Republic), traveled to
Washington in early June for meetings with White House and State
Department officials. He said the trip reinforced his resolve to
carry out a “revolution.” Sarkisian and other top opposition leaders
feel that they can count on Washington’s support in their
revolutionary endeavors.
“That is a dangerous and false assumption,” countered a State
Department official. He and other American officials indicated that
the U.S. government does not regard regime change as a necessary
condition for Armenia’s democratization.
According to Cory Welt, a Caucasus and Central Asia analyst at the
Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, such
statements can be taken at face value. `From all indications that I
have seen, Armenia is definitely not a target [for the Bush
administration],’ he said. `They tolerate the current regime in
Yerevan.’
Kocharian’s government drew praise from two U.S. senators who visited
Yerevan recently. Senator Charles Hagel, a Nebraska Republican,
professed to be `very impressed with the democratic reforms and
economic development that have taken place in Armenia.’ Earlier,
Senator Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, downplayed Armenia’s
troubled history of tainted elections.
Coleman’s remarks seemed at odds with the strong U.S. criticism of
the last Armenian presidential election in 2003. The State Department
said at the time that Armenian authorities `missed an important
opportunity to advance democratization.’
The apparent contradiction between Bush’s pro-democracy rhetoric and
statements by other U.S. officials makes it difficult to predict how
Washington might react if the next round of Armenian national
elections, due to occur in 2007, are plagued by irregularities. `I
don’t think the United States knows exactly what it wants right now,
and that’s part of the problem,” said Welt, the political analyst.

Caucaz.com, Georgia
June 23 2005
Azeri, Armenian Presidents to Meet Late in August
Baku, June 22 – The next meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents will be held in Kazan, Russia late in August, according to
news reports.
Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told a news conference on Monday
that Azerbaijan has proposed that the two countries’ foreign
ministers meet at least twice before the presidents’ meeting.
`In general, the Azerbaijani side wants the negotiating process to be
stepped up,’ he said.
Azimov added that it is time to continue the negotiations on the
level of experts.

UEFA

June 23 2005

Football Europe: Pyunik set punishing pace

/noticias.info/ FC Pyunik are pulling clear of the chasing pack in
Armenia having dropped just four points in their opening nine Premier
League games.
Reinforcements due
However, they are keen to make reinforcements ahead of their UEFA
Champions League qualifying campaign. Pyunik missed a host of chances
in their 1-0 win at FC Dinamo-Zenit Yerevan on 12 June, but were more
convincing in beating FC Lernayin Artsakh 3-1 at home four days
later.
Coaching change
FC Banants are in second place, four points behind, and this week
parted company with coach Hovhannes Zanazanyan after some
disappointing displays. The board accepted Zanazanyan’s resignation
and his former assistant Ashot Barsegyan has taken charge.
MIKA signing
One point adrift of Banants, FC MIKA have boosted their hopes of a
European finish by signing striker Armen Shahgeldyan who had been
playing league football in Lebanon. One of MIKA’s leading scorers
last season, he celebrated his return with a winning goal against FC
Ararat Yerevan on 15 June.
Ararat stranded
Ararat are stranded at the foot of the table after a difficult start.
Financial problems have dogged the club and they look insipid going
forward. They managed to score in their opening UEFA Intertoto Cup
game against Neuchtel Xamax FC but could not prevent the Swiss team
winning 3-1.
Relegation group
With the bottom three sides entering a relegation play-off group at
the midway point of the season, the three clubs above Ararat – FC
Shirak, Dinamo-Zenit and Lernayin Artsakh – will be keen to improve.
As yet, there has been little to separate them in terms of quality.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kommersant, Russia
June 23 2005

PACE Demanded Compensation for the Baltic Republics
// And it might lose the Russian contribution
The Parliamentary Assembly of European Council (PACE) session in
Strasburg yesterday adopted a resolution with several amendments that
were unpleasant for Moscow. For instance, the parliamentarians
demanded that Russia pay out compensations for the citizens of the
Baltic republics who were deported during the Soviet occupation.
Also, it was recommended that Moscow stop its political and financial
support of Byelorussia. In response, the Russian delegation members
offered their European counterparts to cancel PACE’s monitoring. They
pointed out that it was bad manners to criticize Russia on June 22
(the day when WWII began in Russia). Also, Russia promised not to pay
dues to PACE anymore. Special Kommersant correspondent Nargiz Asadova
reports from Strasburg.
Right before the “Russian Day” at PACE, during which the European
parliamentarians examined how Russia complies with its obligation
that it took upon itself before joining the European Council, Russian
representatives in Strasburg held the “Evening of the Friends of
Russia.” All PACE leadership showed up, two speakers of the Russian
report – David Atkinson and Rudolf Bindig, and of course the
delegations of the former Soviet republics. Konstantin Kosachev, head
of the Duma committee for foreign affairs, gave the speech to the
guests. However, Mikhail Margelov, Kosachev’s colleague from the
Federation Council, decided not to come for the party.
On the next day, Atkinson and Bindig read their report to the
audience. Bindig noted that during the years at PACE as its member,
Russia made undeniable progress establishing the rule of law and
democracy. Then, the speaker was mentioning for a long time what
obligations were not complied by Russia: the troops did not leave
Pri-Dnestrovie and Georgia, the Baltic country citizens did not
receive compensation, independent television does not exist, and the
judicial system is not free from executive powers pressure. The
speakers concluded that Russia is still not a free and democratic
country.
The Western European representatives tried really hard not to much
offend Russian parliamentarians, so they pointed out not only the
faults but Russia’s achievements as well. However, the
representatives from the post-Soviet countries made a lot of
complaints. The Russian delegation tried to tell their counterparts
not to teach them democracy, because a democratic way is free choice
of Russia and the country will stay on it. The Russian delegation
appeared to be the noisiest one compared with other PACE members. If
the European parliamentarians were listening to reports without
showing emotions, Russians were exploding with applause after each
phrase from the compatriots.
The most offence Russian took was for the accusation that the country
did not prohibit the death penalty. `We don’t use the death penalty
in Russia for the last 10 years. But the Russian government cannot
judicially forbid it because it will go against the public opinion in
the country. What are we supposed to do – follow the demands of the
European Council or listen to our own people? Especially after the
terrorist operation in Beslan…’asked Leonid Slutsky, representative
of the Russian delegation. Then, Slutsky pointed out another problem
spot in PACE’s report: `In paragraph four of the projected resolution
there is a note that unjust privatization gave oligarchs control over
several industries. More than 90 percent of Russians will agree with
this. However, as soon as the authorities start to investigate these
frauds, you know what is happening next. I can say only one thing:
the West looked at YUKOS case as abuse of democratic norms by Russia
and Russians do not understand the West attitude.’
Kosachev actually agreed with some critical points of the speakers.
`We are ready to agree with an idea of the creation independent
TV-Radio Broadcasting Corporation despite the fact that it is not an
obligation for Russia. In this year there was a thorough examination
of the projected federal law about transformation os state-owned
media, including TV and radio channels, into the public ones,’
Kosachev said. Then, he said that the monitoring is not the best tool
of PACE and suggested to bring the monitoring cancellation subject in
Russia early next year.
The parliamentarians from the Baltic countries got really upset about
the prospective of canceling the monitoring of Russia. The Estonian
representative stated the monitoring process must continue to make
Moscow follow through with its obligations.
The Baltic Countries, Azerbaijan and Georgia, together added several
amendments into the projected resolution. One of the amendments was a
demand to recognize the occupation of the Baltic republics by the
Soviet Union and to pay out compensation to the deported citizens.
Azerbaijan wanted to withdraw Russian troops from Georgia but to
Russian territory instead of Armenian. `They are trying to resolve
their own problems using PACE’s monitoring and these demands are not
included in the monitoring rules and have nothing to do with the
democratization of Russian,’ Kosachev told Kommersant.
In the meantime, Natalya Narochnitskya took the microphone. `I want
to remind that today is June 22, the day of the attack of the Nazi
army on my own country. And as strange as it sounds, it exactly today
our country that saved Europe from defeat in World War II and helped
Europeans not to become pig herders and maids for the Third Reich is
being patted on the shoulder in a mentoring way and being accused of
occupation. This paternal tone of speech surprises me. You see, the
speakers don’t like there is such an expression in Russia as `close
abroad.’ But it happened when the Soviet Union collapsed and a lot of
countries appeared that weren’t even on the map before. And there are
a lot of Russian people still in these countries. And their fate is
our concern,’ Narochnitskya concluded. The Russian delegation
supported her with long applause.
However, A lot of people got upset. `I am speaking from the name of
the country that for centuries was on the maps and in my view nobody
was using a mentoring tone. The report was constructive and right,
even sometimes too soft in some moments,’ the Georgian representative
responded to the Russian speech.
Soon the discussion was over and the parliamentarians started to
discuss new amendments. The Russian delegation to the very last
moment was insisting that all the demands about recognition of the
occupation of the Baltic countries is nothing more than rubbish and
the amendments will not go through. Though, the speaker Bindig tried
to persuade Kommersant in the opposite: `When Russia was entering
PACE in 1996, it signed a promise to pay out compensation to all
deported citizens.’
And that was true that all amendments that were unpleasant for the
Russian delegation were adopted by the majority of votes. PACE
members recognized the occupation of the Baltic countries by the USSR
and demanded payment of compensation to the deported citizens; they
demanded to sign as soon as possible the border agreement with
Lithuania; they supported restitution of cultural treasures taken
from the Baltic countries to USSR; they voted to speed up the
archives opening that are older than 50 years. Finally, the PACE
members with 76 votes against 40 recommended Russia to stop financial
and political support of Byelorussia. However, the amendment proposed
by Azerbaijan about withdrawing Russian military bases, not to
Armenia but to Russia, was declined.
`The assembly was shaken. They accepted amendments that delegations
used to reach their national causes,’ Kosachev said when the voting
was over. `It is possible that Russia made a mistake in 1996 while
joining PACE and didn’t pay careful attention to the phrase
`occupation of the Baltic countries.’ But PACE also has its own
mistake in the case of Byelorussia. Our relationships with this
country should not be a concern of the European council.’
Then Kosachev gave a clear hint that Russia intends to cut down
drastically its dues to PACE and will stop being one of the five
biggest sponsors of the organization, which pay 23 million euros per
year. However, he added, `It is absolutely not connected with
yesterday’s resolution.’
by Nargiz Asadova, Strasburg