Month: October 2006

Azeri police disperse anti-French rally in capital

Day.az website, Baku,
20 Oct 06

20 October: About 30 believers attempted to stage a protest against
the adoption by the French parliament’s lower chamber of a draft bill
criminalizing the denial of the "Armenian genocide" in 1915.

The protesters chanting "God is Great!" and other slogans, including
anti-French ones, were dispersed by police officers. Worshippers at
the Cuma mosque and law-enforcers clashed during the protest. None
of worshippers was arrested.

At the end of the protest, an appeal to the French embassy was
read out.

Armenian MPs voice support for arrested Georgian Armenian activist

Regnum, Russia
20 Oct 2006

Armenian members of parliament have released a statement in support
of one of the leaders of the United Javakhk Democratic Alliance,
Vaagn Chakhalyan, which says, in part:

"Armenian members of parliament express their concern and deep
anger over Armenia’s position in relation to the United Javakhk
organization. It is common knowledge that this alliance, which
consists mainly of young people, adheres to the position of national
ideas, protection of the native language, of Armenian spiritual and
cultural values, the protection of rights and a solution to other
major problems of the Armenians of Javakhk (the Armenian-populated
region of Georgia). It is no accident that on 10 October in Yerevan,
over a short period of time, Vaagn Chakhalyan, the activist Gurgen
Shirinyan and others were subjected to an organized attack, as a
result of which they sustained injuries to their body and were sent
to hospital. Gurgen Shirinyan’s life was saved thanks to an operation.

Instead of trying to solve a crime committed against national
figures, the Armenian law-enforcement bodies decided to punish the
victims by "legal" methods, as a result of which the injured Vaagn
Chakhalyan was arrested a few hours after the incident by members of
the Armenian National Security Service, and two days later was taken
into custody on a ridiculous charge of ‘illegally crossing the Armenian
border’. Consequently, there is clearly a direct shameful link between
the attack on national figures and Vaagn Chakhalyan’s arrest. In
condemning this incident, we demand that the law-enforcement agencies
(i) expose those responsible for the crime against the activists of
United Javakhk and institute proceedings against them in accordance
with the law and (ii) immediately release Vaagn Chakhalyan or at
least change his form of preventive punishment of arrest."

The statement was signed by Amayak Ovannisyan, Vazgen Manukyan
(leader of the National Democratic Union), Stepan Demirchyan (leader
of the Armenian People’s Party), Aram Sarkisyan (leader of the
Republic Party), Arshak Sadoyan, Viktor Dallakyan, Edmon Tsaturyan,
Manuk Gasparyan, Armen Ashotyan (member of the Republican Party of
Armenia), Grigor Arutyunyan, Tatul Manaseryan, Stepan Zakaryan and
Rafik Petrosyan.

In the evening of 10 October, at about 2200 Moscow time, the vehicle
belonging to the leader of the United Javakhk Democratic Alliance,
Vaagn Chakhalyan, was stopped by unknown persons as it entered
Yerevan. In the vehicle were members of Chakhalyan’s family and his
friend Gurgen Shirinyan. Vaagn Chakhalyan was dragged out of the car
and beaten up and Gurgen Shirinyan sustained knife wounds as a result
of the attack.

It will be recalled that at local self-administration elections in
Georgia on 5 October, representatives of the United Javakhk movement
cast their votes in a municipal sakrebulo [assembly] based on the
proportional lists of the Industry Will Save Georgia Party. For
four days the Akhalkalaki constituency electoral commission No 40
failed to make public preliminary information regarding the election
results. Despite the fact that a deadline of five days had been decided
for releasing this information (up to and including 10 October),
on 9 October supporters of the movement occupied the building of the
constitutional commission (the prefecture of Akhalkalaki District is
located there), and later took it by storm.

As a result, supporters of the ruling United National Movement used
fire arms, and some activists were beaten up and sent to various
hospitals. The incident in the evening of 10 October, as a result
of which Gurgen Shirinyan was sent to a Yerevan hospital with knife
wounds, is also being linked with the storming of the building of
the Akhalkalaki prefecture in which the electoral commission sat.

New Kazakh envoy presents credentials to Armenian leader

Interfax, Russia
20 Oct 2006

Astana, 20 October: Kazakhstan’s new ambassador Ayymdos Bozzhigitov
presented his credentials to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today.

"During the talks following the ceremony, the sides considered
issues related to deepening bilateral cooperation in the trade and
economic field. In particular, they discussed opportunities for
delivering agricultural products and minerals from Kazakhstan and
making investment in the banking sphere of Armenia," a press release
circulated today by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry says.

"Kocharyan noted that Armenia views Kazakhstan as a leader in the
Central Asian region. He also spoke about the need for further
expanding bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Kazakhstan,"
the press release says.

The Kazakh envoy met Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan the
same day.

Ekspress, Baku,
20 Oct 06, p 6

Azeri Islamists to show solidarity with Palestinians on Quds Day

"A rally to be staged in Nardaran"

A rally will be staged in the town of Nardaran [outskirts of Baku] in
connection with the world Quds (Jerusalem) Day. The rally will be
held under the slogan "Karabakh’s liberation passes through Quds". It
will demand that Israel, Armenia, the USA and other countries
supporting them liberate the Muslim lands, the chairman of the
Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, Haci Haciaga Nuri, has told APA.

Return of Turkish troops to Lebanon marks turning point
By Henri Mamarbachi

Agence France Presse — English
October 20, 2006 Friday 12:31 PM GMT

The arrival in Lebanon Friday of Turkish troops taking part in a UN
peacekeeping mission comes 88 years after the last Ottoman soldier
fled and marks a turning point in Ankara’s relations with Arab states.

Turkey is the first Muslim nation to send troops to take part in the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission policing a
ceasefire between its ally Israel and Shiite movement Hezbollah after
their devastating summer war.

But it also marks the first time that Turkish troops have set foot
on Arab soil since the defeat of the Ottoman empire at the end of
World War I in 1918 and its subsequent collapse.

That ended four centuries of dominance of the Arab world, which was
divided into Ottoman provinces. That included Lebanon, which had a
particularly troubled relationship with Istanbul, including numerous
revolts and massacres.

Resentment of Turkey is high in Lebanon, particularly among the
country’s Armenian population, the largest in the Middle East,
whose leaders consider the arrival of Turkish troops an insult to
the collective memory of the Armenian people.

But Ankara has in recent years established strong political, economic
and occasionally security ties with Arab countries, in particular
with former arch-foe Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf nations.

A member of NATO and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference,
Turkey’s efforts to bolster its presence in the Middle East come amid
the currently fraught process of joining the European Union.

"Turkey has a major role to play for peace in the Middle East,"
Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara said recently.

Ankara also played an active role in trying to establish a ceasefire
during the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, with Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul telling a parliamentary debate on sending in
peacekeepers that Turkey "cannot remain indifferent to the distress
of its neighbours".

"Like other participants in UNIFIL, we refused being called on to
disarm Hezbollah," Gul said before the Turkish deployment.

"Turkish participation in UNIFIL shows the growing importance of its
role as a stabilising factor in the Middle East," historian Ibrahim
Tabet told AFP.

Representatives of Lebanon’s 140,000-strong Armenian community do not
agree, given Turkey’s refusal to recognise as genocide the 1915-1917
massacres of Armenians by the Ottomans.

"Their return is for economic reasons and to revive their dream of
a new Ottoman empire in the Middle East," said Armenian-Lebanese MP
Agop Pakradounian.

"We don’t understand why the Lebanese government is enthusiastic for
the Turks to come."

"Turkey must reconcile itself with its past. If it comes to Lebanese
land today, it’s to protect the interests of Israel."

But fellow Armenian-Lebanese MP, Hagop Kassarjian, said his community
had to accept the facts on the ground.

"Even though we’re Armenian and we’ve protested, we’re Lebanese after
all. We did what we have to do but the Lebanese government has taken
a decision and so has the international community," he said.

"This is not the time to create new problems while the country lives
difficult moments and the decision to send the soldiers was adopted
by a UN resolution."

Muslims stage anti-Israeli protest in Azeri capital

Azerbaijani news agency APA, Baku
20 Oct 06

Members of the Azerbaijani religious community Cuma staged a protest
outside the Israeli embassy in Baku on 20 October to mark Al-Quds
(Jerusalem) Day, APA news agency reported.

"Zionists cannot establish a state in the Muslim land of Quds, just
like Armenians cannot establish a state in Karabakh. To commemorate
Quds is to commemorate Muslimhood," the agency quoted the community
leader, Haci Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, as saying.

Ibrahimoglu urged all Muslims to unite.

The protesters held a slogan saying "Stop Israel" and chanted "God
is great". The police did not intervene in the protest but detained
seven people after it ended, the agency said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian, Azeri defence ministers discuss cease-fire

Mediamax, Armenia
20 Oct 06

Yerevan, 20 October: The Armenian and Azerbaijani defence ministers,
Serzh Sarkisyan and Safar Abiyev, met on the Idzhevan-Qazax part of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border today, the press secretary of the
Armenian Defence Ministry, Col Seyran Shakhsuvaryan, has told Mediamax.

Shakhsuvaryan noted that the meeting was held at the initiative of the
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office on the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, Andrzej Kasprzyk, in the context of measures aimed
at building confidence between the sides.

"During the meeting, the sides discussed the cease-fire regime,"
Shakhsuvaryan said.

Azeri cleric lashes out against western policy on Islam

Yeni Musavat, Baku
20 Oct 06, p 3

"Haci Ilqar Ibrahimoglu: ‘The occupation of Quds is also the occupation
of Azerbaijan’"

Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, head of the Centre to Protect Freedom of Conscience
and Religion (DEVAMM) and imam of the Cuma mosque, has held a round
table devoted to the Quds [Jerusalem] Day. The occupation of Quds is
not only an invasion of Palestine but also of Azerbaijan, Ibrahimoglu
told the round table.

Commenting on the French National Assembly’s adoption of the bill
criminalizing denial of the "Armenian genocide", Ibrahimoglu has
described it as a position of the West towards Muslims.

"At present the West wants to disintegrate Islam from inside. They
damage Muslims by awarding Nobel Prize to [Turkish novelist] Orhan
Pamuk. He both recognized the self-styled "Armenian genocide" and
praised Salman Rushdi’s The Satanic Verses novel that defamed Holy
Koran," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri official unaware of defence minister’s meeting with Armenian counterpart

ITV, Azerbaijan
20 Oct 2006

The [Armenian] news agency Mediamax has quoted the press secretary
of the Armenian Defence Ministry, Seyran Shakhsuvaryan, as saying
that the Azerbaijani and Armenian defence ministers, Safar Abiyev
and Serzh Sarkisyan, today held a meeting on the front line – in the
Idzhevan-Qazax part of the border.

The report said that the meeting was held at the initiative of the
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej
Kasprzyk, in the context of measures aimed at building confidence
between the sides. Shakhsuvaryan said that the ministers discussed
the cease-fire regime.

The head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, Ramiz
Malikov, told "Carci" that the ministry’s press service has not
received such a report.

The Baku office of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, did not confirm or deny the
report.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, October 20, 2006

As French President Visits Armenia, Armenians in France Set Out to
Celebrate AGBU Centennial

September 29, 2006 marked an important milestone in the history of
the Republic of Armenia and the friendship between the French and
Armenian people, as President Jacques Chirac of France became the
first Western head of state to visit Armenia since its independence
in 1991. This unprecedented gesture of outreach and goodwill on the
part of the French President is of particular significance to Armenia
because France is a member state of Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group that has been mediating
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Accompanying the President were
several ministers and French members of congress, including the
former minister Patrick Devedjian. The delegation also included
French entrepreneurs of Armenian descent, including Serge Tchuruk,
Alain Mikli, Alain Manoukian, and Armen Petrossian, and delegations
from two Armenians organizations: AGBU France District, headed by
Chairman Denis Ketchedjian, and "Croie Bleue."

The highlights of the visit included a state dinner given at the
residence of the President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, in honor of
President Chirac, a visit to the "Tsitsernakaberd" Genocide Memorial,
the inauguration of the "Place de France" square in central Yerevan,
and a visit to Etchmiadzin on the invitation of his His Holiness
Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.

In his speech, President Chirac paid a touching tribute to the French
Armenian community, 500,000 strong. He acknowledged the courage of
the Armenian Genocide survivors that found refuge in France and who
succeeded in rebuilding a new life on French soil, integrating into
society and making their mark with their achievements, while always
remaining loyal to their origins.

The President’s tribute holds a special significance for AGBU France,
which has for over 80 years preserved the Armenian identity in
France. AGBU France serves as a crucial link in the friendship between
the French and Armenian people, fostering cultural and political ties
through its tireless work. Founded in September of 1910, AGBU France
has since opened chapters in all regions of France. AGBU has given
the French Armenians many important institutions, such as the Alex
Manoogian Cultural Center, the Marie Nubar "Maison de l’Arménie,"
part of the international university student campus in Paris, the
"Tebrotzassere" school, and the Nubarian Library.

This year, AGBU France joins other chapters around the world to
celebrate AGBU’s Centennial. Ahead of the 84th General Assembly and
Centennial festivities scheduled in Paris in December, AGBU Valence
(established May 1931) celebrated the centenary as well as the 75th
anniversary of the Chapter with a Centennial Ball. The event gathered
several generations of AGBU members, city officials, and five former
AGBU Chapter Chairmen. The celebrations will continue throughout the
fall in other regional chapters.

AGBU France District is dedicated to preserving and promoting the
Armenian heritage and culture through humanitarian, educational,
and cultural programs in France and Armenia. For more information,
please contact AGBU France District by visiting its newly launched
website , e-mailing [email protected], or calling (33)
(1) 45-20-03-18.

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide chapters, please visit
and click on Global AGBU.

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