Month: November 2006

Armenian National Committee of Canada
130 Albert St., Suite 1007
Ottawa, ON
KIP 5G4
Tel. (613) 235-2622 Fax (613) 238-2622
E-mail:[email protected]
Fo r Immediate Release
November 1, 2006
Contact: Kevork Mangeulian
Tel. (613) 235-2622
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Withdraws its Sponsorship of
Turkish Conference
Ottawa-The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)
has withdrawn its sponsorship of “Turkey in the World: Implications
for Canada” one-day conference organized by the Turkish Canadian
Advocacy Group and sponsored by DFAIT and the Turkish Embassy. The
conference will take place on November 3 in Ottawa.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the conference is a “special
lecture” titled “History as a Present Day Problem: the Ottoman Armenian
Question” to be delivered by Prof. Guenter Lewy, a well-known Armenian
Genocide denier engaged in Turkish propaganda rather than in scholarly
research.
Prof. Lewy’s participation in a DFAIT sponsored conference is in
conflict with the policies of the Canadian government and public
pronouncements of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
Moreover, the conference included discussions on Middle Eastern,
Mediterranean and Caucuses issues without representation from those
regions.
Rather than make the conference an open and pluralistic forum conducted
by academic, diplomatic and expert participation, organizers had
hand-picked panelists who are guaranteed to deliver the message the
organizers wanted to hear.
The withdrawal of DFAIT from the conference followed an October
23 letter by the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) to
Minister MacKay and a presentation to DFAIT of the concerns of the
Canadian-Armenian community.
The ANCC considers such a sponsorship morally and ethically
unacceptable and at odds with Canadian values and what Canada stands
for. “The conference and Prof. Lewy’s “headline” participation is
an insult to the Canadian government, to the House of Commons and to
Senate Members, to Quebec, Ontario and to British Columbia–the three
provinces which recognize the Armenian Genocide as a historic fact,”
said Aris Babikian, executive director of ANCC.
“The ANCC would like to take this opportunity to thank DFAIT and other
political authorities for their understanding and valuable input in
upholding the government’s principled stand on such important human
rights issues as the Armenian Genocide,” said Babikian.
#
The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and
affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances
the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range
of issues.
Regional Chapters
Montreal – Laval – Ottawa – Toronto – Hamilton – Cambridge – St.
Catharines – Windsor – Vancouver

Talking turkey about Armenian history
By Christopher Atamian
dition_ID=10&article_ID=76503&categ_id=5
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Few issues in recent memory have incited as much fervor, debate,
applause and concomitant outrage as the recent bill passed by the
French Lower House, which proposes making denial of the Armenian
genocide punishable by law. Not surprisingly, Armenians around the
world have supported the initiative almost unconditionally, while
most Turks have opposed it on historical grounds – i.e. they still
refuse to label the massacres of 1915-1923 as genocide. A few Turkish
scholars accept the genocide label, but along with many in the West,
oppose the bill as an encroachment on free speech. Should the bill
pass and become law – an unlikely event given political realities
such as Turkey’s EU bid – it would mirror the existing Loi Gayssot,
which criminalizes the public denial of the Jewish Holocaust.
Ordinarily, the right to free speech should be protected with only
limited constraints and exceptions. For example, if an American citizen
wants to insult the United States, it is his or her right to do so,
as it is his or her right to desecrate the American flag. The first
amendment is clear on these and other issues of free expression. In
certain instances, however – for example, when national security
is endangered – it is acceptable for the state, after the proper
consultations and votes, to step in to (hopefully momentarily) curtail
certain rights. The fact that George W. Bush has now shamelessly
abused this right on more than one occasion should not mean that
the French government should not, conversely, use its full powers to
protect its Armenian citizens from continued insults and affronts –
by Turks or anyone else. Similarly, the French state ought to protect
its Turkish citizens from anti-Turkish or anti-Muslim attacks as well.
The French bill, as already mentioned, follows legal precedent,
namely the existing Loi Gayssot. Le Monde and other publications have
claimed that the two laws are different because the latter essentially
serves as a bulwark against existing and future anti-semitism. Yet the
Armenian genocide law, nay-sayers to the contrary, would function in
exactly the same way, given the existing racism and discrimination
against Armenians in France. Armenian genocide monuments in the
country have recently been desecrated, while Armenians have been
subject to all sorts of vile abuse – physical and otherwise –
including violent attacks by French Turks at a recent Armenian
genocide commemoration. The question then becomes: Do Armenian
citizens of France (and other countries who have passed similar
anti-Holocaust denial laws) not deserve the same protections as their
Jewish compatriots? Is the suffering of one people to be placed above
that of another? When push comes to shove, what applies to one group
should also apply to the other. Furthermore, the French quite rightly
consider historic memory to be a basic human right, and thus denial of
historic events that incite or abet racism a violation of that right.
The positive human rights reforms that have occurred within Turkey
in recent years (discussion of the Armenian genocide in newspapers
and certain intellectual circles, the opening of a Kurdish-language
television station etc.) have been cosmetic at best: anti-semitism and
anti-Armenianism are in fact rampant in the land of the Moon and Stars,
and Islamic fundamentalism on the rise. And although Elif Shafak, the
noted Turkish novelist, and Armenian journalist Hrant Dink have been
acquitted of charges of “insulting Turkishness” under the nefarious
Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code, they have both been harassed
to a degree beyond the norms of any civilized country. Dink has now
been accused five times by the Turkish state, each time under the
same ludicrous law that smacks of the worst in state fascism. His
life has been threatened and he has become persona non grata almost
everywhere he goes – within Turkey where nationalists want his head,
as well as within the Armenian diaspora, where he is alternately
seen as an accommodationist or a traitor for his views on the issue
at hand and the Armenian genocide in general.
The problem, then, is not just that Turks deny the Armenian genocide
within Turkey, but that they have exported this denial to European
countries. To deny the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, as well
as another 1.5 million Christian Pontic Greeks and Assyrians, is
malevolent and in and of itself a denial of Armenians’ basic human
dignity. France has every right to tell Turks: “You can spew your
venom in Turkey, but leave your denialism at home.” The degree to
which France acknowledges its own colonialist past in Algeria is
beside the point, although one would hope that it does so as well.
Turkey has threatened to “retaliate” against the French by passing
laws about the “Algerian genocide,” further polluting the historical
debate. Algeria may have been many things – colonialist, insulting,
invasive – and French dominion there may in fact have visited
wide-scale killings on a foreign population of differing religion and
language, but genocide it was not, according to accepted definitions.
Armenians endured the loss of lands, property and self-respect during
the Armenian genocide. From 1915 to 1923, they watched their men
slaughtered outright, and their children and women raped, tortured
and sent to their deaths in the most inhumane ways, including the
torching of sulfur caves and churches, where practitioners seeking
refuge were burned alive. Mass drownings in the Black Sea, hangings
and crucifixions were commonplace. Billions of dollars of goods,
property and lands were expropriated.
Unlike the Germans vis-Ë~F-vis the Jews, the Turks have not only
failed to apologize or compensate Armenians, but they continue
their vile campaign of denial, which they now export all over the
globe. As Elie Wiesel has accurately pointed out, denial is the last
stage of genocide and a symbolic re-enactment of the crime itself. In
this case, the French have said: Enough! You cannot kill the victims
again, at least not within our borders. It is disingenuous to suggest
that because of a French law, Turks will now have an added excuse to
continue what they have been doing for 90 years – i.e. finishing off
the complete annihilation of its native Christian populations. The
correct response from Turks should be shame and an acknowledgment that
yes indeed, these sad events took place, rather than the bombastic
nationalism that has kept the country on the margins of the civilized
world for the better part of the 20th and 21st centuries.
As Jacques Chirac rather pompously declared in his recent speech in
Yerevan: Vive la France! Vive L’ArmŽnie!
Christopher Atamian is a New York-based writer and journalist of
Lebanese origin who writes frequently on culture and politics for
the The New York Times, Gourmet, New York Press and more. He wrote
this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
–Boundary_(ID_wFQx3yp3Ds9Hd9+vHRbvDQ)–

November 2, 2006
PRESS RELEASE
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
DURING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF ST. GREGORY CHURCH COME,
TOGETHER LET US BRIGHTEN THE ALTAR OF LIGHT DECLARED THE PRELATE
On Friday, October 27, 2006, H. E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, departed for San Francisco to join the parish community in
celebrating the 40th anniversary of St. Gregory Church.
The Prelate landed in San Francisco on Friday evening, upon which he
was greeted by Rev. Avedis Torossian, Board of Trustees Chair Mr.
Nerses Teshoian, and Prelacy Executive Council member Mr. Garbis
Bezjian. Later that evening, the celebrations began with a family
night at Saroyan Hall. In his remarks, the Prelate congratulated the
parish community and commended their hard work. The evening came to
a close with the Prelate’s benediction.
On the evening of Saturday, October 28, the parish Ladies Auxiliary
had organized a banquet as the main event of the 40th anniversary
celebrations, under the auspices of and presided over by the Prelate.
By special invitation, representatives from all local Armenian
organizations participated in the event. The emcee of the evening
was Ladies Auxiliary Chair Mrs. Arax Sarian, who invited the Prelate
to bless the tables. Following the emcee’s welcoming remarks, the
artistic program began. The emcee then invited the Board Chair,
Executive Council representative, Rev. Avedis Torossian, Rev. James
Kizirian, Mr. Noubar Demirjian, and others to convey their messages,
followed by the cutting of the 40th anniversary cake by the Prelate,
Pastor, and Board Chairman. In his concluding remarks, the Prelate
once again congratulated the parish community, stressing that on
this blessed occasion “we must reexamine ourselves and renew our
responsibilities and commitment to the church and community”. The event
concluded with the “Bahbanich” prayer and the collective singing of
“Giligia”.
On Sunday, October 29, Archbishop Mardirossian conducted Holy Mass
at St. Gregory Church, where joining the parishioners in celebrating
Mass were Homenetmen scouts from the Walnut Creek and San Francisco
chapters. During his sermon, the Prelate urged the parishioners
to come together to keep the light of the church shining bright.
He then spoke on the feast of the Discovery of the Holy Cross, which
was also celebrated on that day, reminding the faithful that just
as Queen Heghine sought and found the Holy Cross, so did this parish
community when it was inspired forty years ago to build St. Gregory
Church. The Prelate then urged the faithful to serve the church
with faith in the example of the founders. During requiem service,
special prayers were offered for the souls of the founding members,
clergymen, benefactors, and volunteers. Services concluded with the
collective singing of “Giligia”.
On the morning of Monday, October 30, the Prelate visited
Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan School where the students had organized a
performance to honor the Armenian culture and language on the occasion
of Armenian Culture month. In his closing remarks, the Prelate had a
dialogue with the students, during which he instilled in them a love of
the Armenian language. He concluded with the benediction. The Prelate
was then escorted to the newly built playground, which he blessed.
Subsequently, the Prelate enjoyed lunch with the school administration,
after which they bid him farewell and a safe return to Los Angeles.

CONSUMER PRICES GROW BY 2.5% IN ARMENIA IN OCTOBER 2006 ON DECEMBER 2005
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The consumer price index made 102.5%
in Armenia in October 2006 on December of 2005, including the index of
food commodity prices (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes) –
101.5%, of non-food commodity prices – 102% and the index of service
tariffs – 104.5%. According to the RA National Statistical Service,
a 0.2% inflation was registered in the Armenian consumer market
in October on September 2006, mainly due to seasonal fluctuations
in the prices of some food commodities. A 0.4% growth in prices
of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes)
was registered in Armenia in October on September 2006. In the
indicated period, prices of non-food commodities declined by 0.4%,
while service tariffs grew by 0.1%. The average monthly growth in
consumer prices made 0.25% in January-October 2006 against a 0.35%
decline of the same index last year. The consumer price index made 106%
in October 2006 on October 2005, including that of food commodities
(including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes) – 106.6%, of non-food
commodities – 102.3%, of service tariffs – 104.6%; the same indices
for January-October 2006 on January-October 2005 made: 102.4%, 102.3%,
103.3% and 103.7% respectively. The consumer price index in October
2006 on 2005 made 102.6%, including that of food commodities (including
alcoholic drinks and cigarettes) – 100.8%, of non-food commodities –
104%, and of service tariffs – 105%.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RAISES ISSUE OF KARS-TBILISI RAILWAY AT MEETING OF BSEC FOREIGN MINISTERS
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian raised the issue of Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway during
the 15th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC). “The BSEC intends
to implement a serious program – to create a transport link in the
region. In this context, an issue was raised and brought to everybody’s
attention: there is a railway section that is not used for political
reasons and an attempt is made to replace it. Given the cooperation
spirit of the organization, we believe that the organization should
itself raise this issue before Turkey so that more serious approach
can be shown,” V. Oskanian told Radio Liberty.

STATE-ADOPTED DOCUMENTS NOT SATISFACTORY FOR ASSISTING WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES INTRODUCTION
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The results of a survey conducted
in 14 Armenian ministries (of foreign affairs, education and science,
finance and economy, and others), and big universities (the American
University of Armenia, Yerevan State University, and others) show that
the documents adopted by the state for introduction of information
technologies are not satisfactory. Tagui Tumanyan, of the Center for
Information Law and Policy (CILP), stated this on October 31 during
the two-day international conference “Open Source Software Policy
Importance for Information Society Development”. According to her,
among such documents are the concept of IT industry development and
the strategy of e-document circulation introduction adopted by the
Armenian government, under which pilot programs are being implemented
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Economy
and some other ministries. In these programs, open source software
packages (Linux, Open Office) are used in intradepartmental networks
with the assistance of donor organizations. The speaker noted that 71%
of the organizations surveyed said that they have no IT use policy,
which, in the words of T. Tumanyan, reflects the imperfection of the
state policy on IT use. According to 22% of those surveyed, they try to
develop such a policy for their organizations. Only 7% said that they
use a policy. 29% of surveyed said that 80% of software packages used
by them are licensed, another 29% said that 30% of the packages used
are licensed. 35% of the state governance and educational organizations
surveyed expressed their willingnes to use open source softaware, 29%
said that they are ready to do this, if Microsoft requires that its
licensed software packages be used. 7% said they do not trust open
source software in terms of safety, and 29% replied that they have
not yet decided whether to use open source softaware or not. T.
Tumanyan indicated the following common fact: the internal budgets
of those surveyed did not envisage money for refreshing their software.

UN REPORT: THIRD OF RA POPULATION HUNGERS
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 31 2006
A number of people in Armenia, who have shortage of foodstuffs,
has reduced twice the recent 10 years. However, this number is not so
small. – 29% of the population, it is said in the Report on Food Safety
in the World, prepared by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization .
As the UN site informs, the Report authors also pay attention to a
huge number of starving people in Tajikistan, Armenia And Uzbekistan.
These three countries are included in the list of states, which
faced the most serious problems in the area of food safety. The
experts note that Azerbaijan and Georgia have achieved noticeable
successes in hunger-fight within the last 10 years. In 1993-1995,
2,5 mln people were underfed in these countries. In 2001,2003, their
number has reduced to 700-800 thsd people.
The FAO Report notes that in the countries with transient economy,
60% of the population faced a sharp shortage of food. In Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus, the number of those underfed makes up 3%.
It is underlines in the Report that such countries as Estonia, Croatia,
Lithuania and Macedonia have succeeded to solve the tasks, set by the
international community in food safety. Latvia, Russia, Slovenia and
Turkmenistan achieved a progress in it . In the experts’ opinion,
these states will be able to reach the goal, set in 1996, that is,
to twice reduce the number of underfed people in the world by 2015.
The main conclusion of the Report is that the international community
will not manage to fulfill the goal, set at the World Food Summit
in Rome in 1996, i.e. to twice reduce the number of hungry people
in the world by 2015. It failed to reach successes in this area for
the recent 10 years. The number of hungry people for this period
has increased by 23 mln and reached 820 mln people, while 70% of
population in some African countries hungers.

ARMENIA IS READY TO OPEN ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER BUT OFFICIAL ANKARA’S POSITION WILL NOT YET ADMIT THIS:
ARMENIAN MINISTER OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 31 2006
Armenia is ready to open the Armenian-Turkish border without any
preliminary conditions, however, official Ankara’s position will not
yet admit this, said Karen Chshmarityan, the Armenian co-chairman
of the Committee for Armenia-EU Cooperation, the Minister of Trade
and Economic Development, at today’s press-conference devoted to the
results of the seventh session of the Committee held in Brussels on
October 25.
According to him, during the session, the Armenian side presented
its approaches to this problem which were taken by the Europeans into
consideration. Particularly, the Armenian delegation appealed to the
EU to pay special attention to this issue, as Chshmarityan considers
that the regional cooperation under conditions of the closed border
acquires virtual importance.
To note, the Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1992.
Official Ankara links its unblocking to the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to the renunciation of the territorial
claims on Turkey. Nevertheless, the annual commodity turnover between
the two states, with due regard for reexport and reimport, makes up
about $100 mln, according to non-official data.

NKR CENTER OF CIVIL INITIATIVES MAKES A NUMBER OF PROPOSALS TO NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 31 2006
In the course of public discussions of the draft Constitution of
the Nagorny Karabakh Republic, the Center of Civil Initiatives (CCI)
NGO sent a letter containing 2 proposals to the NKR National Assembly.
CCI Director Albert Voskanyan told ArmInfo, that the first proposal
was to formalize the prisoners’ right to vote in the Constitution of
NKR in order to encourage the civil responsibility sense of the people
who violated the law. Many European countries allow prisoners voting
without any restrictions. In France and Germany, only the prisoners
who committed heavy crimes are deprived of the right to vote, he said.
The next proposal of CCI concerns the Institution of Alternative
Civil Service. The Constitution of NKR (Article 26) grants a right
to freedom of opinion and religion to each citizen. Proceeding from
this and relying of international practice, we propose establishing
an Institution of Alternative Civil Service in NKR and including
a relevant provision into the draft Constitution. The alternative
civil service is widely practiced in the world, including in Armenia,
where 22 people are currently on the alternative civil service. This
service is for the young people who think the service in the army
inadmissible for themselves because of their religious and moral
creed. The non-military service can include such activity as health
care, assistance to invalids and old people, education of children,
construction and repair of buildings, protection of national resources,
aid in case of calamities, agriculture, development of infrastructures
etc.. “Well-aware of the situation of “neither war nor peace,” we
are sure that the given measure will not constitute threat to the
national security as the world experience shows that the supporters of
the alternative civil institution make up an insignificant percentage
of the total number of conscripts,” Albert Voskanyan said.

AZERBAIJANIANS-NATIVES OF ARMENIA DEMAND AUTONOMY STATUS IN THEIR “HISTORICAL MOTHERLAND”
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 31 2006
The unity “Return to Western Azerbaijan (Armenia)” has held a
conference the day before, during which it clarified its position
for some issues.
As the Baku “Zerkalo” newspaper reports, one of the Organization’s
demands is “return to their historical Motherland “, i.e. to Armenia.
“Why a 60-70-thousand Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh can
be given autonomy but half-million Azerbaijanians in Armenia –
no? We think that the issue of autonomy is to be considered in
parallel, that is, status of NKR Armenians must be such as we shall
have here, in Armenia”, the Head of Organization, Rizvan Takhirov
said. However, the Organization’s demands are not limited to the claims
to RA authorities. The leaders of the “Return” have problems with
Azerbaijan authorities as well, which refuse to officially register
the Organization. The Organization members suppose that giving a
status of a “legal” structure will help them to fulfill the main
task, that is, assistance to the compatriots in their return to the
“historical Motherland”. Moreover, the “returners” propose to create
funds to accumulate the means from Caspian gas recovery, mining of
copper and natural resources and to distribute these means between
Azerbaijan’s citizens at the end of each year.