Month: March 2007

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY MEETS WITH STEPHANIE DION

armradio.am
12.03.2007 10:48

The Congress of Canadian Armenians held a reception in Montreal
to honour Stephane Dion, the new Leader of the Liberal Party of
Canada. The event was a resounding success, with over 100 invited
people present including many of the leaders and prominent members
of our community.

Mr. Dion, who has been a firm advocate for the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide and a friend and consistent supporter of the
Armenian community and of Armenian causes, was presented with a
plaque naming him an "honourary Armenian". At the end of his speech,
he expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome that he received,
and he read a brief statement of friendship in Armenian. He also had
an opportunity to circulate, talking to people about their concerns
and answering their questions.

In his comments, Mr. Dion said he is in favour of opening a Canadian
Embassy in Armenia, and he would like very much to see Armenian
candidates getting elected to the House of Commons.

This event was part of a series organized by the Congress of Canadian
Armenians, to meet with the leaders and key members of the major
political parties of Canada.

The Congress of Canadian Armenians is comprised of the following
participating organizations (in alphabetical order): AGBU Alex
Manoogian School, AGBU Montreal Chapter, Armenian Democratic Liberal
Party, Holy Cross Church of Laval, St. Gregory the Illuminator Church
of Montreal, S.D. Hunchakian Party, Society of Armenians from Istanbul,
Tekeyan Cultural Association.

RA FM: THERE IS NO ISSUE OF JOINING NATO IN AGENDA OF ARMENIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

arminfo
2007-03-12 15:01:00

There is no issue of joining the NATO in the agenda of Armenia’s
foreign policy, RA FM Vardan Oskanyan said at today’s press-conference
after an official opening of the NATO Information Center in
Yerevan. The official opening of Center was held within the frames
of the Week of NATO in Yerevan, having started today.

The Minister reminded that Armenia had started the Individual
Partnership Actions Program (IPAP) with NATO a year ago. The Program
is rather a solid document and its fulfillment will take much time,
the Minister said. In his turn, the NATO deputy Secretary General
on Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet, who participated in the Center
opening ceremony, noted that the cooperation between Armenia and
the Alliance ""is being well developed". He reminded that the NATO
delegation, having recently visited Armenia, will prepare a report on
the course of the Program fulfillment. The preliminary opinion of the
delegation members is positive, J. Fournet added. According to him,
the intermediate estimation indicates the mutual strive of the sides
to the document fulfillment.

TURKEY DENOUNCES THE VERDICT OF THE SWISS COURT

armradio.am
12.03.2007 16:55

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey has issued a statement,
in which it denounces the 9-day suspended sentence and about $3 000
fine the Swiss court announced against the leader of the leader of the
Turkish Workers’ Party Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian Genocide.

"The trial was superfluous, ungrounded and disputable in all regards.

This verdict is unacceptable for Turkish people," the statement says.

The CNN-Turk reports that the Turkish MFA characterized the verdict as
"violation of freedom of speech."

SCHIFF EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ADMINISTRATION’S BUDGET CUTS

armradio.am
12.03.2007 16:43

During a hearing before a key House foreign aid panel today,
Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) expressed concern with the
Administration’s budget request which calls for $35 million in
economic assistance to Armenia for Fiscal Year 2008, reports the
Armenian Assembly of America.

Schiff questioned Randall L. Tobias, US Director of Foreign Assistance
and USAID Administrator, on the Administration’s request that Congress
provide Armenia with a more than 50 percent reduction in economic
assistance. Last month, the House of Representatives approved FY 2007
funding for Armenia at the 2006 level of nearly $75 million.

Tobias responded that the Millennium Challenge Compact "is expecting
to disperse 60 million dollars" in FY 2008 alone and that "together
with foreign aid, Armenia will receive 98 million dollars, or a 34
percent increase."

Schiff said that "cutting funding in one area and adding in another
is misleading."

Last year, the United States and Armenia signed the Millennium
Challenge Compact – a five-year $235.65 million agreement intended to
reduce Armenia’s rural poverty and increase agricultural productivity.

"The Freedom Support Account (FSA) and the MCC grant serve completely
different functions," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

"Funding for one should not be a substitute for another."

Schiff also asked that a complete accounting of financial assistance
to Armenia be sent to him following the hearing.

Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), who also serves on the
Committee, noted that Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections "must
go well," and asked Tobias to comment on Armenia’s electoral process.

Tobias replied that the multi-year assistance programs for elections
in Armenia have been "successful" and that Armenia has shown "great
progress" in recent elections.

"The Assembly thanks Congressmen Knollenberg and Schiff for their
longstanding support and looks forward to working with them, along with
Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Ranking Member Frank Wolf
(R-VA), to rectify the deficiencies in the Administration’s budget
proposal," Ardouny added.

NATIONAL THEATRICAL CREATIVE UNION COMES UP AGAINST CULTURAL PERVERSION ON TV

Noyan Tapan
Mar 09 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. "Though the accusation addressed to
Tigran Karapetian, voiced publicly by Armen Mazmanian is careless
and doubtful, nevertheless, we cannot but agree to the content of his
statement and to the reasons of his concern." This was mentioned in the
March 10 statement of National Theatrical Creative Union NGO. It was
mentioned that today music and speech not only insulting TV viewers’
taste, but also endangering psychical and esthetical health of children
are voiced on TV. According to the authors of the statement, one should
be either blind or extremely dishonest to refute this fact. According
to the report, this phenomenon can be called cultural perversion,
which, in all probability, A. Mazmanian meant. "We announce that we
will support all those who in some way try to oppose this disgraceful
phenomenon," the organization’s statement read. To recap, Art Director
of Goy theater, producer Armen Mazmanian named Chairman of People’s
Party, owner of ALM holding Tigran Karapetian in one of his TV speeches
a "populist parrot," "semi-literate," "pickpocket," "a person who had
been convicted in Volgograd for seducing children." On February 14,
Yerevan Kentron and Nork-Marash communities’ first instance court
by its verdict qualified the above mentioned expressions as "insult"
and "slander" and decided to fine A. Mazmanian in the amount of 300
thousand drams (nearly 840 USD).

NATO WEEK LAUNCHING IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
12.03.2007 11:40

March 12-16 NATO week in the framework of the Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP) will be held in Yerevan. During the week senior
officials of the Alliance are expected to visit Armenia. A number of
meetings, lectures, TV interviews, broadcasting of programs about
Armenia-NATO cooperation are also envisaged, the Press Service of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

The NATO week is one of the most important held in Armenia this week,
which will help present to the Armenian society the man directions of
Armenia-NATO cooperation, the modern characteristics of the Alliance’s
activity and content.

On the occasion of the NATO week NATO Assistant Secretary General for
Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet will visit Armenia. During the visit
Mr. Fournet is scheduled to meet with Chairman of RA National Assembly,
the Foreign Minister and President of the National Academy of Sciences.

At 12:15 today the NATO Information Ceneter will officially opened in
presence of RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and Jean Fournet. The
same day Mr. Fournet will give a lecture at the Yerevan State
University, following which an exhibition dedicated to Armenia-NATO
cooperation will be opened in the library of the University.

On March 14 seminar on the electronic information network of NATO
events, featuring representatives of RA Ministries and agencies,
will open at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On March 15 Head of Head of NATO’s Defense Cooperation Division George
Katsirakis will visit the NATO Information Center, where he will meet
with journalists.

On March 16 a Yerevan-Kosovo TV-bridge will b organized for the
members of the peacekeeping division and their families.

ARMENIA INVITES CIS OBSERVERS TO ITS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

armradio.am
12.03.2007 17:53

CIS Executive Committee, following an invitation from Armenia, started
forming its Observer Mission at the elections to Armenia’s National
Assembly to be held on May 12, 2007.

As press office of the CIS Executive Committee informs, the mission
will be formed on the basis of CIS Presidential Council resolution
of May 30, 2003, CIS Observer Mission Charter at presidential and
parliamentary elections and referenda in CIS member-countries,
Regnum reports.

RA FOREIGN MINISTER HOPES THERE WILL BE NO MISTAKES IN THE NEXT HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

armradio.am
12.03.2007 16:26

"Saying that the annual Human Rights Report of the US Department
of State includes mistakes in the section on Armenia, among other
points I meant that it mentions that "Armenia continues keeping
occupied Nagorno Karabakh and seven other regions considered to
be the territory of Azerbaijan," Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian told the reporters today. He informed that this mistake has
been presented to the attention of the State Department. "US policy
and approaches on this issue are very distinct. Knowing this, I’m
confident that this is a mistake," Minister Oskanian noted.

The report has already been publicized, and according to Mr. Oskanian,
amendments will hardly be implemented in it, but on different occasions
the US will reiterate its approaches. The Minister expressed hope
that the mistakes will be corrected in the next report.

A SECOND GROUP OF TURKISH LEGISLATORS VISITING WASHINGTON TO LOBBY MEMBERS OF THE US CONGRESS

armradio.am
12.03.2007 13:02

A second group of Turkish legislators started a visit to Washington
yesterday to lobby members of the US Congress against a resolution
recognizing the killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide,
reports the Turkish Daily News.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies Egemen BagıÅ~_,
also a foreign policy advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister, and
Reha Denemec will today join the group made up of AKP deputy Vahit
Erdem, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Ersin
Arıoglu and Bihlun Tamaylıgil. The deputies are scheduled today
to meet Turkish Ambassador in Washington Nabi Å~^ensoy. On Tuesday,
they will participate in a meeting of the Turkish-American Council
and have talks with the members of the Jewish organizations in the
United States. On Thursday they will have contacts with the members
of the US Congress and the next day they are expected to return
to Turkey. The first of the planned three separate delegations,
including members of both the AKP and the CHP, started a visit to
Washington in late February to seek support against the resolution,
expected to be debated at the House of Representatives soon. The
third delegation plans to lobby in Washington next month.

–Boundary_(ID_VlSWIwiwb6nvoaN8sZceMg)–

WE SHOULD FIND PERFECT MECHANISMS OF USING LOBBYIST ORGANIZATIONS IN FAVOR OF ARMENIA, VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Mar 12 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, NOYAN TAPAN. "Struggle with the help of organized
structures of Hay Dat was one of the greatest political victories
of ARFD.

ARFD Hay Dat Committees took out the Armenian people having no
statehood to the international arena." RA NA Vice-Speaker, ARFD Bureau
member Vahan Hovhannisian declared this on March 12, at the opening of
the Conference of ARFD Hay Dat Committees. In V. Hovhannisian’s words,
today when RA has a statehood, both the Armenian state and the Diaspora
should avoid two extreme approaches. The first is that the Diaspora
has its own and the state its own interests and tasks. In particular,
some people consider that only Diasporan Armenians should be engaged
in issues of Hay Dat. "There were such moods as early as in the
beginning of 20th century and our enemies sowed them," V. Hovhannisian
stated. The second extremity we should beware of is that independent
RA has its state structures and lobbyist organizations of Diaspora
"can impede it." "The truth is between the very two approaches, which
is correlation of factor of independence of Armenians created thanks
to the efforts of Hay Dat Committees with the factor of independence
of Armenia. At that, this problem is faced by both the state and the
Diaspora," V. Hovhannisian declared. He mentioned with satisfaction
that over the past years Armenia in its foreign policy more and
more leans on abilities of ARFD Hay Dat Committees and the latters,
in their turn, become stronger feeling firm support of Armenia. In
V. Hovhannisian’s words, "we should find perfect mechanisms of using
lobbyist organizations in favor of the state."