Month: March 2007

SWISS JUSTICE MINISTER’S MEETINGS WITH HIS TURKISH COUNTERPART CRITICIZED IN SWITZERLAND

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 07 2007

GENEVA, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The meetings of Swiss
Justice Minister Kristof Blocher with Turkish Justice Minister Cemil
Cicek attracted heavy criticism in Switzerland. These meetings took
place on the eve of the trial of Chairman of the Turkish Workers’
Party Dogu Perincek for denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Radio Liberty reported citing France Press that Blocher and Cicek
met on March 2 and 3.

Swiss MP U. Loienberger in his interview to the newspaper
"Tages-Anzeiger" qualified these meetings as "scandalous", while
Swiss MP, member of the Swiss-Armenian deputy frienship group D. de
Buman called them a "provocation".

A day after the meetings of the Swiss and Turkish justice ministers, D.
Perincek arrived in Switzerland to stand trail for calling the Armenian
Genocide an "international lie" at a rally of Turks in Lausanne two
years ago.

In 2003, the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament recognized the
Armenian Genocide, which resulted in a tension in relations between
Switzerland and Turkey.

During a visit to Turkey in October 2006, K. Blocher said that the
Swiss law envisaging punishment for "justifying the genocide or
lowering its meaning" should be amended.

IN ANKARA, WORKERS’ PARTY PROTESTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS AT US EMBASSY

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 7 2007

Yesterday in Ankara, a group from the Turkish Workers’ Party gathered
to demonstrate in protest of events linked to the Armenian allegation
of genocide in Turkey.

Shouting slogans of "We have not committed genocide, we only defended
our nation," and "The genocide lie is an American game," the group also
registered protest over the trial which has just begun in Switzerland,
in which Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek is being charged on counts
of publicly denying the Armenian genocide claims at a demonstration
in Lausanne in 2005.

Workers’ Party Deputy Secretary Kamil Dede spoke in his party’s name
yesterday, recalling that Perincek was on trial for saying in 2005
that the Armenian claims of genocide were "an imperialist lie." Dede
also talked about the Armenian genocide bill being debated in the US
Congress, noting "The US Committee on Foreign Relations is going to
debate a resolution condemning the murder of Hrant Dink today. Then
the so-called Armenian genocide resolution bill will go before the
US House of Representatives for voting. What this shows clearly is
whose purposes the Hrant Dink murder really served. The force behind
this murder was the US."

HEAD OF U.S. MOHAMMEDAN COMMUNITY SUPPORTS TURKEY IN COUNTERACTING TO ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN RESOLUTION IN CONGRESS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 07 2007

ANKARA, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Head of U.S. Mohammedan
community Uaris Din Mohammad expressed his support to Ankara in the
issue of hampering adoption of the resolution on Armenian Genocide
in U.S. Congress.

According to the Turkie Turkish daily, Mohammad declared this on March
6, at the press conference following the meeting with Egemen Baghsh,
head of Turkey-U.S. parliamentary friendship group, deputy of Justice
and Development ruling Turkish party.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: THE STATE WILL INCREASINGLY GROW ITS INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE

Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. During the March 7 meeting with heads of
over 20 farms, the Armenian President Robert Kocharian said that a hot
time is coming for agriculture, and now is the right moment to discuss
existing problems and to announce what steps are envisaged by the state
for agricultural development. The RA Minister of Agriculture Davit
Lokian spoke about results of fulfilling the president’s assignments
regarding the problems raised by farmers at the meeting held last
year. Particularly, the matter concerned agricultural crediting on
concessional terms, for which 22 mln USD has been allocated.

Out of this sum, 4.2 mln USD has already been distributed at 9-11%
interest rates. This year the OPEC Fund’s 10 million dollar credit
line will be opened and invested in infrastructure development. The
implementation of the pilot program developed based on European
model of agriculture subsidizing in several Armenian marzes,
which allowed to increase the area of cultivated lands by 28%, was
discussed at the meeting. The meeting participants also addressed
two big programs on agricultural development, which will enable to
replace the import of high-quality seeds and pure-bred animals with
their domestic production. The farmers expressed their gratitude
for the problems solved and spoke about new ones. They pointed out
the problem of training qualified staff in the agricultural sector,
as lack of such experts is felt. They also underlined the necessity
to increase the number of milk processing enterprises and to set up
mixed fodder producing enterprises in marzes, as well as to use target
subsidizing of the irrigation water tariff. R. Kocharian noted that
problems related to particular farms were often raised at previous
meetings, which has not happened recently. "It is gratifying that
general problems related to the whole sector are raised now, which
means that the number of artificially created obstacles has declined
and the system is developing, and you have begun to think about
improvement of the whole sector," he said. He stated that the state
will increasingly grow its investments in agriculture and it seeks the
most efficient ways to do so, while farmers are anticipated to provide
their assistance in this issue. According to the RA President’s press
service, at the beginning of the meeting, Robert Kocharian presented
Anania Shirakatsi medals to farmer Alexan Gabrielian (Shirak marz),
director of Artsrun & Sons LLC Artak Khachatrian (Gegharkunik marz)
and director general of Multi Agro scientific and production center
Roza Tsarukian (Kotayk marz). They were awarded these medals for
their distinguished activities in the economic sphere by the March
6 decree of the RA President.

STATE DUTY FOR OPERATION OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION NETWORKS TO BE REDUCED

Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. At the March 7 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the bill on making an amendment to the RA Law
on State Duty. The bill proposes reducing the rates of state duty
for operation of public electronic communication networks. It was
noted that this will create favorable conditions especially for small
and medium enterprises of the sector, as well as promote the use of
Internet connection and the establishment of the electronic society
in Armenia. Zhenja Azizian, Head of the IT Development Department
of the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, told reporters
after the sitting that by the proposed amendment, a company will pay
500 thousand drams instead of 3 mln drams (about 8.5 thousand USD)
a year for operation of the Internet network in Yerevan and one or
several marzes. Payment for Internet network operation in Yerevan
will make 300 thousand drams instead of 2 mln drams, in more than one
marze – 200 thousand drams instead of 1 mln drams, and in one marz –
100 thousand drams instead of 500 thousand drams.

WORKS LAUNCHED IN TURKEY IN FRAMEWORK OF KARS-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2007 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish authorities have launched preparation
works of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway project, Turkish
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hussein Avni Karsioglu stated. The decision
of building a branch line has been made and the authorities began the
process of privatization of land under the construction and payment
of compensations to people who live along the way of construction,
"Trend" reports.

UNLIKE TURKEY, ARMENIA DOES NOT SEEK TO LECTURE AMERICAN LAWMAKERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2007 18:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with
U.S. Assistant Undersecretary of State and U.S. Minsk Group Co-Chair
Matthew Bryza, the RA Press Office reports. They discussed issues
concerning the upcoming meeting between Armenian and Azeri FMs in
Geneva on March 14 in the framework of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement process.

At the meeting with the co-chairs of the Congressional Armenian
Caucus, Minister Oskanian outlined the broad U.S.-Armenia agenda,
and ways in which Congress can play a role. During the meeting,
the Armenian Genocide issue was also discussed. In referring to the
pending Genocide reaffirmation resolution, the Minister explained,
"The Armenian government, in contrast to the leadership in Ankara,
does not seek to lecture elected American officials on this core human
rights issue. Sadly, the Turkish government continues to export its
policy of genocide denial, seeking to impose upon the U.S. and other
nations the very intolerance that inspired Section 301 and led to
the murder of journalist Hrant Dink. This should not be tolerated
by any individual or any country. The Armenian government has faith
in the American democratic process and respects the integrity of
U.S. Congressional decision-making."

A TRIAL LAUNCHED IN SWITZERLAND AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIER TURKISH NATIONALIST

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2007 19:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A trial launched in Switzerland towards leader of
Turkish Labor Party Doðu Perincek, who is blamed for racism, since he
had called the Armenian Genocide an "international lie". Prosecutors
demand to sentence Perincek to 6-month imprisonment.

In case if a verdict of guilty is brought towards Doðu Perincek,
he will become the first person convicted by Swiss anti-racist law
for denying the Armenian Genocide. In 2001 a court in Bern acquitted
12 Turks, who were being prosecuted by this very article. Today on
the square near the Court building some 150 people gathered in red
bandages on their heads with Turkish banners, they expressed their
silent support to Doðu Perincek. Perincek himself is sure that he
will be freed. "I don’t think that I will be convicted," he stated,
confessing that Armenians were exposed to massacres in his homeland. At
the same time he refused to recognize those massacres as genocide,
RFA RL reports.

–Boundary_(ID_o0kamT8WAd0GZVoUOnTVyw)–

SURB KHACH CHURCH OF AKHTAMAR IS AN EXCEPTION
By H. Tsulikian

AZG Armenian Daily
07/03/2007

"Comitas Intsitute" of London makes comments on the reconstruction
"Surb Khach" church of Akhtamar Isle, Turkey, in a press release.

"During the last two years the Turkish authorities have made much
noise about the restoration of a 10-th century Armenian church. It
is not clear yet, whether it is a peace gesture addressed to Armenia
or an effort to conceal the Genocide and destruction of the Armenian
cultural heritage. Today (March 3 – Azg) president of the ‘Turkish
Historic Society’ Yusuf Halacoglu, according to ‘New Anatolian’
newspaper said, ‘We (Turks) have nothing to conceal… Akhtamar Church
opening ceremony will be a gesture to the Armenians and the entire
world. After the conquest of Anatolia the Turks did not destroy the
property of foreigners. Nothing decayed and all was preserved in the
same state by today’.

Surely these words will be doubted by the guests invited to the
ceremony. Those who decide to make a trip around will clearly see
that Akhtamar is an exception. Before the World War I there were
numerous Armenian churches on the Akhtamar isle, 20km far from
‘Surb Khach’. None of them exists today. The most part of them is
ruined and the grave diggers are given freedom to spoil the area,
and the authorities pay no attention to vandalism and desecration,"
says the release.

PRESS-SECRETARY OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT QUALIFIES TURKISH LAWYER’S ACCUSATIONS AS NONSENSE

AZG Armenian Daily
07/03/2007

Viktor Soghomonyan, the press-secretary of the Armenian President,
qualified Turkish lawyer Kamal Kerincsiz’s initiative as nonsense. The
Turkish lawyer tries to accuse the Armenian President of the "Khojaly
genocide".

"That’s nonsense", V.Soghomonyan gave a short answer to an ArmInfo
correspondent, commenting upon Kamal Kerincsiz’s initiative. The Azeri
APA news agency reports that the K.Kerincsiz, the leader of the Turkish
Lawyers’ Union, has already appealed to some unknown judicial structure
"Roman International Criminal Court". According to the source, the
lawyer states that he has all the necessary proof for accusing the
Armenian President and 78 terrorists of the massacre. At the same time,
K.Kerincsiz expressed confidence that the Turkish court will render a
favorable decision. But if Turkish courts fail to render a decision in
favor of Azeri Turks for some political reasons, the Lawyer’ Union will
raise this issue in the International Criminal Court, K.Kerincsiz said.