Month: April 2007

ANONYMITY OF COMPLAINTS SENT TO PUBLIC ANTI-CORRUPTION CENTER OF ARMENIA HOBBLES PRACTICAL HELP

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 17 2007

YEREVAN, April 17. /ARKA/. Anonymity of complaints received by Public
Anti-corruption Center of Armenia hobbles practical assistance,
Vladimir Pryakhin, head of OSCE Yerevan Office, said Monday at the
ceremony of the center opening. He said that the only thing anonymous
complainants can get is consultation support.

Greta Mirzoyan, head of Mother of Soldier NGO, in her turn, said that
it is very difficult to produce result by advises.

The center’s aim is to reduce corruption and enhance public awareness
of their rights.

Representatives of 14 NGOs will work at the center and will answer
all the questions received on hot line. Phone: 010 53 16 88.

GEORGE BUSH CONGRATULATES SERGE SARGSYAN ON APPOINTMENT

ArmRadio.am
17.04.2007 16:32

US President George Bush sent a congratulating message to RA Prime
Minister Serge Sargsyan, which says, in part: "I congratulate you on
assuming the position of RA Prime Minister.

We share your grief for the untimely death of ex-Prime Minister,
your good friend and colleague Andranik Margaryan.

We are waiting for the May 12 parliamentary elections and expecting
that you will bring your contribution to the conduct of free and
fair elections corresponding to international standards, which will
become a serious impetus for the development of relations between
our two countries.

Once again I congratulate you and wish courage and resoluteness in
your new position."

"SCREAMERS" TO BE SCREENED IN YEREVAN

ArmRadio.am
17.04.2007 17:15

The first screening of the "Screamers" documentary telling about
genocides and the Armenian Genocide, in particular, will take place
in Yerevan today.

During the week preceding April 24 it will be screened in "Moscow"
cinema.

Director Carla Garapedian has arrived in Yerevan to present the film
to Armenian viewers.

The "Screamers" is starred by Grammy-award winning band "System of
a Down."

The film tells about the trips of four members of the band, during
which they propagate the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
call to recognize the genocide which is still being denied by Turkey
and the US.

The heroes of the film are trying to find out why genocides continue
nowadays. They participate in meetings held in different parts of
the country, organize rallies, including to the White House, share
information with their supporters and politicians. The film includes
episodes of their live concerts and stories about the private life
of the singers.

The "Screamers" are those who can never be silenced, who will continue
screaming against injustice.

During the stay in Yerevan the American Armenian director will have
meetings with different youth groups and NGOs. The evening of April 23
Carla Garapedian is expected to participate in a march to the memorial
to the Armenian Genocide victims: on that day she will lead all the
"screamers."

SOUTH BAY COMMUNITY TO COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
17.04.2007 17:23

The South Bay Armenian Community is organizing a commemoration
event for the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on Friday,
April 20th at the South Bay Armenian Community Center. The event is
cosponsored by Armenian National Committee of South Bay, the ARF Aram
Manougian Chapter, the AYF Potorig Chapter, the ARF Potorig Badanegan
Chapter, Homenetmen, ARS Arax Chapter, as well as the ARS Armenian
Friday School.

The commemoration will address key issues such as the importance of
basic human rights, the cultural genocide taking place in Javakhk,
current resolutions in Congress, and how individual members of the
South Bay community can contribute to helping with all local and
national issues.

"The South Bay ANC has recommitted itself reaching out to the local
Armenian community and working to engage them in the civic life of the
South Bay community," said Christopher Yemenidjian, Chairman of the
South Bay ANC. "The Armenian Genocide will forever be a defining point
in our cultural experience and I hope that through this commemoration
we can recommit ourselves to promoting a greater understanding between
communities from different backgrounds and stand united to confront
such human rights atrocities today and in the future."

The program will include a tribute to Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink,
who was assassinated earlier this year outside of his newspaper’s
office in Istanbul, Turkey for his efforts to address the Armenian
Genocide in Turkey. The event will also feature a candle light vigil,
video presentations, and a program from the ARS Armenian Friday
School. Former ANCA-Western Region Executive Director and current
Glendale City Clerk, Ardashes Kassakhian will deliver the evening’s
keynote address.

ARMENIAN FM MAKES A REPORT AT OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL MEETING

Arminfo
2007-04-17 23:10:00

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has made a report at a
meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. He spoke about
the OSCE reforms, the activities of the OSCE Armenian Office, the
forthcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, Armenian-Turkish
relations and he Karabakh problem.

The press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia reports that
Oskanyan has also visited the Austrian Parliament and has met with
the chairman of the Commission on Foreign Relations Caspar Einem. The
sides discussed the current electoral processes in Armenia.

V.Oskanyan emphasized that the forthcoming parliamentary election are
a serious challenge for Armenia in respect of the society’s adherence
to the democratic principles and the establishment of supremacy of law.

The sides also stressed the importance of establishing cooperation
between the two countries’ parliaments after the election. At C.Einem’s
request, V.Oskanyan presented the foreign political priorities of
Armenia, its relations with the neighbor countries and the Karabakh
peace process.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

R.KOCHARYAN ADVOCATES REDUCTION OF FOREIGN MILITARY PRESENCE IN IRAQ

Arminfo
2007-04-17 23:13:00

Armenia defends the position of Arab states in all the international
structures, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said during a meeting
with the ambassadors of the League of Arab States in Cairo.

Touching upon the Iraqi problem, R.Kocharyan noted that it must be
settled, by means of, firstly, gradual reduction of foreign military
presence in Iraq; secondly, establishing a dialogue between the
ethnic groups inside the country and, finally, involving interested
countries into the peace process in this country. "The development
of the situation in Iraq showed that simple decisions shouldn’t be
applied in a country which is complicated by its structure.

The Armenian community is also suffering from the war. Kocharyan
noted that the Armenian mission in Iraq is of humanitarian nature.

With Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Kocharyan discussed
Armenian-Egyptian political-economic relations as well as the
situation in the Near East. "We spoke in different languages but
perfectly understood each other," Kocharyan said after the meeting.

V.AYVAZYAN CONSIDERS THE ATTACKS ON HIM AND NATURE PROTECTION MINISTRY TO BE CONDITIONED BY PRE-ELECTORAL SITUATION

Arminfo
2007-04-17 23:00:00

The Armenian Minister of Nature Protection intends to wait out the
forthcoming election and abstain from any comments on the lawsuit with
the Global Gold Corporation (GGC). To remind, in early April, 2007,
this American company engaged in gold mining in Armenia appealed to
the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes, accusing the Armenian Government of hindering its investment
activity.

Answering ArmInfo correspondent’s question, the minister noted
that he is not going "to deny the rumors about him spread by the
local mass media". He added that he will respond to these rumors and
accusations in the international court. "Some politicized mass media
and the politicians they are controlled by are guided by the logic
of the pre-electoral excitement and really come out with statements
concerning the sphere of use of mineral resources. However, the
matter of these statements doesn’t comply with reality, and their
authors intend to provide themselves with the necessary electorate,"
the minister noted. He added that he is getting ready to uphold
the right to the legitimacy of decisions of state importance in the
International Center for the Settlement of Investment Dispute.

To remind, the Nature Protection Ministry charges GGC with failing to
make investments and to meet the schedule at the Marjan deposit, while
GGC charges the Ministry with refusing to accept its investments and
creating obstacles for its investment activities. Aivazyan threatens
that it will deprive the company of its license, while the company
say that one high-ranking official has asked a $3mln bribe for the
license. According to some mass media, it was Aivazyan. Recently
mass media reported that the Ministry wants to give GGC’s license to
another company.

During the suit GGC’s lawyer Fleuriet Ken Spalding said that they
are going to prove in the arbitration court that the Ministry
began persecuting them after they had refused to pay Aivazyan a
bribe. Aivazyan refutes the charge pointblank.

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ARMENIAN OPPOSITION IS RESENTED WITH THE REPORT OF THE RUSSIAN TV CHANNEL RTR ABOUT THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA

Arminfo
2007-04-17 18:29:00

Press-secretary and a member of the oppositional Armenian People’s
Party board, Rusan Khachatrayn, expressed indignation by the report
of the information broadcast "Vesti" of the Russian TV channel RTR
about the election campaign in Armenia, shown on 13 April.

She said that correspondent Evgeniy Popov, except having bad knowledge
of his native Russian language, did not want to enter into the gist of
the election campaign in Armenia, and did not even make himself learn
the details which he spoke about. , – representative of the APP said.

Ruzan Khachatryan called the tone of the foreign journalist
disrespectful and slighting. She is sure that the report was charged as
disrespectful retorts regarding the Armenian opposition sounded in it.

She was also resented by assessment of the APP leader sounded in
the report.

, – Khachatryan concluded.

THE MASS MEETING ORGANIZED IN AKHALKALAKI BY THE ADVOCATES OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA CAUSES NO INTEREST AMONG LOCAL POPULATION

Arminfo
2007-04-17 15:07:00

The Union of Georgian Armenians public organization held a mass meeting
in the central square of Akhalkalaki and appealed to the Armenians
from Samtskhe-Javakheti who are living on the territory of Armenia
to vote for the Republican Party.

During the meeting, Georgian parliamentarian Hamlet Movsissyan
introduced the MP candidates Tatchat Vardapetyan, Andreas Srabyan
and Hayk Sanossyan to the participants. For his part, T.Vardapetyan
read out the message of the head of the Union of Armenians of Moscow,
Norayr Tevanyan, addressed to the Armenians of Samtskhe-Javakheti. In
his message N.Tevanyan appealed to the Armenians of Javakhq to maintain
the Armenian-Georgian friendly relations. The heads of the Akhalkalaki
and Ninotsmindsk regions also made speeches at the meeting. However,
the A-INFO news agency reports that the participants were more
interested in the social, economical, cultural, scientific and
educational issues of Samtskhe-Javakheti than the domestic political
issues of Armenia. The organizers of the action failed to answer
the participants’ questions, and this resulted in decreasing of the
number of participants. As for the concert held after the meeting,
only 50 Akhalkalaki residents were present at it.

EU AIMS TO CRIMINALISE HOLOCAUST DENIAL

FT
April 17 2007 19:56

Laws that make denying or trivialising the Holocaust a criminal
offence punishable by jail sentences will be introduced across the
European Union, according to a proposal expecting to win backing from
ministers Thursday.

Offenders will face up to three years in jail under the proposed
legislation, which will also apply to inciting violence against ethnic,
religious or national groups.

Diplomats in Brussels voiced confidence on Tuesday that the
controversial plan, which has been the subject of heated debate for
six years, will be endorsed by member states. However, the Baltic
countries and Poland are still holding out for an inclusion of
"Stalinist crimes" alongside the Holocaust in the text – a move that
is being resisted by the majority of other EU countries.

The latest draft, seen by the Financial Times, will make it mandatory
for all Union member states to punish public incitement "to violence
or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such
a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or
national or ethnic origin".

They will also have to criminalise "publicly condoning, denying or
grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes" when such statements incite hatred or violence against
minorities.

Diplomats stressed the provision had been carefully worded to include
only denial of the Holocaust – the Nazi mass murder of Jews during
the second world war – and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

They also stressed that the wording was designed to avoid criminalising
comical plays or films about the Holocaust such as the Italian comedian
Roberto Benigni’s prize-winning Life is Beautiful . The text expressly
upholds countries’ constitutional traditions relating to the freedom
of expression.

Holocaust denial is already a criminal offence in several European
countries, including Germany and Austria. It is not a specific crime
in Britain, though UK officials said it could already be tackled
under existing legislation.

In an attempt to assuage Turkish fears, several EU diplomats said the
provisions would not penalise the denial of mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman troops in the aftermath of the 1915 collapse of the Ottoman
empire. Turkey strongly rejects claims that this episode amounted
to genocide.

The proposal draws what is likely to be a controversial distinction
between inciting violence against racial or ethnic groups and against
religious groups. Attacks against Muslims, Jews or other faiths will
only be penalised if they go on to incite violence against ethnic or
racial groups, the draft text states.