Month: April 2007

KENYAN EDITORS DATE WITH THE POLICE OVER ‘ARMENIANS’ STORY
By Dennis Itumbi

AND, South Africa
April 16 2007

Kenyan police are recording statements from Editors of a leading
Newspaper afetr the Standard in its lead story today revealed that
the government may be involved in a saga revolving around two alleged
Armenian Nationals

FOUR senior managers and Editors of a leading Kenya Daily Newspaper
are still recording statements with the Criminal Investigations sleuths
following a story published by the paper in its Monday edition alleging
that the Government had hired merecenaries to assinate a Member of
Parliament Gideon Moi.

The story attributed to one of the alleged mercenaries Artur Margayan
deported to Duabai by the Kenyan government last year after a series
of embarassing acts including an airport gun drama claimed that the
two brothers of alleged Armenian origin claimed that the brothers
had express directions from a asenior cabinet minister to assasinate
the legislator who is also a son to the immediate former President
Daniel Moi.

The newspaper did not name the cabinet minister, but said that
Artur, who called their newsroom was claiming to be in possesion of
a recording to prove the claims.

The two senior managers and two senior editors at Standard group
were summoned to CID headquarters to provide proof of the claims
saying such allegations have the potential to cause fear and anxiety
amongst Kenyans.

By the time of going to press the managers, Group CEO, John Wanyagah,
Paul Melley (Vice -Chairman) and Editors Chaacha Mwita and Kwendo
Opanga were still held up in the CID headquarters.

Earlier police had summoned the four to record statements or face
arrest.

In his press Conference, Michuki categorically denied that none of
the two deported Armenians is in the country as alleged.

The minister said the story lacked credibility and feels it is part
of a hate-campaign being driven by the paper against him.

Meanwhile, MPs from Rift Valley province – where Gedion hails from,
were in parliament buildings appealing to the government to allow the
parliamentary committee on justice and legal affairs investigate the
Armenian’s saga.

The government has declined to make public findings of a commission
appointed by the president to investigate the conduct of the deported
Armenians for security reasons.

direct/0/Home/recent.fullStory&sp=l292066

VALLEJO ARMENIAN WILL JOIN IN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE
By Robert Mccockran/Times-Herald Staff Writer

Vallejo Times-Herald, CA
April 16 2007

During World War I, hundreds of Armenian community leaders were rounded
up and killed by Ottoman Turks seeking to expand their territory.

Mass deportations into the Syrian desert followed. The teenage and
adult men were killed; the women were raped and tortured. Hundreds
of thousands died en route to the desert. An estimated 1.5 million
Armenians were killed.

On April 24, the 92nd anniversary of the genocide, Ashken Mouradian
of Vallejo will join fellow Armenians in remembering the tragedy.

"We are going to have a very big memorial program in San Francisco,"
said Mouradian, a member of the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

The event features the 70-piece Oakland Youth Orchestra and speakers
from Amnesty International, Save Darfur and the Genocide Education
Project. The victims of Darfur, Sudan will also be honored.

On April 22, youths will go up to Mount Davidson. The 103-feet high
Mount Davidson Cross at Dalewood and Myra ways in San Francisco is
dedicated to the genocide victims.

"The youth will be camping there – and they will have chants, liturgy,"
she said.

The Armenian General Benevolent Union was formed in 1906, said
Mouradian, by a group of oil-wealthy Armenians in Egypt led by Bughos
Noubar Pasha to help orphans and the needy after "the first genocide"
in 1906.

"We do not only work for Armenian causes or charities, but we are
very involved helping the soup kitchens around the Bay Area," she said.

Mouradian said she is a grandchild of a genocide survivor.

"My grandparents ended up in Ethiopia – East Africa," she said. "And
that’s where my mother was born and my father was only 6 years old
when he re-located to Ethiopia because his parents were survivors of
the genocide. I was born in Ethiopia."

She said Armenians are "scattered" all over the world, but "most of
us now are in Canada, Australia and the USA."

There is a "small" Armenian community in Solano County. "Mostly,
Armenians are around their Armenian Apostolic Church."

Mouradian recently visited Armenia and attended the AGBU Centennial
along with representatives from Argentina, England, France, Austria,
Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Ethiopia – and other countries with AGBU
branches.

photo: ASHKEN MOURADIAN, left, of Vallejo is a member of the Armenian
General Bene-volent Union, based in New York. At right is her husband,
Anton. (J.L. Sousa/Times-Herald)

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LORD RUSSEL-JOHNSTON TO VISIT NAGORNO KARABAKH

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 16 2007

The visit of Lord Russel-Johnston, head of the of Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh to the
conflict zone will be debated in the spring session of the Assembly,
PACE political committee told the APA.

The date of subcommittee head’s visit has not been fixed. It will be
debated by the subcommittee members. The members of the delegation to
accompany Russle-Johnston in the visit have been defined. The members
of Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations to PACE, PACE Monitoring
Committee co-rapporteurs Andres Herkel, Toni Lloyd (Azerbaijan),
Miko Elo and George Colombye (Armenia) will accompany Mr. Johnston
in the visit to Azerbaijan’s occupied regions.

The difference of opinion concerning the visit is connected with the
areas the delegation is going to visit. These areas will be agreed
on during an informal meeting of the delegations [Azerbaijani and
Armenian] within the framework of the session.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GINA OUT OF ARMENIA, AS QUESTIONS LOOM
David Vella

Malta Star, Malta
April 16 2007

Gina Khachatryan, the asylum seeker who was deported from England
to Armenia via Malta last week, has managed to once again leave her
homeland and is now "in a place of safety", according to her friends
in the UK.

But while human rights groups are relieved that she is not in danger
of persecution, journalists in Armenia are casting doubts on whether
or not Gina’s story of her hardships before leaving the country are
actually true.

Khachatryan made headlines in numerous British and Maltese newspapers,
including this e-newspaper, when she appealed for help to prevent her
deportation, since this would have put her, her husband, and their
five year old daughter at risk of political persecution.

The family had been living in the UK as asylum seekers since 2003.

But the British Home Office never granted them refugee status, and
last week the family was taken to a detention centre to be deported.

But human rights groups in the UK, along with a number of
journalists and journalist associations, started rallying against
the deportation. Gina had fled her country after exposing a case
of electoral fraud in 2003. She even spent 40 days in prison before
managing to escape Armenia, or so she claimed.

maltastar.com had talked to Gina herself, hours before she boarded an
Air Malta plane from London to Malta last Friday. She had explained
that she is afraid of going back to her country "because they will
arrest us immediately".

Unable to track down Gina’s story

But during the weekend, at least two journalists working in Armenia,
confirmed that they did not manage to find any details on Gina’s
experience back in 2003. On a blog hosted on the website of ‘The
Guardian’ newspaper, where Gina’s case was first mentioned, Roy
Greenslade wrote that a friend of his in Armenia "was unable to find
anyone at the Yerevan press club or the Investigative Journalists of
Armenia who knew of her or the incident she described. Furthermore,
[he] asked people in the newsroom of Armenia’s public TV company,
where Gina claims to have worked, and no-one there remembered her".

At the same time, in response to these doubts, the editor of
an Armenian newspaper wrote "we, too, have tried to validate Ms
Khachatryan’s claims, but so far found them unsubstantiated".

But, as Greenslade wrote in his blog, this does not necessarily mean
that her story was not true. "None of this is, of course, conclusive
proof that Gina has lied, but Armenian journalists – and journalists
everywhere – will be unhappy if she has pretended to be a journalist
in order to stay illegally in Britain… The truth is that there was
so little time to act after hearing about Gina’s detention that none
of us had time to check her story. On the other hand, we still don’t
know the truth. The whole thing remains a mystery".

TURKS FACE A FUTURE FILLED WITH FEAR
by Catherine Field

New Zealand Herald, New Zealand
April 17 2007

A gentle breeze wrinkles the Bosphorus, the muezzin at the Blue Mosque
calls the faithful to pray and old men sip tiny cups of grainy coffee
in the spring sunshine.

This image of Istanbul is tempting for its timelessness. Yet beneath
its reassuring surface is a country in the grip of powerful change.

Ask Turks where they think their country is or should be heading, and
you will get many answers and all are likely to be tinged with anxiety.

Some fear Turkey is edging towards a religious state; others dread a
backlash by the pro-secular, ultra-nationalist military, who staged
three coups between 1960 and 1980; others fret about a civil war with
the Kurdish minority.

"A few years from now, we don’t know what’s going to happen," says
Mustafa Kemal, a British-educated businessman in his late forties.

"It’s anyone’s guess."

A decade or so ago, what happened in Turkey could be regarded by much
of the world as a sideshow. Not any more.

For one thing, this nation of 71 million people is increasingly
prosperous, rivalling the newer members of the European Union in
per-capita income. It also straddles the main export route for the
oil-rich countries of the Caucasus. But most of all, Turkey plays
the linchpin role in Washington and Brussels’ vision of a Middle East
that is tolerant, stable and democratic.

AdvertisementMany secular Turks worry about creeping Islamism under
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the Islamic-rooted Justice
and Development Party (AKP), who has been in power for the last five
years. Erdogan is expected toannounce this week if he will stand in
next month’s presidential elections.

Last Saturday, around 300,000 people took to the streets of Ankara,
the capital, to set down a marker of support for secularism ahead of
the vote. They rallied in front of the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk,
the revered founder of the Turkish republic, who set up a secular
state, dividing religion from politics, after the collapse of the
Ottoman empire in 1917.

On the eve of the rally, the current President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
issued a sharp warning about the threat to secularism. A former
Constitutional Court judge, Sezer has vetoed a record number of laws he
deemed in violation of the secular constitution. He has also blocked
Government efforts to appoint hundreds of reportedly Islamic-oriented
candidates to key civil service jobs.

"Since the foundation of the republic, Turkey’s political regime
has never been under such threat," Sezer said. "For the first
time in history, the fundamental values of the republic have been
questioned and both domestic and foreign forces want Turkey to become
a conservative Islamic model."

Prodded by the EU as a precondition for membership negotiations,
Erdogan has pushed forward some important pro-democracy reforms,
including curbs on powers of the military. As a result, the death
penalty has been scrapped, tougher safeguards introduced against
torture and headway made in women’s rights and Kurdish culture.

But Erdogan has also tried to criminalise adultery – he backed down
under EU pressure – appoint an Islamic central banker, taken steps
to strengthen religious schools and spoken out against restrictions
on wearing Islamic-style headscarves in government offices and the
schoolroom. These, say critics, are signs that he will push an Islamic
agenda if he becomes head of state, a charge that Erdogan denies.

Sezer steps down as President on May 16. His successor will be chosen
by Parliament, which is dominated by AKP politicians.

Nationalism and ethnic frictions are other toxic additions to Turkey’s
problems.

In January, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who challenged
the state position that the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in
World War I was not genocide, was shot dead outside his office. An
ultra-nationalist teenager has confessed to the killing – and the
debate rages over whether the youth had links with networks within
the state and security forces.

Even more troubling, though, is the prospect of fresh bloodshed over
the Kurdish question. The Kurds live in an area straddling east and
southeast Turkey, as well as smaller areas of Iraq, Iran and Syria.

More than 30,000 people were killed in Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s in
fighting between the Turkish Army and secessionist Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK).

Strengthened by the establishment of a quasi-independent Kurdish entity
in northern Iraq as a result of the war, the PKK has stepped up its
operations across the border in Turkey, and Turkish troop deaths are
now running at several a day.

Washington relied on stability in the Kurdish south, said Andrew
McGregor of the Aberfoyle International Security Analysis in Canada.

"Southern Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base is a crucial staging ground for
US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

"The US is unwilling to open a new front in northern Iraq, nor can
it afford to lose its support from Iraq’s Kurdish population. Kurds
provide the most reliable units in the reformed Iraqi national Army."

In 2003, many in Turkey predicted the Iraq War would be disastrous
for their country, sensing it would strengthen the PKK and bolster
Kurdish demands on Turkish soil. Now the predictions appear to be
coming true, with all the potential for driving a massive wedge
between Ankara and Washington.

"It is the great under-reported story of the Iraq War," said Steven
Cook, of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The war within

* Turkey’s staunchly pro-secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer warned
at the weekend that the threat Islamic fundamentalism poses to the
country’s secular establishment has reached its highest level.

* His comments were directed at the Islamic-rooted Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected this week to say if he is
prepared to serve as president.

* Erdogan has tried to push through pro-Islamic laws and appointments,
but has also given in to European Union demands and has denied having
an anti-secular agenda.

* Parliament will elect a new president after Sezer stands down on
May 16.

* Turkey’s secularists fear that if Erdogan – or someone close to
him – wins the presidency, the government will be able to implement
an Islamic agenda without opposition.

* Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic, set up a secular
state, dividing religion from politics, after the collapse of the
Ottoman empire in 1917.

MOSCOW SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ARMENIAN POWER HANDOVER
By Emil Danielyan

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 16 2007

With less than a month to go before Armenia’s crucial parliamentary
elections, Russia has signaled its support for an anticipated handover
of power from Armenian President Robert Kocharian to newly appointed
Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian. In a series of early April visits to
Yerevan, senior Russian officials indicated Moscow’s strong opposition
to regime change in the loyal South Caucasus state. The Russians
also plan to send a record-high number of election observers, in an
apparent bid to counter and/or water down Western criticism of the
Armenian authorities’ handling of the May 12 vote.

Control of Armenia’s next parliament is essential for the success of
Sarkisian’s plans to succeed Kocharian after the latter completes
his second and final term in office in March 2008. His governing
Republican Party (HHK) is widely regarded as the election frontrunner
not so much because of its popularity as its vote-rigging capacity
that manifested itself during the previous legislative polls. Talk of
Sarkisian’s presidential ambitions intensified after he was named to
replace Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, who died of a heart attack
on March 25. Some Russian media and pro-Kremlin analysts said that
Sarkisian is Moscow’s preferred candidate for the Armenian presidency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov effectively confirmed
this as he visited Yerevan on April 3. "The official position of
Russia coincides with the unofficial position of Russia," he told
journalists. Lavrov stressed the need for continuity in the Kocharian
administration’s policies, which he said have proved beneficial for
Armenia. Russia wants to see a "continued movement in that direction,"
he said. "Russia, which traditionally plays an important role in
internal political processes in Armenia, has made it clear who it
has sided with," the Moscow daily Kommersant wrote on April 9.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov made it even clearer
during a separate visit to Armenia two days later. Ivanov said he
and Sarkisian had developed "not only good businesslike but also
personal relations" in their previous capacity as defense ministers
of the two countries. "The human capital which we developed in the
past few years is very useful and allows us to discuss many issues
in a straightforward and frank manner," he said at a news conference.

Sarkisian underlined the significance of Ivanov’s trip by greeting
and bidding farewell to the Russian deputy prime minister at Yerevan
airport, despite his higher government rank. Russian backing has helped
him and Kocharian to keep the Armenian opposition at bay throughout
their nearly decade-long joint rule. It will also bode well for the
realization of his presidential ambitions, which seem to be approved
by Kocharian. The Armenian constitution bars Kocharian from seeking a
third five-year term. But he is clearly keen to remain in government
in some other capacity.

The administration of President Vladimir Putin has little reason
to be unhappy with Armenia’s two most powerful men. After all,
they were instrumental in the signing in recent years of highly
controversial agreements that have given Moscow a near total control
over the Armenian energy sector. Sarkisian has personally negotiated
those deals in his capacity as co-chairman of a Russian-Armenian
inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. He and
Kocharian have also bolstered the Russian presence in other sectors
of the Armenian economy such as telecommunication. In addition,
membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the
continued presence of Russian troops in Armenia remain key elements
of Yerevan’s national security doctrine.

All of that has more than offset Yerevan’s increased security links
with the West, including the launch of an individual partnership
action plan with NATO and the dispatch of Armenian troops to Kosovo
and Iraq. True, the Russians have covertly sponsored some pro-Russian
opposition groups in Armenia. But they seem to have done so in order
to hold the Kocharian-Sarkisian duo in check, rather than to cause
its downfall.

Moscow appears to be disinterested in regime change in Armenia also
because of its broader opposition to the democratization of the
political systems of this and other former Soviet republics. Two of
those states, Georgia and Ukraine, are now led by staunchly pro-Western
presidents as a result of democratic revolutions sparked by rigged
elections. Armenia could likewise have a less pro-Russian regime if
its current leaders hold a democratic election and run the risk of
losing power.

Incidentally, the first foreign visitor received by Sarkisian after
his April 4 appointment as prime minister was Vladimir Rushailo,
the Russian executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent
States. Rushailo arrived in Yerevan to discuss preparations for
the upcoming elections. After the talks he announced that the CIS
Secretariat plans to deploy some 200 election observers in Armenia,
far more than it did in the past. Unlike their counterparts from
the OSCE and the Council of Europe, CIS observers described the
previous Armenian parliamentary and presidential elections tainted
with widespread fraud as "free and fair." Their next verdict will
hardly be more negative. The drastic increase in the size of the CIS
observer mission, to be headed by Rushailo, is clearly aimed at giving
its statements greater credibility.

Russia also intends to seriously influence the findings of some
330 mostly Western observers that are due to monitor the Armenian
elections on behalf of the OSCE. Their opinion will be key to the
international legitimacy of the vote. As a leading OSCE member state,
Russia can contribute up to 10% of the organization’s vote monitoring
missions. As Lavrov stated in Yerevan, Moscow, which has slammed the
OSCE for questioning the legitimacy of former Soviet governments,
will for the first time use its participation quota in full.

(168 Zham, April 12; Haykakan Zhamanak, April 10; Kommersant, April 9;
RFE/RL Armenia Report, April 3, April 5)

LATVIA SUPPORTS SOLUTION TO THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT BASED ON INTERNATIONAL LAW PRINCIPLES

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 16 2007

Latvia’s Foreign Minister Atris Pabriks, visiting Baku met with his
Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

Elmar Mammadyarov said that regional issues, the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, economic cooperation, energy cooperation,
holding Azerbaijani days in Latvia and Latvian days in Azerbaijan,
interparliamentary cooperation were discussed during the meeting.

Calling Azerbaijan the economic leader of the region, Atris Pabriks
reminded that Latvia is the member of European Union and NATO and
said Azerbaijan will implement plans for cooperation with these
organizations.

Minister said Latvian investors and tourists are getting interested
in Azerbaijan.

Highly appreciating the relations between the two countries, Mr.Pabriks
underlined the necessity of extending them.

Taking a stance on ‘presidential elections’ in the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Latvian minister said that his country supports the
solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on the norms and
principles of the international law and wishes to see the South
Caucasus countries as friendly and peaceful countries. Pabriks noted
that special plans will be carried out for Azerbaijan’s integration
into NATO and the European Union.

Elmar Mammadyarov said Latvia’s 15-year practice of independence is
very interesting for Azerbaijan. He said Azerbaijan is studying the
experience of these countries.

Mammadyarov also touched upon the mass burial place of Azerbaijani
civilians killed by Armenians at the beginning of the last century.

"It is a very serious problem. The Foreign Ministry is seriously
engaged in this problem," he said.

Commenting on preparation of a general plan of Shusha by Armenians,
who have occupied Azerbaijani territories, Minister Mammadyarov
underlined that this action contradicts peace.

"If an agreement had been reached on the solution to the conflict
and IDPs returned to their places, then preparation of general plan
of Shusha would have been a positive initiative. But in this case it
is unacceptable," he underlined.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian organizations launch "Light the Night" campaign
16.04.2007 13:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the eve of April 24th, ArmeniaDiaspora and
Armenica encourage to "Light the Night" by lighting a candle through
the night of the 23rd and into the morning of the 24th, in remembrance
of the 1.5 million souls that fell victim to the annihilation machine
of the Ottoman Empire. `Each lit candle placed on the window sill will
represent a soul lost throughout the years of 1915 and 1923. Together,
let’s "Light the Night", let’s vow to remember, to never forget, and
to pursue justice and peace for all humanity.

The Light the Night campaign started two years ago in connection to
the 90th remembrance day of the Armenian Genocide and we wish to
continue this campaign hoping that it will be a permanent
tradition. Last year the campaign received wide TV and radio coverage
in Armenia and this year Printinfo has volunteered to contribute to
the campaign by printing flyers free of charge for distribution within
Armenia. We hope that you also could join us in this tradition,’ says
the statement issued by the organizations.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turks press Erdogan not to run for President
16.04.2007 13:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Some 150,000 people have demonstrated in Turkey’s
capital, Ankara, to demand that religion and politics should be kept
separate in their country. Protesters carried banners of Kemal
Ataturk, the revered founder of the Turkish republic as a secular
state. The rally comes two days before the presidential election
process begins and is intended to pressure current PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan not to stand.

His opponents accuse him of having an Islamic agenda – a charge he
denies. Tens of thousands of people were bussed into Ankara from
across Turkey to attend the rally near Ataturk’s mausoleum. The area
was packed with people, many of them draped in the red-and-white
national flag and chanting anti-Islamic slogans.

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular forever," they shouted. "I
feel a little scared about the developments. I would not like to have
an Islamic regime in Turkey," one demonstrator said. "I would like to
protect the secular system. That’s why I am here. Especially as a
female, this is very important for me." For many Turks, maintaining
the strict divide between religion and politics is key to keeping
mainly Muslim Turkey a moderate, modern republic.

There has been increasing speculation that Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice
and Development Party, which has its roots in political Islam, will
nominate him as its candidate to replace the current President, Ahmet
Necdet Sezer, who steps down in May. If nominated, he would be almost
certain to be elected by parliament, where his party has a healthy
majority. But despite the large turnout at the rally, the secular
establishment, including the army, has no real power to prevent Mr
Erdogan from becoming president. In five years in power, Mr Erdogan’s
government has overseen a wide range of democratic reforms. However,
critics point to earlier attempts to criminalize adultery and appoint
an Islamic central banker as signs of things to come.

Mr Sezer warned in a speech on Friday that the threat to Turkey of
Islamic radicalism was stronger than ever. Correspondents say Mr Sezer
has used the post of president, although largely ceremonial, to speak
up for secularism, vetoing laws he deemed in violation of the secular
constitution. Mr Sezer’s warning came a day after the influential army
chief said the country needed a committed secularist in the
presidential palace, BBC reports.

Third group of Turkish lawmakers leaves for the US to lobby

ArmRadio.am
16.04.2007 13:28

The last group of parliamentarians made up of deputies from the ruling
and opposition parties departed for the United States over the weekend
to lobby against a resolution recognizing the killings of Armenians as
genocide. Speaking to reporters before departure, YaÅ?ar
YakıÅ? of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) said
they would seek support in Washington against the resolution, reports
the Turkish Daily News.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress