Month: April 2007

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Kenya
April 14 2006

Release the Kiruki report on Artur brothers, urges Koigi.

Written By:Daniel Langat , Posted: Sat, Apr 14, 2007

Caption: The Commission was appointed to investigate the activities
of the two Armenian brothers.

Assistant Minister for Information and Communication Koigi Wa Mwere
is urging the Government to release the Kiruki Commission report on
the Artur Brothers to the public.

Koigi says the matter is of national concern and Kenyans need to know
the findings of the Commission, which was set up by the Government to
investigate the activities of the two Armenian brothers.

He said the release of the report would clear the air since every
time issues concerning them were raised Kenyans become alarmed.

Koigi was speaking to Kenya News Agency after attending a two-day
workshop in Nanyuki said.

Several opposition leaders have also voiced their concern and asked
the government to release the findings of the commission.

The government has since denied allegations that the deported
brothers are back in the country.

France24, France
April 14 2006

Egypt and Armenia discuss Iran’s nuclear programme

Send by e-mail Save Print Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
President Hosni Mubarak discussed Iran’s controversial nuclear
programme in Cairo on Saturday.

"Their talks covered the Iranian nuclear issue, developments in the
region and the Gulf. Armenia is particularly interested in the
nuclear file since it shares its southern frontier with Iran,"
Suleiman Awad told journalists.

Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful civilian
purposes, but Western states suspect it may be used to develop a
nuclear bomb, and have slapped sanctions on Tehran in a bid to get it
to halt the project.

"Iraq also featured in the discussions, which covered regional
problems in Central Asia, particularly the conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh," Awad said.

During Kocharian’s three-day visit, the interior ministers of both
countries are expected to sign accords on organised crime, judicial
cooperation and customs.

On Sunday, Kocharian will meet the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Mohammed
Sayyed Tantawi, one of the most prominent figures in Sunni Islam.

Once home to a massive Armenian community, Egypt has close historical
ties with Armenia — in 1878, Armenian Nubar Pasha became the
country’s first prime minister.

In the 1940s some 40,000 Armenians lived in Egypt, mostly in Cairo
and Alexandria, although many left in the 1960s with the rise of
Egyptian nationalism and more socialist laws that hit Armenian
businesses.

Today some 8,000 people of Armenian origin live in Egypt, according
to the community’s website.

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Arka News Agency, Armenia
April 14 2006

"LAW-GOVERNED COUNTRY" PARTY INFORMS CEC OF INACCURACIES IN VPOTERS’
LISTS

YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. The "Law-Governed Country" party has
informed the RA Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of inaccuracies in
voter’s lists, Chairman of the party Arttur Baghdasaryan told
reporters.
"The matter is that in monitoring the lists we discovered a number of
inaccuracies – deceased people, people outside Armenia and so on," he
said. Baghdasaryan said that the party addressed two letters to the
CEC, which are currently under consideration. We will be consistent
in monitoring voters’ lists and informing the CEC and the relevant
police departments of the inaccuracies," Baghdasaryan said.
The "Law-Governed Country" party was founded in 1997 and has about
100,000 members. The party has chapters in all Armenian regions. The
party’s slate includes 120 names.
The parliamentary elections are to be held in Armenia on May 12,
2007. P.T. -0–

Arka News Agency, Armenia
April 14 2006

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: LARGER-SCALE COOPERATION BETWEEN CIS FRONTIER
TROOPS NECESSITY

YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. Larger-scale cooperation between frontier
troops of the CIS member-countries is a necessity, RA President
Robert Kocharyan stated at his meeting with a delegation of the
Council of Commanders of the CIS Frontier Troops headed by Council
Chairman Vladimir Pronichev.
Greater danger of terrorism and drug dissemination in the world issue
more serious challenges to the frontier troops so larger-scale
cooperation between the CIS frontier troops has become a necessity,
Kocharyan said.
The guests also informed the Armenian president of the tasks
discussed at the 57th meeting of the Council held in Tsakhkadzor as
well as the approaches to the accomplishment of tasks.
Participating in the Councils’ meeting were members of the CIS
Executive Committee, Secretariat of the CIS Council of Ministers of
Defense, Collective Security Treaty Organization, Secretariat of the
EurAsEC Integration Committee and the CIS Antiterrorist Center.
The meeting discussed issues of battling international terrorism,
organized crime, drug trafficking and illegal migration.
The Council of Commanders of the CIS Frontier Troops was formed under
a decision of the CIS Council of Heads of State of July 6, 1992, and
is a collegial body of the Council of the Heads of State and the CIS
Council of the Heads of Government for coordination of protection of
the CIS external borders and economic zones. Among the members of the
Council of Commanders of the CIS Frontier Troops are chiefs and
commanders of the CIS frontier troops. P.T. -0–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HUMANITARIAN AID TO NAGORNO KARABAKH DWINDLES

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
13 April 07

We have learned from the head of the department of humanitarian aid of
the NKR Ministry of Social Security that in 2006 NKR received
humanitarian aid of about 66 million 151 thousand drams. Organizations
and individuals from Armenia, the United States, France, Germany and
Russia provided second hand medical equipment and medicine for 13
million 810 thousand drams, food for 46 million 900 thousand drams,
secondhand clothes for 83 060 drams, different appliances for 55
million 355 thousand drams. Humanitarian aid comes through the
programs of the Stepanakert office of the Red Cross, The HALO Trust
(U.K.), Shen (France) the Armenian Evangelical Association and Agape
(U.S.). According to M. Dadayan, in 2006 humanitarian aid to Karabakh
went down by 10 million 727 thousand, which he explains by the social
and economic growth in the country.

SVETLANA KHACHATRIAN.
13-04-2007

di-ve.com, Malta
April 14 2006

Deported Armenian journalist did not apply for refugee status –
Charles Buttigieg

by Paul Cachia, di-ve news ([email protected])

GUDJA, Malta (di-ve news)–April 14, 2007 – 1300CEST–A tricky
diplomatic situation could have developed at the Malta International
Airport on Friday as an Armenian journalist who fled her country
after exposing electoral fraud arrived in Malta from the UK.

TV reporter Jina Khachatryan lived in the UK for five years as an
asylum seekers but her request for refugee status and turned down by
the British authorities.

According to Maltastar last Monday, the British police cordoned off
the street where Jina lived in Salford and was ordered her family to
pack up. Together with her husband, and five-year-old daughter was
thrown out of the UK.

Ms.Khachatryan claimed that her life in danger if she is sent back to
Armenia after blowing the whistle on ballot-rigging.

She arrived in Malta on board an Air Malta flight but during her
nine-hour stay, she did not apply for a refugee status in Malta.

The Refugee Commissioner Mr.Charles Buttigieg told that
his office did not receive any application for a refugee status.

He added that this issue was handled by the Immigration police.

Meanwhile, the Journalists’ Committee and the Institute of Maltese
Journalists called on the local authorities to intervene in the case
of Gina Khachatryan.

The Institute of Maltese Journalists also called on the British
authorities to reverse their decision not to extend Ms Khachatryan’s
stay in the United Kingdom.

"As a promoter of democracy and human rights on a global scale, the
United Kingdom should not shrink its responsability in this case and
hand over Ms Khachatryan and her family to the Armenian government".

On its part, the Journalists’ Committee called on the Maltese
government to seek the reassurances of the British government that
Ms.Khachatryan will be free from any form of presecution and
intimidation by the Armenian authorities and that the reason for the
removal of her asylum status is in full conformity with fundamental
human rights.

Nashua Telegraph, NH
April 14 2006

Students educate peers on horrors of genocide abroad

By MICHAEL BRINDLEY, Telegraph Staff

With picture after picture of dead bodies displayed on the screen
behind her, Sarah Weinstein talks about the history of genocide in
the world. Nashua High School South students put on two assemblies
Friday to educate fellow students about the atrocities that have
claimed so many lives in Darfur, Sudan, and other parts of the world.

Order this photo

The uneasiness was palpable, as the audience had just finished
watching a slideshow depicting the horrors of mass genocide over the
past several decades. That was precisely the reaction the students
putting on the presentation were hoping for.

`It just seemed like no one said a word,’ said Kelci Adams, a junior
at Nashua High School South. `It was just silent. One girl was
crying. We weren’t expecting that.’

On the overhead projector in the Nashua High School South auditorium,
the audience, made up of students and school staff, was shown
gruesome images of human brutality, dating back to the Armenian
genocide, which spanned from 1915-17.

Moving ahead in time to the Holocaust and advancing to the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, the students making the presentation finally made
their way to the focus of Friday’s assembly – the genocide occurring
in Darfur, Sudan.

Adams is part of the student organization `Not In Our School,’ a
tolerance committee associated with the student senate. The group
hosted two assemblies Friday to help students understand the
atrocities that continue today in other parts of the world.

`We just want people to know what’s going on,’ said senior Sarah
Weinstein, chairwoman of the group. She helped start it last year
after learning in her French class about the genocide occurring in
Darfur.

`I had no idea what Darfur was,’ she said, but she knew she wanted to
learn more about it and do what she could to help.According to
savedarfur.org, at least 400,000 people have been killed in a
conflict in the region that has spanned more than three years. In
addition, 2 million civilians have been displaced, forced to leave
their homes.

A militia group known as the Janjaweed is responsible for the
killing. Just last month, as many as 400 people were killed during a
single incident in Chad, an African country that borders the Darfur
region.

Last year, Weinstein made a DVD about the genocide and displayed it
in the hallways as students went to their classes. But she said that
wasn’t effective, so this year, she wanted to organize an assembly.

During the presentation, junior Vijay Setty tried to put the number
of people killed into perspective for the audience, by using the high
school’s 2,000-student population as a measuring stick.

`In less than a week, we would all be dead,’ he told the audience.

Outside of the auditorium, there were sign-up sheets for a `peaceful
gathering’ outside of City Hall on May 19. There were also handmade
bracelets for students to take with them, as a reminder of the
genocide.

The students began planning the assemblies in November. Weinstein
said the group had to fundraise to buy the bracelets, so they could
be provided to students for free. The money for the bracelets went to
help the people in the region.

Weinstein said the group has also sent letters to U.S. Sens. Judd
Gregg and John Sununu, and she received letters back, explaining what
they were each doing to bring attention to the situation in Darfur.

Adams said she and other students would be collecting new and used
blankets to send over to the Darfur region, as part of the Blankets
of Love project for the area.

As part of the presentation, students heard a prerecorded interview
with Assumpta Gakuba, a 2005 graduate of Nashua South, who survived
the genocide in Rwanda, although she lost most of her family.

Gakuba is now a student at the University of New Hampshire. Weinstein
reinforced to students that Gakuba was one of them.

Tom White, coordinator for educational outreach for the Cohen Center
for Holocaust Studies at Keene State College, spoke at the morning
assembly and told students if they felt anything after seeing the
images, they had a responsibility to take action.

`It won’t count unless you do something,’ he said. `Buying a bracelet
is just the beginning.’

He urged students not to rely on the media to tell them what’s
important, because they aren’t going to cover issues like the Darfur
genocide.

Young people need to educate themselves and to make sure elected
officials understand their concerns, he said.

`The most significant thing you can do right now is protest,’ he told
students.

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Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006

Betul Aslan: Reports of Armenian massacres in Erzurum are kept in
archives

[ 14 Apr 2007 14:28 ]

`Archeologists carry out archeological excavations in order to find
mass burial site. But to find the places of the graves it is
important to use archive materials and reports. The evidence
testimony of 12 year-old Ali Gurjan played great role in finding
place of burial site occurred as the result of Armenian massacres in
Erzurum,’ author of book `Armenian events in Erzurum -1918-1920
(memories-documents-excavations)’ Betul Aslan told APA’s Turkey
bureau.

Noting that this excavation was carried out in Timar village of
Erzurum oblast on July 7, 1993, the author said the previous
excavation was carried out on October 7, 1988.
`Found shawls, hairs, sheets of Koran and buttons again prove that
the buried in this site are Muslims, Turks. The anthropological
analyses also proved it. Some foreign journalists took part in
excavations. After Armenians committed massacre and left the region
Turkish army came to the site and made the reports of the events. I
have included the reports in my book,’ Betul Aslan said. /APA/

St. Catharines Standard, Canada
April 14 2006

Remembering a Titanic survivor; Family reflects as 95th anniversary
of sinking nears

Amy Lazar / Standard Staff
Local News – Friday, April 13, 2007 @ 01:00

Most of what Angeline Krekorian knows about her father’s escape from
the sinking Titanic has come from newspaper articles.

"He just never spoke about it," said Angeline, 76. "He told us the
story once and that was it."

The youngest of the late Nesham Krekorian’s three children learned
early on to keep questions about her father’s past to herself.

Still, over the years she has collected newspaper articles, magazine
stories and books, which she and her brother, George, leafed through
at her St. Catharines home Thursday, just days before the 95th
anniversary of Titanic’s sinking.

Her father was just 25 years old when the majestic Titanic sunk April
15, 1912.

He rarely recounted his journey on the ship’s maiden voyage.

However, before he died at the age of 92 in 1978, Krekorian shared
some of his memories with Alan Hudak, who wrote the book Titanic: The
Canadian Story.

In April 1912, Krekorian fled the village of Keghi, in
Turkish-occupied Armenia, with a group of friends who wanted to
immigrate to Canada.

According to one account, he made his way to Southampton, England –
though his family never got a straight answer about how – and boarded
the oceanliner as a third-class passenger.

Another account has Krekorian embarking from the first port Titanic
stopped at, Cherbourg, France. And that’s not the only mystery.

In Titanic’s List or Manifest of Alien Passengers, Krekorian is
listed as Nishan Krikorian, 27, and married.

The name of his wife is given as "Dilbar Arokian Krikorian," but it
is possible he gave his mother’s name and it was recorded by the
immigration official as his wife, since his family believes he was
single at the time.

"He had no formal training or education in English," George, 80,
said. "He picked it up, he knew how to sign his name, but for lack of
a better way to say it, he was an illiterate immigrant."

Krekorian told Hudak he remembered hearing the crash and feeling the
ship "scud back and tilt to one side" the night the ship hit the
iceberg.

Then confusion and panic set in.

Affluent passengers on the higher decks were loaded into lifeboats,
while steerage passengers were stuck on the lower levels.

"I think my father was above the engine room, but they automatically
closed all the gates," George said. "He told me there was an axe and
he had to break the door down and get up three levels."

Once he was there, the story takes a horrific turn.

He saw men watching from the deck as women and children were lowered
in lifeboats to float in the icy Atlantic.

Eventually, there was pushing and shoving as the number of boats
decreased and people realized they would have to fight for a seat.

Though it has been reported that Krekorian was a stowaway on one of
the lifeboats, the family insists he saw an opportunity and jumped at
it.

"There were two male rowers in a boat in a death grip and one went
overboard, so my dad leapt into the water and got into the rowboat,"
George said.

The records show he was on Boat 10, which was rescued about six hours
later by the Cunard line passenger steamer Carpathia.

He was among about 700 survivors who were brought to New York City
and there, he was treated for pneumonia. About 1,500 people died.

Ship owner White Star Lines gave Krekorian a ticket to Brantford,
where he stayed for a few years before moving to St. Catharines in
1918.

Krekorian found a job at McKinnon Industries Ltd., a foundry later
purchased by General Motors. He married Persa when he was 38 and they
had three children: Alice, who lives in Toronto, George and Angeline.

The siblings plan to visit Krekorian’s grave at Victoria Lawn
Cemetery to mark the anniversary in silence.

[email protected]

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Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 14 2006

SEMA Associates recognized nowhere

[ 14 Apr 2007 13:02 ]

SEAM Associates, a Californians-based company which developed the
general plan of an Azeri town Shusha under illegal occupation by
Armenia, is not recognized as a serious group anywhere, even the
territory it was registered in.

The Armenian-led company has four small offices in Irvine and Lake
Forest, south of California.
For three days, APA correspondent in the USA have tried to contact
the company in vain and nobody answered phones. It is allegedly said
an Armenian named Seda Yaghobiyan runs the so-called company. The
company has no website. Commerce Chambers of Irvine and Lake Forest
said they have never heard of the so-called firm.
It turns out that SEMA Associates is a political instrument in
Armenian diaspora’s hand.
Because the United States firmly recognizes the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan, it is impossible for any US company to illegally
operate in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. /APA/