Month: April 2007

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND SERGEY IVANOV DISCUSSED ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN COOPERATION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

Today RA President received a Russian delegation headed by RF vice
premier Sergey Ivanov.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA President’s
Press Office, in the course of the meeting the parties discussed the
issues referring to bilateral Armenian-Russian cooperation, in part,
in the sphere of economy.

The interlocutors noted the expansion of trade turnover between RA and
RF was a result of Armenian-Russian partnership’s dynamic development.

In the course of the meeting the parties also considered the issues
referring to the exploitation of five Armenian enterprises given
to the Russian party, the problems of transport communication and
regional cooperation.

MONTH CALLS TO MIND VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Jackie Barber

The UCLA Daily Bruin, CA
April 11 2007

Voices recounting tragic tales and staggering death tolls projected
over a loudspeaker from Meyerhoff Park on Tuesday as speakers from
several human rights groups promoted the Armenian Student Association’s
Genocide Awareness Month, taking place all of April.

Speakers talked about five different conflicts: the Armenian Genocide,
the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and the
conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, which the U.S. government
has called a genocide.

The Turkish government denies the deaths collectively called the
Armenian Genocide constitute a genocide because it maintains they
resulted from the effects of World War I and not an extermination of
the Armenians. Currently, the U.S. government does not officially
recognize the Armenian Genocide either, though a majority of the
international community acknowledges the situation as a genocide.

One of the event’s organizers, Babken DerGrigorian, said Tuesday’s
event was intended to educate people on multiple genocides.

"All genocides are connected through the cycle of genocide, which
begins with massacres, but ends with denial," DerGrigorian said.

He explained the group decided to designate April as Genocide Awareness
Month because April 24 is generally the designated Genocide Remembrance
Day for Armenians, Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 15th, and Darfur
is also commemorated in April.

"This is the first time we’re doing this, but we hope to do it every
year from now on," DerGrigorian said.

He explained the group decided to begin the month by reviewing all
genocides, then honing in on Armenia specifically.

"We kind of took an inverted pyramid approach (to the month’s events),
where we start with as many genocides as possible, then focus more
on Armenian Genocide as we approach the end of April," he said.

The month is sponsored by eight human rights groups. The next event,
focusing on America’s response to genocide, is to take place on
April 17.

Then, on April 23, events will specifically address the Armenian
Genocide, he said. The group will hold a rally in Bruin Plaza and
host speakers for a lecture in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.

"One of the most important speakers who will be coming is actually
a Turkish professor, Taner Akcam," DerGrigorian said. "He was a
professor in Turkey who spoke out against the Armenian Genocide,
and was prosecuted under the same code as Huran Dink."

Unlike Dink, however, Akcam survived this prosecution, and is now a
professor at the University of Michigan.

One of the ASA’s reasons for educating students about the Armenian
Genocide is to work toward gaining U.S. recognition of the genocide,
said Gabriyel Mamikonyan, ASA secretary and third-year economics
student.

Peter Cowe, a Near Eastern language and culture professor, pointed
out though the genocide is not fully recognized in the U.S., it is
widely recognized elsewhere.

"So many other countries, so many other states in the U.S. have
indeed accepted that the term genocide, albeit coined much later,
applies to the Armenian situation," Cowe said.

DerGrigorian said he believes the U.S. does not recognize it formally
in order to preserve relations with Turkey.

Mamikonyan expressed his belief in the importance of gaining
recognition.

"(The U.S.) stresses human rights and justice," he said. "By not
recognizing the Armenian Genocide they are not setting a good example
for the rest of the world."

Mamikonyan said the group is promoting House Resolution 106, and
encouraging others to support it by writing to their congressmen.

According to the U.S. Government Printing Office’s Web site, the
resolution requests that U.S. foreign policy acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide.

Cowe stressed the importance of genocide awareness for preventing
future tragedies, as well as providing closure for descendants of
Armenian Genocide victims.

"They feel they have been denied the justice that applies to their
forefathers. As a result this is a psychological wound which is open
to this whole community," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANCA CRITICIZES TURKEY FOR BLOCKING U.N. EXHIBIT ON THE RWANDA GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has sharply condemned
the Turkish government for blocking the opening of a United Nations
exhibit on the Rwanda Genocide due to an indirect mention of the
Armenian Genocide in one of the exhibit’s display panels.

"Sadly, this is only the most recent example of how Turkey’s campaign
to deny the Armenian Genocide perpetuates the cycle of genocide,
making the world a more dangerous place and future genocides more
likely," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

The Associate Press reported earlier that the United Nations,
bowing to Turkish protests, had delayed the opening of the exhibit,
organized by the Aegis Trust, in the international organization’s
highly trafficked visitor’s lobby. The Turkish mission specifically
registered its objections to a reference in the exhibit concerning the
origin of the word "genocide," which mentioned that Raphael Lemkin,
the international lawyer and human rights activist, who coined this
term, had been influenced by the crimes committed against the Armenians
and other mass killings.

Commenting on the exhibit’s postponement James Smith, the chief
executive of the British-based Aegis Trust, said that, "If we can’t
get this right, it undermines all the values of the U.N. It undermines
everything the U.N. is meant to stand for in terms of preventing
(genocide). . . You can’t learn the lessons from history if you’re
going to sweep all of that history under the carpet. What about
accountability? What about ending impunity if you’re going to hide
a part of the truth? It makes a mockery of all of this."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘THE MICROSOFT INNOVATION DAY’ HELD IN YEREVAN

Arminfo
2007-04-10 14:50:00

Today the Microsoft Corporation held a conference "The Microsoft
Innovation Day" in Yerevan with participation of representatives of
ministries, departments and private enterprises.

The Armenian Minister of Trade and Economic Development, Karen
Chshmaritian, thanked the Microsoft representatives for their attention
paid to Armenia and investments made in the innovation system of
Armenia. K.Chshmaritian noted that this conference is the first step
within the framework of the conception signed between the Armenian
Government and Microsoft. He added that at the moment the country
needs the innovation culture of Microsoft. K.Chshmaritian thinks
that spreading of this culture in Armenia may be of a prospective
significance for both the country’s economy and the society in
general. The minister pointed out that the Armenian Government
attaches much importance to the scientific and educational system and
its infrastructures. At the same time he emphasized that it is the
innovation system that can ensure the society’s self-education, as the
system consists of various institutions affecting the primary source of
the population’s knowledge. According to the minister, the guarantor
of the stable development of the country is the knowledge which can
be neither taken away nor restricted. "Later the knowledge-based
economy of Armenia may have its deserved place on a global scale,"
K.Chshmarityan said. To implement this task, the government of the
country has taken a number of steps, including the approval of the
conception on assisting IT which implies state assistance to those
programs which directly connect knowledge with economy. "I’d like this
conference to have an applied relevance to the economy of Armenia,"
he said.

In his turn, the head of the Microsoft-Armenia, Grigor Barseghyan,
noted that the Corporation annually makes investments worth billions
in the formation of new portfolios of services and development of
innovation technologies.

According to him, these portfolios grow with every passing year. "The
role of innovation technologies is of special significance for
developing Armenia," G.Barseghyan said. At the same time, he pointed
out that the key goal of the conference is to present and discuss
the role of application of innovation and progressive technologies
for the development of both Armenian and international economies,
as well as the impact of innovations on the rise of competitiveness
of the country, and the importance of innovations as a stimulus of
establishment of a science-intensive economy. "The conference will
also give an opportunity to the participants to establish multilateral
cooperation to raise the competitiveness of Armenia," he said.

MICROSOFT CORPORATION PLANS TO EXTEND ITS ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA

Arminfo
2007-04-10 17:25:00

The Microsoft Corporation is going to extend its activity in Armenia,
Paul Muckleston, director of Business Management and Strategy Center
CEE of Microsoft, said at the conference "The Microsoft Innovation
Day", Tuesday.

He emphasized that Armenia has great prospects for development of the
IT sphere which is based on the respect for rights of intellectual
property. At the same time, P.Muckleston noted that the Corporation
intends to set up a Microsoft innovation center, and to conduct an
aggressive policy contributing to the increase of the number of local
IT companies. The Corporation wants to support the outsourcing to
help development of about 50 program packages of exporter companies
working on the basis of Microsoft technologies, he noted. He added
that the Corporation will prepare about a thousand of graduates with
Microsoft certificates before 2010. This goal is conditioned by the
growing demand for human resources in Armenian enterprises and state
administration.

According to P.Muckleston’s forecast, the number of specialists in the
Armenian enterprises of IT sphere will range from 15 thsd to 20 thsd by
2010, and the annual income of this sphere will total about $150 mln.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. GOVERNMENT PROVIDES FUNDING FOR NEW PHYSICAL SECURITY SYSTEM FOR ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Arminfo
2007-04-10 17:15:00

On April 10, 2007, the staff of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
dedicated an improved and upgraded Physical Security System.

The press service of the US Embassy in Armenia reports that this new
system, developed with $3.5 million in technical and financial support
from the U.S. Department of Energy, includes upgraded physical access
infrastructure, badges and video monitoring. Acting Deputy Chief of
Mission Robin Phillips presented the remarks below at the dedication
ceremony.

ANPP Dedication of the Physical Safety Upgrade Project Remarks as
prepared for Delivery April 10, 2007

– It is a pleasure to be here today to mark another milestone in the
long-standing cooperation between Armenia and the United States on
improving safety at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.

– We appreciate the Armenian government’s commitment to promoting
safer operations at the plant while at the same time working towards
plant decommissioning.

– Since 1996, the USG has provided more than $35 million to upgrade the
plant and to ensure the safest possible operation until its closure.

– We are here today to dedicate an upgraded physical security system
at the plant. New access and badge policies, improved security
infrastructure and video surveillance are all tools which we are
proud to provide to help you maintain high levels of security.

– Strong nuclear security is particularly important given the current
threat environment and the risk that terrorists and others will try
to use nuclear material against innocents.

– In addition to improved security, it is critical that the Armenian
government continue to build a culture of safety at the plant,
by completing IAEA identified safety upgrades, and reinvesting a
sufficient portion of the cash flow obtained from the energy sector
into plant safety and maintenance.

– As Armenia follows through on its commitment to a culture of safety
and a comprehensive decommissioning plan, we will continue to work
with Armenia to develop safer and more sustainable alternatives to the
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant including providing technical assistance
to support plans for a new nuclear power plant.

– The U.S. government will not, however, be able to fund plant
construction directly and any proposal for U.S. assistance would have
to compete for scarce development assistance funds.

– I thank you for our excellent and on-going cooperation on nuclear
safety issues and urge you to make the most of this new equipment to
better protect this plant and the Armenian people.

RA PRIME MINISTER: DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT COOPERATION IS THE MOST PAINFUL ISSUE IN ARMENIA-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

Arminfo
2007-04-11 15:36:00

The development of transport cooperation is the most painful issue
in the Armenian -Russian relations, RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan
said during today’s meeting with the first deputy Prime Minister of
Russia Sergey Ivanov.

As the RA Governmental press-service told ArmInfo, S. Ivanov
congratulated S. Sargsyan with his designation as RA Prime Minister
and expressed confidence that the Armenian-Russian relations will
further develop successfully. In his turn, S. Sargsyan stressed
that the present visit of Sergey Ivanov will become the additional
stimulus for further deepening of the bilateral cooperation in
different spheres. The sides expressed satisfaction with activation
of the Armenian-Russian multilateral cooperation over the last
years. S. Ivanov noted that an active work was also carried out within
the frames of the Armenian- Russian intergovernmental commission
on economic and scientific-technical cooperation, the problems of
cooperation development in trade-economic, transport, energy and
other spheres were discussed, in particular. He expressed hope that
the issues of further bilateral cooperation will be also discussed
during his present visit.

RA Prime Minister underlined that the relations between Armenia
and Russia in political and economic areas are being perfectly
developed. At the same time, he said, the issue of transport
cooperation remains the most painful one.

In view of this, he expressed satisfaction with commissioning of the
Caucasus- Poti ferry communication. S. Sargsyan also touched on the
issue of recurrent startup of the Armenian enterprises, given to
Russia within the frames of the "Property for Debt" Contract. He
noted that Armenia is ready to create all the conditions for the
soonest solution of this problem, in view of which S. Ivanov noted
the necessity of searching efficient commercial solutions.

During the meeting, the sides also discussed the issues of cooperation
development in energy, nuclear energy, transport , communication and
the military-technical cooperation.

TURKEY OPPOSES MENTIONING OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AT EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO RWANDA GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 11 2007

NEW YORK, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The exhibition
dedicated to the 13th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide which was to
open on April 9 at the UN central office in New York, was postponed
as the Turkish side opposed mentioning of the Armenian Genocide at it.

According to Radio Liberty, quoting the Associated Press agency,
exhibition initiator James Smith, the Executive Director of the Aegis
Trust organization functioning in Great Britain, UN Public Information
Department affirmed materials to be presented to the exhibition.

In Smith’s words, the exhibition touched upon the Armenian massacres
to explain the meaning of the "genocide" word the definition of which
was in 1943 given by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer from Poland of the
Jewish origin, having as an example the one happened with Armenians
in the early 20th century and other mass massacres. It was written
on the poster telling about Lemkin that "one million of Armenians
were killed in Turkey during the World War I."

The Turkish diplomat protested against mentioning the Armenian
Genocide, after what Ambassador of Armenia to UN Armen Martirosian
met with Kiyotaka Akasaka, the UN Deputy Secretary-General for Public
Information, and they reached agreement to take "in Turkey" words
out of the above-mentioned text.

However, in Smith’s words, it became known late on Sunday that "the
opening will be postponed or even invalidated."

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq affirmed that Turkey protested on the
occasion of the exhibition, but, in his words, "the main anxiety"
was that the UN principle of taking into consideration "all the sides"
was not kept at the exhibition.

In Haq’s words, "the UN did not express any position on the occasion of
the events taken place much before the foundation of the organization."

"In all cases, Rwanda itself must be in the center of attention during
the anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide," the UN Deputy Spokesman
summed up.

But, Smith stated that as touching upon of the Armenian cases was
already affirmed they consider principle not to take it out: "It is
a way of betrayal, and as an organization relating to the theme of
genocide, we can not do it in the case of any genocide."

The Armenian National Committee of America Washington Office, in its
turn, spread a message in which it seriously condemns the Government
of Turkey for laying obstacles on the way of the exhibition envisaged
at the UN.

"It is just the freshest example how Turkey’s campaign of betrayal of
the Armenian Genocide perpetuates circulation of the genocide, making
the world more dangerous, and future genocides – more probable," Aram
Hambarian, the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee
of America stated.

NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY DELEGATION VISITS ARMENIA

ArmRadio.am
11.04.2007 17:35

A delegation from the US National Defense University visited Armenia
April 8-11. The 11-member delegation consisted of senior US military
officers and US government officials who are studying or working at
the National Defense University. In Armenia, the delegation met with
government officials including Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian;
Adviser to the Minister of Defense and Chief of the Institute for
National Strategic Studies, Major General Kotanjian; and Chief of the
Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation Department at the Ministry
of Defense, Major General Melkonian. In addition, the delegation met
with a number of scholars and NGO representatives in Armenia. The group
will also visit Georgia and Azerbaijan as part of the ten months they
are spending studying, reflecting, and debating security strategy
and foreign affairs.

The National Defense University prepares military and civilian leaders
from the United States and other countries to address national and
international security challenges. It prepares selected commissioned
officers and civilian officials from U.S. government agencies for
command, management, and staff responsibilities. The National Defense
University is under the direction of the Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff.

SERGEY IVANOV: ARMENIA IS THE STRATEGIC PARTNER OF RUSSIA

ArmRadio.am
11.04.2007 17:52

"Armenia is the strategic partner of Russia," the First Deputy Prime
Minister of Russia Sergey Ivanov said at a joint press conference with
RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan. Mr. Ivanov said this in response
to the question whether Armenia is the strategic partner of Russia
or its outpost.

According to Sergey Ivanov, the cooperation between Russia and Armenia
is not restricted to the military sphere, but includes also cultural,
economic and other spheres. "The Russian military base is deployed
here. It defends the rights of both Armenia and Russia. The action plan
of the base does not have any aggressive nature against any country. It
ensures the common security of our countries, since we are members
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)," Ivanov said.

About his objection to the creation of the NATO military base
in the South Caucasus, RA Prime Minister noted that creation of
additional divisive lines will not supplement anything to our security
structure. "It is known that Russia is reducing its presence in our
region. Others must not expand their presence parallel to that,"
he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress