Month: April 2007

TURKEY SUSPENDS NEGOTIATIONS WITH "GASE DE FRANCE" BECAUSE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Paruyr Qeshishian

AZG Armenian Daily
10/04/2007

The construction of the "Nabuco" gas pipeline, which is to connect
Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungaria, is suspended due to reasons of
political matter. On April 5 the "Botas" company, Turkey, stopped
negotiations with "Gase de France" on the construction of the
pipeline’s Turkish part.

According to official Ankara, the talks were stopped because of the
official position of France on the Armenian Genocide.

According to the legislation adopted by the French Parliament in
October 2006, denial of the fact of the Armenian Genocide is a
punishable crime. The law will finally come into power after being
approved by the Senate and the President of France. In that case
Turkey’s membership in the EU will become seriously dubitable.

Three days before the negotiations with "Gase de France" were suspended
"Nouvelle d’Armenie" revue published a statement of Segolene Royal,
socialist candidate for the post of the President of the French
Republic, that he shall approve the law about the Genocide in case
of being elected.

FRANZ WERFEL DECEIVED…
By Hakob Asatrian, Prague

AZG Armenian Daily
10/04/2007

New Turkish Insinuations with the Aid of a Rabbi

On the eve of April 24 the Turks start a new insult in an attempt
to confuse the world society about the Armenian Genocide. "Mlada
Fronta Dnes" daily newspaper, Czech Republic, published a couple
of rather interesting articles about the issue of the Genocide on
April 5, 2007. Author of the first article Liubomir Hegel analyzed
the US Congress Resolution on the Armenian Genocide and its possible
influences on the USA-Turkey relations.

The author notices that President Bush uses various word describing
the crime committed in 1915 by the Turkish authorities but is warned
against using the term "genocide".

Then Werfel describes the relations between the White House and the
Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s intention of adopting the Resolution,
the efforts of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries to fail it
and the visits of the Turkish delegations to Washington. Nevertheless
the author admits that most possibly, the Resolution shall be passed,
due to the influence of the Armenian Diaspora that is three time bigger
in number than the population of the Republic of Armenia. At the same
time he thinks that the Resolution won’t have the same importance as
the French law about the Genocide.

The second article is actually an anonymous message received by the
newspaper from Los Angeles. The message says that the Austrian writer
Wranz Werfel, author of the famous novel "The 40 Days of Musa Dag"
confessed his friend, a Rabbi, that he was deceived.

Allegedly Werfel said his friend that he heard the story from an
Armenian bishop, but after having studied the works of independent
researches, realized that he was told lies and felt sorry about writing
the novel. The message also alleged that the Rabbi witnessed this at
the public notary’s office in 1989 but did not publish the document
being afraid of Armenian terrorists.

This is all the message published in "Mlada Fronta Dnes" says. If
the information is true, it could be verified by any note in Weflels’
memoirs. But there is no such note. Moreover, no Armenian terrorist
organization existed in Werfel’s time that could threaten him. A novel
is not written in an instant. It requires work of many years, during
which an author is studying all available material about the plot. So
did Werfel. In 1929 he even visited an Armenian orphanage in Syria,
heard the stories immediately from the victims of the Genocide. Our
Austrian sources assure nothing was known of the Rabbi’s witness
ever before.

A few years ago a Turkish historian in a similar manner tried to
criticize the novel, but he was paid no attention. Thus, it comes
clear that the Turks are trying to spread a lie by the means of
Jewish Rabbis, being conscious that the novel by Franz Werfel has
more influence on the European public that any resolution adopted by
governmental or international structures.

TURKEY’S IMPORTANCE FOR USA EXPLAINED BY ANTAGONISM OF RUSSIA
By H. Chaqrian

AZG Armenian Daily
10/04/2007

On April 4 "Azg" has once already referred to an article by Turkish
political scientist Hasan Koni, entitled "The Armenian Issue and
Turkey’s International Status".

The author of the article considers the issue of the Armenian Genocide
from the positions of official policy of denial. He refers to the
Genocide as "mass deportation of Armenians", which was necessity of the
World War I. In order to conceal the real nature of the "deportation"
and reduce the number of victims he reminds of the Armenians that
accepted Islam.

Koni writes: "Who don’t know who they are [Muslim Armenians]. They
count from 300 to 400 thousand people. For example our Alavi
brothers, inhabiting the Hakkyar region, are Muslim Armenians. The
Government of Turkey does not speak of this so as not to disturb
the citizens. Probably, there are turncoat Armenians among the
high-ranking officials of Turkey. Nothing of them is said either. In
general, Armenians that accepted Islam are not taken into account
when considering the Armenian Question."

Koni’s views on the role of Turkey in South Caucasus and Central Asia
are also interesting. He considers that Turkey is a link between the
East and the West, and if the USA want to make investments in Asia,
they should first come to Turkey.

Speaking of the downfall of the USSR, Koni recollects that in
those times the South Caucasus, except Armenia, had pro-Turkish
orientation. After Russia’s interference to the processes in South
Caucasus, Turkey lost the region because of failing to provide
assistance to pro-Turkish forces. He says that the USA needs Turkey
for so as to supervise Israel on the Mediterranean, to control energy
sources and balance Russia on the Black Sea, in South Caucasus, the
Balkans and Central Asia, taking into account large Turkish-Speaking
population in those regions.

In case Russia puts and end to its antagonism with the USA, the
importance of Turkey will also be diminished.

"If Putin comes to agreement with us and Russia becomes a Western
state, Turkey is lost. In case democracy is established in Iran,
probably Iranians will gain our preferences n energy sources,"
confessed an American politician to Koni.

CATHOLICOS BLESSES THE RA GOVERNMENT

A1+
[07:02 pm] 09 April, 2007

April 9 – Today All-Armenian Catholicos Garegin II visited RA Prime
Minister Serge Sargsyan. His Holiness Garegin II started his meeting
with the congratulations and blessings of Mother See of St. Echmiadzin
and voiced hope that Serge Sargsyan will do his utmost to serve to
the interests of the Armenian people and the country.

All-Armenian Catholicos wished the RA Prime Minister health and
success in his further initiatives.

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan thanked Garegin II for the blessings
and wishes and assured that the RA Government will continue
strengthening church-state relations and serve the interests of
the Armenians.

PLEDGE OF SUCCESS LIES OVERSEAS

A1+
[08:02 pm] 09 April, 2007

Today an article titled "RA authorities enlist foreign support"
appeared in "Comersant" newspaper.

The article referred to the RA pre-election campaign and Serge
Sargsyan’s appointment as the RA Prime Minister.

The newspaper remarks that Robert Kocharian and the official Moscow
have already chosen Serge Sargsyan as the RA next president. To prove
this, the newspaper dwells on the recent developments.

As soon as Serge Sargsyan took up the post of the RA Prime Minister,
the RA high-ranking circles began to speak that the prime minister
is a perfect candidate for the presidency.

The newly-appointed prime-minister received the president’s support
immediately. "I have known Serge Sargsyan for a long time. He is an
assiduous and prudent person. I am convinced that he is capable of
ruling the government at hard times. I see no other person in the RA
political scene who can replace him," Comersant reports Kocharian’s
words.

"The leader of the Republican Party possesses not only administrative
resources, but also external support.

Russia has always played a significant role in the RA internal life
and it openly showed its attitude to Serge Sargsyan.

It was RF FM Sergey Lavrov who first showed his support to Serge
Sargsyan via his visit to Yerevan where he announced that "The stance
of official Russia coincides with that of non-official sources in
view of Serge Sargsyan’s candidacy." Later on, Michael Fradkov,
Serge Sargsyan’s Russian counterpart, named Sargsyan "the adherent
of the Russian-Armenian collaboration."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HAKOB HAKOBYAN SUSPECTED IN KIDNAPPING

A1+
[08:15 pm] 09 April, 2007

On April 7, 2007, Avag Ghazaryan, resident of Vagharshapat village,
informed the RA police forces that RA NA deputy Hakob Hakobyan had
kidnapped his father Sahak Ghazaryan.

The investigation revealed that Hakob Hakobyan had forcibly put
Sahak Ghazaryan into his black BMW with the help of his driver and
a Haykaz. Further on, they drove Sahak Ghazaryan to cottage 4 of the
"Zvartnots" restaurant complex.

In Sahak Ghazaryan’s words, Hakob Hakobyan promised 5 000 USD in
case his son Vanik Ghazaryan didn’t appear in the courtroom and give
testimony against Hakobyan on April 9, 2007.

An action was brought under Article 131 of the RA Penal Code. The
prosecutor’s office of Armavir is in charge of the investigation.

SERGE SARGSYAN TRIES TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT WITH AZERBAIJAN

A1+
[08:33 pm] 09 April, 2007

"Our foremost task is to come to a peaceful agreement with Azerbaijan
on the Karabakh issue," RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan reported
"Financial Times" newspaper.

During the interview Serge Sargsyan focused on the protection
of human rights and Russia-Armenia relationship, APA agency
reports. Mr. Sargsyan says that Armenia doesn’t support the idea of
opening a military base in South Caucasus.

Mr. Sargsyan noted that the May 12 parliamentary elections will be
the most transparent ones in the history of Armenia.

The RA Prime Minister urged the Diaspora representatives to make
investments in Armenia, as the Diaspora makes only 1% of the total
investments.

GRIGOR AMALYAN – NCTR CHAIRMAN

A1+
[08:54 pm] 09 April, 2007

Today the National Commission for Television and Radio (NCTR)
convened its recurrent sitting. Grigor Amalyan was appointed the NCTR
Chairman and Zhirayr Dadasyan – Deputy Chairman. To note, six members
participated in the NCTR sitting.

To remind; under President Robert Kocharian’s decree Grigor Amalyan
was appointed NCTR member for six years’ time.

OSKANYAN HAS PRESENTED TO FITZGERALD KARABAKH PROBLEM

Panorama.am
21:08 09/04/2007

Today Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs,m Vardan Oskanyan received
the US college delegation. To remind, Tamara Fitzgerald, employee of
the division of foreign affairs of the same structure, heads the US
delegation, which has arrived in our country on a fact-finding visit.

As we were informed in the press office of the Foreign Ministry of
Armenia, V. Oskanyan has introduced Fitzgerald with the peculiarities
of NKR problem, as well as the last developments round the problem.

After that the acting minister has given through explanations to the
questions of the guests. They mainly concerned the priorities of the
foreign policy, the issue on the opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border, the processes of recognition of Armenian genocide,
Armenia-Diaspora relations, energy sphere, demographic issues,
anti-corruption arrangements, problems hindering the regional
cooperation.

U.S. WAR COLLEGE IS CONCERNED WITH NUMEROUS ISSUES

A1+
[06:37 pm] 09 April, 2007

April 9 – Vartan Oskanian received the delegation of the U.S. war
college at the head of Tamara Fitzgerald.

On Ms. Fitzgerald’s request, Mr. Oskanian dwelt on the peculiarities
and recent developments of the Karabakh conflict.

Further on, the sides focused on the RA external policy, the opening
of the Armenian-Turkish frontier, the recognition process of the
Armenian Genocide, the Armenia-Diaspora relations, the energy sphere,
the demographic issues, the anti-corruption methods, the obstacles
hindering regional collaboration, etc.