Month: May 2008

NKR PRESIDENT WELCOMES THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE PAN-ARMENIAN PILGRIMAGE TO SHOUSHI

armradio.am
02.05.2008 15:10

On May 2 NKR President Bako Sahakyan and the leadership of eth
republic met with participants of the Etchmiadzin-Shoushi pan-Armenian
pilgrimage.

Addressing the participants, NKR President Bako Sahakyan said:

"Dear friends, Dear compatriots,

I’m glad to welcome you on the Artsakhi land. Theparticipates of the
pilgrimage were blessed at the pan-Armenian religious centre of the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and continuing their rally, reached
the St. Ghazanchetsots Church of Shoushi. This includes a deep meaning
and determines the path of our future victories.

It’s pleasant to note that most of the pilgrims are Armenian young
people from different sites of the world. It is the best proof of
the fact that unity is one of the main features characteristic of
our nation.

Over the whole course of its history the Armenian nation has managed
to overcome any difficulty with honor if it has been united. This
unprecedented initiative involves the most essential components of
this unity. It symbolizes the state-society-church link.

Appreciable is the fact that the soldiers of the liberation war
and the Ministry of Defense are actively participating in this
pan-Armenian event.

I attach a huge importance to the participation of different
generations and representatives of social groups in such national
undertakings. Public and political figures and intellectuals,
soldiers of the liberation war in Artsakh, mothers of the killed
heroes, as well as representatives of the younger generation are
here today. Participants of the pilgrimage represent different parts
of the Armenian nation, once again underscoring the role of the
Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora unity in our life.

I welcome the fact representatives of different nationalities, who
are citizens of Armenia, participate in the pilgrimage.

More than ever, today our people need to unite, be united and live in
concord. The numerous challenges and issues that face our two Armenian
republics can be solved only this way. The history of out nation has
proved on many occasions that we have no other way out. It is the
imperative of the time and the main guarantee of our victories. We
should continue along this path, build our Motherland and welfare
future of our generations.

On behalf of the people and authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, I once again welcome all the participants and organizers
of the pan-Armenian pilgrimage, all those who initiated and realized
this important mission. I wish you success and all the best.

I’m sure that this exceptional pan-Armenian event will have its
important role in consolidating the united will and spirit of
our people for the benefit of the Republic of Armenia, the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic and the strengthening and prosperity of world-spread
Armenians.

HIS HOLINESS GAREGIN II, PM TIGRAN SARGSYAN DISCUSS THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE SOCIETY

armradio.am
02.05.2008 15:39

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan had a meeting with His Holiness
Gargein II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The
interlocutors discussed a number of issues related to church-building,
concerning the role and importance of the church in the society,
consolidation of the value system based on Christian values.

The Catholicos of All Armenians and the Prime Minister agreed
to hold a joint scientific conference dedicated to the role and
importance of the church in the contemporary society. Issues of
concern of our society and the ways of their resolution will be
discussed during the conference, featuring representatives of the
"Noravank" scientific-educational centre, clergymen, intellectuals,
and pious people.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

"FINANCES. LOANS. INSURANCE AND AUDIT EXPO-2008" EXHIBITION OPENS IN YEREVAN

armradio.am
02.05.2008 15:52

"Finances. Loans. Insurance and Audit Expo-2008" Exhibition opened
in Yerevan today.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, organized by LOGOS EXPO
Center Company, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia
Artur Javadyan stated that "by joint efforts we will be able to
increase the level of the financial competence of citizens and support
the effective development of the financial system of Armenia."

"The exhibition is meant to improve the understanding of the society on
the provided financial service in Armenia. Organization of such events
is an important step from the point of view of securing transparency
of the financial system and protecting the rights of consumers of
financial services," Artur Javadyan stated. He added that training
programs will be organized this year within the framework of Central
Ban’s arrangements aimed to protect consumer rights.

"We will carry out such measures in future as well, informing the
society on the programs and tasks of the banking system of Armenia,"
the Chairman of the Union of Banks of Armenia Emil Soghomonyan stated.

Over 25 organizations are participating in the exhibition that will
continue through May 4th.

The following sections are presented at the exhibition: banking;
banking services for legal entities and individuals; mortgage
crediting; crediting of small and medium enterprise; consumer
express-crediting; car crediting; financial consulting; investment
management; insurance; realtor and assessment services; audit services.

The exhibition is conducted with the support of the Ministry of
Economy, the Central Bank of Armenia, the Armenian Development
Agency, the Union of Bank of Armenia, the Union of Manufacturers and
Entrepreneurs of Armenia.

FIGHT IN PEOPLE’S FRIENDSHIP UNIVERSITY OF RUSSIA WAS PROVOKED BY AZERIS AND TURKS

arminfo
2008-05-02 14:27:00

ArmInfo. The fight in the People’s Friendship University of Russia
was provoked by Azeris and Turks.

The Embassy of Armenia in Russia reports that each May 1 the University
conducts a gala, where students of different nationalities present
their cultures. However, yesterday’s concert ended in a fight of
almost 20 people.

At first, everything was OK: the participant groups were showing the
originality and the richness of their national cultures. But, as soon
as the Armenian group appeared on stage, some people from the audience
began throwing bottles at them. The policemen forced the attackers –
Azeri and Turkish youngsters – back from the stage, but just a few
minutes later they threw bottles at the Armenian fans in the stalls.

One bottle hit a young Armenian girl. The Armenian youths rebuffed. The
police quickly reacted: they began forcing the Azeri-Turkish and
Armenian groups out of the building. The wounded girl is in the
hospital. Several people have been detained.

Ambassador of Armenia to Russia Armen Smbatyan has instructed his
employees to meet with the organizers of the concert and to find out
what actually happened as well as to visit the wounded Armenian girl.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERIS PELT ARMENIAN STUDENTS WITH BOTTLES AND STONES DURING PFUR FESTIVAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 12:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Every year Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia
conducts a "South-West Planet" festival where various associations
represent their national culture.

During the Armenian performance, some Azeri and Turkish young men from
the audience started throwing bottles at the stage. The OMON officers
pushed the troublemakers aside, however, the incident repeated when
Armenian youth gathered at the stage to support their friends. As
result, an Armenian girl was badly injured, since a bottle was thrown
exactly at her face. This outrageous act provoked a clash, a source
told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The policemen tried to drive the students off the site, dividing
Armenians and Azeri-Turkish groups.

Nevertheless, bottles, stones and sticks were againt thrown at
Armenians.

The injured girl is in hospital now.

Several people were arrested but released soon.

"For some reason, the police took away Armenian big flags but did
not trouble Azeris. It looked like a planned action. There were some
400-500 policemen in addition to OMON officers. When the scuffle began,
there were more Azeris than Armenians at the site.

Provocative attempts were numerous but Armenians lost their temper
towards the end. The incident was stopped within an hour," a witness
told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to Azeri side, the clash started when the Armenian ensemble
performed an Armenian folk song that Azeris claim to be theirs. The
Azeri students "reacted" by shouting out ‘Azerbaijan’ and waving flags.

A similar incident took place at last year’s festival.

POLICE DISPERSES MAY 1 RALLY IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 14:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear
gas in clashes with crowds gathering for an outlawed May Day rally
in Istanbul on Thursday, detaining hundreds at a time of heightened
political tensions in Turkey.

Thousands of police were stationed across the centre of Turkey’s
largest city to block access to its main Taksim Square. Three major
trade union confederations had pledged to mobilize up to 500,000
people in defiance of an official ban.

Officials banned the rally due to intelligence reports that radical
groups planned to stage violent protests.

Leftists and Kurdish separatists frequently clash with police at
protests.

Strains surrounding the traditional May Day demonstrations of workers’
unity were heightened this year by union opposition to a recently
passed reform of the social security system which sharply raises the
retirement age.

Police drove armored personnel carriers down the city’s main pedestrian
street, while security personnel in body armor fired tear gas at masked
protestors who had ripped up bricks from the pavement to lob at police.

The clashes came amid growing political tensions triggered by
a prosecutor’s bid to close the ruling AK Party and ban 71 party
officials including Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for alleged Islamist
activities.

The unions later abandoned plans to march towards the square in the
face of the heavy police presence. But fighting went on in the city’s
side streets, and six police were injured, said local broadcaster
CNN Turk.

Numerous demonstrators were injured as well, though police did not
give details. A Reuters reporter saw several police beat one man
with truncheons.

The workers built the road we are standing on and now we are being
crushed on it, said retired Resit Celiktepe, 51, amid the clashes.

May Day demonstrations in Istanbul have been marked by clashes between
police and protesters in the past and authorities said they would
use force to prevent the rally.

Everyone must show common sense, state-run Anatolian news agency
reported Labour Minister Faruk Celik as saying.

If we can get through May Day today in agreement I believe future
May Days will turn into the celebration sought by all workers, he said.

Union confederations said they had abandoned plans to march towards
Taksim Square.

In order not to become a tool of this government’s provocations we
are sensibly ending our actions here.

But we will continue to call the government to account, said Suleyman
Celebi, chairman of DISK trade union confederation.

Last year dozens were injured in violent street battles on the 30th
anniversary of the deaths of 37 people who were shot by an unknown
gunman or trampled to death in May Day demonstrations in Taksim Square
in 1977, Euronews reports.

May 1, a traditional workers’ day holiday across most of Europe,
is a normal working day in Turkey, where the government resisted
intense union pressure this year to make it a day off.

ARAT DINK RECEIVES GUARDIAN JOURNALISM AWARD

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 14:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Arat Dink, the son of slain Hrant Dink, received
the Guardian Journalism Award from the campaigning group Index on
Censorship. It was not just to commemorate his father’s work, but
for his own brave refusal to buckle under the censorship laws that
led to his father’s death.

Since it was introduced three years ago, article 301 of Turkey’s
penal code, which makes insulting Turkishness a criminal offence, has
been used to bring charges against illustrious names in literature,
academia and journalism: Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize-winning author;
Noam Chomsky; the novelist Elif Safak; Hrant Dink, the Armenian-Turkish
journalist who was assassinated by radical nationalists; and last
year Hrant’s son Arat.

Arat, executive director of Agos, an Armenian newspaper in Istanbul,
was brought to trial as a co-defendant, along with Serkis Seropyan,
holder of the weekly’s publishing license. Their crime was to have
republished an interview that Hrant gave to Reuters in which he
referred to the 1915 massacre of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
as Genocide. Arat was convicted as charged and given a one-year
suspended sentence. The Agos staff continues to be threatened by
extreme nationalists but remain determined in the face of bigotry
and physical threat.

Arat Dink believes both Turks and Armenians are postponing a common
historical reckoning and looks forward to the day when both peoples
can commemorate the events in 1915 as a common part of their history,
without threatening each other’s identity. Like father, like son,
GIBRAHAYER e-magazine reports.

SERGEI MINASYAN: ESCALATION OF GEORGIAN-ABKHAZIAN CONFLICT PROMISES NO GOOD FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Military operations are unlikely in the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone, an Armenian political scientist said.

"Influence from outside is great. Neither the U.S. nor Russia will
allow Georgia to start war. Russia pressurizes deliberately, using
the Abkhazian factor for replenishing its peacekeeping contingent.

Meanwhile, Georgia tries to gain internal political dividends on the
threshold of parliamentary elections.

Saakashvili did the same last October. So, I do not think that
increasing of the Russian contingent up to 3000 peacekeepers can act
as detonator," Georgia expert Sergei Minasyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter.

"If a war starts, it will spread over to South Ossetia, thus
jeopardizing regional security. Such a scenario promises no good for
Armenia, taking into account the importance of communications and
specific relations with Russia. Georgia eyes Armenia as a pro-Russian
state. But as a matter of fact, we hold a neutral stand," he said.

The Russian leadership has recently accused Georgia of preparing a
springboard for attack on Abkhazia. "The number of Georgian troops
exceeds 1500 in the upper segment of the Kodor gorge," the Russian
Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, member of Georgian Interior Ministry Shota Utiashvili
described it as "misinformation aimed to deteriorate the situation
in the conflict zone."

On April 29, the Russian Defense Ministry announced replenishment of
peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "Any Georgia’s
attempt to use force to resolve the conflicts will be rebuffed
adequately and toughly," the Ministry said.

AZERBAIJAN RELEASES SHIPMENT FOR IRAN’S BUSHEHR NPP

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 14:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan released a shipment of Russian equipment
for Iran’s first nuclear power plant on Thursday, more than a
month after it was halted at its border, Azeri MFA spokesman Khazar
Ibrahim said.

Azerbaijan had halted the cargo of heat-isolating equipment headed
for the Bushehr plant on March 29, demanding more information from
Russia about the nature of the material. Azerbaijani officials said
they feared the equipment could violate United Nations sanctions.

The Russian state-run company building Bushehr, OAO Atomstroiexport,
accused Azerbaijan of deliberately obstructing the cargo, the AP
reports.

EXPERT: AMENDED ARTICLE 301 WON’T EASE PRESSURE ON TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2008 15:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Making amendments to article 301, which had for
a long time been a "stumbling block" for freedom of expression in
Turkey, testified that the country has moved towards the standards
of the European democracy, but it may be insufficient step in light
of the European Union.

"The new law is certainly an improvement over the previous one,
which has been heavily criticized internationally. However, in the
minds of many observers it still does not go far enough," English
political analyst, Professor of Kingston University James Ker-Lindsay
said. "There is a general feeling that a law of this kind has no real
place in a modern, European democracy."

"People will still face a very real threat of prosecution for raising
issues that many feel can only be addressed through frank and open
discussion in society. In this sense, the amendment falls short of the
democratic standards Turkey should really be trying to meet," he said.

According to him, there is no doubt that many in Europe will welcome
the amendments. "However, it will not be seen as a major change for
the better. Instead, it will be regarded as just another small step
towards democratization," he remarked.

"I fully expect that in a few years, the Turkish Government will
come under pressure to repeal the article altogether. However, at
this stage there is a feeling that all progress, no matter how small,
should be welcomed. In this sense, I don’t think that the amendment
will have any major effect on Turkish-EU relations, nor will it be
enough to ease the general feeling in Europe that Turkey needs to
make significant changes to its political system if it ants to join
the EU. All-in-all, it is a welcome move.

However, I don’t think that it will end the pressure on Turkey on
this issue," Prof. Ker-Lindsay said, Trend Azeri news agency reports.

The Turkish parliament Wednesday passed a long-awaited amendment to
a law penalizing insults to "Turkishness" that has drawn strong EU
criticism as a threat to free speech in the country.

The amendment, softening article 301 of the penal code, was adopted
with the support of 250 MPs in the 550-member house at the end of
an eight-hour debate that started Tuesday afternoon and continued
throughout the night amid fierce opposition from nationalist deputies.

Under the amendment, "Turkishness" – a term criticized as too broad
and vague – was replaced with the "Turkish nation" and the envisaged
jail term decreased from three to two years, allowing the sentence
to be suspended or converted to a fine.

In a bid to make trials under the law more difficult, the provision
now requires the justice minister’s approval before prosecutors can
launch cases. Also, a section that called for increased sanctions
for such crimes committed abroad was removed from the law.