Month: May 2008

WEEK ABOUT MASS KILLINGS
Benjamin Lo

The UCLA Daily Bruin
May 19 2008
CA

Today marks Mighty Mic’s first event for Genocide Awareness Week,
a week dedicated to educating students about historic as well as
ongoing mass killings around the world.

By providing students with interactive elements on campus during the
day and film screenings at night, Mighty Mic, a student organization
that collaborates with other campus groups to promote social justice
and human rights, hopes to provide a comprehensive education of five
different genocides, some of which are not officially recognized by
the United Nations.

The events will start today and conclude with Mighty Mic’s annual
Human Rights Awareness Concert on May 29.

"We want the student body to understand the roots of the issue and
have more of a scholarly understanding of the tragedies," said Flavia
de la Fuente, the director of outreach and fundraising for Mighty
Mic. "I think understanding the problem is a step toward having it
never happen again."

She said the organization realized that there has been a pattern of
genocide in human history and saw a need to learn from the past to
ensure that it is not repeated.

"We wanted to show that genocide is not something new, that it is
a pattern, and that we need to recognize where these problems are
coming from," she said.

Genocide Awareness Week will address mass killings that have impacted
Native Americans, Armenians and Jews as well as citizens of Rwanda,
Cambodia and Darfur.

"The events that have occurred in these nations are something that is
scary to people, so they block it out," said Nicole Agbayani, director
of awareness for the event. "We want students to feel empowered so
they can do something about the things that have happened during
these genocides, so they will not be forgotten."

Agbayani said she feels more people would care if they were informed
that their energies could help make a difference.

The events will provide students with an opportunity to participate in
letter-writing campaigns, the products of which will be delivered to
government officials to encourage the end of mass killings. Students
will also have the chance to donate money and volunteer for
organizations dedicated to ending genocide.

"Students may think that what they do is insignificant, but when a
lot of people do a little, it will make a difference," said Ashish
Sharma, the co-director for Cambodian Awareness Day.

Taylor Reno, a first-year undeclared life sciences student, said she
believes many students on campus are unaware of genocides and mass
killings that are currently going on.

"I think a lot of students don’t do anything about it because it
doesn’t affect their life," Reno said. "People don’t see it as a
personal issue just because it is not happening in the United States."

She said she sees the week’s events as a great way for students to
start educating themselves on the issues now, so they can make the
right decisions in the future.

Sharma said he wants to show people that this is something worth
caring about because he feels genocide is not really a mainstream
issue on campus.

"I want them to leave with an understanding that we often take what
we have here for granted," he said. "A lot of people dream about the
life we are living, and it is our duty as human beings to do whatever
we can to be the voice for the voiceless."

TALLAHASSEE COMMISSIONER’S NOVEL ATTRACTS LITERARY INTEREST
By Julian Pecquet

Tallahassee Democrat
article?AID=/20080519/NEWS01/805190320/1010
May 19 2008
FL

When he wasn’t busy practicing law or boning up on local government
issues, Tallahassee City Commissioner Mark Mustian spent the past
three years exploring his family’s Armenian roots.

The result: A new novel, "The Gendarme," that has caught the eye of
publishers around the world.

The story focuses on a retired Turkish policeman who moves to
America and, in his old age, remembers his role in deporting Armenian
Christians to Syria during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

Over the past couple of months, the manuscript has been placed with
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA), which has
sold the rights in six foreign countries — Italy, Israel, Brazil,
France, Spain and Greece. It’s expected to be available by next year.

Mustian credits his topic’s controversy for the interest it’s getting
abroad.

It’s a crime in Turkey to identify the death of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians during World War I as genocide. Last year, when
a U.S. House committee did so, the Turkish government recalled its
ambassador to Washington and threatened to withdraw its support for
the war in Iraq.

Mustian said he got interested in the topic because he’d read
survivors’ tales, but had never seen anything written from the other
point of view. He has never been to Turkey, and complemented his
library research by asking for help from Turkish students at Florida
State University. But the first student who answered his ad soon
returned the manuscript.

"It was kind of an eye opener that the first person who said they’d do
it, brought the book back the next day and said ‘No, I can’t do it’,"
Mustian said.

This is Mustian’s second novel. His first, "The Return," told the
story of a Brazilian woman claiming to be Christ reborn. It was
published by Pineapple Press in May 2000.

Paul Shepherd, a writer in residence at Florida State University who
teaches creative writing, praised the new book.

"There are probably two things that in my mind go into a really
excellent novel: a gripping story and a character that really
comes alive," said Shepherd, a fellow church member of Mustian’s at
St. Stephen Lutheran Church.

"The guy is a really complex character — your feelings for him are
challenged as you read the book." Shepherd said. "I found myself
months after I read the book thinking of this guy’s actions. He’s an
incredibly compelling character."

ARMENIAN LOBBY IN U.S. SUBMITS NEW BILL AGAINST TURKEY

Turkish Press
May 19 2008

WASHINGTON D.C. – Armenian lobby in the United States presented a
new bill to House of Representatives envisaging Washington to put
pressure on Ankara to lift the embargo which it claimed Turkey imposes
on Armenia.

Adam Schiff, an MP of U.S. Democrat Party, prepared the bill. Schiff is
known as leading Armenian initiatives in the House of Representatives.

The bill envisages U.S. to launch initiatives for the removal of the
alleged embargo and U.S. Secretary of State to prepare a report for
the Congress about the incidents.

The same text should be submitted to the senate and the bill should
be adopted both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate
and should be signed by U.S. President in order to be enacted.

Armenian lobby in the United States had submitted a similar bill two
years ago but the bill has not been presented to the agenda of the
House of Representatives.

WELL-ATTENDED JOINT CONCERT PAYS TRIBUTE TO ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Anne Andlauer

Today’s Zaman
May 19 2008
Turkey

The least that can be said of the Å~^iÅ~_li Symphony Orchestra and
its Swiss-trained conductor Serâ Tokay is that they do not lack
artistic audacity. Only three years into its existence, the young
ensemble has gained respect from critics for its musical endowment
and endeavors. A concert held last Saturday provided another occasion
to prove those critics right.

The performance, on May 17 at Ä°stanbul’s Lutfi Kırdar Convention
and Exhibition Center, was a joint concert by Ä°stanbul’s Å~^iÅ~_li
Symphony and the Vartanants Choir. The latter is an amateur choir
conducted by renowned cantor and State Opera Chorus member AdruÅ~_an
Halacyan. Some 1,000 people filled the concert hall on Saturday and
were visibly filled with the artists’ communicative passion.

Tokay conducted both ensembles for two hours, through classical pieces
by Mozart, Verdi, Bizet and Donizetti. The pieces included sequences
from Mozart’s "Requiem Mass in D Minor," Verdi’s operas "La Traviata"
and "Nabucco" and Bizet’s famed "Carmen." Knowing the orchestra’s
affinity with Russian and Slavic composers, Saturday’s program was a
challenging one for the musicians and their chief. "We adapted to the
repertoire of the choir and soloists," Tokay told Today’s Zaman ahead
of the performance. "Italian compositions have little in common with
the Slavic soul that we like to express, but one also learns while
dealing with the unfamiliar."

The joint performance was a first for the young orchestra but also for
the choir, which Halacyan has headed since 1985. "I had this dream of
a partnership between the choir and a symphonic orchestra," Halacyan
recalled. Å~^iÅ~_li Mayor Mustafa Sarıgul, who attended Saturday’s
concert, was the architect of Halacyan’s encounter with Tokay and
thereby of their collaboration, the choir conductor said. "The
singers and I have been preparing for 23 years to perform music at
a professional level."

Halacyan has served the Vartanants Choir since childhood, starting
as a cantor in the church. The 76-year-old ensemble is known for
its wide repertoire of Turkish, Armenian and European pieces. "This
concert is dedicated to the Armenian community but also reflects
the cultural diversity of Å~^iÅ~_li Municipality," Halacyan said,
observing that Armenian Ä°stanbul Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan attended
the performance as well.

As a result, the program featured pieces by Turkish composer
Dede Efendi and Turkish-Armenian artists Ara Bartevyan and Sirvart
Karamanuk. The ensemble notably performed Karamanuk’s symphonic poem
"Ah!… Tamar," while Ä°stanbul State Opera soloists Zafer ErdaÅ~_
(bass-baritone), Caner Akın (tenor), Aylin AteÅ~_ (mezzo soprano)
and Ayten Telek (soprano) gave a remarkable demonstration of their
virtuosity in half of the 18 pieces.

"Karamanuk’s symphonic poem, which is composed of one movement and
lasts about 20 minutes, has only been performed three times since
its creation. The first performance took place in Yerevan in 1968,"
Tokay said. The orchestral conductor added that although she did
not know the choir or the pieces beforehand, she accepted the offer
immediately. "This was a new experience for me and my musicians and
I hope we will repeat it. The main challenge was of course to conduct
simultaneously the choir and the orchestra, as if it were one single
ensemble or body," Tokay said.

During their interview with Today’s Zaman, Tokay and Halacyan engaged
in a discussion about their respective positions. Tokay argued that
a choir needed a conductor more than the orchestra did. "Of course,
musicians have to pay great attention to the gestures and breathing of
the conductor," she explained. "But once they know their score well,
there is no need for the conductor to give a starting sign to every
single group of instruments. Technique is the key to a successful
instrumental performance."

The choir, however, needs constant attention to and from the conductor,
Tokay said. "Singers are much more sensitive to the instructions and
attitude of the conductor. They need him or her in order to stay in
tune, but also for their voice to express the right feelings. Inner
parameters matter more than in the case of an orchestra."

Halacyan nodded and added two ideas to the observations: "First,
it is crucial for all the singers to know each other very well,
much more than for the musicians. There needs to be a kind of fusion
within the choir and with the conductor, so that a quick glance is
enough for everybody to understand each other."

The choir conductor also noted "the key importance of mediation or
non-mediation." In the case of an orchestra, he said, the instruments
come between the musicians and the conductor and technique is essential
for the mediation to function. "But in the case of a choir, there is
no mediation. The relation is one of immediacy and that explains why
the conductor is all the more important for the singers to give the
best of themselves."

For that matter, Halacyan recalled that the Vartanants Choir
was an all-amateur choir wherein 55 male and female lawyers,
physicians, carpet traders and jewelers gathered to sing like
real professionals. "Some of them didn’t even know the music scale
when they started singing with the choir. I think they became like
professionals without even noticing it," Halacyan said. "They sing with
their heart and that is how they improve." That, "and an outstanding
choir conductor," Tokay added with a smile.

–Boundary_(ID_cytlHYVlWWxNJX0Y0IDd6Q)–

‘GENOCIDE’ BOOK DROPPED FROM READING LIST IN CANADA

Today’s Zaman
May 19 2008
Turkey

A petition campaign launched by Turks living in Canada against a
recent decision in Toronto to include in school curricula the study
of an alleged genocide of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman
Empire has eventually yielded a result, with the book being pulled from
the recommended reading list of a new Toronto public school course.

Some 11,000 petitions have been collected in the online petition
campaign. In January, the Unity Group, consisting of several Turkish
NGOs in Canada, said that the course would put at risk the lives
of Turkish and Muslim students in high schools. The group called on
authorities to reverse the decision to include the course, created
by one of the largest school boards in Canada, the Toronto District
School Board, in the 2008-2009 curriculum.

Barbara Coloroso’s "Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide"
was originally part of a resource list for the grade 11 history course,
"Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity," set to launch across the
Toronto District School Board district this fall. The book examines
the Holocaust, which exterminated 6 million Jews in World War II;
the Rwandan slaughter of nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus
in 1994; and the killings of Anatolian Armenians at the beginning of
the last century.

"But a committee struck to review the course decided in late April
to remove the book because ‘a concern was raised regarding [its]
appropriateness. … The Committee determined this was far from a
scrupulous text and should not be on a History course although it
might be included in a course on the social psychology of genocide
because of her posited thesis that genocide is merely the extreme
extension of bullying,’ according to board documents," The Globe and
Mail, an English-language Canadian daily, reported on Friday.

QATARI EMIR STEPS UP AS TALKS MAKE HALTING PROGRESS
By Hussein Abdallah

The Daily Star
May 19 2008
Lebanon

BEIRUT: Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani weighed in on
the third day of talks his country his hosting among opposition and
pro-government leaders from Lebanon, meeting separately and jointly
with members of both camps to try to bridge differences, mainly on
the issue of drafting a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary
elections.

Well-informed sources in Doha told The Daily Star on Sunday that
Sheikh Hamad has intervened and held talks with the rival leaders in
a bid to address every hurdle in the talks.

The sources said that Qatari officials are satisfied with the rival
leaders’ positive attitude toward the process. As The Daily Star went
to press, there were indications that an interim declaration might
be issued.

The sources added that the two days of talks have thus far focused
on an electoral law, adding that the shape of the new government has
yet to be discussed in detail.

Despite reports that talks may yet stumble over a demand from the
ruling coalition for clear guarantees that Hizbullah would not turn
its guns on them again and that the fate of its arms would be debated
in Lebanon soon, the sources said that the issue of Hizbullah’s arms
has not been put on the negotiations table in Doha yet.

Arab mediators clinched a deal on Thursday to end Lebanon’s worst
internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war, in which fighters
from Hizbullah and its allies, the Amal Movement and the Syrian Social
Nationalist Party, routed pro-government gunmen and briefly seized
parts of Beirut.

The fate of Hizbullah’s weapons is not on the agenda, but delegates
said Arab mediators were consulting on the issue with regional
powerbrokers including Iran, which supports the opposition, and Saudi
Arabia, which a leading supporter of the ruling coalition.

"This issue is not under discussion and is not up for discussion on
the table of dialogue in Doha," Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan
said. "They are trying to raise this issue for their own private
calculations which are mistaken anyway."

Hizbullah’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Raad, on Sunday accused the
government of trying to "blackmail" the opposition by raising the
subject of Hizbullah’s weapons.

Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat said that there would be no
agreement unless the arms issue is addressed.

"The agreement we reached in Beirut includes discussing this issue
and the last clause of the six-point agreement says that all the
points are equally binding," he said.

But Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil denied that the six-point
agreement reached in Beirut had any mention of Hizbullah’s possession
of arms.

"The agreement speaks about enhancing the authority of the Lebanese
state, and specifies that this issue is not on the agenda of talks
and is to be dealt with later on after electing a new president,"
Khalil said.

Notwithstanding the sensitive issue of Hizbullah’s weapons, the talks
appeared to make headway on Sunday.

A six-member committee created on Saturday to lay the framework for
a new election law has made progress and was now working out the
details of how to divide Beirut.

Tashnak Party MP Hagop Pakradounian told LBC television that there
were major dif-ferences on how to divide Beirut, particularly regarding
the Christian constituency.

Reports from Doha said that the ruling majority has proposed dividing
Beirut into three constituencies – two Sunni-dominated and one
Christian – with the Christian constituency getting to elect only
four of Beirut’s 10 Christian MPs.

The capital’s Christian seats are currently distributed as follows;
four seats for Armenians, two for minority Christians, two for Greek
Orthodox Christians, one for Catholics, and one for Maronites.

Such a proposal was strongly opposed by the opposition amid reports
that the Armenian Tashnak Party, allied with the opposition, protested
leaving the four Armenian seats out of the Christian constituency.

Pakradounian also indicated that some parties from the parliamentary
majority were also against the proposal.

But former President Amin Gemayel sounded more optimistic when speaking
on the electoral law.

"I think we have resolved 90 percent of the hurdles facing the new
election law … We have some obstacles left regarding some electoral
constituencies," Gemayel said.

"Hopefully, by evening we will have published a joint vision. We have
to reach a solution in the end," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Hajj Hassan accused the parliamentary majority of
doing the math before proposing its formula of a new electoral law.

"They want to know the results of the elections in advance," he
told LBC.

Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr
al-Thani had yet to win final approval on the shape of a new government
but had made several proposals, including one to split seats three
ways equally among rivals, delegates said.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told Radio Free Lebanon
on Sunday that he expected "today to be a decisive day" at the Qatar
talks that seek to end the 18-month political stalemate and facilitate
the election of a president after a six-month vacuum.

Moussa also said that he would visit Damascus after the Doha conference
concludes its discussions of the crisis.

The Hizbullah-led opposition wants more say in a cabinet controlled
by the anti-Syrian March 14 Forces.

The ruling coalition’s refusal to yield to the demand for an effective
veto power in the cabinet triggered the resignation of six ministers –
including all five Shiites – in November 2006, crippling a political
system built around a delicate sectarian balance.

Election laws have always been a sensitive subject in Lebanon,
a patchwork of religious sects where redrawing constituencies can
have a dramatic impact on voting results.

A deal would lead to the election of commander of Lebanese Armed
Forces General Michel Suleiman as president.

Both sides have accepted his nomination for a post reserved for a
Maronite Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. –
With agencies

Bush reiterates call for other countries to side against Hizbullah

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: US President George W. Bush called on Sunday on
Lebanon’s neighbours and other nations in the Middle East to oppose
Hizbullah.

"We must stand with the people of Lebanon in their struggle to
build a sovereign and independent democracy. This means opposing
Hizbullah terrorists, funded by Iran, who recently revealed their
true intentions by taking up arms against the Lebanese people,"
Bush told a forum in Egypt.

He was speaking as rival Lebanese leaders were meeting in Qatar in a
bid to resolve a protracted political crisis that recently threatened
to escalate into all-out civil war.

At least 65 people were killed in six days of street battles between
pro- and anti-government forces that saw opposition gunmen led by
Hizbullah briefly seize control of large swathes of western Beirut.

"Hizbullah militias are the enemy of a free Lebanon and all nations,
especially neighbors in the region, have an interest in helping the
Lebanese people prevail," Bush added.

EVENTS DEDICATED TO THE LAST BELL SCHEDULED FOR MAY 24

armradio.am
19.05.2008 16:25

The events dedicated to the Last Bell will take place in Yerevan on
May 24.

Head of the Education Department of the Yerevan City Hall Onik Vatyan
told a press conference today that all secondary schools have been
instructed not to allow organizing luxurious parties and collect big
sums for this purpose.

Onik Vatyan informed that a concert dedicated to the Last Bell will
take place at the Liberty Square on May 24. According to him, the
Police, the communities and the ambulance have been instructed to
properly maintain the public order.

According to Onik Vatyan, on the Last Bell day some parents entrust
cars to their children. He informed that in this case the inspectors
have been instructed to immediately take the car to the penalty area.

MINISTER OHANYAN MEETS WITH STAFFS OF MOD DEPARTMENTS

armradio.am
19.05.2008 17:08

Continuing his familiarization meetings with the personnel of RA
Ministry of Defense, on May 19 RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
today met with the staffs of the Information Department, the Department
of Work with the Personnel, the Operational Readiness Department and
the Physical Training Department.

Turning to the activity of the above-mentioned departments, Seyran
Ohanyan stressed the importance of the military, physical and
moral-psychological preparedness of the servicemen, as well as the
essence of the reforms in the Armed Forces.

At the end of the meeting the Minister wished success to the staff
in their future service.

Later the Minister visited the Military Police Department of the
Ministry of Defense, where the Head of the Department, Major-General
Vladimir Gasparyan reported on the cases and accidents registered in
the troops.

Turning to the further activity of the Military Police Department,
the Minister stressed the importance of maintenance of the latter’s
principles of impartiality and gave instructions on raising the
discipline in the Armed Forces, the serviceman-citizen interrelations,
and adherence to the rules of wearing military uniform.

At the end of the meeting Minister Ohanyan wished success to the staff.
From: Baghdasarian

EDWARD NALBANDIAN: ARMENIA INTENDS TO FULFILL ALL PACE SUGGESTIONS

armradio.am
19.05.2008 17:56

The Armenian authorities have taken many steps in a short period
of time to overcome the post-election situation in the country, RA
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian declared during a joint briefing
with theDeputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Maud de
Boer-Buquicchio.

According to the Minister, upon the initiative of RA President Serzh
Sargsyan a working group has been created to implement the suggestions
included in the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Armenia. The
group has submitted proposals on every provision of the Resolution.

The Armenian Foreign Minister said that the Armenian side seriously
intends to accomplish the suggestions of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe.

Edward Nalbandian said a number of issues related to Armenia’s
commitments before the Ccouncil of Europe were discussed during the
meeting with Maud de Boer-Buquicchio. According to him, Armenia
meets the commitments with 90%, especially in the context of the
constitutional and judicial reforms envisaged by the Constitution.

"Armenia intends to move forward and actively participate in the
activities of the Council fo Europe," the Foreign Minister said.

ARMENIA DEMONSTRATES PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PACE SUGESTIONS

armradio.am
19.05.2008 18:10

Armenia is demonstrating considerable progress in the implementation
of the suggestions of the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions
in Armenia, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio declared at a briefing in Yerevan today.

According to her, "the suggestions currently on the table are correctly
formulated."

"The main proposal of the Resolution was the formation of an
independent legal body to investigate the events of March 1, and all
the discussions and positions on the given issue are in line with the
aproaches of the Council of Europe," the Deputy Secretary General of
the Council of Europe said.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio noted that during the meeting with the leaders
of the radical opposition, she intends to call them for constructive
dialogue as she did during the meetings with the leadership of Armenia.