ASBAREZ Online [04-12-2006]

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04/12/2006
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1) Kocharian Meets With Two US Congressmen And MCC CEO 2) Baku Objects to Euro Parliament Survey in Nakhichevan 3) Turkish Television to Air Egoyan's Film about Armenian Genocide 4) Armenian Navy Band Wins World Music Award 5) Two Soldiers, 12 Kurds Killed in Turkey Clash 6) Obituary 1) Kocharian Meets With Two US Congressmen And MCC CEO YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--US Congressman Jim Kolbe, Congressman Scott Garrett, and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Chief Executive Officer John J. Danilovich are visiting Armenia as a part of their regional tour to review government, economic, and military issues in the South Caucasus. As part of their trip, Representatives Kolbe and Garrett, and Ambassador Danilovich will visit MCC and other United States Government-funded assistance project sites throughout Armenia. In their meetings with Armenian government officials, the delegation will discuss US-Armenian bilateral relations, civil society development, and the importance of free and fair elections in Armenia in 2007 and 2008. But the $235 million assistance to be provided under the Bush administration's Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program was the main focus of Representatives Kolbe's and Garrett's talks with President Robert Kocharian and other Armenian leaders. The two lawmakers and Danilovich also met with local businessmen and representatives of non-governmental organizations. Kolbe, who chairs the Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives, described the meetings as "very productive." "We believe that this is a dynamic new way of delivering foreign assistance to countries that have shown a commitment to the rule of law and to an open society," he said, referring to MCA. "Transformational economic development must go hand in hand with political democracy, and that's why Armenia has been chosen [for MCA funding]." "We believe this is a country which is moving forward in that area," he added. Speaking to reporters, Kolbe specifically noted that he trusts the Kocharian administration's pledges to ensure proper conduct of Armenia's next parliamentary and presidential elections due in 2007 and 2008 respectively. But he said the United States will closely monitor the entire electoral processes to see if they meet Yerevan's MCA commitments. "We would not embark on this program if we were not confident that the Armenian authorities are committed to free elections," he said. Kocharian was quoted by his office as assuring the visiting congressmen and the chief executive of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, John Danilovich, that "Armenia remains committed to strengthening democracy and liberalism." Kocharian also thanked the US government for the release of extra US aid to Armenia within the frameworks of the MCC, saying that Armenia remains committed to strengthening of democracy and liberal market relations, for which the MCC aid is intended for. He noted the importance of the aid, because it targets mainly rural populations by improving rural infrastructure reconstructing irrigation systems. 2) Baku Objects to Euro Parliament Survey in Nakhichevan YEREVAN (PanArmenian.Net)--Top Azeri officials said that they might allow a European Parliament (EP) delegation to survey the destroyed Armenian cemetery in Julfa, Nakhichevan, "only with the condition of bilateral survey," APA reports. The EP decided last week that a delegation composed of members of the Commission on EU-Armenia parliamentary cooperation will visit Julfa as part of their trip to Armenia from April 17-21. The aim of the mission is to investigate Azerbaijan's destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Julfa. Prior to traveling to Julfa, they will need to get the necessary authorization from Azeri authorities. The mission is being sent in accordance with the EP's resolution "on cultural heritage in Azerbaijan," which "demands that Azerbaijan allow missions, including experts working with ICOMOS, who are dedicated to surveying and protecting archaeological heritage, in particular Armenian heritage, onto its territory, and that it also allow a European Parliament delegation to visit the archaeological site at Julfa." 3) Turkish Television to Air Egoyan's Film about Armenian Genocide ANKARA (AFP)--A private television station will broadcast a movie about the Armenian genocide for the first time in Turkey, where the subject still arouses nationalistic sentiments, a spokesman for the channel said. Kanalturk decided to show "Ararat" by Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan after a survey of viewers revealed that 72 percent of the participants wanted to see the film, the spokesman said. "We will show the movie with no cuts or censoring," he added. The film's showing, at prime time on Thursday, will be followed by a roundtable discussion by Turkish and Armenian intellectuals and historians about the Genocide, which took place during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Even though the Turkish government did not prohibit the showing of the film, which was released in 2002, an Istanbul company was forced in 2004 to drop plans to screen the movie because of potential protests that would have required police presence in theaters. Turks have only recently begun to discuss the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923, one of the most controversial episodes in Turkish history. To this day, Turkey categorically rejects that genocide took place. Egoyan's film deals with the estranged members of a contemporary Armenian family, who are faced with both Turkey's denial of genocide and their own individual plight. 4) Armenian Navy Band Wins World Music Award YEREVAN (ArmeniaNow.com)--Armenia's favorite exotic ensemble, the Armenian Navy Band won last week the "Audience Award" of the prestigious BBC World Music Awards. The 12 member Armenian Navy Band was selected as a finalist two months ago through online voting by fans. Four groups, including three others from Brazil, Iraq and Italy, were judged by a panel of music critics and Armenian Navy Band came out on top. The group's founder and percussionist/vocalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan appeared at the BBC Awards ceremony and gave a 20-minute performance. 5) Two Soldiers, 12 Kurds Killed in Turkey Clash DIYARBAKIR (Reuters)--Two Turkish soldiers and 12 Kurdish militants were killed during a clash in a mountainous part of Turkey's troubled southeast, officials said on Wednesday. The clash, on Tuesday evening in the Sirnak province near the Iraqi border, coincides with increased tensions in the mainly Kurdish region after recent street battles between protesters and security forces. The Sirnak governor's office said in a statement that the 12 Kurds who lost their lives--members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)--refused an army demand to lay down their weapons and opened fire on the troops, killing two sergeants. The slain PKK members included two women. Troops also discovered and destroyed PKK hideouts containing explosive materials, the statement said. Military operations in the area, backed up by helicopter gunships, are continuing, it added. Tuesday's clash was the latest in a string of incidents, which have sparked fears of a return to the kind of large-scale violence that dogged Turkey's southeast in the 1980s and 1990s. That violence, in which more than 30,000 people were killed, tapered off following the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. But it has picked up again since the PKK called off a unilateral ceasefire in 2004. Last week, security forces killed six PKK members in the southeast. On Monday, a Turkish soldier was killed by a remote-controlled mine in the region. Sixteen people were killed and many more injured during recent street battles between PKK supporters and the security forces in Diyarbakir and other cities across the southeast. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation with lawmakers from the region on Tuesday evening, but Turkish media said he rejected a call for a general amnesty for PKK members. Erdogan also said he would not talk with leaders of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) because they would not denounce the PKK as a terrorist organization. The European Union and the United States have put the PKK on their terrorism blacklist. But following the recent street violence, the EU, which Turkey aspires to join, has also stepped up its demands for Ankara to improve the economic conditions and cultural rights of its Kurdish citizens. 6) Obituary We are saddened to report the death of educator, journalist, and community activist Kohar Tololian on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. Tololian died in Boston's Mount Auburn Hospital after a short illness. The funeral will be held on April 18 in Boston. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.