Author: Ani Tigranian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATIVE COMMITTEE
259 Penshurst Street
Willoughby NSW 2068
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Dr Tro Kortian 0412197364

AUSTRALIA, Sydney: Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr Meets with
President of European Armenian Federation, Mrs Hilda Tchoboian.

Sydney, AUSTRALIA: On Friday 29 April 2005, Mrs Hilda Tchoboian,
President of the Armenian European Federation for Justice and
Democracy, together with a delegation from the Armenian Genocide
Commemorative Committee met the Premier of New South Wales, The
Honourable Bob Carr MP.
Below is the text of the news release received from the Office of the
Premier of New South Wales, Australia

PREMIER CARR MEETS EUROPEAN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY LEADER
The Premier of NSW, Mr Bob Carr today met with Europe’s senior
Armenian communal leader ` who is here to participate in local
commemorations, marking the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Mr Carr met Mrs Hilda Tchoboian, Chair of the European Armenian
Federation of Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) ` the influential
Brussels-based advocacy body of the Armenian-European community.
Mr Carr was joined by the Chair of the Community Relations Commission,
Mr Stepan Kerkyasharian and Chair of the Armenian Genocide
Commemorative Committee, Dr Tro Kortian.
Discussion focused on commemoration activities for the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide and issues affecting the Armenian
community.
`I welcome Mrs Tchoboian’s visit to Australia and heightening
awareness of the Armenian genocide,’ Mr Carr said.
`I join with the Armenian Australian community in marking this year’s
important anniversary, and the call for justice, acknowledgement and
remembrance.
The Federation aims to:
– Act as a link and advocate between European Institutions and
the Armenian communities through the European Union;
– Provide a better understanding of Armenian related political
and strategic issues to the European Union;
– Foster the European Union’s values of tolerance and dialogue
in Armenian related issues.
Since 2000, Mrs Tchoboian has been a consultant, (on technical
co-operation matters), to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights.
Mrs Tchoboian is also the President of the Govcas Center for Law and
Conflict Resolution and publisher of the `Govcas Bulletin’.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri agency reports anti-Armenian protest in Iran
Turan news agency
25 Apr 05
BAKU
A protest against the so-called Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey
was held in Tehran yesterday.
The head of the Baku bureau of the National Revival Movement of South
Azerbaijan (NRMSA), Huseyn Turkelli, has said that more than a
thousand people marched from Vali Asr square to the (?Mariam) Armenian
Church, expressing their protest at the falsification of history by
Armenians.
The demonstrators chanted slogans condemning the Iranian authorities
for cooperation with Armenia and urging Tehran to reconsider its
relations with Yerevan.
The demonstrators clashed with the police in the square outside the
church. However, it was impossible to disperse the protesters as
columns of demonstrators moved towards the St Sarkis Armenian
Church. The action lasted about two hours.
During the clashes, several people received injuries of varying degree
of severity. A group of NRMSA members, including well-known activists
(?Sahram and Mehdi Naimi), were arrested.
However, the Iranian authorities have allowed ethnic Armenians to mark
the “genocide day”. They held their protest in the square outside
Mariam Church.
[Passage omitted: names of several Armenian spiritual leaders who took
part in the protest]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
TURKEY TO MAKE PUBLIC GENERAL STAFF ARCHIVES ON EVENTS IN 1915
14.04.2005 08:10
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Due to the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
within 4 months Turkey intends to make public 1000 documents, telling about
the events in early 20-th century, the Vatan newspaper reported. The first
documents with facts on 1914 and 1918 were to be delivered for publication
already this week. For the first time the wide public will have an
opportunity to study Turkish archival sources. Since 1984 only 21 researches
were authorized to familiarize with the General Staff archives. The move of
the General Staff is part of the new plan of Ankara’s «political offensive»
in the Armenian issue. Yesterday Turkey suggested to Armenia to establish a
joint expert commission to study the fact of perpetration of the Genocide.
Today Turkey admits that several hundreds of thousands were killed during
forced deportation and slaughter, however denies the fact of the genocide.
At that it should be noted that according to Press Secretary of the
President of Armenia, the Kocharian Administration has not received a letter
proposing to establish a bilateral expert commission for study of facts on
the Armenian Genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: “NO ARMENIAN STATE INSTANCE LAID ANY TERRITORIAL
CLAIMS”
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. No state instance of Armenia has ever
raised the issue of territorial claims, today the Armenian Genocide
issue is the prior one on the political agenda. RA President Robert
Kocharian declared this during this April 11 meeting with Yerevan
State University students while answering the question if Armenia
intends to lay territorial claims to Turkey if the latter recognizes
the Armenian Genocide. “We should be realists in order that our wishes
and expectations shouldn’t differ from each other very much. The more
realistic we are the less we will be disappointed,” the President
emphasized.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MATENADARAN TO TAKE ACTIVE PART IN EVENTS ON OCCASION OF 1600TH
ANNIVERSARY OF INVENTION OF ARMENIAN ALPHABET
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The 1600th anniversary of invention
of Armenian alphabet and translation of the Holy Writ into Armenian
will be celebrated at state level in 2005 in Armenia. Sen Arevshatian,
Director of Yerevan Matenadaran, RA NAS Academician, said during the
March 31 press conference that Matenadaran will take an active part in
all events to be organized on the occasion of the 1600th anniversary
of invention of Armenian alphabet at state level. An international
conference will be organized in connection with the jubilee. Scientists
from Matenadaran, Universities and RA Academy of Sciences, as well as
foreign scientists will participate in the conference. An exhibition
will open in Matenadaran in connection with this Materials about the
life and activity of Mashtots, works of miniaturists of the Golden Age
will be represented at the exhibition. With Matenadaran’s immediate
participation Koryun’s “Vark Mashtotsi” (“Mashtots’ Life”) book will
be published in 5 languages – Armenian, English, French, German and
Grabar (Old Armenian), as well as Hrachya Acharian’s “Hayots Grer”
(“Armenian Letters”) work will be republished. The events will
start in June in Nagorno Karabakh – in the Amaras temple, and will
finish in October in Oshakan, during the Targmanchats (Translators’)
Holiday. Academician Sen Arevshatian said that lately, owing to the
“Matenadaran’s Friends” fund 17 more manuscripts were added to the
17 thousand manuscripts kept in Matenadaran. The fragments of the
New Testament written in 1282 in Lim desert of Vaspurakan are worth
mentioning among them. The fund’s executive director is sure that the
jubilee of invention of the alphabet will stimulate the development
of publishing activity in the sphere of Armenology, organization of
conferences and propaganda. The fund’s most important plan is search
and obtaining of ancient manuscripts. The expedition on revelation
of manuscripts is carrying out large-scale activity in Armenia and
abroad for this purpose. Besides the above-mentioned 17 manuscripts,
the fund obtained 15 more ancient Armenian original books during this
period. To recap, the idea of foundation of the “Matenadaran’s Friends”
fund has a 40-year history and belongs to Academician Levon Khachikian,
the former director of Matenadaran.

EurekAlert, DC
Public release date: 24-Mar-2005
Contact: Julia Maddock
[email protected]
44-1-793-442-094
Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council
Unveiling the high energy Milky Way reveals ‘dark accelerators’
In the March 25th 2005 issue of Science Magazine, the High Energy
Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) team of international astrophysicists,
including UK astronomers from the University of Durham, report results
of a first sensitive survey of the central part of our galaxy in
very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. Included among the new objects
discovered are two ‘dark accelerators’ – mysterious objects that
are emitting energetic particles, yet apparently have no optical or
x-ray counterpart.
This survey reveals a total of eight new sources of VHE gamma-rays
in the disc of our Galaxy, essentially doubling the number known at
these energies. The results have pushed astronomy into a previously
unknown domain, extending our knowledge of the Milky Way in a novel
wavelength regime thereby opening a new window on our galaxy.
Gamma-rays are produced in extreme cosmic particle accelerators such
as supernova explosions and provide a unique view of the high energy
processes at work in the Milky Way. VHE gamma-ray astronomy is still
a young field and H.E.S.S. is conducting the first sensitive survey
at this energy range, finding previously unknown sources.
Particularly stunning is that two of these new sources discovered
by H.E.S.S. have no obvious counterparts in more conventional
wavelength bands such as optical and X-ray astronomy. The discovery
of VHE gamma-rays from such sources suggests that they may be
‘dark accelerators’, as Stefan Funk from the Max-Planck Institut in
Heidelberg affirms: “These objects seem to only emit radiation in
the highest energy bands. We had hoped that with a new instrument
like H.E.S.S. we would detect some new sources, but the success we
have now exceeds all our expectations.”
Dr Paula Chadwick of the University of Durham adds “Many of the new
objects seem to be known categories of sources, such as supernova
remnants and pulsar wind nebulae. Data on these objects will help us
to understand particle acceleration in our galaxy in more detail; but
finding these ‘dark accelerators’ was a surprise. With no counterpart
at other wavelengths, they are, for the moment, a complete mystery.”
Cosmic particle accelerators are believed to accelerate charged
particles, such as electrons and ions, by acting on these particles
with strong shock waves. High-energy gamma rays are secondary products
of the cosmic accelerators and are easier to detect because they
travel in straight lines from the source, unlike charged particles
which are deflected by magnetic fields. The cosmic accelerators are
usually visible at other wavelengths as well as VHE gamma rays.
The H.E.S.S. array is ideal for finding these new VHE gamma ray
objects, because as well as studying objects seen at other wavelengths
that are expected to be sources of very high energy gamma rays, its
wide field of view (ten times the diameter of the Moon) means that
it can survey the sky and discover previously unknown sources.
Another important discovery is that the new sources appear
with a typical size of the order of a tenth of a degree; the
H.E.S.S. instrument for the first time provides sufficient resolution
and sensitivity to see such structures. Since the objects cluster
within a fraction of a degree from the plane of our Galaxy, they
are most likely located at a significant distance – several 1000
light years from the sun – which implies that these cosmic particle
accelerators extend over a size of light years.
The results were obtained using the High Energy Stereoscopic System
(H.E.S.S.) telescopes in Namibia, in South-West Africa. This system of
four 13 m diameter telescopes is currently the most sensitive detector
of VHE gamma-rays, radiation a million million times more energetic
than the visible light. These high energy gamma rays are quite rare
– even for relatively strong sources, only about one gamma ray per
month hits a square meter at the top of the earth’s atmosphere. Also,
since they are absorbed in the atmosphere, a direct detection of a
significant number of the rare gamma rays would require a satellite
of huge size. The H.E.S.S. telescopes employ a trick – they use the
atmosphere as detector medium. When gamma rays are absorbed in the
air, they emit short flashes of blue light, named Cherenkov light,
lasting a few billionths of a second. This light is collected by the
H.E.S.S. telescopes with big mirrors and extremely sensitive cameras
and can be used to create images of astronomical objects as they
appear in gamma-rays.
The H.E.S.S. telescopes represent several years of construction effort
by an international team of more than 100 scientists and engineers from
Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Armenia, South
Africa and the host country Namibia. The instrument was inaugurated
in September 2004 by the Namibian Prime Minister, Theo-Ben Guirab,
and its first data have already resulted in a number of important
discoveries, including the first astronomical image of a supernova
shock wave at the highest gamma-ray energies.
###
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
March 11 2005
Russian Duma Rejects Law On Incorporating Separatist Regions
11 March 2005 — Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma,
today rejected a proposal for Russia to incorporate separatist
regions of other states that vote to break away.
The bill, put forward by the Rodina (Motherland) faction, noted what
it called “increasing attempts” by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova
to extend their influence over their separatist regions, including
Georgia’s regions of Abkhazia, Adjara, and South Ossetia, the
disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Transdniester in Moldova.
The bill wanted Russia to incorporate such regions into the Russian
Federation, if those regions expressed a desire to join Russia.
Parliament refused to back the bill. Deputy Yurii Konev said the bill
posed a threat to Russia’s territorial integrity, and also
contradicts international law.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR visit Armenia to
discuss progress of electoral legislation reform
Strasbourg, 03.03.2005 – Representatives of the Council of Europe’s
Venice Commission and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(OSCE/ODIHR) will pay a joint visit to Yerevan on 3-4 March 2005, in
order to discuss progress in the revision of Armenia’s electoral
legislation, based on the Joint Recommendations issued by the two
organisations in relation to the ongoing electoral reform in Armenia.
The visit is part of the co-operation programme between the Council of
Europe and the Armenian authorities, in the framework of Armenia’s
monitoring procedure by the Committee of Ministers established after its
accession to the Council of Europe, and the follow-up of the OSCE-ODIHR
recommendations following the 2003 elections in Armenia.
The aim of the visit is to raise with the Armenian authorities and
experts on electoral matters the main points on which Armenia’s
electoral legislation and practice have yet to meet Council of Europe
standards and OSCE Commitments on democratic elections.
For more information, see
La Commission de Venise du Conseil de l’Europe et le OSCE/BIDDH visitent
l’Arménie pour discuter de l’évolution de la réforme électorale
Strasbourg, 03.03.2005 – Des représentants de la Commission de Venise
du Conseil de l’Europe et du Bureau des institutions démocratiques et
des droits de l’homme de l’Organisation pour la sécurité et la
coopération en Europe (OSCE/BIDDH) se rendent à Erevan les 3 et 4
mars 2005 afin de discuter de l’évolution de la révision du Code
électoral d’Arménie, fondée sur les recommandations conjointes
établies par les deux organisations eu égard à la réforme
électorale en cours en Arménie.
La visite fait partie du programme de coopération entre le Conseil de
l’Europe et les autorités arméniennes et s’inscrit d’une part dans
le cadre de la procédure de suivi établie par le Comité des
Ministres lors de l’adhésion de l’Arménie au Conseil de l’Europe,
d’autre part dans le cadre du suivi des recommandations de l’OSCE/BIDDH
qui suivirent les élections de 2003 en Arménie.
Le but de cette visite est de mettre l’accent avec les autorités
arméniennes et les experts électoraux sur les principaux
éléments de la législation et de la pratique électorales en
Arménie qui doivent coïncider avec les normes du Conseil de l’Europe
et les engagements de l’Arménie auprès de l’OSCE en matière
d’élections démocratiques.
Pour plus d’information, voir
Ref. 104b05
1
1
Venice Commission /
Commission de Venise
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

El Pais, Madrid
02/27/2005
Vigalondo, en chanclas por Little Armenia
E. F.-S.
Los Angeles
Nacho Vigalondo, candidato al Oscar al mejor cortometraje por 7.35 de
la manana, ira a la ceremonia de los Oscar acompanado, entre otros,
por su productora y companera, Nahikari Ipina; la protagonista de su
corto, Marta Berenguer; la consejera de Cultura del Gobierno vasco,
Miren Azcarate, y el director general del ICAA, Fernando Lara. La
Academia le ha dado cinco entradas para la gala, pero a Los Angeles
han viajado mas de veinte personas que, si gana, lo celebraran en un
karaoke coreano. “Es nuestro ideal y estamos buscandolo, pero como
buenos espanoles haremos las maletas en el ultimo minuto”, afirma el
director cantabro.
Vigalondo y su equipo estan instalados lejos del Hollywood de postal.
El director pasea en chancletas por el vestibulo de un hotel de tres
plantas del barrio conocido como Little Armenia, donde reside buena
parte del millon de armenios empadronados en Los Angeles. El director
asegura que solo el viaje y la estancia en Estados Unidos ha costado
tres veces mas que su corto. “Son las luces y sombras del mundo del
corto”, afirma. “Los cortometrajistas somos como los politicos,
podemos decir que vamos a ganar, los directores de largometrajes
deben ser mas diplomaticos. Pelean en un lugar mas incomodo. Nosotros
estamos conociendo un mini Hollywood, el de los cortos, que tiene su
circuito y no se mezcla con el gran Hollywood. Entre los candidatos
se ha creado mucha complicidad”.
Visiblemente cansado y con dolor de muelas, Vigalondo cree que su
pelicula no se enmarca dentro del tipo de corto que suele ser
premiado en los Oscar. “Para bien o para mal, nuestra historia se
sale de esa corriente, no refleja ningun drama real, es una comedia
que, sin ser frivola, si juega con referencias poco correctas”. Hoy
saldra de su hotel para dirigirse a la alfombra roja. Sus amigos
seguiran la gala desde la habitacion. “Yo tendre mi minuto de gloria
cuando la camara enfoque a todos los candidatos. El resto, ya se
vera”.

Turkish MPs fault France for raising alleged Armenian genocide in EU talks
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
24 Feb 05
Strasbourg, 24 February: Turkish MPs reacted to French MP Jacques
Toubon who brought alleged Armenian genocide to the table and wanted
Turkey to accept Sevres Treaty. Turkey’s relations with its neighbours
were discussed in the closing session of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary
Commission (JPC) meeting held in Strasbourg on Thursday [24
February]. Turkey’s relations particularly with Armenia, Greece and
Cyprus were assessed during the meeting that was closed to the
press. Speaking at the meeting, Toubon said European Parliament made a
decision about the alleged Armenian genocide and argued that Turkey
should recognize the so-called genocide before joining European union
(EU).
[Turkish opposition] Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP Sukru Elekdag
denied the claims of Toubon, saying they were baseless. Explaining
Turkish-Armenian relations Elekdag said Turkey supported the idea that
allegations of genocide be searched solely by historians and not by
the politicians. Elekdag suggested that a committee of experts
composed of Turkish and Armenian historians be formed under the
auspices of UNESCO to investigate the issue.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress