Azeri soldiers to stand trial for spying for Armenia
Turan news agency, Baku
28 Apr 06
Four Azerbaijani soldiers will soon stand trial for treason, Turan
news agency reported on 28 April.
The court of serious military war crimes held a preliminary hearing
into the case of four privates accused of having delivered secret
information to Armenians, the agency said.
The trial is scheduled for 4 May, the agency added.
RA PRESIDENT SIGNS DECREE ON HOLDING SPRING CALL-UP AND DEMOBILIZATION
OF 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On April 27, RA President Robert
Kocharian signed a decree on holding the spring call-up and
demobilization of 2006. In April-June 2006 the persons of human sex of
RA who have turned 18 before the conscription day, as well as citizens
who have lost the right of deferment from the compulsory military
service received before are called up to the army.
As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA President’s Press Service, in
April-June 2006, servicemen who have done the military service in the
fixed term will be demobilized.
EVENT DEDICATED TO MEMORY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS ORGANIZED IN MONTEBELLO
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 27 2006
MONTEBELLO, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. An event dedicated
to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims was organized on
April 23 in Montebello. Senators and high-ranking officials of the
United States and California, RA Consul General to Los Angeles Gagik
Kirakosian, representatives of the United Body involving community
organizations, primates of Armenian churches and other guests were
present. The event was led by California State Senator J.Spears,
and the speaker of the day was Peter Cowe, the Narekatsi Armenology
Department Director of the South California University. Wreaths
were laid to the Genocide monument in Montebello on April 24. The
Surb Liturgy was celebrated, divine service was held in all Armenian
churches on the same day. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign
Ministry’s Press and Information Department, the day of memory of the
Armenian Genocide victims will be marked on April 27 in Sacramento,
the state Parliament of California. Members of the State Senate and
State Assembly of California, the RA Consul General to Los Angeles,
representatives of community organizations will be present at the
event. To recap, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent
a message on the occasion of the 91st anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. According to the message, April 23-29 were announced in
California days of memory of the Armenian Genocide.
CREATING A HEALTHY SOCIETY
Shlomi Diskell, Realistic Religious Zionism
Ynetnews, Israel
,7340,L-3244074 ,00.html
April 26 2006
Not every enemy is an incarnation of Hitler,
The months of Nissan and Iyar on the Hebrew calendar are a pressure
cooker of Jewish – Zionist consiousness. It starts with Pesach and
ends on Yom Haatzmaut. The “extra meticulous” extend the period to
Iyar 28, the day the Western Wall and the old city of Jerusalem was
liberated from Jordan in 1967.
Can there be any more appropriate phrase than the one we read in the
Pessach haggadah – “In every generation, someone will rise up and
try to destroy us” – to describe the collective feeling of Israelis
during this period?
Seems to me that not even the most astute playwright could better
describe the terror attack in Dahab as Israel began marking Holocaust
Remembrance Day, and only the most petty amongst us pointed out that
no Israelis or Jews were killed in the blasts.
Over-sensitive
Sometimes it seems that we are so intimidated and over-sensitive about
the assimilate the idea that we are hated that we cannot understand
just how how damaging this is to us, or how much damage it does to
our collective memory.
We’ve had some glowing examples of this phenomenon over the past
year. Some Gaza Strip evictees chose to wear orange stars on their
clothes, to “relive” the dark days. But the move, carried out by
the twisted minds of people calling themselves Zionists and Jews,
shocked only a few of us.
But why point an accusing finger only at them? Just several days ago
we heard one of Israel’s most senior intelligence officers group Hamas
and al-Qaeda together with the Nazis. Many felt the comparison was
correct, and no one objected to the suggestion that Khaled Mashaal
and Ismail Haniya were the current incarnations of Josef Goebbels or
Hermann Goering, or that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is really light-years
apart from Alfred Rosenberg, one of the Nazis ideological figureheads.
Through the years
This is not surprising. The Israel-Palestinian conflict and the fallout
from it on the Middle East sometimes drives us crazy. We pour elements
into the conflict that only nurture the development of our unhealthy,
separatist and closed society.
On one hand, we jealously protect to unique nature of our fate and
refuse all efforts to compare our past to the Turkish slaughter of
Armenians, or the genocides that happened in Bosnia or Rwanda. On
the other hand, we keep careful watch to identify early signs that
could lead to the next Holocaust, and every Arab, Muslim or other
leader who threatens to wipe out the State of Israel is immediately
compared to Adolf Hitler.
A quick look at the newspapers of yesteryear shows that during the
1970s, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was called “the new Hitler,”
in the 80s it was Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini and U.S. black leader Rev.
Jesse Jackson, who was marked as the most dangerous threat facing
U.S. Jewry. But does anyone remember him today?
Tough period
This time of year puts us in a tough spot: we search for explanations,
occasionally seek revenge, and look for a way to deal with Holocaust
Day and other memorial days, to infuse them with new, relevant
messages. But perhaps the time has come to understand we will never
be able to take revenge, to recognize the fact that there are not
always answers, to internalize that there won’t always be someone
trying to eliminate us, and that not every Islamic fundamentalist is
the current incarnation of the German madman.
Perhaps in this way we can create a healthier society, one that doesn’t
wake up each morning looking for the newest existential threat to
justify its existence and its country. One that recognizes the fact
that sometimes our country, too, doesn’t act exactly appropriately,
and not to hide behind the approach that the whole world is against
us and is just waiting for the right moment to rise up to destroy us.
L’ARMENIE VA “SE BATTRE” POUR LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GENOCIDE PAR LES TURCS
Agence France Presse
24 avril 2006 lundi 2:41 PM GMT
EREVAN 24 avr 2006
L’Armenie continuera a “se battre” pour que la Turquie reconnaisse
le genocide armenien, a declare lundi le president armenien Robert
Kotcharian lors du 91e anniversaire de ce genocide en 1915 sous
l’Empire ottoman.
“La douleur est d’autant plus forte que nous sommes obliges de lutter
pour la reconnaissance et pour la condamnation de cette page noire de
l’Histoire”, a dit M. Kotcharian dans un communique de la presidence
armenienne.
“L’Armenie, comme porte-parole des interets nationaux des Armeniens
vivant dans leur pays et dissemines dans le monde entier, continuera
ce combat”, a ajoute le chef d’Etat.
La veille, plus de 2.000 Armeniens ont defile dans les rues d’Erevan,
en brûlant un drapeau turc en signe de protestation contre la
non-reconnaissance par Ankara de ces massacres comme “genocide”.
Les massacres de 1915 ont fait 1,5 million de morts selon Erevan,
et 300.000 a 500.000 selon Ankara, qui refuse de reconnaître le
“genocide”, qualifie de tel par la plupart des pays europeens.
–Boundary_(ID_d6Nw+F4M+o08A1Q6esuwgw) —
EVENTS DEDICATED TO 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HELD IN ARGENTINA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 26 2006
BUENOS AIRES, APRIL 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The April 22
ceremony of ecumenic prayer and memory of the Armenian Genocide martyrs
held in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral by Cardinal Jorje
Bergoglio, the Buenos Aires Archbishop, the spiritual primate of the
Roman Catholic Church of Argentina became a particular start of events
dedicated to the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Hundreds
of Argentinians, representatives of community structures, the RA
Embassy’s staff were present at the event. In the spiritism prayer
to the memory of innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, Cardinal
Bergoglio called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide as
the most serious crime committed by the Ottaman Empire towards the
Armenian nation and mankind. Primates of three Armenian confessions
of Argentina also prayed at the event. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, on the
next day, early April 23, the Surb liturgy dedicated to the Genocide
martyrs was celebrated in Armenian churches, ceremonies of laying
wreaths were organized near the Armenian monuments. After the midday,
youth organizations of community structures held political events:
the car column going round streets of the capital was turned into a
crowded march which finished by an action of protest in front of the
Turkish Embassy. Late the same day, Baroness Caroline Cox, the former
Vice-Speaker of the House of Lords of Great Britain delivered a lecture
dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in the hall of the greatest annual
international exhibition of book of Buenos Aires. Touching upon the
first crime committed against the mankind in early the 20th century,
he expressed sorrow that for political reasons, the Genocide has
not been properly recognized yet by some countries, including Great
Britain. However, Baroness was optimistic in the issue of international
recognition of the Genocide as well as expressed a hope that
Turkey will finally understand “how important it is just for the
Turk people to get rid of that weight on its conscience.” Events
dedicated to memory of the Armenian Genocide victims continued on
April 24: community representatives laid wreaths to the monument to
General San Martin, the national hero of Argentina, then a march to
the Armenian square of Buenos Aires took place where opening of a
monument dedicated to the anniversary of the Genocide took place. The
central event dedicated to the anniversary took place in the evening at
the Armenian Center of Buenos Aires the specially invited speaker of
which Baroness Caloline Cox was. RA Ambassador to Argentina Vladimir
Karmirshalian made a speech as well. The Argentinian press published
materials dedicated to the Armenian Genocide few days continuously. A
special program dedicated to the anniversary of the Genocide was
broadcast by the Argentinian Central “7th channel” on April 23.
AZERBAIJAN BACKS PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO IRAN CRISIS – PRESIDENT
Turan news agency, Baku
26 Apr 06
Washington, 26 April: President Ilham Aliyev, who is paying an
official visit to the USA, has delivered a speech at the Foreign
Relations Council of the Carnegie Foundation.
A special correspondent of Turan reports that the former national
security adviser of the US president, Brent Scowcroft, said at the
opening of the meeting that Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of the
United States. At the same time, he said that Azerbaijan, which is
rich in natural reserves, has been subjected to aggression. “Armenia
has seized a considerable part of Azerbaijan,” Scowcroft said.
In turn, Aliyev pointed out that the Karabakh conflict can be settled
only on the basis of international law and Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.
Aliyev confirmed Azerbaijan’s readiness to grant the highest degree of
autonomy to Nagornyy Karabakh on the basis of the model of autonomies
existing in Europe. In Aliyev’s opinion, Armenia must give up its
hostile policy against its dynamically developing neighbour. Aliyev
pointed out that Azerbaijan is trying to solve the problem in a
peaceful way. “But the patience of the Azerbaijani people might run
out,” he said.
Touching on the situation surrounding Iran, Aliyev pointed out that
Azerbaijan is in favour of settling the problem in a peaceful way. He
explained that Azerbaijan and Iran have an agreement not to use their
territories against each other.
Asked whether Azerbaijan might become a subject of rivalry between the
USA and Russia, Aliyev pointed out that if there is rivalry between
the USA and Russia, the territory of Azerbaijan cannot be a subject
of the dispute.
PACE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR A NEW IMPETUS FOR A EUROPE-RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP
Lragir.am
26.04.2006
Strasbourg
On the eve of a visit to St Petersburg, the President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene van
der Linden, today called for a new impetus for a partnership between
Russia and the rest of Europe.
“When I became President of the Assembly in January 2005, I stressed
the importance of ensuring constructive and friendly relations
with Russia. Now is the time to give this an extra impetus. We
must strengthen mutual trust and confidence, cooperate on an equal
footing as the key to success, build on stability and durability,
shoulder our responsibilities in solving conflicts and consolidate
peace. A partnership is therefore absolutely vital”, Rene van der
Linden said today.
On 27 April, he will take part in a special session of the State Duma
of the Russian Federation to celebrate its first centenary. On this
occasion, the President will hold a series of bilateral meetings in
particular with the President of the State Duma, Boris Gryzlov, the
President of the Council of the Federation, Sergey Mironov, as well as
with the Speakers of the Parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Moldova. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,
will also attend this special session which will take place in the
Tavrichesky Palace, where the first State Duma sat from 1906 to 1917.
The next day, 28 April, the PACE President will be co-chairing the
“International Conference on European Parliamentarianism: Past and
Present”, to be jointly organised by PACE, the CIS Interparliamentary
Assembly and the State Duma. One of the topics to be discussed at
the conference is “international standards for democratic elections”.
This will be the fourth time the President of the Assembly has visited
Russia since his election in January 2005. The visit is taking place
just before Russia takes over the Chair of the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe, on 19 May 2006.
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit.
LITHUANIA REASSERTS ITS INTENTION TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO ARMENIA WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY
Noyan Tapan
Apr 25 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The Lithuanian President Valdas
Adamkus and the delegation headed by him reasserted Lithuania’s
intention to provide support to Armenia, particilarly with respect
to the reforms implemented within the framework of the EU European
Neighborhood Policy. The Armenian President Robert Kocharian announced
it on April 25 during a press conference following the meeting with
the Lithuanian President, who is on an official visit to Armenia, and
the negotiations between the two countries’ delegations. The Armenian
President said that the relations between Armenia and Lithuania have
become quite active in recent years, with the political contacts
having a coordinated character. In the words of R. Kocharian, during
this “quite meaningful and interesting meeting”, an agreement was
reached to organize business forums in Yerevan and Vilnius, which
will open the opportunity to establish more extensive links with
the business world, to exchange information and maybe improve the
current low indices in the economic sphere. “Over the last two years,
the contacts have been so active that it gives us a great hope that
this will help to enhance the quality of the economic sphere as well,”
he noted. Describing the relations of the two countries as excellent,
the Lithuanian President expressed an opinion that there is a lack
of information, so he attached importance to student exchanges and
individual meetings, which, as he put it, is the best diplomacy and
the best way to develop relations.
ARMENIANS SEEK LANDS, RECOGNITION
By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
April 25 2006
Thousands of Armenian-Americans protested in front of the Turkish
Consulate on Monday, demanding that the country recognize the 1915
genocide of their people.
But the protesters, marching on the day when Armenians commemorate the
genocide every year, also had other demands beyond Turkey’s recognition
of the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire.
Alleging that historically Armenian lands were stolen during the
genocide, protesters chanted, “Eastern Turkey is Western Armenia”
and “Get your hands off my lands.”
Police estimated that up to 3,000 demonstrators took part in Monday’s
protest at the Turkish Consulate.
“They want recognition first of all,” said Ani Garibyan, spokeswoman
for the Armenian Youth Federation, which organized the demonstration.
“They also want the land that they lost and the houses they lost. And
Turkey needs to pay up as well, just like Germany has been doing to
the Jewish (Holocaust) survivors and their families.”
Turkey contends there was no genocide of Armenians and they are not
willing to pay reparations or hand over land.
“Can anybody give any land to anybody today? In today’s world it’s not
possible,” said Engin Ansay, consul general of Turkey in Los Angeles.
Turkey’s position does not sit well with protesters like Lida
Zohrabyan, 47, of Glendale.
But she could not say how much of the land should be returned.
“That’s our politicians’ matter,” she said. “But we want justice.”