Author: Antonian Lara

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER LAYS A WREATH DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’S VICTIMS MEMORIAL

AZG Armenian Daily
28/02/2007

Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga laid a wreath at the
Tsitsernakaberd Memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, 1915. The Polish Foreign Minister also
put a note in the Memory Book. She visited the Museum-Institute of
the Armenian Genocide and was told the history of the tragic events
of 1915. "It is impossible to forget the barbarity of the past,"
A.Fotyga wrote in the Memory Book.

To note, the Polish Seim recognized the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman
Turkey. The Armenian Genocide is also recognized by the parliaments
of Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Venezuela, Holland, Greece,
Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Lebanon, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, France,
Switzerland and Sweden.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 22 2007

FM Gül: We are all from Trabzon

"We’re all from Trabzon," said Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül
at an Ýstanbul meeting on Wednesday to support Trabzon residents in
their efforts to improve the image of the city.
"We have always been proud of Trabzon," Gül said at the Atatürk
Cultural Center, where the Trabzon Foundation and the Association for
Trabzon Residents have organized a four-day conference in order to
give a thorough picture of Trabzon.
An unemployed youth from Trabzon, Ogün Samast, 17, has been charged
with killing Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian writer, in Ýstanbul last
month. The man who confessed to inciting Samast, Yasin Hayal, is also
from Trabzon. In 2004 he was behind the bombing of a restaurant in
the town.
Last year, a 16-year-old boy was jailed for shooting dead an Italian
Catholic priest as he prayed in his church in Trabzon.
The people of Trabzon should not be led to anger over recent
incidents, "These are the kind of events that can happen anytime,
anywhere," Gül said.

RA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY TATUL MANASERIAN: ARMENIA SHOULD REDUCE
ITS ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. "Today we depend seriously on one
country – Russia, which is considered a strategical ally but this
alliance can change at any moment", RA National Assembly deputy Tatul
Manaserian said during a talk with NT correspondent. In his opinion,
Armenia should reduce its economic dependence on Russia. To
substantiate his opinion, T. Manaserian presented the situation when
Russia stopped exporting diamonds to Armenia (2003-2004).

"We received diamonds from our strategical ally by quotas, and it
formed over 50% of our exports. Exports have declined since these
quotas are no longer in effect," he said. He expressed conviction that
Armenia should try to be a diversified country both in terms of
investments and economic interests.

Responding to the question whether freedom of doing business in
Armenia is so great that the authorities state it, T. Manaserian
noted: "If you do a small business not disturbing anyone, you can do
it. But if your business, so to speak, gathers momentum, in that case
you must offer a share to the circles which consider power and
business as the same thing."

RA PRIME MINISTER ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO ESTABLISHMENT OF CLOSER
COOPERATION WITH BELGIUM WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF ARMENIA-EU ACTIONS PLAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Receiving newly appointed
Ambassador of Belgium to Armenia Charles Ghislain on February 23, RA
Prime Minister Andranik Margarian gave assurance that the
Armenian-Belgian relations will continue developing successfully in
the period of new Ambassador’s activity. A. Margarian expressed
satisfaction with high-level bilateral contacts between Armenia and
Belgium over the past years, with activization of mutual visits,
which, in his words, contributes to promotion of political dialogue
between the two countries. RA Prime Minister also expressed
satisfaction in connection with Belgium’s adopting a balanced position
to issues of great importance for Armenia at UN and other
international organizations. A. Margarian especially attached
importance to establishment of closer cooperation with Belgium within
the framework of Armenia-EU Actions Plan, through elaboration and
implementation of certain programs, cooperation bewteen ministries and
departments of the two countries. In this context he emphasized that
the Armenian side expects Belgium’s participation in programs of
poverty reduction and rural communities’ development in Armenia, which
is among the priorities outlined in the Actions Plan. Mentioniong that
the high indices of trade and economic relations between the two
countries are mainly provided thanks to trade of precious stones being
influenced by fluctuations of their prices on the international
market, A. Margarian emphasized the necessity to make these relations
more varied, to use the considerable potential in the sphere of high
technologies, agriculture, urban development, programming,
training-scientific and other spheres. As Noyan Tapan was informed
from RA government Information and Public Relations Department, during
the meeting the interlocutors touched upon steps taken and to be taken
in the direction of process of Armenia’s integration to Europe,
strengthening of democracy, establishment of civil society. The
Ambassador of Belgium assured that his country is ready to assist with
the process of development and reforms in Armenia.

Arminfo
2007-02-23 19:50:00

Jewish organizations are reluctant to respond to Turkish calls to
fight a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide

Despite fears of upsetting a top Israeli and American ally in the
Muslim world, Jewish organizations are reluctant to respond to Turkish
calls to fight a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian
genocide, reports Assyrian International News Agency.

In the past, Jewish groups have aided Turkey’s efforts to prevent the
United Stated from applying the term "genocide" to the killing of 1.5
million Armenians by the Turks during World War I. But this time
around, the Forward has learned, Jewish organizations are declining to
commit to the issue, fearing an uphill battle with House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, who has vowed to push the resolution through.

In a meeting two weeks ago in Washington, Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul raised the issue with representatives of several leading
Jewish organizations. In the meeting, attended by representatives of
eight major groups, Gul stressed the importance that Turkey sees in
preventing the passage of the resolution. He asked the Jewish groups
to use their lobbying operations on Capitol Hill to aid Ankara’s
cause.

FIRST ATLAS OF NKR HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2009

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The Geodesy and Cartography
Center of the RA Real Estate Land Survey State Committee attached to
Government will publish in 2009 the first atlas of the NKR history
and geography. The Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed about it
by Hovsep Petrosian, the Director of the center. In his words, it
is envisaged to start works on forming the atlas after signing the
contract with the client, NKR Government, in late March of this year.

In H.Petrosian’s words, publication of the world atlas is also one of
future programs of the center. It is envisaged to do accounting and
registration works of all the geographic toponymic names (about 200
thousand names) in 2008-2010, and works on publication of the atlas
will be implemented in 2009-2011.

The center Director mentioned that money will be allocated from the
state budget for publication of the world atlas, the size of which
will be clear after adoption of the program on middle-term expenses
of the 2008 RA state budget.

It was also mentioned that during the current year the center will
publish with its resources 13 titles of historic maps for schools.

The Geodesy and Cartography Center of the RA Real Estate Land Survey
State Committee attached to Government published about 40 titles of
theme (tourism, environmental, road, etc.) maps, atlases and booklets
from 2004 till now.

THE GENOCIDE, HRANT DINK’S MURDER AND ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS

AZG Armenian Daily
20/02/2007

It is always hard for an empire to ask forgiveness, especially,
when the matter concerns an eastern empire, Armenian President
Robert Kocharian said in his interview with the French Le Figaro
newspaper, answering the question about possible improvement of
Armenian-Turkish relations after the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor
of the Istanbul-based "Agos" newspaper.

In Mr. Kocharian’s opinion, this murder won’t have any impact,
as the problem is much deeper and dates back to the history of the
Turkish nation.

Being asked why Armenia has turned down the Turkish initiative to set
up a committee of historians for studying the Genocide, the President
of Armenia stressed that it is the governments and not historians
who are to normalize the bilateral relations.

Therefore, Armenia is ready is establish diplomatic relations with
Turkey without any preconditions, to set up an intergovernmental
committee, and to discuss all the issues, including painful ones,
the President noted. He added that many countries have historical
and territorial differences on the European continent; however,
they have open borders, normal relations, and discuss the existing
problems. In fact, the trouble is that the authorities of Ankara turn
down the idea of creating an intergovernmental committee to solve
all the mutual problems, R. Kocharian noted.

TURKISH HISTORIAN PUBLISHES A BOOK ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
20.02.2007 11:23

One month after the murder of Hrant Dink to Istanbul, the Turkish
Historian Taner Akcam publishes "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide
and the Question of Turkish Responsibility," Jean Eckian informs.

Taner Akcam talks about the 1915 Armenian Genocide that claimed the
lives of over one million Armenians. Professor Akcam examines how
the Ottoman Turks responded to the charge that they were committing
genocide and discusses how the current Turkish government describes
what happened. The talk was hosted by the Armenian Cultural
Organization of Minnesota.

His books include "From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and
the Armenian Genocide" and "Rethinking Modernity and National Identity
in Turkey."

Taner Akcam is currently associate professor of history at the
University of Minnesota.

LOS ANGELES MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA CALLS ON US CONGRESS TO PASS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

ArmRadio.am
19.02.2007 15:35

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, joined by over three dozen
students from Alex Pilibos High School in Hollywood, hosted a press
conference on February 14th where he energetically called on the US
House of Representatives to pass the Armenian Genocide resolution. The
Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res. 106) is currently pending before
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is Chaired by California
Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA). The Mayor’s press conference with the
ANCA-WR was covered by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times,
National Public Radio, the Associated Press and local network
television stations.

Mayor Villaraigosa opened his press conference by announcing that the
City of Los Angeles will withdraw more than $27 million in retirement
fund investments from companies that do business with Sudan to protest
the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region. "By acting affirmatively to
bring about change in Darfur, we demonstrate our commitment to making
a difference and working to stop genocide," remarked Villaraigosa. The
Mayor added, "As we can see today, the genocide in Darfur rages on – it
is our duty to also properly recognize genocides that have occurred in
the past so that we may work to prevent them from happening again. We
know that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat
it – and we look forward to continuing to work with the Armenian
National Committee in this regard."

"We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mayor Villaraigosa
in ending the cycle of genocide in our world," commented ANCA-WR
Executive Director Antranig Kzirian. "Today, the Mayor spoke clearly
about the positive role American cities can play in ending the genocide
in Darfur by beginning a divestment campaign. We were also pleased
that the Mayor forcefully called on the U.S. Congress to adopt the
Armenian Genocide resolution without delay," Kzirian added.

In correspondence that Mayor Villaraigosa recently sent to Speaker of
the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), he personally urged her to schedule a
vote on the Armenian Genocide resolution (H. Res. 106). The Mayor’s
letter states, in part, "As the Mayor of Los Angeles… it is an
honor and pleasure to add my name to the growing list of supporters
of H. Res. 106, which would officially place the U.S. House of
Representatives on record as recognizing the Armenian Genocide
of 1915."

Following the Mayor’s press conference, Los Angeles City Council
President Eric Garcetti introduced a resolution on behalf of the
Los Angeles City Council that urges the United States Government
to recognize the Armenian Genocide and calls upon Turkey to end its
decades long policy of denial. "This resolution, by the City Council
of the City of Los Angeles, shows our support in standing side by
side with Mayor Villaraigosa and all of humanity in paying homage to
those that perished in the Armenian Genocide", stated Garcetti.

JEWISH WORLD WATCH CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
19.02.2007 12:50

The ANCA-WR this week welcomed a letter authored by Jewish World Watch
in support of H. Res. 106 (the Armenian Genocide Resolution). The
correspondence, addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA),
urges her to support the passage of H. Res. 106, which affirms the
US record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

ANCA-WR informs that Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis and Janice
Kamenir-Reznik, co-founders of Jewish World Watch expressed the
critical importance of holding perpetrators of genocide accountable for
their acts of inhumanity. Janice Kamenir-Reznik noted, "Accountability
is a seminal factor in deterring future genocides. As Hitler was
designing his final solution he was asked why he thought he would
be able to murder millions of Jews. Only twenty years after the
Armenian genocide, Hitler responded by noting that no one cared and
no one remembered the Armenian genocide. We all know what happened
next. Our humanity and collective conscience demand that we care and
our very existence requires that we remember and hold perpetrators
responsible. We are proud to stand with the Armenian community and
with all people of conscience to insist that their suffering and
their history be acknowledged by the civilized world."

Jewish World Watch is a project of a coalition of synagogues working
together to mobilize synagogues, their schools, members and the
community to combat genocide and other egregious violations of human
rights around the world.

Earlier this year, the organization held a screening of the genocide
film Screamers at Valley Beth Shalom in California’s San Fernando
Valley. Although Jewish World Watch currently focuses on ending
the genocide in Darfur, the organization’s letter to Speaker Pelosi
states that "it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge and commemorate
past genocides, in particular, the Armenian Genocide, which has
been denied for almost a century – we cannot criticize those who are
committing genocide today, without acknowledging and commemorating
the unacknowledged genocide of the Armenian community in 191[5]."

In October of 2006, then-Representative Pelosi stated that, "I have
supported legislation, including H. Res. 316, that would properly
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that the US
recognize this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate
genocide whenever and wherever it exists. This effort enjoys strong
bipartisan support in the House, and I will continue to support these
efforts in the 110th Congress."