Author: Badalian Vardan

Pan Armenian News
PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS REQUESTED RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL TO FORM BRIGADE TO
INVESTIGATE ARMENIANS POGROMS IN NOVOROSSIYSK
25.04.2005 05:34
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of a number of public organizations
requested the Russian Prosecutor General to form an independent brigade to
investigate the Armenian pogroms in the Russian town of Novorossiysk,
Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia reported. They asked
Vladimir Ustinov to pay attention to the critical situation with the
discrimination of the ethnic minorities and the systematic violations of
human rights in the Krasnodar region. The appeal says in part, `On March 21,
2005 a group of drunk Cossacks headed by ataman V. Petrusha assaulted young
people of Armenian and Greek origin, who were celebrating a birthday in a
café. On March 22, 2005 about 200 Cossacks arrived in Novorossiyk to commit
pogroms and spread leaflets with the demand to stop the `Armenian-Caucasian
outrage’. Another series of leaflets calumniated deputy of the town dumal,
chairman of Luys, the Armenian cultural association V. Mkhitarian. `On the
basis of the above mentioned we request You to form an independent group to
investigate the incidents taken place and identify persons guilty for the
instigation of national hostility’, the appeal says.

Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY
April 24 2005
Armenians mark genocide
Binghamton contingent unveils monument honoring victims
BY SCOTT ROCKEFELLER
On Saturday, Vahe Garabedian recalled a bittersweet story. Many years
ago, his Armenian grandfather was working, stringing power lines,
when Turkish soldiers were prepared to take him into custody.

Photo: Standing behind the Armenian flag, Dr. Garabed Fattal of
Binghamton reads a list of countries that have officially recognized
the Armenian genocide.

SCOTT ROCKEFELLER/Press & Sun-Bulletin

Luckily, his grandfather’s boss was Turkish and convinced the
soldiers to keep moving. Had he not, Garabedian might have never been
born.
“This is a commemoration of a people who were nearly wiped out,” he
said Saturday while standing at the south entrance of the Washington
Street Bridge.
Garabedian, of Binghamton, was one of about 30 members of the local
Armenian community who gathered near the bridge to acknowledge
Armenian Memorial Day, which is today. Attendees remembered the 1.5
million Armenian Christians who were killed because of their faith
and nationality between 1915 and 1923, under Ottoman Empire rule.
Many Armenian families arrived in the Tier after escaping the
genocide.
During the remembrance, a monument near the bridge entrance was
unveiled. The black marble monument joined several trees that have
been planted out of respect to the Armenians who were killed.
Ghazaros Kerjilian of Vestal said the aim of remembrances throughout
the country and the world is to put pressure on the Turkish
government to accept responsibility for the slaughter, and for the
American government to officially recognize it as genocide.
“The important thing to remember is man’s inhumanity to man has no
bounds,” he said. “If we don’t do something about it, it will happen
again.”
Binghamton Mayor Richard A. Bucci and city councilmen Chris Papastrat
and Stephen P. Jensen attended Saturday’s event. Letters of support
from several state politicians were read during the ceremony.
Kerjilian said Saturday’s ceremony was not only an opportunity to
speak out against the genocide, but also to thank the City of
Binghamton.
“We came here, we settled,” he said. “And we’ve prospered.”

Armenian group calls on EU to pressure Turkey into recognizing genocide
Agence France Presse — English
April 21, 2005 Thursday
BRUSSELS April 21 — The European Armenian Foundation called Thursday
on EU institutions to put pressure on Ankara to admit that it committed
genocide against Armenians.
The European Commission and the European Council governments “cannot
ignore anymore the continued calls of national parliaments and the
European Parliament … to demand that Turkey recognize the genocide,”
said Hilda Tchoboian, head of the European Armenian Federation.
Armenia marks on Sunday the 90th anniversary of mass killings in the
Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, which Armenia and
many other countries consider to have been genocide but which Turkey
denies ever took place.
“The European Armenian Federation considers that this anniversary,
falling on the actual year set for the opening of negotiations with
Turkey, must mark a turning point in the priority given to the genocide
issue by the European executive in its relations with Turkey,” the
group said in a statement.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen perished in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire,
was falling apart.
Ankara counters that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were
killed in “civil strife” during World War I when the Armenians rose
against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.
The EU is to open accession negotiations with Turkey on October 3.

Turkey attitude to Armenian Genocide – Basic test of Turkish democracy
Pan Armenian News
21.04.2005 04:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The Turkish state repudiating the crime it has
committed has to learn a lesson of what it has perpetrated. It is
first of all necessary for Turkey and its people,” Nagorno Karabakh
Republic President Arkady Ghukasian stated when addressing Ultimate
Crime, Ultimate Challenge: Human Rights and Genocide international
conference. His statement reads: “Turkey working for accession to
the EU today is on the verge of a pivotal choice of the further way
of development of the state and the society. In this respect Turkey’s
attitude towards the fact of the Armenian Genocide is a basic test of
the Turkish democracy, as well as a litmus paper, which determines the
country’s readiness to take a worthy place in the commonwealth of the
European states. Surely, it is not an easy choice. However, it is
inevitable. And it will determine not only Turkey’s image tomorrow,
but also its further role in forming the geopolitical and geoeconomic
architecture of the region, including in the South Caucasus. One
thing is clear: Turkey fulfilling an exclusive geopolitical function
in the South Caucasian region, including that in conflict settlement
and specifically in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, require a high
level of political ripeness and capacity to conceptual review of
its attitude towards the region, as well as factors determining the
attitude of the peoples of the region to the Turkish state. Today
the international community, first of all Turkey, should answer the
following question: which is more rightful and acceptable from the
point of view of civilization, international law, international
stability and security – the policy of denial of the Armenian
Genocide, which admits the continuation of the international crime,
or search for ways of penitence and facilitation of the Genocide
consequences, which embodies historical and political courage? No
Turkish government, replacing its predecessor, can avoid the burden
of growing responsibility. In two days the Armenians of the world,
all progressive humanity will pay tribute to victims of the Genocide
of our people in Ottoman Turkey. Irrespective of how many years pass,
we will always feel our pain and it will follow the Armenian people
throughout its future history. Much time will pass until our pain
will become the pain of the entire humanity. And that time will come
sooner or later. Our duty – the duty of the whole of the progressive
humanity is to speed up the coming of that time. April 24 will serve
an eternal reminder to future generations that crimes against humanity
cannot have a statute of limitations.”

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 20, 2005, Wednesday
THE CHIEF OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICEMEN OF THE RUSSIAN FSB HAS
ARRIVED IN YEREVAN
Colonel-General Vladimir Pronichev, chief of the border guard service
of the Russian FSB, arrived in Yerevan on Monday. The Armenian
border guard service states that the main objective of the visit
is to inspect Russian border guard units stationed in the republic.
Pronichev will also discuss the prospects of cooperation between the
Russian and Armenian border guard services. He also plans to sign
a range of documents, including on the financing of Russian border
guard units stationed in Armenia.
Russian and Armenian border guards defend Armenia’s border with Turkey
and Iran.

Times Square Rally to Mark 90th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide
PR Newswire (press release)
April 21 2005
NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ — On Sunday, April 24, 2005,
thousands of Armenian Americans from throughout the nation will
converge on New York City to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the
1915 Armenian Genocide — in which 1.5 million Armenians perished
at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish empire. Historians consider
the attempt to exterminate the Armenians as the first instance
of genocide in the 20th century: a precursor to mass killings
throughout the century, and an explicit model for Hitler’s own
“final solution.” Still, 90 years after the catastrophe that scattered
surviving Armenians across the globe, the Republic of Turkey continues
to deny the facts of the Genocide.
The day will start with church services at 9:00 a.m., in
Manhattan’s two Armenian cathedrals: St. Vartan Cathedral (Second
Ave. at 34th St.) and St. Illuminator’s Cathedral (27th St. between
Second and Third Avenues).
At 12:00 noon, a large memorial gathering at Times Square
(Broadway at 43rd St.) will bring together several thousand Armenian
Americans throughout North America. Finally, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.,
a solemn ecumenical requiem service will be held at St. Patrick’s Roman
Catholic Cathedral (Fifth Ave. at 50th St.), where dignitaries from
the religious, political, diplomatic, and media arenas will be present.
WHAT: Rally at Times Square to commemorate the 90th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
WHO: Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Governor George Pataki (R-NY) (Invited)
Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Michael Osanian – Senior Editor, Forbes Magazine
WHEN: April 24, 2005
12 Noon – 2:00pm
WHERE: Times Square
Broadway and 43rd Street
New York, NY
VISUALS: 3,000 – 5,000 from the Armenian Diaspora in Times Square
honoring the victims and survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide
and calling for the United States, Turkey, and the United
Nations to officially recognize the Genocide and end future
genocides
The Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee is coordinating events
on April 24th, 2005 to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. The committee is comprised of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
America, the Armenian National Committee of America, The Armenian
Catholic Church of the United States and Canada, Armenian General
Benevolent Union, the Armenian Relief Society of Eastern United
States, the Armenian Assembly, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party,
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian Missionary
Association of America, the Social Democratic Hunchakian Party,
and the Knights of Vartan.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 21, 2005, Thursday
13:59:42 Central European Time
Berlin to tell Turkey “take responsibility” for Armenian massacres
Berlin
All parties in the German parliament have agreed key points of a
resolution which will tell Turkey to “take historic responsibility”
for the 1915 Armenian genocide, a senior member of Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder’s Social Democrats said Thursday.
Gernot Erler, the Social Democratic (SPD) deputy foreign affairs
spokesman in the Bundestag, said the resolution due to win final
approval in the coming months would have three “goals.”
First, Germany’s parliament will recognise a limited German role in
massacre of 1.2 million to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks
during the First World War, said Erler in a statement.
Germany was Ottoman Turkey’s main ally in the War and “partly through
approval and through failure to take effective preventive measures
there was a German co-responsibility for this genocide.”
“The (Bundestag) asks the Armenian people for their forgiveness,”
said Erler’s statement.
Second, the Berlin parliament will call on Turkey “to halt its up
until now overwhelming suppression, to take historic responsibility
for the massacre of the Armenians by the Young Turk regime and to ask
for forgiveness from the descendants of the victims.”
Turkey’s government has always insisted that there was no Armenian
genocide and says a far smaller number of Armenians died during
Ottoman deportations which it argues took place under war conditions
and were due to an Armenian rebellion.
Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, has denounced
the planned Bundestag resolution as containing “countless factual
errors” and being written “in agreement with propaganda efforts of
fanatic Armenians….”
“Its goal is to defame Turkish history… and poison ties between
Turkey and the European Union,” said the ambassador.
Finally, the German parliament’s resolution will underline Berlin’s
efforts to help normalise relations between Turkey and Armenia.
Germany, which has about 2.5 million resident Turks, has up until now
been wary about addressing the Armenian genocide.
A member of the opposition Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU),
Erwin Marschewski, said in a statement that the value system of the
European Union (E.U.) insisted that countries “shine a spotlight on
the dark pages of their history.”
“Recognition by Turkey to the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916 is
important,” said Marschewski.
Turkey is due to start membership negotiations with the E.U. in
October but E.U. leaders say accession talks – if successful – will
take up to 15 years.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a staunch backer of Turkish E.U.
membership and will visit Ankara and Istanbul for talks with Turkish
political and business leaders on May 3 and 4.
The draft resolution being debated in Germany’s parliament does not
use the word “genocide” but rather refers to the “expulsion and
massacres” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as part of
ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the killings.
“We purposely left out the … term genocide,” said Christoph
Bergner, an opposition Christian Democrat, in a speech to parliament.
The declaration says between 1.2 and 1.5 million Christian Armenians
died or were killed by the Moslem Turks during “planned” deportations
during the First World War.
Armenians all over the world will on April 24 mark the 90th
anniversary of the start of what most international historians
describe as a genocide lasting from 1915 to 1923 which left up to 1.5
million people dead. dpa lm sc

BARONESS CAROLINE COX AND FILM EDITOR NIKITA MIKHALKOV EXPECTED TO CROSS GIBRALTAR ON BOARD OF CILICIA VESSEL
MOSCOW, APRIL 19. ARMINFO. The second stage of sailing of Cilicia
vessel built on the model of the trading vessels of the Middle Age
Cilician Armenian Kingdom will start from the Venice Island St.Lazar on
May 9. This time, sailors are to pass a way from Venice to Amsterdam.
The captain of the vessel Karen Balayan informed ARMINFO’s
correspondent that the vessel’s entering the Atlantic Ocean would be
ceremonially marked. The member of the House of Lords of the British
Parliament Baroness Caroline Cox and Nikita Mikhalkov are expected
to be on the board of the vessel at that time. A well-known Armenian
publicist, writer Zory Balayan is known to be on the board of the
vessel as well. It is he who intends to invite Caroline Cox and film
editor Nikita Mikhalkov. Besides, several Russian television stars
will also reach Gibraltar by Cilicia. However, the captain kept
their names secret. Wintering in Amsterdam, the sailors intend to
sail around Europe, in particular, to arrive in St. Petersburg and
then to Sea of Azov via Russian rivers, and then to the port Poti,
wherefrom the sailing started.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I MEETS WITH THE SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
IN GREECE
His Holiness Aram I held a meeting with the spiritual leader of the
Orthodox Church in Greece, Archbishop Krisosdoulos in the latter’s
residence, on April 17.
The two Heads discussed the challenges and the difficulties facing the
orthodox churches in general and the Greek Church in particular. They
also discussed ecumenical issues, as well as the upcoming international
missionary conference in Athens in May.
His Holiness Aram I and Archbishop Krisosdoulos highlighted the unique
role of the church in societies and the importance of preserving its
distinct character. They explored the possibilities of establishing
cooperation between the various orthodox churches.
His Holiness presented the prelate of the Diocese of Greece, who had
recently been ordained as a bishop in Antelias, to his long time
personal friend, Archbishop Krisosdoulos. He expressed his wish
for the further improvement of the relations between the Armenian
community of Greece and the Greek Orthodox Church.
His Holiness spoke about the possibility of enlisting the support of
the Greek Orthodox Church in the campaign for the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide and invited Archbishop Krisosdoulos to attend the
memorial to be held by the Armenian Community of Greece on April 24.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
Ecumenical activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 18, 2005, Monday
RUSSIAN MILITARY IN GEORGIA ILLEGALLY SELL ARTILLERY ROUNDS TO
ARMENIA, MAINTAINS TURAN AGENCY
According to well-informed military sources, 16 152-mm Akatsiya
self-propelled howitzers were illegally delivered to Armenia from
the Russian Military Base in Akhalkalaki (Georgia) in March 2005,
and deployed at the Noyemberyan district in Armenia.
According to the same sources, artillery rounds were acquired under
the mediation of Russian military men of Armenian origin, who make
a considerable amount of personnel at the Akhalkalaki Military Base.
Deployment of these rounds along the border of the Gazakhi district
means a direct threat to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which
is running via the district. (…)
Source: Turan news agency (Baku), April 14, 2005
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress