Author: Badalian Vardan

CTS’ 2005 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OPENED IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, April 28. /ARKA/. The 5th international tourism exhibition
CTS’ 2005 has been opened in Yerevan. RA Deputy Minister of Trade
and Economic Development Ara Petrosyan pointed out that this
exhibition is traditional in the tourist sphere and is aimed to
present elite travel agencies to the public. Thirty-three companies
from Armenia, Belarus, Iran and Turkey, including two air carriers,
seven hotel complexes, one transport agency, 13 travel agents, one
insurance company, five NGOs, three publishing houses and one news
agency are to take part in the exhibition. Special halls deal with the
Shirak and Vaiots Dzor regions of Armenia. A number of seminars will
be held to discuss the role of regional and international cooperation.
The exhibition was organized by the ASTA office with the assistance of
the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. The exhibition is
sponsored by the Yerevan Brandy Company, `Golden Tulip Yerevan’ hotel,
Chech Airlines, `Visa Concord’ company and `Congress’
hotel. P.T. –0–

PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT ON JOINT USE OF MILITARY OBJECTIVES WITHIN CST
FRAMEWORK CORRESPONDS TO ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION
YEREVAN, APRIL 27. ARMINFO. Provisions of an Agreement on joint use of
both military objectives and strategical equipment of territories
within the framework of Collective Security Treaty (CST) correspond to
Armenian Constitution, Armenian Constitutional Court made this
decision after a short closed meeting.
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan, represented the interests of
President Robert Kocharyan, informed that the Treaty was signed on
June 18, 2004 in Astana. The document aims to settle relations arisen
during the joint exploitation of military objectives by CST
member-states – Byelorussia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kirghizia,
Kazakhstan and Russia. -r-

TOURS OF “RUSSIAN ICE-CIRCUS” TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, APRIL 25. ARMINFO. Tours of “Russian ice-circus” will take
place in Yerevan from May 20 to June 20.
Program director of Russian circus Tatyana Lukyanova informed ARMINFO
that an ice-plant will be brought from Moscow for artists’ performance
on Yerevan circus-arena. Clowns, acrobats, as well as bears and
monkeys on skates will perform in Yerevan. Tickets will cost
2.000-4.500 AMD. Circus artists will give a benevolent performance for
invalid and orphan children, and children of needy families.
To note, Russian ice-circus planned to arrive in Yerevan earlier,
however, the tours have delayed because of animals’ death in
India. Lukyanova said that artists arrive in Yerevan being in hard
financial crisis.
At the request to comment on the situation with that incident in India
Lukyanova stated that all responsibility for animals’ death was made
on Indian impresario. “He had to pay $60 mln for transportation of
animals to Yerevan, however, he run away at night and then wrote an
e-mail with apologies”, she informed and added the Russian State
circus has appealed to the International organization on animals
protection for justice.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Washington Times, DC
April 26 2005
World Scene
Combined dispatches and staff reports.
ARMENIA
Huge crowds gather for memorial rites
YEREVAN — Hundreds of thousands of people clutching tulips,
carnations and daffodils climbed a hill in Armenia’s capital
yesterday to lay wreaths and remember the 1.5 million they say were
killed 90 years ago in Ottoman Turkey.
Local families mixed with members of Armenia’s diaspora, who had
flown from Europe and the United States to remember friends and
relatives who had died between 1915 and 1923.
[parts omitted]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Israel Hasbara Committee , NY
April 26 2005
24 April Marks Armenian Genocide
Hebrew University to Commemorate Event on 2 May
By Mayaan Jaffe
Sunday 24 April marked the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the
massacre of about 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The
Armenian government held an international conference in the capital
of Yerevan dedicated to the day.
Although the Armenians suffered the first genocide of the twentieth
century and although their situation is closely connected to that of
the Jews, who were systematically tortured and killed during the Nazi
Holocaust, the State of Israel has yet to recognize the Armenian
massacre. According to Professor Israel Charney, Executive Director
of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, this is
solely due to political considerations. However, he says, Jews
denying the Armenian Genocide is the same as Christians (or anyone
else) denying the Jewish Holocaust.
`Jews run around legitimately angry about denials of the Holocaust,’
he says. `We therefore have an absolute moral responsibility to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.’
Charney, a certified psychiatrist originally from the U.S., has
dedicated his life in Israel to studying the how and why of genocide,
sparked by confusion about the cause of the Holocaust and the ability
of human beings to carry out such atrocities.
At the university level, there are plenty of academics who would
place their vote with Charney’s; those professors are led by
Professor Michael E. Stone, director of the Hebrew University
Armenian Studies Program. His department will host a memorial event
on 2 May at Beit Belgia on the Givat Ram University Campus. Though
the event will center on memorializing the massacre, it will also be
about building bridges between Israelis and Armenians, many living in
Jerusalem. Prominent leaders from both parties will attend, including
His Beatitude Patriarch Torkom Manoogian and His Excellency Mr.
Tsolag Momjian, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia.
The event will feature an insightful lecture by Charney, as well as a
celebration of Armenian culture, highlighted by the tunes of Armenian
music.
With only around 100,000 survivors of the Armenian Genocide alive
today, Mr. Momjian expressed hopes that such an evening would `open
the minds of young people’ to the concept of the Armenian Genocide.
This is not the first year Stone has planned such an event. In past
years he has brought such intellectuals as Senior Lecturer at the
Open University of Israel and the Kibbutzim College of Education,
Professor Yair Auron. Like Charney, Auron has dedicated himself to
bringing to light the connection between Armenians and Jews, their
trials and tribulations. His book, The Banality of Indifference:
Zionism and the Armenian Genocide (Transaction Books, 2000), will be
published in Hebrew this month. It is an eye-opening book, whose
English edition has already been highly praised.
Former Minster of Education Yossi Sarid has been one of few
government officials to encourage the State to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. In a speech marking the 85th anniversary of the genocide at
the Armenian Church in the Old City of Jerusalem, Sarid said, `We
Jews, the main victims of murderous hatred, must be doubly sensitive
and identify with other victims. Those who stand aside, turn away,
cast a blind eye, make their calculations of gains and losses and are
silent always help the murderers and never those who are being
murdered…’
Sarid encourages teaching Israeli students about the atrocity as part
of the general history curriculum, if not for the educational value,
then for the humanistic one.
As Mr. Momjian put it, `For 90 years the Armenians have been living
with the tragic memory of the family they lost. To deny the genocide
is to deny a very important part of Armenian culture, history and
life.’
Charney and Momjian made their comments in exclusive interviews with
the Israel Hasbara Committee.

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.