Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
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PRESS RELEASE
May 16, 2007
CONTACT: Karoon Panosyan
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY PARTICIPATES IN 92ND COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian Assembly joined hundreds of Armenian
community members and supporters on Capitol Hill to commemorate the
92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

The event, which was spearheaded by the Co-Chairs of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian issues, Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
and Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), in conjunction with the Armenian
Embassy, featured lawmakers, Armenian-American organizations and
Armenian community leaders as speakers. 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John M. Evans was praised by the
Co-Chairs for his use of the term Genocide in describing this horrific
crime against humanity.

Evans delivered the keynote speech saying, "a foreign policy that does
not factor in history, is a foreign policy that is vulnerable. A
country that does not know or refuses to learn the lessons of history
is doubly vulnerable because the past has a long reach and lessons not
learned can lead to future mistakes and tragedies."

The lineup of speakers also included Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Mark Kirk (R-IL),
Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-MI), Donald Payne (D-NJ), George Radanovich
(R-CA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and
Diane Watson (D-CA). Congressmen David Dreier (R-CA) and James
McGovern (D-MA) were also present. Additionally, community members who
addressed the crowd were His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,
Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) and
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Primate of the Eastern
Prelacy of the Armenian Church of America, Armenia’s Ambassador to the
U.S. Tatoul Markarian and Permanent Representative of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic Vardan Barseghian.

The speakers all discussed the importance of passing the Armenian
Genocide Resolution, H. Res. 106, which was introduced by
Reps. Schiff, Pallone, Knollenberg and Radanovich along with McCotter
and Sherman. They reiterated the magnitude of recognizing the fact of
the Armenian Genocide saying "we will never forget" and that the only
way to stop future tragedies is to recognize the tragedies of the
past.

"We thank Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg for
organizing this event commemorating the 92nd Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide," said Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair
Hovnanian. "We also appreciate the motivation and support of all the
lawmakers who are determined to reaffirm the U.S. record on the
Armenian Genocide."

Throughout the week of April 24, several lawmakers delivered speeches
on the House floor and submitted statements for the congressional
record emphasizing the importance of U.S. affirmation of the Armenian
Genocide.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), in her statement, also commented on
the murder of Hrant Dink saying in part: "As recently as January of
this year, a Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, was murdered
because of his outspoken advocacy for Turkish recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. This incident serves as an important reminder that
an open, informed, and tolerant discussion of the genocide is
critical."

Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) addressed the House on April 23
saying: "Today, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to help
ensure that the Armenian people can build a better future. And so, I
look forward to continuing to work with the Armenian-American
community and Members of the Congressional Caucus on Armenia to
address the issues facing this longtime friend and important ally of
the United States, so that together we build something positive,
something hopeful, something good for the future–a peaceful,
prosperous and secure Armenia."

In addition, to Senator Feinstein and Representative Markey, the
following lawmakers also submitted statements for the congressional
record: Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jack
Reed (D-RI) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael Capuano
(D-MA), Jim Costa (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Jerry Costello (D-IL),
James Langevin (D-RI), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), James McGovern (D-MA),
Michael McNulty (D-NY), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA),
Hilda Solis (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Henry Waxman (D-CA).

The Assembly also participated in Armenian Genocide commemorations in
California and Armenia. In California, there were a series of events
leading up to April 24 including an event supported by the Assembly
and hosted by the University of California, San Diego Armenian
Students Association. The program featured a lecture on the parallels
between the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide by Professor Lawrence
Baron, Director of the Lipinsky Institute of Judaic Studies. On April
24, Armenian-American community members gathered at the Armenian
Genocide Monument in Bicknell Park in Montebello, CA, to pay their
respects. Meanwhile in Armenia, Assembly staff joined government
officials, religious leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and
civilians to pay their respects at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in
Yerevan.

The Armenian Assembly is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issues.  It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

###

NR2007-058

U.S. CONGRESSMAN WHITFIELD DUE IN TURKEY

Turkish Press
May 15 2007

ANKARA – Ed Whitfield, Co-chairman of the Turkey Caucus, will arrive
in Turkey, sources told A.A on Monday.

Whitfield and an accompanying delegation will hold talks in Ankara
and Istanbul in the last week of May on behalf of "Congressional
Study Group on Turkey".

"Congressional Study Group on Turkey" aims to develop close relations
between U.S. Congress members and Turkish parliamentarians as well
as to promote Turkey at U.S. Congress more actively.

Whitfield supports Turkey in rejection of draft on so-called Armenian
genocide at U.S. Congress, lifting isolations over Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and effective fight against PKK terrorist
organization.

Whitfield led the first U.S. delegation which visited TRNC by using
Ercan Airport.

NO MAJOR SHIFT EXPECTED IN ARMENIA’S POLICY AFTER POLLS
EmÝne Kart Ankara

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 15 2007

Analysts and observers have held little hope for a dramatic shift in
foreign policy of Turkey’s estranged neighbor Armenia following the
weekend’s parliamentary elections in which pro-presidential parties
won a large majority — and with Yerevan being expected to continue
to put worldwide recognition of an alleged Armenian genocide at heart
of its foreign policy decision-making mechanism.

The winner of the election — viewed as a dress rehearsal for
the presidential vote due to be held at the beginning of 2008 —
was Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan, who heads the Republican Party,
which will control around 40 percent of the 131 seats in parliament.

Sarksyan, a 52-year-old former welder, is from Nagorno-Karabakh,
as is current President Robert Kocharian, a notorious hard-liner.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory inside Azerbaijan that has been
controlled by Armenian and local ethnic Armenian forces since a
six-year war that ended in 1994. Tensions remain high between Armenia
and Azerbaijan, ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus. Sarksyan was at
Kocharian’s side in the separatist administration during the war. For
nearly 15 years he has held senior posts in Armenia’s government
including defense minister and national security minister.

Back in December 2006, in an article that appeared in The Wall Street
Journal, then-Defense Minister Sarksyan called on the European Union
to become "increasingly involved in finding a way to a breakthrough
for relations between Turkey and Armenia."

Armenia, for its part, considers remembering the Armenian "genocide"
important, Sarksyan wrote then. But Armenia does not tie "the
establishment of diplomatic relations to recognition of the genocide,"
he suggested at the time.

This very last sentence hinting that Armenia might not be insistent
on recognition of an alleged genocide of Anatolian Armenians at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I for reestablishing
diplomatic relations with Ankara could be considered as the sole light
of hope regarding the new Armenian government’s policy toward Turkey,
Utku Kundakcý of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation’s
(TESEV) Foreign Policy Program, told Today’s Zaman.

Noting that this hope could only be related to the tone and wording
of Sarksyan’s remarks, Kundakcý, however, cautioned that one should
not hold high expectations.

Ankara has recognized Yerevan since the former Soviet republic gained
independence in 1991, but nevertheless refuses to set up diplomatic
ties because of Armenian efforts to secure international condemnation
of the controversial World War I era killings of Anatolian Armenians
as genocide. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the last years of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the claims, saying that
300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil
strife which emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with the Russian troops which were
invading Ottoman lands.

In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with
Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, dealing a heavy economic
blow to the impoverished nation. Ankara wants Armenia to abandon its
campaign for the recognition of the killings as genocide and make
progress in its dispute with Baku before formal diplomatic relations
can be established.

For his part, Kaan Soyak, the co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian
Business Council, noted that participation in the elections stood at
55-57 percent, thus low participation in elections have been widely
interpreted as a confirmation of the ongoing status quo.

Nevertheless, he still argued that Turkey should take the initiative
of unilaterally opening the border with Armenia in order to invalidate
hard-liner policies in the neighboring country.

Yet, Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic
Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), drew attention to the fact that
now those who favor hard-liner policies have been in power and any
concession given by Turkey would be used as a tool by those again
against Turkey.

"If Turkey makes any concessions such as unilaterally opening
borders, then it will be giving a wrong message to both the ruling
anti-Turkey camp and those in opposition who favor a more rationalist
and softer relationship with Turkey. Then you would be encouraging
those hard-liners to keep up with their unacceptable policies, while
you’ll be harming the moderate camp. Its costs would be heavy."

–Boundary_(ID_PiYPeLEQolQKoDvr+2kxd w)–

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER: NATO WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ARMENIA’S REFORM EFFORTS

ArmRadio.am
15.05.2007 11:53

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer "noted with satisfaction
that this weekend’s parliamentary elections in Armenia were considered
by international monitors to be largely in accordance with Armenia’s
OSCE and Council of Europe commitments," Mediamax reports.

"I encourage the Armenian authorities to investigate thoroughly all
complaints and to address the remaining problems identified by the
international observers. NATO will continue to support Armenia’s reform
efforts and to continue our strong cooperation in the Partnership
for Peace," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stated.

Democratic reform is one of the key directions of the Armenian
Individual Partnership Action Plan /IPAP/ that came into force in
January, 2006.

ARMENPRESS

HAYKO COMES 8th AT EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian singer Hayko
with his song ‘Anytime You Need’ came 8-th at
Eurovision song contest final in Helsinki, Finland on
May 12.
He scored 138 points, receiving the highest 12
points from Turkey, as did last year Armenian singer
Andre and from the newcomer Georgia.
Hayko received also 10 points from France, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Netherlands, Russia and Poland. 8
points came from Spain, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Greece
gave 6 points; Belarus, Austria, Israel and Ukraine
gave 5 points and Moldova gave 2 points.
Serbia’s Marija Serifovic and her song Molitva
(Prayer) was ranked first with 268 points. Ukraine
came in second with 235 Points followed by Russia with
207.
For the first time, since the language rule was
abolished in 1999, a song won that included not a
single word in English.
Exactly one third of the competing nations in the
final were former USSR countries. Russia got 12 points
from three countries: Armenia, Belarus and Estonia.
Latvia got ten points from Estonia and Lithuania.
Georgia got its only top mark from Lithuania.
Thanks to Hayko, Armenia has again won the right to
be in the final of next year’s Eurovision song
contest.

PanARMENIAN.Net

`Orinats Yerkir’ to reach `revision of results of parliamentary elections
via court’
13.05.2007 17:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The political Council of `Orinats Yerkir’ opposition
party (leader-ex-Speaker Artur Baghdasaryan) made a statement
`condemning mass violations during the May 12 parliamentary elections
and the returns, which were received in the result of those
violations’. The statement reads as follows, `The party indicates that
during the voting process and count of votes serious violations were
fixed.

Display of terrorism, mass distribution of bribes, ballot stuffing,
crying shortcomings during count of votes and distortion of real
results are bases for casting doubt on lawfulness of
elections. `Orinats Yerkir’ declares authorities carried out a
deliberate pressure policy on the party, as well as other methods of
decreasing the number of votes received by `Orinats Yerkir’. Party
declares it is going to launch a process of challenging the results of
voting in the court demanding to revise the returns and just for this
very reason the party will not undersign the final protocol of the CEC
on the results of voting’.

Namibian, Namibia
May 11 2007

Why We Need To Learn From History

I RECENTLY returned from two weeks in Rwanda, where 13 years ago
neighbour turned against neighbour in one of the 20th century’s worst
genocides.

In 100 Days of Terror, almost a million Rwandans were massacred.

Post-genocide, Rwandans have had to learn how to live together in
peace once more.

This is a complex and multi-faceted process, involving both
international tribunals (in Arusha, Tanzania) and local community
Gacaca (literally, "judgments on the grass" – traditional Rwandan
courts that have been adapted to try accused perpetrators).

There are also many self-help organizations of survivors – mostly
widows and orphans, many of whom are also infected with HIV.

Still, there is no escaping the carnage.

For many, the scars, physical and mental, are still fresh.

But Rwanda’s leadership believes that their country’s future depends
on confronting and learning from the past.

Thus, memorials dot the roadside.

I visited several – some contain little more than the names of those
who were killed nearby.

Others contain mass graves, with more remains added annually as new
construction around the country continues to unearth additional
bodies.

In some of the most hard-hitting sites, however, the skulls and bones
remain exposed for all to see – many are cracked and broken with
metal pokes skill sticking out at odd angles.

In Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, a museum and educational centre has been
constructed, alongside a recently inaugurated memorial forest and 17
mass graves containing the remains of almost 260 000 people.

What is remarkable for Namibians is that on the second floor of this
centre, there is a permanent exhibit describing Genocide throughout
the 20th Century – beginning with Namibia’s experience in 1904-1905
in the war against the Herero and Nama people.

The exhibit goes on to highlight the Armenian Massacres, the European
Holocaust during World War II, the killing fields of Cambodia, and
ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

The exhibit is not about casting blame, but it is about confronting
truth.

Walking through this exhibit, you can’t help but realise: If we don’t
understand and learn from our past, reconciliation will never happen.

In Rwanda, the Kigali Memorial Centre was constructed with the help
of the government and an international NGO called Aegis Trust
().

Many local people participated in the design and construction of the
Centre.

Surely, we could find a way to do something similar.

Twice I returned to the exhibit on Namibia.

There are two long walls filled with our history, with photographs.

How come this exists in Rwanda, and not in our own country? Don’t we
also need to acknowledge our own past in Namibia, and teach these
same lessons to our own children? School groups come daily to the
Kigali Memorial Centre in order to learn about peace, non-violence,
and mutual respect.

We would do well to do well with the same in our country.

This learning is needed by – and for – all of us.

Lucy Y Steinitz Windhoek

9BCC4.html

Tehelka, India
May 12 2007

`Heritage’ party concerned by the facts of the organized conveyances
of citizens to the polling stations during the parliamentary
elections in Armenia

Yerevan, May 12. /Mediamax/. Spokesman of `Heritage’ party Hovsep
Khurshudian expressed today concern in connection with the facts of
organized conveyances of citizens to the polling stations on busses
and mini-busses, noticed all over Armenia.

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a briefing in Yerevan today,
Hovsep Khurshudian stated that the activity of the electors very much
differs: by 14:00, in some polling stations, tens of citizens had
voted, in others – hundreds.

According to him, in separate polling stations the electoral
commissions fail to do with the flow of the electors.

Hovsep Khurshudian stated that `Heritage’ checks the authenticity of
the signals on bribes of electors and other incidents.–0–

VOTING OF RA NA ELECTIONS TO START FROM 8:00, MAY 12 AT 1923 POLLING
STATIONS FORMED IN WHOLE TERRITORY OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Voting of National Assembly elections
will be held from 8:00 to 20:00 on May 12 in the whole territory of
Armenia. According to the data published by the Police, the final
number of voters is 2 mln 285 thousand 830.

Two ballot-boxes will be placed in each of 1923 polling stations for
voting by proportional and majoritarian systems. Names of 22 parties
and 1 bloc, as well as names of first three candidates of electoral
roll of each of them are mentioned in ballot-paper of elections by
proportional system.

The ballot-papers of elections by majoritarian system have indication
of names of candidates by alphabetical order and names of nominating
party or parties’ bloc, and in case of being nominated by the order of
civil initiative words " civil initiative."

It’s the first time voting will be done by envelopes in Armenia. The
voting-papers and envelopes of elections by majoritarian system are of
white color and by proportional system of apricot color.

Political forces taking part in elections by proportional system will
struggle for 90 deputy mandates and candidates taking part in
elections by majoritarian system for 41 mandates. The passage barrier
for parties is 5% and for a bloc 7%.

For being elected by majoritarian system a candidate is to receive
votes of maximum number of voters, if one candidate is voted on he is
to receive votes of more than the half of voters. To recap, one
candidate is nominated at each of 7 out of 41 electoral districts.

PREVIEW-ARMENIA’S WOULD-BE LEADER LIMBERS UP IN PARL’T VOTE
By Hasmik Lazarian

Reuters, UK
May 10 2007

YEREVAN, May 10 (Reuters) – Armenia votes in a parliamentary election
on Saturday that should set the stage for President Robert Kocharyan
to hand over the country’s leadership to his most trusted lieutenant
next year.

The Republican party — led by Serzh Sarksyan, the acting prime
minister and Kocharyan’s friend and favoured successor — is expected
to easily defeat the opposition when the 2.3 million voters in
ex-Soviet Armenia go to the polls.

But simmering tensions burst to the surface last month when gunmen
tried to kill a senior member of Sarksyan’s party and two blasts
ripped through the offices of a rival pro-presidential party,
Prosperous Armenia.

The violence has revived memories of a 1999 shootout in parliament
that killed the speaker and the prime minister.

Armenia, in the Caucasus mountains, is in a region emerging as a vital
transit route for oil exports from the Caspian Sea to energy-hungry
world markets, though has no pipelines of its own.

Armenia fought a still-unresolved war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s. It also has fraught relations with neighbour Turkey,
in part because Ankara will not accept as genocide the killing of
1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Armenia has refused entry visas to eight Turkish nationals who were to
be part of a 400-strong election observer mission from the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

PRESIDENT’S ALTER EGO

Sarksyan, 52, has been the clear focus of his party’s election
campaign. "I ask for your vote of confidence" has been his slogan at
campaign rallies.

Kocharyan is required by the constitution to step down next year
when his second term ends. Sarksyan — widely seen as Kocharyan’s
alter ego — is strong favourite to win the presidential election
that will follow.

Their relationship goes back 20 years. Both from Nagorno-Karabakh,
the mainly Armenian region of Azerbaijan that was the focus of the
1990s war, they worked together in the separatist movement, then
restored their partnership in Yerevan.

A trim man with a shock of grey hair, Sarksyan became prime minister
when incumbent Andranik Margaryan died in March.

"Serzh Sarksyan has a real chance of becoming president," analyst
Gevorg Poghosyan said.

Voters on Saturday are expected to credit Kocharyan’s allies for
the years of strong economic growth he has overseen. The opposition
is divided and its members say they are not given fair treatment on
tightly controlled television.

Opinion polls suggest the chief challenger to the Republican party
is its pro-presidential stablemate, Prosperous Armenia, set up by
wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan.

Its rivalry with Sarksyan’s party seems to have become the focus for
a turf war inside Armenia’s ruling elite.

"The main intrigue of the elections is the fight between the two
government parties," Poghosyan said. "There is a battle going on not
over ideas but … for power."

Analysts predict the strongest opposition force will be the Orinats
Yerkir (Country of Laws) party led by estranged Kocharyan ally Artur
Baghdasaryan. Smaller opposition groups may also win seats.

After past elections, opposition supporters alleging ballot-rigging
have clashed with police. Riot police on Wednesday used tear gas
against a group of opposition activists.