Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

Paris-Normandie
23 avril 2005
La communauté mobilisée pour l’anniversaire du génocide ; A
Alfortville, les Arméniens se souviennent
par Bogatay Sophie
La communauté arménienne, très présente en Ile-de-France, célèbre le
90e anniversaire du génocide perpétré par les Turcs. La douleur reste
vivace.
Ils ont tranché la gorge de mon grand-père devant les yeux de son
propre père. 90 ans après le génocide, Ani Okhkian, professeur
d’arménien à Alfortville (Val-de-Marne), raconte avec colère le
terrible sort de sa famille.
7.000 arméniens vivent aujourd’hui dans cette ville qui borde Paris.
Une petite Arménie a pris corps autour de la discrète église
Saint-Paul et Saint-Pierre, btie en briques blanches en 1929 par les
premiers immigrés, quelques années après la fin des massacres qui ont
fait 1,5 million de morts selon Erevan, 300.000 à 500.000 pour
Ankara.
Une poignée de survivants
Dans le pavillon de Simon Okhkian, l’un des cinq frères d’Ani, la
télévision est branchée sur une chaîne arménienne. Le programme est
consacré exclusivement aux commémorations des 90 ans du génocide.
La famille Okhkian veut entretenir ses racines et le souvenir des
exactions commises par les Jeunes Turcs entre 1915 et 1916 en est un
des piliers. Il ne reste aujourd’hui qu’une poignée de survivants, se
désole Simon, un quinquagénaire fier de voir Armen, son fils de 5
ans, manier aussi bien le français que l’arménien.
Si la diaspora arménienne est unanime pour faire de la reconnaissance
du génocide un préalable indiscutable à l’entrée de la Turquie dans
l’Union européenne, certains y ajoutent d’autres conditions.
Sur l’un des murs des Okhkian, une grande carte montre ainsi les
contours de l’ancienne Arménie et celle d’aujourd’hui, ramenée à la
portion congrue après le partage de 1920 entre Turcs et Russes.
Ils attendent réparation
Toute cette partie doit revenir à l’Arménie, explique Simon en
désignant le sud-est de la Turquie d’aujourd’hui et d’où des milliers
d’Arméniens ont été déportés à partir de 1915.
Cette revendication territoriale accompagnera automatiquement la
reconnaissance du génocide par la Turquie, se persuade le père de
famille. Après seulement, la Turquie pourra rentrer dans l’Europe,
ajoute-t-il estimant que le travail de mémoire se fera grce à
l’ouverture des frontières.
Ce qu’il faut, c’est une véritable réhabilitation de l’histoire et
non pas seulement une reconnaissance opportuniste, soutient Hasmig
Nadirian Kevodian, directrice de la maison de la culture arménienne
dans la même ville.
Mme Nadirian, dont la grand-mère était la seule survivante d’une
famille de 75 personnes, évoque ces monastères devenus hôtels de
passe ou ces cimetières traversés par des routes ne menant nulle
part, autant de réparations qu’elle attend des Turcs. Les mères
turques devront aussi expliquer à leurs enfants ce qui s’est
réellement passé, conclut-elle.
Ani semble, elle, définitivement opposée à l’adhésion de la Turquie à
l’UE. Je n’ai plus confiance, dit la sexagénaire hantée par les
souvenirs d’horreur racontés par sa tante paternelle, la seule parmi
sept soeurs à être restée en vie. Les six autres ont été empoisonnées
par leur mère à l’arrivée des Turcs, raconte-t-elle, bouleversée.
Elle s’est ensuite donnée la mort.

LAWS WERE SIGNED
A1plus
| 13:35:33 | 20-04-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharyan has signed the RA Laws on State Labor Inspectorate
and Combat against Terror.
On the same day he has also signed the Law on amending the RA
Administrative Violations Code.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Moms and Daughters
Team 813
Revlon Walk for Cancer
Contacts:
Eileen Keusseyan
Tel.: 818-404-5686
Email: [email protected]
Alice Chakrian
Tel.: 818-388-6734
Email: [email protected]
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2005
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum At Exposition Park
On Saturday, May 7th, join with thousands in the fight against women’s
cancers by participating with “ARMENIAN MOMS & DAUGHTERS” in a Walk
of Love in the 12th annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women.
It is the first time that we, Armenian moms and daughters, have
participated as a group in such a remarkable event. The Revlon
Run/Walk for Women raises vital funds for research into the cause and
cure of women’s cancers, as well as providing support to patients
surviving these diseases. To date, the Revlon Run/Walk has raised
nearly 32 million dollars. During 2005, it is estimated that more
than 212,900 new cases of breast cancer and more than 22,200 new
cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed. More than 98,200 women
will lose their life as a result of some form of women’s cancer.
We need your help to continue this fight against women’s cancers.
To be a part of this special day, you may register at
with a credit card. Please be sure you
indicate you are a part of team no. 813. If you do not have online
access, simply fill out the attached registration form. You may
send the form, stamped with our team number, along with your $25.00
registration fee directly to Race Central (see form for address), or
turn in the registration form and fee directly to Eileen Keusseyan,
(818) 404-5686, or Alice Chakrian (818) 388-6734, the Armenian Moms &
Daughters team co-captains. You may also pick up a registration form
at all Armenian schools and Armenian church offices.
If you are unable to attend the Revlon Run/Walk for Women, we hope
you will take an active role by sponsoring a participant in our team.
Your sponsorship is the key to furthering the fight against women’s
cancers.
Please join in the camaraderie by participating in this worthwhile
event, either by attending or by sponsoring a team member.
If you need additional registration forms or have any questions,
please call or contact any of the following individuals:
Alice Chakrian: (818) 388-6734: [email protected]
Eileen Keusseyan: (818) 404-5686: [email protected]
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT and we hope to see you on May 7th!
ARMENIAN MOMS & DAUGHTERS
TEAM NO. 813

Armenian president discusses Karabakh problem with French officials
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
22 Apr 05
[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is in France on a
visit. The Armenian president met French Senate Chairman Christian
Poncelet yesterday.
Robert Kocharyan told journalists about the aim of the Armenian
delegation’s visit. The Armenian president pointed out that the
discussion of the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict will
be the main subject of discussion during his meetings with the French
leadership. France is a mediator of the OSCE Minsk Group and we attach
great importance to the discussion of the conflict settlement with
the French leadership, the Armenian president said.
[Correspondent Lilit Setrakyan from Paris by telephone] Robert
Kocharyan met the French co-chairman of the Minsk Group, Bernard
Fassier, this morning. They discussed the current stage of the Karabakh
conflict settlement. Robert Kocharyan held some interesting meetings
yesterday evening.
The Armenian president met the president of the Credit Agricole Bank,
Rene Carron. The sides discussed the implementation of agreements
reached with the Armenian president in Yerevan a year ago. Rene
Carron informed Robert Kocharyan about Credit Agricole’s intention
to take part in Haygukbank [Armenian Agriculture Bank] and noted that
cooperation with the Armenian bank will yield positive results.
Robert Kocharyan met French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian
and the president of Alcatel yesterday. They discussed issues of
Armenian-French relations and Armenian-French economic ties.
Robert Kocharyan familiarized them with the Armenian investment
environment. They also discussed the sphere of tourism.
After their meeting at the Elysee Palace tonight, Robert Kocharyan
and French President Jacques Chirac will visit and lay a wreath
on the Komitas monument commemorating the victims of the [1915]
Armenian genocide.

Polish Press Agency
PAP News Wire
April 21, 2005 Thursday
Nothing anti-Turkish in Sejm resolution – Cimoszewicz
Warsaw, April 21
The Sejm resolution marking the 90th anniversary of genocide on Turkish
Armenians has no anti-Turkish bias; Turkey still finds it difficult
to reconcile with historical truth, but we considered paying homage
to the victims an obvious thing – is how Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz
Cimoszewicz reacted Thursday to Turkish official protest of Wednesday.
The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday criticised Tuesday’s
resolution by the Polish Sejm condemning and recognising as genocide
the mass killing of Armenians during World War I.
The Turkish side accused Polish politicians of being
“irresponsible.” The Turkish foreign ministry said that Turkey strongly
condemned the Polish Parliament’s resolution and warned deputies to
avoid “initiatives that could provoke vengeance and hatred between
nations.”
Cimoszewicz said Thursday that the MPs adopted the resolution knowing
full well that “Turkish authorities continue to refuse admitting
Turkey’s responsibility for the extermination of Armenians in 1915.”
“I understand that such admittance is politically and psychologically
hard for the Turks, even though the events took place three generations
ago,” Cimoszewicz went on.
“The Turkish foreign ministry is in the wrong and I do not accept
its criticisms,” the Sejm speaker said flatly.
He added that it was in the interests of Turkey and Poland to avoid
a dispute or conflict over this historical issue. “It would make no
sense,” Cimoszewicz argued, adding that the adoption of the resolution
was not anti-Turkish in the least.
The Sejm speaker noted that the Poles remembered well Turkey’s
approach to the Polish cause when Poland had been partitioned. Now
Poland was among the most fervent supporters of talks with Turkey on
its EU admission, Cimoszewicz remarked.
“The Turkish foreign ministry did what it considered politically
indispensable but I do hope that a few days from now the problem
between us will disappear,” the speaker declared.

Armenia’s foreign trade growing
RosBusinessConsulting Database
April 20, 2005 Wednesday 10:04 am, EST
Armenia’s foreign trade surged 28.1 percent in January to March
compared to a year earlier. It has hit USD566.4m, the National
Statistics Service has reported. Exports advanced 28.4 percent to
USD194.9m. Imports stood at USD371.5m, up 27.9 percent from a year
earlier. Trade deficit was USD176.6m.

Pakistani admiral pledges support to Azerbaijan in Karabakh settlement
Trend news agency
19 Apr 05
Baku, 19 April, Trend correspondent Y. Aliyev: Pakistan offers support
in defending Azerbaijan from any aggression, Rear Admiral Nashat Raffi,
the director-general of Training at the Joint Services Headquarters
of the Pakistani Armed Forces, has said at a meeting with Azerbaijani
Defence Minister Safar Abiyev.
“We know well what it means to lose 20 per cent of territory. On this
issue we back the stance of Azerbaijan. Therefore, Azerbaijan has
to act only as a stronger country. We are ready to expand defence
cooperation with Azerbaijan and render it any aid,” Raffi said.
Abiyev said that defence cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan is
developing steadily. He thanked the Pakistani leadership for creating
an opportunity for Azerbaijani servicemen to receive education in the
military schools of Pakistan. “We intend to expand this cooperation,”
the minister said.
Speaking about the Karabakh conflict, Abiyev said that a stronger
Azerbaijani economy makes real the liberation of its lands from
Armenian occupiers.

Turkish Press
April 19 2005
PRESS SCAN
FROM TURKISH AND ARMENIAN COMPOSERS
RADIKAL- Tunes of Turkish and Armenian composers will be played at a
concert in Haghia Eirene in Istanbul on April 22nd. At the concert
“Flowers of the Same Garden”, Istanbul State Turkish Music Society
will play tunes of Turkish and Armenian composers.

Euro-reporters.com, Belgium
April 18 2005
OSCE’s Nagorno-Karabakh worries
Contributed by David Ferguson
Monday, 18 April 2005
OSCE mission members monitor the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The OSCE’s Minsk Group, which deals with the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, is worried about rising casualties on both lines of
the front. The Minsk-Group is concerned by the significant increase,
during recent weeks, of ceasefire violations along the front lines,
resulting in higher numbers of casualties, as well as by public
statements about the possibility of war. “These violations are
causing needless loss of life and jeopardizing the cease-fire,” read
a statement by the group. “References to war are complicating current
efforts to elaborate a peaceful settlement of the conflict, are
fueling feelings of hate in the population of both countries, and are
not preparing the people to live as neighbors rather than enemies.”
The Minsk group’s co-chairs, ambassadors Yuriy Merzlyakov (Russia),
Steven Mann (US) and Bernard Fassier (France), urged both Azerbaijan
and Armenia to reinforce the cease-fire line and refrain from any
public statements that could lead to escalation of the conflict,
which has killed around 30,000. Nagorno-Karabakh has been under
Armenian control for over a decade. The ambassadors also called for
both sides to “… prepare their populations for a balanced
negotiated agreement that will require compromise on both sides”. The
original cease-fire dates from 1994, although a final political
settlement has yet to be reached.
“I encourage all parties to seek the resolution of this issue through
political dialogue. Any means other than those of a peaceful nature
are not part of the OSCE’s vocabulary,” said OSCE chair, Slovenian
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel. He also called for the stabilization
of the situation along the frontlines. “To defuse the present tension
and start developing confidence between the sides, ceasefire
violations must stop. The personal engagement of the two Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia is an important milestone on the path to
this objective.”
International mediators are stepping up efforts to put an end to the
conflict. The OSCE talks of an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit
‘envisaged’ for mid-May. The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan held confidential talks in London last Friday at the US
embassy. Reports suggest that the two Foreign Ministers entered at
different times, thus avoiding a face-to-face meeting.
Last month, in a separate development, Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
European Commissioner for External Relations and European
Neighbourhood Policy, announced closer relations with Azerbaijan and
Armenia: “The European Neighbourhood Policy gives us an opportunity
to take relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia up a gear. Progress in
our relationship will reflect the efforts and successes of the
countries itself”.
In June 2004, Armenia and Azerbaijan (together with Georgia) were
included in the European Neighbourhood Policy, at their request and
following a recommendation made by the European Commission. There
remains, though, very limited regional co-operation in the Southern
Caucasus and the political will for a settlement of the conflict is
low: “As a consequence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan
is very reluctant to engage in any co-operation with Armenia, either
on a bilateral basis or within the framework of international
organisations,” notes the European Commission’s report for
Azerbaijan.

Armenian among those marking sad anniversary
THE RECORD (Bergen County, NJ)
Friday, April 15, 2005
By CATHERINE HOLAHAN, STAFF WRITER ([email protected])
ORADELL – Ninety years later, Rahan Kachian still has the nightmares.
In the daylight, she is healthy and happy. The horrors of her youth in
Turkey are memories.
But at night, she is five years old again. Burying the remains of her
beheaded father in the family vineyard. Running. Watching strangers burn
churches filled with people. Hiding between mattresses.
Seeing her 2-year-old brother, Kourken, die of starvation.
“I was 5 years old but I remember,” said Kachian, 94, of Oradell. “I
remember.”
It’s a history Kachian and fellow survivors of the 1915 Armenian
massacre are trying to bring to light. The Turkish government denies the
killings were state-sponsored genocide.
On April 24, Armenians will gather in New York to mark the 90th
anniversary of the Turkish government’s arrest of more than 200 Armenian
community leaders. That date is considered the beginning of a genocide
that took the lives of more than 1 million Armenians in three years.
There will be services held at three New York cathedrals and a
remembrance in Times Square on that day.
“The genocide is a current issue,” said Ken Sarajian, a relative through
marriage of Kachian and an organizer of the New York events. “It’s about
justice, it’s about the prevention of genocide and what happened in
Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur. The threat of genocide still exists
in the world today.”
For Kachian, the genocide is current because the memories are still so
fresh.
“How could they deny it when they killed everybody?” she asks.
Kachian’s earliest memories go back to age 3, when she lived with her
father, sister and brother on a plantation in the village of Segham. Her
mother died in childbirth.
The family had vineyards, a large farm, a lake and animals. Her father,
Mardiros Delerian, was a university professor and also sold the excess
produce from the farm in the city.
“It was beautiful,” Kachian said. “We had everything we could want.”
Then, one morning, that all changed.
Turkish soldiers came to her village and began shooting her neighbors.
Kachian, her elder sister Marinos, and her brother hid. Kachian’s father
ran to woods behind the house where he was found, shot and beheaded.
Though Kachian did not know it at the time, the Turkish government had
ordered the deportation of Armenians to the Der El Zor desert, according
to Western history books. The deportations are thought, by some
scholars, to have been spurred by an Armenian movement for an
independent state.
Kachian believes the Turkish government wanted to seize the land of the
Armenians to increase its wealth.
When Turkish soldiers came, Kachian and her siblings fled to a Turkish
friend’s house in a nearby city. An aunt later made it to the same
friend’s house after being shot and left for dead by the soldiers.
Soon after their arrival, their family friend died and her sister forced
the Armenians to work the land for free in exchange for a place to hide.
At 5, Kachian had to tend the lambs and sheep. If she lost one, she was
beaten, she said. She and her siblings were given crusts of bread to
eat. Her brother eventually starved to death.
Kachian survived by eating wild vegetables as she tended the flocks.
Eventually, after the killings stopped, she escaped with her sister to
an orphanage. Her sister was married to an Armenian who had become a
U.S. citizen and soldier. He sent money to bring his wife to the United
States. The pair brought Kachian to New York to live with them when she
was about 17.
“When I came to the U.S., I wasn’t afraid to walk down the street,”
Kachian said.
She also wasn’t afraid to tell others what she remembered of the
genocide. But even now, she sometimes wakes up frightened, from the
memories.
PHOTO CAPTION: BY DANIELLE P. RICHARDS / Rahan Kachian, 94, is haunted
by painful memories of the 1915 Armenian massacre in Turkey.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress