Author: Chakrian Hovsep

DELEGATION OF YEREVAN MAYOR’S OFFICE LEAVES FOR SAINT PETERSBURG

Noyan Tapan
May 23 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. At the invitation of Saint Petersburg
Governor Valentina Matvienko, the delegation headed by Yerevan Mayor
Yervand Zakharian will pay an official visit to Saint Petersburg on
May 23-25. It is envisaged to sign within the framework of the visit
the 2007-2009 cooperation program of the two cities, the agreement
concerning preparation of which was reached in 2005 during the meeting
taken place in Yerevan between Y. Zakharian and V. Matvienko.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Information and Public Relations
Department of the Yerevan Mayor’s Office, other issues of cooperation
between Yerevan and Saint Petersburg will also be discussed during
the bilateral meeting.

ZAVEN ANDRIASIAN AND AVETIK GRIGORIAN OCCUPY WITH 4 POINTS EACH 3rd AND 4th HORIZONTALS OF TOURNAMENT TABLE AT INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP OF CHESS

Noyan Tapan
May 22 2007

KIRISHI, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The 6th stage meetings took place on
May 21 at the international youth tournament of chess being held in
the city of Kirishi, the marz of Leningrad. Avetik Grigorian won over
Sergey Zhigulko (Belarus) and Zaven Andriasian was defeated by Yan
Nepomnjashchy (Russia).

Yan Nepomnjashchy and Negi Parimarjan (India) are the leaders with
4.5 points each. Z. Andriasian and A. Grigorian occupy the 3rd and
4th horizontals with 4 points each.

MEASURES TAKEN TO INVITE FOREIGN EXPERTS IN CONNECTION WITH FACT OF LEVON GULIAN’S DEATH

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 18 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. During the
investigation of the case of Levon Gulian, who died under unrevealed
circumstances in the RA Police Criminal Investigation Department, two
new lawyers – Hrayr Ghukasian and Aram Karakhanian will be introduced
to L.Gulian’s legal successor. During a talk with NT correspondent,
H. Ghukasian said that measures are being taken to invite independent
foreign experts on the initiative of the OSCE. The experts will make
an alternative forensic examination.

To recap, Yerevan prosecutor’s office, which conducts an investigation
into the criminal case opened in connection with the death of
L. Gulian, has already assigned a complex examination, including a
forensic examination.

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, BRITISH ENVOY DISCUSS MILITARY COOPERATION

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
17 May 07

Armenian-British military cooperation has strengthened and improved
in the past years. This point of view was expressed during a meeting
between Armenian Defence Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan and British
ambassador to Armenia Anthony John James Cantor.

Talking about cooperation between the [two countries’] armed forces
in peacekeeping missions, the minister stressed the importance of
[English] language training for officers. He also stressed the
importance of personnel training.

An English learning class will open in a mine clearance centre on
20 May.

[Video shows the meeting]

Azeri embassy in Russia protests at Karabakh-related conference

Lider TV, Baku
19 May 07

The Azerbaijani embassy [in Moscow] has send a note of protest to the
Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the Call of Mrav [Murov
mountain] conference on the history and fate of Azerbaijan’s Goranboy
District planned for 27 May.

The embassy said in the note that if conducted, the conference would
have a negative impact on bilateral ties [between Russia and
Azerbaijan], as the main aim of the conference was to give a distorted
view of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
to Russian society. It is also aimed at damaging Azerbaijani-Russian
relations, the embassy said.

It was stressed that such provocative acts, which had been taken many
times before, had a negative impact on public opinion in Azerbaijan
and on the Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia. In addition, the embassy
voiced serious concern about the dangerous tendencies of
anti-Azerbaijani propaganda that have been seen in the Russian media
lately.

The embassy asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to take comprehensive
measures to stop such tendencies and maintain the current level of
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
May 19 2007

DISY calls on EU to recognise Pontian genocide

DISY yesterday called on the European Union and the international
community to recognise the Pontian Greek Genocide of 1916-1923.
`Historic events such as these must always remain in our memory,’
read a statement released by the party.

Today, May 19, is Pontic Greek Genocide Day. Pontic Greek Genocide is
a controversial term used to refer to the fate of Pontic Greeks
during and in the aftermath of World War I. Whether the events were a
genocide or not is hotly debated between Turkey and Greece.

The term is used to refer to the persecutions, massacres, expulsions
and death marches of Pontian Greek populations in the southeastern
Black Sea provinces of the Ottoman Enpire, during the early 20th
century by the Young Turk administration. It has been argued that
killings continued during the Turkish national movement led by
Mustafa Kemal Atat?rk which was organised to fight against the Greek
invasion of western Anatolia.

Greece and the Republic of Cyprus officially recognise it as a
genocide. The US states of South Carolina, New Jersey, Florida,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois also passed resolutions
recognising the events, although since states within the United
States do not have foreign-policy authority those statements are not
legally binding on a federal US level.

The Turkish government, on the other hand, rejects the term genocide,
and the selection of the date of May 19, which is a national holiday
in Turkey, is considered by some Turkish politicians to be a
provocation of Turkish national feelings.
Ankara also denies the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917, or the lesser
known massacre of hundreds of thousands of Assyrians (Syriac
Christians).

The United Nations, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe
and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have not made
any relative reference.
According to the International League for the Rights and Liberation
of Peoples, between 1916 and 1923 up to 350,000 Greek Pontians were
killed in massacres, persecution and death marches. The events were
attested to by eyewitness accounts reported in contemporary
newspapers.

At the time The New York Times and its correspondents made extensive
references to the events, recording massacres, deportations,
individual killings, rapes, burning of entire Greek villages,
destruction of Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries, drafts for
"Labour Brigades", looting, terrorism and other "atrocities" for
Greek, Armenian and also for British and American citizens and
government officials.

The paper subsequently won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the
war.
According to a German military attach?, Ismail Enver, the Ottoman
Turkish minister of War, had declared in October 1915 that he wanted
to `solve the Greek problem during the war…in the same way he
believe[d] he solved the Armenian problem.’
And British historian Arnold J. Toynbee noted that it was the Greek
landings that created the Turkish Nationalist Movemet led by Mustafa
Kemal and it is almost certain that if the Greeks had never landed at
Smyrna, the consequent atrocities on the Turkish side would not have
occurred.

Toynbee added: `…The Greeks of `Pontus’ and the Turks of the Greek
occupied territories, were in some degree victims of Mr Venizelos’
and Mr Lloyd George’s original miscalculation at Paris.’

In 1923, those Greek Pontians remaining were expelled from Turkey to
Greece as part of the population exchange between the two countries
defined by the Treaty of Lausanne. In his book Black Sea, author Neal
Acheson writes:
`The Turkish guide-books on sale in Turkey today offer this account
of the 1923 catastrophe: `After the proclamation of the [Turkish]
Republic, the Greeks who lived in the region returned to their own
country.’ Their own country? Returned? Pontians had lived in that
area for over 3,000 years. The Pontian dialect was not understandable
to 20th century Athenians.’

GIDEON SA’AR: AZERBAIJAN IS STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT COUNTRY FOR ISRAEL

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 17 2007

Likud Knesset faction chairman Gideon Sa’ar’s exclusive interview to
APA’s Israel bureau

– What was the aim of your visit to Azerbaijan?

– This was my first visit to Azerbaijan. I and my colleagues Amnon
Koen, Robert Ilatov and Ran Koen were invited to Azerbaijan by
Sokhnut World Jewish Agency. There were two goals of the visit-
strengthening of bilateral interparliamentrary relations and ties
with the community of mountain Jews of Azerbaijan. We met several
Azerbaijani officials- Nazim Ibrahimov, minister in charge of Diaspora
affairs, Social Protection Minister Fuzuli Alakabarov, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov and deputy parliament chairman Ziyafat Asgarov. I
myself was very pleased to see that Muslim country Azerbaijan is
liberal European country and keeps friendship relations with Israel
and Jewish nation. We have common interests with Azerbaijan. Today
Azerbaijan is the leader in Caucasus and initiator of all big
geopolitical projects. I think Azerbaijan is a true friendship bridge
between Europe and Asia. Most Israelis have no idea about Azerbaijan ,
but I want to tell them that prosperous Azerbaijan is a country where
Jewish people are loved.

– Within your visit to Guba you also visited the mass graves which
are the result of Armenians’ genocide committed against Azerbaijanis
and against Jewish people of Guba. What are your impressions?

– We got thorough information about this tragedy and were given a
lot of materials concerning this issue. But it is difficult for me to
express an objective position on the issue. I think that historians
should clarify it. I want to mention that Knesset has recently rejected
the proposal of Merets Party member Khaim Oron on debating the problem
of ‘Armenian genocide’. This fact demonstrates the official position
of the Israeli government on the problem called Armenian genocide. I
consider Knesset’s decision right. It could ruin strategic relations
between Turkey and Israel.

– What is Israel’s position on the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and occupation of Azerbaijani lands?

– I want to say that Israel does not ignore interests of friendly
Azerbaijan and hopes that official Baku will also take into account
Israel’s interests. Azerbaijan is a strategically important country
for Israel. We understand the country’s problems and interests.

– What is Israel’s position on the nuclear program of Iran which is
neighboring with Azerbaijan?

– We understand that Azerbaijan is situated in a very complicated
geopolitical area. And we also know that Baku is anxious about the
life of Azerbaijanis who comprise 40 percent of Iranian population.

Israel considers that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to
not only to Israel but also to the entire world. Iranian atom will
influence not only the Middle East but also the whole region and Asia
as well. Iranian mullahs can sell the nuclear weapons to a number
of terrorist organizations and they can use these weapons against
different countries. Israel and Azerbaijan have to do their best to
prevent this.

– Israel-Azerbaijan International Association has recently been founded
and this organization united the people moved from Azerbaijan. How
do appreciate this fact?

– I welcome this organization. This is a great event for 100,000
people of Azerbaijani origin. This great force will contribute to
the strengthening and development of the relations between Israel
and Azerbaijan. I am ready to support this organization as a member
of Azerbaijan-Israel Interparliamentary Friendship Group.

AMERICARES LOOKS BACK ON 25 YEARS
By Natasha Lee

Greenwich Time, CT –
May 17 2007

STAMFORD — Eighteen years ago, Arman Ghazaryan walked off a plane
in Armenia and into the arms of his grandfather.

It was March 1989, three months after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake
rattled his hometown, Spitak, in northern Armenia.

An airlift from AmeriCares a month earlier had flown the paralyzed
Ghazaryan to a New York hospital to undergo surgery to reconstruct
his leg and spine. He was one of dozens of victims transported to
hospitals in Connecticut and New York.

The Stamford-based disaster relief agency was the first organization
to arrive in the former Soviet Union and provided $13 million in
medicine and medical supplies to thousands of victims.

Ghazaryan, then 8 years old, spent three hours trapped under the rubble
of his collapsed grade school. The weight of the debris crushing his
leg and spine; his brain swelling under the pressure.

"I had no hope," Ghazaryan said through a translator on Friday. "I
didn’t think I was going to stay alive."

Last week, Ghazaryan walked off a plane again. This time as a
26-year-old man, returning to the place that gave him a second chance
at life.

AmeriCares celebrated 25 years of service last week with a gala in
New York whose guests included former President George H.W. Bush and
his wife, Barbara; Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor
Elie Wiesel; and African activist Paul Rusesabagina, the inspiration
for the movie "Hotel Rwanda."

Ghazaryan also was there. He shook hands with the former president
and his wife, and thanked familiar faces for helping him walk again.

The earthquake destroyed Ghazaryan’s hometown, killing 25,000 people,
including his mother.

"I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to come to this country
and what they’ve done for me," he said.

The worldwide relief agency has evolved from a small operation based
out of a New Canaan home to providing more than $6 billion in aid to
137 countries, including Brazil, Darfur, Iraq and China. AmeriCares
also runs three medical clinics in Fairfield County, and several
community programs that provide health care to low-income, elderly
and disabled people.

"Back then it was swashbuckling, no meetings, no memos, just go —
the need is now," said Eric Weintz, former project director, who
joined the agency in 1988.

Weintz spent three years overseeing missions, unloading bandages and
medicines from airplanes, and transporting victims to safety. His
time with AmeriCares inspired him to become a doctor, and today he
practices emergency medicine in Menlo Park, Calif.

"When you get involved in an organization like that, it’s kind of
hard for it to not change your life," he said.

AmeriCares has been among the first-responders to disasters national
and international from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to Hurricane
Katrina, to the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka.

Greenwich native Robert Macauley founded the agency in 1982 on the
ambition of "act now and worry about the red tape later." Macauley
is now chairman of the board of directors.

The mission hasn’t changed and neither have the challenges, president
and CEO Curtis Wellington said.

Relief workers are still confronted by poverty, a lack of advanced
hospitals and doctors, as well as the number of people affected by
poverty and nonexistent health care.

"It’s still a big problem, in spite of the advances, the number of
people who aren’t being reached is still the same as the population
increases," he said.

The agency is working to partner with pharmaceutical companies in
Europe and America to help increase the flow of medicine supplies to
impoverished countries. The goal is to double the volume of people
the agency serves within the next five years in Asia and Africa.

Despite its expansion, the agency still remains a "tiny" organization
for the size of its impact, Wellington said. Staff has increased from
50 to 200 members worldwide over the last two decades, with help from
hundreds of volunteers.

"As Bob (Macauley) would say, we find someone who needs help and help
them and that principle is what drives AmeriCares," Wellington said.

"Our basic values really haven’t changed."

ARMENIAN PARTY PREPARES COMPLAINT ABOUT MAY 12 POLLS

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 16, 2007 Wednesday

Armenia’s opposition party Orinar Erkir (The Country of Law) is
preparing a complaint to the Constitutional Court about violations
in the May 12 parliamentary elections but will not give up seats in
the new parliament.

The leader of this centre-right radical opposition party, former
parliament speaker Artur Bagdasaryan said the complaint concerned
the results of voting at 400 polling stations where the party’s
performance was "deliberately understated".

In his words, there was "mass bribery of voters" on the day of voting.

Bagdasaryan urged all political forces to provide his party with
evidence of falsifications and violations during the elections.

"If necessary, we will go to the European Court," he warned.

Bagdasaryan, 39, who is going to run for presidency in 2008, admitted
some positive changes in the electoral process. He said law enforcement
agencies had not put pressure on candidates in the majoritarian
constituencies, no theft of ballot boxes had been reported, and no
mass power failures had occurred.

According to the politician, violations occurred not at the polling
stations but outside them.

The party will have a faction in the parliament and 9 of 131 seats.

"Boycott is not the best method of political struggle," Bagdasaryan
said.

He confirmed that the goal of his party is gradual European integration
and European Union membership.

Earlier, the head of the opposition People’s party of Armenia, Stepan
Demirchyan, claimed that the parliamentary elections in Armenia could
not be regarded as free and fair and the new parliament had not been
formed through a free expression of the will of the people.

According to preliminary results, this centre-left party failed to pass
the 5-percent barrier and was not elected to the National Assembly.

The party, however, admitted its own mistakes and said they would be
studied most thoroughly.

Demirchyan believes, for example, that the opposition should have
pooled its ranks before the elections.

Meanwhile, the European Union said the elections in Armenia were on the
whole fair and free and consistent with the country’ s international
commitments.

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, who is also the head of the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), said earlier his "deepest wish"
is that the people and numerous international observers recognise
the current parliamentary elections as the best in the history of
independent Armenia.

Sarkisyan said the elections were held in strict compliance with
democratic standards.

The prime minister believes that the opposition in Armenia "is quite
mature and will not resort to law offences".

At the same time, he said "the opposition forces are free to hold"
rallies.

Responding to the opposition’s claims that the results of the elections
would be falsified, the prime minister said, "My party would also
make such statements if it received a small number of votes in the
elections."

He believes his party, which is considered to be a hopeful, has
"rather high" chances of success.

President Robert Kocharyan said he had cast his ballot for "the future
of Armenia, for continued economic and social reforms".

The president declined to say for whom he had voted but expressed
confidence that "everything will be fine" especially since the election
had been "calm".

According to Kocharyan, "What is important is that the country should
go back to normal businesslike life after the elections".

"Despite equal opportunities for all, the party that will get the
majority in the parliament will have a better start-up position in
the presidential election next year," he said.

Following the constitutional reform, if the president has no strong
support in the parliament he will hardly be able to become an effective
head of state but will become "a figure head".

Kocharyan said he would like a constructive opposition – "political
parties of Armenia, not representative offices of foreign forces" —
to be elected to the parliament.

US STATE DEPARTMENT WEBSITE POSTS ANNOUNCEMENT DISPUTING AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 17 2007

The State Alumni website -an online community
of alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs has posted
one more announcement that disputes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

The announcement calls all interested persons to participate in
the conference on "Sushi’s role in Armenian history" to be held on
June 20-25.

The announcement falsifies the name of ancient Azerbaijan town of
Shusha stressing its role in the "liberation" movement during the
first Karabakh war and as the cultural centre of Armenians.

Another dirty fact is that the organizers of the conference are
Kamo Atayan, ‘education minister’ of ‘Nagorno Karabakh Republic’
and Hamlet Grigorian ‘Artsakh State University’s rector’.

The Association of Azerbaijani students studied in US has already
applied to the editors of the web-site with protest letter.