Author: Chakrian Hovsep

RUSSIAN FIRST PRIME MINISTER SAYS ARMENIA AND RUSSIA HAVE IDENTICAL DISPOSITIONS TO WAR IN IRAN

Panorama.am
20:16 11/04/2007

"War with Iran will cause a big crisis," Sergey Ivanov, first deputy
prime minister of Russian Federation, said today in Armenia. In
his words, "Armenia and Russia have identical dispositions to the
issue." He said the possession of a nuclear bomb by Iran must be solved
diplomatically. "On the other hand, technologies develop throughout the
world and Iran has the right to have nuclear energy. Speaking about
enriching it is another issue," he said. "MAGATE must make clear
studies to specify the quality and volumes of enriching uranium,"
Ivanov said according to RBC.ru reports.

The first prime minister of Russia reminded that Russia has suggested
Iran to supply already "enriched" uranium. Ivanov said the step is
"prudent."

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND SERGEY IVANOV DISCUSSED ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN COOPERATION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 11 2007

Today RA President received a Russian delegation headed by RF vice
premier Sergey Ivanov.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA President’s
Press Office, in the course of the meeting the parties discussed the
issues referring to bilateral Armenian-Russian cooperation, in part,
in the sphere of economy.

The interlocutors noted the expansion of trade turnover between RA and
RF was a result of Armenian-Russian partnership’s dynamic development.

In the course of the meeting the parties also considered the issues
referring to the exploitation of five Armenian enterprises given
to the Russian party, the problems of transport communication and
regional cooperation.

TURKEY CONCERNED OVER THE GERMAN INITIATIVE TO COMBAT RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

ArmRadio.am
11.04.2007 18:02

Turkey has expressed concerns over a new German initiative to combat
racism and xenophobia with a template European law that could spread
moves in France and elsewhere to criminalize any denial of the alleged
genocide of Armenians.

The draft framework, essentially a recommended legal blueprint for
European Union governments to follow, is very likely to serve as
a recipe for other countries to follow the example of a French vote
last October when a bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide
was endorsed, the Turkish Daily News reports.

"This is a very wrong draft, which excludes a UN convention and brushes
aside freedom of expression and academic studies," government spokesman
Cemil Cicek told reporters after a Cabinet meeting late on Monday.

The draft negotiating framework penalizing the denial of the alleged
genocide and sentencing deniers up to three year in prison will appear
on the agenda between April 18 and 19 under the German presidency
of the European Union, Cicek said, complaining that the draft was
restricting free speech and hindering academic studies on genocide
allegations.

He said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had conveyed Turkish concerns
over the draft to Germany during a visit last week, adding that Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would bring the issue onto the agenda
when he had talks with German officials during a planned visit to
Germany over the weekend.

AKCAM: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WAS CULMINATION OF ETHNIC CLEANSING PERPETRATED BY TURKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.04.2007 12:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 29, over 300 students, faculty, and
community members gathered at Ramapo College to hear Taner Akcam speak
out on the first genocide of the twentieth century. For over an hour,
Akcam linked the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917 to Ottoman Turkey’s
population policy implemented on the eve of World War I to maintain
Turkish hegemony over a diminished and endangered empire. The event was
sponsored by Ramapo College’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
and the Armenian National Committee of New Jersey, the ANCA reports.

One of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and discuss openly
the Armenian Genocide, Akcam based his talk was on his book A Shameful
Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility.

Acclaimed by Nobel Laureate in Literature Orhan Pamuk as "…the
definitive account of the organized destruction of the Ottoman
Armenians written by a brave Turkish scholar who has devoted his life
to chronicling the events," it was published by Metropolitan Books last
November. Making extensive use of Ottoman and other sources previously
unused by historians of any nationality, Akcam placed the genocide
within the context of Turkish nationalism. He showed an empire in a
state of collapse that is plagued by dissension and contradiction. In
its dying breath, as Akcam’s research bears out, it lashed out against
and attempted to constrain its ethnic and religious minorities.

The Turkish government adopted a policy of "ethnic cleansing" Greeks
and Albanians were deported from southwestern Turkey, while Moslem
Kurds, Central Asians and Arabs were moved from their domiciles in
the eastern Turkey and subject to Turkification. The culmination of
this process was the first of the 20th Century’s genocides in which
over a million Armenian men, women and children lost their lives and
livelihoods through organized killing, rape, and deportation.

Taner Akcam was born in the province of Ardahan, Turkey, in 1953. He
became interested in Turkish politics at an early age. As the editor
in chief of a student political journal, he was arrested in 1976 and
sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Amnesty International adopted
him as one of their first prisoners of conscience, and a year
later he escaped by digging a tunnel with a stove leg and fled to
Germany, where he received political asylum. In 1988, Akcam began
work as a research scientist at the Hamburg Institute for Social
Research. While researching the late Ottoman Empire and early Republic,
especially the history of political violence and torture in Turkey,
he became interested in the Armenian genocide. In 1996 he received
his doctorate from the University of Hanover with a dissertation
entitled "The Turkish National Movement and the Armenian Genocide
Against the Background of the Military Tribunals in Istanbul Between
1919 and 1922."

Since 2002 he has been a visiting associate professor of history at
the University of Minnesota.

WORKS OF PARTICIPANTS OF FINAL STAGE "FINE ARTS AND CINEMATOGRAPHY" NOMINATION OF RA PRESIDENT’S YOUTH PRIZE ARE PRESENTED AT CENTER OF INNOVATORY EXPERIMENTAL ART

Noyan Tapan
Apr 06 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Works of participants of the final stage
of the "Fine Arts and Cinematography" nomination of the RA President’s
annual youth prize are presented at the exhibition opened on April
5 at the Center of Innovatory Experimental Art (CIEA). Within the
framework of this program being implemented under the patronage of
Robert Poghosian and Sons fund, prizes are given in the spheres of
"Literature," "Classic Music" as well.

According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the "Hayastan"
(Armenia) All-Armenian Fund, a certificate, an order and monetary
prize equivalent to 2500 U.S. dollars are given in the "Fine Arts and
Cinematography" nomination. 28 from 46 works beforehand presented in
this nomination entered the final stage. Among them 5 are feature
films, 2 are clothing collections and 21 are pictorial canvases
and photos.

According to the same source, the competition committee has already
decided the winners whose names will be made public only after being
affirmed by the RA President.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT APPOINTS NEW PM

Xinhua News Agency , China
April 4, 2007 Wednesday 1:30 PM EST

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Wednesday appointed Defense
Minister Serzh Sarkissian as the country’s new prime minister, the
Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Former Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, also leader of the Republican
Party, died of heart attack in March 25. He held the office since
May, 2000.

Sarkissian is now the acting leader of the Republican Party.

AZD RELEASES DVD ON ARMENIA AND NAGORNO KARABAKH

Panorama.am
17:23 03/04/2007

Azd agency released an interactive DVD on Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh. The product tells about sites of these countries. It also
includes 755 photos and 91 descriptions of cultural and historical
monuments of Karabakh and Armenia. One can easily find a town or a
church using alphabetical list and an interactive map.

"The DVD is a wonderful gift to visitors of Armenia and for those
who want to take pleasant memories with them," Azd agency says.

More information may be found at

FIXED PAYMENTS INCREASE BY 19.6%, SIMPLIFIED TAX BY 24.1% IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2007 ON SAME MONTHS OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-February 2007, fixed
payments made 2.6 bln drams, exceeding by 19.6% or 423.2 mln drams the
respective index of 2006. According to the RA Ministry of Finance and
Economy, this growth was mainly conditioned by a growth in payments
for organization of lotteries, prize games, transport activity,
trade points and gas filling stations.

In the indicated period, the RA state budgetary revenues from
simplified tax made 1.5 ln drams, growing by 24.1% or 288.3 mln drams
on the same period of last year.

In January-February 2007, state budgetary revenues from other taxes
amounted to 3.1 ln drams. Particularly, nature use and environmental
protection payments made 2.3 bln drams. road payments – 240.5 mln
drams. These taxes grew twofold or by over 1.5 bln drams on the same
period of 2006, mainly conditioned by a growth in nature use payments.

State budgetary revenues from state duty made 2.6 bln drams, which
ensured fulfilment of the first quarter’s plan by 73.4%. The amount
of state duty collection grew by 23.4% or 485.4 mln drams on the same
months of 2006, mainly conditioned by an increase of duties charged
for licensing of some types of activities, provision of juridical
documents to natural persons and duties for departure of natural
persons by air transport.

Panorama.am

17:26 31/03/2007

AHARON ADIBEKYAN NOT TRUSTFUL, PARTY LEADER SAYS

`Did not Aharon Adibekyan make forecasts that Karen Demirchyan has no
rating in 1998? I will not comment on absurd things,’ Grigor
Harutunyan, deputy chairman of Armenian People’s Party (HJK), told
Panorama.am speaking about Aharon Adibekyan’s studies.

The findings suggest that Armenian Republican Party (HHK), Prosperous
Armenia (PA), Orinats Yerkir and National Unity will enter the next
parliament whereas HJK `has problems.’

`Aharon Adibekyan does not arouse trust with his absolutely ludicrous
statements. Generally, it is counter-indicative for him to engage in
that work,’ Harutunyan said speaking about the sociologist’s
engagements.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIAN REPORTER
PO Box 129
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
Tel: 1-201-226-1995
Fax: 1-201-226-1660
Web:
Email: [email protected]

March 31, 2007 — From the community section
The articles that appear below are special to the Armenian Reporter.
For photographs, visit

1. Joseph Ariyan wins Democratic nomination for N.J. State Senate

2. Western Diocese fetes Richard Hovannisian
* Celebrates six volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces

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1. Joseph Ariyan wins Democratic nomination for N.J. State Senate

HACKENSACK, N.J. – On March 22, Armenian-American attorney Joseph
Ariyan handily won the District 39 Democratic Convention, to become
the party’s candidate in the upcoming State Senate race. Ariyan won by
a margin of 80 to 20 percent, and will now go forth to face incumbent
Republican Gerald Cardinale in the 2007 general election.

The 41-year-old Ariyan has been active in Bergen County Democratic
politics, and is currently the county’s Public Advocate for Land Use.
He has already begun raising money for his challenge to the
72-year-old Cardinale, who was first elected to the State Assembly in
1979 and moved up to the Senate in 1981, and who was re-elected to an
eighth term in 2003 with 62 percent of the vote.

New Jersey voters will go to the polls to decide between the two on
November 6, 2007.

Ariyan, who lives in Saddle River, N.J., with his wife Susan and
infant son, said, "It’s an honor to be elected by the party to run for
State Senate."

On the subject of Armenian-American political concerns, he said,
"Legislators have been slow to act on issues key issues of interest to
Armenian-Americans. Now, New Jersey’s Armenian-Americans … can have
one of their own to champion their core political issues."

Ariyan stressed that he would make it a priority to have New Jersey
officially recognize the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks.

"Anyone of Armenian descent knows about the terror of the 1915
Genocide," said Ariyan. "As we all are taught from a young age, we
have an obligation to teach others about our history to ensure that it
is not forgotten. This will also help to prevent future atrocities
from occurring."

"As a community, we have an obligation to our ancestors to ensure
that our state and country recognizes factual history. As state
senator, I will tirelessly fight to ensure recognition of the Armenian
Genocide both at the state and national levels."

Ariyan’s political platform also will include key cost-saving
methods to reduce local governments’ reliance on property taxes and a
proposal for more technological training in grades K through 8. "My
wife and I recently had a baby son and he has forced us to see the
world differently," said Ariyan. "We need to stabilize property taxes
while still providing the best education for our children. We cannot
let the best and brightest of our young people leave the state in
search of a better future."

Ariyan’s supporters include Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., from New
Jersey’s 6th Congressional District, who was the guest of honor at a
kickoff event held at the home of David and Ani Kasparian (covered in
the Reporter’s Feb. 3 edition). At that time, Congressman Pallone
urged Armenians nationwide to support Joe Ariyan.

The Hackensack-based campaign is actively seeking people to help in
Ariyan’s race to win the state senate seat. Those interested in
joining can contact Joe Ariyan personally, at (201) 358-0020.

*************************************** ************************************

2. Western Diocese fetes Richard Hovannisian

Celebrates six volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces

LOS ANGELES – The scholarly accomplishments of Richard Hovannisian are
impressive beyond doubt. As professor of Armenian and Near Eastern
History and holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in
Modern Armenian History at UCLA he symbolizes the importance of the
study of Armenian history like no other.

While in the course of his career he has written more than fifty
scholarly articles and contributed to twenty seven books, his latest
published endeavor is perhaps an achievement in itself.

On February 16, the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church hosted an
evening to celebrate the publication of the first six volumes of
"Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces" edited by Prof. Hovannisian
from the UCLA international conference series.

The international conference series began nearly a decade ago to
explore the many aspects of Armenian influence in the historic
homeland. Historians and scholars from around the country and the
world presented papers exploring the historical, political, cultural,
religious, social and economic influences of Armenians in their
historic homelands.

The first six volumes of the series include Van/Vaspurakan,
Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush, Tsopk/Kharpert, Karin/Erzerum,
Sebastia/Sivas and Lesser Armenian and Tigranakert/Diarbekir and
Edessa/Urfa (Mazda Publishers). Each volume contains the proceedings
of the conferences offering important scholarly writings from some of
the most leading authorities on the subject of Armenian history.

The result of these efforts are extraordinary volumes of work which
"will be a permanent mark in our cultural life, and will certainly
serve as the best and most valuable archival documents for historical
research" Archbishop Hovnan Derderian.

Each volume offers a glimpse into the many facets of Armenian life
in these historic cities. The essays survey the geography,
demographics, art, architecture, religion and economy of once great
cities and provinces now ruined and nearly vanished.

The international conference series on the "Historic Armenian Cities
and Provinces" also includes Cilicia, Kars and Ani as well as the
Armenian Communities of Constantinople, the Black Sea-Pontus Region,
Smyrna/Ismir, Caesarea/Kesaria, New Julfa, Iran and Jerusalem.

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