Author: Chalian Meline

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
March 27, 2006
IN DEFENSE OF HERITAGE
Since March 4, 2006, Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian of the Heritage
Party and the staff of its central office have been forcibly denied
the right of entry into their own place of work, which under the
existing contract is theirs until June of this year.
Considering this to be a flagrant infringement, on the part of the
incumbent presidency and its ruling clique, of fundamental civil
liberties and political freedoms, MP and chairman of the National
Democrats’ Alliance Arshak Sadoyan has launched an initiative
whereby he has petitioned all political parties in Armenia as well
as institutions that are interested in the establishment of democracy
in the Republic to raise their voice of protest against this blatant
lawlessless.
The authors of this initiative declare that the letter is open to all
political forces and public and private organizations which choose
to demonstrate their solidarity on this matter.
OPEN LETTER TO ARMENIA’S CITIZENS AND ALL INSTITUTIONS INTERESTED IN
ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRACY IN THE REPUBLIC
On March 4, 2006, a criminal break-in took place at the premises which
Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K. Hovannisian has
been leasing for more than 12 years. Without advance notice on legal
warrant, the lock of the Heritage Party headquarters’ main outer door
was smashed and replaced with another.
As a result, the chairman of the Heritage Party and the staff of its
central office have been forcibly denied the right of entry into their
own place of work, which under the existing contract is theirs until
June of this year.
The absolute closure of access to Heritage’s official seal, documents,
computers, and means of telecommunication has brought the party’s
activities to a standstill, paralyzing the regular contact between
its headquarters and regional offices.
Raffi Hovannisian and the executive board of the Heritage Party have
issued formal and telephonic petitions to Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian, Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepian, and Police Chief Haik
Harutiunian regarding this unlawful act. No response, explanation,
or comment has been received to date from the law enforcement bodies.
In fact, the constitutional order has once again been violated in
Armenia. A leading opposition party that has stood out of late with its
civic and public initiatives has effectively and illegally been shut
down. We consider this to be a flagrant infringement, on the part of
the incumbent presidency and its ruling clique, of fundamental civil
liberties and political freedoms.
We demand that the Armenian authorities reopen the Heritage Party
headquarters immediately and implement measures guaranteeing its
normal, unfettered, and secure operations.
Forum of Intellectuals of Armenia National Democrats’ Alliance Republic
Party National Rebirth Party National Democratic Union New Times Party
Social Democrat Hnchak Party Social Democratic Party of Armenia Social
Ecological Party of Armenia Democratic Motherland Party Motherland
and Pride Union National Unity Mission Party Armenian Arian Union
Armenian Center for Cultural Assistance and Strategy “Human Rights 96”
NGO “The Officer’s Pride” NGO Anti-globalists’ Union “People are the
Country’s Owners” Union

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN THE UNITED STATES WILL BE A SERIOUS BLOW TO TURKISH-U.S. RELATIONS
YEREVAN, MARCH 27. ARMINFO. Acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide
in the United States will be a serious blow to Turkish-U.S. relations,
retired Ambassador Gunduz Aktan affirmed on Friday, Turkish press
reports.
G. Aktan, currently in the United States to give a series of conference
pertaining to Armenian genocide, took the floor at a meeting organized
by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA).
If U.S. Congress acknowledges the Armenian genocide and if U.S.
President George Bush uses the word `genocide` (in his speeches)
this will definitely have a political impact on our relations. This
will constitute a serious threat to the bilateral relations, Aktan
indicated.
` Recalling that he was one of the members of the Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation Committee, Aktan said it was impossible to convince
the Armenians that a genocide hadn`t been committed.
Comparing the Armenian genocide and Holocaust from some specific points
of views, Aktan said, “Jews were killed because they were Jews. Nobody
in Turkey was against Armenians. Jews did not collaborate with the
enemy and/or reclaim territory from Germany.”
Meanwhile retired Ambassador Omer Lutem indicated that convincing
particularly the Armenian Diaspora seemed impossible, stating that
the idea of genocide claim was deepened during the term in office of
Armenian President Robert Kocarian.

ARMENIAN FOOTBALL CUP TOURNAMENT STARTS
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The first games of 1/8 final tour of
Armenian Football Cup 15th Tournament were held on March 25-26. Their
results are the following: “Gandzasar” (Kapan) – “Mika-2” (Ashtarak)
3 to 1, “Pyunik-2” (Yerevan) – “Banants-2” (Yerevan) 1 to 0, “Ararat”
(Yerevan) – “Ararat-2” (Yerevan) 4 to 0, “Shirak” (Gyumri) – “Hay Ari”
(Yerevan) 0 to 1. The return games will be held on April 1-2.

SHARE OF SME REGISTERED IN ARMENIAN MARZES ON INCREASE
Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2005, the production of Armenian
small and medium enterprises (SME) accounted for 40% of Armenia’s
gross domestic product (GDP), which is a 1.4% increase compared with
the previous year, and a 20.3% increase on 2000. Ishkhan Karapetian,
Director of the Armenian SME National Development Center (NDC), stated
this on March 24. According to him, in 2005, the SME development index
grew by 55 points to 172 points, whereas in 2003 this index made 58
points (the SME development index is an aggregated index, which is
calculated based on the share of the private sector’s production in
GDP, the percentage of those employed at SME in the total number,
and GDP per capita). In addition, the share of SME production in
the volume of exports increased as well: in 2005, it made up 16.4%
against 15.3% in 2004 and 14.3% in 2002. According to I. Karapetian,
the share of small and medium enterprises in the total number of
enterprises registered in late 2005 constituted 97.8%. The pecentage of
SME registered in the Armenian marzes in the total number of SME grew
and made 52% in 2005, which is indicative of the fact that the economic
activity gap between Yerevan and the marzes is decreasing. According
to I. Karapetian, in 2005, about 9 thousand SME were registered in
Armenia, thanks to which 22-23 thousand jobs were created.

Panorama.am
14:44 25/03/06

`ARMENTEL’ ACTION NOT CEASED

`ArmenTel’ continues its bonus action for his 1-year
contractual subscribers in the scopes of which it
provides them with connection for 2 drams per minute.
Nevertheless, the head of the company’s press
department Hasmik Chutilyan rejected the information
spread one of these days about the cease of the
action.
To remind, according to the estimation of the State
Committee to Defend Economic Competition this action
of `ArmenTel’ has been qualified as an
anti-competitive step towards `Gh- Telecom’ and it was
decided to fine the company with 1% of its annual
income. And `ArmenTel’ has appealed the decision of
the SCDEC to the Committee itself. /Panorama.am/

Kurdish Media, UK
March 25 2006
Czech Film on Yezidis Goes to Al-Jazeera

3/25/2006 KurdishMedia.com – By Petr Kubalek
Prague (KurdishMedia.com) 24 March 2006: A Czech documentary film on
Yezidis will be featured at the Aljazeera Television Production
Festival in Doha, Qatar next week. The film was chosen to the
competition of non-Arabic documentaries at the festival organized by
the Al-Jazeera satellite television network.
The 52-minute long documentary was made by Czech filmmaker Petr Zrno
in 2004, concluding thus five years of research, film shooting in the
field, and studio work. To a major extent, it was the goodwill of
Yezidi communities in Germany, Iraqi Kurdistan, Armenia, and Syria
that has contributed to the final shape of the film. The work has, so
far, collected prizes at regional festivals in the Czech Republic and
Slovakia.

UNITED STATES CHEERED UP ALONG WITH MINSK GROUP

Lragir.am
24 March 06
Member of Parliament Victor Dallakyan, who had participated in the
meeting of Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State, and Stephen
Mann, the OSCE Minsk Group American co-chair, revealed details and
nuances of the meeting that took place behind closed doors.
`The impression is that Daniel Fried had intended to discuss three
problems in the three South Caucasian countries: the problems of
regional partnership, energy security and democratization. In fact,
the message of the meeting was that all the problems can be settled
through regional cooperation and security. During the meeting the
possibility of igniting wars was openly denied, and they said that
they would make every possible effort, especially in reference to
Azerbaijan, not to allow this to happen. In other words, it was stated
clearly that the Karabakh issue cannot be resolved in a military
way. In fact, the United States is fulfilling a separate mission for
the problem of Nagorno Karabakh. Although we were told that France and
Russia would be informed about other meetings that will follow, I
would like to state that along with the OSCE Minsk Group the United
States has become more active with regard to the problem of Nagorno
Karabakh. The United States takes more interests and initiative.’

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  (374 10) 517 163
Fax:  (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail:  [email protected]
March 23, 2006
His Holiness Karekin II Receives Hermitage Director
On March 22, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, received Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State
Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg) in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. 
He was accompanied by Ms. Armenika Kivirian, Director of the Southern
Caucasus branch of the Caucasus Institute for Democracy.
His Holiness welcomed Dr. Piotrovsky to the spiritual center of the Armenian
people, offering his blessings and best wishes, and stated, `We proudly
utter the `Piotrovsky’ surname from our lips, highly commending the services
that you and your family have provided for our people, contributing greatly
to our national cultural life.’  His Holiness also reflected on the recent
exhibition in Moscow of the `Treasures of Holy Etchmiadzin’, which was
organized under the auspices of the `Year of Armenia’ in Russia programs for
2006.  The Catholicos also expressed his happiness for the continuing
cooperation between the Hermitage and Holy Etchmiadzin, through which there
are ongoing plans to present Armenian national treasures to the world.
Dr. Piotrovsky thanked His Holiness for the warm reception and noted,
`Armenia and Russia have always had close ties, and we are proud that the
exhibition year of 2006 was inaugurated in Saint Petersburg with the
presentation of the sacred museum artifacts of Holy Etchmiadzin.’  The
Hermitage director also spoke of his deep emotional ties to Holy Etchmiadzin
and Armenia, and fondly recalled his past meetings with His Holiness in
Saint Petersburg.
During the meeting, His Holiness also presented the upcoming plans for
renovating and restoring three of the four museums located on the grounds of
the Monastery of Holy Etchmiadzin.

ETHNIC MINORITIES’ COUNCIL CREATED ATTACHED TO OMBUDSMAN OF GEORGIA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 21 2006
AKHALKALAK, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Ethnic
Minorities’ Council was created attached to the Ombudsman’s staff
of Georgia. According to the “A-Info” agency, Beka Mindiashvili,
the general expert of the “Tolerance” center attached to the
Ombudsman’s staff regulates works of the Council. According to the
expert, the goal of creating the Council is formation of a civil
forum of ethnic minorities of Georgia. Though the Council has no
executive levers, according to B.Mindiashvili, it can have an active
role in the authorities-ethnic minorities relations. The European
Center for Minorities Issues in Georgia gave the idea of forming
the Council. According to the declaration made public beforehand,
the Council staff is open for organizations representing people
belonging to ethnic minorities as well as for organizations working
in the sphere of protection and civil integration of ethnic minorities.

KAREN KARAPETYAN REFUTES INFORMATION ON SETTING UP A POLITICAL PARTY
Lragir/am
22 March 06
Yesterday Karen Karapetyan, the head of the parliamentary group
People’s Deputy, refuted the information that a political party was
going to be set up on he basis of the group. “I have not decided
on creating or becoming member of a political party yet. If the
members of the group decided to become member of a political party,
I would welcome their step. Every member of the group is free in
their decisions.”