Author: Chatinian Lara

THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS ON LINE

A1+
03:11 pm 21 March, 2006

The on line programme of March 20 entitled ” History ” of the
informative TG1 channel of the RAI UNO Television was devoted to the
past present and future Armenian – Turkish relations. The guests of
the program were the Armenian Embassador to Italy Ruben Shugaryan and
the Turkish Embassador to Italy Ugur Dijal and the Turkish historian
Omer Turan.

The cause for the program was the RAI UNO special program devoted to
the genocides of the 20th century.

It began with the presentation of the Armenian Genocide against
which the Turkey Embassador had sent a letter of complaint to the
television. The program began with Sharl Aznavur’s inteview with the
journalist who survived in the Osventium.

Then the Turkish Embassador accused the Italian press of partial
coverage of the issue of the Armenian genocide mentioning that
Turkey hasn’t adopted rejecting policy, it simply tries to find the
truth in the archives an it offers to form a committe of Armenian
– Turkish historians. In his turn Ruben Shaguryan claimed that the
interpretation of the issue from the Turkish side has nothing in common
with the Armenian interpretation and the position of the international
society on this score.By the way, the majority of them including
the Italian Parliament have recognised the Armenian genocide. The
Armenian Embassador put his accent on the fact that the history can
not be converted by the censor or other means.The Armenian genocide
is a historical fact and it is not a question of discussion and the
Armenian diaspora of 6 miilion people is a briiliant proof for it.

Speaking about the present Armenian – Turkish relations Ruben Shugaryan
mentioned Armenia’s readiness to establish diplomatic relations with
Turkey without any conditions at the same time he mentioned that the
closed frontier does not comply with the principles of the European
Councel. Some documentary films and photographs were desplayed during
the program.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: SUPPORT SHOULD BE PROVIDED TO PROCESSING ENTERPRISES

Noyan Tapan
Mar 21 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. During the March 21 working meeting
with the RA President Robert Kocharian, the Agriculture Minister
Davit Lokian presented the latest results of the research conducted by
the Armenian and US experts, according to which there is no bird flu
virus in Armenia. NT was informed about it from the RA President’s
press service. The problem of setting up about 200 small and medium
processing enterprises in Armenia was discussed. R. Kocharian gave
instructions about the adoption of a respective concept in near
future. He noted that support should be given to processing enterprises
by enabling them to receive loans at low interest rates. R. Kocharian
was also provided information concerning the issues of irrigation
systems, the import of modern agricultural equipment, and the
availability of enough stocks of fertilizers.

50 Congressmen Call to Maintain Parity in Military Aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2006 22:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Joining Congressmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and George
Radanovich (R-CA) 48 House members called upon the House Foreign
Operations Subcommittee to support pro-Armenian provisions in the
fiscal year 2007 foreign aid bill. The letter notes that members of
Congress are “deeply troubled” that the Administration’s request for
military aid for Azerbaijan is considerably higher then the request
for Armenia. By signing the letter, legislators will add their voice
to the effort to ensure that the agreement struck in 2001 between the
White House and Congress to keep aid levels to these two countries
equal is fully respected. In addition, the letter calls for a hard
earmark of at least $75 million for Armenia, a one-year $5 million
allocation for Nagorno Karabakh, and the preservation of Section 907
of the Freedom Support Act, reported the ANCA.

IJEVAN RESIDENT’S LAWSUIT AGAINST MAYOR’S OFFICE DISMISSED, ACCORDING TO PLAINTIFF, LAND PLOTS ALLOCATED TO MAYOR’S BROTHER BY AUCTION AND NOT TENDER RULES

Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006

IJEVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The court of first instance of Tavish
marz on March 15 dismissed the lawsuit of Vaghinak Ananian, a resident
of the city of Ijevan, against the mayor’s office, in which the
plaintiff asked to declare invalid the results of the tender held
in Ijevan on June 24, 2005. He claimed that the land plots in the
city were leased by auction rather than by tender rules. According
to V. Ananian, based on the tender results, Hrachia Nersisian, head
physician of the city hospital, brother of Ijevan mayor Varuzhan
Nersisian was given the land plot, on which the plaintiff also
had claims.

Despite the fact that he paid 5 thousand drams in order to participate
in the tender, at the last moment he was not allowed to do so due to
some mistake in his document. The Ijevan mayor’s brother was announced
the winner of the tender.

Zoya Zakinian, judge of the court of first instance of Tavush marz,
refused to provide NT correspondent any grounds for such a court
decision, saying that she is busy.

STAFF OF FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM OF ARMENIA LEAVING FOR GERMANY STILL NOT DEFINED

Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. On March 21, the national team of
Armenia will held an unofficial match with the German youth national
team at the city of Ahlen, Germany. Henk Vismann, the Chief Trainer
of the national team of Armenia is going to invite Gevorg Kasparov,
Armando Hambardzumian, Edgar Gasparian, Sargis Hovsepian, Alexander
Tadevosian, Robert Arzumanian, Aghvan Lazarian, Valeri Alexandrian,
Artash Baghdasarian, Hamlet Mkhitarian, Romik Khachatrian, Armen
Tigranian, Levon Pachajian, Artur Voskanian, Samvel Melkonian, Romeo
Jenebian, Hovhannes Grigorian, Suren Sargsian, Arman Karamian, Aram
Hakobian, Edgar Manucharian, Davit Grigorian and Tigran Gharabakhtsian
into team.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from the Press Secretariate of the Football
Federation of Armenia, the technical administration of the national
teams of the Football Federation of Armenia applied to the clubs of
the mentioned football players. Taking into account that the 21th of
March is not a day for unofficial match, and the national championships
start in a number of countries, it is possible, that some football
players will not be able to take part in the meeting. The final staff
of the team leaving for Germany will be defined later.

US SEEKS TO WORK WITH RUSSIA TO END POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS

Armenpress
Mar 09 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS: Daniel Fried, US Assistant Secretary for
European and Eurasian Affairs said during a March 8 Testimony before
the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe that
U.S. relations with Russia’s neighbors and other countries in Eurasia
seem to be viewed by some in Russia in zero-sum terms, a model that
‘we have both publicly and privately told the Russians is false.’
“We seek to work with Russia and others to resolve dangerous and
debilitating conflicts in places like South Ossetia, Transnistria,
Abkhazia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. We hope that Russia will take
advantage of Georgia’s proposals for a peaceful settlement of the
South Ossetia conflict and work toward a solution that respects both
Georgia’s territorial integrity and the interests of the people of
South Ossetia,” he said.

He also said the US urges the Armenian and Azeri leaderships to seize
the moment and help bring the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a close.

ANCA WELCOMES END TO U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT’S THREE-MONTH SILENCE ON AZERBAIJAN’S DESTRUCTION OF HISTORIC DJULFA CEMETERY

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 09 2006

WASHINGTON, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “We welcome the
end to the State Department’s long silence on Djulfa, but regret that
it took three months and sustained international protest before our
government summoned the will to utter its first public condemnation of
a clear cut and thoroughly documented case of cultural desecration,”
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, commenting on the
statement made by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza at the press conference in Yerevan on March 7. Responding to
reporters’ questions by describing the destruction as a “tragedy,”
Matthew Bryza noted that, “it’s awful what happened in Djulfa. But
the United States cannot take steps to stop it as it is happening on
foreign soil. We continually raise this issue at meetings with Azeri
officials. We are hopeful that the guilty will justly be punished. We
are hopeful that in no other state of the region such things will
happen again, as there are great historic monuments in the Caucasus
and, frankly speaking, in all three states they are endangered.” In
December of 2005, approximately 200 Azerbaijani forces were videotaped
using sledgehammers to demolish the Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, a
sacred site of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The cemetery dates back
to the 7th Century and once was home to as many as 10,000 khatchkars
(stone-crosses).

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 10 2006

UN sanctions against Iran could affect S. Caucasus
14:23 | 10/ 03/ 2006

YEREVAN, March 10 (RIA Novosti) – International sanctions that could
be imposed against Iran over its controversial nuclear research
program would increase tensions in the neighboring South Caucasus
region, an Armenian expert said Friday.

“Possible sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Iran
will further aggravate tension in the South Caucasus region … which
is involved in ambitious economic projects with Iran,” said Stepan
Grigoryan, head of an Armenian think-tank on globalization and
regional cooperation.

The South Caucasus region includes the former Soviet republics of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, which border on Iran, and Georgia. As UN
member states, the three republics will be obliged to follow the
decisions of the UN Security Council, Grigoryan said.

If the UN Security Council does opt for sanctions, they will most
likely be economic and diplomatic, which will entail a ban on visas
for senior officials of the Islamic Republic and a resolution to
freeze their bank accounts, he said.

Iran risks coming under international sanctions after it resumed
uranium enrichment – a process that can be used to generate energy
and create weapons-grade material – after a two-year hiatus, arousing
particular concerns in the West and in neighboring Israel.

However, Grigoryan said, the worst possible scenario would be if the
United States and its supporters in the UN decide to form an
anti-Iranian coalition, similar to the one against Iraq, and start a
unilateral campaign, including a military operation.

“This will require political decisions from the leaderships of
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia on whether they will join the
U.S.-led coalition, and provide air space or their territories” for
the operation, Grigoryan said.

He said the leaders of the three republics would inevitably have
different answers to these questions, which “is highly likely to
result in harsher confrontation between the countries of the region.”

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 10 2006

Garabagh mediators’ meeting not elaborated

Baku, March 9, AssA-Irada
The OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh have completed their talks in
Washington.
At a meeting attended by the OSCE chairman’s special envoy Andzhei
Kaspshik, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group looked into the
results of the talks held by the two presidents in the French town of
Rambouillet in February and outlined further steps. The specific
issues discussed during the three-day meeting of the intermediaries
are not elaborated.
The co-chairs are expected to inform official Baku, Yerevan and the
OSCE about the outcomes of the discussions soon.*

“MULTI-NATIONAL GEORGIA” NOVEMENT AND “NOR SERUND” UNION ASK TO CARRY OUT OBJECTIVE EXAMINATION OF INCIDENT IN TSALKA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 13 2006

TBILISI, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the occasion of
the March 9 events in Tsalka, the “Civil Movement “Multi-National
Georgia” union and the “Nor Serund” (New Generation) union of the
Georgian Armenians made a statement in which they turn to the
Government of Georgia with a request to carry out an objective
examination of the incident in Tsalka, to punish those guilty in
the way envisaged by the legislation, as well as to make publicity
to what had happened. The organizations aks the civil society of
Georgia, the Government and President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili
to refer to the problems appeared in Tsalka with the upmost attention
for to avoid a regular interethnic conflict in the territory of
Georgia. “Multi-National Georgia” and “Nor Serund” expressed their
condolence to the family of died Gevorg Gevorkian. To recap, an armed
attack on a group of young people of the Armenian origin took place
on March 9 in the very center of the city of Tsalka (regional center
of the Tsalka region of the Kvemo-Kartli region, Georgia). According
to both witnesses and one of victims, there were about 15 attacking
people and many of them were armed with side-arms. As a result of
knife injuries, Gevorg Gevorkian of 23 years old was killed, he died
at the place, V.Saakian of 25 years old was injured at the foot,
and K.Baloyan of 25 years old was taken in 7 hours to the Tbilisi
city hospital No1 with a serious injury.