Author: Chmshkian Vicken

93X.COM, MN
March 10 2006
SOAD CANCEL BENEFIT CONCERT
Just three days after announcing their annual Souls benefit concert
to help raise awareness and pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide,
SYSTEM OF A DOWN have cancelled the event, which was to be held on
April 23 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. A message on the
band’s official web site reads as follows:
“The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has always been a first and
foremost priority in the minds of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, so it’s
unfortunate for us to announce that Souls 2006 has been cancelled.
Despite the cancellation, SYSTEM will always continue to fight for
this truly important cause, and encourages all of our friends and
fans to help educate the world about a forgotten genocide and the
importance of recognizing this atrocity. We thank you always for your
undying support…”

AZG Armenian Daily #044, 11/03/2006

Armenia-USA
BUSH ADMINISTRATION REDUCES MILITARY AID FOR ARMENIA
The administration of US President George W. Bush
suggests the Congress to render Azerbaijan more
military aid to Azerbaijan ($4.5 million) than to
Armenia (3.5 million) in 2007. In effect, this is a
violation of an agreement between the Bush
administration and the US Congress in the aftermath of
9/11 attacks on the size of military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan.
The draft US budget envisages $50 million of economic
aid for Armenia. “Every year the Bush administration
provides less aid to Armenia than the Congress
envisages,” Frank Pallone, co-chair of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, said
promising to make every effort to increase economic
and military aid for Armenia.

A1+
THE BIGGEST BLUFF
05:32 pm 10 March, 2006
BABKEN ARARKTSYAN DOESN’T WANT TO BE WICKED
`It is fact that the Defense Minister cannot to take a
step without the President’s permission’, Babken
Ararktsyan, the representative of `Armat’
non-governmental centre, ex-speaker of NA reported at
the National Press Club. According to him everything
was expected in the negotiations for the peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
sensational announcements are expected.
«The ousting of Nagorno Karabakh from the negotiations
was not by chance. There is no pressure in the
settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict from the
international society, just like in 1997. It is not
the problem of international community. The can solve
their problems in the region without the settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh problem».
Mr. Ararktsyan considers, in fact no Minsk group
exists and the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict doesn’t depend on them. `There are co-chairs
of three powerful countries. The settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict depends on the will of the
negotiating parties and it is impossible without
Nagorno Karabakh itself’.
The ex-chairman of the RA NA continues to claim that
time is playing into the hands of Azerbaijan in the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. «They
adopt resolutions favorable for them in the
international structures, and carry out agitation. In
Nagorno Karabakh problem our privilege is the military
success which becomes old in case not used».
Asked the question why in 1994 the Armenian
Pan-national Movement didn’t use our military success
Babken Ararktsyan answered, `Minsk group really worked
actively after the cease-fire’. One of their
suggestions was denied by Azerbaijan, the second one
by Karabakh. When in 1997 we agreed to accept the
document by the Minsk group which was very favorable
for the Armenian side, the famous hubbub arose».
Mr. Ararktsyan mentioned that they didn’t change their
point of view in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the
journalists were given the November 2004 announcement
of `Armat’ non-governmental centre. `The existence of
Armenian statehood and Nagorno Karabakh is in danger.
The Armenian nation is facing the danger of a new war
and unjustified loses. The only way out of the
situation created is the elimination of the present
administration from the political field and the
formation of legal authorities which will enjoy the
trust of the people», the announcement says.
As for the return of the refugees to Karabakh and
holding another referendum in Karabakh, as the
international structures suggest, Ararktsyan said `The
return of the Refugees is practically impossible, and
the organization of a Referendum is the biggest
bluff’.
Mr. Ararktsyan also referred to Arkadi Ghoukasyan’s
announcement that Armenia should withdraw from the
negotiations. `I don’t want to be so wicked to think
that the NKR President’s announcements are agreed with
the RA authorities’. NKR authorities are more
legitimate and have the right to raise their own
problems».

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 13, 2006
Armenian Church Representatives Elected to World Council of Churches Central
Committee
In the month of February, under the auspices of and with the Pontifical
blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos
of All Armenians, a high-ranking delegation of clergymen and laymen
representing the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, attended the Ninth
Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Porto Alegre,
Brazil. Leading the delegation was His Grace Bishop Yeznik Petrosian,
Director of Inter-Church Relations for the headquarters of the Armenian
Apostolic Church.
The Assembly brought together member churches of the WCC to reaffirm
their fellowship, engage in discussions and to take counsel with one
another. The theme of the Assembly was “God, in Your Grace, transform
the word.”
The delegates for the Armenian Church were: His Eminence Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Australia and
New Zealand; His Grace Bishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocesan Legate of
the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); His Grace
Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada;
Rev. Fr. Mkrtich Proshian, Dean of the Vaskenian Theological Seminary
at Lake Sevan (Armenia); Rev. Fr. Hovakim Manukian, Office Director
of the Department for Inter-Church Relations, Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin; Rev. Fr. Shahe Ananian, Staff Bearer to the Catholicos
of All Armenians, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; Rev. Fr. Vahram
Melikian, Director of Information Services, Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin; Dr. Karen Nazarian, Director of the Armenian Round Table
Office (Armenia); Dr. Hacik Rafi Gazer, Director of the Theological
Faculty Martin Luther University, Halle-Withenberg (Germany); Deacon
Robert Tashjian, Youth Ministry from the Armenian Diocese of Egypt;
Mrs. Paula Devejian, Director of Internet Development, Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin; Miss Naira Martirossian, Project Manager, Armenian
Ecumenical Resource Center (Armenia); Miss Gayane Alexanian, Department
for Inter-Church Relations, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; Miss Lilit
Antonian, Secretary, Catholicosate of All Armenians; and Miss Izabel
Genjian from the Armenian Diocese of Brazil who participated in the
Assembly as a youth delegate. The delegation was one of the youngest
Orthodox groups in attendance.
Members of the delegation took an active participation in the Assembly
in many areas. Rev. Fr. Ananian attended the Youth Pre-Assembly
and Mrs. Devejian attended the Women’s Pre-Assembly. Abp. Aghan
Baliozian served on the Assembly Committee for “Consensus Decision
Making”, which worked to implement a new procedural method of voting,
which was adopted for the first time at the Assembly. Bp. Vicken
Aikazian served on the Assembly “Message” Committee, which developed
and presented a document that captured the experience and hopes of
those gathered in Porto Alegre. Bp. Yeznik Petrosian was a Moderator
during a 3-day workshop entitled “Emerging Forms of Ecumenism” as well
as served on the assembly “Business Committee” which coordinated the
daily business of the assembly. Rev. Fr. Proshian presented a workshop
entitled “Through the Creation to the Creator”, which introduced a
new concept of ecological education from a theological perspective
referred to as “Green Theology”. Dr. Nazarian presented a paper in
one of the workshops entitled “HIV/AIDS – Involvement of clergy in
counseling, stigma and discrimination”, as well as served on the
assembly nominating committee which was responsible for identifying
candidates for the election of presidents and new members of the WCC
Central Committee from among the delegates. Mrs. Devejian served
on a leadership team in a three-day workshop entitled “Overcoming
health threats to humanity in the context of HIV and AIDS”, as well
as spoke during the final general plenary session on the topic of
“God in Your Grace, transform our societies”. In addition to these
activities, delegates attended specific regional, Orthodox, youth and
women’s issues meetings, as well as attended workshops on the Middle
East and various lectures on subjects of importance to the world-wide
Armenian Church.
During the business sessions, the assembly delegates accepted the
strategic and planning activities for the upcoming seven years for
the WCC, and presented a final general resolution. The Assembly
also produced six communiques, related to Latin America, defense,
the reconfiguration of the United Nations, water issues, terrorism
and human rights, and the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The final sessions were highlighted by new elections to the WCC. First
was the election of the eight regional presidents of the WCC,
representing the family of Christian Churches. Elected to represent
the Oriental (Ancient) Orthodox Church family was His Holiness Abba
Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The same afternoon, the delegates elected a new Central Committee
to serve for the next seven years. Elected to represent the Armenian
Church and the Catholicosate of All Armenians were His Grace Bishop
Aykazian (USA) and Mrs. Paula Devejian (Armenia).
On the final day of the Assembly, the Central Committee elected the
new 20-member Executive Committee. Among those elected was His Grace
Bishop Vicken Aykazian. Elected as the new Moderator for the WCC is
Rev. Dr. Walter Altmann from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran
Confession in Brazil (IECLB).
The Armenian Church delegates returned to Holy Etchmiadzin and their
respective dioceses at the end of February.
##

LORD JOHNSTON WILL GIVE INFORMATION ABOUT KARABAKH
A1+
04:07 pm 13 March, 2006
Tomorrow the PACE Political Issues Committee session will take place
in Paris where the Karabakh issue will be discussed too. Lord Russell
Johnston will make a statement about the Karabakh issue and about
what is going on within the framework of the OSCE Minsk group.
“Russell Johnston is to give information to the Political Issue
Committee, and it is still not clear whether a session of the Karabakh
Committee will take place or not”, RA NA deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan
said. He is the only on to represent Armenia in the Political Issues
Committee while Azerbaijan has two representatives there. Neither is
it known whether Torosyan will make a speech or not.
“It is not something important but I will make speech if needed”,
the NA deputy speaker informed “A1+” from Paris. He does not have
great expectations from the speech of Russell Johnston as he will
only represent the 1-year activity of the Committee.

IRAN GAS PRODUCTION TO UP 40M CUBIC METERS/DAY
IranMania News, Iran
Oct 18 2005
LONDON, October 18 (IranMania) – Iran?s natural gas production will
increase by 40 mln cubic meters to reach 420 mln cubic meters a day
this winter, said a senior gas industry official.
According to ILNA, Abdolhossein Samari, the National Iranian Gas
Company?s project manager, told reporters that Iran imported 5.8 bln
cubic meters of gas last year, when it exported 315 bln cubic meters.
Rejecting reports that gas exports will impede proper distribution
nationwide, the official said Iran is ready to import up to 40 mln
cubic meters per day of gas from Turkmenistan to meet a possible
shortage of supply in winter.
?However, the Turkmen side has not yet announced its readiness to
export this amount of gas to Iran,? he said, criticizing the National
Iranian Gas Company?s failure to construct adequate underground
gas storages.
He said lack of proper storage facilities will prevent the company
from ensuring adequate supplies at times of consumption peak.
He, however, said gas supply network is doing well, adding that gas
produced in the southern region of Asalouyeh reaches consumers across
the country within just 40 hours.
Samari said the gas swap agreement with Azerbaijan will enter the
executive phase as of next month, noting that as per the contract,
Iran will import Azeri gas and then export the same amount to
Nakhichivan. He put the swap fee at 15%.
On gas export agreement with Armenia, the official said exports could
increase from 1.1 to 2.3 mln cubic meters.
Iran holds the world?s largest gas reserves second only to Russia.
Twenty two phases of the giant project to develop the world?s largest
offshore gas field, South Pars, which holds almost eight % of the
global gas reserves, will become operational by 2012.
The multi-phased project is a top priority on the national development
agenda.
The field straddles Iranian (South Pars) and Qatari (North Field)
sectors of the Persian Gulf, and Iran?s share is being developed in
28 phases.

PLANS IN BUZAND FULFILLED BY 163%
A1+
| 14:20:31 | 17-10-2005 | Social |
According to the information of the Yerevan Municipality Emergency
Department on October 10-16 there have been 35 power incidents in
the capital 10 of which were fire alarms. The information was given
by the Yerevan deputy mayor Vano Vardanyan during the usual briefing.
The deputy mayor also represented the course of the construction works
in the capital mentioning that they have been carried out according
to schedule by at least 110% each. For example the cleaning of the
Buzand and Arami streets have been carried out by 163%, the works in
Davtashen and Kievyan bridges – by 103%, etc.
Referring to the works concerning the central heating system Vano
Vardanyan mentioned that for the coming winter the system will operate
in 60 buildings instead of last year’s 20.

NOVELIST DENIES ‘GENOCIDE’ CLAIM
The Guardian, UK
Oct 17 2005
Orhan Pamuk, a best-selling Turkish novelist facing trial for speaking
out about the 1915 mass killings of Armenians, moved at the weekend to
soften his controversial remarks, insisting that he did not describe
the episode as genocide.
Pamuk could face up to three years in prison for reportedly telling
a Swiss newspaper that “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were
killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it”. But
on Saturday night, he went on CNN-Turk television to say: “I did
not say, we Turks killed this many Armenians. I did not use the word
‘genocide’.”
Armenians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks, which Armenia and several other countries recognise as a
genocide. Turkey denies the genocide claim, saying that the death
toll is inflated and that Armenians were killed in civil unrest as
the Ottoman empire collapsed. Asked about the numbers of deaths he
referred to in his newspaper interview, Pamuk said that they were
“spontaneous remarks”.
His comments on the Kurds were no less controversial, referring to
Turkey’s 20-year conflict with Kurdish guerrillas seeking autonomy,
branded a terrorist group by the US and EU. “There are martyred
Turkish soldiers among those 30,000 to 35,000 killed people. Let’s
express our respect to them,” Pamuk said, complaining that he had
become a victim of a “defamation campaign”.
The case could embarrass Turkey as it seeks to demonstrate to
Europe that its laws and practices are capable of meeting European
standards. The EU has said it will be watching when the case starts
on December 16.
Pamuk’s books, which include the internationally acclaimed Snow and
My Name is Red, have been translated into more than 20 languages and
the novelist has received many international awards.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU CALLED BSECO TO “APPLY ECONOMIC SANCTIONS” AGAINST ARMENIA
Pan Armenian
12.10.2005 19:28 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan called upon the member-states of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization to apply sanctions against
Armenia. During the 16th sitting of the BSECO PA committee on cultural,
educational and social affairs held October 5-8 in Thessaloniki,
Greece, Azerbaijani parliamentarian Shaitdin Aliyev stated that “9
member-states of the Organization and the European Union should not
be indifferent on Armenia’s annexing the Azeri territories.”

Kurdish Info, Germany
Oct 8 2005
Journalist Guilty of ‘Insulting Turkishness’
Erol Onderoglu

Bianet /7 October 2005 /-Hrant Dink, the editor of the Istanbul based
Armenian language weekly newspaper Agos, has been sentenced to
suspended 6 months imprisonment for “insulting Turkishness” in a
series of articles he wrote on Armenian identity.
Hrant Dink, who was charged with “insulting Turkishness” in an
article on Armenian identity published in the weekly newspaper Agos,
has been sentenced to a 6-month term in prison, but the penalty has
been suspended.

Dink was also one of the organizers of the conference on Ottoman
Armenians that was recently held in Istanbul. The newspaper’s general
coordinator Karin Karakasli, who was charged along with Dink, was
acquitted on the grounds that she was exempt under a provision of the
Press Law. The journalists’ lawyer, Fetiye Cetin, told Bianet that
they are appealing the court’s decision.

The decision hearing took place today (7 October 2005) at the Second
Criminal Court in Sisli, and was attended by the journalists, their
lawyers, and other supporters. The prosecutor, Muhittin Ayata, argued
that Dink’s article had been written with the intent to criticize and
humiliate Turkish national identity. The court suspended the sentence
on the grounds that Dink had no previous convictions and on the
condition that he does not repeat the offense.
The suit was filed against Dink and Karakasli on 16 April 2004 for a
series of articles starting in February 2004 that criticized diaspora
Armenians for focusing on the history of Turkish crimes against
Armenians and not doing enough for the needs of Armenians in the
present. Reporters Without Borders, PEN International, and other
civil society groups have criticized the lawsuit.