Author: Emil Lazarian

DAMAGE DEPRIVED ALMOST ENTIRE ARMENIA OF INTERNET
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.05.2006 14:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the principal and reserve cables, providing
Internet access to Armenia, were damaged near Charentsavan and
Ashtarak towns.
Resulting from it almost entire Armenia is deprived of Internet. As
ArmenTel company told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the damage was
caused by carelessness during construction works. Meanwhile, ArmenTel
company representatives cannot say for sure, when the Internet access
will be restored.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HUSSEYNOV: NO EXPRESSION “ARMENIANS CEMETERY DESTROY” IN NAKHCHIVAN IN O’HARA’S VISIT PROGRAM
Author: J. Shakhverdiyev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
The mission headed by the English deputy of the EU Parliament Assembly,
the reader of supplementary report on the South Caucasus countries
O’Hara to come to the region on May 28, the Azerbaijan delegation
member Rafael Husseynov exclusively told IAA “Trend”.
He pointed out that the goal O’Hara’s visit is to carry out
investigations connected with the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia. According to him at first Mr. O`Hara will come
to Azerbaijan, then visit the Nakhchivan Region, and then leave
for Georgia. “Here he is to carry out investigations connected with
Azerbaijani and Armenian cultural heritage, and at last set off for
Erevan”, pointed out Mr. R. Husseynov.
He also added that the program of O`Hara`s visit includes the visiting
of Shusha. “The Azerbaijan Delegation introduced the list of types
of Azerbaijani heritage located on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,
districts occupied by Armenians as well as in Armenia itself. We also
made some changes in the text of the visit’s program. For instance,
the document mentioned as if Armenian cemeteries are being destroyed
in Nakhchivan. We told O’Hara that is Armenians` fantasy. There are
still Albanian graves in Nakhchivan.
Before Islam, the most of Azerbaijanis were Christians. That is why
Armenians do their best to take for its own all Christian monuments
on the territory of Azerbaijan. It is inadmissible and wrong to
indicate that these monuments are Armenian without a on-the spot
check. On the base of our arguments this point was excluded from the
document. It is said that he is just to visit Nakhchivan”, pointed
out Mr. R. Husseynov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN FIRST
Today, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs together with their states high ranking
Foreign Ministry officials are expected to visit the South Caucasus.
Russia’s Charge d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Pyotr Burdikin told
journalists that the visit will start from Azerbaijan. Explaining the
objective of visiting together with FM officials, the diplomat said the
Minsk Group is trying to achieve the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict and added that sometimes new figures joining the negotiating
process brings new approaches to the stances of the parties.
According to APA, Mr.Burdikin also said that a number of options and
plans have been discussed during the negotiating process, the option
that was rejected before, was accepted later on. The Russian diplomat
noted that none of these options are being discussed at present. He
did not forecast what results will be in the end of the talks.
“This is a very difficult issue, but I believe there will be a
progress,” he stressed.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN PUBLIC CHAMBER CONDEMNS AZERBAIJANI VANDALISM
Yerkir
18.05.2006 14:19
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A committee of the Russian Public Chamber discussed
on May 17 the issue of the destruction of the Armenian medieval
cemetery in Djulfa in the Azerbaijani region of Nakijevan region.
As reported by the newspaper Yerkramas, published by the Armenian of
southern Russia, Chairman of the Armenian-Russian Friendship Union
Victor Krivopus kov reported on the vandalism carried out by Azerbaijan
in December 2005, when an Armenian mediaval cemetery in Djulfa with
4,000 cross stones was destroyed. He went on saying that 27,000
Armenian monuments dating to 7th-19th centuries have been destroyed
in Nakhijevan during the years of the Azerbaijani rule over the region.
The committee passed a unanimous decision condemning the Azerbaijani
vandalism in Djulfa.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TAHMAZOV: LIBERATION OF LACHIN CANNOT BE SEPARATE ISSUE IN NEGOTIATING PROCESS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
“The liberation of Azerbaijan’s Lachin region from Armenian occupation
cannot be discussed separately during the negotiating process for the
settlement of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict,” Lachin governor Elbrus
Tahmazov told journalists.
He said that Armenians will not achieve their aims to discuss Lachin’s
liberation as a separate issue in the negotiations. Tahmazov stressed
that the region will sure to be liberated either by peaceful or
other ways.
He also gave information on the people of Lachin who have become
internally displaced persons after the occupation. The region has
67,000 people, and now they have settled in 59 regions. Nearly 20,000
IDPs from Lachin have settled in Baku, Sumgayit and Absheron regions of
Azerbaijan. 17,300 of them are now living in Aghjabedi, Takhta Korpu,
(territory of Lachin) in 84 large nomad tents.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ISRAEL W.CHARNY: I HAVE BEEN ALWAYS STRUGGLING AGAINST POSITION OF ISRAELI GOVERNMENT IN ISSUE OF RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 18 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The Israeli society
knows about the Armenian Genocide, recognizes it, a different matter
is the attitude of the Israeli government to this fact. I consider its
position wrong, treat it critically and regret as a Jew. I have been
always struggling against such a position,” Israel W. Charny, Executive
Director of the Institute of Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem,
President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars,
declared to the journalists. According to him, there is “small success”
in the respect of recognition of the Armenian Genocide: two members
of the former Israeli government declared about the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide but this was immediately followed by an
answer from the government that these two ministers are speaking on
behalf of themselves. “The main reason of Israel’s not recognizing
the Armenian Genocide is that our government thinks just like my
father. My father was a Jew from Europe, he lost the most part of his
family during the Holocaust and he was saying that only Jews should
be taken care of. In my opinion, this attitude is understandable but
wrong,” I.Charny declared. According to him, the Israeli government
declares that Israel needs Turkey, Turkey is a mighty neighbor, with
which they should develop military cooperation, Israel needs Turkey
as an Islamic country, with which Israel is on good terms, which,
as the Israeli scholar mentioned, is a truth. In response to Noyan
Tapan correspondent’s question, whether the statement of the chief
rabbi about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide can be a step
towards progress in the issue of recognition of the Genocide in Israel,
I.Charny said: “Yes, the chief rabbi is an official person but he is
not a member of the government. If the President of Israel declared
this, it would be fine. I think the statement of the chief rabbi was
great and of cource, it is very important”. He regretted to say that
many Jews refuse to recognize the victims of Nazism who were not Jews:
“These were Gipsies, non-full-value children who were killed by Nazis
still before the Holocaust and Soviet war prisoners who were burnt
in the same crematoriums where Jews were burnt.
But the Armenians also demonstrate the same stinginess when they do
not want to mention Greeks and Assyrians among the victims of the
Genocide,” I.Charny declared. As for the position of the Turkish
society in the issue of recognition of the Genocide, I.Charny noted
that today the number of people daring to speak about the Genocide is
growing in Turkey. As he estimated, these are really brave people. In
its turn, the Turkish government is striving for showing the first
signs that it is able to hear such a position.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘GENOCIDE’ BILL, A MODERN INQUISITION
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels
Zaman, Turkey
May 18 2006
Olivier Corten, a professor at Belgium’s ULB University Faculty of Law,
believes bills that would criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide
are a “modern inquisition” and said if the Armenian massacres are
defined as “genocide,” we could say that Europe’s colonial history
is full of “genocides.”
Corten, one of the experts who informed the genocide committee at
the Belgian Senate, said since he is not a historian he does now know
about the 1915 incidents in detail, but he is against the bill.
He spoke to Zaman before discussion of the denial bill begins in
France.
Speaking to Corten after he advised the Senate Commission not to accept
such a bill, Corten told Zaman he is against the bill punishing those
who deny the Armenian “Genocide” for two reasons.
Firstly, he stresses there is no court verdict about Armenian genocide,
and secondly, there is not a retrospective principle in law.
If we expand the genocide expression to cover the pre-World War II
period, many incidents could be called genocide, Corten said, “Then,
we should go back to 18th and 19th centuries, probably even to Roman
Empire period.”
Corten said it is difficult to adapt “genocide” laws to penal code
and commented, “You commit a crime, but at the time you commit the
crime the consequences are not clear; namely, you commit a crime that
is non-existing in law.”
‘Belgium’s Attitude is Unethical’
Corten, pointing out Belgium is still trying to face its past with
Congo, said it is unethical for Belgium to give lessons to Turkey
before “cleaning the front side of its own house.”
Corten does not call the acts Belgian King Leopold II committed
in Congo a “genocide,” saying instead: “This is not genocide since
the massacres were held for money. In the same way, if there is no
intention of categorically destroying, an event cannot be called
genocide no matter how many people died.”
Corten, indicating he uses very narrow criteria for the definition
of genocide, said ethnic cleansing is not genocide; genocide can
be used in reference to the massacres of the Jews and the massacres
in Rwanda where the intention of exterminating a race was obvious:
“If in war time people are killed for the security of a region,
this is not genocide according to me, but instead a war crime. Even
if you apply current conditions of genocide, this situation does not
constitute genocide.”
“Emir Kir Started the Discussion”
Emphasizing his doubt that Belgium would pass the draft bill in its
current form, in which a prison sentence and a hefty fine would be
given to those found guilty of denying the so-called genocide, Corten
believes that the discussion was started by Turkish origin minister,
Emir Kir, only for domestic political reasons.
“If this bill passes unchanged, it will be a surprise to me,” said
Corten, pointing out that thousands of Turkish Belgians and Turkish
officials coming to Brussels for EU negotiations might be imprisoned
if the bill becomes law.
Underlining that in the past Belgium had issued a similar problematic
law to judge war criminals worldwide, which was later dissolved,
Corten stated that Belgium make the same mistake again.
Belgian Minister Emir Kir was attacked when he used the term,
“so-called genocide” during an interview. Some Belgian politicians
in relation with the lobby called for Kir’s resignation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

300-400 AMMUNITIONS REMAINED FROM SOVIET ARMY DETECTED IN AGHSTAFA, AZERBAIJAN EVERY DAY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
According to initial calculations, there are more than 100 thousand
mines and unexploded ordnances (UXO) around the military base of the
former Soviet Army in Azerbaijan’s Saloghlu village in Aghstafa region.
The mine-clearance in the territory, which started in January this
year, will last for a year and six months. Nazim Ismayilov, director of
the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) told journalists
(APA). Ismayilov said that more than 6 thousand ordnances were disarmed
in the 600 hectares of area of the military base during four months.
“300-400 ammunitions are detected in Salohglu every day. ANAMA has
detected and disarmed over 16 000 mines and UXO in the territory,”
Ismayilov reported.
The ANAMA director also said that during the recent operation in
Aghjabedi region, unexploded Nurs missile has been found. The Agency
has not detected mines with kapron composition.
“The sides used Soviet-made weapons and ammunitions during the military
operations for Garabagh. So, we are likely to detect different types
of mines in our territories under Armenian occupation. It is reported
that Armenians buried mines produced in China, Italy, Pakistan and
even in Armenia in the occupied territories. “Lyagushgas” are detected
in the territory. We do not rule out that more risky ammunitions will
be detected in the occupied territories in future,” Ismayilov stressed.
ANAMA found out as a result of its research last year that, 1800
people suffered from mines in the country.
“This figure might be huge.26 incidents occurred related to mines and
UXO last year.40 mine expositions occurred in 2004.14 people suffered
from mines and UXO in the past months of this year.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COE: ARMENIAN CLAIMS OF AZERBAIJANIS DESTROYING THEIR GRAVEYARDS SOUND UNPLEASANT
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006
Council of Europe delegation led by Domeniko Ronkonin, head of culture
division of Directorate General IV on Education, Culture and Heritage,
Youth and Sport will visit the South Caucasus countries in June.
APA’s Europa bureau reports that the visit will be paid in the
framework of the preparation for the Kyiv Initiative- comprehensive
follow-up of the STAGE (Support for Transition in the arts and
culture in the greater Europe) project which ended in 2005-intends
to contribute through action and policies in culture and heritage to
democratic development and dialogue in, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine. The current project will be over in 2006. The
Council of Europe will continue cooperation in culture with the South
Caucasus countries in the format of the Kyiv Initiative from 2007.
The project is being prepared now. Mr.Ronkonin told APA’s correspondent
that the program was very effective and satisfied with Azerbaijan’s
active participation in the program.
Ronkonin also commented on Armenians’ claims on the alleged destruction
of their graveyards by Azerbaijanis, “Such statements are unpleasant. I
and other Council of Europe structures have not been informed about
that. So, it is important to often visit the region in order to control
the issue. Both sides should refrain from making such unfounded
statements. I don’t want to express final opinion regarding this
issue. But I must say that during my stay in Baku I did not witness
any negative nuances while visiting the graveyards of nations with
other religious.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHANGE IS EXPECTED IN NA “ARF” FACTION STAFF
Noyan Tapan
May 18 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. NA “ARF” faction head Levon Mkrtchian’s
deputy’s commissions will be stopped soon ahead of time, on the
occasion of his being appointed the RA Minister of Education and
Science. L.Mkrtchian was elected a deputy by the proportional
electoral order, so after the deputy’s mandate becomes vacant, by
the Central Electoral Commission’s decision, it will be given to the
next candidate of the ARF proportional electoral list. As the Noyan
Tapan correspondent was informed by the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia,
it will be defined at the late May 18 gathering who will complete
the faction staff.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress