Author: Emil Lazarian

AMBASSADOR OF IRAN THREATENS AZERBAIJAN

Iragir/am
18/03/06

“We’ll see what the result of such statements for Azerbaijan will
be. Though I am the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to Azerbaijan, I am one of the Azerbaijanis of Iran. Both Iran and
Azerbaijan are my Homeland. Some people can hardly earn their living,
but they make claims, interfere with the internal affairs of Iran.
Naturally this will not benefit Azerbaijan,” stated Afshar Suleymani,
the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan on
March 17.

The ambassador is dissatisfied with the statements of Javad Derehteyi,
the president of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, during the second
congress of the Azerbaijanis of the world on the problem of the 35
million Azerbaijanis living in Iran.

The Ambassador of Iran assessed the address of Javad Derehteyi as an
interference with the internal affairs of Iran. The Iranian diplomat
thinks there are a number of Azerbaijanis in Iran who could have an
important role in establishing the Azerbaijani lobby in the world.

“There are a number of political parties and organizations in Iran,
which are trying to take certain actions in the country. We do not
create favorable conditions for them. In the meantime, such statements
may give rise to serious problems in the future. It is necessary to
put an end to this kind of speculations. The state should not allow
anyone to damage the interests of another state during an official
meeting. Such people do not benefit Azerbaijan,” the Iranian ambassador
Afshar Suleymani told the Azerbaijani journalists.

He said he knew what is hiding under such statements. “They want to
unite and create one Azerbaijan. But let them not even dream of this,”
said the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“DIGNITY AND FREEDOM MOST IMPORTANT FOR A PERSON”

Panorama.am
15:15 18/03/06

“Jurisprudence is higher mathematics about freedoms for me,” announced
Human Rights Defender Armen HAroutyunyan at the meeting with the
students of AUA department of law.

As he said the times have changed and when he was choosing the legal
profession the field of private right was not paid much attention
to. For that very reason he has chosen the constitutional right
specialization. “Dignity and freedom are the most important things
for a person,” said A. Haroutyunyan and noticed that there must
always be professional lawyer next to the Defender. The Ombudsman
is sure that Human Rights are first of all defended by people
themselves. /Panorama.am/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARTAN OSKANIAN: IT IS BETTER THAT AZERBAIJAN TRIES TO REACH ARMENIA’S
LEVELS IN OTHER FIELDS, THAN TAKE PRIDE IN BEING AHEAD WITH ITS
MILITARY CAPACITY

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “After Rambouillet
and the backtracking that we sensed there, the challenge is to preserve
the positive achievements and build on those. The co-chairs will meet
soon and then it will be clearer what might happen next,” RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian stated in the March 16 interveiw to the
Armenian 2nd TV. He mentioned that in the discussions with Daniel
Fired, the U.S. Asssistant Secreatry of State for the European and
Eurasian Affairs, and OSCE Minsk Group American Co-Chairman Steven
Mann, revolved around how one might do that in a way that tries to find
solutions for the deadlocked situation.”
As for the continuing warlike statments of Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev, the Minister mentioned: “It isn’t the first time that we hear
about the increase in the military budget of Azerbaijan, It seems
that this budget is increasing day by day, and that’s the reason that
Azernaijani soldiers violate the ceasefire continuously. They must
have extra bullets to spare.”

According to Vartan Oskanian, today, in the civilized world,
peoples and states don’t compete over the size of their military
budget. “That’s not what they take pride in when they compare
themselves with their neighbors. Today, the spheres of competition
are elsewhere. And in all those spheres, Armenia is ahead of
Azerbaijan. So far ahead that there is really no room to compare,”
the Foreign Minister stated.

According to him, beginning with the UN’s human development
index, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan. The international index
that gauges Armenia’s investment climate puts Armenia way ahead
of Azerbaijan. They’re not even a member of the WTO. There is
no comparison in level of democratic development, human rights
protections or press freedoms. In indexes that measure economic
freedoms and development, and transparency and gains in the battle
against corruption, Armenia is disproportionately better than
Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that it’s how many years now that
Azerbaijan produces 400,000 barrels of oil, the per capita income in
Azerbaijan still hasn’t reached Armenia’s.

“It is better that Azerbaijan tries to reach Armenia’s levels in other
fields, than tries to compete and take pride in being ahead with its
military capacity.” Vartan Oskanian summed up.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse

16 mars 2006 jeudi 5:15 AM GMT

Conference armenienne a Istanbul: un pas timide vers le dialogue
(PAPIER D’ANGLE)

ISTANBUL 16 mars 2006

Un premier pas timide vers le dialogue a ete franchi par les milieux
academiques turcs les plus hostiles a la definition des massacres
d’Armeniens de 1915-16 comme un “genocide”, avec la tenue d’une
conference laissant une place aux vues de chercheurs etrangers.

Organisee par l’universite publique d’Istanbul, la rencontre, qui
s’est ouverte mercredi et doit se poursuivre jusqu’a vendredi, est
numeriquement dominee par les tenants de la position officielle de
l’Etat turc, admettant l’existence de massacres d’Armeniens sous
l’empire ottoman mais recusant le terme de “genocide”.

A son premier jour, on y a ainsi abondamment evoque “les vrais
responsables” supposes des massacres, a savoir, selon l’historien
turc Mehmet Saray, “les Etats imperialistes russe, francais et
britannique, qui voulaient se partager l’empire ottoman et ont
encourage le nationalisme armenien”.

On y a aussi conteste le bilan des victimes -1,5 million- avance par
les historiens armeniens, y opposant les nombreuses pertes turques,
un contexte de revoltes armeniennes qui soutenaient les armees russes
en guerre contre l’empire ottoman, et denoncant la “propagande”
armenienne et occidentale.

Des opinions discordantes, emises par certains chercheurs etrangers
-une douzaine sur quelque 70 intervenants- se sont neanmoins faites
entendre.

Detaillant les references aux massacres d’Armeniens puisees dans les
archives de la communaute juive de Palestine au temps de la domination
ottomane, le chercheur israelien Yaïr Auron a ainsi evoque sans ambages
un “genocide” et appele les Turcs a s’interroger sur leur histoire.

“Toutes les societes civiles doivent faire face a leur passe,
notamment les pages sombres de ce passe”, a-t-il affirme devant une
assistance fournie.

“Il n’y a pas de vrai dialogue sur la base de ces interventions”,
a commente pour l’AFP l’historien britannique d’origine armenienne
Ara Sarafian, qui n’en a pas moins qualifie la conference de “premier
pas important”.

“Nous sommes capables de nous retrouver sous un meme toit pour
exprimer nos opinions plutôt que de rester a l’exterieur et de
nous crier dessus: c’est un changement fondamental”, a-t-il assure,
estimant qu’il etait indispensable de “donner aux autorites turques
l’opportunite d’entamer le dialogue”.

L’universitaire s’est egalement rejoui d’avoir pu presenter, aux
côtes d’une abondante litterature turque sur les massacres, des livres
exposant les thèses armeniennes, qui, selon lui, “apparaissent ainsi
pour la première fois en Turquie”.

M. Sarafian a neanmoins regrette l’absence de la quasi-totalite des
intervenants a une conference d’intellectuels turcs critiques de
la position officielle organisee en septembre, qui avait contribue
a une relative decrispation sur ce sujet longtemps reste tabou en
Turquie, evoquant leur crainte d’etre “utilises par l’establishment
nationaliste”.

Interroge mardi par l’AFP, l’historien Edhem Eldem, qui avait participe
a la conference de septembre, a estime que le forum organise par
l’universite d’Istanbul etait une “riposte” a cette percee d’opinions
divergentes, “une facon pour les historiens qui se sentent proches
des milieux d’Etat de remettre les pendules a l’heure”.

Le scientifique a toutefois qualifie de “positive” la mise en presence
de chercheurs d’horizons divers.

“Le fait qu’ils aient invite des gens qui ne sont pas du meme avis
qu’eux est un point important: ils sentent qu’ils ne peuvent plus
jouer cette partie seuls”, a-t-il declare.

–Boundary_(ID_A2EyQQravEEljgmDPQd9hQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE NEW ARMAVIA FLIGHT TO ISRAEL WILL RECOMMENCE FROM MARCH 23

YEREVAN, MARCH 17. ARMINFO. Yerevan-Tel-Aviv flights of Armaviua
company, sterted on January 1, 2006, were suspended due to lack of
passengers, reports the Armavia press center.

According to the information received, small quantity of passengers
flying to Israel is caused by the difficulties of the visa system.

Armavia has submitted this question to the Government of Armenia and
intends to recommence the flights to Tel-Aviv from March 23.

The company also informed that new prices are offered to Armavia
customers in 2006. From March the Armavia passengers are to pay AMD
700 for 1 kilogram of cargo when traveling by Yerevan-Amsterdam-
Yerevan, Yerevan-Paris Yerevan, Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan,
Yerevan-Frankfurt-Yerevan flights. The ticket price is $225.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN 2005 ARMAVIA INCREASED ITS PASSENGER TRAFFIC VOLUME BY 1,2

YEREVAN, MARCH 17. ARMINFO. In 2005 the Armavia company increased
the volume of passenger transportations 1,2 times v to 501 thousand
passengers, reports the press center of the air company.

According to information received, in 2005 the company realized 2841
flights, 1,2 times more than in 2004. Cargo transportation volume
remained on the same level v 1.815.683 kilograms. In January 2006
Amavia transported 26.700 passengers in February v 23.500.

Since July 2005 the company has been implementing a new policy of
increasing the flights and opening new routes. From summer 2006 new
flights to Anapa, Donetsk, France, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Odessa,
Simferopol, Beirut, Athens, Aleppo and Teheran will be available
at Armavia. In 2006 the company will purchase two A-319 airplanes,
produced in 2004.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘ROYAL-ARMENIA’ REPRESENTATIVES ASK THE PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA TO
INTERFERE THE PERSECUTION OF THE COMPANY

YEREVAN, MARCH 17. ARMINFO. Representatives of ‘Royal Armenia’
CJSC ask President Robert Kocharian to interference and to stop the
unlawful judicial persecution of the company.

‘Royal-Armenia’s open letter addressed to the President states that
shareholder Gagik Hakobian and deputy-director Aram Kazarian were
detained in result of calumny and falsifications by the Customs
Service. The company accuses investigator Mnatsakan Marukian for
neglecting the evidence of Hakobian’s and Kazarian’s innocence and for
stating openly that the activity of ‘Royal-Armenia’ has been illegal
for 6 years. The letter states that the company suffers from refusing
the unlawful demands of the corrupted Customs Committee.

‘Royal Armenia’ reminds the President about his criticism of the
Customs Committee and calls upon him for justice.

ARMENIA WILL HAVE MORE EFFICIENT ARMED FORCES IN 10 YEARS, DEFENSE MINISTER STATES

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 17 2006

YEREVAN, March 17. /ARKA/. Armenia will have more efficient armed
forces meeting the international standards in ten years, Secretary of
the RA Presidential National Security Council, RA Minister of Defense
Serge Sargsyan stated at his meeting with a US delegation.

Colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan, Press Secretary to the RA Minister of
Defense, reported that the Minister pointed out that importance of
the Armenia-NATO relations, stressing that they are rapidly developing.

In his turn, the member of the US delegation, representative of the
Command of the US armed forces in Europe, Colonel Mike Andersen
expressed gratitude for the Armenia~Rs peace-makers~R successful
mission in Iraq. The US officer expressed special thanks to the RA
Minister of Defense for assistance and transparent activities of the
RA armed forces. He also pointed out the importance of rescue training
to be held in Armenia in July 2006. P.T. ~V0~W

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EDITORIAL AMERICANS MUST SPEAK UP TO STOP DARFUR GENOCIDE
by Trudy Rubin

KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News – The Olympian
March 16, 2006 Thursday

PHILADELPHIA — Can an individual do anything to stop a genocide?
Let’s hope so, because governments certainly aren’t doing much. Two
years after Sudan began a genocidal slaughter in Darfur province, the
killing of black African Muslims by black Arab Muslims continues. No
government seems willing or able to force Sudan to stop.

The Bush administration calls this killing by its rightful name —
genocide — but has yet to use the kind of political muscle that
might stop it. So it is left to ordinary individuals to act. Think
you can’t do anything? Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle thinks you
must. He photographed Darfur’s horrors, and the images are driving
him crazy. He wants a million Americans to write to President Bush
and urge him to ensure that a strong multinational force is sent to
Darfur. Steidle, 29, was one of three U.S. military observers
assigned to the African Union, which has a toothless force of 7,000
monitors in Darfur. The monitors are permitted only to observe a
nonexistent cease-fire. Steidle went to this killing field in
September 2004 armed only with a pen, pad and camera; he took more
than 1,000 photos. The ex-Marine had no doubt who was to blame for
the carnage, which has killed about 180,000 in the past three years
and driven 2 million Darfurians from their homes. The Sudanese
government, in an effort to crush Darfur rebels, sent in its army
along with an Arab militia known as the janjaweed. Their goal: to
“cleanse” Darfur of its ethnic African population. But Steidle’s
reports to the AU disappeared down a black hole. So he quit in
February 2005, went home, met the media and found sympathetic
legislators who displayed his photos. He even met senior Bush
officials. “But I couldn’t get the administration to listen,” he
says. So he decided to approach the public directly. He wants you to
lobby for a U.N. force that would protect civilians in Darfur. He is
touring 22 cities in a campaign backed by Jewish, Armenian,
mainstream Protestant, evangelical and other groups that will
culminate in an anti-genocide demonstration April 30 in Washington,
D.C. The goal: to get 1 million Americans to send this message to the
White House: “Dear President Bush: During your first year in the
White House, you wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan
genocide, ‘Not on my watch.’ I urge you to live up to those words by
using the power of your office to support a stronger multinational
force to protect the civilians of Darfur.” (You can send the message
via e-mail or order preprinted postcards at )
Sudan is lobbying the Security Council to block a U.N. force. China,
which buys Sudanese oil, is opposed, as are Russia and Qatar, the
current Arab representative on the council. Steidle believes that a
U.N. force can be achieved but that “it would take a lot of
leadership from the United States.” The White House has yet to show
that leadership, despite the President’s fine words. What’s needed
now is grassroots pressure on the White House. One million postcards
and 1 million people in the Capitol on April 30 might motivate the
Bush team to lean harder on the AU, Sudan, China and Russia to
approve a U.N. force. Such pressure would also demonstrate that there
are people who refuse to tolerate genocide, even if most of the world
ignores it. Brian Steidle wants to show that one person can make a
difference. But he can succeed only if, one by one, other Americans
join in.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMAVIA TO RESUME YEREVAN – TEL AVIV – YEREVAN FLIGHTS FROM MARCH 23

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Starting March 23, the Armavia
airline will resume Yerevan – Tel Aviv – Yerevan flights which
were discontinued due to the insufficient number of passengers. NT
correspondent was infomed from Armavia’s press service that the company
plans to operate new flights to Anapa and Donetsk this summer, as
well as to increase the number of flights in July in the following
destinations: Paris, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Odessa, Simferopol,
Beirut, Athens, Aleppo and Tehran. Armavia envisages to purchase two
new Airbus A-319 planes this year.

It was noted that in January-February 2006, Armavia operated 356
regular flights, transporting 26,700 passengers.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress