Author: Emil Lazarian

Huge crowds march in France against youth jobs law
By Matthew Bigg and Kerstin Gehmlich
Reuters, UK
March 18 2006
PARIS (Reuters) – Huge crowds of students, trade unionists and
left-wing politicians took to the streets across France on Saturday
to press the conservative government to scrap a new law they fear
will erode job security for young workers.
Hundreds of thousands turned out in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse,
Rennes and over 150 other cities and towns in a growing protest
movement that has created a serious crisis for Prime Minister Dominique
de Villepin.
The marches were mostly peaceful, but a few dozen youths overturned
and set fire to a car at the end of the main protest in Paris and
pelted police with missiles. Scattered violence was also reported in
Marseille and Rennes.
Organisers estimated the turnout nationwide at 1.3 to 1.4 million,
with up to 400,000 of them in Paris. The Interior Ministry counted
503,000 nationwide, with 80,000 in Paris.
The protesters demanded that Villepin withdraw a new youth job
contract, known as the CPE, which lets firms fire workers under 26
without explanation in their first two years on the job. He launched
it to spur reluctant employers to take on new staff.
In the western city of Rennes, students wore plastic garbage bags
with signs declaring: “I am disposable.”
“I risk working for two years for nothing, just to be fired at any
moment,” said Paris student Coralie Huvet, 20, who had “No to the CPE”
written on her forehead. Pointing to painted-on tears, she added:
“That’s depressing, that’s why I’m crying.”
Organisers, who decry the CPE as a “Kleenex contract” that lets young
workers be “thrown away like a paper tissue,” said they hoped to have
up to 1.5 million people out marching in the third national protest
in six weeks.
The Paris march began with students in front and workers behind,
but turned into a multi-generational mix including many parents who
accompanied their teenage children. Banners declared “No to throw-away
youths” and “Tired Of Being Squeezed Lemons.”
Opposition Socialist and Communist politicians also joined the protest,
only the third time in almost four decades — after 1968 and 1994 —
that students and workers marched together.
UNION LEADERS LOOK AHEAD
Union leaders, due to meet after the march to discuss future strategy,
threatened to keep up the pressure on the government with further
action next week.
“If they don’t listen to us we are going to have to think about moving
to a general strike across the whole country,” said Bernard Thibault,
head of the pro-Communist CGT union.
“We can’t hold back because the student movement will continue
and there could be some risks,” said teachers’ union head Gerard
Aschieri. “There should be a strike next week.”
Villepin, whose gamble on this unpopular contract could cost him his
chance to run for president next year, has pledged not to give in to
street pressure. At the same time, he hinted on Friday evening that
he could make some adjustments to the law.
Unemployment is the top political issue in France, where the national
average is 9.6 percent and youth joblessness is double that. The rate
rises to 40-50 percent in some of the poor suburbs hit by several
weeks of youth rioting last autumn.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, President Jacques Chirac said on Friday
the government was “ready for dialogue” on the law that critics say
must be withdrawn before any talks can start.
But the government has little room for manoeuvre without making major
concessions. An opinion poll published on Friday showed 68 percent of
French people oppose the law, a rise of 13 percentage points in a week.
The crisis has isolated Villepin politically at a time when his patron
Chirac is himself badly weakened. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy,
Villepin’s main rival on the right, has stood back discreetly as the
prime minister’s troubles mount.
His only consolation is that the opposition Socialists are so split
that they hardly seem able to profit from the crisis.
In an opinion poll to be published on Sunday, Villepin dropped six
points to 37 percent popularity.
Violence broke out in Lyon when a march of about 2,500 Turks protesting
against a memorial to Armenian victims of a 1915 massacre in the then
Ottoman Empire crossed paths with the anti-CPE demonstrations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Protesters Against New Employment Law Clash with Turkish Demonstrators
Focus News, Bulgaria
March 18 2006
Lyons. People protesting against changes in French labor law
unexpectedly clashed with demonstration participants in Lyons
protesting against constructing a memorial of Armenian victims of
1915 genocide, Reuters informs.
The incident happened when the routes of the two demonstrations met.
About 2,500 ethnic Turks holding slogans “There was no genocide
against Armenians” and Turkish flags attacked the French protesters
who on their part shouted at them “Go home” and called them fascists.
According to the police there were Armenians among the protesters
against First Job Contract.

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