Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN KURDS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST TURKEY IF OCALAN TRIAL IS “UNFAIR”
Noyan Tapan news agency
9 Jun 04
Yerevan, 9 June: Hundreds of thousands of Kurds will organize mass
actions in various European countries, particularly in France, on 9
June to protect their leader Abdullah Ocalan (leader of the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party – PKK) , the head of the Caucasus representative
office of the Assembly of the People of Kurdistan (former KADEK –
the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan – successor to
the PKK), Geydar Ali, has told a news conference in Yerevan.
He said that in doing so, the Kurds hoped to draw the world community’s
attention to Ocalan’s trial to be held on that day in the European
Court on Human Rights and to achieve a fair verdict.
According to Geydar Ali, if the trial is unfair, the Kurdish-Turkish
clashes will continue, especially as the second congress of the
Assembly of the People of Kurdistan held in northern Iraq on 13-26
May made a decision to suspend the unilateral truce.
Geydar Ali said that the unilateral truce and peace policy declared
by the Kurdish people failed to persuade Turkey and involve this
country in talks: “Turkey does not understand the language of consent
and democracy, that is why the second congress decided to respond to
Turkish attacks with serious counter-attacks”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

At Risk in Metsamor?: Living in the shadow of reactors
Armenianow.com
10 June 2004
Special from Caucasus Media Institute
Parallel to the construction of the nuclear power plant in the
1970-80s, the town of Metsamor was established some three to four
kilometers from the plant. People from almost all the regions of
Armenia fled to the town to settle down here. They built families,
had children and worked at the power plant.
Sanosyan Artavazd 90 years old (in center), resident of Metsamor..
But after the plant closed in 1989, the people of Metsamor lost their
jobs and didn’t start working again until late 1995, when construction
of the plant restarted.
Today only 20% of the population of Metsamor works at the plant. Many
people in the town are pleased that the plant that is their only hope
does function, while others are unhappy with that very fact.
“It poisons us. And if we get an instrument measuring the dose and
install somewhere in the town, we’ll see that we are living in poison,
but who cares, we have to,” says Rafik Mkhitaryan, a 70-year-old
resident of Metsamor.
“We, Armenians, to put it relatively, are among the smart nations of
the region,” says Artavazd Sanosyan, a man in his 90s, whose two sons,
a daughter and two grandchildren work at the power plant.
“If they tell me that the nuclear power plant is safe and secure,
I trust them,” he says. “If the plant shuts down, this town will
exist no more. This is the only working place that feeds us.”
Karapet Manukyan, 74, has been working at the plant for almost two
decades and has never felt any change in his health condition. Nor
has he ever had a medical examination to learn whether the work at
plant has affected his health.
“The plant functions fine, it is protected, and we haven’t felt that
it may damage our health,” says Manukyan.
Rafik Mkhitaryan has been working as a brigade leader of the group
digging pits for the two reactors of the plant since February 4, 1970.
Rafik Mkhitaryan 76 years old (third from the left). “When the plant
was ready for exploitation, the minister of electric networks of the
USSR, Grigoriants, said that the term is 28 years, and there ‘s no
right to exploit it even a day past the deadline,” says Mkhitaryan. He
assures that now the scientists check up the plant once a year and
extend the term by two-three years, which is not right.
“We are very much afraid but there are people that prolong the life of
the plant to amass wealth. The structure at present is decayed. They
are also afraid to go on building it but, nevertheless, they do for
filling their pockets. Though I am not smart enough for it but I find
that if the deadline has expired, then it’s necessary to stop it so
that our nation doesn’t get into big trouble,” he says.
The mother of two children, Gohar Bezprozvanikh also fears for herself
and her kids and does not think the plant is secure.
“Earthquakes take place and that is already dangerous. On the
other hand, we have no other source for work or energy, so it is as
impossible to close
it,” says Gohar.
Some in the town say the plant causes certain illness and birth
defects.
They suggest that, in exchange for the risk, residents of Metsamor
should get their power for free.
“This will compensate the risk of living here,” Mkhitaryan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Libération
7 juin 2004
Exiger la mémoire du génocide arménien;
L’entrée éventuelle d’une Turquie négationniste en Europe inquiète
les 450 000 Français d’origine arménienne.
par Ara Toranian, président du Conseil de coordination des
organisations arméniennes de France (CCAF)
La perspective d’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Europe ne soulève pas que
des questions académiques sur l’histoire et la géographie de l’Ancien
Continent. Elle suscite également une forte inquiétude au sein d’une
partie de la population française qui a rarement voix au chapitre,
qu’on a du mal à entendre et qu’on évacue trop souvent des débats :
les 450 000 Français d’origine arménienne, enfants et petits-enfants
des rescapés du génocide de 1915.
Fantasmes que leurs craintes fondées sur de l’histoire ancienne
? On aimerait s’en convaincre. Hélas, la politique des gouvernements
turcs qui se sont succédé depuis cette extermination fait montre de
suffisamment de constance pour ne pas laisser place au doute. Qu’ils
soient de droite, de gauche, laïques ou islamistes, ces pouvoirs se
sont inscrits, avec un remarquable sens de la continuité, dans la
logique de ce crime. Depuis la fondation de la Turquie dite moderne en
1923, ces gouvernements n’ont eu de cesse de poursuivre par d’autres
moyens l’entreprise d’anéantissement engagée par les Jeunes Turcs
: négation organisée du fait historique, gommage systématique de
tout indice des massacres, de toute trace des Arméniens dans leurs
territoires ancestraux, destruction ou détournement – partout où cela
est possible – de leurs vestiges historiques, de leurs églises. Ils se
sont également évertués à imposer une loi du silence à l’intérieur du
pays et un chantage permanent à l’extérieur pour faire taire les Etats
qui, tels le Canada le 21 avril dernier, la Suisse le 16 décembre 2003
ou la France le 29 janvier 2001, ont pris la liberté de reconnaître
le génocide.
Cette complicité active des autorités turques “modernes” envers
l’extermination des Arméniens a atteint un nouveau pic. Il y a un an,
en effet, le ministère de l’Education nationale a envoyé à l’ensemble
des établissements secondaires du pays une circulaire leur enjoignant
d’organiser une dissertation sur le thème suivant : “Comment répondre
aux allégations de génocide arménien ?” Avec, à la clé, une récompense
pour la meilleure copie.
Face à un tel obscurantisme, un tel acharnement, comment les Français
d’origine arménienne pourraient-ils appréhender sereinement la venue
de cet Etat qui, du fait de sa démographie et des dispositions du
traité de Nice, est destiné à être le plus représenté au Parlement
européen ? Comment les enfants du génocide arménien pourraient-ils
accepter de se retrouver dans une Europe qui ferait la place belle
à une Turquie négationniste, complice de la solution finale ?
Certaines personnes déjà nous ont fait savoir que face à cette
éventualité, elles se préparaient à plier bagage. Et ce n’est
pas l’attitude des pouvoirs publics dans cette affaire qui les
tranquillisera. En témoigne la réponse de Jacques Chirac à une
question d’un journaliste de Radio J, lors de sa conférence de presse
du 29 avril dernier. A sa question portant sur la reconnaissance du
génocide des Arméniens par la Turquie comme préalable à son adhésion
dans l’Europe, le président de la République a répliqué sèchement :
“C’est une affaire bilatérale entre la Turquie et l’Arménie.” Des
propos qui ont semé le trouble, y compris à droite : “C’est comme si
on disait que les exterminations ne concernent que les communautés
qui en sont les victimes”, a rétorqué François Bayrou.
Les communautés arméniennes ont dû batailler pendant quatre-vingts ans
contre les menées négationnistes de la Turquie. Les reconnaissances
du génocide effectuées dernièrement par quelques Etats démocratiques
leur laissaient espérer en l’avènement d’une nouvelle ère. Se
sont-elles trompées ? Faces aux diverses menaces que laisserait
craindre l’adhésion d’un Etat turc qui n’aurait pas rompu avec la
logique criminelle de ses prédécesseurs, quelle sera l’attitude de la
France ? Assumera-t-elle la protection due à ses citoyens d’origine
arménienne ? Il n’y a qu’en exigeant de la Turquie qu’elle reconnaisse
officiellement le génocide des Arméniens que l’on pourra rassurer
nos concitoyens. Et aller de l’avant. On est encore loin du compte.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Cork City await UEFA Fair Play draw
Online.ie
Sports
online.ie
2004-06-08 09:30:05+01
Cork City take on Shelbourne in the eircom League tonight but they
are up against Matt Holland’s Charlton also in the draw for the Fair
Play League.
The draw for the Fair Play League takes place in Germany tonight,
with 11 European teams vying for two places in the UEFA Cup.
The teams are based on their disciplinary record last season.
The 10 other teams who will go into the ballot along with Charlton are:
Esbjerg (Denmark), SK Brann (Norway), Freiburg (Germany), Cork City
(Republic of Ireland), FC Lahti (Finland), Real Mallorca (Spain),
KS Teuta (Albania), FC Mika (Armenia), Throttur Reykjavik (Iceland),
plus a team from Ukraine yet to be decided as their league season
runs until June 19.
As Pat Dolan hopes his team make the UEFA Cup, Ireland’s Matt Holland
is hoping to lead Charlton on a European adventure through draw.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder would welcome the prospect of
European football coming to The Valley for the first time.
“It would be great for the fans here,” he said on the club’s official
website,
“We would have liked to have done it through the league, but if it
does come about through the Fair Play draw, we’ll take it – especially
after the season we had.
“We benefited from playing in the UEFA Cup when I was at Ipswich and
it was a great experience playing against the top sides like Inter
at the San Siro.”
The Addicks finished third in the discipline-based rankings for
England, behind winners Arsenal and Chelsea.
However, with both of those clubs having already secured a place
in the Champions League, Charlton were put forward as the Football
Association’s representatives.
Last season Manchester City came through the Fair Play League system
to get a crack at European football.
And should Charlton be successful, it would not leave much time for
changes to pre-season plans as qualification would mean a two-legged
UEFA Cup qualifying tie on July 15 and 29, meaning the club’s planned
trip to China would most probably be shelved.
The draw will take place during the half-time interval at the UEFA
European Under-21 Championship final between Italy and Serbia and
Montenegro in Bochum this evening, kick-off 7.45pm.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia (and friends) versus the World
Chessbase News, Germany
June 9 2004
08.06.2004 What do Lputian, Akopian, and Vaganian have in common?
Easy one. Why put Kasparov, Leko, and Gelfand on the Armenian team with
them? We’ll tell all. They will face a World all-star team of Anand,
Svidler, Adams, Bacrot, Vallejo, and van Wely in a spectacular team
event starting June 10 in Moscow.
Team Petrosian takes on the World
The Petrosian Memorial – June 10-16 – Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel,
Moscow, Russia
In this year of the 75th anniversary of the 9th world champion’s birth
there has already been one Petrosian Memorial tournament and later in
the year there will be another. But the one that everyone is likely to
remember best starts Thursday in Moscow. With two days to go before
the first round we haven’t seen any official website for the event,
but we’ll be bringing you reports and games.
It’s a Scheveningen-format team tournament that matches the best of
Armenia against a team of international stars. Each of the six team
members will play everyone on the other team for a total of 36 games.
Best of all, it’s classical chess. (Although Tigran Petrosian was
legendary in casual blitz, we’re sure he would approve.)
The Petrosian team is manned by the cream of Armenia’s powerful
chess crop. 1999 World Championship runner-up Vladimir Akopian, feared
Bundesliga warrior Rafael Vaganian, and experienced international Smbat
Lputian. It’s worth noting that tiny Armenia has the second-highest
number of players participating in the 2004 FIDE world championship
in Libya this month, seven. (Russia has 19.)
The rest of the team is made up of players with connections to Armenia
or Petrosian himself. Garry Kasparov’s mother is Armenian and he has
always been claimed by that chess-mad nation. Peter Leko married
an Armenian, one named Petrosian no less! (No immediate relation,
sadly.) His wife Sofia is the daughter of Armenian GM Arshak Petrosian,
who is also his trainer and will be the coach of the Petrosian team
in Moscow.
Then comes Israeli Boris Gelfand, who is not about to change his
name to Gelfandian to fit in. The lanky GM was the top student of
Petrosian’s school back in the early 80’s before Petrosian’s untimely
demise in 1984 at the age of 55.
The World team is a powerful line-up with one player each from India,
Russia, England, Netherlands, France, and Spain. In the 2002 Russia
versus the World rapid tournament Akopian and Gelfand were on the
World team. But Armenia comes first! Vishy Anand was also first board
for the World team in that event. When will India be ready to take
on the World so he can play for the home team?
The tournament was to have ended exactly on Petrosian’s birthday on
June 17, but had to be compacted due to the FIDE world championship
getting underway in Tripoli the next day. So there won’t be any rest
days in Moscow. The three Armenians plus Adams, Vallejo, and Bacrot
will immediately head to Libya after the final round.
Kasparov’s team may look outrated but actually the teams are
perfectly equal! Both have an average rating of 2705. No doubt the
Armenians would benefit from playing in Yerevan instead of Moscow,
but the appropriately named Ararat Hotel might serve as compensation!
Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah’s Ark in legend, is actually
in Turkey, but most Armenians look to it as an ancestral symbol.
In normal pairings it’s #1 vs #6 on day one with the clash of the top
boards left for the final day. That would mean first round pairings
of Kasparov-van Wely, Leko-Vallejo, Gelfand-Bacrot, Akopian-Adams,
Vaganian-Svidler, Lputian-Anand, colors to be determined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ex-Soviet Immigrants Praise Reagan
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
06/09/04 05:47 EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rabbi Velvel Tsikman remembers a time when the only
link he had to his Jewish heritage was a line in his Soviet passport
that read “Nationality: Jewish.”
Now, he watches over a vibrant Russian Jewish community in West
Hollywood from his office at the Chabad Russian Jewish Community
Center.
Tsikman says he credits his spiritual freedom to the late Ronald
Reagan, whose anti-missile program drew the Soviets into a costly
arms race, helping lead to the collapse of what Reagan called the
“evil empire.”
Reagan’s 1987 demand to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the
Berlin Wall – “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” – was the ultimate
challenge of the Cold War.
Tsikman recalled with emotion the first time a Jewish synagogue opened
in the Ukraine after years of religious oppression. He began to wear
a yarmulke openly and grow his beard. He soon veered from a career
in computers to the spiritual life of a rabbi.
“It was like going from the basement to the street and seeing the
light,” Tsikman said. “(Reagan’s) doctrine, what he did, was very
helpful to destroy the monster that was there in Europe.”
Those sentiments were echoed across southern California, home to
large Russian and Eastern European immigrant communities. They also
were reflected in poignant signs and flags placed outside the Santa
Monica mortuary where Reagan’s body was taken after his death Saturday
at age 93.
Lithuanian and Polish flags sprouted from the grass. Posters paying
homage to Reagan sat propped against a fountain alongside flowers
and balloons.
“Sir – You told Gorbachev to ‘Take down this wall.’ We helped.
Thanks for your courage and leadership,” read one sign that was
affixed with two quarter-sized bits of the Berlin Wall.
Another said: “Solidarnosc! With love from Poland,” a reference to
Reagan’s efforts to promote the Solidarity labor movement in Poland
in the 1980s.
In West Hollywood, Tsikman has watched over the Russian Jewish
community center for 12 years, an anchor for up to 50,000 Soviet bloc
immigrants in greater Los Angeles. The neighborhood is dotted with
Russian, Ukranian and Armenian groceries, pharmacies and video stores,
and people speak more Russian than English.
At the community center, Tsikman brushed his finger against his
yarmulke and watched contentedly as dozens of elderly people ate at
long tables, laughing and chatting in Russian.
“They are living in a paradise here. It’s like God is paying them for
a terrible life in Russia,” Tsikman said. “These people were sitting
home waiting to die. When they came here, they came alive again.”
Down the street, Armenian grocer Paul Khostikyan paused from unloading
fresh fruit to remember the man he called “the best president in U.S.
history.”
Khostikyan, 54, who immigrated in 1990, said he remembered being
moved by Reagan’s bold words.
“I liked how he talked about freedom,” said Khostikyan, now a U.S.
citizen. “He really meant it, not like other presidents. He will be
in history much more than Clinton or Bush.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Opposition MP Suggests To Discuss Karabakh In Parliament
Baku Today
June 9 2004
Baku Today 09/06/2004 12:50
Camil Hasanli, a member of parliament from opposition Azerbaijan
Popular Front Party (reformers branch), suggested Tuesday to include
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue to the agenda of the parliament, complaining
that the legislative body has not discussed the issue for long.
“About three and half years have passed since the [Azerbaijani]
parliament discussed the issue,” Hasanli said, complaining that no
parliament in the world (other than Azerbaijan’s) has shown such
indifference to occupation of its territories. “The Nagorno-Karabakh
issue must be included to the agenda of the parliament and serious
discussions must be held on the issue,” the opposition MP said.
In response, Murtuz Aleskerov, the speaker of the parliament, said
there is no need to debate the Karabakh issue as long as any progress
is achieved in peace negotiations.
“What are we going to decide by discussing the issue here? Our
president has repeatedly said that Azerbaijan’s occupied territories
must be liberated, we’ll secure Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
If this is the case, what are we going to achieve by discussing the
issue in the parliament?” asked Aleskerov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CITIZENS CAN BE SENTENCED TO 1-YEAR IMPRISONMENT FOR INSULTING
PUBLIC AGENT
09.06.2004 15:17
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian deputies voted for the insertion
into the Criminal Code of Armenia a number of articles calling
for administrative punishment for insulting of a public agent. As
minister of Justice David Harutyunian, who has submitted the project,
stated, a penalty will be fixed for a person outraging a public
agent while for the second offense the citizen can be sentenced to
1-year imprisonment. Besides, the item, according to which the cases
of people sentenced to life imprisonment can be reconsidered only
after 20 years of imprisonment, has been excluded from the RA Criminal
Code. The given amendment, in the minister’s words, is connected with
the resolution by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe,
which says that despite the kind and term of punishment, the prisoners
should be given a chance to submit the application for retrial.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian officers expect to get visas on 16 June for Baku-hosted NATO
conference
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
7 Jun 04
Armenian servicemen will be able to take part in a planning conference
for the Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises.
The chief of the Armenian Defence Ministry’s foreign relations
and international military cooperation department, Maj-Gen Mikael
Melkonyan, told “Aylur” news programme today that the Armenian
servicemen will receive entry visas to Azerbaijan on 16 June. Gen
Melkonyan noted that Azerbaijan confirmed this to NATO’s command.
To recap, to take part in the planning conference the Armenian
servicemen had to receive the entry visas no later than 7 June.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1+ TV COMPANY SUIT AGAINST ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO BE HEARD IN EUROPEAN
HUMAN RIGHTS COURT SOON
A1 Plus | 17:17:15 | 08-06-2004 | Social |
“The process has already started.Let’s see what will be”, Mesrop
Movsesyan, the head of A1+ TV Company that had been stripped of its
broadcasting license two years ago, said Tuesday speaking at a news
conference in the House of Journalists.
Mesrop Movsesyan and Tigran Ter-Yesayan, the Chair of the Lawyers
International Union, said at the news conference that European Human
Rights Court has already decided to start hearing A1+ suit filed in
2002 October against Armenian government.
“We are in advantageous position”, said Ter-Yesayan, who is also A1+
TV company’s attorney in the European Human Rights Court. The Court
has already notified the Armenian government about the necessity to
explain why the company’s suit is not due to be heard, he said.
It is hard to say whether Armenian government will manage to prove
that A1+’ s rights have not been infringed or not.
Ter-Yesayan said the plaintiff has spent one year to prepare a
1000-page complaint while the defendant is given time up to September
28, 2004, to submit objections to the Court and justify them.
If the government won’t respond to the Court letter till the deadline,
in any case the legal proceedings will continue.
Tigran Ter-Yesayan said it wasn’t ruled out that the Court to offer
both sides to settle the matter amicably by reaching compromise. In the
event if the accord is reached, no details of that will be revealed.
What A1+ expects in case of winning the case?
There is no demand of giving broadcasting frequency to the company in
the suit. We expect moral and financial compensation, Ter-Yesayan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress