RUSSIAN DEPUTY FM ARRIVED IN YEREVAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.04.2006 21:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Russian Deputy FM, State Secretary of
the Russian MFA Grigory Karasin arrived in Yerevan. During his
visit to Yerevan the Russian diplomat will take part in a regional
conference of Russian Ambassadors to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Turkey. Besides, Karasin is scheduled to meet with Armenian leaders
in Yerevan, reports RIA Novosti.
KOTRA STAFFER WAS MISS IRAQ FOR A DAY
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea
April 18 2006
The recently crowned Miss Iraq, Tamar Goregian is interviewed on ABC
television on April 11./AP-Yonhap
The recently crowned Miss Iraq, Tamar Goregian, has returned the crown
after receiving death threats from Islamic extremists. Goregian is a
former employee of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
According to KOTRA’s Baghdad trade office, Goregian, who is of Armenian
descent, worked as a part time employee and was in charge of arranging
negotiations when a KOTRA market opening team was in the country. “I
do feel proud that we had Iraq’s most beautiful woman working for us,”
trade office chief Seo Kang-suk said,
AP reported on April 13 that the winner of the competition was “very
troubled” by the death threats from Islamic extremists.
According to the report, the pageant to pick Iraq’s representative
for the Miss Universe contest in Los Angles in July was held on April
9 in a club in Baghdad. Four days later, Goregian returned the crown.
It passed to the runner-up, who also refused citing the same fears,
as did the third runner-up. Now the crown has finally settled on the
hardy scalp of originally fourth-ranked Silva Sahagian.
To avoid the extremists, Sahagian is hiding at an undisclosed location.
news/200604/200604180019.html
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HOPES FOR PROGRESS IN KARABAKH TALKS
Mediamax news agency
18 Apr 06
Yerevan, 18 April: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
in Yerevan today that “the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents did
not manage to achieve progress in Rambouillet. However, we do not
consider the meeting to be a ‘debacle’.”
Addressing a meeting of the Armenian-EU parliamentary cooperation
commission in Yerevan today, Oskanyan said that “the failure at
Rambouillet does not mean the debacle of the entire negotiating
process”, Mediamax reports. In this regard, the Armenian foreign
minister recalled that the decision to hold a meeting at Rambouillet
had been made on the basis of the substantial progress achieved in
the negotiating process in 2005.
Oskanyan noted that taking into account agreements reached earlier
and the [OSCE] mediators’ activity, there are grounds to hope that
progress in the negotiating process will be achieved.
The minister pointed out that while earlier Yerevan said that it
would discuss the elimination of the consequences of the conflict
only after the determination of the political status of Nagornyy
Karabakh, today the Armenian side has made “a serious compromise”
and its position is somewhat different.
“If Azerbaijan agrees that the people of Nagornyy Karabakh have a right
for self-determination which can be implemented not at once but in
the future, then the Armenian side is ready to discuss already today
the elimination of the consequences of the conflict – territories,
refugees and other security issues,” Oskanyan said.
WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE
By: Ben Casey
The Rebel Yell
Issue: 04/17/2006
Section: Opinion
Leo Szilard once said, “Even if we accept as the basic tenet of true
democracy that one moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to
go a further step and hold that two morons are better than one genius?”
Wikipedia has received a great deal of press lately. For those of
you who don’t know what it is, Wikipedia is an online collaborative
encyclopedia that is free for anyone to edit. The basic problem with
this concept is well documented, and you are bound to find an error
of assertion or omission on its Web site somewhere. But it’s fairly
self-correcting because of its size, and no repository of knowledge
can claim perfection. In fact, in December 2005 Nature, one of
the foremost publications in the sciences, published a news story
declaring that Wikipedia was “about as inaccurate” as Encyclopedia
Britannica. Britannica is the most trusted publication in the English
language. The rivalry between Britannica and Wikipedia is something
worth noting.
Wikipedia compares itself to Britannica at every opportunity, harping
at great length on any inaccuracies or omissions found in the latter,
posing them as rivals and making a great to-do of their own theoretical
superiority. Wikipedia’s most ardent supporters have always believed
that it will inevitably replace elite publications like Britannica,
and some will go to any lengths to prove it. The rivalry is, generally,
one-way. Britannica recognizes the ambitions of Wikipedia, but does
not generally respond. When the Nature study came out, critics of
Wikipedia noticed its slant almost immediately.
For one, “about as inaccurate” apparently meant that Wikipedia had
been judged a third more inaccurate than Britannica. Apparently, the
experiment focused on the sciences, wherein Wikipedia is generally
less inaccurate; and minor inaccuracies or omissions were treated as
equal to major ones.
Then came the Britannica response (which can be found in full at
re_response.pdf). It
is a truly remarkable document which amounts to a 20 page breakdown
of a major science publication by the English language’s most
trusted encyclopedia. As a science enthusiast, I found it literally
awe-inspiring. Within their response, Britannica rebuts nearly half
of the criticisms made about its articles with everything from humble
admissions to withering scorn. It questions the Nature study’s biased
methodology; most importantly, it reveals that several reviews were not
even of Encyclopedia Britannica articles at all – some came from the
Book of the Year, and others were hodgepodges from various sources. In
one case, a reviewer referred to material not part of any Britannica
publication. The verdict was fairly clear: the Nature study – conducted
by Nature and its editors, not a third party – was almost entirely
without merit. Even in a study dramatically biased in Wikipedia’s
favor, the difference in inaccuracy was astounding. And yet, the
story was spun as a triumph for the collaborative encyclopedia.
The ideological reasons why the Nature editors might have felt it
incumbent to publish a biased and misleading study on the merits
of Wikipedia are many, but no good cause justifies doctoring the
evidence. Sadly, the passions of Nature’s editors apparently got
away with them, leading them to tarnish the reputation of one of
the scientific community’s most prestigious publications to the
benefit of a Web site which has already become extremely well known
in its field. The errors found in Wikipedia are dramatic because the
“free for anyone to edit” policy allows anyone to come in and say,
for instance, that the Armenian genocide was actually a civil war.
Information from Wikipedia needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
There’s no reason it should replace the scholarly, well-edited and
traditional encyclopedia – exemplified by Britannica – which will
always be a consistent and accurate resource to check the facts
presented by the wild and potentially hazardous collaborative
intelligence of Wikipedia.
Greenwich Time, CT
April 15 2006
Armenians reflect on horror of genocide
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
Published April 15 2006
Shortly after sending his wife and young son to Constantinople to
escape 89 years ago, Elia Boyajian and other unarmed Armenian men in
the village of Kharpert were slaughtered by Ottoman Turkish soldiers,
Sarah Mushegian said.
Mushegian, a Milbank Avenue resident, said her late father, Fred
Boyajian, never recovered from the loss of his father, or from
spending years in the protective custody of American authorities in
Constantinople during the Armenian Genocide, when 1.5 million to 2
million Armenians living under the rule of Muslim Turks within the
Ottoman Empire killed or starved to death during an eight-year
period.
“He lost his father and was confined for years with his mother as
his only link to the world,” said the 50-year-old who grew up near
Hartford. “My father had a perpetual sadness and maybe that was part
of his personality, but I think some of us are probably unable to
recover from a trauma like that and live a joyful life.”
Armenians around the world observe National Remembrance Day on April
24 to memorialize those killed during the genocide, which lasted from
1915 to 1923.
For Armenians commemorating the dead, April 24, 1915, is considered
the true beginning of the genocide, when Turkish authorities rounded
up and executed more than 200 Armenian community leaders in
Constantinople.
While many were killed outright, others died slowly in concentration
camps or of starvation or disease trying to escape.
“It’s a major event for any Armenian-American,” said Harry Keleshian,
a Greenwich resident whose father escaped the genocide.
“The significance of April 24 is not to forget those who died trying
to salvage their lives as they were mass deported into the deserts or
massacred,” George Leylegian, a Stamford resident whose parents’
families were murdered.
On Monday, PBS will air a new documentary called “The Armenian
Genocide” at 10 p.m. which Armenian-Americans are hoping will educate
younger Armenians about the tragedy.
“I’m well aware of the show,” the 75-year-old Leylegian said. “The
handful of people who were able to survive have always believed in
the need for education and advancement of awareness in the countries
that we live in.”
Even before its broadcast the documentary created a flap, in part
because PBS commissioned a 25-minute panel discussion to run
afterward. The panel features two academics who believe that the
killings constituted genocide, and two who argued that a holocaust
did not occur, according to the Los Angeles Times.
An Armenian group launched an online petition against the panel
program and several members of Congress complained to PBS. They
argued that the network would never follow a documentary about the
genocide of Jews during World War II with a panel discussion
featuring holocaust deniers, according to the Los Angeles Times. A
PBS affiliate in Los Angeles has refused to broadcast the
documentary.
While Armenians and most of Europe have called on the Turkish
government to acknowledge, apologize and pay reparations for the
genocide, Turkish leaders maintain that the killing and deportations
were part of World War I, not a systematic ethnic cleansing program.
Almost without exception, Armenian families living in the United
States lost relatives in the widespread persecution and killing,
Leylegian said.
“This was a planned governmental action to kill Armenians, not
something that happened randomly,” Leylegian said. “We never had the
luxury of growing up with a normal family life with grandparents,
aunts or uncles. So many didn’t survive.”
Leylegian’s father, Arsen, witnessed the decapitation of his father,
Donig, by Turkish authorities, and his mother, Sarah, and other adult
relatives killed in various ways, Leylegian said.
Both his parents grew up in an American orphanage set up to house
Armenian children, the retired executive said.
“My father lived through it and passed away at the age of 90,”
Leylegian said. “He used to tell the stories and break down and cry.”
Following an earthquake that killed 75,000 people in Armenia in 1988,
Leylegian has visited the country 24 times, often as part of
humanitarian and medical aid missions.
On those trips, the sight of small Armenian children living in
post-quake poverty made Leylegian upset, he said, evoking thoughts of
the plight of his own orphaned parents.
“We feel a responsibility to our parents,” Leylegian said.
Mushegian said she and her husband and four children plan to watch
the PBS documentary on Monday night.
While disappointed that the United States has not done more to
pressure Turkey to apologize and acknowledge its actions, she hopes
the show will contribute toward keeping alive the memory of those who
were killed.
“I don’t think this has been at the forefront or more people would
know and understand this period of history,” Mushegian said. “I can’t
say it (the documentary) is of any comfort other than that perhaps
help to make the facts more well known.”
rmeniansapr15,0,7359841.story?coll=green-news-loca l-headlines
ARMENIAN DEPUTIES BELEIVE RAMIL SAFAROV DESERVES LIFE IMPRISONMENT VERDICT
Yerevan, April 14. ArmInfo. The Armenian parliamentarians think
extradition will hardly be applied towards Ramil Safarov sentenced to
life imprisonment for murder of the Armenian officer Gourgen Margarian
in Budapest.
Gourgen Arsenian, leader of United Labour party, said that Safarov
deserved the verdict. He emphasized that extradition will hardly be
applied towards Safarov, as this issue concerns not only Azerbaijan,
but also Hungary and NATO.
While Aleksan Karapetian, member of “National Unity” party, expressed
gratitude to the Court of Hungary for fair verdict. As for extradition
of Safarov, he expressed hope that will not happen, as that would mean
Safarov is released, in fact.
Levon Mkrtchian, leader of “ARF Dashnaktsiutiun,” emphasized that the
fair verdict for Safarov is important for Armenian from both moral and
political viewpoint.
Victor Dallakian, Secretary of “Justice” faction, said that the
supreme court bodies of Hungary will not change the verdict taken by
the first instance court. At the same time, Dallakian expressed hope
that sooner or later the Armenians, Azeries and turks will leave in
peace and agreement.
While Galoust Sahakian, leader of the Republican party, said that the
verdict of the Hungarian court is even more severe than the Armenian
side expected.
SAFAROV’S LAWYER TO APPEAL AGAINST BUDAPEST COURT VERDICT
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.04.2006 03:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The sentence of the Budapest regarding Azeri officer
Ramil Safarov is “unfair,” lawyer Adil Ismaylov stated in an interview
with ANS TV channel. Budapest court judge Andras Vaskuti announced the
verdict, according to which officer of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
Ramil Safarov is sentenced to life imprisonment. In Ismaylov’s words,
the resolution can be appealed against in 30 years.
To remind, within the framework of NATO Partnership for Peace Program
Azeri military officer Ramil Safarov was sent by the Ministry of
Defense to Hungary for participation in English language trainings
in January-February 2004. Several days before the completion of the
course, on February 19, he hacked Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan
with an axe. Safarov and his lawyer decided to appeal against the
Budapest court decision, Trend reports.
RA FOREIGN MINISTER AND OSCE MG FRENCH CO-CHAIR DISCUSS PROSPECTS OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 13 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On April 13,
OSCE Minsk Group French Co-chair Bernard Fassier was received by RA
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. As Noyan Tapan was informed by RA
Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department, the interlocutors
discussed the current state of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,
exchanged thoughts about the prospects of the negotiations.
RAMIL SAFAROV’S VERDICT TO BE CAST TODAY IN BUDAPEST
ArmRadio.am
13.04.2006 10:36
Today the City Court of Budapest will cast Ramil Safarov’s verdict. The
Prosecutor has demanded life imprisonment for the Azeri, who killed
Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan during NATO trainings in Hungary.
LECTURE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ARA SARAFIAN (Gomidas Institute, UK)
Abril Bookstore & Publishing
415 E. Broadway Ave. Suite #102
Glendale, CA 91205
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
8:00 pm
The British Parliamentary Blue Book and the Denial of the Armenian
Genocide: The Continuing Saga
Last year, on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish
Grand National Assembly (TGNA) mounted a campaign against the 1916
British Parliamentary Blue Book. Couched in terms of improving relations
with the republic of Armenia and resolving the Armenian Genocide issue,
Turkish Parlimentarians claimed that the root of the Armenian Genocide
thesis were British propagandists during World War I, and the TGNA
requested that the British Parliament rescind the 1916 work.
This official Turkish onslaught, which is still in progress, reflected
the continuing cynicism of Turkish authorities when addressing the
Armenian issue. The soft language of peace masked a more disturbing
agenda. The main culprits in this effort were Sukru Elekdag, the former
Turkish ambassador to the United States (now a member of the TGNA), and
his longstanding ally, Justin McCarthy, a long time denier of the
Armenian Genocide.
Only a few weeks ago, at a special symposium on improving
Turkish-Armenian relations, Sukru Elekdag gave an update on his efforts
to co-opt the British Parliament in the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
In his talk, the British archival historian Ara Sarafian will provide an
update to the activities of Turkish authorities in the United Kingdom,
and discuss the main lines of opposition to Turkish efforts.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Ara Sarafian is an archival historian specialising in
late Ottoman and modern Armenian history. He is the director of Gomidas
Institute (UK) and editor of Gomidas Institute Books. His publications
include the critical edition of the famous 1916 Blue Book, The Treatment
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1916-1916 [Uncensored Edition]. Over
the past year he has advised a group of British Parliamentarians who
have opposed the efforts of the TGNA to deny the Armenian Genocide.
Sarafian was also a participant at the Istanbul University symposium on
Turkish-Armenian relations (March 15-17, 2006).
For more information, please contact [email protected]