Author: Frangulian Shushan

U.S. Newswire (press release), DC
April 20 2004
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Samantha Power to Keynote April 23
Commemoration of Rwandan Genocide Anniversary
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: NCC Media, 212-870-2252 or [email protected]
News Advisory:
An April 23 event at the Fowler Museum, on the campus of the
University of California at Los Angeles, will commemorate the 10th
anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, in which more than 800,000 died.
The National Council of Churches (NCC) is sponsoring the event,
“Remembering Rwanda – Ten Years After the Genocide.”
A 6 p.m. premiere screening of the film “God Sleeps in Rwanda” will
precede the 7 p.m. keynote address by Samantha Power, Lecturer in
Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She
won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for her book “A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide.”
Also speaking: NCC General Secretary Robert Edgar; Dr. Richard Hrair
Dekmejian, Professor of Political Science at the University of
Southern California and an expert on the Armenian Genocide, and Rabbi
Allen I. Freehling, Executive Director of the Los Angeles City Human
Relations Commission.
The program will include testimonies by Rwandan Genocide survivors
and will close with a presentation of Rwandan music and dance.
Samantha Power is a leading authority on genocide. In “A Problem from
Hell,” she analyzes the genocides of the 20th century and the failure
of the international community, including the United States, to
prevent them.
She writes: “No U.S. president has ever made genocide prevention a
priority, and no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his
indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that
genocide rages on.”
In The New York Times April 6, Power warned, “On this anniversary,
Western and United Nations leaders are expressing their remorse and
pledging their resolve to prevent future humanitarian catastrophes.
But as they do so, the Sudanese government is teaming up with Arab
Muslim militias in a campaign of ethnic slaughter and deportation
that has already left nearly a million Africans displaced and more
than 30,000 dead. Again, the United States and its allies are
bystanders to slaughter, seemingly no more prepared to prevent
genocide than they were a decade ago.”
Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, NCC associate general secretary for
international affairs and peace, said identifying proactive steps to
prevent such horrors “is crucial for all of us, especially at a time
when, in places like Sudan, the situation is looking alarmingly
familiar. Can we afford not to learn the lessons of Rwanda?”
-0-

ARMENIA FIRM IN KARABAKH ISSUE
YEREVAN, APRIL 15. ARMINFO. The Armenian authorities are strong and
unchangeable in the Karabakh problem, Armenia’s DM Serzh Sargsyan says
in an interview with Golos Armenii. Asked if domestic political
tension can negatively affect foreign policy objectives of the
country, in particular the diplomatic settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, Sargsyan says: “It is clear that there is no benefit of this
situation. During any talks our positions will be stronger if there
are not such kind of situations. It is no secret that solidity of any
country especially of a country that is in “neither war nor peace”
state, solidity of any army mostly depends on solidity of its rear.”
There three known principles about impossibility of subordination of
Artsakh Karabakh
to Azerbaijan, about impossibility of an enclave existence of Artsakh
and security guarantees. We have neither desire nor potential to give
up something more and we shall to stand up for our position. It is
also known that today the negotiation process has become slower by an
initiative of Azerbaijan.
Commenting on the statement of Azerbaijan’s new foreign minister
Sargsyan says that such kind of statements are first of all directed
to local usage, as it is known that the Azerbaijani like to boast not
only of this. Sometimes they liberate some villages, sometimes
something else. No serious leader of a secret service of a serious
country will not say openly that his secret service is acting in
another country. Such kind of boyishness is not fitting to a leader of
secret service.

The Jordan Times
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Easter week – the other snapshots of the Holy City
Christians, Muslims were unable to enter city after the assassination of
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
By Omar Karmi
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre – Photo
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Anywhere else in the world it would have been an
unseemly melee. But in the Old City of Jerusalem, the sight of robed
Armenian youths scuffling with robed Assyrian youths at the entrance to
Christianity’s holiest site, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just seemed
par for the course.
Easter has just passed in Jerusalem, and a city already groaning under
multiple strains was visited by a whole new set of complications.
There were the thousands of tourists that, despite reams of travel warnings,
descended upon the Old City, much to the elation of shopkeepers in the midst
of a fourth lean year.
There was the coincidence with the Jewish Passover holiday, bringing suited
and extravagantly hatted Orthodox Jews into the streets along with the robed
monks and covered nuns of all denominations.
Some tourists carried large wooden crosses on Good Friday to emulate the
last day of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Jews carried the Torah. In the
background, the sounds of ringing church bells mixed with the calls to
prayer from the mosques.
But the multiethnic Technicolour appearance of inter-religious tranquillity
was only that. Jews walked in groups accompanied by armed guards. Muslim men
under 45 were barred from Friday prayers at the Aqsa Mosque, and on April 9,
Good Friday for Christians, they prayed instead outside the walls of the Old
City in front of Damascus Gate.
Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem and Ramallah were largely unable to
enter Jerusalem due to the closure enforced by the Israeli army since the
assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and tightened
during the Passover holiday. Palestinian Muslims, needless to say, had no
chance.
Meanwhile, Christians of various denominations are locked in a continual
battle over control of the Holy Sepulchre and other sites that are held in
uneasy check by the so-called Status Quo, based on agreement between the
denominations reached back in 1767. The result is that processions and
ceremonies are very tightly regulated, and any deviation is pounced on by
other denominations.
April 10 marked the biggest day on the Orthodox calendar, the Day of the
Holy Fire, traditionally believed to be the day of resurrection, and
protocol is observed at every turn. The entrance to the Holy Sepulchre is
divided into two. On the left, Armenians, Assyrians and the Copts enter in
that order in their respective processions, the Armenians, entrusted with
the responsibility to open the doors of the church on this day in the year
alone, also guarding the doors. The right, meanwhile, is reserved for the
Arab and Greek Orthodox processions, which entered in that order. Anyone not
respecting the order, or not part of the congregations, will be turned away,
probably the cause of the above-mentioned melee.
The height of the Holy Fire ceremony comes when a light is passed by the
Greek patriarch and an Armenian bishop from inside the supposed Tomb of
Christ to members of their respective congregations waiting outside the
tomb, the Armenians on the north side and the Greeks on the south. The light
gets passed on to the other orthodox communities and is taken to other
Palestinian cities including Bethlehem and Ramallah – that is if they are
allowed across the checkpoints – and by private plane to Greece and Russia.
The light, of course, signifies the resurrection, and how it is lit is a
secret.
But here too there is controversy. The Greek Orthodox believe they should
have exclusive access to the Tomb on this day, and this year it took
intervention from the Israeli authorities to maintain the status quo and
ensure that an Armenian bishop gained entrance as per tradition. The
controversy is an old one, and some think it is the friction between the two
clergymen that creates the spark for the candles.
Even tourists are not immune or spared the idiosyncrasies of this city. One
moneychanger on the Via Dolorosa, traditionally believed to be the route
Jesus carried the cross, did not seem too concerned with garnering business.
On a newly printed sign hung prominently outside the door of his shop, he
had written: `All currencies welcome, EXCEPT the USA dollar. We do not
exchange the money of the people who kill our prophets.’
A small group of young American-sounding tourists paused outside the shop
for a while, looking somewhat taken aback. Soon they regained their
composure, however, and started snapping away with their cameras.
A Polish tourist outside the Garden Tomb on Nablus Road – believed by some
to be the true site of the crucifixion (as opposed to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre) – lost his composure with a persistent postcard salesman who
apparently saw no reason why carrying a large, wooden cross across town on a
hot, sunny day should preclude one from wanting to buy postcards.
Had it not been for the intervention of other cross-bearers, that point
might have been made in a rather un-Christian manner.
Not exactly the stoic example set by Jesus, at least not as depicted by Mel
Gibson in his movie, `The Passion of the Christ.’ But then, anyone hoping to
have watched the movie in Jerusalem over Easter would have been
disappointed. While, contrary to some reports, the movie has not been banned
in Israel, no Israeli distributor has picked it up, and as a result it has
not been shown in the cinemas.
That is not to say it can’t be seen. DVD copies are widely available in the
Old City shops, and, according to one shopkeeper, they are selling like hot
bread. One East Jerusalem hotel based its Easter charity drive around
charging to show the movie (and raised around two-thirds of their target of
$1,800 that way), but advertised only through Christian missions and
word-of-mouth.
With no theatre licence, an illegally copied DVD sent from the US by a
friend of the deacon of a local church, and under the impression that the
film had been banned by the Israeli authorities, the manager was adamant
that neither his name nor the name of the hotel be mentioned, lest he incur
a penalty.
As for the film, on April 8 only four people were in the audience, three of
them journalists.
The fourth, Irene, a born-again Christian from Bulgaria, declared herself
`inspired’ when she was encountered 24 hours later at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. `I have been filled with the spirit all day,’ she said, `except
for a brief period when I needed a rest.’

Three Armenian opposition officials arrested as suspects, prosecutor says
Mediamax news agency
14 Apr 04

YEREVAN
Armenian Prosecutor-General Agvan Ovsepyan said today that “if the
police, having acted in full accord with the letter and spirit of the
law, had not prevented the further development of illegal actions of
demonstrators on the night of 12-13 April, we would have to apply
severer official enforcement measures against the violators”.
Agvan Ovsepyan said this today at a meeting with the special
representative of the Council of Europe secretary-general in Armenia,
Natalya Vutova, the press service of the Prosecutor-General’s Office
told Mediamax today.
The prosecutor-general told Natalya Vutova that about 100 participants
in the events had been taken to police and questioned as witnesses,
among them [opposition MPs] Shavarsh Kocharyan, Aleksan Karapetyan,
Arshak Sadoyan and Vardan Lazarian. Agvan Ovsepyan pointed out that
after the questioning, all the four MPs had been set free. He also
said that members of the Republic Party’s political council Vagarshak
Arutyunyan and Gegam Arutyunyan, and Armenian People’s Party press
secretary Ruzanna Khachatryan had been detained as suspects.
Agvan Ovsepyan stated the readiness to regularly meet the special
representative of the Council of Europe secretary-general and provide
her with detailed information about the investigation.

Armenian foreign minister in Iran says situation stable back home
Azg, Yerevan
13 Apr 04
Text of Tatul Akopyan’s report in Armenian newspaper Azg on 13 April
headlined “We are at an uncertain stage on Karabakh”
The domestic political situation is stable in Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan
has said in Iran. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
yesterday at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport that “We are at an uncertain
stage on the Karabakh issue.” In an interview to Iranian state TV,
Oskanyan noted that, after the presidential elections in Azerbaijan,
official Baku had not expressed a specific position on the Karabakh
settlement. “On 16 April in Prague I shall meet Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. We hope that after that meeting Baku will
specify its position,” Oskanyan said.
Asked about Yerevan’s attitude towards the American programme “Greater
Middle East”, Oskanyan replied: “We are not aware of the details of
the programme; we know about it from the press, there have been no
discussions with us in connection with it.”
Yesterday evening, during a meeting with Armenian church
representatives in Tehran, Oskanyan touched on the domestic political
situation in Armenia. “The domestic political situation is stable in
the country, in a short period of time we can overcome the prevailing
situation. The authorities are ready to negotiate with the opposition
without preconditions. The domestic political situation leaves an
impression of instability, but in reality it is stable,” Oskanyan
said.
The Armenian foreign minister said that “In the business sense we are
very close to construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.” The
Armenian ambassador to Tehran, Gegam Garibdzhanyan, said the problem
in the gas pipeline construction had been solved. He said that Iran’s
oil minister would soon visit Armenia and the final document would be
signed and construction of the 141km gas pipeline would
start. Garibdzhanyan said that construction of the Kadzharan tunnel
would start this year as well.
Today Oskanyan will meet the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National
Security Council, Hasan Rowhani, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and
the first vice-president of Iran, Mohammad Reza Aref.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Youth Federation
Western United States
104 N. Belmont St. Suite 206
Glendale, CA 91206
Contact: Raffi Semerdjian
Tel: 818.507.1933
Fax: 818.240.3442
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
AYF to Hold Protest at Turkish Consulate
The Armenian Youth Federation Western United States Garo Madenlian Public
Affairs Office announced Monday that on Saturday April 24th starting at 4pm
the AYF will organize a large-scale protest in front of the Turkish
Consulate in Los Angeles.
`Our protest will not only demand justice from the Turkish government but
from the US government as well,’ said Sevag Garabetian, Director of the 2004
Protest. `All of AYF’s programs, projects, and events serve this great cause
either directly or indirectly,’ explained Garabetian.
The protest, which has taken place now for close to thirty years, is where
thousands of Armenian-Americans, particularly Armenian youth converge to
demand justice for the Armenian Genocide.
`The lives and memories of our 1.5 million ancestors can never be replaced,’
said Vicken Sosikian, chairman of the AYF Western Region. `However, we will
relentlessly pursue our just rights to the international recognition and
condemnation of the Genocide, to our lands in Western Armenia, and the
proper allocation of reparations to the Armenians,’ explained Sosikian.
The protest will begin at 4pm at the Turkish Consulate located 4801 Wilshire
Blvd. in Los Angeles. Water and first aid will be available.
The Armenian Youth Federation of Western United States strives to serve
Armenian American Communities west of the Mississippi through education,
athletics, political activism, cultural activities and social settings. To
learn more about the Armenian Youth Federation please log on to
#####

A1 Plus | 16:10:49 | 06-04-2004 | Politics |
DASHNAKS READY FOR CONCESSIONS
Dashnaktsutyun party issued Monday a statement with package of proposals to
the opposition in it.
Dashnaks offer opposition representatives membership in the
president-affiliated Security Commettee headed by Defence Ministry Serge
Sargssyan as one of the ways out of political turmoil in Armenia.
Dashnaktsutyun party board member Armen Rustamyan and Dashnaktsutyun
parliamentary fraction member Levon Lazarian answered the questions
journalists put to them.
Q:Was the statement coordinated with the coalition?
A.R.: This is a call for dialogue, which is already offered by the coalition
other member parties.
Q: Do you view yesterday’s arrest of Republic party member Suren Surenyants,
attack on the head of the party’s Ararat office and today’s detention of six
opposition activists as a call for dialogue?
L.M.: If the opposition has no intention to abandon its ambitions of
obtaining power, it should dictate political situation.
Q: What way Dashnaktsutyun will act in the event of facing confrontation
with people?
A.R.: People don’t want confrontation. Dashnaks intend to do their best to
prevent confrontation. If we fail to avoid it, we will consider other
solutions.
Q: Don’t you think that deadlock situation is created?
A.R.: Incompatibility run high and tomorrow we can grow even worse. All
possible efforts should be made to prevent any clash.
Q: If clashes occur, don’t you think they can escalate into civil war?
A.R.: I don’t think confrontation can turn into civil war. There are some
rational ideas in the opposition stance but, at the same time, there is a
hard-line approach. Authorities consider the opposition as revolutionary
force. In all countries, the authorities’ main tool is the law. Our current
constitution gives the authorities sweeping powers while the opposition
activists put themselves above the law.
Q: If the coalition rejects your proposals, then what will be your attitude?
A.R.: Possible agreement could speed up our country’s development.
Q: Is it possible you will quit the coalition in case of failure to reach
accord?
A.R.: We are not fastened with the current status quo. Dashnaktsutyun party
is eager for compromise and ready to prove that right now.
Q: Asked about the idea of appointing opposition members to any post,
Defence Minister answered he found it ridiculous. How you imagine an
opposition representative in Security Committee?
A.R.: Any step will be well thought-out. Today’s situation needs concessions
from at least one side.
Q: Over what issues you are ready for compromise?
A.R.: Anticorruption campaign and constitutional reforms.
—

ArmenPress
April 6 2004
SCADA SYSTEM TO ENSURE SAFETY OF GAS-MINE
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenian-Russian HayrusGazArd
company, the sole supplier of Russian natural gas to Armenia, plans
to put into action Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
satellite communication system in November. Deputy chief manager of
the company, Ashot Hovsepian, said the system’s installation will
cost some 800,000 euros.
He said gas transmission and distribution (T&D) companies depend
on the reliable operation of facilities over a widespread geographic
area. To maintain reliability of the T&D system, operators not only
require a regular and continuous flow of information as to how these
facilities are functioning, but they also must be able to contact
certain key facilities to make any operational changes needed to
maintain a properly balanced system.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are
computer-based automated control systems that monitor and control the
transport of gas through pipelines. SCADA systems provide two basic
functions: real-time monitoring (sensing) and control at remote
sites.
The system is being installed by the German Siemens company, which
has chosen another German company, Plenexis, as a sub-contractor to
secure satellite communication.

Posted on Mon, Apr. 05, 2004

The Charlotte Observer, N.C., 25-Year Job Column
By Carol Smith, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News
Apr. 5 – EDWARD AZARIAN: Born Jan. 29, 1939, of Armenian immigrant
parents who escaped from Turkish Armenia during the genocide of 1915.
Has been with Clariant 31 years
THE ORGANIZATION: Clariant is a major producer of specialty chemicals
for uses ranging from clothing to cars, cosmetics to computers and
everything in between.
THE JOB: Accounting manager. My primary duties include the processing of
payments to Clariant suppliers.
OTHER COMPANIES: Principally with other Swiss companies including
Hoffmann LaRoche and Lonza.
AN ANECDOTE: A couple of years ago, I no sooner arrived in Las Vegas on
vacation than I received a message from one of my co-workers to call
ASAP because there was a problem. A product cost had been overstated by
some $20 million because an employee used a unit cost of $40 a pound
rather than 40 cents a pound. My co-worker recognized that the situation
was serious and she also knew, even though I was on vacation, that I was
available to help her deal with it.
I made a call to a programmer at 5 a.m. Las Vegas time to instruct him
to place an inventory hold on the product so that we could correct the
error before any product activity occurred. All turned out well because
we worked quickly and as a team and, to this day, she says she never
would have known how to handle this without the training and knowledge I
had shared with her.
BEST ADVICE: The best advice I received was from my Armenian parents.
They reminded me that as an Armenian, I should perform all tasks given
to me (no matter how mediocre) to the best of my ability.
MEMORABLE TIME OFF: Attending an auction to purchase some stamps for my
collection.
SURPRISING FACT: As a teenager, I raised chickens, sheep, pigs and even
had a Black Angus steer that I named “Sputnik,” having purchased him the
day of the first Russian space launch.
For submission information, contact Carol Smith:
[email protected]
—–
To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to
(c) 2004, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. CLN, RHHVF, LONN,

The Georgian Messenger
5 April 2004
By M. Alkhazashvili
ON April 1, Armenia’s Security Council Secretary and Defense Minister
Serzh Sarkisian paid a visit to Georgia and held negotiations with
local high-ranking officials regarding the restoration of the
Transcaucasian Railway which goes from Russia to Armenia via Georgia
and separatist-controlled Abkhazia. Other issues of their meeting
included the reduction of tariffs on cargo transported through
Georgian highways.
The issue of restoring the Abkhazia stretch of the railway first came
up one year ago at a summit held in Sochi between Russian President
Vladimir Putin and then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. At
that time, the two leaders agreed that this project was to be
conducted in parallel with the “safe and dignified” return of Georgian
refugees to the Gali region of Abkhazia.
Efforts to return displaced persons to the area have not met with
success, and on Friday the Secretary of the Georgian Security Council
Vano Merabishvili asked Armenia to use its leverage to facilitate this
return. “Armenia should use its special relationship with Russia and
play a more active and positive role in resolving the problem,” he
told reporters after the meeting. As land-locked Armenia has so much
to gain from the opening of the railway, Georgian officials suggested
to Sarkisian that his country use its influence on its strategic ally,
Russia, in order to accelerate the process of resolving the conflict.
At the same time when Sarkisian was in Tbilisi demanding the opening
of the railway, the Armenian activist groups in Abkhazia Krunk and
Mashtots, presented a list of demands to the Abkhaz separatist
government. They reminded the leaders that local Armenians played a
key role in “liberating Abkhazia from the Georgians.” This was despite
the fact that during the Abkhaz war of 1993, local Armenians fought on
both sides of the conflict. The growth in the Armenian population of
Abkhazia has caused the concern of separatist leaders and the fact
that resettled Armenians are occupying homes belonging to Georgians
forced out of the region could cause serious problems if and when the
Georgian refugees return to the region.
Georgian officials promised the Armenian guest that tariffs on
auto-transit cargo would be reduced and in addition, Merabishvili
apologized to Sarkisian for the inconveniences experienced by his
country when goods bound for Armenia were held up due to the recent
events in Adjara. As the crisis is not yet fully over, Merabishvili
advised Sarkisian to seek alternative routes for goods normally
transported via the Batumi Port and Sarpi Customs Check-point.