“MILLENIUM CHALLENGES” COMPACT TO BE SIGNED TODAY IN WASHINGTON
ArmRadio.am
27.03.2006 10:39
RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Oskanyan and Executive
Director of the “Millennium Challenges” Corporation John Danilovich
will sign today a $235.65 million contract in Washington. The signing
ceremony will take place in the Benjamin Franklin Hall of the US
Department of State. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will
deliver a speech at the ceremony.
AZG Armenian Daily #054, 25/03/2006
Armenian Genocide
`THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ TO BE SHOWN GRATIS AT EGYPTIAN THEATRE OF
HOLLYWOOD
Israel Charny Urges PBS to Show the Film
On April 17, residents of Los Angeles and neighboring regions will
have the chance to watch free of charge “The Armenian Genocide”
documentary at the Egyptian Theatre. Film director, Emmy prize-holder
Andrew Goldberg will also be present at the theatre. The film due to
be shown at 6.00, 8.00 and 10.00 pm is a reaction to the Los
Angeles-based PBS TV Company’s cancellation of the previously reached
agreement to show the documentary. The main reason for this step was
the planned discussion on Armenian Genocide after the film to which
the Armenian community opposed.
Interestingly, the International Association of Genocide Scholars in
the persons of its president Israel Charny and first vice-president
Gregory Stanton wrote an open letter to PBS urging to show “The
Armenian Genocide” on April 17 at the hour when the film will be shown
all over the USA and the world.
The Association noted on its behalf that it considers the documentary
conscientious and well shot. Professors Charny and Stanton underscore
that no other film on this issue so precisely describes and presents
the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. Andrew Goldberg opens the
film with a request of condemnation, presenting interviews with
scholars as well as common Turkish citizens condemning the Genocide
and shows that the issue of condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is
still the focal point.
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 24 2006
Armenian minister cites two options for further Garabagh talks
Baku, March 23, AssA-Irada
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian says there are two
alternatives for the continuation of talks on settling the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
`One of them is the next visit of the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs to the region, while the other one – holding the next
meeting of the two foreign ministers.’
Oskanian said the steps to be taken for the peaceful settlement of
the dispute have not been elaborated since the private meeting of the
OSCE mediators held in Istanbul on March 20.
`Armenia has done considerable work to solve the problem peacefully.
Now, we are waiting for the Azerbaijani side to take relevant steps,’
he underlined.
The Armenian official added that the hopes for finding a solution in
2006 that were cited earlier have somewhat decreased.
The discussions held by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian
in the French town of Rambouillet in February turned out fruitless,
as the parties failed to iron out issues of principle.*
RA GOVERNMENT RAISES SHOLARSHIPS OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND THOSE
WORKING FOR DOCTOR’S DEGREE
YEREVAN, MARCH 24, NOYAN TAPAN. In order to improve the social state
of graduate students and those working for doctor’s degree studying at
the RA institutions of higher specialized education by the state
order, the RA Government made a decision at the March 23 sitting to
define the size of the scholarship of aspirants 10 thousand drams
(those studying Armenology 15 thousand drams), and of doctorates 15
thousand drams (about 33 U.S. dollars). According to the information
submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA Government’s Information and Public
Relations Department, the decision action is spread on legal relations
arisen after January 1, 2006.
Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
March 24, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
TURKISH LOBBYIST ATTACKS ARMENIAN AMERICANS
— Former Congressman Bob Livingston Accuses Armenian American
Community of Seeking to Impose “Tyranny of the Minority”
WASHINGTON, DC – Turkey’s top Washington, DC lobbyist, former
Louisiana Congressman Bob Livingston, in perhaps his most strident
attack to date, has accused Armenian Americans of seeking to impose
a “tyranny of the minority” by urging the Congress to adopt human
rights legislation concerning the Armenian Genocide, according to
documents obtained this week by the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).
“It’s truly the height of hypocrisy for a paid foreign agent for
Turkey – a government that violates the rights of its citizens on a
wholesale basis – to try to diminish the role that American
citizens play in the formulation of our nation’s foreign policy,”
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “But, apparently, in
the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world of Bob Livingston, other nations
dictate U.S. policy, genocides remain unpunished, and foreign
lobbyists get to silence American voters. He would do well to
spend more time encouraging his Turkish clients to learn about
democracy, and less time seeking to abridge the democratic rights
of Americans here at home.”
In letters sent to Congressional offices last September, prior to
the House International Relations Committee’s consideration of
Armenian Genocide legislation, Livingston, escalated his rhetoric
to unprecedented levels, arguing, in his capacity as a paid agent
of a foreign government, that he believed the measure “cater[s] to
a small minority of citizens promoting the narrow goals of the
minority at the expense of America’s broader interest.” He went
on, in an example of overstatement rare even by Washington, DC
standards, to contend that Armenian Genocide legislation “is the
truest expression of the tyranny of the minority.” The panel
rejected Livingston’s attack, voting 40 to 7 to approve the
legislation.
In July of last year, CongressWatch, an arm of Public Citizen,
released a 49-page report highlighting ethical concerns about the
Livingston Group’s lobbying efforts for the Turkish Government.
The report details the efforts by Livingston, to secure a “$1
billion supplemental appropriation for Turkey. . . despite that
country’s refusal to allow U.S. troops to use its soil as a staging
area for the Iraq invasion. He also helped kill an amendment that
would have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide that occurred
between 1915 and 1923.” The Livingston Group has received over $10
million in payments from Turkey. To read this entire report, visit:
veDoor.pdf
#####
Karabakh accuses Azerbaijan of misinformation
Arminfo
24 Mar 06
Yerevan, 24 March: The Defence Ministry of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic [NKR] has denied Azerbaijani allegations of a truce violation
by the Karabakh side on 22 March.
“This information is wide of the mark. The Karabakh side respects and
maintains the cease-fire,” the spokesman for the Defence Ministry of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, Senor Asratyan, told an Arminfo
correspondent. Azerbaijan has got used “to blaming on truce
violations” casualties in its armed forces that happen due to
incidents, he said.
“Whenever a fatal incident takes place in the Azerbaijani army, they
say the culprit is ‘fire from the Armenian side’. In this way, they
are trying to hide from the public their inability to manage their own
army. Azerbaijan has repeatedly attempted to blame these incidents on
the Armenian side, which has nothing to do with truce violations, and
to present the NKR as a violator of the cease-fire in the eyes of the
international community,” Asratyan said.
[Passage omitted: quotes Azerbaijani sources]
4 PRIZES OF RA PRESIDENT TO BE GIVEN THIS YEAR
YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Not two but four annual prizes of RA
President sponsored by the “Robert Poghosian & Sons” fund (France)
will be given this year. Besides Culture and Science, Youth prizes,
for the first time this year prizes of RA President will be given to
persons who have made a considerable contribution to the sphere of
classical music and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. As Sergei
Sarajian, Chairman of the contest commission on the “Instrumental
Performance” nomination, Rector of Yerevan State Conservatory,
mentioned at the March 23 press conference, everything possible was
done in order to ensure the contest’s being transparent. According to
him, 18-27-year-old young performers take part in the contest on
classical music. S.Sarajian informed that an open concert-audition of
contest participants who have passed to the contest’s second tour will
be held on March 26 at the Chamber Music House. And an open display of
works of participants of the second tour of RA President’s Youth prize
“Painting” and “Cinema” nominations’ contest will take place on March
28 at the Center for Innovatory Experimental Art. It’s envisaged to
give the prizes in late April. The prizes will be given on 13
nominations.
Federation of Jewish Communitites of CIS, Russia
March 23 2006
Armenian Jewish Leaders at Mass Media Conference
Thursday, March 23 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia – The leadership of the Jewish community of Armenia
have just finished taking part in a publishing and public relations
conference in Georgia. The Conference of editors and founders of
Jewish newspapers and magazines was organized by the Center of
Knowledge and Information of Caucasus Jewish Communities and was
sponsored by the JDC. The event took place this week at the Jewish
Community Center in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Rabbi Gersh-Meir Burshtein, the Chief Rabbi of Armenia and one of the
founders of `Kohelet’ newspaper, was joined by Yevgenia
Kazaryan-Pliner, the Chief Editor of the `Magen David’ Magazine, at
this event.
The conference highlighted the numerous themes, including the role of
the Jewish press in the life of today’s Jewish community.
Participants covered topics dealing with the mass media and the laws
of Torah, as well as addressing Jewish publications as a
community-building tool and many more topics of interest.
The Jewish leaders from Armenia took an active part in the ensuing
discussions. Participants in this conference also benefited from a
psychological training session entitled `Techniques of Effective
Communication’, which was conducted by Lamara Ugulayeva.
The Jewish representatives from Armenia are hopeful that they will be
able to apply all that they have learned in advancing the continuous
development of Jewish life at home.
POPE PRAYS FOR REUNIFICATION OF ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS
Catholic World News
March 20 2006
Vatican, Mar. 20 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) voiced
his prayer for the reunification of Armenian Christians, as he met
on March 20 with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX
Tarmouni and an accompanying group of pilgrims from Lebanon.
Looking back across the history of Christianity in Armenia, the Pope
noted the divisions among the different churches “that recognize St.
Gregory the Illuminator as their common founding father.” (St.
Gregory established Christianity in Armenian in 301.) He acknowledged
with satisfaction that the different Armenian churches “have resumed
a cordial and fruitful dialogue,” and looked forward to the time when
they might regain “fraternal harmony internally, in full communion
with the Bishop of Rome.”
A tragic history has contributed to the divisions among Armenian
Christians, the Pope observed. He mentioned the Metz Yeghern, or “great
evil,” that saw hundreds of thousands of Armenians slaughtered by
Turkish persecutors during the forced migration from the Mediterranean
to the land now known as Armenia. While the Armenian Apostolic Church
is now established both in that country and in Lebanon, the diaspora
caused the Armenian Catholic community to find a new base in Lebanon.
Today the Armenian Apostolic Church claims about 7 million faithful,
including 2 million in Armenia, another 2.4 million in nearby Russian
and Georgia, and about 500,000 in the Middle East, with the remained
spread across Europe and the Americas. The Armenian Catholic Church
has about 345,000 members, primarily in the Middle East but also
spread worldwide.
During the past 50 years the Armenian Apostolic Church has drawn
closer to the Vatican in ecumenical talks; Pope John Paul II (bio –
news) and the late Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian
Church, signed a joint statement essentially ending the doctrinal
disputes that caused a split after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Pope Benedict observed that it was a “comforting sign of the unity
we hope for” when Pope John Paul joined in celebrating the 1700th
anniversary of the founding of Christianity in Armenia.
AZERBAIJAN CLAIMS IT FOILED ARMENIAN TERRORIST SCHEME
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
March 18, 2006 Saturday 8:50 PM MSK
Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry said on Saturday that it
had prevented terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan plotted by Armenian
“special services” and that the Azerbaijani president had been one
of the targets for the alleged planned attacks.
“Three servicemen of one of the Azerbaijani military units, while being
in Armenian captivity, were recruited by Armenian special services
for terrorist activities on Azerbaijani territory,” including attacks
on the Azerbaijani president.
The targets of the alleged scheme were President Ilham Aliyev, the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, natural gas pipelines, and the
Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the ministry said in a release.
Interfax has been unable so far to obtain comments from any Armenian
official.