Author: Hambardsumian Paul

TREATIES OF MOSCOW AND KARS

Yerkir
14.03.2006 16:48

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A conference organized by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation’s (ARF) Nikol Aghbalian Student (NASU) Union on Tuesday,
adopted a resolution calling for the denunciation of the Moscow and
Kars Treaties of 1921.

In his opening remarks, Ishkhan Zakarian, NASU president, said the
Moscow Treaty signed between the Soviet Union and Turkey goes against
the international law and was signed without the participation of
the Armenian people whose fate it was to decide.

He reminded that the Union staged a rally in 1991 outside the Armenian
Supreme Council with a demand to denounce the 1921 Moscow Treaty but
because of the consequent developments no decision was made.

“We the student unions should study the issue and establish that
the treaty is not fair and state that it is not acceptable to us,
especially now that Azerbaijan is talking about territorial integrity
seeing Nakhijevan as its part,” Zakarian said. “We should remind our
neighbor that Nakhijevan was never a part of Azerbaijan and was put
under its control only due to the Moscow and Kars Treaties.”

Speaking at the conference, historian Ghazakhetsian said that the
minutes of the talks preceding the signing of the treaties indicate
there actually were no negotiations. It was a political bazaar, he
said, everything was already decided by the Politburo led by Lenin
and Stalin.

Lawyer Aslanian, in turn, said that under the international law the
treaties had no legal force from the very first day of its signing
and go against the fundamental norms of the international law.

At the end of the conference the participants adopted a resolution
calling on the Armenian Foreign Ministry to make a statement that
those treaties are unacceptable to Armenia. A copy of the resolution
was also sent to the National Assembly. The conference participants
expressed hope that the issue will be included in the NA agenda and
the treaties will be denounced soon.

EUROVISION MANAGEMENT CORRECTED THE MISTAKE ON THEIR WEBSITE, CULTURE MINISTER
Author: S. Agayeva

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 14 2006

Website of the song contest Eurovision has taken off all the materials
on the birth place of Armenian singer Andre, who has mentioned it as
the Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Azerbaijani minister of Culture and
Tourism Abulfaz Garayev told Trend.

According to Garayev, after the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
of Azerbaijan has addressed the contest organizers demanding to
correct the mistakes on their website, the latter have considered
demands of Azeri side as legitimate and have taken the decision to
take the article off. Andre will represent Armenia in this contest,
the minister said. And the name of Nagorno-Karabakh was completely
deleted from the website.

Autobiographical material of one of the contest participators-
Armenian singer Andre was recently published at the Eurovision
website. According to that material the singer was born in the
so-called ‘Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’.

Regarding this fact, Azerbaijani side demanded contest organizers
to put an end to injustice and respect the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, as Nagorno-Karabakh is an inseparable part of Azerbaijan.

MFAs OF RA AND SINGAPORE DISCUSS POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPMENT OF BILATERAL RELATIONS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 14 2005

YEREVAN, October 14. /ARKA/. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
the RA and Singapore Vardan Oskanian and George Yeo discussed the
possibility of development of bilateral relations, beginning from
exchange of consulting between the Ministries and formation of the
contractual -legal field. According to the RA Ministry’s Press Service
Department, the sides discussed the possibility of sharing Singapore’s
experience of development. Positively evaluating the experience of
interaction between the countries in international organizations,
especially in the UN, the Ministers expressed their readiness to
enlarge their cooperation field in the future.

In the course of the meeting Oskanian told about the position of
Armenia in the modern geopolitical environment, regional possibilities
and trends of development. The sides discussed issues referring
to conflicts in various parts of the world. Oskanian introduced to
his colleague the current stage and prospects of the negotiations
on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Oskanian visited the Armenian Church in Singapore and met the local
Armenians. The same day in the evening Oskanian met the State Secretary
of Singapore Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

According to the press release, Oskanian left Singapore for Yerevan
last night.

IRAQ WAR CRITIC WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
By Ramsay Short

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Oct 14 2005

BEIRUT: In the end the winner surprised everyone. Harold Pinter,
the British playwright and fierce critic of the Iraq War, of Israel
and that nation’s treatment of Palestinians, took the 2005 Nobel Prize
for Literature ahead of the bookmaker’s favorites – Syrian poet Adonis
and Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.

The Swedish Academy, which has awarded the prize since 1901, said
Pinter, whose plays include “The Birthday Party,” “The Dumb Waiter,”
and his breakthrough “The Caretaker,” was a writer who “uncovers the
precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s
closed rooms” and is the foremost representative of drama in post-war
Britain.

Pinter, who has just turned 75, was born in the London borough
of Hackney, the son of a Jewish dressmaker. During his youth he
experienced anti-Semitism, which had been important in his decision
to become a dramatist.

Very much a liberal, in recent years he has been a virulent detractor
of the British and American-led war on Iraq, and a consistent literary
thorn in the side of Premier Tony Blair.

The Nobel jury added Pinter – who even has his own adjective,
Pinteresque, which is used to describe a particular atmosphere and
environment in drama – had “restored theater to its basic elements:
an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue where people are at the
mercy of each other and pretense crumbles.”

Adonis (real name Ali Ahmad Said), who fled Lebanon in the 1980s and
now lives in Paris, had been the best guess to win the prize among
Nobel watchers with the online betting Web site Ladbrokes giving him
odds of 7-4.

The fiction writer, Pamuk, whose last novel “Snow” received huge
acclaim worldwide, followed close behind Adonis. Pamuk is facing
prison in Turkey after he was charged with insulting Turkish identity
for supporting Armenian claims that they were the victims of genocide
under the Ottomans in 1915.

Earlier this year Pinter famously called the war in Iraq, “a bandit
act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute
contempt for the concept of international law [and] an arbitrary
military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross
manipulation of the media and therefore of the public.” He also said
it was “an act intended to consolidate American military and economic
control of the Middle East masquerading – as a last resort (all other
justifications having failed to justify themselves) – as liberation.”

The Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to advance the
Swedish language and its literature, is made up of several writers
as well as linguists, literary scholars, historians and a lawyer,
all of whom serve for life.

Pinter and other Nobel prize winners will receive their awards,
on December 10 at a ceremony in Stockholm. The playwright will take
home $1.3 million.

“IT WON’T BE LONG”

A1+
| 17:54:57 | 12-10-2005 | Politics |

Today the RA Prime Minister avoided any estimation of the elections
of mayor in Nor Hachin as a result of which a person charged with
murder has been elected mayor. “I cannot make any estimation”, said
the Prime Minister.

Nevertheless, Andranik Margaryan is sure of one thing: the candidate
re-elected as a result of the elections will not remain in his
post long.

STILL DOGGING US!
Tamer Korkmaz

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 12 2005

Turkey waited 42 years in order to start membership talks with the
European Union (EU). Ankara had squandered a huge opportunity by
not applying to the Community during the [Bulent] Ecevit government
in 1978.

In fact, even if we had not wasted that opportunity, not much would
have changed. The coup on September 12, 1980 would have rendered our
EU application meaningless!

Our application for candidacy dragged on until the era of former
Turkish Prime Minister and President Turgut Ozal in 1987. “Our joining
the EU will take up to 20 years,” public opinion was made to believe
at that time.

We crossed the most critical threshold ever during the wee hours of
Tuesday morning. However, remarks like “We have to wait 15 or 20 more
years,” are still dogging us.

If Turkey had “rebounded from the [goal] post” on October 3, this
would have been a very great loss. Had we had abandoned the negotiating
table, this would have hurt the prestige of both Turkey and the EU.

An introverted Turkey then would have been forgotten by the outside
world. And from the inside, we would have been surrounded by an
atmosphere that is more suitable for the Twilight Zone series.

Well, all right then…

Yet, at this point, we have to make a distinction between two events.

Our starting membership negotiations is a vital step; however, we
have to meticulously examine the mines on our negotiation path.

Underestimating or excluding the negotiating framework document mines
from the discussions, would be mere legerdemain. Not only the Cyprus
issue, which is still unsolved, but also the so-called Armenian issue,
are issues we will have to face. In future, Turkey will be told,
“If you want full membership, you must recognize the genocide!”

It is enough to be able to read the expressions with a special status
aroma in the negotiating framework document to see how the EU is
discriminating against Turkey!

The Croatia issue on October 3 once again proved that the EU does
not treat all candidate countries equally.

We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Austria made the start of
negotiations with Zagreb a condition for EU members to say “yes”
to Turkey. The criteria set for candidate countries so far were
immediately frozen when Croatia became a bone of contention!

The EU has sent a very dangerous message to countries hiding war
criminals (Serbia in particular) by giving Croatia the green light.

Let’s assume, for a moment, that Turkey was in Croatia’s position.

They wouldn’t have even allowed us to utter the letter “n” for
negotiations!

***

This is one side of the medallion. On the other side, there is the
“mangal (barbecue) issue” of the Turks!

Rauf Tamer says: “Bottled gas will not explode, houses will not remain
unplastered, cars will not swerve into sidewalks, and our children
will not attend classes with 80 pupils anymore. This is the meaning
of our negotiation process!”

I wonder whether we will be able to overcome these “seemingly small”
problems during the negotiations.

Do you think guns fired in the air during weddings in certain
neighborhoods will stop during the negotiation process? Or will Turkey
organize the biggest armed celebrations in its history on the night
it is admitted as a full EU member? (I hope the day will come).

Or will barbecues at parks in several German cities be extinguished
during negotiations?

Will the Austrian businessman, who went crazy after seeing pickled
anchovies floating in the cabin luggage of a THY (Turkish Airlines)
plane that landed in Vienna in the beginning of 2000, forget this
moment of insanity and say “yes” to Turkey’s full membership in a
referendum that will be held years later?

Or how many times will a Turkish worker, who voted for Angela Merkel
in the last general elections in Germany, abandon his attempts to
build a squatter house somewhere in Berlin?

Will the Higher Education Council (YOK) in Turkey really abandon its
attitude of challenging the political party in power during the EU
process? Will negotiations save our 2,500 school buildings without
toilets?

Let’s wait and see!

LES TROIS FAMILLES MENACEES D’EXPULSION REFUSENT DE PARTIR
par Isabelle Le Malefan

Le Telegramme , France
11 octobre 2005

Le coordinateur du dispositif Scohda-Aftam*, Michel Chapin, est venu
constater, hier, le refus des trois familles menacees d’expulsion de
quitter leur logement suite a une ” invitation a quitter le territoire
“.

” Michel Chapin, coordinateur du dispositif Scohda-Aftam, a demande
aux familles si elles voulaient quitter leur logement. Elles ont
refuse. Aucune n’a rendu les clefs de son appartement “, a annonce
Philippe Coulau, president de la section paimpolaise de la Ligue
des Droits de l’Homme, aux personnes mobilisees en soutien aux trois
familles dont deux armeniennes et une georgienne, menacees d’expulsion
de leur logement suite a une ” invitation a quitter le territoire “,
recue en septembre dernier.

Demandes d’asile rejetees

” Le prefet nous a indique que nous n’avions pas la competence pour
accueillir des personnes qui ne sont pas demandeurs d’asile. Ces
familles ont ete deboutees de leur demande le 18 mai dernier. Je suis
venu constater si elles acceptaient ou non de quitter leur logement
“, a explique Michel Chapin.

” J’ai fait une demande d’asile pour ma famille. Elle a ete rejetee
et je ne sais meme pas pourquoi. J’ai deja habite dans trois pays
differents : l’Azerbaïdjan, la Russie et la France. Aujourd’hui,
on n’est plus rien, on n’a pas de papiers “, confie Armen Sarkisian,
menace d’expulsion avec sa famille.

Ce père de famille a demande, fin septembre, le statut d'” a-patrie
“. S’il l’obtient, il pourra, avec sa famille, sejourner en France.

” On ne quitte jamais son pays par gaiete de coeur. Si ces familles
quittent leur logement, où iront-elles ?, s’inquiète Philippe Coulau.

C’est la regularisation de leurs papiers qui reglera le problème. ”

” Avec ma famille, nous sommes partis en mai 2004 d’Armenie. Avec la
guerre entre l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan, nous ne pouvions plus rester
dans le pays car ma femme est azerbaïdjanaise. Nous vivons a Lannion
depuis plus d’un an avec nos deux enfants “, explique Armen Gevorgyan.

” Solidarite financière ”

Depuis que ces familles ont recu leur invitation a quitter le
territoire, les aides financières apportees par le service de
coordination, d’orientation et d’hebergement des demandeurs d’asile
(Scohda) se sont arretees. ” Nous sommes en train d’organiser une
solidarite financière pour permettre a ces familles de vivre “,
a explique Philippe Coulau.

Une manifestation de soutien se deroulera samedi. Le rendez-vous est
fixe a 14 h 30 devant la mairie. A la meme heure, une mobilisation
se tiendra egalement a la prefecture de Saint-Brieuc.

* Scohda-Aftam : service de coordination, d’orientation et
d’hebergement des demandeurs d’asile – association accueil formation
des travailleurs apatrides et migrants. L’association accueil –
formation dite Aftam dispose d’un service d’accueil et d’orientation de
personnes nouvellement arrivees sur le territoire et qui souhaiteraient
faire une demande d’asile.

–Boundary_(ID_AylpS7Vij9saL+RQ+5PBlA)–

PRESS RELEASE
Bible Society of Armenia
6/26 Zakiyan St.
Yerevan 375015, Armenia
Tel: (+374 -10) 58.55.09, 56.49.06
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.24.39
E-mail: [email protected]

October 11, 2005

BRINGING THE BIBLE TO SCHOOLS, SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI REGION

YEREVAN — Within its four-day trip September 25-29 to
Samtskhe-Javakheti Region, Southern Georgia, a delegation of the Bible
Society Board members met with 200 school principals, teachers and
students. The delegation had the opportunity to be in four cities and
some villages of this Region. The project called “Bringing the Bible to
Schools” was a part of the long run program, implemented in Armenia
during the years 2002-2004, and in Diocese of Artsakh in August, 2005.
This project has been implemented owing to the
generous support of the Catholicosate of All Armenians, the Armenian
Evangelical Church and the Armenian Catholic Church and also with the
cooperation of the UBS representation in Georgia. Among the delegation
were Arshavir Kapoudjian, the BS Board Secretary; Fr. Samvel, parish
priest of the Armenian Apostoloc Church of Holy Cross, Akhalkalaki; Fr
Grigor Mkrtcian, the representative of the Armenian Catholic Church;
Revd Valeri Zakarian, the representative of the Armenian Evangelical
Churches; Rune Hansen, the representative of the Danish Bible Society.

The four meetings with the school principals were held Monday to
Wednesday, September 26-28, 2005, consecutively in the cities of
Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminta, Aspindza and Akhltskha. Fr Samvel from the
Armenian Apostolic Church warmly greeted the delegation and expressed
his joy and gratitude for such kind of initiative and the generous
support of the Bible Society of Armenia. During these meetings the
delegation was welcomed by the city mayors and the heads of Education
Departments who expressed their thanks to the BS Armenia for this unique
support extended and for the gifts to be delivered to the local schools.
In his keynote address the Board Secretary presented the gathered people
with the 200-year history of the United Bible
Societies, the 14-year history of the Bible Society of Armenia and its
mission in Armenia, and the sets of nine books to be given to schools (a
Bible, 6 different volumes of Guides, Opening Up the Bible, The Bible in
the Armenian Tradition). Based on their witnesses, the principals
revealed that this was something new which happened in their life.
Receiving their packages, a lot of principals invited the BS members to
their own villages and schools for such kind of spiritual and uplifting
meetings. The delegation accepted this invitation and had the
opportunity to visit some schools separately and met with hundreds of
students in their classrooms.

The delegation had also the chance to visit a 19th century village of
Abul=85 a village without electricity, without roads, a village far from
Akhalkalaki 12 kilometers. The road took one hour and half=85 It was
already sunset when the delegation first met a shepherd and a lady
coming from the mountains. They were curious who these people were and
where they came from. They were lucky to get their own Bibles. The place
was empty and at first glance it was hard to meet people. Ten minutes
later the entire village surrounded the Society’s van loaded with
books. The driver had the difficulty to pull the gathered people and
explained that they will get a copy. They were crying. Someone was
shouting `I have a patient,’ another one `I have a grandchild; I
need a Children’s Bible.’

Another such visit was to Tamala! The delegation turned the way to
Akhlskha. The only school of this village has 600 students. The meeting
took place in several classrooms, with students of 1st to 10th grades.
The conversation with different ages of students was very interesting.
The teachers made it clear that during and after the communist regime
they didn’t have such visitors. `We are Christians, but 90% of us
are not baptized. We survived through our faith, but now we have no
access to the knowledge of the Bible.’ Another teacher who found this
visit common with swallows making their nest, stated, `This is the way
how we shall build our spiritual house.’ This year is the 1600th
anniversary of the Invention of the Armenian Alphabet. When the students
asked the reason of the invention of the alphabet the answer was very
clear: The Bible!

Apart from these meetings, the delegation had the opportunity to meet Mr
Arthur Yeremian, the representative of the Georgian President in the
Region; several youth organizations and people in the streets, who were
interested in the Bible Society and the Bible work everywhere.

This was the end of the project called `Bringing the Bible to
Schools,’ which has begun in 2002.

The Bible Society of Armenia was established in 1991 when the late
Catholicos Vazgen I and representatives of the United Bible Societies
signed a memorandum of understanding, regarding the translation,
publication and dissemination of the Holy Bible in Armenia. The Bible
Society of Armenia is committed to the widest possible meaningful and
effective distribution of the Holy Scriptures in languages and media
which meet the needs of people, at a price they can afford. The Board of
Trustees of The Bible Society of Armenia consists of representatives of
the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church and the
Union of Armenian Evangelical and Baptist Churches.

For further information on Bible Society of Armenia and its activities,
call

(374-10) 58-55 09 or 56-49-06; fax (374-10) 54-24-39; e-mail
[email protected], and visit the Bible Society’s homepage

###

OSKANIAN, REPRESENTATIVE OF OSCE PA FOR NK DISCUSS SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2005

YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and
Special Representative of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the OSCE on Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lenmarker discussed settlement of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in Yerevan; press-service of the RA Foreign
Ministry reported ARKA News Agency. Lenmarker presented results of
the July session of the PA of OSCE in Washington, where he made a
report. Oskanyan positively evaluated the report, and pointed out that
realistic possibilities of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement have
been presented in this report. The sides exchanged opinions on current
stage of the conflict settlement and its prospects. Speaking about
Armenia’s participation in the Policy of European Neighborhood, they
agreed that development of the relevant Action Plan will open a new
page in Armenia-EU relations. They also discussed the Armenian-Turkish
relations at bilateral level and in the context of Turkey’s entrance
to the EU.

Press-release also says that Lenmarker arrived in Armenia to
participate in the seminar of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO.

OSKANIAN: DAYS OF ARMENIAN-ITALIAN FRIENDSHIP REFLECT HIGH LEVEL OF BILATERAL RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan News Agency
Oct 5 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The organization
of the Days of Armenian-Italian Friendship reflects the high level of
bilateral relations between Armenia and Italy. RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian declared this at the October 5 meeting with Italian
Foreign Trade Minister Adolfo Urso. The Italian Minister arrived in
Armenia on the occasion of opening of the Days of Armenian-Italian
Friendship.

According to Vartan Oskanian, during these days the Armenian
public will have a peculiar opportunity to get acquainted with
Armenian-Italian relations, Italian culture.

According to RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department,
the Italian Foreign Trade Minister in his turn attached importance to
the holding of the days in Armenia mentioning the familiarization of
well-known Italian figures with the Armenian public, Armenian culture.

The guest especially mentioned the trade and economic relations
successfully developing between Armenia and Italy. The interlocutors
agreed that in spite of the positive dynamics, there is much to do
in this direction. The organization of the Armenian-Italian business
forum starting on October 6 was considered important in this context.

Minister Oskanian briefly touched upon the recent regional
developments, process of Nagorno Karabakh settlement.

After the meeting Ministers V.Oskanian and A.Urso officially opened the
Days of Armenian-Italian Friendship and the “Treasures of Surb Ghazar
(St Lazzaro) Island” exhibition at the National Gallery of Armenia.