Author: Jalatian Sonya

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MARKED IN ARGENTINA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
April 25 2006
Yerevan, April 25. /ARKA/. Arrangements on the occasion of the 91st
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide have been held in Argentina. On
April 22, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorje Maria Bergolio offered an
ecumenical payer and a service in memory of the victims of the Armenian
Genocide. The service was attended by hundreds of Argentineans,
representatives of the Armenian community and of the RA Embassy
in Argentina.
In his speech, Cardinal Bergolio called on Turkey to admit the Armenian
Genocide as a grave crime committed against Armenians and the entire
humanity by the Ottoman Empire.
On April 23, liturgies were held at the Armenian churches in
Argentina. The same day, the former vice-speaker of the British
House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox made a speech at the hall of
the largest-scale annual book exhibition in Buenos Aires.
She pointed out that the Armenian Genocide has not been recognized
by a number of countries, including Great Britain, for political
reasons. However, she expressed optimism about the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Baroness Cox also expressed hope
that Turkey will finally come to realize the importance of relieving
the Turkish people’s conscience of this burden.

ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE ANNIVERSARY OF TRAGIC EVENTS OF 1915
ABHaber, Belgium
April 25 2006
Demonstrators marched in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday to commemorate
the Armenians who died ib 1915 due to forced deportation and ethnic
conflict in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian diaspora also took to the streets in various cities in
the U.S. and several capitals in Europe over the weekend demanding
recognition for so-called genocide claims, while Turkish and Azeri
diaspora made counter-demonstrations.
Over the weekend New York’s famous Times Square played host to
Turkish counter-demonstrations. Turks living in the US organized a
rally entitled “End to Armenian Lies.”
Many Turks including Turkey’s Consul General to New York Omer Onhon and
Turkish Americans attended the demonstration held by the Federation
of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA) and Association of Young
Turks. “This march is Turkish society’s reaction to the constant
repetition of the Armenians’ baseless allegations,” said Onhon.
In related news, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a letter
to Armenian diaspora members backed the genocide claims.
“In recent years the Senate of Canada adopted a motion acknowledging
this period as “the first genocide of the twentieth century,” while
the House of Commons adopted a motion that “acknowledges the Armenian
genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.”
My party and I supported those resolutions, and continue to recognize
them today,” Harper said.
Ankara and Yerevan are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide.
To break the deadlock, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last
year suggested the establishment of a committee of Turkish and Armenian
historians to study the claims, in a letter sent to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian. But Kocharian refused Erdogan’s proposal, saying that
the two countries must first establish diplomatic relations and that
committees could be formed only within the process of normalization
of relations.

MINISTRY OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MINISTRY OF NATURE PROTECTION DEVELOP JOINT PROGRAMS CONTAINING INNOVATION COMPONENT
Noyan Tapan
Apr 25 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ministry of Trade and Economic
Development and the RA Ministry of Nature Protection have started
developing some joint programs containing an innovation component. Head
of the Science, Technologies and Innovation Policy Department of the
Ministry of Trade and Economic Development Ashot Khandanian told NT
correspondent about it. According to him, the Ministry of Nature
Protection included innovation components, related in particular
to measures to reduce environmental pollution, in many programs
implemented with funds of international organizations. A. Khandanian
said that for the implementation of such programs, the two ministries
are particularly developing a program on creation of ecologically
pure fertilizers by using microorganisms, with this program to
be financed by the UNDP. Besides, programs aimed at reducing the
atmospheric pollution, are being worked out. These programs will
facilitate the implementation of measures outlined by the Kyoto
Protocol. A. Khandanian expressed a hope that the Ministry of Trade
and Economic Development and the Ministry of Nature Protection will
begin implementing a number of joint programs in 2007.

AZERI, ARMENIAN SPEAKERS MAY TABLE GARABAGH IN RUSSIA
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 25 2006
Baku, April 24, AssA-Irada
The Azeri parliament speaker Ogtay Asadov may discuss the Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict with his Armenian counterpart Artur
Bagdasarian in Russia this week.
The meeting may take place during Asadov’s visit to St. Petersburg
to attend the 100th jubilee celebrations of the Russian State Duma
(parliament) due on Wednesday and Thursday, Russian media reported.
The event may be attended by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe president Rene van der Linden.

Outlook on Egypt: DO YOU SPEAK ARMENIAN?
Egypt Today, Egypt
April 25 2006
Social life, Egyptian Style: The March 2006 Edition
[parts omitted]
The Armenian Embassy in Cairo recently organized an exhibition
of Ancient Armenian manuscripts at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to
celebrate the 1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian
alphabet. Representatives of foreign missions, cultural and scientific
leaders of the Egyptian community as well as journalists and members
of the Armenian community in both cities participated in the opening
ceremony. A conference on Armenian-Egyptian historical and cultural
relations was also held at the Bibliotheca and was inaugurated by
Dr. Rouben Karapetian (Ambassador of Armenia) and Dr. Ismail Serageldin
(director of the Bibliotheca).
spx?ArticleID=6470

COALITION OF STUDENTS RALLIES FOR RECOGNITION OF GENOCIDE
By Jed Levine
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
The UCLA Daily Bruin, CA
April 24, 2006
Members, allies of Armenian community take steps to gain formal
acknowledgment of event.
UCLA students, along with Armenian students from across Southern
California, came together with the Armenian community Saturday
night for “Blinded by Injustice: Rally Against Denial” to remember
those who were killed in the 1915 Armenian Genocide and campaign for
international recognition.
Today marks the day of remembrance for the genocide that began 91
years ago and lasted for eight years, killing an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turkey.
While bodies like the California Congress, the European Union and
other nations have officially acknowledged the genocide, both the
United States and Turkish governments have not.
For Haig Hovesepian, a pharmacology graduate student who was the
UCLA representative coordinator of the event, the rally called to
support involvement in the democratic process, something he believes
is crucial to gaining formal recognition of the genocide.
“It’s not just enough to be aware and feel something about the issue,
but also to do something about the issue,” said Hovesepian.
“(We) have to continually knock on the doors of their representatives
and tell them this is important to you,” he added.
Saturday’s rally in Glendale, the hub of the Armenian community in
the U.S., was coordinated by the All Armenian Student Association
Confederation, a coalition of Armenian Student Associations from 12
universities in the Southern California area.
More than 200 members and allies of the Armenian community were in
attendance, including Congressman Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, a longtime
supporter of the Armenian effort for genocide recognition.
Schiff spoke to the crowd about his current efforts to pass
HConRes195, which would be an official recognition of the genocide
by the U.S. Congress and would urge Turkey to seek resolution with
the Armenian people.
He questioned why Congress voted to acknowledge a genocide in Darfur
and not the Armenian genocide.
“(The U.S. is) a greater country than that, and I think it’s
tremendously important that we lead by example and that we call
genocide for what it is,” said Schiff after his speech.
A series of events last week, including Saturday’s rally and
a benefit concert held last night, have led up to a march to the
Turkish Consulate this afternoon.
Nareeneh Sohbatian, a fourth-year international development studies
and political science student, is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha,
the Armenian sorority at UCLA, which collected over a dozen sandwich
boards from other campus groups and covered them with black paper
and information about the genocide, placing them along Bruin Walk.
“It’s about continuing to educate the Armenian community and educating
the community at large,” Sohbatian said of the various events being
held around the day of remembrance.
The issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide came to a head at
UCLA in 1997, when the Turkish government offered $1 million to endow
a Turkish studies chair.
The offer came with multiple preconditions including that the chair
would need to “maintain close and cordial relations with academic
circles in Turkey,” provisions which raised red flags among the
Armenian students of UCLA.
The current stance of the Turkish government and Turkish academics
is that a genocide did not occur and that the deaths were the result
of quelling civil unrest and fallout from World War I.
Arbi Ohanian was a fourth-year at UCLA at the time, and took part
in the campaign against the donation that resulted in a vote by the
UCLA Department of History in which the money was turned down due to
possible conflicts in academic integrity.
“It’s still a contemporary issue. It’s not just something that happened
91 years ago, as evidenced by the Turkish Study Chair (incident),”
said Ohanian while attending the rally. “It’s continued denial that’s
occurring.”
In years past, students have organized vigils on their campuses to
remember the genocide, however, this year the main event was moved
to Glendale.
Coordinators also changed the event from a vigil to a rally, as it
has evolved in placing more emphasis on politics and the democratic
process than in previous years.
“In recent years the vigil looked less like a vigil and more like a
rally. This is more like a call to action,” said Christopher Minassian,
chairman of the Genocide Recognition Committee, of the evolution of
the event.
Hovesepian said the importance of events like the “Rally Against
Denial” is that they help to keep the issues of the genocide in
people’s minds and in the public eye.
“There are individuals out there who would like to see these types
of issues dropped because they’re inconvenient,” Hovesepian said.
“So when you have individuals such as ourselves become complacent,
it gives these individuals the opportunity to erase these things like
genocide from our collective conscience. It’s not just our community
but a lesson for other communities,” he added.
Many of the people in attendance Saturday night also felt that
continued awareness was important for the Armenian community.
“I don’t think there’s a difference between April 24 and any other
day,” said Maral Karagozian, a recent UCLA graduate and former member
of the ASA.
“It should always be in our minds that (the Armenian Genocide) is a
part of us.”

MOSCOW HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT DETAINED IN ALLEGED RACE HATE KILLING
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 24, 2006
MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – Police officers have detained a high
school student in connection with the killing of an Armenian teenager
in the Moscow subway at the weekend, prosecutors said Monday.
“A 17-year-old student from a Moscow high school has been detained in
connection with the killing of an Armenian committed last Saturday,”
a spokesman for the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office said, adding that the
teenager had admitted his involvement in the incident.
Vagan Abramyants, a 17-year-old student at the Moscow Academy of
Management was attacked and stabbed to death on the platform of
Pushkinskaya metro station in the center of the capital at about 5
p.m. on Saturday.
Prosecutors launched a criminal case into the killing, which they
said could be racially motivated.
But a source close to investigation said the suspect, who has been
identified as a soccer fan, claimed that the victim had insulted his
girlfriend in a subway train and he stabbed the man to get even.
“We can now say with certainty that the slaying occurred after a
common argument and was not racially motivated,” the source said,
adding that a group of soccer fans was presumably heading to watch
a game played by their favorite club.
Nevertheless, it is the latest of a series of attacks across
the country that have affected foreigners and people with a dark
complexion.
In St. Petersburg, an African student was shot dead with a rifle marked
with a swastika on April 7, while two Mongolian students were beaten
up in the city’s subway a week later. A Chinese student was attacked
outside her apartment block this month, while a nine-year-old girl of
mixed Russian and African origin was hospitalized after being stabbed
near her apartment building March 25.
Four Chinese students, studying at Kostroma State University in
central Russia, were attacked last Friday afternoon outside a school.
These incidents have prompted Russian and foreign human-rights groups
to raise concerns over the alarming spread of racist and xenophobic
attitudes in the country.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: BEST APPRECIATION OF MEMORY OF TATUL KRPEYAN AND
HIS COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS WILL BE LIBERATED GETASHEN
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A memorial event
dedicated to the 41th birthday of Tatul Krpeyan, National Hero of
Armenia, student of the history department of Yerevan State University
(YSU), was organized by the ARF student union “Nikol Aghbalian”. “Look
at Kars, look at Ani, look at Akhurian’s other side. This is Tutul’s
behest,” lecturer of YSU history department Artavazd Darbinian
said. “It was just impossible to stop him carrying out his decision to
go to Artsakh and teach there together with struggling. He was a
brother, friend and teacher for everybody. He was struggling with a
pen at night, and with a weapon in the daytime. He did not leave
Getashen at the hardest moment and on April 30, 1991, the 26-year-old
ARF member died a death of hero in Getashen,” A. Darbinian stated. In
his speech, political representative of the ARF Bureau, Vice Speaker
of the RA National Assembly Vahan Hovhannisian noted that the idea of
Homeland was deeply rooted in Tatul Krpeyan’s heart. “The key element
of the national ideology is the youth that perceives the idea of
Homeland in a more sensitive way,” he underlined. In his words, Tatul
Krpeyan solved two main problems in the Artsakh freedom war: “When
self-defence began in Artsakh, the problem of accumulating weapons
there was a definite and inevitable one for the ARF. The ARF started
forming self-defence units in Shahumian. We surrendered two Armenian
villages north of Getashen – Azat and Kamo. There was no unity in the
villages, each villager thought in the same way as before the genocide
– to save one’s own life. Tatul created that unity and succeeded in
explaining to the local population that it was necessary for them to
defend themselves. The foundations of the national army were laid by
Tatul and guys like him.” The second problem, according to
V. Hovhannisian, was one of resistance of Getashen and Martunashen
under a 9-month continous blockade. The resistance was organized
thanks to Tatul and other ARF-member freedom fighters. “But for the
insidious Soviet operation “Koltso” (“Circle”), these regions would
have now been part of the NKR,” ARF Bureau member noted. “The best
appreciation of memory of Tatul and his companions-in-arms will be
liberated Getashen,” Vahan Hovhannisian concluded. Tutul’s sister
Ruzan Krpeyan and the dean of YSU history department Hayk Avetisian
also made speeches at the event. Famous singers performed folk songs
during this memorial event.

INT’L CONFERENCE TO TABLE TURKISH-ARMENIAN TIES
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
Baku, April 18, AssA-Irada
A conference, “Establishing a common culture of the Ottoman society:
Turkish-Armenian relations”, will be held in Kayseri, Turkey on April
20-22, Anadolu news agency quoted the Kayseri Unviersity president
Chingiz Utasi as saying.
125 representatives from various countries will attend the event,
including the Armenian Patriarch of the Constantinople diocese Mesrol
Mutafian. The participants will primarily focus on the political and
social aspects of Turkish-Armenian ties.
“We hope that the conference will serve as a new bridge between Turkey
and Armenia,” said Metin Gulgun, head of the event organizational
committee. He added that a similar conference is to be held in
Armenia later.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS TO VISIT BAKU ON 21 APRIL
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 18 2006
The European Union delegation will be visiting Azerbaijan from April
21 to 23. The Azerbaijani permanent representative office in EU told
APA that the objective of the visit is to agree on the Action Plan
in the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy Program.
An official of the representative office told that main discussions
will be held in May when the EU delegates will visit first
Armenia, Georgia and then Azerbaijan. The EU mission is composed of
representatives of the EU Board, European Commission, EU presidency,
Austria, which chairs the EU as well as representatives of Finland,
which will chair the organization for the next term. The EU special
representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby is also in the
mission.
The Foreign Ministry told APA that the visitors will have talks with
President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, other
high ranking state officials as well as meet opposition parties and
NGOs representatives.
The European diplomats will hold a press conference on 22 April.