Author: Jalatian Sonya

Pan Armenian News
ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN DEPARTED FOR BENELUX STATES
23.05.2005 02:39
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian delegation headed by Parliament Speaker Artur
Baghdasarian departed for the Benelux states – Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxembourg, the press service of the RA NA reported. On May 23 Artur
Baghdasarian is scheduled to meet in Brussels with President of Belgian
Senate Ann-Marie Lizin, President of the Chamber of Representatives Herman
de Croo, members of the Armenian-Belgian interparliamentary friendship group
representatives of public, political and scientific organizations as well as
with the Armenian community of Belgium. May 25 the RA NA Speaker will held a
number of meetings in the European Parliament and the European Commission
with President Joseph Borel and members of the Armenia-Europarliament
interparliamentary group. May 25 the Armenian delegation with Artur
Baghdasaraian at the head will meet in Hague with President of the House of
Representatives Frans Weisglas and Senate President Ivon Timerman. The
Armenian delegation is also expected to meet with the Minister of Education,
Science and Culture Maria van der Hoeven as well as to visit the Dutch
Institute of Foreign relations. May 27 Armenian delegation members will be
received in Luxembourg by King Henry, Parliament Speaker Lucien Weiler and
the Minister of Immigration Nicolas Schmit. On the same day the delegation
will return to Yerevan.

ELECTIONS OF THE WRITERS’ UNION PRESIDNET WILL BE HELD TOMORROW
A1plus
| 17:34:57 | 20-05-2005 | Social |
Today in the Science National Academy the 14th session of the Writers’
Union took place. Levon Ananyan, the present President of the Union,
informed the journalists that the elections of the President will take
place tomorrow, and he cannot say if he will be the only candidate or
not. At the same time he did not exclude the possibility of another
candidate, although at he today’s session no other candidate was
spoken about.
Editor of the literary issue “New Century” Abgar Apinyan would prefer
for Levon Ananyan to have an alternative and that alternative would
be poet Razmik Davoyan. “The President of the Writers’ Union must
be a bright individual, he must be a writer, not a journalist”,
said Abgar Apinyan to the journalists.
At the same time he claimed that everything will be done so that
there is not a single wrong expression in the session. He hopes that
something will be changed in the Union by this session, as according
to him, the Union is going to the 30s. “If the Writers’ Union goes
to the 30s and becomes an administrative structure, the downfall is
inevitable”, said Abgar Apinyan.
It is not yet known what Razmik Davoyan thinks of it. He was not
present at today’s session. Let us also remind you that this year
330 delegates will elect the President.

Russian military withdrawal plan to Armenia angers Azerbaijan
Agence France Presse — English
May 20, 2005 Friday 2:14 PM GMT
BAKU May 20 — A proposal announced by Russia’s top brass to move
arms from controversial military bases in the former Soviet republic
of Georgia to Moscow’s regional ally Armenia angered officials in
neighbouring Azerbaijan on Friday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Russia had previously moved
weaponry from Georgia to Armenia, which was involved in a bitter war
with Azerbaijan over the Nagorny-Karabakh territory in the early 1990s.
“We are seriously concerned and we would not want Russia to take such
a step now,” he told journalists.
Russia’s military chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, said
Thursday that moving armaments from Georgia to Armenia could help
speed Russia’s withdrawal from a republic that has become increasingly
hostile to its presence.
However, Azerbaijan is technically still at war with Armenia over
Nagorny Karabakh, which forces loyal to Yerevan have occupied since
1994.
“The situation in the region is very sensitive, the atmosphere of
security and stability must be taken into consideration,” Azimov said.
Russia has military bases in both Georgia and Armenia but Georgia
has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from its
territory, as Western influence there and in Azerbaijan increases at
Moscow’s expense.
Azerbaijan and especially Georgia have received considerable military
aid from the United States and NATO in the past few years and both
countries form a key link in a US-backed energy corridor spanning
Turkey and Central Asia.

PRESS RELEASE
Organization of Istanbul Armenians
Contact: Simon Acilacoglu
19726 Sherman Way
Winnetka, CA 91306
Tel: (818) 624-5048
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 19, 2005
The Enhancement of Armenia-Diaspora Relations as a Way of Addressing
the Challenges Facing the Armenian Nation
Winnetka, CA – The community is invited to a public lecture/discussion
by Armen Ayvazyan, PhD in political science and history, titled “The
Enhancement of Armenia-Diaspora Relations as a Way of Addressing the
Challenges Facing the Armenian Nation” on Friday, May 27, 2005 at 8pm,
at Organization of Istanbul Armenians’ Hall, located at 19726 Sherman
Way in the City of Winnetka, California. The speaker’s lecture will
view qualitative improvement of Armenia-Diaspora relations as a major
way to addressing the current challenges of the Armenian nation,
including the perspectives for the settlement of Nagorno-Karabagh
conflict, the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,
the problem of Javakhk, and the demographic and social-economic
situation of Armenia. The lecture is open to the public.
Dr. Armen Ayvazyan is a Senior Researcher in the Matenadaran, the
Yerevan Institute of Medieval Manuscripts and an Assistant Professor
of Political Science at the American University of Armenia. He is also
the Team Leader of the European Commission’s sponsored Campaign Against
~SCorruption-Freindly~T Legal and Social Settings in Armenia program.
He holds doctoral degrees in History (1992) and Political Science
(2004). From 1992 to 1994 he worked as Assistant to the President
of Armenia, Adviser to the Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Acting
Head of the Armenian Delegation to the Conference (now Organization)
on Security and Cooperation in Europe at Vienna. He was a recipient
of an International Security Studies grant provided by the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, working in affiliation with the Program
on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts, Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (1995). During the
1997-1998 academic year, he was a Visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar,
affiliated with the Center for Russian and East European Studies,
Stanford University, USA. He was a Visiting Alexander S. Onassis
Foundation Fellow at ELIAMEP, Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy (2000-2001). Dr. Ayvazyan was also a Fellow at the
American University of Armenia~Rs Center for Policy Analysis and a
Guest Lecturer at the Yerevan State University. Dr. Ayvazyan is the
author of several books, book chapters, and many articles in Armenian
and international journals.
While visiting the United States, Dr. Armen Ayvazyan has been scheduled
to appear on numerous media programs and series of lectures. For
further information, regarding the May 27th event, please contact
the organizing committee: Organization of Istanbul Armenians at (818)
624-5048 or (818) 342-6378.

Rewriting history
Prague’s World War II commemorations, as usual, all but left out a
band of heroes who saved the city
By Stephen Weeks
For The Prague Post
May 19, 2005
“Good progress, this year” said a colleague at Czech TV who had been
monitoring the Czech press and TV coverage of the V-E Day celebrations
— also 60 years after the fall of Nazi Prague — for references to
the Russian Liberation Army, the ROA, aka “Vlasov’s army” after its
leader, the renegade former Soviet general whose troops turned on
their Nazi sponsors and made possible the liberation of Prague without
the massive bloodbath and destruction that would have undoubtedly
happened otherwise.
Vlasov was a controversial figure and his army a dangerous political
tightrope-walking act. His role in May 1945 got a few mentions this
year — the first time ever, but not one paper had the courage to
print the full unvarnished story, suppressed by the communists and thus
virtually unknown in the West too. The communist way of maintaining a
secret was simply to eradicate it. People disappeared from photographs
and historical facts were simply rewritten. If one looks at the current
Web site of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, for example,
not only are Vlasov and the ROA not mentioned, but neither are the
Americans. … Czechoslovakia was liberated solely by the Red Army.
Now the actual Soviet contribution to liberating the country is being
rewritten, too. Two weeks ago Prague was awash with reenactments
that paraded U.S. jeeps and the Stars and Stripes. It was a case of
retrospective wishful thinking. Apart from a handful of sorties by
U.S. reconnaissance personnel and chancers, the U.S. Army remained
firmly behind their demarcation line at Plzen 60 years ago.
Historians maintain that it was not part of the deal struck with
Stalin at the Yalta conference earlier in 1945 for the other allies
to let the Soviets take Prague — that instead it was Eisenhower’s
decision alone for separate political considerations. But then other
facts have mysteriously disappeared into history’s greedy quicksand:
Why did Churchill stop the airdrop of arms to the Prague insurgents
just two days before the uprising was due to start? British transport
planes were already loaded at Bari in Italy for the job.
This cannot have had anything to do with letting Stalin take Prague
— unless Stalin had admitted that he wanted a Prague where all
the finest patriots (who might later object to totalitarianism)
had been killed in a Nazi shootout. Stalin had performed this trick
already by waiting outside Warsaw and later in Slovakia. Churchill’s
voluminous memoirs are silent on this. He must have known the likely
consequences of starving the uprising of its means of fighting. His
reputation would in the end be unsullied due to the timely arrival
of the unlikely figure of General A. A. Vlasov.
The Churchill memoirs are also pretty quiet on the matter of the
British loading the 25,000 men of Vlasov’s 2nd Division onto rail
wagons at Judenberg in Austria, knowing that these men would be
murdered by the Soviets. (The excuse was that Yalta demanded the
repatriation of all citizens to their home countries. Never mind
that Stalin had earlier stripped all ROA members of their Soviet
citizenship!)
At several of the key Prague celebrations over V-E Day this year,
not only did Vlasov and the ROA not get a mention — but neither did
the Soviets. Can we expect a Hollywood movie soon about the Americans
(led by Tom Cruise) liberating Prague? After all, in a recent U.S.
movie the British navy’s important capture of the Enigma coding
machine from a sinking U-boat was simply turned into an American
exploit that just happened to have changed the course of the war —
as well as warping history. How are young people supposed to deal
with this distortion of the facts when they don’t know the truth first?
Another way of rewriting history is to acknowledge yet belittle
events. This May we have heard from a Czech historian that indeed the
ROA existed but its contribution to the Liberation didn’t add up to
much — that statement in face of the facts that the Prague insurgents
numbered about 30,000 badly or even unarmed (thanks to whatever
demon was driving Churchill) men and women. Vlasov’s ROA had 22,000
well-trained, fully armed and equipped men with armor and artillery
and under excellent tactical leadership. But even if some historians
reluctantly accept this truth, Vlasov’s men are then condemned as
“traitors” — the old communist word for them. The modern word for
these anti-Soviet activists — who succeeded in bluffing the Nazis
as well as readying themselves to fight communism — is dissidents
… far more history-friendly.
The commemorations took place at Olšanská Cemetery this year May
7 at the national military memorials — those of the British and
Americans, the Soviet Russians, the Romanians. The bands, the stiffly
marching wreath-bearers and the grateful passed in sight of the only
memorial to the ROA but did not stop there — choosing to ignore
it. Still the ROA does not exist. Under two wooden Russian crosses,
right by the orthodox chapel, lie at least 184 of Vlasov’s men —
buried secretly by well-wishers in May 1945. A memorial stone was
erected in recent years bearing the insignia of the ROA — the blue
and white cross. It also lists two of its generals buried there who
had been killed surprisingly enough by Czech partisans, already firmly
under communist influence before the end of the uprising. Even the very
first editions (May 9, 1945) of the Czech newspapers Mladá fronta and
Rudé Pravo, printed on presses captured the day before from their
German predecessors on the very day of the arrival of the Red Army,
make absolutely no mention of Vlasov and the ROA. The fiction thus
started before the bodies of Vlasov’s men were even cold.
By diverting their course to liberate Prague, almost all the 22,000
soldiers of the ROA’s 1st Division were to lose their lives. Those
injured in the battle who had been left behind in Prague at the U
Apolináre Hospital in the care of the International Red Cross were
shot in their beds by Soviet troops. Those who managed to get to the
American zone found the demarcation line mysteriously moved — and,
unarmed, they were left to be dealt with by Stalin’s murderous wrath.
Rewriting history goes on and on. It will never end. On May 9 this
year President Putin claimed the Soviets had won the war as it had
captured “80 percent of the German army.” Eighty percent? Does that
mean that only 20 percent fought across France, Belgium and Holland
and defended Germany’s western front? And what about those troops
in Italy and Greece? But if you take the Wehrmacht as it existed at
ceasefire in 1945, there were only those remnants defending Berlin and
the odd pocket of diehards in Bohemia. Perhaps he means 80 percent of
that? One can, of course, make facts fit whatever scenario one needs.
And if rewriting won’t work, you can keep history down by punishing
anyone disseminating the truth. Several weeks ago Turkey (soon to
be an EU partner?!) strengthened its law governing “acts against
fundamental national interests” to give jail sentences to anyone, not
just Turks, who describe the 1915 mass execution of Ottoman Armenians
as genocide. So if go for a holiday in Turkey and repeat that term,
your stay may be longer than you expect.
As for Vlasov and his men, there is no official memorial, only
the graves at OlÅ¡anská. There’s no veterans’ parade, there are
no plaques and no wreaths in the streets where they fell. Around
Beroun however, where the army was first encamped, they are still
remembered. A gray-haired woman remembers — as a little toddler —
being bounced on the knee of the young Russian soldier billeted in
her family’s house. Now he — and the rest of his lost army — is
simply one of history’s ghosts.
Stephen Weeks is a writer and conservationist. He can be reached
at [email protected]
–Boundary_(ID_XYO0diG8dJM8AYkWxESCew)–

TAX INFLOWS INTO THE STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA WERE OVER-PERFORMED BY
5,8% FOR 4 MONTHS OF 2005, MAKING AMD 53,161 BLN
YEREVAN, May 19. /ARKA/. Tax inflows into the state budget of Armenia
were over-performed by 5,8% for 4 months of 2005, and compared to
analogous period of 2004- by 32,6%. In particular, instead of the
planned AMD 50,13 bln. the amount of the inflows made AMD 53,161 bln.
during the reported period and AMD 39,984 bln. during the reported
period of 2004. According to the RA State Tax Service, AMD 4,387 bln.
was collected of the total sum of tax inflows during the reported
period.
For 4 months of 2005 social payments tax authorities of Armenia
collected AMD 18,254 bln. versus AMD 13,230 bln. in 2004.
The highest indicators compared to the anticipated ones made 41,2%
at the expense of taxes on profit, 30,7% – income tax, and 33,3%- VAT.
In particular, for 4 months of 2005, the volume of collection of
tax on profit made AMD 15,244 bln. versus AMD 9,81 bln. compared to
January-April 2004, tax-on-income- AMD 7,62 bln. versus AMD 5,612
bln. in 2004, VAT – AMD 15,295 mln. versus AMD 10,136 bln. for 4
months of 2004.
Fiscal payments made AMD 3,927 bln. versus AMD 3,445 bln. in 2004,
thus performing the planned indicators by 28%. The volume of collection
of the simplified tax made AMD 2,334 bln. for 4 months of 2005 versus
AMD 2,145 bln. in 2004 (performed by 27,5% ).
High indicator is recorded for the return of finances taken from the
state budget. In particular, as of May 1, 2005, AMD 5,332 bln. was
returned to households, versus AMD 1,987 bln. for the same period of
2004. ($1 = AMD 450,91). A.H. –0-

WORLD AZERI CONGRESS TO DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE
Pan Armenian News
19.05.2005 03:45
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The 7th session of the Congress of World Azerbaijanis
(CWA), where the Nagorno Karabakh issue will be discussed among other
questions, will be held in Stockholm May 20-22, stated participant
of the meeting, head of the Center for the Azerbaijani Diaspora Rauf
Zeyni, reported Baku media. In his words, delegations of 50 people will
leave for Sweden May 19. “A forum devoted to South Azerbaijan will
be held on the first days of the session. The Congress will discuss
diverse topics on the following two days, including the hardest
problem for the Azeri people – the Nagorno Karabakh one,” Zeyni noted

JOHN EVANS: AMOUNTS OF NEW EMBASSY CORRESPOND TO GOALS PURSUED BY US WHILE COOPERATING WITH ARMENIA
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. “The amounts of the new embassy
correspond to the goals pursued by us while cooperating with Armenian
people and government,” US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to RA John Evans declared in his interview to the Yerkir web site,
answering the question, why the US Embassy in Armenia “is so large
for such a small country.” According to the ambassador, territory
for work of 400 Armenian and American embassy employees, including 6
infantrymen, was provided. “As I have already mentioned last week,
during the ceremony of embassy’s opening, those who can see this
beautiful new building only from outside should consider it as a
symbol of long-lasting relations between US government and Armenia,”
John Evans declared. “If we pay attention to the direction of the work
we implement, our far-reaching goals are development of free mobile
market economy in Armenia, encouragement of democracy and supremacy of
law, establishment of peace and stability in this important region,”
the ambassador declared.

Aliyev meets Turkish PM in Warsaw
Baku Today
18/05/2005 01:11
President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib
Erdogan in Warsaw on Monday. The two told reporters following the
meeting that the ongoing processes in the region and the issue of
ensuring security in the region were discussed.
Aliyev said that he informed Erdogan about the issues discussed in
his meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharian.
The President noted that the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan
are developing rapidly.
“Turkey and Azerbaijan are strengthening their positions in the
region,” he said.
Aliyev stressed that relations between the two countries will enter a
new stage after the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export oil pipeline
is put into operation.
Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Karabakh, Aliyev
underlined that the parties to the conflict have their own positions
on the issue that were also discussed in the meeting with the Turkish
Prime Minister.
“The meeting won’t be elaborated on. I hope the talks will yield
results and the problems between the parties will be solved,” the
President said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RF lauds dialogue between Azerbaijan, Armenia – Lavrov
16.05.2005, 21.59
WARSAW, May 16 (Itar-Tass) – Moscow lauds a dialogue between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Lavrov said on Monday Moscow “lauds the Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents’ efforts to continue their dialogue. The presidents meet
regularly and discuss ways to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
“Russia, France and the United States – co-chairmen of the Minsk
OSCE Group called on Ilkham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan to have
a bilateral meeting as part of the Council of Europe summit,” the
Russian minister said.
At the same time, Lavrov declined to disclose the details of the
meeting.