Author: Jalatian Sonya

Pan Armenian News
PERFORMANCE ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STAGED IN BEIRUT
13.05.2005 08:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A performance about the Armenian Genocide was stated in
Beirut hall of Hakob Ter-Melkonian, Yerkir Online reports. The performance
produced on the motive of Mkrtich Kheranian’s `Shkhonts Migran’ narrative
that was published in Yerevan in 1963 with the title `Hey man, where are you
going?’ helps to create a clear picture of the events taken place 90 years
ago. The play shows how principal character Mirgan Shkhonts, native of Van
has to leave his hometown and settle in Yerevan. The director of the
performance David Hakobian played the main part in it.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (FJC), Russia
May 12 2005
Magen League Seminar Held in Armenia
Thursday, May 12 2005

YEREVAN, Armenia – The Magen League has just wrapped up a two-week
seminar `Missioners against Jews: How to Protect Ourselves?’, held in
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. This training for community workers
and volunteers was made possible through the support of the Jewish
Community of Armenia.
The Chief Rabbi of Armenia, Rabbi Gersh Meir-Burshtein, spoke to
participants in the seminar, which combined interesting lectures and
discussions with practical psychological training by the President of
the Magen League, Professor Alexander Lakshin. During these two
weeks, seventeen persons representing the two major communities of
Armenia – in the cities Yerevan and Vanadzor – learned the
theoretical and practical aspects of resisting missionary activities
aimed at attracting Jews to Christianity (effectively depriving Jews
of Judaism).
Rabbi Meir-Burshtein assisted the participants of this seminar with
information about recent occasions, when missioner organizations have
attempted to launch new branches in Armenia. Other seminar
participants also provided real and concrete examples of distributing
missionary literature that has been sent to the homes of local Jews.
According to those attending the seminar, this initiative represents
an interesting and very useful campaign.
On May 9th, participants took the time to lay flowers at the Eternal
Flame, paying tribute to those who fell victim to the Great Patriotic
War.

Scripps Howard News Service
May 11 2005
Professors challenge image of ‘The Good War’
By LANCE GAY
Scripps Howard News Service
May 11, 2005
– The gunfire ended 60 years ago, but the bitterness over World War
II rages on.
Protests in the Baltics over how Soviet troops came to occupy the
region in 1940, and recent demonstrations in China over the cruel
treatment by Japanese soldiers before and during the war show how
sensitive the conflict remains.
The war produced powerful myths that have led historians to comb
through tons of dusty documents to unravel.
The BBC recently detailed how wartime spinners hid the debacle of
Germany’s 1940 blitzkrieg into France by highlighting the heroic
stories of an armada of small British ships crossing the British
channel to rescue 300,000 British Tommies stranded on the beaches of
Dunkirk.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 shattered the myth the
Soviets peddled that Russian troops were stationed in Central Europe
to protect the region. It also gave Poles, Czechs and others in
Central Europe their first look at a more accurate history of their
two-front wars against the Nazis and the Soviets. After decades of
Communist dissembling, Russian officials now acknowledge that 27
million Soviets died – a stunning figure the Soviet regime refused to
disclose, choosing lower casualty numbers.
Some myths were woven during the war to hide secrets. The “wizard
war” of electronics and radar was not disclosed until long after the
war ended, and the United States only recently declassified the
Venona papers detailing how code breakers monitored the activities of
Soviet rings stealing America’s nuclear secrets during the war.
Details of how the U.S. Navy used code breaking to monitor the
whereabouts of Japanese forces in the Pacific provide explanations
for victories in the Coral Sea and Midway that at one time were
credited to naval expertise.
“War captures the essence of many myths. It’s so troubling,
disturbing and upsetting an event it rips apart the fabric of
history, and has got to be justified by some powerful force,” said
Peter Kuznick, a history professor at American University in
Washington.
The United States developed its own myth of World War II as the good
war, Kuznick noted. “There is near-universal agreement that the
United States was the good guy in World War II, and that this was a
legitimate war that should have been fought, and should have been
won,” he said.
But he said that myth covers over some strategies that modern
historians now are questioning, including the military necessity of
firebombing Japanese cities and the decision to use the atomic bomb
on a nation whose military forces already had been destroyed on the
battlefield and driven back to their homelands.
Japan also emerged from the war with its own myths of the heroism of
Japanese troops. That myth doesn’t accommodate the Japanese
atrocities in the 1937 rape of Nanking, China, or the cruel treatment
given American and other prisoners of war in Japanese camps. Kuznick
said highlighting military atrocities dishonors the deaths of
Japanese soldiers in the eyes of Japanese right-wingers, although he
said Japanese academics are much more open about discussing this
issue.
University of Pittsburgh professor Donald Goldstein said Hollywood
has been responsible for finding new war myths to promote, and
amplifying others.
Goldstein points to the myth of the superiority of Western bridge
design that is the plot of the Oscar-winning “Bridge over the River
Kwai.” He said there also are glaring mistakes in the 2001 movie
“Pearl Harbor,” in which Japanese aircraft are fitted with bomb
sights they didn’t actually have, Japanese pilots flew Zero models
that weren’t produced until the war ended, and the bombs hit Spruance
destroyers also built after the war.
“The problem is that kids believe that’s the way it happened,”
Goldstein said. “They say that bad history is better than no history
because it gets people interested in reading more about it. But these
kids today are not going to the bookstore. I’m teaching it, I know
it,” he said.
Goldstein said he wouldn’t be upset if Hollywood declared its movies
were not accurate, but he said moviemakers use historical accuracy as
part of their public-relations campaigns to persuade Americans to
come to the theater.
He credits movies like “Tora, Tora, Tora” and the first half of
“Saving Private Ryan” for their accuracy. Goldstein is less
charitable about “The Thin Red Line,” involving Guadalcanal, which
he said is “awful history.”
Harvard Sitkoff, a history professor at the University of New
Hampshire, said Hollywood has an enormous effect on students today
because of the impact of TV, film and music on younger generations.
“They often come with a lot of myths firmly implanted in their
brains, and they’re difficult to dislodge because the quality of
filmmaking is very good, and powerful images stay with us,” he said.
Sitkoff said Hollywood is too wrapped up in the message of World War
II as “the good war,” while glossing over the negative aspects of war
– the impact of firebombing raids, the labor strikes in America and
problems on the home front. He said historians are beginning to
detail some of the negative aspects of the war. “A lot of things
don’t work with the good-war idea,” he said.
War myths are difficult to dislodge, historians say, especially if
they become part of the narrative of how government stays in power.
Peter Balakian, a Colgate University professor of English and author
of “The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s
Response,” said Turkey still refuses to acknowledge the 1915 massacre
of Armenians and Christians.
He said that after the loss of the Ottoman Empire in World War I,
Turkish leaders deliberately suppressed any mention of the genocide.
“It was an attempt to sanitize the past and make the new Republic
good and wonderful,” he said. Turkey even made it a criminal offense
to refer to the cleansing, although books published in the West still
note the documentary evidence.
“I think the truth eventually does come out. The Soviet Union
dis-armored itself of its institutionalized myths that involved
things they said did not happen,” he said. “The smaller the world
becomes, the harder it is for totalitarian regimes to hold onto these
ideas.”
On the Net:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
May 10 2005
Erdogan Shakes Hands With Kocharian Of Armenia

MOSCOW (AA) – The parade of 7 thousand Russian soldiers and 2,600
veterans in Moscow’s Red Square on the 60th anniversary of the Allied
victory over Nazi Germany ended.
Dozens of world leaders, including U.S. President George W.
Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gathered in
Moscow to attend “Victory in Europe Day” ceremonies.
Prime Minister Erdogan, who represented Turkey at the
ceremonies, shook hand with President Robert Kocharian of Armenia. He
also chatted with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy.
President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the huge wartime
sacrifice of the Soviet Union and called for unity against new
threats.
He stressed that said his country would never forget the debt
owed to the tens of millions of Soviet citizens who died to defeat
Nazism.
Fighter jets streaming smoke in the Russian blue, white and red
tricolor screamed over Red Square as soldiers sang patriotic wartime
songs.
The word “victory” was emblazoned on the Kremlin wall in several
languages, including those of the vanquished.
Soldiers in modern and World War II-era uniforms, and veterans
bedecked in their medals, marched.
Following the parade, President Putin and the other leaders laid
red carnations and a huge carpet of red roses at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin Wall to honor soldiers who
perished in World War II.
Later, President Putin hosted a lunch in honor of guest leaders.

Pan Armenian News
OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS TO MEET ARMENIAN FM MAY 14
10.05.2005 03:36
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A day before the possible meeting of the Armenian and
Azeri Presidents – on May 14 the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will meet with
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, the FM told journalists himself.
In his words, it impossible to say precisely whether the Presidents will
meet in Warsaw, however the parties have already given their preliminary
consent. «We have not got in touch with the Azeri party directly yet,
however the probability that the meeting will take place is high,» the
Armenian FM noted. When commenting on the fact that Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev did not take part in the Moscow celebrities, V. Oskanian noted that
«improper time was chosen.» «On the eve of the meeting of the Presidents of
the two countries such moves and statements of the Azeri party evidence
absence of will to make any progress in the process,» the Armenian FM added,
reported the Yerkir newspaper.

Channel 7 eyewitness news, ABC, New York
May 9 2005
Man Busted, Charged with trying to Buy Illegal Weapons
(Rego Park-WABC, May 9, 2005) – A man from Queens is under arrest for
allegedly wanting to buy six hand grenades. He’s accused of trying to
make a deal with a person who turned out to be an undercover cop.
It happened in Rego Park. Eyewitness News’ Nina Pineda reports.
People who live across the hall, right next to the man say they were
sick when they found out he had an Uzi inside of the apartment and
was reportedly trying to build some sort of mini- arsenal. They tell
us this was the crazy neighbor, the one who ranted and raved about
the U.S. government, conspiracy theories, and talked about blowing
things up. They didn t take him seriously.
Police nabbed the 56-year-old man allegedly trying to buy the
explosives near his Rego Park home. They say their investigation
revealed the suspect had a business deal go bad on him. Police say he
is an American citizen of Armenian-Jewish decent who reportedly tried
to solicit help by writing letters to area rabbis. When he didn t get
the response he wanted, they say he wrote to a judge and Senator
Charles Schumer.
Neighbors said he seemed angry and unstable. Police say he was a
disturbed person who already had an arsenal: a machine gun in the
apartment along with illegal assault weapon 149 rounds of ammunition.
Police are charging him with possession of illegal weapons, and
attempting to possess illegal weaponry.

GEORGIAN «REFORMS»
A1plus
| 17:33:05 | 04-05-2005 | Politics |
In the combat against terrorism the innovations of the Georgian
authorities follow one another. Convinced that one of the most
corrupted structures is the court system, in March the Georgian
Government has adopted a decision. According to the document, all
those judges who will confess their being involved in corruption
will not be sued. Moreover, resigning from work their salary will be
preserved till the end of their lives.
Let us mention that in Georgia the average salary of judges is
$800. From the 136 Georgian judges 6 have already used this “clever”
decision. Confessing their being involved in corruption they have
provided an unprecedented pension for themselves.
Several lawyers are mildly speaking surprised by the decision of the
Georgian Government and confess that even the developed countries
cannot afford such a thing while their budgets are much richer than
the Georgian budget. The latter, by the way, is 1 billion 800 million
UA dollars.
–Boundary_(ID_npfmbJIj8e5bbhUAzg2Axg)–

Scientists Cannot Be Stopped By Courts, Halacoglu
Turkish Press
May 7 2005
ANKARA (AA) – Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu, the Chairman of the Turkish
History Society (TTK), said on Wednesday that scientists could be
criticized, but could not be stopped by courts, when commenting on the
investigation launched regarding the statements he made in Switzerland
that the Armenian genocide allegations were baseless.
Stating that the Armenians were manipulated by western imperialism,
Halacoglu said, “you can’t expect two nations (Turks and Armenians)
that lived together for 850 years to become enemies suddenly. There
are circles which provoke this (enmity). You can see how they were
organized in French archives, how they are used by the Brits, and
how Russians used them as spies. If I were an Armenian, I would sue
Britain, France and Russia in international courts.”
Halacoglu added, “genocide cannot be committed by an entire
nation. Genocide can be carried out by a government or administration,
and so they (government/administration) should be accused. But, they
(foreigners) are accusing the entire Turkish nation. They are trying
to apply a double standard, and they have different targets. It is
not just to reject Turkey’s EU membership. This is also related with
Turkey’s standing as a regional power, and not allowing imperialist
countries to exploit its underground resources. In fact, they are
trying to reinforce Sevres (Treaty).”

WAY TO JUST COURT FORMATION VIA INDEPENDENT JUSTICE COUNCIL
A1plus
| 13:08:38 | 07-05-2005 | Politics |
“In past the problems with the human rights were connected with the
imperfection of the juridical system, absence of independence and
proper guarantees”, Hrayr Tovmasyan, co-author of the constitutional
amendments draft presented by Democracy public organization says.
In his words the juridical system fixed in the acting Constitution
is fully dependent on the executive power and the President. “The
executive power has nothing to do with the formation of the juridical
corps while the Justice Council is called to secure the independence
of the juridical power. However in Armenia this notion is distorted as
the President is the Chairman of the Justice Council and his deputies
are the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice. Taking into
consideration the fact that the Justice Minister can bring a suit
against a judge any judge will become dependent perforce.
In Tovmasyan’s opinion in such a situation the Justice Council cannot
be independent. The constitutional draft presented by Democracy
leaves no place for the President, Justice Minister or the Prosecutor
General in the Justice Council. According to the draft, 2 judges of the
Council should be elected the general council via secret vote while
the National Assembly elects 2 legal experts and 2 lawyers. After
resigning their salary become equal to the salary of the chairman
of the Court of Cassations, enjoy immunity and are empowered to
solve issues connected with the juridical corps. “There is one more
important item. The judge has the right to appeal a decision against
him in the Constitutional Court”, Hrayr Tovmasyan added.
The Democracy draft calls for two specialized courts – the
Administrative and Economic. The latter has already been formed. “The
election dispute should be left to a chamber, which should be formed
under the Court of Cassations. The CC should deal with the disputes
emerging between the power branches, local self-government bodies
as well as individual claims. If a citizen considers that the suit
brought against him conflicts with the Constitution he should have
the right to appeal to the CC”, he resumed.
Victoria Abrahamyan

Pilgrims take a piece of Cornwall to Israel
The West Briton, UK
May 5, 2005
Jerusalem beckons for a team of 20 pilgrims who will leave a little
piece of Cornwall behind in the Holy Land. The group, which includes
nine people from the Feock parish, will land in Egypt before travelling
across Mount Sinai, through the Gulf of Aqaba and finally into Jordan
before they enter Israel.
There, they will travel to the Church of The Pater Noster to unveil
a plaque of The Lord’s Prayer written in Cornish which will join more
than 100 others written in most of world’s languages.
Joining them on the journey is a copy of the New Testament, also
written in Cornish.
Leading the pilgrimage is the Rev Barbara Heseltine, assistant priest
at Feock Church, who explained: “In November we had a service in
the cathedral to celebrate the translation of the New Testament
into Cornish.
“It occurred to me that there might not be a copy of The Lord’s Prayer
in Cornish in the Church of the Pater Noster.
“They have all these copies of The Lord’s Prayer in ceramic on
the walls.
“So what we have done is collect enough money to do one in Cornish.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury was given a copy after a visit to Truro
Cathedral in November 2004 and has subsequently made a donation to
aid the Cornish pilgrims’ quest.
Armenian Orthodox Christian, Hagop Antressian, a stonemason, is busy in
his workshop crafting the plaque to be ready for the group’s arrival
in Jerusalem in mid May.
The Church of the Pater Noster sits at the top of the Mount of Olives
and is said to be where Jesus taught his disciples The Lord’s Prayer.
The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Bill Ind, is delighted that the Cornish
New Testament is going to Jerusalem, and is writing a special message
to go inside it.
“I hope that Cornish people will feel that they want to identify with
this project, and that those subsequently going to Jerusalem will
make a point of visiting the Church of Pater Noster, and seeing the
plaque,” said Bishop Bill.
The Rev Brian Coombes, secretary of the Bishop’s advisory group for
services in Cornish, said: “I think it’s always nice when people use
a little bit of Cornish and this is splendid news.”