Author: Jidarian Alex

NKR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO QUALIFY
MASSACRES IN SHUSHI IN 1920 AS GENOCIDE COMMITTED BY AZERBAIJAN

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The NKR National Assembly condemns
the massacres of the Armenian population of Shushi and adjacent
areas on March 23, 1920, and calls on the international community to
qualify this bloody event of ethnic annhilation as a crime committed
by Azerbaijan against humanity – a genocide. In a statement adopted
on the 85th anniversary of the tragic event, the Artsakh parliament
underlines that “this heinous crime that took over 30 thousand lives
was organized and committed by the legal predecessor of the current
Republic of Azerbaijan – the authorities of the Democratic Republic of
Azerbaijan with the direct assistance of a Turkish dispatch corps.” The
NKR National Assembly notes that this mass crime was perpetrated in
breach of a provisional agreement between the Armenian National Council
of Karabakh that became an independent administrative and political
unit and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, according to which
an acceptable solution of the problem of the territory’s legal status
must be solved by the countires that won in World War I at the Paris
Peace Assembly. The NKR parliament points out that as a matter of fact,
“the the March, 1920, massacre of the Armenian population of Shushi was
continued, in various forms and by various means of ethnic cleansing,
in all subsequent years of Nagorno Karabakh’s forced existence as
part of Azerbaijan and ended with a mass displacement of the remaining
part of the city’s Armenian population in 1988.”

OSCE FFM REAFFIRMS KARABAKH’S BEING CONFLICTING PARTY

YEREVAN, MARCH 25. ARMINFO. The OSCE Fact-Finding Mission has proved
once again that Nagorny Karabakh is a conflicting party and the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict cannot be settled without its involvement
in the settlement talks, former Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
Vladimir Kazimirov says in an interview to Regnum.

The idea of the monitoring was a deviation from real settlement – one
more trick not to approach the negotiating table which is fraught with
inevitable concessions. But there is no settlement without concessions.

Kazimirov is not surprised at the results of the monitoring. “I have
repeatedly been to those parts and the FFM has reported exactly what
it saw.”

The initiators of the idea is trying hard to hide its disappointment
as the other side is already demanding a monitoring of the districts
controlled by Azerbaijan. The present negotiating process does
not reflect the importance of the conflict and does not meet the
expectations of the region’s peoples. Commenting on Azerbaijan’s
bellicose statements Kazimirov says that the position of a defeated
party is always controversial.

It was staking on force and neglecting UN resolutions that brought
Azerbaijan to the present situation ten years ago. The international
community should not be indifferent to the stalemate in the negotiating
process and especially to such bellicose statements. Both PACE and OSCE
are strangely tolerant to the current war propaganda. They would not
tolerate such a situation somewhere in Western Europe. There is no
such situation there exactly because they would not have tolerated it,
says Kazimirov.

Investm cooper vital for boosting Russia-Armenia relations-Putin

ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 25, 2005 Friday

YEREVAN, March 25 — Russian President Vladimir Putin believes
investment cooperation is a serious asset for the development of
Russian-Armenian relations.

“Regional and investment cooperation is an important asset,” the
Russian head of state said at a press conference after talks with
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Friday.

“The stable political situation and economic growth in Armenia is an
important prerequisite for expanding cooperation,” Putin believes.

“Speaking about Russian investments, they are growing and there are
considerable prospects here,” the Russian president said.

“On our part we’ll welcome Armenian investments in Russia,” Putin
stated.

Putin calls power change in Kyrgyzstan ‘illegitimate’

AFX Europe (Focus)
Mar 25, 2005

YEREVAN, Armenia (AFX) – Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the
“illegitimate” change of power in Kyrgyzstan but said Russia hoped to
establish positive relations with new authorities that emerge there,
Agence France-Presse reported.

The Russian president also offered to shelter to Kyrgyzstan’s ousted
leader Askar Akayev after the veteran chief was removed from power
by chaotic opposition protests.

“It is regrettable that in a post-Soviet country the conflict was
resolved in an illegitimate way and was accompanied by pogroms and
human victims,” Putin said at a news conference.

“But we hope that in the future our relations develop in a positive
manner for the good of the Russian and Kyrgyz people,” he added,
according to AFP.

Putin also said that opposition leaders currently assuming positions
of authority in the Central Asian state were “well known” in Russia
and “have contributed greatly to the growth of Russian-Kyrgyz
relations.” bur-cb/tnm/wk

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Today is Tuesday, March 22 2005 12:34 pm GMT+2 updated at 12:00 P.M.

US historian rejects Armenian genocide claims

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

There was a war in Eastern Anatolia during the World War 1, towards the
end of the late Ottoman Empire, not a genocide campaign against Armenians
living in the region, a renowned U.S. historian said yesterday.

Professor Justin McCarthy, who came for a several-day visit to Turkey at
the invitation of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told
reporters that the Ottoman Empire was reacting to a group of people
revolting against the government, when asked to comment on the events of
1915, which Armenians allege amounted to genocide against their ancestors.

Turkey categorically rejects charges of genocide, saying the killings came
as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest sparked by an Armenian
revolt in hope of getting an independent state in Eastern Anatolia with
support from Russia.

Armenians; however, have stepped up a campaign for international
recognition for their claims as the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide
on April 24 is approaching.

Deniz Baykal, chairman of the CHP, said McCarthy’s thesis should not be
confined to a restricted academic circle but get widespread public
attention.

“This is of great importance. We believe this way we will have the chance
to correct a grave deception,” Baykal said and added: “We want to make sure
the debate (on the alleged genocide) will shift away from a political
framework to a scientific one based on historical documents.”

The CHP recently received backing from the governing Justice and
Development Party (AKP) for its call on all the countries concerned to open
national archives to researchers so that authenticity of the Armenian claims
could be judged. The party calls for a joint Turkish-Armenian study of
archives and says an international organization, such as UNESCO, could
supervise whether the investigation is carried out in a scientific manner.

McCarthy, a historian and an expert on Ottoman history, teaches at the
University of Louisville in Kentucky.

OSCE report to have positive influence on peace process – Armenian minister

Arminfo
21 Mar 05

Yerevan, 21 March: The OSCE factfinding mission’s report on the
liberated territories will have a positive influence on the peaceful
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan has said in an interview with Armenian Public TV.

He said that owing to the activities of the OSCE mission, Azerbaijan’s
arguments remained unconsidered. At the same time, it became obvious
that the problem of refugees is a mutual issue, however, Azerbaijan has
always stated that there is only the problem of Azerbaijani refugees.

Actually, the OSCE mission proved that despite the insignificant
number of people on these territories, most of them are Armenian
refugees from Azerbaijan.

All this allowed Armenia to demand a similar mission in the territories
they were ousted from – Shaumyan District, northern Mardakert and
eastern Martuni. This issue is becoming pressing and will militate
against Azerbaijan. However, this problem will not hinder the
negotiations, the Armenian foreign minister said.

Everything will depend on Azerbaijan’s further steps since it has
realized very well that there is the problem of Armenian refugees.
Azerbaijan tried to raise this problem with the UN, but failed and
then an OSCE mission was invited and here is the outcome. Everything
will depend on how Azerbaijan is trying to politically speculate
on all these issues. Armenia’s position on this matter is obvious,
if the issue goes to the UN, Azerbaijan will deal not with Armenia,
but with Nagornyy Karabakh, Oskanyan thinks.

[Passage omitted: Other details]

PanArmenian News
March 21 2005

18 ARMENIAN CITIZENS DEPORTED FROM KRASNODAR RUSSIAN TOWN

21.03.2005 04:52

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 1918 Armenian citizens , who were working
in different towns of the region without having a temporary
registration, were deported from Kuban, Russia. The illegal migrants
are making this forced journey at the expense of the Federal
Treasury.

National Week of Libraries to be held on April 11-18
By Armine Ghazarian

Yerkir/arm
18 March 05

Association of Armenian Libraries NGO is organizing a national week
of libraries in April. This is the fourth annual week of libraries
organized by the NGO. More than 100 school, children’s, regional and
city libraries will be participating in this large scale event.

Within the framework of the national week of libraries various
exhibitions, meetings, roundtables, presentations, seminars and other
events will be organized aiming at emphasizing the role of books and
reading among the population.

This year the library week will be held on April 11-18. It will be
devoted to children and will be titled “Our Future Is with Children
who Read Books”. The opening ceremony will be held at the National
Library. On the same day two exhibitions devoted to the 1600th
anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet and the 60th
anniversary of General-Mayor Samvel Safarian will be held in the
small and large exhibition halls of the library.

The participants will also have a chance to see the exhibition of
children’s literature. In the Vernatun exhibition hall an exhibition
titled Armenian Composers for the Children will be held where the
70th anniversary of composer Areg Lusinian will be celebrated.

Two interesting events will be held on April 12 in Lori and Armavir
regional libraries. Hrant Matevossian’s 70th anniversary and Avetik
Isahakian’s 130th anniversary will be celebrated there.

A meeting with writers Zori Balayan, Arevshat Avagian, Razmik Davoyan
and others will be organized at the Central Library after Isahakian
in Yerevan. A debate titled “What Do Books Mean to Me?” will be held
in Syunik regional library.

The presentation of Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs Hovik
Hoveyan’s collection of poems will be held in Gegharkunik regional
library. A seminar on e-books will be organized at Khnko Aper
Children’s Library in Yerevan. The Republican Medical Library will
organize a discussion on medical and psychological aspects of reading
for children.

On April 15 a animation theater performance will be organized for
Huys orphanage children in Gyumri. The regional library in Armavir
will organize an exhibition of child artists devoted to the 125th
anniversary of Martiros Sarian. Gegharkunik regional library will
organize a commemoration event devoted to the Armenian Genocide. The
regional library of Armavir will host an exhibition devoted to the
60th anniversary of the victory in the World War II.

The closing ceremony of the National Week of Libraries will be held
on April 18 in Khnko Aper Children’s library in Yerevan.

PanArmenian News
March 19 2005

ALIYEV: IF KARABAKH PEACE TALKS DO NOT PRODUCE RESULTS, BAKU WILL
TAKE STEPS BASED ON NEW SITUATION

19.03.2005 03:17

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If there is progress made at the meeting of Azeri
and Armenian Foreign Ministers, a recurrent round of consultations of
state leaders may appear necessary. As reported by Trend news agency,
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev stated in Beijing March 18 – when
commenting on the opportunity of holding a recurrent meeting of the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In his words, consultations
have already been held and the positions of the parties are known. At
that I. Aliyev stated that the peace talks have already lasted over
10 years and there are no results attained and «the patience of the
Azerbaijani people is not limitless.»

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 18, 2005

Armenia denies Armenian origin of weapons smuggled into USA

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

The Armenian Security Service denies the claims that the weapons,
smuggled into the United States from the republics of the former
Soviet Union and the East European countries, were stolen or bought
on the territory of Armenia. First Deputy Director of the National
Security Service under the Government of the Republic Major-General
Grachia Arutunyan voiced this denial here on Friday. Nevertheless, he
admitted, the Armenian security services had carried out some arrests
in connection with the sensational report on weapons smuggled into
the United States. Eight firearms and ammunition were seized during
the arrest.

The FBI operation to cut short the activities of weapons smugglers
was carried out with the assistance of Russia and Armenia, U.S.
Attorney David Kelley reported on March 15. The weapons, mostly of
Russian make, were bought “on the territories of Georgia, Armenia and
some countries of Eastern Europe”, he added. Charges were brought
against eighteen suspects, seventeen of whom are already under
arrest, Kelley said. The gang had smuggled into the United States
Kalashnikov submachine-guns, portable grenade launchers, machine-guns
and portable ground-to-air missile complex via New York, Los Angeles
and Miami, the attorney noted.

General Arutunyan said the 37-year-old Artur Solomonyan, whom the FBI
had arrested as ringleader, was a citizen of Armenia. His brother,
Levon, was also arrested in the United States. Both brothers, the
general added, had left Armenia when they were yet students of the
republic’s Academy of Agriculture. They went to the United States in
1998 and 2000 respectively in accordance with a students study
program and never came back. The Armenian police declared the
Solomonyan brothers wanted for dodging military service.