Author: Jilavian Emma

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: ARMENIA SHOULD KEEP STRENGTHENING DEMOCRATIC REFORMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.03.2006 23:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Armenia should keep strengthening democratic
reforms. Local and foreign observers expressed their discontent with
the referendum on the Constitution. The Armenian Government recognized
the problems available and had pledged to improve the situation at
the election in 2007 and 2008,” US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice
stated in a signing ceremony of a Compact between the Millennium
Challenge Corporation and Armenia in Washington March 27. In his turn
Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian stated Armenian authorities make steps to
organize elections meeting international standards. “Register of votes
are checked, changes are introduced in the electoral legislation,”
the Armenian FM assured. The election in 2007 and 2008 will be an
examination on democracy in Armenia, he added, reports RFE/RL.

MICHUKI: ARMENIANS NOT IN RAID
Story By Bernard Namunane

The Nation, Kenya
March 28 2006

Two foreigners at the centre of mercenary claims were not among the
hooded men who raided a media house in Nairobi early this month,
a parliamentary committee has heard.

Internal Security minister John Michuki told the committee on Legal
Affairs and Administration of Justice that the police team that raided
the Standard and KTN offices was made up of Kenyans only.

Kabete MP Paul Muite addresses journalists on the police raid on the
Standard Group yesterday Committee chairman Paul Muite yesterday said
his team would confirm the truth of Mr Michuki’s statement when they
question police commissioner Hussein Ali, CID director Joseph Kamau
and the President’s special adviser, Mr Stanley Murage.

“We put the question about the participation of the two foreigners
in the raid on the Standard and KTN offices to Michuki. He told us
they were all Kenyans,” Mr Muite said at Parliament Buildings.

The Kabete MP said Mr Michuki gave the committee crucial information
which it was pursuing and which could lead to more people being
summoned to provide information on the raid.

“For instance, we would like to know who gave the order for the raid
when the police commissioner was out of the country,” he said.

Mr Michuki was last week questioned by the committee over the raid
on the Standard Group by a gang of hooded policemen.

Orange Democratic Movement leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka
have claimed that Mr Artur Sargsyan and Mr Artur Margaryan were
among the raiders. They also claimed Mr Margaryan was the commander
of the gang.

Mystery surrounds the kind of business the two foreigners who claim
to be Armenians are engaged in. Mr Margaryan has personally denied
the mercenary claims and Mr Sargsyan is in Dubai.

Yesterday, Mr Muite made the revelations after chairing the committee’s
meeting ahead of questioning Maj-Gen Ali, Mr Kamau and Mr Murage at
the MPs’ Continental House offices.

The three failed to appear as planned because the clerk to the National
Assembly had not sent out summons as requested by the committee.

They will, instead, appear before the committee on April 10.

Present were committee members, MPs Kenneth Marende (Emuhaya), Moses
Cheboi (Kuresoi), Jimmy Choge (Aldai) and Amina Abdallah (nominated).

The committee, said Mr Muite, was more interested in questioning
Mr Murage, who reports indicate attended the meeting at which the
decision to raid the media house was reached.

Mr Muite criticised Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha
Karua for trying to belittle the raid.

“The… minister has been trying to downgrade our job by describing
the raid as normal police undertaking,” Mr Muite said.

EU TO BECOME ENGAGED DIRECTLY

Lragir.am
27 March 06

The EU Special Representative in the South Caucasus Peter Semnebi told
the reporter of the Radio Liberty that Armenia will remain isolated
as long as the conflict is unsettled. According to him, the EU will
become engaged in the settlement of the conflict over Karabakh. He
stated that the settlement of the South Caucasian conflicts will be
one of the priorities of the EU, which is a signal of a more active
engagement in the settlement of disputes. According to Peter Semnebi,
the EU mandate has been expanded to involve settlement of conflicts. At
the same time, Semnebi expressed concern about the calls for settling
the Karabakh conflict through war, saying that the war will have
dramatic consequences.

AZERBAIJAN’S FM: “WE SHOULD CONTINUE TALKS WITHIN PRAGUE PROCESS”

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 27 2006

“We think we should continue the negotiations within the Prague
process. We have always said and will say that our stance remains
unchanged. If we really want to solve the Nagorno Garabagh conflict
once and for all, we should apply international juridical norms.

The world community recognizes Nagorno Garabagh as the territory of
Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told
journalists (APA).

The Minister also said that the conflict can possibly be settled only
in the framework of Azerbaijan’s Constitution.

Mr.Mammadyarov objected to tendencies to compare the Garabagh conflict
with the Kosovo conflict as if they are similar. The Minister noted
that each conflict has its own specific features.

YEREVAN MAYOR’S OFFICE TO HAVE ITS WEB SITE IN APRIL

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Center for Yerevan Management
Technologies is preparing the web site of Yerevan Mayor’s Office
(), the presentation of which will take place in
mid-April. And before it RA citizens can present their proposals
and opinions on the web site’s preliminary variant, which is already
ready. Center Director Khazhak Karayan informed about it at the March
27 press conference. According to him, in particular, information on
urban development, construction programs envisaged by Yerevan Mayor’s
Office in 2006-2007, information on activity of its departments will
be placed on the site. According to Kh.Karayan, soon new management
technologies will be introduced at Yerevan Mayor’s Office, which
will contribute to raising of the transparency of works of Yerevan
Mayor’s Office. In particular, a united information-analytical system
of Yerevan will be established, an internal system of electronic
management of Yerevan Mayor’s Office will be introduced by the end
of April and then an open electronic system will be established.

According to Kh.Karayan, the latter will enable the citizens to follow
the process of examination of their letters and complaints addressed to
Yerevan Mayor’s Office. Khazhak Karayan also informed that studies are
being conducted in internal structures of Yerevan Mayor’s Office, the
results of which will enable to work out a new conception of reforms.

RA OMBUDSMAN TO TAKE PART IN EUROPEAN OMBUDSMEN INSTITUTION’S SPECIAL SITTING

Noyan Tapan
Mar 27 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Ombudsman Armen Haroutiunian will
take part in the special sitting of the European Ombudsman Institution
to be held on April 1 in the Austrian city of Insburg. According to the
radio “Liberty”, it’s envisaged to make changes in the regulations
of the European Ombudsman Institution, to discuss the issue of
admitting new members and to listen to the organization Chairman’s
report at the sitting. The sitting participants will also analyse
the current situation of human rights sphere in Europe. The Armenian
Ombudsman Institution has been a member to the European Ombudsman
Institution since 2004 October when it became the 90th full member
of the organization.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Relics of Holy Echmiadzin to Be Exhibited at Pushkin Museum April 1-20

23.03.2006 21:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The State Fine Arts Museum after Pushkin, Armenian
Embassy in Russia, Holy Echmiadzin present an exhibition of Relics of
Holy Echmiadzin April 1-20, reports Muzeum.ru portal. The exhibition
is organized within the versatile cultural program of celebration of
the Year of Armenia in Russia.

Reliquiae have an important place in the exposition. Christian Church
sanctuary – parts of the Genunie Cross, fragments of Noah’s Ark, Holy
Lance, sacred relics.

The State Fine Arts Museum after Pushkin is linked with Armenia’s
culture and art. In early 50s past century an archaeological
expedition was organized at the site of ancient settlement of Erebuni
town of Urartu (VIII century B.C.). Palace and temple complexes were
found and 23 cuneiform scripts. Some of the finds are conveyed and
exhibited at the State Fine Arts Museum.

GROWTH OF CASES OF TUBERCULOSIS REGISTERED IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. March 24 is the International Day of
Struggle against Tuberculosis and its motto of this year is “To Act
for the Sake of Life to a World Free of Tuberculosis”. About 2 mln
people die from tuberculosis and about 9 mln are infected with this
disease every year in the world. Like in the whole world, in Armenia
also growth of cases of tuberculosis is noticed: in 2005 compared with
the previous year, they grew by 28.7%. As Noyan Tapan correspondent
was informed by Tatev Kostanian, Deputy Head of the “Anti-Tuberculosis
National Program”, 6455 people suffering from tuberculosis are
registered in Armenia. According to her, the number of newly-revealed
cases of tuberculosis increased by 448 in 2005 compared with the
previous year.

Meanwhile, it was mentioned that this is first of all conditioned by
the circumstance that programs aimed at revelation of cases of
tuberculosis and early prevention of the dicease are implemented
within the framework of the national program. Cases of death from this
disease increased by 13% in 2005 compared with the previous year:
thus, 148 people died from tuberculosis in 2004 and 167 people in
2005.

Karabakh talks should continue – Armenian premier

Arminfo
22 Mar 06

Yerevan, 22 March: Talks on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict
are continuing and have not reached deadlock yet, Andranik Markaryan,
Armenian prime minister and leader of the Republican Party, told
reporters today.

He said that negotiations on the Karabakh settlement should go ahead
as resumption of hostilities proceeds neither from the interests of
Armenia nor Nagornyy Karabakh. He stressed that one of the ways of
settling the Karabakh conflict is through official recognition of
Karabakh’s independence by Armenia. However, talks are under way for
the time being and it is premature to make serious analyses in that
respect, the prime minister concluded.

(Kyodo) – Selected editorial excerpts from the U.S. press:
Kyodo News Service; Mar 22, 2006

IT WAS GENOCIDE (Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles)

JOHN EVANS IS THE U.S. ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But
he probably won’t be for long. Evans, a career diplomat who was
selected to receive an American Foreign Service Assn. award last year
for his frank public speaking, irked his superiors at the State
Department by uttering the following words at UC Berkeley in February
2005: “I will today call it the Armenian genocide.” For that bit of
truth-telling, Evans was forced to issue a clarification, then a
correction, then to endure having his award rescinded under pressure
from his bosses, and finally to face losing his job altogether.

What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire
attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter and
mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2 million
people. Yet the State Department has long avoided the word “genocide,”
not out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey,
whose membership in NATO and location between Europe and Asia make it
a strategic ally.

It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled
history. Genocide, according to accepted U.N. definition, means “the
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group.” Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing
an ambassador for speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a
cynical, double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world.

For Armenians who escaped the killing and came to this country,
inadequate recognition of their history is crazy-making. Rep. Adam
B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes the heart of the
Armenian diaspora, keeps introducing a bill to officially recognize
the genocide, only to see congressional leadership quash it each year,
under pressure from the State Department.

One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its
Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a long-overdue
maturing process. Some day before then, we hope, the State Department
will too. (March 22)