Author: Kanayan Tamar

FIDèLE AU POSTE PAR PIERRE-YVES LE PRIOL. LE RETOUR DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
Le Priol Pierre-Yves
La Croix , France
26 avril 2006
La journee de commemoration du genocide armenien a donne lieu, lundi, a
une abondante couverture televisuelle. Et les images n’ont pas manque
sur les milliers de manifestants qui temoignaient a Paris, Lyon,
Marseille, comme ils le font chaque 24 avril pour se souvenir de 1915.
Ce qu’on pouvait remarquer, dans cet interet manifeste par les
chaînes, c’est qu’il detonnait par rapport a la discretion mediatique
habituelle. Ainsi l’an dernier, pour le 90e anniversaire des massacres,
l’absence des cameras avait ete quasi totale aux defiles.
Dix mille personnes dans les rues, chaque annee, sans incidents a
deplorer, voila qui ne “fait” pas evenement…
Que s’est-il donc passe pour que ce… 91e anniversaire suscite la
curiosite retrouvee des medias? Tout simplement l’emergence, en France,
d’un nouveau negationnisme. À Lyon, le 18 mars, une manifestation
turque avait conteste – pour la première fois – la realite des faits
de 1915. Un mois plus tard, un nouveau memorial lyonnais (inaugure ce
lundi) avait meme ete profane. Une proposition de loi sera d’ailleurs
examinee, d’ici peu, visant a punir toute contestation du genocide
armenien, au meme titre que les denis de la Shoah.
Ce que nous voulons pointer du doigt, dans ce cas d’ecole, c’est
la difference de traitement radicale etablie entre un “marronnier”
journalistique (un evenement repetitif) et une actualite susceptible
d’emerger au journal televise. Ce n’est en rien le nombre des
manifestants (a peu près le meme d’une annee sur l’autre) qui justifie,
ici, une telle inegalite de couverture; mais uniquement l’enjeu
emotionnel suscite, en l’occurrence, par la contestation turque.
On peut comprendre ce que cette donnee de fait a d’exasperant pour
la communaute armenienne, mais aussi pour bien des Francais de souche.
Sans polemique en cours, sans risques de violence, une simple journee
commemorative n’interesse guère la television. C’est bien une prime
que la “logique” mediatique accorde, ainsi, a la strategie de la
tension et aux vertiges de la surenchère.
–Boundary_(ID_ZNQX12kZXfeOv32NYlo/1A )–

NKR HAS STABLE EDUCATION SYSTEM WHICH FUNCTIONS IN EDUCATION FIELD OF ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 26 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. 240 secondary
schools, 5 middle professional institutions, the State University of
Artsakh, 7 non-state institutions of higher education and branches
function at present in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. The number
of students of schools, middle and higher educational institutions is
correspondingly 22 thousand, 2 thousand and 7 thousand. Kamo Atayan,
the NKR Minister of Education, Science and Culture informed about
this in the interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent. According
to Minister Atayan, the NKR has a stable educational system which
functions in the educational field of Armenia. “We have no publication
of own text-books, have no separately worked out educational programs
either and cooperate with the RA Ministry of Education and Science,” he
mentioned. According to K.Atayan, the NKR education system has numerous
problems the primary one among which creation of the material-technical
basis of schools is, what they must do with the help of Armenia. The
Minister also mentioned that an important progress was fixed in the
sphere of school constrution: “In this sense the situation is rather
good, almost all the schools of Artsakh have been constructed.” The
Minister informed that the Ministry of Education of Artsakh implements
at present joint programs with Armenia, in the direction of increasing
the quality of education. “Almost all the teachers of Artsakh undergo
a general computer training now, as it is supposed that later the
computer teaching will be put in the process of teaching all the
subjects,” K.Atayan mentioned.

YURI MERZLYAKOV RATED CONSULTATIONS WITH ARMENIAN AND AZERI FMS SUBSTANTIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 00:03 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The consultations held with the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow were very substantial, OSCE
Minsk Group Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov stated when commenting on
a meeting held last week between the Foreign Ministers of Armenian and
Azerbaijan, Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov within the framework
of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers. “We mulled the details of
further discussions. So, the next round of talks will start shortly,”
Merzlyakov announced, hinting at the next round of talks at the level
of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers.
According to Merzlyakov, the meeting is to be held in May, while the
term and place of talks are still to be defined. Upon the completion of
the meeting of the ministers the diplomats will mull the opportunities
for organization of a dialogue of the Presidents.
Merzlyakov noted that in early May the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs will
set up consultations in Moscow, and after tour the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict region, reported Trend news agency.

AYAZ MUTALIBOV: U.S. FOLLOWS OWN INTERESTS IN KARABAKH ISSUE
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.04.2006 00:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. follows its own interests in the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement process, Azerbaijani ex-President Ayaz
Mutalibov stated. In his words, proceeding from the tension over Iran
Washington is not interested in instability in the region. “In this
view the efforts of the U.S. administration to localize the conflicts
are quite understandable. On the other hand, if the U.S. stands for
peaceful settlement of the conflicts available in the South Caucasus,
so why doesn’t it abide by the same principle as regards Iran?” he
said, reported Day.az.

NEWS FROM HADRUT REGION
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
25 April 2006
4 million 475 thousand drams has been allocated for the refugees
in Hadrut.
260 refugee families displaced from different regions and cities
of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, who came to live in Hadrut, submitted
necessary papers to the social agency of the regional administration
of Hadrut. The documents were checked and submitted to the Agency for
Migration, Refugees and Re-settlement under the NKR Government. The
agency divided these families into social categories, and priority
is given to the families of killed azatamartiks, the disabled, large
families and single-parent families. 69 families have already received
the aid, which also includes travel and transportation expenses. The
head of the social service of the regional administration S. Hakobian
said the families which are not included in the special groups, will
receive the aid in the nearest future. The NKR government assists in
building houses for refugees. In 2005 houses of 10 million drams were
built for two families in Hadrut.

Breakaway Karabakh wants to be involved in talks with Azerbaijan
Regnum, Moscow
21 Apr 06
The National Assembly of the unrecognized Nagornyy Karabakh republic
(NKR) has asked the OSCE to treat Karabakh as a party to the peace
talks with Azerbaijan, Regnum news agency reported on 21 April.
In a statement adopted following the hearings on the Karabakh
conflict settlement in Stepanakert, members of the Karabakh
parliament appealed “to the OSCE Ministerial Council to respect the
NKR’s full involvement in the talks for settling the conflict”. The
MPs recalled that Nagornyy Karabakh was recognized as a party to the
conflict by Armenia and Azerbaijan and by several OSCE documents,
Regnum said.
The MPs also said they believed that the international recognition of
the democratic and viable NKR would “become a factor of regional
stability and security”.
The MPs accused Azerbaijan of starting a war against Karabakh and
said that Azerbaijan should therefore bear responsibility for it.
“This country bears responsibility for the fates of hundreds of
thousands of people on both sides who became refugees and internally
displaced persons following hostilities. Azerbaijan should pay
compensation to these people, irrespective of their ethnicity, for
material and moral damage, including the loss of the motherland,” the
statement said.

ARMENIA’S FM: INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO
CONTRIBUTE TO PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE IN THE WORLD
Yerevan, April 20. ArmInfo. Armenia and the Armenian people, as a
people, which underwent genocide, bears a moral responsibility in the
issue of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, thus,
to contribute to the further prevention of genocides in the world, The
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told at today’s joint press-
conference with the State Secretary of the Austria’s MFA Hans Winkler.
According to Oskanyan, entering of the Armenian Genocide’s
international recognition issue in the order paper of the Armenia’s
foreign policy is a natural process and it could not be otherwise.
“The Armenia’s authorities bear moral responsibility before the
Armenian people, previous generations, Genocide victims and the world
community, since Genocide is an actual phenomenon for the world”,
Oskanyan said, having reminded that Genocide, by the UN assessment,
is considered of one of the challenges of the XXI century.
At the same time, Oskanyan noted that the results of issue entering
in the republic’s foreign policy order paper are evident. According
to him, the Armenian Genocide has already been recognized by a host
of countries and their number is growing day by day. Besides, this
led to positive shearings even in Turkey, as more representatives of
intelligentsia talked about this issue. The Minister also noted the
connection of this issue with negotiations about Turkey’s membership
in the EC. In response to the question, if the publications in
the Turkish press about contacts at different levels between the
representatives of Armenia and Turkey represent the facts, Oskanyan
said that some publications relative to the contents of meetings are
overestimated grossly, however, the FM confirmed the fact of such
meetings. According to him, the Armenian-Turkish contacts exist and
they were not interrupted even in a “hopeless time”.

SEYRAN OHANIAN: EXERCISES SHOWED THAT NKR DEFENCE ARMY IS ABLE TO DEFEND REPUBLIC’S BORDERS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2006
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The
command-headquarters exercises showed that the NKR Defence Army is
able to defend the republic’s borders and to fulfil the tasks set
before it without participation of a third force. NKR Defence Minister
Seyran Ohanian declared this at the April 18 press conference. The
combat training of the reserve forces is also checked during the
exercises. As the Minister mentioned, within 7 hours the forces of the
reserve were able to fulfil the tasks set before them and this “means
that in case of an unprecedented war they can prevent the attack”. RA
Defence Minister Serge Sargsian and Deputy Defence Minister, Head
of the General Headquarters of RA Armed Forces Mikael Haroutiunian
were present at the exercises as observers. The exercises in Nagorno
Karabakh started a week ago. The observation of the final part of
the exercises took place on April 19.

DELEGATION HEADED BY RA MINISTER OF TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION IS IN ROSTOV REGION WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF DAYS OF ARMENIA TO RUSSIA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2006
ROSTOV-ON-DON, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The visit
paid to the region of Rostov by the RA official delegation headed
by RA Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamian is
within the framework of the Days of Armenia in the region of Rostov
on April 16-19. Gegham Gharibjanian, the RA Deputy Foreign Minister,
Bishop Yezras Nersisian, the primate of the New Nakhijevan and
Russia diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armen Smbatian,
the RA Ambassador to Russia, Alik Sargsian, the Ararat Governor,
Karine Khodikian, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth Issues,
Manvel Ghazarian, a NA Deputy, Martin Sargsian, the Chairman of the
Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Armenia, S.Galstian, the RA Deputy
Minister of Agriculture, H.Kushikian, the Director General of the
“Nairi” medical center, etc. are in the staff of the delegation. The
current stage and prospects of development of the Armenian-Russian
interregional cooperation were discussed at the meeting taken place
on April 17 between Minister Hovik Abrahamian and Vladimir Chub,
the Governor of the region of Rostov. The RA delegation visited the
same day the “Surb Khach” (Saint Cross) Russian-Armenian friendship
museum of Rostov-on-Don as well as the settlement of Chaltir populated
with Armenians of the region of Rostov. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department,
H.Abrahamian and V.Chub opened the Days of Armenia in the region
of Rostov on April 17, in solemn conditions. The Armenian dancing
art “Barekamutiun” (friendship) state group, singers Nune Yesayan
and Varduhi Vardanian as well as the Rostov regional philharmonic
orchestra of people’s instruments and the Don Cossacks Song and Dance
State Academician Ensemble participated in the concert of opening
the Days of Armenia. A meeting with representatives of the Armenian
community took place late the same day. April 18 and 19 are also full
of cultural events. Particularly, the RA delegation will visit the
historic-cultural complex of the settlement of Novocherkaskaya and
the Don Cossacks History Museum of Novocherkaskaya and the Catholic
Church. Holding of the Days of Armenia in the region of Rostov are
sponsored by the “Tashir Group,” “Armavia” company and Yerevan “Ararat”
Brandy Factory.

DEMAND FOR “AZERI AUTONOMY IN ARMENIA” NOT SERIOUS
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.04.2006 19:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan cannot invent anything new and the
demand for “formation of Azeri autonomy in Armenia” is not serious,
leader of ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction, historian Levon Mkrtchian told
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, Turkey practiced such line
in 1950-1960-ies when Armenian and Greek cultural monuments were
announced Turkish and Kurds were named “mountainous Turks”.
“Certainly the international community did not take it serious
and Turkey abandoned ottomanization of the peoples living on its
territory. Azerbaijan follows this way now. It fails to understand
that the world has changed and statements of the kind arouse nothing
but bewilderment,” Mkrtchian said.
He also informed that ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction has introduced
to parliament the draft bill “On rehabilitation of repressed and
displaced Armenians in 1931-1949, who later repatriated to Armenia”
To remind, “Azerbaijan’s Path” political movement has formed an
initiative group for returning “western Azeris, who were expelled
from Armenia in 1948-53 and 1988, to their homeland and granting
them autonomy”.