Author: Kanayan Tamar

Glendale News-Press
Published April 18, 2006
Glendale man hit in drive-by shooting
Shooter targets young man on foot. Injuries not thought to be
life-threatening.
By Vince Lovato, News-Press and Leader
SOUTH GLENDALE — A young Glendale man was shot in the knee in a
drive-by shooting Monday afternoon while walking with a group of
friends at Adams Street and Elk Avenue, police said.
Two to four males in a green Toyota Camry passed a group of more than
a dozen teens and young adults who were walking south on Adams about
a block south of East Colorado Street, Glendale Police Officer John
Balian said.
The Camry started to turn west on Elk but stopped. A male in the
rear passenger seat pointed a hand gun at the group and fired, Balian
said. .
The bullet struck a young man in the knee. The wounded man limped
east across Adams, where he collapsed after realizing he was shot,
Balian said.
advertisement The young man was taken to Glendale Memorial Hospital,
Balian said. Police could not release the name of the victim until
family members were notified.
His injuries were not thought to be life-threatening, Balian said.
Witnesses said the Camry drove west on Elk as members of the group
walking with the shooting victim used cellphones to call 911. The
early 1990s Camry had no license plates, Balian said.
Police were still looking for leads Monday night.
“We have nothing right now but the good thing we have are a lot of
witnesses,” Balian said.
The victim’s shoe and T-shirt were still on the sidewalk as police
interviewed witnesses inside an area cordoned off with yellow police
tape as dozens of onlookers watched the scene.
Minutes before the shooting, which took place at approximately
3 p.m., the Camry drove past the group when they were near Orange
Grove Avenue and Verdugo Road, Balian said. A witness said a one of
the men in the car fired one shot into the air, striking no one.
The group thought the first shooting was a hoax and laughed it off, the
witness said. Police confirmed that there was an altercation earlier,
but could neither confirm nor deny that a shot was fired into the air.
Forensics investigators removed a bullet from a wall behind the area
of the shooting, Balian said.
Victor Hermosillo, a 28-year-old father who lives on Elk a few houses
west of the shooting, said he thought the shooting was part of a “turf
war” in the old, middle-class neighborhood, where racial tension has
been mounting.
“You see the racial tension between the Armenian kids and the Mexican
kids at school every day,” Hermosillo said. But Balian said beat
police haven’t reported any heightened racial tension in the area.
“We don’t have anything telling us that it was racially motivated,”
Balian said.
“And usually if it’s gang related it’s because of territorial issues
and it just happens that the suspects and victims happen to be from
different parts of the world and are not targeted by their race. They
are fighting over their area.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to
call Det.
Matt Irvine at (818) 548-3987 or the police’s crime stoppers number at
(818) 507-STOP where witnesses can remain anonymous and can receive
a $1,000 reward if they have information that leads to a conviction,
Balian said.
* VINCE LOVATO covers education. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215
or by e-mail at vincent.lovatolatimes.com.

WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF DEEPENING ARMENIAN-UKRAINIAN TIES
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 17 2006
On April 17 RA NA President Artur Baghdasaryan received Alexander
Bozhko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia.
The Ambassador informed the President about the parliamentary
elections of Ukraine and inner political last developments and
said that according to the results of the elections, a coalition
extended signing of the agreement is prepared, which will regulate the
activities of the parliament and government. The fulfillment of the
inter-parliamentary agreement with the new parliament signed during
the NA President’s official visit to Ukraine was highlighted.
Evaluating the overcoming of the post-electoral difficulties in the
inner-political field, the NA President congratulated the establishment
of the orange colour coalition and expressed a hope that will promote
the strengthening of the stability of the country and deepening
of democracy.
Both sides highlighted that the elections passed according to
democratic standards, equal opportunities were created for political
forces and enjoyed the positive evaluation of the international
structures.
At the Ambassador’s request Artur Baghdasaryan, NA President, presented
evaluations on the political situation and parliamentary activities
of Armenia.
During the meeting both sides also discussed other issues.

BEAUTIES PERSECUTED IN IRAQ
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
18/04/2006
Winner of Miss Iraq contest 23-year-old Armenian Tamar Goregian
returned her crown to the preparatory committee 4 days ago after the
April 9 contest giving way to persecutions from the Moslem world. “You
are the queen of unbelievers, but not of beauty,” Regnum news agency
quoted Moslem organizations as saying.
Miss Iraq’s preparatory committee proposed the crown to Moslem
participants of the 2d and 3d places but they also refused to accept
it. Eventually the crown decorated the head of another Armenia,
23-year-old Silva Sahakian, on the 4th place. According to the agency,
she did not reject the crown but has to hide now.

International Qods Conference opens in Tehran
IRNA website
14 Apr 06
Tehran, 14 April, IRNA: The Third International Conference on Qods and
Support for the Rights of Palestinian People will kick off here Friday
evening [14 April] with inaugural speech of the Supreme Leader of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamene’i.
President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel,
Judiciary Chief Mahmud Hashemi- Shahrudi as well as domestic and
foreign political and cultural figures are to attend the conference,
to be held upon the initiative of the Supreme Leader.
After Ayatollah Khamene’i’s speech, President Ahmadinezhad is
scheduled to address the conference.
The conference will be attended by 600 foreign officials including 20
parliament speakers from Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Indonesia,
Uganda, Cameroon, Congo, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leon, Cuba, Comoros,
Madagascar, Malaysia, Qatar, Mauritania, Mauritius, the Seychelles,
Sri Lanka and Guinea.
Eleven vice-speakers from Libya, Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain,
Oman, Tunisia, the Philippines, Gambia, Togo and Senegal will also
take part in the conference.
Representatives from parliaments of South Africa, Kuwait, Russia,
Mexico, Kenya, Somalia, Benin, Mali, Bosnia, Armenia and Albania are
among other participants at the conference.
Researchers, writers, experts and university professors from Belgium,
Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Kuwait, India, Syria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania,
Qatar, Tajikistan, Bosnia, Jordan, Libya and Algeria are to attend
Tehran conference on Palestine.
Moreover, 200 foreign reporters residing in Tehran along with 50
foreign and some 200 domestic reporters will cover the conference.

3 TOURS REMAIN TO THE END OF CHESS EUROPE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2006
KUSADASI, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. After 8 tours in the men’s and
women’s chess Europe individual championships being held in the
Turkish city of Kusadasi, Croatian Zdenko Kozhul is the only leader
in the men’s competitions. He has gained 6.5 points. Vasili Ivanchuk
(Ukraine) who is currently in second place lags behind him by 0.5
points. A number of chess-players share 3-19th places with 5.5 points
each. Representatives of Armenia Ashot Anastasian and Artashes Minasian
are among them. One more Armenian chess-player, representative of
Georgia David Haroutiunian, is also in this group. The results of
another Armenian chess-players are the following: Tigran L.Petrosian,
Tigran Kotanjian 4.5 points each, Arman Pashikian 3.5 points. Tea
Bosbum-Lanchava (Holland) and Yekaterina Atalik (Turkey) are in the
lead in the women’s competitions. Elina Danielian and Lilit Mkrtchian
among representatives of Armenia perform most successfully. Each of
them has gained 5 out of 8 possible points and shares 11-30th places
with a group of chess-players. Another 2 representatives of Armenia,
Nelli Aghinian and Siranush Andreasian, have 4.5 points each. 3 tours
have remained to the end of the men’s and women’s Europe championships.

IMPLEMENTATION OF MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CORPORATION’S PROGRAM IN ARMENIA TO CONTRIBUTE TO REGIONS’ DEVELOPMENT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 13 2006
Yerevan, April 13. /ARKA/. The implementation of the Millennium
Challenges Corporation’s program in Armenia will essentially
contribute to the development of the country’s regions and rural
poverty reduction, Speaker of the RA Parliament Artur Baghdasaryan
stated at his meeting with a US delegation, which includes Chairman
of the Foreign Allocations Subcommittee, Chamber of Representatives,
US Congress, Jim Colby and Head of the “Millennium Challenges”
corporation John Danilovich.
During the meeting, Speaker Baghdasaryan pointed out the importance
of the program in the following directions: regional development and
bridging the development gap between the capital and the regions,
democratic development and introduction of public control mechanisms.
Speaker Baghdasaryan expressed gratitude to the US Government for its
consistent assistance in the country’s democratization. “Armenia’s
economic and democratic development must be simultaneous,” Baghdasaryan
said.
The sides pointed out the importance of the program for Armenia’s
democratic development on the threshold of the 2007-2008 elections.
In their turn, Danilovich and Colby addressed democratic reforms
and economic development of Armenia. They pointed out the existence
of political will for the development of the reforms, ensuring of
political freedoms, rule of law and transparency in the implementation
of the program. They also pointed out the necessity of holding
elections in conformity with the international standards.
Danilovich re-affirmed the determination of the US Government and of
the Millennium Challenges Corporation to be guided by the fundamental
principles of Armenia’s involvement in the program.
The agreement on the allocation of $235.5mln to Armenia under the
Millennium Challenges Corporation program was signed in Washington,
USA, on March 27, 2006. The document was signed by RA Minister of
Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatryan and Head of the Millennium
Challenges Corporation John Danilovich.

TIMES CHANGE BUT NOT PEOPLE
Panorama.am
14:59 12/04/06
Today the annual general meeting was held in the NAS.
As the above mentioned meeting had been labeled as “meeting of account”
the main event was the annual summary report of academician-secretary
Edward Ghazaryan which certainly met with the unanimous approval of
the academicians.
Later the academicians touched upon the problems that brought the
Armenian science to this bad state. Most of the announcements of
the academicians were mostly of the same character: “academicians’
salary is low”, “how is an aspirant to live on 5000 drams allowance”,
“why does a doctor of science receive lower salary than that of a
teacher” etc.
Yet in the meantime academician Nazareth Hovsepyan mentioned that
the psychology needs to be changed. “If the country’s President and
Prime Minister give the whole state budget to the Academy only, they
will be glorified for two months and then say there is no money,”
the academician said and warned that if one continues this logic
“science will live even worse days than today.”
After witnessing the works of the general meeting the conclusion is
one: first of all the atmosphere in the Academy has to be changed.
We find it necessary to state that nevertheless the academicians go
on working according to Soviet standards. The NAs General Meeting
was more like a collective meeting, whereas during the meeting the
Minister of Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan emphasized that the
Government is not going to interfere, and the Academy has to solve
the issues itself.

TURKISH COURT DROPS CHARGES AGAINST 4 JOURNALISTS; PROCEEDS WITH TRIAL OF FIFTH
AP Worldstream
Apr 11, 2006
A court on Tuesday dropped charges against four Turkish journalists
accused of insulting the country’s courts, but decided to press ahead
with the trial of a fifth journalist, a report said.
All five journalists were standing trial for criticizing in print a
court’s decision last year to shut down a conference in Istanbul about
the mass killings of Armenians by Turks during the Ottoman Empire.
Prosecutors said their writings were illegal attempts to influence
the outcome of a trial and insulted the court system.
On Tuesday, the court dropped charges against journalists Hasan
Cemal, Ismet Berkan, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu, on grounds that
prosecutors had not filed charges within the required two-month period
following the publication of the articles, the state-run Anatolia
news agency reported.
The court, however, decided to proceeded with the trial of Murat Belge,
a columnist for the liberal Radikal newspaper, the agency said.
The trial is seen as a test of Turkey’s readiness for membership in the
European Union. Turkey, which embarked on membership talks in October,
is under heavy pressure from the EU and human rights organizations
to address its infringements on freedom of expression.
The five had faced between six months to 10 years in prison. Charges
on the grounds of insulting the republic, state institutions or
“Turkishness” are frequently leveled against journalists, scholars
and dissidents.
The discussion of what happened to Armenians in Turkey between around
1915 and 1923 is extremely sensitive in Turkey, which vehemently
denies that mass killings and deportations of the then-sizeable
Armenian minority constituted an organized genocide.
The conference in September went on despite the court order to close
it down after organizers changed the venue at the last minute. It
was the first time the issue was publicly discussed in Turkey.
A case against Orhan Pamuk, the country’s best-known novelist, for
“insulting Turkishness,” was dropped earlier this year after Turkey
came under harsh criticism from the EU.

ELINA DANIELIAN AND ASHOT ANASTASIAN LAG BEHING LEADERS WITH SEVERAL POINTS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006
KUSADASI, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The games of the 7th tour are over
in the men’s and women’s chess Europe championships being held in the
Turkish city of Kusadasi. The Armenian women chess-players performed
especially successfully: Lilit Mkrtchian and Nelli Aghinian won their
games, Elina Danielian drew the game and only Siranush Andreasian was
defeated. After 7 tours Elina Danielian has gained 5 points and with
a group of woman chess-players having the same result lags behind
the leading three chess-players with several points.
Another woman chess-players representing Armenia are in the middle of
the tournament table. In the men’s championship, Ashot Anastasian has
the best results among 5 representatives of Armenia. He has gained 5
out of 7 possible points and shares 4-9th palces. Artashes Minasian
and Tigran Kotanjian take the next places. They defeated their rivals
in this tour and have 4.5 points each.
Tigran L.Petrosian and Arman Pashikian have gained 3.5 points each. 4
tours have remained until the end of the Europe championships.

U.S. STILL CAN’T SAY THE WORD
Infoshop News
April 11 2006
Monday, April 10 2006 @ 02:13 PM PDT
Contributed by: Oread Daily
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a campaign to exterminate
the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It
succeded in killing about 1.2 million people. More than 90 years later
the US State Department still can’t say the word “genocide” in regards
to what happened then. The State Department officially refers to the
“massacre” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkish Empire but has never
described the conflict as a deliberate attempt to eliminate an entire
race of people. It doesn’t want to upset a strategic ally – Turkey.
US STILL CAN’T SAY THE WORD
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a campaign to exterminate
the Armenian population through slaughter and mass deportation. It
succeded in killing about 1.2 million people. More than 90 years later
the US State Department still can’t say the word “genocide” in regards
to what happened then. The State Department officially refers to the
“massacre” of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkish Empire but has never
described the conflict as a deliberate attempt to eliminate an entire
race of people. It doesn’t want to upset a strategic ally – Turkey.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans publicly
referred to the 1915 slaughter as `genocide.”
A firestorm arose. Turkey, in particular, was outraged.
Unhappy lawmakers and activists contend Evans is being forced from
his post because of those comments.
Sounding as if he were reciting carefully prepared talking points,
Evans himself spoke delicately about his current status.
“I am still the ambassador,” Evans said in a brief interview recently
during a Washington visit. “I have not submitted my retirement papers.”
At the same time, Evans underscored the temporary nature of any
diplomatic posting.
In any event, the following is from Asbarez Armenian Daily.
—————————————— ———-
Rock Band Launches Washington, DC Campaign for Armenian Genocide
Recognition
LOS ANGELES — Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan of the Grammy
Award-winning band System Of A Down will travel to Washington, DC on
April 24 for a three-day campaign to urge Speaker of the House Dennis
Hastert and other Congressional leaders to end their complicity in
Turkey’s ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide.
On the evening of Monday, April 24, starting at 5:00 PM, band
members will join with the Armenian National Committee of America
and Armenian Youth Federation in leading a grassroots demonstration
outside the gates of the Turkish Embassy at 2525 Massachusetts Ave., in
Northwest Washington, DC. The Turkish government, through its Embassy
in Washington, spends millions of dollars each year to bully, threaten,
and blackmail the US government not to recognize the Armenian genocide.
The band members will devote Tuesday, April 25 to providing interviews
to the political media in Washington, and, in the evening, hosting a
Congressional screening of “Screamers,” a new documentary by filmmaker
Carla Garapedian about the band’s worldwide campaign for Armenian
genocide recognition.
On Wednesday April 26, System will meet with key Members of Congress
to urge them to allow a vote on legislation recognizing the Armenian
genocide, and at 5:30 PM will participate in the annual Capitol Hill
commemoration of the Armenian genocide. This event, now in its 11th
year, is regularly attended by over 30 Members of Congress, diplomats,
ethnic community leaders, human rights activists, genocide prevention
advocates, and Armenian Americans from across the country.
Beginning on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government began a
centrally planned and systematically executed campaign to annihilate
the Armenian people from their ancient homeland. By 1923 over 1.5
million Armenians were killed and hundreds of thousands deported,
in what constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.
Congressional legislation recognizing this crime (HR 316 / HCR195
/ SR320) has broad bipartisan support, but has been blocked from
coming to a vote by Congressional leaders, despite the fact that,
five years ago, US House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised to allow
Members to vote on this human rights measure.
In September of last year, Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan from the
band traveled to the Speaker’s hometown of Batavia, Illinois to
lead a rally urging him to allow a vote on the Armenian genocide
legislation. During the rally, Tankian delivered a personal and
powerfully worded message calling on the Speaker to do the right
thing, and stressing that “historical truths should never be denied
in a democracy–especially one with such a proud heritage of freedom.”
Speaker Hastert has it in his power to accomplish one of System’s
goals–official US recognition of Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923. By allowing Congress to vote on this
legislation, Speaker Hastert can end US denial of this crime and open
the doors to justice–to the restoration, reparation, and restitution
owed to the victims of genocide. By continuing to block a vote on
this legislation, Hastert effectively joins in the denial of this
crime against humanity, and the denial of justice to an entire nation.
The members of System Of A Down, Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian,
John Dolmayan, and Shavo Odadjian all personally lost family members
and family history to the Armenian genocide. “Because so much of my
family history was lost in the Armenian genocide,” said Malakian,
“my grandfather, who was very young at the time, doesn’t know his
true age. How many people can say they don’t know how old they are?”
Tankian, Dolmayan, and Odadjian all identify their grandparents’
memories as the only links they have to their respective family
histories, as most of their families were obliterated during the
Armenian genocide.
“It’s important for people to be aware of the Armenian genocide,”
explained Tankian, “and that those actions continue to be covered up by
the Turkish government, the US State Department, Turkey’s allies in the
defense and oil industries, and by our present US Administration. Had
the Armenian genocide been acknowledged as a crime against humanity
as it was, Hitler might not have thought he could get away with the
Jewish Holocaust. History does and will repeat itself, unless we stop
that cycle.”
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