Author: Karakhanian Suren

COMMISSION OF HISTORIANS WELCOMED BY ACADEMIC

Hurriyet
April 22 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – While most Turkish and many non-Turkish historians
continue to object to the term "genocide" as an accurate description
of Armenia’s tragic years around 1915, recently there has been a
convergence of views. The earliest Turkish historian to move beyond
the black and white debate was Halil Berktay of Istanbul’s Sabanci
University. Berktay has suggested "proto-genocide" might be a better
term, given that the legal definition of genocide was written made
33 years after 1915.

One of the few Turkish figures to embrace the emotional word "genocide"
without reservation is Taner Akcam, a scholar at Clark University in
the U.S. His use of that word netted him an indictment for "insulting
Turkishness" at one point, a charge of which Turkish courts acquitted
him.

In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent Turkish visit,
his past use of the symbolic term and comments in Turkey that his
views have not changed in the run-up to April 24 are evidence enough
for Akcam, who believes Obama is likely to use the term in his expected
address Thursday.

Turkey’s proposal "I’d say there is a high possibility of such
recognition, it’s not possible to say he absolutely will do so,"
Akcam told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. More important
for Turkey and Armenia, he said, is a full and candid exploration and
discussion of the two societies’ mutual history and he said he welcomes
Turkey’s proposal for a commission of historians as a positive step.

But it should not be tasked to "come to a decision about history,"
but rather to work to complete the still incomplete archival record,
he said. Akcam pointed out that many documents would still need to
be presented to the historians committee once it is founded.

There are other archives, including references in Boston and at the
Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem as well that have not yet been
made fully available to scholars, he said.

More archival work will not change anyone’s broad conclusions, he said,
but will facilitate better understanding.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

LIVE TELEVISION BROADCAST VIA SATELLITE FROM ANTELIAS – 24 APRIL, 2009

A liturgy in memory of the Armenian Genocide victims will be offered at the
headquarters of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias. On this
occasion, the Noursat Broadcast will be broadcasting LIVE via satellite the
Holy Liturgy.

Place: Catholicosate of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon
Time corresponding UTC (GMT): Friday, April 24, 2009 at 7:00 AM

* Check below your local listings for broadcast dates and times in your
area.

For more details on how to receive Noursat in your area, copy and paste the
following link into your internet browser’s address field:
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Or follow the instructions below:
You can watch Noursat in Middle East, North Africa, Europe, North/South
America, Far East and Australia 7 days a week, 24/24 hours on Hotbird 4,
Echostar, Pas 9 and Pas 8.

For the installation or any technical inquiry kindly
call the following numbers:

Middle East, North Africa and Europe (HotBird 4):
Orbital Location: 13°E
Downlink Frequency: 10949
Downlink Polarization: Vertical
Symbol Rate: 27.5 M S/S
Fec: 3/4
961-1-254501/2/3

North America (Echostar):
Dish Network
USA: 1-800-984-3388
Canada: 1-514-636-3444

South America (Pas 9):
Multipole International
55-11-3079-5222

Far East, Australia & New Zealand (Pas 8):
World Media International
61-2-9747-1011

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OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT THE NAGORNO KARABAKH REGION FROM APRIL 21-27

ArmenPress
April 21 2009
Armenia

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri Merzlyakov(Russia), Bernard Fassier
(France) and Matthew Bryza (USA) will visit the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict region April 21-27.

OSCE spokesman Martin Nesirki told Armenpress that they will be in
Yerevan on April 21 and 22, in Baku -April 23-24, in Stepanakert
– on April 25-26. On April 26-27 the co-chairs will again visit
Yerevan. M. Nesirki noted that a certain change of chronology is
also possible.

Their visit aims at preparation of the possible meeting of Azerbaijani
and Armenian Presidents in Prague on May 7 and discussing issues
connected with the present round of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
regulation.

RUSSIAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST: RETURN OF FIVE OCCUPIED REGIONS TO AZERBAIJAN MUST UNDOUBTEDLY BECOME THE FIRST STEP

Today.Az
1634.html
April 20 2009
Azerbaijan

The results of the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Moscow are
positive, said head of the center for post-Soviet area study Alexei
Vlasov.

"The very information background around this visit both in Russian
and Azerbaijan mass medias and analysis of speeches of Dmitri
Medvedev and Ilham Aliyev by results of the meeting prove that the
Russian-Azerbaijani relations are just close to a very serious
breakthrough in a positive direction. Personally, I have this
impression", said the political scientist.

As for the Karabakh conflict, he said that Russia during the presidency
of Vladimir Putin and especially now since the start of Medvedev’s
presidency has repeatedly voiced a common approach – Russia is for
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"I have not heard any different position from our officials on this
issue. Second, Moscow, Baku and I think Ankara and Yerevan realize that
the internal negative energy around the Karabakh conflict is growing.

And if some positive changes in the resolution of the conflict do not
occur soon at least in the step by step format, the situation might
simply come out of control and Moscow is absolutely not interested
in this, not speaking of the direct participants of the conflict.

Therefore, I suppose that Moscow has some ideas about the step by step
advancement to the resolution of this conflict and I think (this is my
personal opinion) that the result of at least five occupied regions
of Azerbaijan, which are under occupation. And this step, I think,
must be taken beyond the context of the resolution of the issue about
the status of Nagorno Karabakh", said the political scientist.

FOREIGN MINISTER TO RECEIVE MATTHEW BRYZA

Panorama.am
10:36 18/04/2009

The Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan received yesterday
the OSCE Minsk Group American co-chair Matthew Bryza and the Ambassador
of the United States to Armenia Marie Yovanovich, the press and
information department of the Foreign Ministry reports. According to
the source, the parties have discussed Armenian-American relations and
their development, the negotiating processes of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations and a few other regional issues.

KARABAKH TALKS NO PLACE FOR TURKEY, SAYS NALBANDIAN

Gaziantep Haber 27
April 17 2009
Turkey

Armenia’s Foreign Minister, Edward Nalbnadian, reiterated on Thursday
his government’s strong opposition to direct Turkish involvement
in international efforts to settle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
ArmRadio reported.

17 Nisan 2009 Cuma 16:18

"Turkey will not play the role of a mediator in the Karabakh peace
process," Nalbandian said in a joint press conference in Yerevan with
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mamedguliev.

Nalbandian’s remarks came after Turkish President Abdullah Gul said his
country is involved in efforts to solve the conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, in addition to discussions over the normalization process
with Yerevan.

"Within this framework, as discussions on issues with Yerevan continue,
we are also involved in efforts to solve the problems between
Azerbaijan and Armenia," Gul said, adding that diplomacy did allow
him to speak publicly about the steps being taken regarding the issue.

Nalbandian, in contrast, expressed Armenia’s support for the integrity
of the OSCE Minsk Group as the chief mediating body for the conflict,
noting that "the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations are underway between
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh" and not with Turkey.

The Turkish government appeared ready to drop that linkage when
it embarked on an unprecedented dialogue with Yerevan last year to
establish diplomatic relations and reopen its border with Armenia,
which it closed in 1993 out of solidarity with Azerbaijan.

But the recent rapprochement between Turkey-Armenia has hit a major
bump in recent weeks, with Ankara echoing Baku’s stern opposition
to the establishment of diplomatic relations with Yerevan before a
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The shift follows threats by Baku to cut off gas supplies to Turkey,
which it says is jeopardizing Azerbaijani national interests with
its negotiations to lift the embargo on Armenia before a Karabakh
settlement.

Mamedguliev on Thursday reiterated Baku’s strong opposition to the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations before a Karabakh peace
is reached. "Our position is the following: the restoration of links
between Turkey and Armenia may only be conditional on the resolution
of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said.

Nalbandian and Mamedguliev were speaking to journalists after the
meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization
in Yerevan. Western and Turkish media had speculated that the
Armenian Foreign Minister and his visiting Turkish counterpart, Ali
Babacan, would use the meeting to announce an agreement on a gradual
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. But that announcement
never came.

Babacan, for his part, refrained from making any public statements to
that tune during his one-day trip, which ended with a meeting with
President Serzh Sarkisian. He did, however, reaffirm the linkage
between the Karabakh conflict and the establishment of diplomatic
ties with Yerevan as he spoke to CNN-Turk television on his way to
Yerevan. According to the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, he said the
Turkish-Armenian dialogue must run parallel with international efforts
to settle the Karabakh conflict.

Filmmaker to debut documentary on Christian Armenia

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 17, 2009

By Richard C. Dujardin

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Armenian filmmaker Arsen Aslanyan says Armenians have
always taken pride in their nation’s being the first in the world to be
formally declared a Christian nation, in 301 A.D.

And if asked, he says, nearly all in his homeland will tell you they are
Christian.

Yet, on a visit to Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church on
Tuesday to promote his documentary about Christianity in Armenia,
Aslanyan said he suspects most of his fellow countrymen have only a
limited knowledge of what the religion is about – the result, he says,
of years of Soviet rule when an atheistic government turned churches
into museums, prohibited the printing of Christian books and barred
clergy from visiting people’s homes.

"When I was growing up, I would go to church sometimes to light a
candle," he recalled. "But I didn’t understand a lot. That’s also true
of most others."

But the award-winning director says there’s a chance that his
documentary film, Christian Armenia, which will have its U.S. premiere
Sunday at the Columbus Theater, will give people a better understanding
of their history and Christian heritage.

Armenia, which regained its independence from the Soviets in September
1991, has a history that dates to centuries before the time of Christ. A

key moment came in 301 A.D. when King Tiridates was converted by the
first patriarch of the Armenian Church, Gregory the Illuminator, and
proclaimed Christianity the sole religion in Armenia.

Aslanyan, who began his career as a cameraman for Armenian television
and won various awards as a filmmaker for films about Armenian composer
Ohan Duryan and the 1980 Armenian earthquake, says his idea for the film

came in 2001 when Armenia celebrated the 1,700th anniversary of
Christianity in Armenia.

He said he assumed someone else would make a film about it, but when no
one did, "I felt I should make it."

Making a film without having to deal with Soviet censorship made his
work both easier and more difficult, he says. The Soviets would never
have allowed him to even show a cross, but at least they paid for his
work, he observed, while under the new system he can do what he wants
but is not paid.

It took him five years working off and on to complete the documentary,
which visits all of the sites significant to Armenia’s Christian
history.

With actor Vladimir Msryan playing the role of a sort of cosmic
commentator who comes in and out of scenes dressed in a long robe, the
film has so many facts squeezed in that people may find it hard to
absorb.

But Aslanyan says the film received "only positive" reviews in the
places it has been shown – the Netherlands, Switzerland, Georgia and in
Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia where it won awards, and in Armenia.

In making the film, "I learned a lot more things I wouldn’t have known
otherwise," he says, and he thinks it will help his countrymen better
understand their faith and heritage as well.

"In Armenia right now, it is still not possible for young people to
learn their Christian history from reading books because the books
haven’t been printed yet. This film can be an introduction and help them

feel proud."

Sponsored by the cultural committee of Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian
Church, Christian Armenia will be shown at the Columbus Theater twice on

Sunday – in English at 3 p.m. and in Armenian with English subtitles at
5 p.m. The donation is $10.

[email protected]

ONLY 60-70 THSD PEOPLE OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF THOSE VISITING ARMENIA EMPLOY SERVICES OF TOUR OPERATORS: EXPERT

ArmInfo
2009-04-16 17:12:00

Only 60-70 thsd people of the total number of those visiting Armenia
employ the services of tour operators, they arrive so to say by the
rules of the organized tourism, Chairman of the Association of Hotels
of Armenia Hakop Hakopyan told journalists today.

‘The remaining flow of the people visiting Armenia is divided into
different groups. This flow includes even the people who regularly
leave the country for earnings and return to the Motherland with the
same regularity. As for the tourists arriving in Armenia from abroad
and having no Armenian citizenship, they are divided into two groups:
the tourists and Armenians who live in the countries of the Diaspora
and arrive in Armenia to see their relatives’, he said.

According to H. Hakopyan, these people do not employ the services
of the hotel business for quite clear reasons, so, conventionally,
they are not considered tourists. ‘In view of the crisis, the rates
of hotel construction notably slowed down, no new investments are
received and many building projects in the regions have already been
frozen. Only the hotels at the stage of completion will be finished and
opened, since their owners will lose more if suspend the construction
launched’, H. Hakopyan resumed.

To note, according to the data of the National Statistical Service
of Armenia, 558,000 tourists visited Armenia in 2008.

NIKOLAY BORDYUZHA: WE ARE PLEASED THAT MANY COUNTRIES AND NOT ONLY IRAN SHOW INTEREST TO PRACTICAL ACTIVITY WITHIN THE FRAMES OF CSTO

ArmInfo
2009-04-15 12:49:00

ArmInfo. CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha proved Iran’s
interest to the activity of Collective Security Treaty Organization
[CSTO] activity at today’s press-conference in Yerevan within the
frames of the sitting of CSTO Internal Affairs Ministers.

Asked how CSTO treats possible cooperation with Iran, he replied:
‘I can reiterate what I said several days ago. Iran really shows
interests to the CSTO activity. Moreover, special services of
Iran effectively participated in our several operations, including
‘Kanal’, since they gave a big number of subdivisions and employees
for shutting off narco-traffic channels from Afghanistan. Fro this
reason we can just express satisfaction by the fact that today not
only Iran shows interest to practical activity within CSTO. I mean
the problems connected with narcotics and illegal migration and other
directions. The more countries join practical steps of CSTO the higher
the security and effectiveness level to resist specific challenges’.

ASSETS OF AMERIABANK GROW BY 65,1% IN FIRST QUARTER 2009

ArmInfo
2009-04-14 19:25:00

ArmInfo. The assets of Ameriabank grew by 65.1% in the first quarter
of 2009 and amounted to 80.9 bln AMD by March 31. As Ameriabank
press-service told ArmInfo, as compared with the first quarter of 2008,
the bank’s assets grew 3.8 times over the period under review.

In the first quarter of 2008 Ameriabank’s assets grew by 56,3% and
amounted to 21.1 bln AMD by March 31, 2008, and throughout 2008 the
assets grew 2.3 times and amounted to 49 bln AMD by the end of 2008.

To note, Ameriabank CJSC focuses on investment banking and also
provides the whole spectrum of universal banking services. The
strategic partner of the bank is Troyka Dialog, one of the largest
investment-banking companies in Russia.