Author: Karapet Navasardian

Armenian MP denies Russia boosting military presence
Arminfo
8 Jun 05
YEREVAN
Armenia and Russia have not signed an agreement on increasing the
staff of the Russian military bases in Armenia, and therefore, all
talk about the relocation of the Russian military bases from Georgia
to Armenia is groundless, Mger Shakhgeldyan, chairman of the defence,
national security and internal affairs commission of the Armenian
National Assembly, has said in a conversation with our Arminfo
correspondent.
He pointed out that the issue of expanding Russia’s military presence
in Armenia is not on the agenda of Russian-Armenian relations, the
talk is only about replacing worn-out military hardware at the Russian
bases in Armenia with new hardware from the military bases in Georgia.
“All these actions are being taken within the framework of the
Armenian-Russian agreement on military cooperation. At the current
stage, Russia’s military presence in Armenia is reasonably
sufficient,” the chairman of the commission stressed.
Shakhgeldyan stressed that the presence of Russian military bases in
Armenia is a major component of the regional security system. At the
same time, Armenia is an independent state that is setting up its own
security system in cooperation with NATO and the European Union.
Armenia is also interested in setting up a unified regional security
system and in signing a security pact in the South Caucasus,
Shakhgeldyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

>From the columns II
TDN
Thursday, May 19, 2005
PRESS SCANNER
PM is right on Armenian issue, butâ~@¦ :
Hurriyet’s Oktay Eksi focuses on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
remarks on the issue of the alleged Armenian genocide during a summit
of European heads of government in Warsaw.
Eksi reports that Armenian President Robert Kocharian said in front of
the prime minister that Armenia hopes to gain international recognition
of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey and thanked the countries
that supported Armenia in its bid to bring the so-called genocide
onto the international agenda.
“Erdogan, who didn’t contest the Armenian president’s remarks at the
time of Kocharian’s speech, then held a press conference and leveled
harsh criticisms at Kocharian,” said Eksi.
Concerning Erdogan’s comments, Eksi says Erdogan threatened countries
that have passed resolutions backing genocide claims with a campaign
to pass counter-resolutions through the Turkish Parliament concerning
genocides carried out by those countries.
Eksi argued that passing resolutions through the Turkish Parliament
would be easy, but implementing them would not be.
In conclusion, Eksi says Turkey is charged with the task of showing
those countries that committed large-scale genocides the true stories
behind some of the darker days of their histories.
No way out:
Hurriyet’s Bekir Coskun focuses on the performance of the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) and says that wise people are now
looking for an alternative to the AKP but haven’t managed to find a
proper candidate.
Coskun says no one will find a way to be rescued from the AKP and their
policies unless a series of negative and challenging events unfold.
“We can think of alternatives to the AKP only once things begin to go
terribly wrong. No particular party has tried to take the place of the
AKP with positive policies and new ideas,” says Coskun, adding that
the opposition is only looking for things that could cause people to
turn against the AKP.
–Boundary_(ID_A9Lr5INVtmZsIQRqzEbhEg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CAR SERVICE INSTEAD OF 17-YEAR-OLD PARKS
A1plus
| 17:11:32 | 18-05-2005 | Social |
“If they want to chop down the trees, let them do so, but please leave
one so that we can come and hang ourselves here after the trees have
been chopped down”, said the residents of the Yerevan Zaqaria Sarkavag
street 151/1, 151/3 and 151/4 houses during the act of complaint
today. {BR}
The history repeats itself. The problem of the Sebastya areas has
not yet been solved when these areas have deserved the same fate. As
the owner of the land Souren Egiyan is telling, there were no parks
near their building for the children to play, so they brought the
necessary cars, gathered stones, planted trees and cultivated the area.
Two years ago the residents of the building applied to the community
head in order to privatize the park created by them 17 years ago. But
without letting them know the community head sold the area in an
auction to the “Tigran” LTD to build a Car Service Complex. The
participants of the meeting mentioned that the above mentioned LTD
belongs to a NA deputy.
The residents of the building had applied to the Court of First
Instance and won the case, but the community head re applied to the
Court of Appeal and won the case. Now the residents have decided to
go even to the Euro court. Besides, they have also applied to NA
and to the President, but all in vain.
By the way, let us mention that 13 non-governmental organizations,
such as “Hope”, “Mijnaberd”, “Spiritual Armenia”, “Armenian Committee
of Helsinki Civic Assembly”, are going to send an open letter to the RA
NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan, RA Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepyan,
RA Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan, RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,
asking to cease the violation of the rights of the RA citizens,
and stop selling the areas by closed auctions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
May 12 2005
Three Armenians reported killed in ceasefire breach
Baku Today 12/05/2005 09:25
An armored vehicle exploded on the Armenian side of the frontline
killing three soldiers, reportedly after running into a landmine, TV
reports said.
Azeri media reported today that Armenian military units, from their
positions in the occupied Yusifjanly, Shikhlar and Bash Garvand
villages of Aghdam District, fired at the positions of Azerbaijani
troops located in Chiragly, Mirashelli and Orta Gishlag villages of
the same district with machine guns and submachine guns late on
Monday.
Armenian military units, from their positions in the occupied
Seysulan, Javahirli and Sarijaly villages of Aghdam, have also fired
at Garadaghly village of the district from 22.35 till 23.35 on
Monday, the Ministry of Defense said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 11, 2005, Wednesday
THE U.S. MILITARY DELEGATION EVALUATES THE ARMENIAN ARMY’S DEFENSE
Armenian Defense Minister Serj Sargsyan met with a working group of
the US Armed Forces, which evaluated the Armenian Army’s defenses, on
May 6. Seiran Shakhsuvaryan, press secretary of the defense minister,
stated that US Colonel Michael Andersen noticed positive trends in
the Armenian Army. He noted that the Armenian Army can be proud of
its achievements.
Source: Regnum information agency, May 6, 2005
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

In a new land, old prejudices are left behind
A Record special report on multiculturalism in Waterloo Region
by LIZ MONTEIRO
The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
May 7, 2005 Saturday Final Edition
Every year on April 24, Ara Baliozian pauses to reflect on the past
with other members of his family.
For Baliozian, 68, an Armenian-Canadian living in Kitchener, the date
is important. In 1915 it marked the beginning of a genocide in which
1.5 million Armenians living in Turkey were slaughtered while living
under the Ottoman Empire.
Among those killed were Baliozian’s grandfather and some of his uncles.
This year, Armenians commemorated the 90th anniversary of the mass
killings. In Canada they took out ads in Canada’s major newspapers
to call attention to the massacre.
In March, the Ontario vice-president of the Armenian National
Committee, Aris Babikian, spoke to local students about the genocide
during an anti-racism gathering at Kitchener City Hall.
Some countries, including Canada, have formally recognized the mass
deaths. The House of Commons recognized the genocide last year and
denounced the Turks for committing atrocities, but the United Nations
has not yet acknowledged the deaths.
Inci Kuzucuoglu, a freelance interpreter, said Canadian politicians
hastily accepted the Armenian position but she says she, too, is a
Canadian and feels attacked.
“The politicians should not be involved. Let the historians decide,”
said Kuzucuoglu, who emigrated from Turkey 36 years ago.
“It’s bothersome to see politicians siding with one group of people
against another,” she said.
For some local Turks, the commemorations stir up deep-rooted
grievances.
You won’t see public displays such as protests in the streets or
violent retaliations, but the collective hurt is felt by some local
Turks.
Some immigrants carry longstanding conflicts with them when they
come to Canada, says Rich Janzen, research director for the Centre
for Research and Education.
The past pains sometimes simmer, flare up but eventually peter out,
says Janzen.
Similar animosities have existed for centuries between some groups
such as the English and the Irish and still continue today.
These historical conflicts are a delicate subject and some people
like to avoid them all together.
Augie Fleras, sociology professor at the University of Waterloo,
said it’s idealistic to think immigrants can discard or park their
hostilities and get on with being a new Canadian.
“In a democratic society, there is a continuum of opinion where you
should be able to voice your concerns without violating others,” he
said. “We can’t be too cavalier with a history of hurt, dispossession
or annihilation.”
Myrta Rivera of the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, said
animosities between groups must be addressed in order to create a
country of acceptance.
Many cultures come with historical baggage and as Canadians we can’t
expect they can “leave the bags at the door and come here and do
things differently.”
We need to acknowledge historical conflicts but then encourage the
immigrants to talk about what is beautiful about their countries and
cultures, Rivera said.
“How long do we carry the hurt?” she said. “What are we going to
unpack, the good things or the battles?”
But in most cases, immigrants choose to come to Canada to live in
peace and harmony and work hard at living side by side.
Yakup Baykan and his family came to Kitchener nearly four years ago
from Turkey.
As a young boy, Baykan recalls playing with children in his
neighbourhood in Turkey. Some were Armenian, some were Turkish but
as a child he never knew the difference.
“We never called them Armenian. He spoke Turkish and I saw him as
Turkish,” he said.
Baykan said the problem lies with the politicians because members
of the general public get along. In fact, in the short time he has
lived in Canada he has made friends with local Armenians, including
his mechanic.
Baykan said he hopes the past hurts get resolved.
“We feel sorry for our history, our culture. It makes me feel sad, but
we can’t do anything now,” said the 43-year-old father of two children.
But there are occasions when animosities come to the surface.
About two months ago, hostilities resurfaced after two fundamentalist
Sikhs were found not guilty of the 1985 Air India bombings in which
331 people died.
Some Canadian Sikhs said justice had been served after 20 years
involving a lengthy criminal trial, while some members of the
Canadian East Indian community felt evidence had been suppressed in
investigating the terrorism.
During the trial, the prosecution argued that the two men were
motivated by revenge for the Indian military’s 1984 raid on the Golden
Temple in Amristar, Sikhism’s holiest temple.
In another example last month at a summit in Indonesia, Japan
apologized to its Asian counterparts for its wartime behaviour.
The apologies to China have been aired in the past, but some Chinese
say Japan’s remorse is insincere and the bitter hurt continues.
China is opposing Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the United
Nations Security Council.
In China, there are public protests and earlier this week Chinese
Canadians took to the streets in Vancouver.
*
Locally, Turks and Armenians say they live peacefully and that many
are friends because they share the same culture.
Although their perspectives on history may differ, they say they
remain united despite a major historical fact they can’t agree on.
Some Turks deny the deaths.
Instead, they believe the Armenians were forced to leave the
Ottoman Empire because of civil war and were not equipped and died
of starvation and sickness, said Koray Kuzucuoglu, president of the
local Turkish Cultural Association.
Deputy Chief Matt Torigian with the Waterloo regional police is of
Armenian ancestry. He was born and raised in St. Catharines, far from
the homeland of his grandparents, who fled the former Soviet republic
in the 1920s.
But as a child, he recalls his family members talking about battles
and events his family had lived through.
“On Jan. 6 we acknowledge Armenian Christmas. We focus on food,
family and the music,” said the father of two. “Our history was
important but the genocide did not play a prominent role.”
“We were never raised to have animosity or hatred towards the Turkish
people,” he said. “The message was treat everyone else the way you
want to be treated.”
Inci Kuzucuoglu said she has translated for many Armenians and feels
no hate towards them.
“I trust them and they trust me,” says Kuzucuoglu, the former board
chair for the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre.
“I’m a Canadian and then I’m a Turk. I choose this country and I
want to live in peace and harmony,” said Kuzucuoglu, 55, who has two
adult daughters.
“This has been put on our shoulders and we must defend ourselves,”
she said.
*
Araxi Baliozian was two years old when the deaths of the Armenians
began. Her father tried to get his family, which included Araxi,
two brothers, a sister and her mother, out of Turkey.
Today the 91-year-old Kitchener woman says very little about the
past. Her son, Ara, says his mother’s father was killed and his widow
was left with four children.
Araxi and her sister were sent to Beirut to be raised by French nuns.
Araxi was there until she was 17.
She then moved to Greece, where she was reunited with her mother and
later married.
The Baliozians came to Canada in 1957.
“All my life, I suffer so much,” said Araxi. “I have two children
and they are angels.”
Ara Baliozian said he remembers his father, who died in 1962, speaking
about a Turkish neighbour who had saved his life.
After living in Canada for more than 25 years, Baliozian said he
doesn’t carry grudges. “We need to be friendly with the Turks. Many
of them have Armenian blood,” he said.
Baliozian, who has written many books on the genocide, said he isn’t
political and hopes differences among the Armenians and Turks can
be resolved.
*
Some conflicts may have occurred 90 years ago,while others continue
to this day.
Fourteen-year-old Makey Gany is used to watching his back.
The Kitchener teen lived in a refugee camp with his mother and eight
siblings in Kenya. For a few years, they were homeless and took
shelter under trees at night.
The Ethiopian-born teenager became used to watching out for thieves who
would take the firewood his mother had spent all morning collecting.
The thieves were his own people. But for Gany it’s not a grudge he
holds against them.
Civil war is something he has lived with all his life. It’s what
he knew.
Today, life is very different. But the pain of the past still comes
to him daily in his thoughts.
“It’s stamped in my heart,” said Gany, a Grade 9 student at Eastwood
Collegiate Institute in Kitchener.
“Here I can go to school and I have lovely teachers and students who
help me,” he said.
“I would never believe I would be happy. There I thought what was I
going to eat, what was going to happen next,” Gany said.
Eastwood principal Agnes Dufournaud said the high school has one
of the largest English as a Second Language programs at a public
secondary school in the region.
In September, there were 110 ESL students.
Now there are 150 and it’s projected that number will rise to 200 by
next fall.
Carolyn Vander Schaaf, a guidance counsellor at Forest Heights
Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, said many of the ESL students she
sees speak with respect about their peers from other cultures.
“They themselves are the ‘others’ in the North American culture and
they are grateful for the acceptance,” she said.
Wendy Weinberg, principal at Winston Churchill Public School in
Waterloo, said there are 34 languages spoken at her school.
Weinberg said at the school level, students are more open to talk about
racism and prejudice and how stereotypes can typecast some groups.
“The more we can see beyond the stereotypes, the more we can connect
with people and understand people,” she said.
[email protected]
GRAPHIC: Photo: PHILIP WALKER, RECORD STAFF; Araxi Baliozian, 91,
shares a home in Kitchener with her son, Ara, and daughter, Dianna.
Her father was among those killed in the 1915 Armenian slaughter.;
Photo: PHILIP WALKER, RECORD STAFF; “I’m a Canadian and then I’m
a Turk,” says Inci Kuzucuoglu. She says she objects to Canadian
politicians taking a stance on Armenia’s genocide claims, but says
she personally feels no hate towards individual Armenians.; Photo:
Myrta Rivera, of the K-W Multicultural Centre, says it’s unreasonable
to expect immigrants to leave all their historical baggage behind.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Gul: We Decided To Accept Request By The U.S. To Use Incirlik Base
Turkish Press
May 7 2005
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah
Gul said on Wednesday, “we have decided to accept the request of
the United States to use the Incirlik Air Base, and provide it with
the necessary facilities. Flights at the base will be restricted to
transportation of unlethal cargo to Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Gul informed members of parliamentary commissions of foreign affairs,
national defense, EU adjustment and human rights on recent developments
in foreign policy.
Recalling that the U.S. requested to use the Incirlik Air Base
in southern Turkey for logistic purposes, Gul said, “the request
includes civilian and military cargo planes and transportation of
logistic materials in order to support the ongoing operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Turkish General Staff, Turkish MFA and other
relevant institutions assessed the request. In line with the decisions
made by the UN and NATO, the Incirlik Base has been used as a transit
center for Afghanistan on the basis of a decision of the Council of
Minister dated October 18th, 2001.”
“The UN Security Council made another decision in order to confirm
independence and territorial integrity of Iraq, ensure security and
stability in the country and dispatch of humanitarian aid to Iraq. In
line with that decision, the (Turkish) Council of Ministers allowed
on June 23rd, 2003 use of the Incirlik Base as a transit point for
transportation of military supply and personnel by the allied countries
in accordance with principles to be determined by the (Turkish)
General Staff. The period of use of the base was extended on June
23rd, 2005 for one more year. The U.S., Canada, Italy, Hungary and
Britain have been allowed to use the base within the context of the
operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.
Gul kept on saying, “‘Flights at the base will be restricted to
transportation of non-lethal cargo to Afghanistan and Iraq. Those
planes will not carry ammunition, weapon or military troops. None of
them will be involved in an attack on any country.”
-TURKEY’S EU PROCESS-
Referring to Turkey’s EU process, Gul said, “the EU membership has
been a priority of our foreign policy. Following the EU Summit on
December 17th, 2004, we have maintained our efforts with the same
determination and enthusiasm. In this period, we have given priority to
implementation of reforms. Allegations of a slow-down in our efforts
are baseless.”
Recalling that negotiations between Turkey and the EU would start on
October 3rd, Gul said, “we will sign the additional protocol of the
Ankara Agreement in a way to include the new members of the Union. We
sent a letter to the European Commission on March 28th to express our
consent regarding the text of the protocol. Now, we are waiting for
the EU’s fulfilling its internal procedure to sign it before October
3rd, and submit it to the parliament’s approval.”
“Signing of the protocol will not mean recognition of the Greek Cypriot
Administration. The EU Presidency and the European Commission also
confirmed this,” he said.
-SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE-
Referring to allegations of so-called Armenian genocide, Gul said, “the
proposal of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republican People’s
Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal about formation of a joint commission
by Turkish and Armenian historians to investigate archives in all
relevant countries was supported by the international community.”
“However, parliaments of several countries adopted resolutions
recognizing the so-called genocide. Turkish parliament, government and
NGOs reacted to them. We will never allow such a denigration against
Turkey. Therefore, we will change Turkey’s passive struggle into an
active one,” he said.
Noting that “a dangerous development” occurred in Belgium, Gul said,
“Belgian lawmakers are trying to extend the scope of the law about
the Jewish Holocaust in the World War II. A similar initiative was
launched in Germany. Besides our diplomats, Turkish people living in
these countries harshly reacted to such attempts.”
-IRAQ, PALESTINE-ISRAEL AND KYRGYZSTAN-
Giving information about recent developments in Iraq, Gul highlighted
importance of formation of an elected government in regard to
establishment of a stable, democratic and pluralist regime in Iraq
and settlement of peace and security in the region.
Recalling that Prime Minister Erdogan paid state visits to Israel
and Palestine, Gul said that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the
peace process were discussed during the visits in detail.
Noting that he would pay a visit to Kyrgyzstan in the coming days,
Gul said, “Turkey accord great importance to efforts to preserve
stability and public order in Kyrgyzstan.”
“Presidential election to be held in this country on July 10th will
have a direct impact on efforts to strengthen the climate of stability
and compromise. Turkey will continue to support Kyrgyzstan in the
future,” Gul added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA ABLE TO RESIST ANTI-ARMENIAN ACTIONS
Pan Armenian News
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenians have both intellectual and financial
capacities to resist to anti-Armenian actions, however they do not
use these, editor-in-chief of the Yerkramas newspaper of Armenians of
Russia Tigran Tavadian stated in the course of an on-line interview at
OpenArmenia.com. In his words, in no circumstances violence should be
responded by violence, on the contrary violence should be counteracted
by legal means. He also added that self-defense also refers to legal
means. “However, the most important, if those destroyed graves at the
cemetery in Krasnodar or those who arranged pogroms of Armenian cafes
and shops in Slavyansk-on-Kuban were properly punished in the form of
imprisonment or a considerable money fine, their followers would have
pondered before organizing an anti-Armenian action,” Tigran Tavadian
accentuated. According to the information provided by Tavadian,
those, who arranged pogroms, got merely conditional sentences and
no one compensated material damage to the victims. In his words,
to that end a competent lawyer needs to be hired and paid well,
as well as other mechanisms of affecting courts should be enabled.

President Robert Kocharian responded to the Turkish prime minister’s letter
Yerkir
April 29, 2005
“Dear Mr. Prime minister. I received your letter. Indeed, as neighbors,
we should try to find ways for living in peace now and in the future.
Therefore, Yerevan suggested from the very beginning to establish
diplomatic relations, open the borders and start a dialogue between the
two countries and peoples. In the world, and in particular in Europe,
there are neighboring countries that have had difficult past to which
they hold different views, but it does not prevent them from having
open borders, normal relations, diplomatic links, representatives
in their respective capitals, and along side with all this, discuss
disputed problems.
Your proposal to review the past would not be useful if it does not
touch the present and the future. To engage in an effective dialogue,
we need to create a favorable political environment.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US EXPERTS APPRECIATED ARMENIA’S PROGRAM WITHIN MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES
Pan Armenian News
02.05.2005 08:44
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Chances that the American party will approve of
Armenia’s program within the Millenium Challenges project depend on the
efficiency of the joint work of the US and Armenia,” stated Director of
the Millennium Challenges Account Alex Russin in the course of today’s
press conference in Yerevan upon the completion of the sitting of the
US-Armenian Working Group for Economic Cooperation. He said he was
pleased that the Armenian Government had submitted its program, adding
“we are ready to discuss it.” “Along with the Armenian Government we
will solve all technical issues referring to the program presented,”
Russin noted. In his words, the process of adoption of the program
will finish with the signing of a respective document. In his words,
17 countries at the moment have the right to present their programs and
with one of them – Madagascar – the document is already signed. Now
another 4 countries, among which is Georgia, are at the final stage
of consideration. “This means that the US Congress was already
informed that a document should be signed with those countries,”
Russin noted. In his turn head of the US delegation, coordinator of
the European and Eurasian Program Tom Adams appreciated the program
submitted by the Armenian Government within the Millenium Challenges
project.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress