Author: Karapetian Hovik

PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF ARMENIA OFFICIALLY REFUSES FUTURE ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

Noyan Tapan
May 02 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The Progressive Party of Armenia
registered for participation in the May 12 parliamentary elections
by the proportional electoral system officially presented withdrawal
on May 2.

To recap, the party Board decided at the special sitting held the
other day to leave the electoral campaign and "to concentrate on
forces round the Republican Party of Armenia, most capable pivot for
securing stability of the coutry and gradual progress." The Board
called on the PPA members and co-thinkers to vote for the RPA.

To recap, the deadline for withdrawal is 18:00, May 2.

ON MEMORY ROAD
Shamik Bag

Kolkata Newsline, India
April 29 2007

India from the Cold War days, of Muslim and Buddhist traditions, and
of Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan – India survives in the foreign
mind, finds a team that retraced the route taken to the country five
centuries back by Russian trader, Afanasy Nikitin

When Afanasy Nikitin, the Russian trader of the 15th century, set off
from his hometown for India in 1469, he did not have to travel too
far to be confronted by human strife. Twice during his trip he was
plundered, the Tartars were a real problem and borders were neither
porous nor conflict-free.

"I’m afraid, well over five centuries later, ethnic conflicts continue
to prevail . The political confusion is still there and regions and
countries are frequently at war between themselves," admits Professor
Hari Vasudevan of Calcutta University’s history department.

Vasudevan, along with Phalguni Matilal, president of the Delhi-based
Adventurers and Explorers Society, recently returned to India
after leading a 14-member Indian expedition team that retraced the
route taken by Nikitin during his two year long journey to India. By
re-examining the route of the famous Russian explorer, whose journey
to India preceded that of Vasco da Gama and whose 30-page chronicle of
Indian mores and morals of that era is often eclipsed by the stature
of Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang or the Portuguese trader, "we were going
back to the old trading routes that exist even today," says Vasudevan.

The boats, camels and horses that Nikitin – travelling alone, unlike
Vasco da Gama who enjoyed royal support – took to reach India while
travelling over Russia, Persia, the Caspian Sea, Iran, Oman and the
Arabian Sea, had, in the case of the Indian team, got replaced by
sponsored Scorpios and airlines. "The world of rivers and seas have
made way for highways, with their roadside motels and highways. But
Nikitin travelled alone in an era when one could lose oneself in the
forests or flat countries with 360-degree horizon. For us, Nikitin
came as the symbol of the ordinary citizen," Vasudevan says.

But like Nikitin, whose short but meticulously detailed account
of medieval India was published by historian Nikolas Karamzin as
the Journey Beyond the Three Seas, the Indian adventurers too have
returned with newer inferences and perspectives.

"We had decided that we would undertake the expedition to understand
the reasons why India has always interested and attracted people
down the ages. It is true even now in these times of greater trade
interactions. It is a question of the present as well as the past,
and using Nikitin’s journey, we ask the question of India’s pulling
power over time," says the history professor whose interactions with
Matilal and the Adventurers and Explorers Society led to the idea
behind the expedition.

In trying to unravel the truth behind India’s appeal over the
foreign psyche, the country had introduced itself to the team through
diverse ways. After the formal flag-off at Tver, Nikitin’s hometown
in Russia, on November 12, 2006, while the Indian team comprising
academics, adventurers and journalists, travelled through the Russian
countryside, the impression of India was borne out of the legacy
of the Soviet Union, feels Vasudevan. "Then in the Musilm majority
republic of Tatarstan, India is known as a country with a huge Muslim
population. In the Buddhist Kalmyk republic, the main temple in the
capital city of Elista has been designed under instructions from the
Dalai Lama, and the Bodh Gaya-trained monks there can speak in Hindi."

While Bollywood veteran, Raj Kapoor, has his following in Russia, the
likes of Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan dominate popular culturescape
from Iran onwards, the team witnessed. "Hindi films are very popular
and we say film posters at provincial towns. Each time we mentioned
India, locals would start singing Hindi film songs." In the small town
of New Djulfa, the team discovered the place from where the Armenian
community migrated to India, with Vasudevan adding that some of the
old epitaphs at the Armenian graveyard in Kolkata mention New Djulfa
as the place of origin of the deceased.

The Indian leg of the expedition, which explored Nikitin’s entry
through the Malabar coast and his visits to the Vijaynagar and
Bahamani kingdoms, began on March 23, 2007 and ended on April 2 in
Mumbai. People in Bidar in northern Karnataka, knows about the old
Russian who had visited their ancient town, and the Jindal steel
plant in Karnataka’s Bellary has Russia as an important client. The
connections between people in places as distant as Tver and Vijaynagar,
and often hidden behind fading memories or thick shrubbery, continue
to survive. By retracing Nikitin’s route, Vasudevan and the Indian
expedition team, "only wanted to revive memories of the man who laid
the first milestone".

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS AT RUSSIAN BOOK ON KARABAKH
Text of report by Azerbaijani TV station Lider on 1 May

Lider TV, Baku
1 May 07

[Presenter] With no reply to Azerbaijan’s first protest note, a
second one has been handed over to Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister
Araz Azimov today received Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Vasiliy
Istratov to hand a protest note over to him.

The reason for this is that Russia’s 63-volume Great Encyclopedia,
which was printed by the Tetra printing house, describes Nagornyy
Karabakh as an independent entity and published false information
claiming that Karabakh belonged to Armenians historically.

[Istratov speaking in Russian with Azeri voice-over] I shall read
the 63-volume book. I cannot say anything without reading what have
been written about Karabakh. Once this happens, I can only respond
to the note.

NATIONAL DANCE UNION SUPPORTS ARP

A1+
[05:30 pm] 01 May, 2007

RoA National Dance Union together with its 120 dance groups is going
to endorse and support the Armenian Republican Party. Chairman of the
Union Karen Gevorgyan explained, ‘ We deeply cognize the role and the
necessity of our National Dance both for the education of younger
generation and National spiritual value protection. Henceforth,
we are certain Armenian Republican Party will bear in mind Nzhdeh
ideology of ethnicity and secure the present and the future of our
National Culture.’

Yet, neither ARP nor any other party ever supported the union. Karen
Gevorgyan focused on the problems the sphere had ever faced and added
that this sphere had been the most vulnerable and less appreciated
one. Any other art related organization had at least their space and
the roof but dancing groups.

‘ Can you show me any street, any museum, any house that have been
defined by any dance figure? Are there any primary and secondary arts
to protect national values? No, there aren’t. Who said that writers,
composers, musicians have the right to rest, whereas dance-art does
not belong to any art genre,’ he stated and added that they had
been suffering that disease, ‘ Do you know that the whole archive of
Srbuhi Lisitsyan, the whole heritage of Vahram Aristakesyan are all
getting spoilt in the boxes. Is anybody concerned about it? Another
5-10 years will put an end to our dance-art. RoA National Dance Union
has many times introduced Dance art regulations with its standards to
different ministers. I suggest to create an ethnographic dance group
to preserve the ancient dances. We have got a 10-year-program. Yet,
our letter has always been neglected. The ministry has got a standard
letter form where they just need to change the name and return it
back," Karen Gevorgyan complained.

In fact, RoA National Dance Union is organizing Pan-Armenian festival.

Minsk Group Co-Chairs to visit the region after the parliamentary elections in Armenia

ArmRadio.am
28.04.2007 13:35

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will visit the region after the
parliamentary elections in Armenia, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov told the journalists. Before visiting the region,
the Co-Chairs will hold a meeting in one of the European cities,
where they will decide their working schedule.

Mammadyarov did not comment on RA President Robert Kocharyan’s
statement that the recurrent meeting between the Presidents of the two
countries will take place in Saint Petersburg on June 10. At the same
time Mammadyarov confirmed that President Aliyev will participate
in the economic forum in Saint Petersburg. He said that the last
meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan had a "good
result." Mammadyarov clarified that the document on the bargaining
table is not the final solution, but the basic principles. After
agreeing upon all the principles the parties will start working on
the final document.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Cooperation Center Of Georgia (ACCG)
7 Khodasheni St., Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, 0105
Tel/Fax: (995 32) 98 61 88
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

Each April Armenians all over the world commemorate victims of Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915 â=82¬` 1923.

On April 23, 2007, at 8.00 p.m., Armenian Cooperation Center of
Georgia (ACCG) organizes a peaceful protest with torches entitled
`Flames of remembrance and struggle’. The protest will be held at the
Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.

92 years ago, on the eve of April 24 Armenian intellectual elite – 800
writers, painters, lawyers, representatives of clergy, etc. were
arrested and later on murdered in Istanbul. Armenian population of
Ottoman Empire lost its intellectual and spiritual leadership in one
night. This was followed by mass deportation and genocide of Armenians
of all provinces of Ottoman Empire.

On April 24, 2007, at 11.00 a.m., the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic
Church in Georgia will hold ecumenical memorial service in honor of the
victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923.

On April 24, 2007, at 2.00 p.m., by the initiative of ACCG a peaceful
demonstration at the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi will demand recognition
of Armenian Genocide.

On April 24, 2007, at 4.00 p.m., in Tbilisi State Armenian Drama
Theater after Petros Adamyan, a mourning evening dedicated to the
memory of the victims of Armenian Genocide will be organized by the
administration of the theater and the Union of Armenians of
Georgia. During this event ACCG will hold an exhibition of documentary
photos on Armenian Genocide. Also, an exhibition of children
paintings entitled `We remember and we fight for peace’ with
participation of all Armenian and some Russian schools of Tbilisi will
be displayed.

Representatives of other communities and public organizations of Tbilisi
are scheduled to participate in the events

Press Service of Armenian Cooperation Center of Georgia

ARMENIA TO LAUNCH CONSTRUCTION ON NEW NPP IN 2012-2013 – KOCHARIAN

Interfax, Russia
April 27 2007

YEREVAN. April 27 – Armenia will either launch construction on a new
nuclear power plant in 2012-2013 or modernize its existing plant,
Armenian President Robert Kocharian said.

"We are currently carrying out serious expert work and I can say for
sure that either practical work on the construction of a new nuclear
power plant will begin in Armenia in 2012-2013, or upgrades will be
made to the existing nuclear power plant," he said on Friday at a
meeting at Yerevan State University.

Kocharian said experts are currently considering two key issues: how
much it would cost to build a new nuclear power plant that complies
with all the newest technologies and what changes in electricity prices
would occur as a result. "Certainly, ordinary citizens shouldn’t
suffer, but at the same time it’s clear that Armenia should have
nuclear energy," he said. Armenia has one nuclear power plant, which
has been transferred to Russian management. The plant’s service life
expires in 2016.

ACTIVITIES OF IT DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT COUNCIL WILL BE IN CENTER OF ATTENTION OF NEW PRIME MINISTER, SECRETARY OF COUNCIL SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 26 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Secretary of the IT Development Support
Council (ITDSC) Armen Grigorian is convinced that the activities of the
council will be in the center of attention of the new prime minister.

To recap, the council was set up in 2001 under a presidential
decree. The Armenian prime minister holds the post of the council
chairman.

During his interview to NT, A. Grigorian said that the council members
are representatives of Armenian IT and telecommunication companies,
NGOs, donor and other international organizations. According to him,
problems related to particular companies, as well as global problems,
for example, those related to formation of the information society
in Armenia, are raised at the council.

"The problems of the information society’s establishment have not
changed. We hope and are convinced that we’ll carry out active work
on establishment of the sector with the new prime minister as well,"
the council secretary stated.

"IT problems are not second-rate ones. This is a priority direction
of development, a priority branch of economy, today also a task of
establishing a new society. Any person familiar with all this will
assist with the sector’s establishment," A. Grigorian underlined. He
added that a definite program on development of the sector will be
worked out by the new government to be formed after the upcoming
parliamentary elections.

NKR PARLIAMENT DECLARED DECEMBER 10 A CONSTITUTION DAY

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 26 2007

April 25 the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic National Assembly’s sitting
was held.

Before discussing the issues of the agenda the deputies honored the
memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and Russia’s
first President Boris Yeltsin with a minute of silence.

The MPs approved the amendment to the law on civil service, according
to which the deputies working at the National Assembly not on a
permanent basis have the right to work as civil employees.

The Parliament also adopted amendments to the law on holidays and
memorable dates. In this connection December 10 was declared the NKR
Constitution Day, while February 21 was declared the Mother Language
Day. The amendment to the law on state awards was also adopted.

According to the amended law the military units and subdivisions of
the NKR Defense Army will be decorated with state orders and medals.

The amendment on decorating the Republic’s towns and settlements with
state orders was voted down by the deputies. The Parliament adopted
the NKR Electoral Code in the second, final reading.

TURKEY IS WASHINGTON’S PUREST TEST OF REALISM V. IDEALISM.
by Christopher Beam

New Republic, DC
April 25 2007

Name Calling

In recent years, President Bush has had no trouble using the word
"genocide"–first in reference to Saddam, then to the killings in
Darfur. The word connotes a moral imperative to intervene, perhaps
because of its reductio ad Hitlerum quality–how can you stand idly
by during a genocide? But, when discussing the million-plus Armenians
killed in Turkey between 1915 and 1923, President Bush, like President
Clinton before him, has avoided the word entirely.

That’s because, unlike other questions of who killed whom that the
United States has answered over last decades (Iraq, twice in the
Balkans, Rwanda, Sudan), there is a strategic reason to stay mum
about the Armenians: Turkey, a NATO ally of 50 years and a partner
in the war on terrorism, would get mad. According to Ankara, only
300,000 died, and only because its government suppressed uprisings
provoked by the crumbling Ottoman Empire. (Samantha Power dedicated
the first chapter of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide
to debunking this myth.) The Turks recognize the dispute and want
"further study," but in the meantime, they really don’t want to be
known as perpetrators of genocide.

For years, U.S. presidents have obliged–a tradition Bush continued
yesterday on the weirdly-named "National Day of Remembrance of Man’s
Inhumanity to Man," when, in a tribute to Armenians, he conspicuously
omitted the word "genocide." But that may soon change. The House
had been planning to mark April 24 by passing a resolution calling
the murder of Armenians during and after World War I genocide. The
measure, co-authored by California Republican George Radanovich and
co-sponsored by 190 House members, is just the latest of many genocide
bills supported by Armenian-American groups. But, unlike the others,
this one has a good chance of passing. It has bipartisan support,
and its language is purely symbolic: no restitutions, no requests for
apology. Just a statement urging the president to call the killings
genocide.

This has frightened Ankara, where it is a crime to "insult Turkishness"
(apparently there’s no greater insult than applying that label to
killings perpetrated almost a century ago by the country’s founder,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk). In the past week, Turks have been frantically
lobbying members of Congress, urging them to oppose the resolution. The
Embassy of Turkey took out a full-page ad in Monday’s New York Times
urging Congress "to examine history, not legislate it." And they are
threatening to hamper U.S. efforts in Iraq.

We know they did something wrong, but they won’t let us say it. The
reasons for and against using the term "genocide" are perfectly clear:
morally, we should; strategically, we shouldn’t. This choice–between
retaining a key ally and recognizing a distant crime–has become
Washington’s purest test of realism versus idealism.

he last time such a bill made it to the floor, in 2000, Dennis Hastert
halted the vote at the request of Bill Clinton. It’s likely President
Bush will make a similar call to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she
pushes for a vote. But, given that Pelosi was willing to fork the
administration’s eye by traveling to Syria, there’s no reason to think
she’d obey on Armenia, particularly given her history of advocacy on
the issue. (Although, after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned in a joint letter last month that
the bill could "harm American troops in the field," the House agreed
to delay the vote till sometime after yesterday’s commemoration.)

If defense hawks have their way, that vote will never happen.
Congress shouldn’t risk our valuable alliance with Turkey, they
argue, in exchange for a few Armenian-American votes. Besides, the
bill’s opponents don’t deny the importance of genocide. They simply
consider preserving U.S.-Turkey relations more important than making
a political statement about events that, while contemptible, have
little bearing on our foreign policy.

They’re right to be concerned: Last year, France passed a law
making it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide (in other words,
it’s illegal there to not "insult Turkishness"), much like Germany
and Switzerland’s laws against Holocaust denial. Turkey responded by
severing military ties with France. If the United States decides to
affirm the genocide, the Turks have said they may dissolve American
defense contracts and cut off cargo routes used to reach U.S. forces
in Iraq. And, perhaps more importantly, the bill could alienate the
only pro-Western secular democracy (albeit one that jails dissident
authors) in the Muslim world.

Yet neither the idealists nor the realists have been entirely
forthcoming. For one thing, many of the House members supporting the
resolution have large Armenian-American constituencies, particularly
in California and Michigan. Plus, the Democratic Congress has so far
relished exposing the administration’s hypocrisy; forcing Bush to
confront his selective concern for genocide is a tempting symbolic
zinger. On the other side, Turkey’s strident denial of historical
wrongdoing doesn’t make life easy for realists. The Turks say it’s
wrong to sanction a historical perspective, but if legislating
history is the problem, Ankara has been the biggest offender of all.
Europeans cite this stubbornness as an obstacle to Turkey’s admission
into the European Union. It’s only because other governments have
continued to waffle on the genocide question that Turkey has been able
to continue denying what is, to everyone but the Turkish government,
settled history.

Congress handles the bill should depend on two assessments: First,
the realists need to consider whether Turkey’s threats are credible.
Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul has indicated that the resolution
would complicate Turkey’s close cooperation in stabilizing Iraq and
stemming nuclear proliferation. It’s true, Turkey initially offered
to send 10,000 troops to Iraq and has since granted the United States
billions of dollars in defense contracts. But the kindness goes both
ways. Turkey is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid,
behind Israel and Egypt. In 2003, it received a onetime $1 billion
aid package. President Bush requested $25 million in 2006. Despite
recent tensions over the Kurds, Ankara doesn’t want to jeopardize
this mutually munificent relationship any more than Washington does.

Second, the idealists should decide what they gain by applying the
"genocide" label to an episode already widely recognized as tragic.
One possible reason–no laughing here–is moral authority. Since the
invasion of Iraq, the United States has lost much of the respect
it commanded in international opinion. An administration that has
marshaled the word "genocide" so readily to justify its own actions
should, at the very least, be consistent in applying it. Asking that
Turkey face its past, especially when such a request hinders U.S.
interests, would set a principled example for other governments.

Turkey’s threats are salient only because of the prevailing silence
about its genocide. Earlier this month, the United Nations delayed
an exhibit at U.N. headquarters on the Rwandan genocide after
Turkey objected to one sentence citing Armenian deaths. If enough
countries forced Turkey to acknowledge these crimes, it wouldn’t
have the option of waxing indignant like it did with France and the
United Nations. Coming from a staunch ally with mutual interests to
preserve, an affirmation of the Armenian genocide would sound that
much more powerful. The United States occupies this unique position:
It’s up to Congress to use it.

Christopher Beam is an editorial assistant at Slate.

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