Author: Karapetian Hovik

MATTHEW BRYZA: ARMENIA AND TURKEY CANNOT RECONCILE VIA POLITICAL DECISIONS

ArmRadio.am
06.02.2007 11:56

"Political or diplomatic statements are not a proper means for
resolving the issue of commenting the terrible events of 1915,"
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza declared at
the eve of the visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to the US,
Mediamax reports.

"I’m sure we all agree that what happened was a terrible tragedy. This
question has so many parties and opinions that politicians cannot
guarantee justice through simple definitions. We wish that educated
people, professors, philosophers and historians have the opportunity
to launch a continuous and unbiased dialogue on the roots of the
tragedy, which would enable the societies of Armenia and Turkey to
reconcile with their past and with each other. You will not achieve
it via political decisions," said Matthew Bryza.

The US Deputy Assistant of State also declared that they want to see
Armenian-Turkish relations improved.

"Being the US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, I fully understand
how complex it is. I’m extremely sensitive towards Nagorno Karabakh
and its role in this issue. Despite that we would like to see steps in
the direction of improvement of relations between Armenia and Turkey,
since it serves the interests of all the parties. It comes from
the interests of Turkish businessmen, it is beneficial for regional
stability and peace in the long-term perspective, but I understand
how hard it is," Matthew Bryza declared.

"After the tragic assassination of Hrant Dink the dispute over the
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code became intensive. We understand
that for the Turkish Government it is hard to simply recognize this
Article invalid. But it would be wonderful if the question was removed
from the agenda, since it provides an opportunity to criticize Turkey,
the US Deputy Assistant of state noted.

CB CHAIRMAN: IN 2007, THE BANKING SECTOR OF ARMENIA EXPECTS INFLOW OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

Mediamax Agency, Armenia
Feb 5 2007

Yerevan, February 5 /Mediamax/. In 2007, the banking sector of Armenia
expects an inflow of foreign investments, Chairman of the Armenian
Central Bank (CB) Tigran Sarkisian stated in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today;
Tigran Sarkisian stated that the corresponding claim from the German
financial companies is already under consideration of CB.

According to the CB Chairman, the activization of the commercial
banks in Armenia as to attracting foreign investments is reasoned
by the growing competition. According to Tigran Sarkisian, in 2006,
a brand like "Credit Agricole" entered the Armenian banking market,
which made other banks reconsider their strategies.

Tigran Sarkisian also singled out the policy of "HSBC Bank Armenia",
which occupies the first place among Armenian banks as to the
crediting volumes.

Tigran Sarkisian also stated that the Armenian Central Bank will
create auspicious conditions for well-known international companies
to arrive in the Armenian insurance market.

According to him, up till now there has been no international company
registered on the Armenian insurance market, which is an evidence of
weaknesses present in the legislation.

Tigran Sarkisian said that in accordance with the development
conception of the Armenian insurance market, the CB will continue
"cleaning" the market and implementing European standards.

TERRY DAVIS: BOTH ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE ASSUMED THE COMMITMENT TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE IN A PEACEFUL WAY

ArmRadio.am
05.02.2007 14:51

"I think that there is political will to resolve the existing problem,
the window of opportunity always exists," Secretary General of the
Council of Europe Terry Davis told Trend agency in response to the
question about the perspectives of settlement of the conflict.

"I understand also that agreements have been reached on a number of
basic principles and I can only assist the parties in taking decisive
steps to sign a reconciliation treaty," noted Terry Davis, reminding
that both Armenia and Azerbaijan assumed the committeemen to resolve
the issue in a peaceful way after joining the Council of Europe. "It
is an compulsory condition," CoE Secretary General underlined.

As for the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group and the possible change
of the format of the mediating mission, Terry Davis noted that
the resolution of the conflict first of all depends on the parties
themselves. "The peaceful settlement of the conflict proceeds from the
interests of the parties. I don’t understand why everyone is thinking
about the necessity of changing the mechanism of settlement after the
OSCE Minsk Group demonstrated a new dynamism in the reconciliation
process. The OSCE Minsk Group is a link and it is well familiar with
all the parties to that complex conflict," Terry Davis mentioned.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Does UN act in Turkey’s favor?

Does it really make any difference how many people
were killed – one and a half million, six, or even if
only one person? Genocide is genocide, arithmetic is
not needed here.
31.01.2007 GMT+04:00

On January 25 the UN General Assembly adopted a
Resolution condemning the denial of the Holocaust as
of a historical fact. The Document was supported by
103 countries out of the 192 Member States, no voting
was held. The Resolution was submitted for
consideration on Tuesday by the US representative, it
contains a call to all the UN Member States for the
absolute denial of any doubts of the indisputability
of the Holocaust.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ No definite country was mentioned in
the document, however it was mentioned that `ignoring
the denial of the historical fact of the terrible
Holocaust runs the risk of its repetition’. The date
was chosen in honor of the liberation day of the
prisoners of the largest concentration camp Oswiecim,
January 27, 1945. Laws banning the Holocaust denial
are applied in 9 EU Member States – Austria, Belgium,
Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, the Slovak
Republic, France, and the Czech Republic.

The adopted Resolution causes embarrassment. On the
one hand everything is quite obvious – genocide, in
its any kind of manifestation must be recognized and
condemned. On the other hand it is a double standard
policy, which by the way shows its worth in its most
obnoxious form. The slaughter and deportation of 2
million Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey, which was
placed on a national basis, is considered only `tragic
events of 1915′. Bewilderment is caused by another
article of the Resolution, which says that `ignoring
the historical fact of the terrible Holocaust runs the
larger risk of its repetition’. This is what Armenia
has just been talking about for so long, mentioning
that if in due time the League of Nations had
recognized `the events of 1915′ as a Genocide, it
could have helped to avoid the Holocaust, or at least
the later wouldn’t be on such a large scale. However
it did not, and thus impunity of the murders on racial
grounds followed one another. Nevertheless Hitler’s
famous phrase, which is denied by the Turkish
historians, was uttered. One very essential detail
should be mentioned here; according to some sources,
the slaughter of the Armenians, was `provoked’ by
Germany, which was Turkey’s ally in the First World
War. The German advisors of course didn’t call the
Turks to exterminate the Armenians, but they didn’t
display great efforts to stop them from doing it
either. In 1915 the German Ambassador to Istanbul,
Wangenheim was asked to stop the deportation, for he
was able to do that. But he didn’t, grounding on the
absence of the instructions from Berlin. By the way,
according to some sources in 1915 Wangenheim died from
cardiac rupture. It is said, he couldn’t endure the
stories about the horror in Western Armenia. But all
this is already in the past, and we are more concerned
with the present, which is full of anti-Armenian
propaganda disseminated by the Turkish Government.
`Historical indisputability of the Holocaust is
nothing but reality, and it must be condemned, but the
denial of the Armenian Genocide, which is still
continuing on a rather large scale, is of more vital
importance than any case of the Holocaust denial. Here
the real point is that the Armenian Genocide must not
be disregarded. The Armenian Genocide was the first in
the XX Century and is immediately linked with the
Holocaust, dated later. One should not put any
difference between them, as the denial of the Armenian
Genocide is the denial of the Holocaust. Besides, the
hypocrisy is obvious – even today Genocides are
committed in Darfur, Rwanda and the international
community does very little to stop them’, says expert
Richard Giragosyan. Another question that comes to
mind is; what are the politicians guided by while
adopting such Resolutions? Maybe by the number of the
victims? Does it really make any difference how many
people were killed – – one and a half million, six, or
even if only one person? Genocide is genocide,
arithmetic is not needed here. Or else once again the
Armenians become victims for the Turkey’s sake, whose
turning its back to the West is completely undesired.

PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 31, 2007 Wednesday

AZERBAIJANI SPYING FOR ARMENIA SENTENCED IN BAKU

Hearing for the case of Azerbaijani Ariz Khalilov was completed in
Baku. Khalilov was a citizen of Georgia and cooperated with the
special services of Armenia against Azerbaijan. The court sentenced
Khalilov to 14 years of imprisonment. According to the PR center of
the National Security Ministry of Azerbaijan, Khalilov was stated
guilty according to articles of the Criminal Code regarding espionage
and preparation of terrorist acts within a group of conspirators.

Khalilov was detained on Mach 11 of 2006 as a result of the
operational measures taken by the National Security Ministry of
Azerbaijan.

Source: Regnum news agency, January 29, 2007

Translated by Pavel Pushkin

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
February 1, 2007 Thursday

Russia to invest heavy funds in Armenia’s energy – Putin

Russia will make heavy investments in Armenia’s energy sector,
President Vladimir Putin told an annual news conference on Thursday.

“Our relations with Armenia are very good, we cooperate in all
areas,” he said.

He recalled that “Russia sells fuels to Armenia at free market
prices adjusted to the value of assets it had acquired in Armenian
territory.”

“We plan to bring back to life those enterprises,” that Russian
companies acquired there, he said.

He pointed out that Russia “lays a gas pipeline from Iran to
Armenia, builds energy transmission lines in Armenian territory and
takes part in hydro-power projects.” “But it is not enough.”

At the Sochi meeting the Armenian president raised issues “on
building diamond cooperation,” Putin said. This also concerns value
added products and a debt settlement program.

“It is difficult to find such areas of cooperation, where our
problems would be unsettled,” he said.

Murfreesboro Post, TN
Jan 31 2007

Suspicious men at Barrett’s identified, deemed no threat

The subjects are legitimate businessmen involved in a metal
reclamation business.

They are Armenian nationals legally in this country and they do not
appear on any Homeland Security watch list.

The group of three men went to another Murfreesboro area
metal-related industry two weeks ago and also sought scrap metal
there.

While these men have been identified and cleared of any illicit
purpose, it is a good reminder that anyone who sees suspicious
activity should write down all information available, particularly
car license information, and contact law enforcement immediately.

A1+

NO TO RUSSIAN CHAUVINISM
[03:11 pm] 31 January, 2007

A number of young people from the youth union «Sargis Tkhrouni» of the
Social-Democrat party held a protest action opposite the Russian
Embassy today.

They demanded Russia, the strategic ally of Armenia, «to be more
consistent in revealing the murders of a number of Armenians by
Russian chauvinist skinheads and to fight against such
phenomena». They mentioned about it in their statement too which they
handed to the workers of the Russian Embassy.

`If they are not consistent in revealing the murders, we will go on a
sit-down strike opposite the building of the Embassy and will hinder
the work in any way we can’, said member of the organization Narek
Galstyan and cried out `No to Russian Fascism’.

The boys were angry at the fact that the Russian authorities try to
give an everyday coloring to the murders. According to the
participants of the protest action, it is but a deception, and `They
are playing into the hands of chauvinist organizations’. `The murders
are committed on nationalist ground. Of course we do not mean to say
that the violations are directed against Armenians. But the victims of
the skinheads are mainly dark-skinned people. All the same we will
fight for the rights of our compatriots’, Narek Galstyan claims.

To escape justice, genocide perpetrators deny its occurrence

31.01.2007 18:06

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC)
participated on January 30 in a press conference organized by the
Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) to discuss issues related to the
punishment of war criminals, PanARMENIAN.Net reported. In addition to
the CJC and the ANCC, conference participants included the Friends of
Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, PAGE-Rwanda, and the
Roma Community Centre. Aris Babikian, the Executive Director, Armenian
National Committee of Canada, said during the event, `It is ironic
that at the dawn of a new century and after 92 years of the Armenian
Genocide, we are gathered, as victim nations of Genocide and Holocaust
to remind the international community of its responsibility and
obligation to bring to justice the perpetrators and their
accomplices. Canada and the international community can not sit idly
and watch as a new genocide unfolds in front of our eyes and on our TV
screens. The pledge "never again" should not be a hollow echo of the
past, but it should be our moral and ethical compass to prevent future
Holocausts, Genocides, and ethnic cleansing.

By bringing to justice the architects of such heinous crimes and by
recognizing, commemorating, and banning the denial of these despicable
acts, Canada and the international community can send a clear and
unequivocal message to the despots of the world that that the
international community will not tolerate such vile and inhuman
treatment of our fellow human beings. To cover up their responsibility
and to escape justice the first act of the perpetrators of any
Genocide is to deny its occurrence. We have witnessed this again and
again.

As scholars have demonstrated, the last act of any Genocide is the
denial of the horrendous act. Once the denial machine is set into
motion, the planners and executors of the Holocaust or Genocide get
emboldened and feel that they have gotten away with their original
plan of wiping out a whole race.

They then proceed to blame the victims and the survivors for their
misfortune and plight. It is true that while each genocide has its own
unique circumstances, planning and implementation, the concept of
genocide and the denial are universal and integral for each other. In
all genocides the survivors are subjected to the denial machine one
way or another. The denial can originate in individuals,
organizations or states.

Unlike the historical revisionism and the denial of the Armenian
Genocide by the Turkish Government, Holocaust deniers, such as Ernst
Zundle and Jim Keegstra, constituted the lunatic fringe of
society. But recently-learning from the Turkish Government’s
tactics-certain countries have started implementing the Turkish
Government’s denial strategy to rewrite the Holocaust. Denial of any
mass killing is to deflect justice and to perpetuate the hatred cycle
against the victims.

Denial has another catastrophic impact on nations and civil societies:
Once the guilty part covers up its crime and gets away with it, it
spreads falsehoods in its educational system, to indoctrinate future
generations with hatred and animosity towards the victim nation. The
denialist portrays the victims as the enemy of the state and of the
nation. It injects the US against THEM concept into the mentality of
its own society. The recent assassination of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink is quintessential expression of this concept.

Here’s the full cycle–from genocide to genocide denial:

· For 92 years the Turkish state denied its responsibility for
the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians

· The Turkish state then proceeded to arouse hostility among
its citizens against Armenians. It did this through the educational
system and trough broad propaganda.

· The Turkish state supported ultra nationalists to incite the
masses against the Armenians.

· The result? A teenage assassin, goaded and armed by
ultranationalists, assassinated an Armenian journalist whose sole
"crime" was writing about the truth of the Armenian Genocide and
promoting friendship between Turks and Armenians.

By suppressing the truth the perpetrators discharges its
responsibility. It also justifies its action as a "righteous crusade"
for the welfare of its own people. With incredible chutzpah Turkey
turned the story of the Armenian Genocide upside down and depicted
itself as the victim! It was the Armenians who had committed genocide
against the Turks, blithely said.

Armenians all over the world believe in accountability and
responsibility. The punishment of the guilty is imperative because it
will help the civil society of the perpetrator to atone for the crimes
of its leaders and to reconcile with the victim nation. As we have
seen, without recognition of the crime and punishment of the guilty
there can be no reconciliation.

The denial of the Holocaust or any other genocide is an encouragement
for its repetition, as it eventually did happen in Turkey against the
Kurds, in Germany against the Romas, in Cambodia and in Rwanda against
the Tutsis and today in Darfur.

We should not allow Hitler’s contemptuous remark:" Who remembers
nowadays the Armenians?" haunt us forever.

We call on the Canadian Government to take the lead and ask the UN to
amend its UN Charter on the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of the Genocide by adding an article on denial
of the Holocaust and all Genocide,’ reports the ANCC.

PanARMENIAN.Net

RA President to visit France in February
29.01.2007 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Late February Armenian President
Robert Kocharian will pay a formal call to Paris on an
invitation of French President Jacques Chirac, RA
leader’s Spokesman Victor Soghomonian said at a
briefing in Yerevan. According to him, Robert
Kocharian is also planning a visit to Arab states in
spring. `In June the Armenian President will take part
in the CSTO summit and CIS leaders’ meeting in Saint
Petersburg,’ Victor Soghomonian said.