Author: Karapetian Hovik

Kasparov hit over the head with chessboard

.c The Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) – Garry Kasparov, the world’s former No. 1 chess player
who quit the professional game last month to focus on politics, said
Saturday that he had been hit over the head with a chessboard in what
appears to have been a politically motivated attack.

Kasparov was not injured Friday when he was hit with the chessboard
after signing it for a young man at an event in Moscow.

A spokeswoman for Kasparov, Marina Litvinovich, said the assailant
told the chess champion: “I admired you as a chess player, but you
gave that up for politics.”

She said the unidentified attacker – who did not reveal his political
allegiance – had tried to hit Kasparov a second time but was hauled
away by security guards.

“It was a fairly nasty incident, it was not very pleasant
psychologically,” Kasparov told the private NTV
television. “Yesterday, I was just about able to muster up enough
humor to joke darkly that, luckily in the Soviet Union, chess and not
baseball was popular.”

The 41-year-old Kasparov, a brilliant and aggressive tactician
regarded by many as the greatest chess player of all time, has been
ranked No. 1 in the world since 1984.

But the outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin retired last
month, saying at the time that he planned to focus on politics and do
“everything in my power to resist Putin’s dictatorship.”

He plays a leading role in the Committee 2008: Free Choice, a group
formed by liberal opposition leaders.

Putin, a former KGB colonel who came to power in 2000, has been
accused of stifling democratic freedoms by placing national television
under effective state control and centralizing power by boosting
Kremlin control of parliament and country’s regions.

04/16/05 11:08 EDT

Watertown TAB & Press, MA
April 15 2005

Lawmakers to remember Armenian Genocide
Friday, April 15, 2005

State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, Rep. Peter Koutoujian,
D-Waltham, and Sen. Steven Tolman, D-Boston, along with the State
House Commemoration Planning Committee, will host the 90th
Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on Friday, April
22. The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. in the Chamber of the House of
Representatives at the Massachusetts State House and will be followed
by an informal reception in the Great Hall.

This year’s event marks the 20th year of commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide by the Massachusetts Legislature. George Keverian,
former Speaker of the House, first initiated the remembrance
ceremony, and will be honored at this year’s event for his service
and respect of the state’s Armenian community. As the son of Genocide
survivors, Keverian created a considerable legacy of honoring and
celebrating the Armenian heritage, which continues to grow with each
year of the anniversary commemoration.

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Basisdienst Deutsch
14. April 2005

Massaker an den Armeniern
Alte Geister spuken: Tuerken fuehlen sich an koloniale Zeiten
erinnert Extra

AUTOR: TL; KP

Bern; Istanbul

Die Armenierfrage erhitzt seit Jahrzehnten die Gemueter in der
Tuerkei. Der Historiker erklaert sich dies damit, dass viele Tuerken
sich von christlichen Exil-Armeniern undankbar behandelt und vom
Westen an die Kolonialzeit erinnert fuehlen.

Armenische Aufstaendische haben waehrend des Ersten Weltkriegs mit
dem verfeindeten Zarenreich paktiert und Massaker an den muslimischen
Tuerken veruebt.

Um das tuerkische Kernland zu schuetzen und zu verteidigen, sah sich
die von Jungtuerken dominierte Armee gezwungen einzuschreiten und
letztlich “die Verraeter” zu deportieren – auch wenn es
Hunderttausende betraf. So laute die offizielle tuerkische Deutung
der Geschichte, sagte der Historiker am Deutschen Orient-Institut in
Istanbul, Christoph Herzog.

Diese Version werde auch von den meisten Tuerken geteilt, wie sich im
Gespraech auf der Strasse schnell zeige. Von gezielter Eliminierung
der Armenier spraechen tuerkische Historiker ausdruecklich nicht,
sagte er im Gespraech mit der Nachrichtenagentur sda.

Tatsaechlich sei dafuer auch die Quellenlage nicht eindeutig, zumal
tuerkische Archive gezielt zerstoert wurden und andere bis heute
nicht zugaenglich seien, sagte der Osmanologe weiter.

Voelkermord an den Armeniern in den Jahren 1915/16 – bereits als
Frage formuliert – verletze den Nationalstolz. Schliesslich haetten
sich die Tuerken historisch auch als Schutzmacht fuer die
christlichen Armenier gegenueber Byzanz verstanden. Doch dafuer
haetten sich diese in den Augen der Tuerken spaeter als undankbar
erwiesen.

Moralischer Zeigefinger

Dass der Westen nun gleichsam mit dem moralischen Zeigefinger
auftrete, werde von vielen Tuerken nicht goutiert. Die Geste erinnere
fatal an Zeiten, als sich Frankreich, Grossbritannien – zuletzt auch
das Deutsche Reich – massiv in die Belange des am Ende des 19.
Jahrhunderts bankrotte Osmanische Reich einmischten. Zudem wurde es
nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg von Paris und London als Kriegsbeute
aufgeteilt.

Herzog weist darauf hin, dass auch Exil-Armenier moeglicherweise
Opfer-Zahlen manipulieren. Ankara fuerchte sich wohl auch vor
Schadenersatzforderungen.

Baltic News Service
April 14, 2005

RUSSIAN COMMUNIST SAYS UNDERGROUND COMMUNIST PARTY EXISTS IN ESTONIA

MOSCOW, Apr 14

According to a senior member of the Russian Communist Party,
underground communist parties exist in all the three Baltic states,
including Estonia.

The 33rd congress of the Union of Communist Parties (UCP-CPSU)
beginning in Moscow on Saturday will be attended by representatives
of banned communist parties from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, among
others, secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee Oleg
Kulikov told Russian news agency Interfax.

He said in all 16 communist parties from post-Soviet republics will
be sending representatives to the event. In addition to the Baltic
states, he mentioned Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the unrecognized republics of
Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

The delegates will elect new leaders of the organization and it is
highly probable that the chairman of the Russian Communist Party,
Gennady Zyuganov, will be elected chairman of the UCP-CPSU, Kulikov
said.

A spokesperson for Estonia’s security police declined comment on the
report.

Pan Armenian News

SQUARE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE OPENED IN MONTEVIDEO APRIL 22

13.04.2005 05:42

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Uruguay is not only the first state to recognize the
Armenian Genocide in 1965 but also the state, which has abided by its
position during the recent 40 years, Yerkir online reports. The parliament
has gathered a weighty paper-case containing bills, resolutions, decisions
and statements in support of the Genocide in support of Hay Dat. A motion to
name one of Montevideo’s streets “April 24, 1915,” was introduced to the
city council by its member Raffi Hunanian about a year ago. The issue was
included into the agenda and later the city council passed a decision to
name a broad strip in the central Montevideo the Square of the Armenian
People’s Genocide. The opening ceremony will take place on April 22.

Paper says Azerbaijan, NATO disagree on military standards

Ayna, Baku
13 Apr 05

Excerpt from C. Sumarinli report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna on 13
April headlined “Discord between Azerbaijan and NATO” and subheaded
“Official Baku insists on preserving part of Soviet standards in army
building”

“Official Baku does not agree with some of the reforms in the
Individual Partnership Action Plan [IPAP] with NATO. The Azerbaijani
leadership wants to preserve some peculiarities of the military
standards of the former USSR and Russia in army building,” a source in
the [Azerbaijani] Ministry of Defence told Ayna on conditions of
anonymity.

Thus, the Azerbaijani leadership insists on preserving Soviet
standards mainly in military training, staff management, disciplinary
regulations and other legal documents. There have also been divergent
views between Baku and Brussels on the unification of relevant defence
entities and development of democratic civic control mechanisms in the
army as part of the IPAP.

As far as we know, this is the reason both sides have been delaying
the approval of the IPAP, which envisages bringing the Azerbaijani
army into conformity with NATO standards. Consultations are under way
in this regard, in which the parties are trying to eliminate
disagreements, a source in the Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier, the press service of the Ministry of Defence indirectly
confirmed that there is disagreement between Azerbaijan and
NATO. I. Verdiyev from the press service told Ayna that useful
features of Soviet standards would be preserved in the process of
shifting to NATO standards.

Experts believe that Baku’s current position in relation to NATO is
dangerous in terms of Azerbaijan’s strategic interests. Discord
between NATO and Azerbaijan in army building may deal a serious blow
to the defence area of our country, a source from the Doktrina centre
of military research of journalists said.

“The bulk of Azerbaijan’s military legislation has been copied from
military documents of the former USSR and Russia. This is why there is
a strange situation in military units now. Some units prefer NATO
standards and some prefer Soviet standards. In some units, however,
daily disciplinary regulations are defined at the discretion of the
unit commander and do not correspond to any standards. It means that
if war starts, the command of one military unit will not be understood
by the other,” Doktrina experts said. They also noted that the main
documents of action being used in the Azerbaijani armed forces are
characterized as temporary.

Official Baku’s stand is creating obstacles to Azerbaijan’s
integration into NATO and Euratlantic entities, while Armenia, which
keeps our lands under occupation, is increasing its chances, the
experts said.

[Passage omitted: details of Armenia’s cooperation with NATO]

The final version of Azerbaijan’s national security concept and
military doctrine will be ready in summer, the Azerbaijani
presidential aide on military issues, Vahid Aliyev, said a while ago.

“We are developing a security concept and military doctrine on the
president’s instruction taking into account in the first place
international experience and Azerbaijan’s interests,” he
stressed. German, US and British specialists have also been involved
in developing a military doctrine reflecting Azerbaijan’s
military-political strategy in the region, he said.

Ayna has learnt that the adoption of Azerbaijan’s national security
concept and military doctrine may be delayed, because official Baku is
still hesitating to make a strategic choice and also because this
choice is the guideline of the doctrine and national security concept.

Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 12 2005

Saakashvili Ready to Meet Bagapsh in Tbilisi During U.S. President’s
Visit

MP Givi Targamadze told reporters, after talks with U.S. Department
of State Senior Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian
Conflicts on Steven Mann on April 12, that `Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili is ready to meet Sergey Bagapsh [President of
breakaway Abkhazia] and Eduard Kokoity [leader of breakaway South
Ossetia] in Tbilisi during the visit of [U.S. President] George Bush
to Georgia’ on May 10.

This statement immediately triggered speculations that Ambassador
Mann, who held talks with the Abkhaz leadership in Sokhumi on April
11, invited the breakaway region’s President to travel to Tbilisi
during the U.S. President’s visit. Mann, however, said that his visit
to Sokhumi had nothing in common with the U.S. President’s planned
trip to Georgia.

CATHOLICOS KAREKIN II TO BE PRESENT AT FUNERAL OF POPE
By Tatoul Hakobian

azg/arm
7 April 05

Robert Kocharian Last President to Visit John Paul II

Press service of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin informed that Karekin II,
Catholicos of All Armenians, will be present at the funeral of Pope
John Paul II. The Delegation of the Armenian government will also
leave for Vatican to participate in the funeral.

Mediamax reminded Robert Kocharian, RA President, was the last
president to the Pontiff. He received the Armenian President on
January 28, 2005.

In the course of the meeting with Robert Kocharian, John Paul II
reminded of his visit to Armenia in the September of 2001. The Pope
was invited to Armenia in connection with the arrangements of 1700th
anniversary of Adoption of Christianity in Armenia.

“I send my heartily greetings to the people of Armenia, as well
as to the millions of Armenians speared throughout the world that
preserve their cultural and Christian traditions,” John Paul II told
President Kocharian.

“I wish the best to your small motherland Nagorno Karabakh, so that
stable peace is maintained there. This will stop violence and will
help begin a dialogue based of tolerance between the sides. The active
international mediation will contribute to that,” John Paul II said.

On January 30, John Paul II was taken to the hospital with the first
symptoms of flu.

On January 19, John Paul II consecrated the statue of St. Gregory
the Illuminator that was erected in Vatican. Khachik Gazanchian,
a French Armenian sculpture, is the author of the statue.

In 2000 John Paul II handed the relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator
to Karekin II. The relics are in the Cathedral of Yerevan at present.

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS GAREGIN THE SECOND SENDS CONDOLENCES ON
THE OCCASION OF THE DECEASE OF POPE OF ROME JOHN PAUL II ON BEHALF OF
SAINT ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC

YEREVAN, April 4. /ARKA/. Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the
Second sent on behalf of Saint Armenian Apostolic Church condolences on
the occasion of the decease of Pope of Rome John Paul II. According
to St. Etchmiadzin’s Press Department, in his message Catholicos of
All Armenians emphasized that he cherished in his memories meetings
with John Paul II in Vatican, as well as historic visit of the Pope
to Armenia in 2001. “During the last years of the Pope’s disease we
became witnesses of moral firmness and courage of our brother in
Christ, as the best example of belief and hope and rely on Devine
Intent”, as stated in the message. According to Garegin the Second,
during his 26 years on post, John Paul II became a defender of life
and advocate of justice. “Appeal of the Pope for peace between
the nations was based on moral convictions and love in humanity”,
he noted. According to Garegin the Second, for the last years due
to the activity of John Paul II “the spirit of brotherhood and
cooperation between our churches strengthened”. According to the
message, John Paul II was the first Roman high priest, who visited
Armenia. “He also was the first Archipastor of Catholic Church, who
acknowledged the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and condemned that awful
crime”. According to the press-release, after the Saint and Immortal
Liturgy in Sat. Etchmiadzin, the Seat of the Dominat Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the Second served the
private mass for John Paul II. According to Garegin the Second, the
death of John Paul II is a bereavement for the whole Christian world,
since he was preacher for peace and advocate of Christian values.
Garegin the Second emphasized that most significant were the visits of
Pope aimed at formation and strengthening of the spirit of solidarity,
cooperation and mutual understanding between the nations, states and
religions. “May God grant comfort to his pious congregation”, he said.

PRESIDENT OF BELGIAN CHAMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES VISITED MEMORIAL TO
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

04.04.2005 07:19

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives
Herman de Croo, who is paying a 2-day call to Armenia at the moment,
visited the Memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims. Yerkir
online reports. He laid a wreath to the monument and planted a
fir sapling on the Alley of Friendship. “We wish constructive and
sensible peace to the nations of the South Caucasus. The best way
to commemorate the victims is to achieve peace in future”, Herman
De Croo noted. He informed that Belgian parliamentarians will visit
Georgia and Azerbaijan, which are included in the Wider Europe:
New Neighbors program. On occasion of the upcoming 90-th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide Director of the Genocide Museum-Institute,
Academician Lavrenty Barseghian presented the high rank guest with a
medal and books about the crime against humanity. To remind, in 1998
the Belgian Senate adopted a resolution condemning the Genocide and
called Turkey to acknowledge the crime committed.