Author: Khondkarian Raffi

>From the Los Angeles Times
EDITORIAL
It was genocide
March 22, 2006
JOHN EVANS IS THE U.S. ambassador to Armenia, as of this writing. But he
probably won’t be for long. Evans, a career diplomat who was selected to
receive an American Foreign Service Assn. award last year for his frank
public speaking, irked his superiors at the State Department by uttering
the following words at UC Berkeley in February 2005: “I will today call
it the Armenian genocide.” For that bit of truth-telling, Evans was
forced to issue a clarification, then a correction, then to endure
having his award rescinded under pressure from his bosses, and finally
to face losing his job altogether.
What happened in Armenia in 1915 is well known. The Ottoman Empire
attempted to exterminate the Armenian population through slaughter and
mass deportation. It finished half the job, killing about 1.2 million
people. Yet the State Department has long avoided the word “genocide,”
not out of any dispute over history but out of deference to Turkey,
whose membership in NATO and location between Europe and Asia make it a
strategic ally.
It is time to stop tiptoeing around this issue and to accept settled
history. Genocide, according to accepted U.N. definition, means “the
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group.” Armenia is not even a borderline case. Punishing an
ambassador for speaking honestly about a 90-year-old crime befits a
cynical, double-dealing monarchy, not the leader of the free world.
Turks point out that their Ottoman ancestors considered it treason to
side with Russia at the outbreak of World War I, as many Armenians did.
But the massacres were also fueled by Muslim animosity toward a
Christian minority. When then-U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
Henry Morganthau protested the bloodletting, he received a telling
response from Mehmed Talaat, the interior minister in charge of the
anti-Armenian campaign. “Why are you so interested in Armenians anyway?
You are a Jew, these people are Christians,” Talaat said. “Why can’t you
let us do with these Christians as we please?”
For Armenians who escaped the killing and came to this country,
inadequate recognition of their history is crazy-making. Rep. Adam B.
Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes the heart of the Armenian
diaspora, keeps introducing a bill to officially recognize the genocide,
only to see congressional leadership quash it each year, under pressure
from the State Department.
Some nations, thankfully, are stepping where Congress fears to tread.
The European Parliament last year passed a nonbinding resolution asking
that Turkey acknowledge the genocide as a precondition for joining the
European Union. The Turkish government, typically, was infuriated, yet
it still desperately wants to join the EU.
One day, the country that was founded as a direct repudiation of its
Ottoman past will face its history squarely, as part of a long-overdue
maturing process. Some day before then, we hope, the State Department
will too.
_____
la-ed-armenia22mar22,0,1423762.story?coll=3Dla-new s-comment-editorials
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times

Armenpress
ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF TURKEY SAYS ANKARA CONTINUES
DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AGAINST NON-MUSLIMS

ISTANBUL, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS: In an interview to
a Turkish daily Hurriyet the Armenian Patriarch of
Turkey and Istanbul, Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian, said
the government of Turkey continued the discriminatory
policy against its non-Muslim national minorities.
As an example he cited a government decision that
exempts donations to Muslim foundation from taxes and
imposes huge taxes on donations to Christian and other
religious foundations. He said also the government
pays for electricity consumed by mosques, while this
privilege does not apply to Christian churches, though
Christians, like Muslims are also citizens of Turkey
and pay taxes.
Mutafian cited another example, saying the
government pays for accommodation of Muslim pilgrims
when they visit holly Islam sites. which is not the
case with Christians and Jews when they make
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. “All these manifestations of
discrimination make Christians feel humiliated,” the
Armenian Patriarch said, adding also that the
government has not responded to the Armenian
Patriarchate’s request to open a theological
department at an Istanbul University for Christian
Armenian students.

ARF DEMANDS TO END ANY ANTI-ARMENIAN EXPRESSIONS
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.03.2006 00:42 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) has urged
French authorities to display special vigilance towards cases of denial
of the Armenian Genocide. The ARF Western Europe Central Committee
has condemned the Turkish demonstration held in Lyon on March 18. The
ARF condemns the decision by the Rhone region governor to sanction
this hate and denial demonstration, though he was informed upfront
about the real goal of the demonstration and that Turkish government
had secretly contributed to this demonstration through the Turkish
Embassy in Paris and Turkish Consulate in Lyon. He was also aware of
the contribution the Grey Wolves, a fascist organization.
The ARF notes that using the Grey Wolves threatens France and the
French people. The Turkish government on the highest level has
decided to organize the Turkish communities in Europe. The March 18
demonstrations in Lyon and Berlin were the first expressions of the
Turkish government’s involvement.
The Lyon demonstration had clear characteristics of Genocide denial,
something unacceptable to a country like France. France has to
immediately undertake adequate steps to end the development of that
damaging movement. The ARF demands that an investigation be launched to
find the organizers of the demonstration and to unveil the involvement
of the Turkish government in the demonstration, as well as to put an
end to any anti-Armenian expression in France.

RA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RATIFIES 3 INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
Noyan Tapan
Mar 21 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly on March 21
ratified 3 international treaties which were discussed the day before:
– the Convention on Ciber Crimes signed in Budapest on November 23,
2001, – The Convention on International Protection of Plants, signed
in November 1951 and ratified in 1979 and 1997, – the Agreement
on Development Credit 4144 (the seconf credit on poverty reduction
assistance) signed between the RA and the International Development
Association in Yerevan on January 27, 2006. Under the above mentioned
agreement, a 20 mln-dollar credit will be allocated to Armenia on
concessional terms. The credit is repayable in 2016-2045 and carries
an annual interest rate of 0.75%. A credit of the same amount was
provided in 2004.

ARMENIANS TELL OF SH300M PLAN
Story By Mugumo Munene
Daily Nation, Kenya
March 21 2006
The Armenian brothers at the centre of mercenary allegations now
claim that they had initially invested Sh300 million in their plan
to establish a huge business portfolio in Kenya.
In a Press statement issued to media houses yesterday, Mr Artur
Margaryan says that he and his brother Artur Sargsyan decided to invest
in the country after a feasibility study conducted by an investment
consultant, whom he did not name.
“Myself and my brother are Armenian nationals with vast business
interest outside our country. We came to Kenya sometime last year
with an intention of investing in this country.
“After a feasibility study by a hired consultant in investment we
settled for manufacturing, real estate and with time, transport
business. We have so far invested over Sh300 million in this country
and we expect to continue investing as business opportunities crop up,”
read the statement. Mr Margaryan did not say where the investments are,
nor did he disclose the name of his business.
But he complained about politicians whom, he said, had accused him
and his brother of criminal activity.
Once again, Mr Margaryan denied ever meeting President Kibaki or
visiting State House.
“We have been dubbed mercenaries and killers by ungrateful politicians
whom we have assisted at one time or another. Please note we are
Christians and have never acted or contemplated being mercenaries. We
have never dealt with drugs in our life and in fact we have been
assisting charitable organisations that fight poverty and drugs in
other countries,” said the statement.
Sent at 11.28am yesterday, the e-mail dispatch titled: The truth
about ourselves and our mission in Kenya, appealed to journalists to
be fair in their coverage of the saga around them.
Mr Margaryan said he decided to “write this mail to leading media
houses in Kenya with a view to clarify and demystify our true identity
and mission.”
The Armenian denied having any connections or business relation
with Narc activist Mary Wambui or her daughter Winnie Wangui,
the two prominent Kenyans said to have deals with them and added:
“We do not even know them.”
Mr Margaryan went on: “For the last three weeks a lot has been
said and written about myself and my brother. The bulk of what has
been said is purely speculative and based on hearsay and hatred. I
appreciate the role of the media as an integral part of any form of
societal development.
“The media for sure has undisputed and unrivalled influence in shaping
the thinking of the citizenry. It is for this reason that the job
of disseminating information to the public should be handled with
maximum objectivity and professionalism to avoid blowing issues out of
proportion. We are, however, very dismayed at the negative publicity
against our persons and integrity as investors in this country.”
The saga began with claims by Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga that there
were Russian mercenaries out to assassinate some politicians.
The MP provided details of the house where the men he alleged were
mercenaries were living in the city’s posh Runda neighbourhood.
Slightly more than a week ago, our sister publication, the Sunday
Nation, published copies of the passports of the two men provided by
Mr Odinga, with their identities concealed.
The following Monday, the two brothers called a news conference at
the airport to say that they were legitimate businessmen.
What are these fellows doing here?
Story by MACHARIA GAITHO Publication Date: 3/21/2006
I got pretty harsh flak from members of the Raila Odinga fan club last
week. I had suggested in this column that the mercenary tales may not
necessary be true; maybe they were even products of a very fertile
imagination. The important thing was that a political propaganda
war was being fought, and a hapless and dysfunctional Government was
being dealt a series of deadly body blows.
So what has happened in the past week? The Kibaki Government is
still reeling under the revelations coming out on possible State
House links with alleged mercenaries.
Throw suspect drug-dealers into the mix and the inescapable conclusion
will be that we are not just being ruled by snakes, but by criminal
cartels who have no qualms about getting cosy with the scum of the
earth as long as they acquire power and wealth.
With every new claim, every new revelation, every new accusation,
the Kibaki Government sinks deeper into the muck.
Then you have one Artur Margaryan strutting all over the place. Every
time he opens his mouth, the Government might as well surrender and
confess that all the accusations being bandied around are true.
The man and his brother, Sargsyan, who is supposedly back in Dubai,
simply do not look and sound like the honest investors they claim
to be.
They actually make Mr Odinga’s claims sound credible, while and the
Government comes out looking like it has a lot of dirty things it
is desperate to conceal, even if that means using private armies and
Gestapo tactics to intimidate the media and anybody else who questions
the suspicious goings-on.
The interesting thing is that the Government is, for the most part,
digging itself into an increasingly deeper hole.
Our politicians love football analogy. Take this as a grudge match
between Raila Rovers and Kibaki Wanderers. The score stands at 10-Nil
in favour of Rovers. But it is not that team Raila has such a hot
strike force; it is that Wanderers are particularly inept – nine of
what they have conceded are own-goals!
Bribing the referee will not help at this stage. But maybe some hothead
might decide that bringing in some gunmen to disrupt the game might
be preferable to the humiliation of losing.
We are heading towards the 2007 elections and it is really confounding
that this Government is doing everything possible to ensure it stands
no chance of winning.
There seems to be this naive assumption that just cobbling together
the right regional and ethnic alliances will secure President Kibaki
a second term. That comes, also, with the prayer that ODM will never
be able to present a single opposition presidential candidate.
If President Kibaki has, indeed, been consulting former President Moi,
he will learn that hope, prayer, money and control of State machinery
does not guarantee electoral victory. The most important factor is
what the voters think.
Anglo Leasing, the raid on the Standard Group and now this ridiculous
issue involving some dubious Armenians have lost this Government the
little shred of credibility it was holding on to.
If the public reaction when one of those characters wandered into
town the other day is anything to go by, it is taken as plain truth
whatever accusations have been levelled about the Artur brothers.
Today, if Mr Odinga came out and said that the characters were actually
aliens from Mars and were conspiring with State House operatives to
colonise planet Earth, he would probably be believed.
And any protestations from State House, Security minister John Michuki
or Government spokesman Alfred Mutua would be dismissed out of hand.
There were many who were really sceptical when Mr Odinga started his
round of accusations. The man does have a penchant for making all
manner of allegations against his foes. The quintessential politician
in him, also, is not one to let an opportunity for damaging propaganda
pass. Truth matters little in propaganda wars.
But with the incremental evidence which is surfacing, Mr Odinga is,
indeed, coming out as the man bravely exposing what could be a great
threat to national security. Or an insidious official plot to subvert
democracy and the rule of law, and turn the country over to a private
militia.
The more the Government tries to defend itself on the mercenary
allegations, the more it is getting caught out in lies.
It is an almost incontestable fact now that the Artur brothers have
links to people close to State House. It is also a plain fact that
they have been enjoying some sort of official protection. And no
can dispute that they do not come across as the innocent investors
and charity workers they claim to be. Which normal businessmen will
outdo our own CMB Prezzo in the bling department?
Such accoutrements, we thought, were for entertainers or people
involved in some rather shady occupations. Since the two fellows do
not come across as rap artistes, one can only wonder.
Then the sheer arrogance they display, which has many Kenyans wondering
whether they have it from very high up that they are untouchable.
Are they untouchable? Or, perhaps, they are confident that they
themselves have something on those in the corridors of power they
have interacted with?
Logic dictates that when association with such characters becomes
embarrassing, they should be disowned forthwith.
If loyalists like Kiraitu Murungi, Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria
and Alfred Getonga could be dropped, it surely should not be difficult
for the Government to send the fellows on the first flight to Dubai,
Armenia or wherever they belong. Or do they have something that would
embarrass their patrons?
Perhaps there is a lot more to see on the unfolding saga. There are,
for instance, indications that much of the damaging information
is coming from fellows very much in the know, chaps who have been
expelled from the State House banquet and have vowed revenge.
And it seems that part of the strategy includes going straight for
the jugular by exposing matters that link the President, directly or
indirectly, to rather unsavoury happenings. They also expect a bonus
if the exposures provoke domestic strife.
In the process, maybe we have all become pawns in what is just a turf
war. But that raises serious questions if the entire country can be
captivated and the Government paralysed merely by territorial battles
at State House.
Mr Gaitho is the managing editor, Sunday Nation

REPORTS ON CEASEFIRE VIOLATION BY ARMENIANS – CANARD OF AZERI MEDIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2006 22:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The reports of the Azeri media on the advance of the
NKR Defense Army on the Aghdam and Terter sections do not correspond
to reality, head of the department of information and propaganda
of the NKR Defense Ministry Senor Asratyan told PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. “This is a recurrent misinformation and provocation of
Azerbaijan,” he said adding that at the above-mentioned sector
the ceasefire is never broken. “No Armenian soldier suffered, the
information about the killed Azeris is false as well,” Asratyan
said. To remind, Day.az reported that “March 18-19 the Armenian
military forces stirred up at the Aghdam and Terter sector of the
frontline. Two Azeri soldiers Huseyn Byandaliyev and Elchin Bayramov
were killed.”

WHAT THE OPPOSITION WANTS
Lragir/am
18/03/06
Many people in Armenia are wondering where the opposition is and if
there is an opposition at all. The opposition asks back where people
are, and if they really want to change something in this country.
>From the first sight it seems normal when people wonder if there is
opposition, and the opposition wonders if there are people.
But the opposition seem to have decided to change their relations
with people. This approximately sounds like democracy is something
that you need, a civil society is something that you need, hence you
have to initiate and to act.
The opposition have started talking to people in this mode. When on
March 11 one of the outstanding representatives of the opposition
Hovanes Hovanisyan was asked at the Azdak club why the opposition
delays bringing into being the initiative Civil Armenia Movement,
Hovanisyan said people do need all this and people must be the
moving force.
In other words, you live bad and you are to be interested to change
everything, for they have always solved their problems and will later
on do. Do people want changes, do they want to live better, do they
want justice? I wonder what the opposition wants. Of course, better
life, but if changes are necessary for it, let people make changes,
if they need justice, let people seek for justice.
Changes, justice. What for if they do without these very well. For
instance, Artashes Geghamyan had no problems renting the hall of
the meetings of the government and swearing at the government
with the fables of Aesop. Sitting in the hall of the PACE in
Strasbourg, Stepan Demirchyan did not have pains in the heart from
the memories of the life of people full of injustice, poverty, and
what not. Aram Karapetyan has a son in Moscow, so far away from his
beloved Fatherland. Raffi Hovannisyan would not go to the court of
law although the Public TV channel accuses him of wasting the money
of the Diaspora. Hrant Khachatryan says as an ombudsman he was a
predictable person for the government. Aram Gaspari Sargsyan has
decided from out of nowhere that Karabakh is first of all. Victor
Dallakyan would not state that he is not going to be member of the
political party of the pro-governmental oligarch.
Aram Zavenich is left, who goes to the reception at the U.S Embassy
with Serge Sargsyan, so that when the Brabus of the defense minister
parked in front of the Embassy, the Americans would see that not
only the government rides in a Brabus but also the opposition,
and the revolutionary plans of Aram Zaveni Sargsyan do not have a
social context.
After all, Yegisheh Charents would appear to have been right to tell
that the salvation of the Armenian people is their collective force.
The rest are hired workers, they do what they are told to do. Thus
the opposition became a mercenary. If people demand nothing from the
opposition, the opposition will do what the government wants them to
do. It does not matter whose tasks the fulfill. It is important that
the hirer is generous and punctual.

AZG Armenian Daily #049, 18/03/2006
Armenian Genocide
TAVIANI BROTHERS TO SHOOT A FILM ABOUT GENOCIDE
Europe Assigns 600.000 Euros
The March 9 sitting of Eurimages foundation of the Council of Europe
took a decision to assign 600.000 euros to famous Italian filmmakers
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani brothers to shoot “The Larks’ Hamlet”
feature film dealing with the Armenian Genocide. All members of the
foundation’s jury except for Turkish one voted for the decision. This
foundation that supports European film production has 32 member states.
According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Armenia, French chairman
of the foundation Jacques Toubon resolutely backed this decision in
his speech and accused Turkey of the Genocide calling it a historic
fact. Despite dissatisfaction of the Turkish representative and
official Ankara, the jury’s opinion remained unchanged.
By Tamar Minasian

Lyon: rassemblement houleux contre la construction d’un memorial armenien
Agence France Presse
18 mars 2006 samedi 2:37 PM GMT
Un rassemblement d’associations franco-turques contre la construction
d’un memorial du genocide armenien s’est tenu, samedi après-midi dans
le centre de Lyon, sous les huees de centaines de personnes, dont
certains manifestants anti-CPE, a constate un journaliste de l’AFP.
Plus d’un millier de manifestants franco-turcs ont investi la place
Bellecour, arborant drapeaux et pancartes indiquant: “non au memorial
d’un pretendu genocide” ou “il n’y a jamais eu de genocide armenien”,
et entonnant des chants nationaux.
Aucun chiffre sur le nombre de manifestants n’a ete fourni par
la police.
Des etudiants et lyceens qui venaient de participer a la manifestation
anti-CPE, qui a reuni en matinee de 10.000 a 25.000 personnes, ainsi
que des passants, ont hue et invective le cortège.
Sur la place Bellecour, un cordon de policiers s’est aussitôt mis
en place entre les deux groupes, separes egalement par le service
d’ordre des associations franco-turques.
Des gendarmes mobiles ont ensuite fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes pour
disperser les etudiants, qui commencaient a jeter des bouteilles en
direction des forces de l’ordre. Ces dernières ont elargi le perimètre
de securite separant les deux camps.
Annoncee en avril 2003, par le senateur-maire PS de Lyon, Gerard
Collomb, la construction du memorial du genocide armenien est suspendue
a un avis de la commission regionale des sites.
Les massacres et deportations d’Armeniens sous l’empire Ottoman,
de 1915 a 1917, ont fait 1,5 million de morts, selon les Armeniens,
entre 300.000 et 500.000, selon Ankara qui rejette categoriquement
la qualification de genocide.
La France a reconnu le genocide armenien en 2001.
–Boundary_(ID_bNJI7NiquoIJPH0Zk0Pnrg)–

TUMANIAN STATE PUPPET THEATER TO OPEN ITS AUTUMN THEATRICAL SEASON WITH TWO PREMIERES
YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Yerevan Hovhannes Tumanian State Puppet
Theater will open its autumn theatrical season with two premieres:
Charles Pierro’s “Cat in Boots” is being prepared for children and
Gogol’s “Greatcoat” performance is prepared for grown-ups and for
the first time in the experimental genre, with puppets and dolls. As
theater Art Director Ruben Babayan mentioned in his interview to
Noyan Tapan correspondent, this experimental performance, without
speech, only with musical sounds, will be shown on two planes – ground
dolls on one plane and puppets on another. According to R.Babayan,
the theater company also restages some performances from theater’s
former repertoire – “New Adventures of the Wolf and the Kids”,
“Travel Adventures” with a new staff and new puppets. At present
there are 26 performances in theater’s repertoire. The theater has
received invitations from Polish “Debute” and Krasnodar “Art-Visit”
festivals. Besides, the theater will take part in the puppet
festival dedicated to Moscow Nikolay Obraztsov Puppet Theater’s
105th anniversary.