Author: Khondkarian Raffi

RIA OREANDA
Economic Press Review
April 28, 2004 Wednesday
Opposition Meeting in Armenia
Yerevan. GAZETA.RU
On Tuesday evening another opposition meeting, organized by the
Justice and National unity parties, with the only demand to shift the
authorities of the republic took place in the downtown of Yerevan.
Twenty five thousand people were reported to take part in the meeting
whereas according to information given by the police, the meeting
counted roughly 3 thousand men. Setting out the Armenian opposition s
vision in the Parliament, the Justice faction deputy, Stepan Zakarayn
said that they put in a claim to the Parliament majority to accept
the opposition demands and let the Armenians move freely about the
country according to the Constitution. More over, the Justice party
leader considered the discussion of Armenia s situation at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting to be
required. Copyright (c) 1997-2004 RIA “OREANDA”

The Express Times, PA
April 29 2004
Witness: Problems started in Russia
Adopted boy suffered from mental issues, psychologist says.
By BILL BRAY
The Express-Times
FLEMINGTON — A Russian-born psychologist Wednesday described Viktor
Matthey as a severely mentally disabled boy with problems rooted in
his mother’s alcoholism — problems that manifested themselves until
his death at age 7.
Viktor died of heart failure 10 months after he was adopted by Robert
and Brenda Matthey of Union Township.
Anait Azarian, a child psychologist who specializes in post-traumatic
stress disorder, said Viktor Matthey likely suffered from numerous
mental problems including fetal alcohol effect that was brought on by
his biological mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy.
Azarian, who grew up in the Soviet Union and once ran a clinic for
children suffering from post-traumatic stress associated with
earthquakes in Armenia and the Chernobyl nuclear accident, said
Viktor’s early life of neglect and abuse saddled him with problems
that could not be cured by a good home and loving parents.
“He was a very complex child with lots of problems,” said Azarian, a
defense witness.
The Mattheys are on trial in Superior Court in Hunterdon County for
manslaughter, aggravated manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a
child and witness tampering in connection with Viktor’s death. He
died Oct. 31, 2000, in a New Brunswick, N.J., hospital three days
after he was rushed to Hunterdon Medical Center.
The defense could rest its case today.
Prosecutors allege the Mattheys abused Viktor by using excessive
corporal punishment such as hitting him with a bat and a whip,
forcing him to eat uncooked beans, taping his mouth shut and making
him sleep in an unheated basement pump room.
The prosecution contends Viktor’s exposure to the cold inside the
pump room before he died led to hypothermia and eventual heart
failure. Viktor had a body temperature of 83 degrees when he arrived
Oct. 29, 2000, at Hunterdon Medical Center.
The defense claims the abuse and neglect Viktor endured in Russia
caused him to suffer from a nutritional disorder that prevented his
body from absorbing proteins and that eventually led to hypothermia
and heart failure. The defense also claims Viktor’s mental problems
resulted in self-mutilating behavior such as picking at his skin
until it bled and throwing himself into walls or down a short flight
of stairs in the Matthey home.
During her testimony Wednesday, Azarian said Viktor’s mother drank
almost every day for the two years prior to his birth in 1993. Viktor
showed several signs of fetal alcohol effect such as small teeth,
thin hair, a big head, developmental delays and speech problems,
Azarian said.
When Viktor was born, his parents — both alcoholics, according to
Azarian — paid no attention to him.
“She was giving birth only for income,” Azarian said of the boy’s
natural mother. Viktor’s parents received food aid based on the
number of children they had and in turn used the money to buy vodka.
Their lack of love and attention was the first in a chain of abuses
that led Viktor to also develop reactive attachment disorder and
post-traumatic stress disorder, Azarian said.
“They never built a fundamental base of trust,” Azarian said of
children like Viktor.
His lack of trust spurred Viktor to want to be in control at all
times.
“They want to be in control; they need to know what’s going on,”
Azarian said of children such as Viktor.
Viktor’s bed-wetting and habit of soiling himself were ways to show
he was in control, Azarian said. His lack of sleep was directly
related to his need to know what was going on around him at all
times, Azarian said.
“These children can be awake for days and days at a time,” Azarian
said. Robert and Brenda Matthey testified earlier that they gave
Viktor a sedative the night before his collapse after he failed to
sleep for several days.
Under cross-examination, Azarian said fetal alcohol effect,
post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder are
not fatal problems. Azarian said the Mattheys should have taken
Viktor to a medical professional for care.
Under questioning by Assistant Prosecutor Harvey Lester, Azarian
acknowledged the Mattheys agreed to adopt a mentally or physically
abused child or a child that suffered abuse. Azarian also agreed the
Mattheys’ alleged abuse of Viktor could have contributed to his
mental problems.
Azarian said she was amazed by how quickly Viktor learned English and
said he was obviously a bright boy. Lester suggested that Viktor’s
ability to learn English is contrary to Azarian’s claim he had fetal
alcohol effect.
The jury Wednesday also heard a tape of the 911 call made by Brenda
Matthey on Oct. 28, 2000.
Matthey, who sounded worried and upset, was heard taking
cardiopulmonary resuscitation instructions from a 911 operator and
pleading with Viktor not to die.
“Oh my God, come on (Viktor), come on,” Matthey is heard saying in
the background on the tape as she tried to give the boy rescue
breathing. Within minutes of her call, the first rescue workers
arrived and took over CPR. Viktor, who had stopped breathing and had
no pulse, was resuscitated at Hunterdon Medical Center 80 minutes
later.
“Oh, he’s so lifeless, please,” Matthey said to the operator as she
unsuccessfully attempted to get Viktor to breathe. Near the end of
the tape, Matthey sounds like she begins to cry, prompting the
operator to encourage her to continue.
“You are doing everything that anybody could possibly do for him
right now,” the operator said. “Just do what you’re doing. So you’re,
you’re doing great, OK,” the operator said.
Testimony will continue today with Boris Skurkovich, a pediatrician.
Reporter Bill Bray can be reached at 908-475-1596 or by e-mail at
[email protected].

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
April 29 2004
PACE GAVE TIME TO ARMENIA
[April 29, 2004, 19:05:45]
At the session of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on
28 April, discussed was the question “Situation in Armenia”,
correspondent of AzerTAj reported from Strasbourg
French deputy Rene Andre and Polish deputy Zherzi Zhaskiernia have
informed on the events, which have occurred in Armenia recently. .
Both lecturers have condemned the violent measures applied concerning
peace meetings on which the opposition expressed mistrust to
President Robert Kocharyan, have stated that in the country did not
carry out democratic reforms, human rights are violated, freedom of
press is strangled, and have demanded from authorities written
explanation in connection with the latest developments. The report
reflects gross infringements during the presidential elections in
Armenia, ignoring by authorities of protests of the Council of Europe
in this occasion, the requirement to the Country’s management about
realization of serious steps on the way of stabilization of
situation.
Ten deputies have spoken in discussions on the report. They have
especially noted the arbitrariness of police during dispersal of
peace meetings, having emphasized, that thus did not spare even
women, have stressed importance to start dialogue between authority
and opposition. It was stressed the necessity of direction to Armenia
special expert group for check of performance of resolution of the
January session the PACE concerning Armenia, even is recommended to
follow example the neighboring Georgia (“velvet revolution”), make
amendments to the Constitution of the country connected with
presidential and parliamentary elections. If before the last events
it was informed, that in Armenia there are no political prisoners,
now the situation changed, hundreds people are arrested. In
statements, has found reflection extremely heavy political situation
in the country. And some statements contain requirements about
introduction of sanctions concerning the country, which have applied
force over the citizens.
Some deputies demanded dialogue between authority and opposition,
have noted importance of sending to Armenia a monitoring group, and
special representative to study situation, have made offer on giving
to Armenia time until September session for settlement of the
question
Amendments to the resolution made by session in connection with the
events which has occurred in Armenia, also have caused rough
discussions among deputies. Despite of diligence and protests of the
Armenian deputies, in the draft resolution have found reflection many
amendments, including about carrying out in the country of mass
arrests, giving to authorities of Armenia time till September for
stabilization of situation by peace way (otherwise, the delegation of
Armenia in the PACE will be deprived all powers). During voting, the
majority of deputies supported these amendments. Thus, time for
normalization of situation developed in the country is given to
Armenia.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
May 2 2004
Baku Eats Humble Pie For Its PACE Delegates
Baku Today 03/05/2004 00:15
Azeri parliamentarians’ failure to attend PACE’s 29 April meeting on
Cyprus issue was not out of Azerbaijan’s state policy, but a `careless’
attitude of the MPs, Anadolu news agency quoted Azeri ambassador to
Turkey Mammad Aliyev as saying on Saturday.
The ambassador sought to assure Turkish reporters in Ankara that the
happenings in PACE did not mean that his country had backed down
supporting the Turkish Cypriots.
`Azerbaijan will continue to support the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus as much as it can,’ the ambassador said.
Only one out of nine Azeri MPs showed up at PACE’s meeting, which
adopted a resolution with 47-23 votes. While the resolution paid
tribute to Turkish Cypriots for their backing Annan’s reunification
plan and stressed the need for ceasing the Turkish side’s isolation, it
turned down a suggestion on the Turkish Cypriots’ independent
representation at the Parliamentary Assembly.
The resolution said that representatives of the Turkish Cypriot
community could participate at the PACE only as part of integrated
Cypriot delegation.
The event prompted dissatisfaction in Turkey, as the Turkish media
lashed out at Azerbaijani MPs for being indifferent to the problems of
Turkish Cypriots.
The Azerbaijani government also was quick to accuse its delegation of
negligence in order to sooth ire in Ankara.
Ali Hasanov, head of socio-political department at presidential
apparatus, criticized members of the Azerbaijani delegation at the PACE
for their `irresponsibility.’
`Turkey has a good reason to feel offended,’ Hasanov said in an
interview with ANS on Saturday.
He expressed hope that the `misunderstanding’ in PACE would not serve
to besmirch relationship between Azerbaijan and Turkey.
But Samad Seyidov, head of the delegation, said there was no reason to
exaggerate the event, as he did not see a big problem in the
Azerbaijani delegation’s absence at the PACE meeting.
`Some people are trying to make use of this for their interests,’ he
said, but would not elaborate.
Samadov said since 47 PACE deputies voted for and only 23 against the
resolution, Azerbaijani parliamentarians’ presence could have changed
nothing anyway.
Another member of the Azerbaijani delegation, Asim Mollazade from the
opposition Popular Front Party, even slammed his Turkish counterparts
at PACE for their poor performance on the Cyprus issue and claimed that
the Turkish MPs were trying to put blame on Azeris for their failure.
`I have appealed to Turkish Foreign Ministry several times and said
their delegation to the Council of Europe cannot represent Turkish
interests properly in the high European body,’ Mollazade told ANS on
his arrival to Baku from Strasbourg.
On contrary to the statements that the Azeri delegation did not show up
at the PACE meeting because of misunderstanding, Mollazade said there
were some political reasons they did not attend the meeting.
`If we had supported Turkish Cypriot delegates at CE, a new precedent
would have emerged and Karabakh Armenians could have made use of this
to demand representation at the Parliamentary Assembly,’ Mollazade told
ANS.

Arab News
May 2 2004
English Versus Arabic
Bushra Al-Subaie – Al-Watan

Many may think that the controversy about teaching English has ended. A
decision has been made to introduce the language into our elementary
schools. Contrary to that opinion, the argument may have now begun in
earnest. Education should not be allowed to become subject to emotions,
either by those who wholeheartedly object to the idea based on
incorrect assumptions or those who think English provides a magic
solution to all our problems.
We ought to mention that the controversy over teaching English has been
going on without the matter’s ever having been debated scientifically.
The result is the absence of any reliable conclusions on which actions
and decisions could be based.
I recently saw a study involving students at King Saud University in
Riyadh and also at a Jordanian university. Students were asked for
their opinion of English. Interestingly, 45 percent of the students
interviewed said they would prefer their children to attend
international schools where English was the language of instruction.
Among the Jordanians 96 percent and the Saudis 82 percent thought
Arabic was better for teaching religious and literary subjects while
English was better for scientific subjects. They said this was because
of the dearth of translation activity in the Arab world and the fact
that scientific subjects are often written in English.
Many may be unaware that such opinions about Arabic reflect
psychological rather than actual attitudes. Countries such as Armenia,
with a population of only three million, as well as Turkey, Indonesia
and the two Koreas all teach scientific subjects in their native
languages.
While preferring to have their children taught in English rather than
Arabic, the students also expressed the idea that English would broaden
their horizons and allow them a better chance to excel in cultural and
general knowledge subjects that do not rely on memorization. It is also
important for the job market.
>From a social perspective, people look favorably upon those with a good
command of English. At the same time, Arabic has many advantages over
English in certain areas; this was illustrated by a study of two groups
of students, one studying medicine in English and the other studying
medicine in Arabic. The study revealed that comprehension was higher
among the students studying in Arabic.
At King Saud University, 60 percent of the students said they were more
comfortable and understood more if the lecture was in Arabic. Studying
in English cost them more time and effort whereas teaching in Arabic
would save them about half the time they spend in trying to understand
the subject.
The studies show that Arab countries are wasting huge resources trying
to address the problem of weak performance by their students as a
result of studying in languages other than Arabic. It is a matter that
calls for a serious review of educational priorities.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
May 4 2004
Mall owner bankrolling referendum
General Growth providing ‘major funding’ for effort to overturn
council’s Americana approval.
By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press
DOWNTOWN GLENDALE – General Growth Properties, which owns the
Glendale Galleria, is providing most of the funding for a referendum
effort to overturn the City Council’s approval of a $264.2-million
retail and residential development in downtown Glendale.
General Growth formed Glendale Citizens for a Well-Planned Town
Center on Monday. The committee is trying to gather 8,117 signatures
from local registered voters to bring the Town Center issue to a
citywide vote.
“We have been approached by numerous Glendale residents and
businesses, urging us to join their signature-gathering effort to
place the Town Center project before Glendale voters,” General Growth
spokesman Arthur Sohikian said.
Sohikian described the committee as “a coalition of Glendale
residents and downtown businesses with major funding by General
Growth Properties.”
The group has until May 27 to get the necessary signatures, which are
being collected by paid workers all over town.
General Growth has opposed the Town Center, now known as the
Americana at Brand, since buying the Galleria in October 2002,
claiming that it will lose up to $4 million per year in revenue to
the new project. The company also is considering challenging the
project’s environmental impact report, which analyzes the project’s
effect on the city.
“I am very disappointed at them,” Mayor Bob Yousefian said. “This is
going to bring a lot of ill will toward the Galleria, which is not a
good thing for the city. I think it’s pretty obvious, they’ve stepped
in it this time.”
The referendum targets three ordinances approved by the City Council
on April 27 – one allowing housing in the area, one implementing a
specific plan to create the appropriate zoning, and one stating that
the zoning cannot be changed during the construction period.
“Let the Glendalians decide whether they want the project or not,”
said Vrej Agajanian, a member of the committee and host of an
Armenian-language television show. “If they want it, it is fine.”
Agajanian said that developer Rick Caruso prevented Glendale citizens
from expressing their opinions to the City Council by bringing
members of unions to the council meetings and having his people fill
out speaker cards for Americana supporters.
At public meetings for the Americana in the past month, support for
the project has been overwhelming.
“Now we’re in a situation where we’re going to be running a
campaign,” Caruso said. “They’re running a campaign to kill the
project, we’re running a campaign to save the project. Since there
was so much support in the community and on the council, they’ve got
a tough campaign.”

Why Parliament’s Armenian resolution really mattered
By ALAN WHITEHORN
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2004

The April 24 genocide remembrance day is one of the three most important
days in the contemporary Armenian calendar, along with Christmas and
Easter. This year the commemoration is particularly poignant with the
passage in the House of Commons this past week of Bill M-380 recognizing
the Armenian genocide of 1915.
It is somewhat intimidating to try to summarize the Armenian genocide in
the grim counting of the dead. In the absence of a vast sea of
tombstones, our shared memory must be the collective marker denoting
their fate.
My own family is part of the Armenian diaspora. My father, an
Anglo-Canadian, met my mother, an Armenian, in Egypt half a century ago,
and they came to Canada as immigrants. We share many new experiences in
our adopted home, but we also remember our ancestral roots.
My grandmother was an orphan of the genocide who never knew her real
name or age and spent many years in refugee camps. As her grandchild, I
have often thought about how we try to understand such enormous
suffering, and such vast indifference by too many.
Our reactions to genocide inevitably shift over time. Initially,
enormous shock, trauma and deep anger are the primary responses. Later,
a search for personal and international recognition and justice comes to
the fore. Still later, there emerges an attempt to understand both the
particular and the more universal aspects of genocide.
It is sometimes helpful to think in terms of key persons when trying to
understand the grand epic accounts of history. In this case, I think of
three men that symbolize three different responses to genocide. Each
person was cited in Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book A
Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.
The first is Soghomon Tehlirian, a young Armenian. By age 19, he was the
sole survivor in his family. His mother, father, brothers and sisters
were all killed. He himself had been shot in the arm, wounded in the leg
by a sword and beaten unconscious, awaking to discover that the entire
caravan of thousands of Armenians from his home town had been
slaughtered.
He fled the killing fields and journeyed through the Near East and the
Balkans to Western Europe. The year 1921 found him in Berlin, still
distraught and suffering from epileptic seizures. One day, he recognized
an exiled Ottoman official, Talat Pasha, a former minister of the
interior in the Ottoman Empire and one of the key figures in the
triumvirate that, he believed, planned the genocide.
Mr. Tehlirian shot and killed Talat Pasha on a street in Berlin on March
15, 1921, and was immediately arrested. A sensational trial took place
in June of that year. Could surviving mass murder (the term “genocide”
had yet to be born) drive a person to commit an act of violence? Was he
guilty of murder – or was he exercising personal clan justice for the
death of his entire family? Is the murder of a tyrant ever justified? Or
were his acts those of a terrorist? The jury found him not guilty.
Raphael Lemkin, an aspiring law student in Poland, read about the trial;
it prompted him to wonder: How could we have a law for the murder of one
person, but not for the murder of one million persons? Conceptually,
there was no word for such a crime – thus, there was no way for
applying, let alone enforcing, collective law and justice. Mr. Lemkin
wrestled through the 1930s with the need for a legal term to convey the
magnitude of such a crime.
Then came the Nazi invasion of Poland. Mr. Lemkin, as a Jew, was at
grave risk. He fled Nazi-occupied Europe, found his way to sanctuary in
the United States, and wrote a monumental book exhaustively documenting
the Nazi record – and making the world aware of the term “genocide.”
Mr. Lemkin would become an adviser to the Allies at the Nuremberg
Tribunal, which attempted to introduce justice after the fact. More
importantly, he would become a one-man crusade to oversee the passage in
the United Nations on Dec. 9, 1948, of the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The very next day, the UN
Charter of Human Rights, drafted by Canadian John Humphrey, was passed.
Together these two documents provided the underpinnings for a charter of
rights for all humanity.
However, it was not sufficient to introduce a new term for an
unthinkable crime, nor was it enough to pass a pioneering convention in
international law. Clearly, something would have to enforce
international law and ensure justice for the world community.
This leads us to Roméo Dallaire, a Canadian general who left the
comfortable confines of Canada to serve overseas. In 1994, he was
working for the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda. As some of that
country’s political leaders urged the Hutu majority to annihilate the
Tutsi ethnic minority, General Dallaire pleaded for more troops and
greater authority to intervene militarily. His pleas were ignored by
Western governments, the UN headquarters, most of the Western media and,
tragically, even by survivors of earlier genocides. The result was
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.
Too many of us in the world had succumbed to the “sin of indifference.”
We had not learned sufficiently well the lessons of the First World
War’s Armenian genocide, nor the Second World War’s Holocaust.
This is why last week’s parliamentary recognition of Armenia’s genocide
matters so much. We all must resist the sin of indifference.
Alan Whitehorn is a professor of political science at the Royal Military
College, cross-appointed at Queen’s University.

ARKA News Agency
April 26 2004
RA President takes part in charity concert of famous singer Charles
Aznavur in Paris
150 culture figures of russia will take part in Russian Culture Days
in Armenia
Monument-Khachkar Memorial to 1915 Armenian Genocide victims placed
in Akhaltskha City (Georgia)
President Bush fails to honor pledge to recognize Armenian Genocide
for the fourth time
Armenian-Russian culture links have great perspectives – Robert
Kocharian
The Caucasus Media Institute organizes three-day practice courses
online journalism
The RA President Robert Kocharian goes to Paris with an official
visit
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT TAKES PART IN CHARITY CONCERT OF FAMOUS SINGER CHARLES
AZNAVUR IN PARIS
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian and first
lade Bella Kocharian took part in charity concert of famous singer
Charles Aznavur in Paris. All assets from the concert will be
transferred to the fund Aznavur to Armenia. Kocharian also met with
UNESCO Secretary General Kuetiro Matsuro.
On April 25, the President Kocharian left for working visit in Paris.
Kocharian will meet with the President of France Jack Shirak.
On April 27 delegation headed with Kocharian will leave for Warsaw
for participation in the work of European economic forum.
The President of Armenia will also take part in working sitting
Caucasus and will participate in opening of plenary sitting. L.D.
–0–
*********************************************************************
150 CULTURE FIGURES OF RUSSIA WILL TAKE PART IN RUSSIAN CULTURE DAYS
IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. 150 culture figures of Russia will take
part in Russian Culture Days in Armenia, RA Minister of Culture and
Youth Affairs Tamara Poghosian stated at the press conference in
Yerevan. According to her, Russian Culture Days are the event in
cultural life of Armenia and the level of Armenian-Russian culture
cooperation obliges to conduct the program of activities at the
highest level. She said that activities on this program will take
place not only in Yerevan, but in Vanadzor, Gyumri and Spitak.
The Head of Russian Delegation Vladimir Kozlov in his turn said that
present program envisages not less than 15 large activities,
including Russian Movie Day, concerts of Vivaldi orchestra, Russian
song, Semen Altov, Alexander Buinov and others. L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
MONUMENT-KHACHKAR MEMORIAL TO 1915 ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS PLACED
IN AKHALTSKHA CITY (GEORGIA)
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. Monument-Khachkar Memorial to 1915
Armenian Genocide victims was placed in Akhaltskha City (Georgia).
Khachkar was placed at the highest hill of the city, by Surb Nshan
Church.
The same day, on April 24, Tbilisian Church Surb Echmiadzin finished
a liturgy, which was followed with procession to Pantheon of famous
figures of Tbilisi.
>From the beginning of the 19th century till 1920, the Ottoman Empire,
legal successor of which is today’s turkey, regularly tormented and
persecuted Armenians. The top of barbarity was in 1915 when over a
million of Armenians was massacred in different regions of West
Armenia, part of the Empire.
The fact of the Armenian Genocide has been recognised by many
countries, including Uruguay (the first state that recognised the
genocide in 1965), Russia, France, Argentina, Greece, Lower Chamber
of Italy, 31 states of the U.S. L.D. -0–
*********************************************************************
PRESIDENT BUSH FAILS TO HONOR PLEDGE TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
FOR THE FOURTH TIME
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. President Bush, ignoring calls from over
190 U.S. legislators, failed, once again, to honor his campaign
pledge to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide as “genocide,”
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). In a
statement issued today, on April 24th, the annual day of remembrance
for the Armenian Genocide, the President again resorted to the use of
evasive and euphemistic terminology to obscure the reality of
Turkey’s Genocide against the Armenian people between 1915-1923. This
year’s statement praised the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC,) the failed State Department funded initiative
devised to derail progress toward international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. The effort was universally rejected by Armenians
in the U.S., Armenia and around the world. “We do appreciate that
President Bush has, once again, taken the time to mark April 24th as
a day of remembrance. Armenian Americans, however, remain deeply
troubled that for the fourth year in a row, despite his repeated
calls for ‘moral clarity’ in the conduct of our international
affairs, he has allowed pressure by a foreign government to reduce
the President of the United States to using evasive and euphemistic
terminology to avoid properly identifying the Armenian Genocide – an
important chapter in America’s emergence as an international
humanitarian power – as what is was: a genocide,” said ANCA Executive
Director Aram Hamparian. “The President’s failure to honor his
campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide is compounded by
the fact that, in this statement, he commends the thoroughly
discredited Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, a transparent
partnership between the U.S. State Department and the Turkish
government to block the growing international recognition of and
justice for Turkey’s crime against the Armenian nation.” “It is also
plainly disingenuous for the President to ‘call on both Armenia and
Turkey to restore their economic, political, and cultural ties,’ when
it is the Turkish government that has illegally imposed a decade-long
blockade of Armenia, and it has been Armenia that has called for the
normalization of bilateral relations without preconditions. This
formulation suggests either a lack of understanding of the region or
a deliberate effort to artificially play down Turkey’s belligerent
posture while simultaneously devaluing Armenia’s very meaningful
contributions to regional stability.” The Bush Administration is
formally on record in opposition to Congressional legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide. For the position of the Democratic
Presidential hopeful John Kerry regarding Armenian Genocide
ecognition, please visit. L.D. -0 –
*********************************************************************
ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN CULTURE LINKS HAVE GREAT PERSPECTIVES – ROBERT
KOCHARIAN
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. Armenian-Russian culture links have great
perspectives, RA President Robert Kocharian’s statement considering
Russian Culture Day in Armenia says. `Armenian-Russian culture links
have many-years’ history and cooperation development based on this
heritage is the wealth that we must keep for future generations’, the
statement said.
On April 26-30 Russian Culture Days will be held in Yerevan, during
which the multifaceted Russian art will be presented to the Armenian
public. These days will be in the frames of culture cooperation
between RA and RF Culture Ministries in 2003-2005.
A big gala concert will open the Russian days in Demirchyan Sport and
Concert Hall. Russian Song ensemble with Nadezhda Babkina, musical
bands Vivaldi Orchestra and Phonographjaz-Band’, satirists Semen
Altov and Efim Shifrin will perform on the concert. A Russian play
will be presented in Stanislavky Russian Dramatic Theater.
The Russian Cinema Week will be presented by such films as Slav
Woman’s Marsh, Sunstroke, Break Point, Carmen, Ark. The Union of
Painters of Armenia hall will host the exhibition presenting the
works by Chairman of Union of Painters of Russia Valentin Sidorov. As
planned the Russian art will also be presented in Spitak, Gyumri and
Vanadzor. L.D. -0 –
*********************************************************************
THE CAUCASUS MEDIA INSTITUTE ORGANIZES THREE-DAY PRACTICE COURSES
ONLINE JOURNALISM
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA. The Caucasus Media Institute organizes
online journalism three-day vocational training courses to be held
from 1 June to June 3. As the CMI told ARKA, the courses will have
the following thematic: principles of the published information, how
to write information: issues of structure and ethics, how to make the
information more readable and interesting, efficient use of the text
in print, images and animation. Best sample technique will allow
demonstrating how to make the material, more readable and
interesting. The issue of selection of the materials for Internet
publication, productive use of images will be touched upon.
The participants will be involved in-group workshops. The courses
will be lead by representative of Dublin University,
journalist-adviser Harry Quinn. The potential participants should
submit applications.
CMI was organized in April 2002 with the purpose of development of
the mass media on the Southern Caucasus, rising of the journalists’
vocational level: introduction of the journalism international
standards in the South Caucasus, enhancing of the journalists vision,
as well as teaching them the current events analyses methods. T.M.
-0–
*********************************************************************
THE RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN GOES TO PARIS WITH AN OFFICIAL
VISIT
YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. The RA President Robert Kocharian went to
Paris with an official visit. According to the RA President’s Press
Service Department, Kocharian to meet the president of France Jacques
Chirac. Besides, President Kocharian and his wife will Mrs. Bella
Kocharian will be present on the concert of a world famous singer
Charles Aznavour at the Palais des Congres in Paris. President
Kocharian will also meet with the Director of the Bouigue company,
Olivier Bouigue.
According to the press release, On April 27, President Robert
Kocharian, accompanied by the Armenian Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
and Trade and Economic Development will leave for Warsaw to
participate in the European economic forum.
The President will participate in the Caucasus working session and
attend the opening plenary session. Robert Kocharian is also expected
to meet with the Executive President of the World Economic Forum
Claus Schwab. While in Warsaw, President Kocharian will have
bilateral meetings with President Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland and
Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia.A.H. –0–

The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
April 22, 2004 Thursday
West Bay
Rite to commemorate Armenian Genocide
CRANSTON – Mayor Stephen P. Laffey will preside tomorrow evening at a
ceremony in front of City Hall to mark the 89th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
About 1.5-million Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks between
1915 and 1923, an episode that the Turkish government to this day has
refused to acknowledge.
“The people of Armenia, adults and children alike, peacefully
practiced Christianity and were imprisoned and killed for it,” Laffey
said. “Since then, many people have turned a blind eye to the events.
That’s a dangerous course of action one which could doom history to
repeat itself.”
Laffey will be joined in the 6 p.m. ceremony by a member of the
clergy and a survivor of the genocide.

A1 Plus | 21:53:20 | 23-04-2004 | Social |
ECONOMIC COURT’S DECISION REMAINS UNCHANGED
The Court of Appeal left unchanged Economic Court decision on A1+ TV Company
suit against Radio and Television National Commission.
The company demands the commission to present justification for its refusal
to give A1+ broadcasting license at tender held in June and July of 2003.
The courts made their decisions in a clear breach of the law. It is
specified in the law that the commission ought to present written
justification for its denial to give license to any company within ten days
after the decision.