Author: Khoyetsian Rose

MEMBER OF RPA PARLIAMENTARY FACTION AGREES WITH OPINION THAT COURT’S
VERDICT ON CASE OF SEVERAL PARTICIPANTS OF BLOODY QUARREL NEAR YEREVAN
HPP IS TOO SOFT
YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMINFO. The member of the parliamentary faction of
the Republican Party of Armenia Samvel Nikoyan agrees with an opinion
that the court’s verdict on case of several participants of the bloody
quarrel near Yerevan HPP is too soft.
Sepaknig at the discussion club “Azdak” today, Nikoyan said that he
was not a specialists in the sphere of jurisprudence, but he thinks
the verdict soft enough.
To note, the verdict on the participants in Feb 2005 quarrel near HPP
was announced yesterday. Several of the participants have got
conditional sentences and have been released from custody just at the
court.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN-AZERI CONFLICT MUST BE SETTLED PEACEFULLY: HEAD OF AZERI
DELEGATION TO PACE
STRASBOURG, APRIL 29. ARMINFO. The Armenian-Azeri conflict must be
settled peacefully which is one of the commitments Azerbaijan and
Armenia undertook when jouning the CE, the head of the Azeri
delegation Samed Seidov said in a talk with an ARMINFO correspondent.
Now Azerbaijan is mostly concerned for the violations of the cease
fire regime causing deaths of civilians. “Neither side wants war. But
there is one important moment – it is very difficult to explain to the
Azeri people why its legal territories have been occupied for a long
period already and nothing is being done to this end. The longer this
status quo continues the harder it will be to explain why the
territories with a very small Armenian population – I mean the 7
districts around Karabakh – are still under occupation.” “The most
important thing is to resolve the conflict in accordance with the
international law,” says Seidov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
April 30 2005
Press Scan
BAYKAL: ”OUR DIASPORA SHOULD BE ACTIVE”
MILLIYET- Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP), qualified the proposal made by Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Armenian President Robert Kocharian
(to form a joint committee comprised of historians of the two
countries to examine the archives) as positive.
Baykal added that Turkish citizens living in Europe should be
informed, and take action against the initiatives in these countries
aiming at recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide allegations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TNA Parliament Bureau / Ankara
April 28 2005
Head of Turkish Parliament Arinc’s protests Poland’s ‘genocide’
decision
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc yesterday sent a letter of protest to
his Polish counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz regarding the Polish
Parliament’s recent decision to recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide. In the letter, Arinc cancelled three functions due to be
held between the two nations’ parliaments.
Arinc stated in the letter that the Polish Parliament’s decision to
recognize the allegations had aroused indignation and disappointment
among Turkish parliamentarians. He added:
A decision by a friendly nation to cast mutually tragic events which
occurred between Turks and Armenians during World War I in a
one-sided manner has aroused disappointment in the Turkish nation.
ThePolish Parliament’s decision was an unfortunate development in
terms of relations between our two countries. The environment of
friendship between our nations cannot be reconciled with this
decision.’
Arinc also stated that the Polish Parliament Friendship Group’s
official visit to Ankara scheduled for May 9-13 had been cancelled.
He added that the Polish Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission’s
Turkish visit scheduled for May 25-30 had also been cancelled, and
two Turkish deputies scheduled to pay a visit to Poland now would not
do so.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HR 1450 IH
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1450
To require additional tariffs be imposed on products of any nonmarket
economy country until the President certifies to the Congress that that
country is a market economy country, and to direct the Secretary of the
Treasury to deposit the amounts generated from those tariffs into the Social
Security trust funds.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 17, 2005
Mr. TANCREDO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To require additional tariffs be imposed on products of any nonmarket
economy country until the President certifies to the Congress that that
country is a market economy country, and to direct the Secretary of the
Treasury to deposit the amounts generated from those tariffs into the Social
Security trust funds.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ADDITIONAL TARIFFS ON PRODUCTS OF NONMARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES.
(a) In General- Notwithstanding the provisions of title I of Public Law
106-286 (19 U.S.C. 2431 note), title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2431 et seq.), or any other provision of law, and subject to subsection (b),
there shall be imposed on any article that is the growth, product, or
manufacture of a nonmarket economy country and is imported directly or
indirectly into the United States, in addition to any other duty that would
otherwise apply to such article–
(1) a rate of duty of 5 percent ad valorem during the 1-year period
beginning on the effective date of this Act; and
(2) an additional duty of 1 percent ad valorem in each succeeding 1-year
period.
(b) Certification- Subsection (a) shall cease to apply to a country at such
time as the President certifies to the Congress that the country is a market
economy country.
(c) Definitions- In this section:
(1) NONMARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY- The term `nonmarket economy country’ means
the following:
(A) Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cambodia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan,
Laos, Moldova, the People’s Republic of China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
(B) Cuba and North Korea, to the extent that any products of those countries
enter the customs territory of the United States.
(C) Any other country that the President determines is a nonmarket economy
country as defined in section 771 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1677).
(2) MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY- The term `market economy country’ means a
country that operates on market principles of cost and pricing structures so
that sales of merchandise in such country reflect the fair value of the
merchandise.
SEC. 2. DEPOSITS OF TARIFFS IN SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUNDS.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit into the Federal Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance Trust Fund created by section 201(a) of the Social
Security Act, and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund created by
section 201(b) of that Act, in such proportions as the Secretary may
determine, amounts equal to the duties collected under section 1(a), less
such amounts that the Secretary determines are necessary to administer the
collection of such duties.
SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION.
For purposes of this Act, the People’s Republic of China shall not be
construed to include Taiwan or any island over which Taiwan exercises
jurisdiction.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the 15th day after the date of the enactment
of this Act.
END

Armenian president, ruling coalition discuss reforms
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
27 Apr 05
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today held a working meeting with
members of the political council of the ruling coalition.
The meeting discussed issues related to constitutional reforms and the
improvement of the Electoral Code.

Pan Armenian News
KARABAKH COMMITTEE FORMED AT PACE
28.04.2005 02:41
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Based on the PACE Rapporteur David Atkinson’s report over
Nagorno Karabakh and in compliance with the PACE Resolution adopted this
January, the Assembly Bureau formed a Temporary Committee for Nagorno
Karabakh April 25. According to item 5, the PACE urges OSCE Minsk Group
member states to activate efforts to provide for peaceful settlement of the
conflict thus urging the governments of those countries to annually inform
the Assembly on the work carried out. Simultaneously the Assembly asked the
Bureau to form a Temporary Committee composed of the heads of the
delegations of the PACE member states. British Deputy, former PACE President
Lord Russel-Johnston is elected to chair the Committee.

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 8:00 AM EST NPR
April 26, 2005 Tuesday
Turkey’s entry into the European Union could hinge on whether it
accepts responsibility for Ottoman Empire’s treatment of Armenians 90
years ago
ANCHORS: ROBERT SIEGEL
REPORTERS: IVAN WATSON
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
It has been 90 years since the Ottoman Empire’s mass deportation and
massacre of ethnic Armenians during World War I. Armenians marked the
anniversary over the weekend of what they call a genocide. They say
one and a half million of their people were killed. That’s a charge
that modern-day Turkey has long denied. And now that it is on the
verge of beginning negotiations to join the European Union, Turkey
once again finds itself on the defensive in this historical
controversy. NPR’s Ivan Watson reports from Istanbul.
IVAN WATSON reporting:
On a day when Armenians held solemn ceremonies of remembrance in
Yerevan, Paris and New York, in Turkey, the day honoring Armenian
victims was virtually ignored. Nearly a century after the fact, the
official Armenian and Turkish versions of what took place in the
final years of the Ottoman Empire are still miles apart. Ilter Turan
is a professor at Istanbul’s Yildiz University.
Professor ILTER TURAN (Yildiz University): What happened in 1915 and
during that period was a mutual battle between poorly organized
people trying to retain territory as a multinational empire was
crumbling.
WATSON: The Turkish government contends that a half-million Turkish
Muslims were killed after Armenians revolted against the Ottoman
Empire during World War I. Armenians reject this claim. Karan
Karakoshlai(ph) is a founder of the Augos Armenian newspaper in
Istanbul.
Ms. KARAN KARAKOSHLAI (Founder, Augos): In summary, what happened was
that a great nation of 4,000 years was exterminated, was cut off the
roots.
WATSON: Both sides agree that the Ottomans forcibly deported huge
numbers of Armenians from what is now eastern Turkey. And today
Turkey’s Armenian Christian community has dwindled to just 60,000
people. Though Turkey has offered to conduct a joint historical probe
with neighboring Armenia, many Turks continue to be defensive about
what they call `the Armenian issue.’ This year nationalists filed
lawsuits against Turkey’s most famous author when he told a Swiss
newspaper, quote, “One million Armenians were murdered here, and no
one dares to mention that.’ Professor Turan, a former member of a
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, says until recently the
subject was taboo here.
Prof. TURAN: The Turkish educational system for a long time
concentrated on nation-building. And the arguments or ideas that were
thought to undermine it were not discussed in primary or high school
curriculums.
WATSON: But there are signs that the taboo is beginning to break
down. Only a few Armenians are left in the southeastern Turkish city
of Diyarbakir, where schoolchildren play in the ruins of a large
Armenian cathedral that stands as an unofficial monument to what was
once a thriving community.
(Soundbite of banging noises)
WATSON: Younger generations here, mostly ethnic Kurds, are beginning
to talk about their great-grandparents’ role in the massacres.
Unidentified Man: They were Muslim Kurdish people, Muslim. And they
killed Armenian people.
WATSON: At a university, a Kurdish student named Zoloh(ph) and
several classmates recounted stories passed down by long-dead
relatives of atrocities against their Armenian neighbors. This
Kurdish woman, who preferred not to give her name, said some of her
ancestors were, in fact, Armenians who had been forced to convert to
Islam.
Unidentified Woman: (Through Translator) We couldn’t admit to our
neighbors that my great-grandmother was Armenian and that was she was
forced to marry my great-grandfather. At school they didn’t tell us
about the genocide, but I heard the stories, some from my relatives
at home. And I always had one question: Why did they kill the
Armenians? What did they do?
WATSON: International pressure is building on Turkey on this issue.
Over the past year the European Parliament and France have joined
Armenian diaspora groups demanding that Turkey accept responsibility
for the genocide before it can become a member of the European Union.
But Karan Karakoshlai of the Armenian Augos newspaper says blocking
Turkey’s EU bid would be a step backwards for Turkey and the
Armenians still living here.
Ms. KARAKOSHLAI: This is a genocide again to the ancestors a second
time because a tragic historical pain is used as a political
material.
WATSON: Ivan Watson, NPR News, Istanbul.

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
25 avril 2005
Les Arméniens ont fleuri le monument du génocide de 1915;
Des dizaines de milliers de personnes se sont recueillies dimanche à
Erevan, la capitale d’Arménie, devant le monument aux victimes des
massacres perpétrés par les Turcs.
En pleurs ou en silence, les Arméniens ont déposé des fleurs, comme
leur président Robert Kotcharian, devant le monument aux victimes des
massacres perpétrés par les Turcs, sur la colline Tsitsernakaberda,
alors qu’une prière était récitée par le catholicos* Karékine II,
chef de l’Église apostolique arménienne. Le 24 avril 1915, en pleine
Première Guerre mondiale, les autorités turques avaient arrêté deux
cents leaders de la communauté arménienne, donnant le signal de ce
que l’Arménie considère comme le début d’un génocide planifié pour
éliminer la minorité arménienne de l’Empire ottoman.
Il y a 90 ans de cela, « a été commis un crime sans précédent dans
l’histoire de notre peuple et de toute l’humanité », a déclaré le
président Kotcharian dans une adresse à la Nation. Il a cependant
fait un geste en direction de la Turquie en assurant que l’Arménie
était « prête à construire des relations naturelles avec la Turquie
», avec laquelle Erevan n’a toujours pas établi de relations
diplomatiques. « Cependant la dénégation de la Turquie suscite non
seulement notre perplexité, mais celle de la communauté
internationale tout entière », a-t-il ajouté.
1,5 million de morts
Ankara rejette catégoriquement la thèse d’un génocide, estimant qu’il
s’agissait d’une répression dans un contexte de guerre civile où les
Arméniens se sont alliés aux troupes russes qui avaient envahi la
Turquie, et situe son estimation du nombre de victimes arméniennes
entre 300.000 et 500.000 morts.
Le 90e anniversaire du génocide arménien intervient dans un contexte
de pressions accentuées pour que la Turquie reconnaisse le génocide :
le Parlement polonais, à l’instar de quinze autres pays, notamment
européens, vient de qualifier le massacre de génocide et un débat a
été ouvert au Parlement allemand. Et le président de l’UDF, François
Bayrou, présent à Erevan pour les cérémonies, a annoncé le dépôt
d’une résolution devant le Parlement européen pour que soit reconnu
le terme de « génocide arménien », évoquant sa reconnaissance par la
Turquie comme une condition à son éventuelle entrée dans l’Union
européenne.
Symboliquement, le nombre de participants à la grande marche de
dimanche devait égaler le nombre d’Arméniens tués, soit 1,5 million
selon Erevan, au cours des massacres de 1915.
– * Chef religieux de certaines églises catholiques orientales.
GRAPHIQUE: Image: L’Arménie se dit aujourd’hui prête à construire des
relations naturelles avec la Turquie.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1Plus
13:46:46 | 25-04-2005 | Official |
ARMENIA MUST FOLLOWS THE GAME RULES
Here is the letter of the Helsinki Association to the EU.
Once again Helsinki Association is drawing Your attention to the neglection
of the Armenian authorities to comply with its obligations taken both before
the Council of Europe, and set out in Resolutions 1361, 1374 and 1405 of the
PACE. {BR}
Though the terms for implementation of the obligations in the fields of
human rights and fundamental freedoms have expired, no tangible changes have
occurred. Statements made by the Armenian authorities about the reforms
carried out as demanded by the international community are fictitious as
they are mostly incompliant to the international standards. Requirements of
the expert commissions to revise them have been totally disregarded.
Moreover, Armenia is on the move towards a military-police state.
In 2004 a law “On Alternative Service” took force, which doesn’t correspond
to the international standards. The authorities ignored the requirements
laid down in Resolutions 1361 (p. 22, 23) and 1405 (p.10/viii) on
introducing amendments to the law and granting an amnesty to persons
imprisoned for conscientious objection to military service. After adoption
of the law eighteen persons have been convicted under criminal charges for
“evasion of a regular call-up to time-fixed military service”, other five
are detained pending trial. In December 2004 twenty-one Jehovah Witnesses
expressed their willingness to do an alternative service, but conditions for
its performance do not correspond to the standards adopted by the democratic
community. Presently, Jehovah Witnesses refuse to do an alternative service
under such conditions, which will inevitably generate new prosecution.
The authorities of Armenia are in direct or indirect control of the entire
broadcasting media of the republic. Resolutions 1361 (p.19), 1374 (p.9/vi)
and 1405 (p. 11/iii) require the Armenian authorities to provide pluralism
in audiovisual media, while the National Commission for Television and Radio
(NCTR) must create fair conditions for awarding broadcasting licenses to TV
and radio companies uncontrolled by the authorities. Since 2002 the NCTR has
held eight competitions granting broadcasting licenses to pro-governmental
broadcasting media only. Moreover, it’s been officially announced about the
impossibility to hold new competitions in the nearest future due to an
absence of vacant frequencies. At the same time the Armenian law “On TV and
Radio Broadcast” stipulates that the list of vacant frequencies be
announced – a thing that has never been done since the law took effect.
Despite of the PACE demands, A1+ television channel, which has been closed
down since April 2002, hasn’t been granted a broadcasting license.
Though Resolutions 1361(p.15) ? 1405 (p.11/ viii) urge the Armenian
authorities to adopt not later than March 2005 a law on demonstrations and
public meetings in full compliance with Council of Europe principles and
standards, the Armenian authorities hasn’t met the obligation. Members of
the Venice Commission have failed to reach an agreement with the leadership
of the republic over basic principles of the new law, which touch upon human
rights and fundamental freedoms.
Among the unsolved issues are: independence of the judiciary, illegal
administrative detention, improving prison system, use of torture during
police investigation, violation of the rights of citizens during a military
call-up as well as of military servants. We believe that one of the reasons
for non-resolution of these and other issues is also non-objectivity of the
Head of the PACE monitoring group on Armenia, Mr. Jerzy Jaskiernia.
Helsinki Association considers as necessary:
-to change the composition of the PACE monitoring group on Armenia;
-to send independent experts to the republic to find out if vacant TV and
radio frequencies are available;
-to give an expert opinion of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia
related to human rights and fundamental freedoms;
-to consider a possibility of imposing sanctions on the Republic of Armenia
up to its suspension from the CE membership until it meets all the
obligations taken both upon accession to the Council of Europe and mentioned
in Resolutions of the PACE;
Helsinki Association is again expressing its readiness to cooperate in this
direction with all the concerned bodies and structures of the Council of
Europe.