Author: Madatian Greg

KEVORKIAN SPEECH PROTESTED

CitizenLink, CO
July 20 2007

Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, has launched a
petition drive to persuade the University of Florida (Gainesville) to
rescind its invitation to convicted killer Jack Kevorkian to speak on
campus Oct. 11.

"It is unacceptable for the University of Florida to give a platform
to Jack Kevorkian, a man who willfully helped take people’s lives,
some of whose only ailment was depression, and pay him $50,000 to
spread his violent message of ‘mercy killing’ to the students of the
University of Florida," Schindler’s petition states.

Schindler heads a nonprofit group called the Terri Schindler Schiavo
Foundation, named for his sister, who died of dehydration and
starvation after her feeding tube was removed by court order in 2005.

Pinellas County Judge George Greer, who issued the order, is a
University of Florida alumnus, having received his law degree there
in 1966.

Kevorkian, 79, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1998 and
sentenced to 10 to 25 years for the death of Thomas Youk, which was
shown on CBS News. He was granted parole in December 2006, after
promising not to assist in any more suicides. Book and movie deals
about Kevorkian’s life are reportedly in the works.

ARMENTEL INTRODUCES BILLING SYSTEM

arminfo
2007-07-20 16:39:00 CJSC

On 18 July CJSC ArmenTel finished introduction of the billing system,
Arminfo was told from the company.

This innovation will first of all reflect subscribers of the
pre-payment system creating for them a wide specter of the mobile
communication capabilities and transferring from one tariff plan to
another one.

As Director General of ArmenTel Oleg Bliznyuk told journalists
earlier, "billing will make possible to calculate money of
subscribers absolutely correctly and to give them new tariff plans
and services". Subscribers will receive all the bills on outcoming
and incoming calls and roaming. Mobile communication subscribers
will get the billing accounts on demand, and the company will post
accounts to the subscribers of the fixed communication.

OIC CONDEMNS "PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS" IN NAGORNO KARABAKH

Azeri Press Agency
July 20 2007

Secretary General of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stated that the organization does not recognize
the so-called presidential elections held in the occupied Azerbaijani
territories by the separatist regime, APA reports.

Ihsanoglu regarded these elections as violation of international
law principles.

"These elections aim at impeding the settlement of the conflict and
violate international law principles. The Organization of the Islamic
Conference recognizes Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and demand Armenia
to pull out forces from Azerbaijani territories unconditionally,"
the Secretary General said.

BAKO SAHAKYAN LEADING WITH 85.36% OF THE VOTES

armradio.am
20.07.2007 12:33

According to preliminary results, former Chief of the National Security
service Bako Sahakyan won the presidential elections in the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic.

President of the NKR Central Electoral Commission Segey Nasibyan
informed that 57,798 citizens voted in favor of Bako Sahakyan, which
makes 85.36% of the total number of enfranchised voters. Masis Mailyan
received 12.21% or 8,270 votes, Armen Abgaryan – 1.16 or 856 votes,
Vanya Avanesyan – 0.3% or 202 votes and Hrant Melkumyan received 0.79
or 539 votes.

76% of the 91,793 enfranchised voters participated in the presidential
elections in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

JULY 23 ARMENIAN AMERICANS TO PARTICIPATE IN A SECOND NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY TO PRESS FOR A CONGRESSIONAL VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
July 17 2007

With more than a majority of the full U.S. House of Representatives
already agreeing to cosponsor the Armenian Genocide Resolution,
H.Res.106, Armenian Americans from across the United States are
set to take part in a second National Call-in Day to press for a
Congressional vote on this human rights legislation, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Building on the success of our first national call in day in helping
us top the 218 mark, this second round of nation-wide grassroots
activism aims to have this anti-genocide measure brought to the House
floor for a vote at the first opportunity," said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA.

Currently, the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, has over 220
cosponsors, more than 50% of the membership of the U.S. House.

Supporters of the Resolution, who are interested in participating in
the Call-in campaign, can learn more by visiting the ANCA website:

"GOLDEN APRICOT" FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FINISHES ITS PROCEEDINGS

Noyan Tapan
Jul 17 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The official closing ceremony of the
"Golden Apricot" fourth International Festival took place on the
"Azatutiun" ("Freedom") square of Yerevan late in the evening of
July 14, and the representatives of the judges of five nominations
announced the results of the competitive programs.

The ecumenical judges of the interchurch international film
organization, who were headed by Hans Hodel, the Chairman of the
organization, awarded Karla Karapetian with an encouraging prize for
the film "The Screamers" (Great Britain). The main prize was handed to
Vardan Hovhannisian for the the documentary film " A Story of People
in War and Peace" (The Republic of Armenia).

The same film by Vardan Hovhannisian was also awarded with the prize
of the judges of the "FIPRESCI" International Association of film
journalists and film critics, which was presented in the film festival
for the first time.

This year the most films were presented in the "Armenian Panorama"
competition: 23 films. In this nomination Ashot Mkrtchian (Armenia)
with the film "Seven Indian Boys" and Igor Spasian (the Russian
Federation) with the film "Grafifty" were awarded with diplomas. Karen
Hovhannisian (the Russian Federation) with the film "I Stay" was
awarded with the special prize of the judges. Vardan Hovhannisian
was also rewarded the "Silver Apricot" for the same film in the same
nomination, and Karla Karapetian was awarded with the main prize,
that is to say, the "Golden Apricot" for the film "The Screamers".

In the competition of documentary films the judges unanimously agreed
to award Vardan Hovhannisian with the main prize, and as for the
"Silver Apricot", it was handed to K. Kristian (Belgium) for the film
"White Camel".

Among the ten films presented in the film festival the judges
awarded the film "Flandria" by Bruno Dumon with a special diploma
in the drawing competiion. The silver prize was granted to the film
"New Light" by Emanuele Krialeze, and as for the first prize, it was
handed to Ulrich Zaydeli from Australia for the films "Import-Export".

The film "Dinner Time" by the young producer Gor Baghdasarian became
the winner of the "Kenats Tsar" ("Tree of Life") award-giving ceremony
of the film festival.

By the way, this year the management of the film festival had defined
cash prizes for the main prizes in competitive programs: 2 million
drams for the main prize in international drawing competition, and
one million drams in "Armenian Panorama" competitions for each of
the international documentary and national films.

Haroutiun Khachatrian, the President of the festival, expressed his
gratitude to all those, who voluntarily supported the organization
process of the film festival: "We will start to work in the direction
of organizing the fifth film festival from tommorow and we hope
that still more famous producers and films will come to Armenia year
after year."

It should also be mentioned that the "Tonino Guerra" fund rewarded
Haroutiun Khachatrian, the Founder and President of the festival
and a film producer, the "Amarcord" prize, which will, probably,
be handed to him in October, when the legandary film producer will
arrive in the Republic of Armenia.

AMERICAN-AZERBAIJANI DISCUSSIONS
By Aghavni Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
18/07/2007

The American-Azerbaijani discussions of bilateral cooperation on the
issues of security continued in Baku on July 16.

Technical aspects of bilateral military program were discussed at the
level of experts during the meeting, according to the US Embassy in
Azerbaijan, "Day.az" agency informed.

The meeting differed from the discussion of July 9-10 in Washington,
led by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov, on its
status and participants.

AN ARAB FEAST AT OSIAN FESTIVAL

Hindu, India
July 18 2007

New Delhi, July 18 (PTI): Arab films dealing with a variety of themes
from war to everyday stories of ordinary men and women and satires
and critiques to stylish thrillers will be an integral part of the
9th Osian Cinefan Festival here beginning July 20.

"Arab films have proved to be inventive, imaginative and bold; some
are personal statements, others social comments, questioning and
chronicling tradition, everyday life, war, gender, fundamentalism
and much else," says Neville Tuli, chairman of Osian’s Connoisseurs
of Art, organisers of the annual fete.

Iran-Azerbaijan co-production "Raami" by Iranian director Babak
Shirinsefat will be the opening film of the fest, dedicated to Asian
and Arab cinema, which will continue till July 29.

The film tells the story of a middle-aged Azerbaijani folk music
composer who has spent a decade in a war refugee camp in Sabirabad
and then goes looking for his Armenian wife and child 10 years after
the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Around 140 films from more than 35 countries are to be screened during
the festival.

The competition section which was till last year limited to films
from Asia now broadens its base to include films from the Arab world.

Two films from Tunisia — "Tender is the Wolf" and "Making Of" —
and one from Lebanon — "Falafel" – along with eight other works from
Asia are in the fray for the top award.

"Falafel", by young Lebanese director Michel Kammoun, is a stylish yet
frightening quest through Beirut’s nocturnal streets which explores
post-civil war emptiness surrounding its protagonist Toufic, who
finds having a normal life is a luxury beyond his reach.

"Making Of" by Nouri Bouzid is about Batha, a dancer who is prepared
for a suicide bombing mission after 9/11.

"Tender is the Wolf" by Jilani Saadi is set against the cold urban
world of poverty and violence and tackles questions about the nature
of human relationships in the present Arabic-Muslim society.

A competition for first feature films has also been introduced to give
a fair deal to newcomers. Among the films selected for this section
are "She and He" (Tunisia) and "Crossing the Dust" (Iraq-Kurdistan).

Rachid Bouchareb’s war epic, "Days of Glory", one of the films
nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar this year, will also be
shown. A powerful post-colonial narrative of the little-known story of
North African troops which fought in General de Gaulle’s army alongside
American and British allies to liberate France during World Word II,
the film won the Best Actor Award for the Ensemble of Actors at Cannes
in 2006.

Other Arab films to be screened at the festival include — Saudi
Arabian director Abdullah Al-Muheisen’s "Shadows of Silence", "WWW:
What a Wonderful World" by Fouzi Bensaidi (Morocco), "Cut and Paste"
by Hala Khalil (Egypt), "The Yacoubian Building" by Marwan Hamed and
"None But That".

The India-Japan Friendship Year (2007) sees a multi- pronged focus
on Japan that includes films, exhibitions and lectures. Contemporary
Japanese cinema, samurai films and a tribute to Kenji Mizoguchi,
known for championing the cause of women, are all part of this focus.

Agence France Presse — English
July 14, 2007 Saturday 10:57 AM GMT

Slain journalist’s family pushes for action against Turkish police

The family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink asked
prosecutors Saturday to launch judicial action against the police on
charges of protecting the murderer, Anatolia news agency reported.

The application concerns members of the security forces who took
"souvenir pictures" with the self-confessed killer, 17-year-old Ogun
Samast, after he was captured in the northern city of Samsun, a day
after shooting Dink in Istanbul on January 19.

Footage leaked to the media at the time showed officers posing with
Samast as he held a Turkish flag, unleashing accusations that some
officials may secretly approve of the murder.

A prominent member of Turkey’s tiny Armenian community, Dink
campaigned for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, but was hated by
nationalists for describing the mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire as genocide, a label that Ankara fiercely rejects.

"The officers… greeted the murder suspect as a national hero and
queued up to take souvenir pictures with him," the Dink family’s
lawyers said in their application against 21 members of the police
and the gendarme, a paramilitary force policing rural areas.

"A kiss on the forehead was the only thing he was not given," it
said.

The lawyers demanded that the officers be put on trial for "abusing
office", "protecting a criminal offender" and "commending crime",
Anatolia reported.

The application called for the annulment of an earlier decision by
prosecutors in Samsun that there was no ground to indict the officers
on the said charges.

The police are also under fire for failing to prevent the murder
despite having received intelligence of a plot to kill Dink being
organised in the northern city of Trabzon, the home of Samast and
most of his 17 suspected associates.

No official has so far been charged over the murder.

At the first hearing of the trial this month, the court accepted
demands by the Dink family’s lawyers to expand the investigation
after they accused the police of "almost an intentional negligence."

Dink’s murder sent Turkey into shock and more than 100,000 people
marched at his funeral, chanting "We are all Hrants, we are all
Armenians."

NATO: TURKISH GOVERNMENT HIMSELF MUST FIND SOLUTION TO KURDISH PROBLEM

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2007 16:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish government himself must find a solution
to the problem concerning the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (PKK) and
prove that the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan is a terror organization,
which threatens the security of the country, head of NATO’s Defense
Planning and Operations Division George Katsirdakis stated to the
PanARMENIAN.Net journalist.

He said, only in this case cross-border operations by the Turkish
army into Northern Iraq may be justified.

The representative of the Alliance underlined that in the issue of
struggling against international terrorism all NATO member-states
have a common stance.

"It is an evil, which must be punished, and the sooner, the better,"
he underscored.