Author: Maghakian Mike

Canada’s capital commemorates Armenian Genocide

20.04.2005 13:49

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – April 2005 marks the 90th anniversary of the first
genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide of 1915. To mark
this important date and honor the victims of the Armenian Genocide
and the victims of genocides that have tragically continued since
1915, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada held an important
Ecumenical and Interfaith prayer and commemoration service at Notre
Dame Cathedral in Ottawa on Friday night April 15, 2005.

This commemoration was notable and received broad coverage from the
media, including CTV Night News, in depth articles in, The Ottawa
Citizen, interviews on local radio stations and many Ottawa area
community newspapers, including the Ottawa Metro.

Honorable Ed Broadbent, former leader of the New Democratic Party,
first president of the International Human Rights Centre, and current
MP for Ottawa Centre, delivered a powerful speech as the ceremony’s
guest speaker.

Mr. Broadbent conveyed to the congregation that “The massacre of
Armenians in 1915 was a clear undisputed act of genocide. While it is
hard to imagine anything worse than war, genocide is, because people
are selected for systematic murder not for what they have done or
for the territory they occupy ~@” but simply for who they are”.

Spiritual leaders from 28 different Church denominations and Interfaith
groups offered their prayers for the victims of genocide and all
violence. Salutations were also offered by Ven. Dr. Thero Sirisumana
Walasmullage of the Buddhist community of Ottawa, and by Mr. Pon
AdcharaMoorthy of the Hindu Community of Ottawa.

Rabbi Reuven Bulka of the Jewish community of Ottawa provided the
salutation of his community, remarking “As you contemplate the great
evil that was heaped upon your community, you cannot even be offered
the comfort that the world has learned a lesson, and this was the
last genocide. Far from it.

The holocaust unfolded not too long after the Armenian genocide. And
most recently, we know all too well what happened in Rwanda, and what
is happening in Darfur, even as we speak~@¦.We need to say a loud,
thunderous NO to the slightest bigotry, the smallest hate, the most
minute racism.”

Dr. Imam Gamal Suleiman of the Muslim community of Ottawa provided
his prayer that “We should strive to learn the truth about the past
and learn from it, not to create or perpetuate hatreds or build walls
between us but to learn from history, seek forgiveness, cleanse our
hearts, and love other creations of God as our larger family.”

The Primate of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Holy Apostolic
Church, His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, led the commemoration
service.

The Bishop emphasized that “we are here to join our hands with
the people of good will and raise up our voice against those who
perpetrated the Holocaust, the massacres and ethnic cleansings in
Africa, Poland, the Ukraine, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Rwanda,
East Timor, among other countries, and to say: NEVER AGAIN.”

Bishop Galstanian also proudly stated “we are here not to mourn
but rather to celebrate the martyrdom of a people who has finally
liberated itself from the shackles of a victim and emerged from the
ashes as a victorious nation.”

The service exuded a sense of triumph, and an overwhelming feeling
of hope for the future. One of the few remaining Armenian genocide
survivors, Mrs. Hrachoui Brown, provided a touching and poetic
connection to the tragic past. Mrs. Brown expressed her heartfelt
thanks to Canada for accepting refugees and immigrants and providing
them with a safe and free environment in which to grow and flourish.

Mrs. Brown lit the candles of four young members of the new generation
of Armenians, Chatigne Tachdjian (age 6), Raffi Avedissian (age 7),
Rita Dukmajian (age 10), and Arees Aharonian (age 13). This flame
of remembrance was then passed from these young torchbearers to each
person throughout the church, as the lights in the Church were brought
down to create, a beautiful visual portrait and deep spiritual sense
of peace.

The keynote speaker of the evening was the Archbishop of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, His Eminence Marcel Gervais. Archbishop
Gervais echoed the theme of memory and forgiveness, stating that
“~@¦memory can feed vengeance and hatred and it can also support
the resolution that such crimes should never happen again, “never
again” to anyone, anywhere.” The Archbishop also quoted the words of
the late Pope John Paul II, who wrote in his message on World Day of
Peace 2002, ~@~XPeace is essential for development, but true peace is
made possible only through forgiveness~@¦.No peace without justice,
no justice without forgiveness.”

The combination of the presence of the participating spiritual leaders,
the thoughtful messages of the speakers, the candle-lighting ceremony,
and the beautiful ancient Armenian hymns, sung by the choir of
St. Gregory the Illuminator from Montreal left the capacity audience
in the large thousand people Notre Dame Cathedral, contemplating the
history of genocide and a renewed hope for the future.

The Diocese was honoured to have among the invitees, representatives
from some 30 embassies and corresponding number of ethnic community
leaders. Bishop Galstanian acknowledged their participation. Notable
among these was H.E. Ara Papian, Ambassador of Armenia to Canada and
his family.

The ecumenical service in Ottawa is part of a Canada-wide commemoration
campaign organized by the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Orthodox Church in association with religious figures of many
denominations and faiths. Similar interfaith services will be held
in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

–Boundary_(ID_BPGT2swZA8KHslsZlrqEig)–

TURKEY ACCESSION TO EU FITS ARMENIA INTERESTS

Pan Armenian News
19.04.2005 05:26

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Defense Minister comes for Turkey’s
accession to the EU, Secretary of the Security Council at the Armenian
President, Defense Minister Serge Sargsian stated. In his words, it
fits the interests of Armenia itself, as official Ankara will have
to hold reforms both in the domestic and foreign policy. Armenia,
as a participant of the EU Wider Europe: New Neighbors program,
cannot have close borders with an EU member state. Serge Sargsian
again accentuated that Armenia has to resume relations with Turkey
without any preconditions, however it does not mean Turkey should
not recognize the Armenian Genocide.

POLICE OF TALIN NOT TO BLAME

A1plus

| 17:57:16 | 19-04-2005 | Politics |

An incident took place during a meeting of New Times party members
with the residents of the Armenian town of Talin. Today party head Aram
Karapetyan invited journalists to show the shots demonstrating how the
old women and youth tried to upset the meeting. Political Secretary
of the party Emanuel Margaryan assured that the clamor was aroused
by the members of the regional organizations of Orinats Yerkir and RPA.

Aram Karapetyan informed with proud that after the incident one of
the initiators of the incident came up to him to apologize.

“The Talin policemen were assuring me that they are not to blame”,
Karapetyan said.

Today Aram Karapetyan informed that not they but the policemen and
initiators of the incident were beaten.

ARMENIA’S OPPOSITION: IN SEARCH OF A REVOLUTION
Haroutiun Khachatrian 4/19/05

Eurasianet organization
April 19 2005

Opposition predictions of an upcoming “popular revolution” continue
to be heard in Armenia, but most local observers say that major
opposition parties are not well positioned to realize their
revolutionary aspirations.

Following Ukraine’s December 2004 Orange Revolution, media outlets,
both in the West (The Times of London) and the former Soviet Union
(Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta) reported that Armenia could be the
next setting for a so-called “color revolution.” Some Armenian media
outlets went so far as to suggest names for that would-be revolution,
including “The Apricot Revolution” and “The Peach Revolution.”

Since the start of the year, opposition leaders have repeatedly
predicted that President Robert Kocharian’s downfall was imminent. “I
am sure that these authorities cannot stand until the next regular
elections [in 2007],” Aram Sarkisian, leader of the Hanrapetutiun
(Republic) Party, Armenia’s most outspoken opposition party, told
the daily Aravot on January 15. In February 9 the Nor Zhamanakner
(New Times) Party issued a declaration of intent to foment popular
protests in April 2005 in order to help push Kocharian from power.
Artashes Geghamian, leader of the National Unity Party, also stated
that his party would launch a popular movement in April, but he
provided no details. Meanwhile, Stepan Demirchian, leader of the
Ardarutiun (Justice) bloc, of which the Republic Party is a member,
has spoken of an upcoming “power shift.”

As yet, the predictions have proven to be more talk than action.
Several factors appear to pose obstacles for the opposition’s plans.

Timing is the first. In Georgia in November 2003, Ukraine last
December, and, most recently, Kyrgyzstan in March 2005, mass protests
followed national elections that the opposition claimed were rigged.
[For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Armenia’s
presidential and parliamentary elections in 2003 were accompanied by
widespread complaints about voting irregularities. However, opposition
parties at the time could not capitalize on the widespread feelings
of discontent. An opposition-led protest campaign fizzled in 2004 when
authorities resorted to tough tactics to disperse demonstrators. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The country’s next
parliamentary election will not occur until 2007, although local
elections are scheduled to be held this fall.

Since the 2004 demonstrations, Armenia’s economy has shown some
improvement, fostering a greater sense of stability in the country.
[For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. “In Armenia, the
peasants know that for most of their problems the community head is
responsible, so they will not blame the central government if, say,
the irrigation canals are not properly cleaned,” said Aharon Adibekian,
director of the sociological agency Sociometr, in a recent interview
with Kentron TV, a private television station. “The situation in
Georgia was quite different, as local [government] bodies did not
work there.”

The opposition’s organizational weaknesses pose a second obstacle.
Observers, including Caucasus Media Institute Yerevan Director
Alexander Iskandarian, believe Armenia’s opposition lacks a charismatic
opposition leader comparable to Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili or
Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko. Competition rather than partnership has
mostly marked the interactions between the leaders of the two most
influential opposition leaders, Demirchian and Geghamian. When the
two announced a boycott of parliament in early 2004, they hoped to
gain widespread popular support. Instead, one year later, the boycott
appears to have only denied the opposition an opportunity to express
their opinions on the national stage. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].

In addition, opposition parties have been unable to counter Kocharian
administration steps to limit their influence. When, in 2004, police
illegally blocked regular bus traffic in Armenia’s regions to prevent
potential opposition supporters from reaching Yerevan for rallies, the
opposition was unable to develop methods to circumvent authorities’
preventative measures. With that experience in mind, the population
may be less inclined to turn out for opposition-sponsored events
in 2005. “The peach has not matured yet,” the Yerevan-based daily
Aravot concluded.

Apparently sensing that he was potentially vulnerable politically,
Kocharian recently urged politicians to set up a strong opposition.
“[A] [w]eak opposition corrupts the authorities,” he said in a February
2005 online interview with the Golos Armenii (Voice of Armenia)
newspaper. At the same time, Kocharian has stepped up contacts with
the US government, in part to cut off a potential source of support
for opposition politicians. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

Terming the opposition’s absence from parliament “very painful,”
Kocharian, in an April 11 meeting with students at Yerevan State
University, showed no concern about the possibility of political
upheaval. “I would like to urge our opposition activists to rid
themselves of a complex about failing to stage a revolution,” he said
in remarks broadcast by Armenia Public Television. “We often read
in the press that our opposition is very weak and bad. It has failed
not because it is working badly, but simply because the authorities
in our country are working more effectively and better.”

While the more influential opposition groups appear to be toning
down their revolutionary rhetoric, attempts are underway to create
new anti-Kocharian political blocs. A possible alliance among the
Liberal Progressive Party, Sarkisian’s Republic Party and former
Foreign Minister Raffi Hovhannisian’s Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party has
attracted the most attention to date. Resistance to such a coalition
remains strong in Sarkisian’s Republic Party. If it comes together,
this alliance could prove a serious player in the 2007 parliamentary
elections.

On April 15, Sarkisian told supporters that “the revolution will be a
surprise,” adding that no party should “regard the revolution as its
monopoly,” the Noyan Tapan agency reported. Two days earlier, during a
conference organized by the Justice bloc, Demirchian stressed that “the
change of power” would take place “in a peaceful and constitutional
way,” the news agency ArmInfo reported. “The resignation of the
incumbent authorities is an essential requirement of society around
which all the healthy political forces of the country should unite.”

Such rhetoric does not seem to worry Kocharian. “[M]embers of the
opposition say nothing,” the president told Yerevan State University
students. “The reason is that in order to express your views on
a subject you must know what you are talking about and have some
experience.”

Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer
specializing in economic and political affairs.

Yerevan should normalize relations with Turkey

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 19 2005

YEREVAN, April 19 (Itar-Tass) — Yerevan should normalize relations
with Turkey without any preliminary conditions, Armenian Defense
Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said at the National Press Club on Tuesday.

“That does not mean that Turkey will not have to admit the Armenian
genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 or change its position in the
Karabakh conflict,” he said.

Turkey is about to become a EU member, but it will have to reform the
domestic and external policy first, the minister said. Armenia cannot
have a closed border on Turkey because of the EU Neighborhood Policy,
he said.

Le Télégramme , France
18 avril 2005

Génocide : les Arméniens de Bretagne se recueillent

Il y a 90 ans, se perpétrait le génocide arménien.

L’association « Ménez Ararat » (Ararat, la montagne où s’échoua
l’arche de Noé, située en Turquie) regroupe la centaine de familles
bretonnes qui, de Nantes ou Saint-Malo à Quimper, en passant par
Lorient, Saint-Brieuc ou Mûr-de-Bretagne, constituent la communauté
soudée et bien vivante des Arméniens de Bretagne.

Le geste du souvenir

A 11 h, une cérémonie s’est déroulée au monument aux morts, sous une
pluie battante.

Marcelle Ramonet, députée du Finistère et 1 r e adjointe de Quimper,
représentait le sénateur-maire Alain Gérard.

Deux gerbes ont été déposées, l’une par la ville de Quimper, l’autre
par l’association des arméniens. Jean-Pierre Zarfadjian, président de
la communauté, a rappelé les circonstances du génocide du peuple
arménien.

Les faits ont débuté par le massacre de 1.500 personnalités
arméniennes, élus, intellectuels, religieux, le 24 avril 1915.

Rappel historique

« Les Turques commémorent solennellement la mort de Talaat Pacha,
assassin sanguinaire, qui a signé l’ordre d’exterminer tous les
Arméniens. Le texte de son ordre disait : “Le gouvernement a décidé
de détruire tous les Arméniens résidant en Turquie. Il faut mettre
fin à leur existence, aussi criminelles que soient les mesures à
prendre. Il ne faut tenir compte ni de l’âge, ni du sexe. Les
scrupules de conscience n’ont pas leur place ici”. Et J.-P Zarfadjian
a conclu en demandant que les élus tiennent « les promesses faites à
une communauté française, intégrée socialement et économiquement, en
exigeant de la Turquie qu’elle reconnaisse ce qui fut le premier
génocide du XX e siècle ».

Aubade en mairie

Marcelle Ramonet a ensuite reçu les membres de Ménez Ararat en
mairie. Dans sa réponse à M. Zarfadjian, elle a souligné que « ce
génocide est aussi une part de notre propre histoire,… et sa
reconnaissance par le Parlement français n’est pas de la charité,
mais le respect de la parole donnée ». Ruth Ehkirch-Boranian,
professeur de violoncelle, entourée de ses élèves de l’Ecole de
musique de Quimper, a interprété le psaume 23, composé par Jean
Boranian, son père, et un Ave Maria d’un compositeur allemand,
Fitzen-Hagen.

Question d’un exilé

Au pied de la stèle patriotique, Tanguy Jeanjouan avait interprété la
sonnerie aux morts et Nicole Kasparian un chant arménien d’exil : «
As-tu une petite nouvelle de chez nous ? », demande le poète à la
cigogne, oiseau migrateur, symbole de l’exil. « Tu n’as pas répondu,
éloigne-toi ».

GRAPHIQUE: Photo, Legende: Les Arméniens ont été accueillis à l’Hôtel
de ville de Quimper par Marcelle Ramonet, 1 re adjointe au maire.
Ruth Ehkirch- Boranian (au centre), professeur de violoncelle à
l’Ecole de Musique, a donné une aubade, entourée de ses élèves.

–Boundary_(ID_vN6Tv6zdfFWPWvC/sGL+NQ)–

DEMARKING THE BORDERLINE

A1plus
19:34:41 | 18-04-2005 | Official |

On April 18, 2005, the meeting of the co-chairs of the State Committee
on the demarcation of the RA and Georgia borderline G. Gharibjanyan,
RA deputy Foreign Minister, and M. Mikaladze, special ambassador of
the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

The sides found the necessity of quickening the process of demarking
the RA-Georgia borderline extremely important and mentioned the
timetable of the works to be done in that connection.

IEC OF ARMENIA INTENDS TO RISE PRICE OF ELECTRICITY
SUPPLIED TO GEORGIA BECAUSE OF DECLINE IN USD/AMD EXCHANGE RATE IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 18. ARMINFO. The CJSC International Energy Corporation
(IEC) of Armenia intends to rise the price of the electricity supplied
to Georgia, Deputy Director General of IEC Mels Hakobyan informs
ARMINFO’s correspondent. In his words, the recent decline of the USD
exchange rate in the internal market of Armenia made the transaction on
export of Armenian electricity unprofitable. At present, the company
supplies 1.8 mln Kw/h electricity to Georgia for 2.75 cents per 1
kW/h. In the winter period, IEC supplied 2.5 mln kW/h electricity
to Telasi company, which is a buyer of the Armenian electricity. IEC
intends to rise the prices as much as the USD has fallen. At resent
1 USD is purchased in the internal market of Armenia for 430 AMD as
against 478 AMD at the beginning of the year. The company expected
a relevant decision of the Georgian Energy Commission. Hakobyan notes
that electricity supply to Georgia has started since the end of 2004.

CJSC IEC was founded in May 2003 by RJSC UES of Russia holding
for exploitation of Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade of HPPs. The company is
licensed by the Armenian Commission for Public Service to produce
electricity for 15 years and to export it. Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade of
Sevan, Hrazdan, Argelan, Arzni, Kanakaer, Yerevan HPPs is the main
producer of electricity in Armenia. Its capacity is 556 megawatt, which
is some 18% of the total capacity of the power engineering in Armenia.

BOTH ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS WERE POINTED OUT

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
16 April 05

Nevertheless, summing up the work of the City Hall in the first quarter
of the year, the mayor of Stepanakert Edward Aghabekian evaluated it as
positive During the press conference on April 12 the mayor presented
the work of the City Hall. He promised to remain faithful to the
tradition and publish the work done and to do not forgetting about the
drawbacks. During the press conference Edward Aghabekian dwelled upon
a series of important problems. COMMUNITY BUDGET According to him,
there was a decline in the community budget revenues from disposal
of inventory. In the first quarter of the past year the revenues of
the community budget from disposal of inventory totaled 3 million
drams; this year the revenues decreased by 50 per cent. Nevertheless,
according to the mayor, this is not a low rate and does not impact
the community budget receipts. According to Mr. Aghabekian, those
spheres where disposal of inventory results in improvement of work
efficiency should absolutely be privatized. In reference to the
community budget adoption and execution Edward Aghabekian informed
that the growth of community owned receipts is estimated by 23.4 per
cent against 2004, which will total 27.2 million drams on a yearly
basis. The mayor of Stepanakert noticed that this volume of growth
is estimated for the first time in the last 3-4 years. As to the
results of the last quarter, there was a 6.2 per cent growth in the
community-owned receipts. At the same time he said that three months
is not a long period to make far-reaching estimations but it is enough
to make estimations of certain things. TAX REVENUES One of the major
problems is that the institution of cadastre is not fully formed.
According to the mayor, if in 2004 the tax service collected 605
thousand drams from natural persons, this year more than 3 million
drams of tax revenues is estimated. He added that this year the tax
on property was not heavy for anyone. As to the public taxes, in the
first quarter of 2004 public tax collection totaled 4.3 million drams,
whereas in the same period of the current year collected public taxes
totaled 2.9 million. In the same period the payments of land rental
was 1.312 million drams against 340 thousand in the first quarter
of the past year. DECISIONS In the past three months the City Hall
adopted 14 decisions. He singled out the decision that every year
since 2005 at 12 o’clock on April 24 two minutes of silence will be
kept in the community in the memory of the victims of genocide in
1915. The mayor of Stepanakert also mentioned that as distinct from
other spheres funding of cultural events was funded by 100 per cent.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN. 16-04-2005

HEAD OF FRONTIER SERVICE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION VLADIMIR PRONICHEV ARRIVED IN ARMENIA

Pan Armenian News
18.04.2005 08:04

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Head of the Frontier Service of the Russian
Federation Vladimir Pronichev arrived in Yerevan today. The purpose
of the visit is the familiarization with the conditions of the Russian
frontier troops dislocated in Armenia. A number of bilateral documents
and agreements referring in part to the financing of the Russian
troops are to be signed within the frames of the visit.