Author: Maghakian Mike

RA EMBASSY TO EGYPT PUBLISHES “ARMENIANS NEWS” OFFICIAL REFERENCE BOOK
IN ARABIC
CAIRO, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The RA Embassy to Egypt
published on April 6 the first issue of the “Armenian News” quarterly
official reference book in the Arabic language. As Noyan Tapan was
informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information
Department, it’s the first time that a reference book with similar
contents is published in the Arabic language. Numerous materials both
about official-political life of Armenia and Armenian-Egyptian
relations are included in the reference book. The reference book has a
goal of wide propaganda: to inform the political and public circles of
Egypt about the Armenian-Egyptian ties and Armenia- Arabic world
relations. The reference book is published with coloured photos and
with 1000 copies print run.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 7 2006
Armenian faces deportation to Baku

Source: Trend
Author: Z. Ibrahimli

07.04.2006

19 year old Karen Avanesyan can be forcefully deported from UK to
Baku.
Avanesyan arrived to the country 3 years ago as an illegal immigrant,
unable to prove his rights for asylum he will be deported from the
country, MediaMax reports, citing sources in London.
In UK he was studying in school and lived on the means provided by
the government as he did not have rights to work.
Considering the fact that Avanesyan was born in Nagorno-Karabakh UK
government decided to deport him to Baku. He was already announced
that on April 12 he will be put on the plane London-Moscow and later
deported to Azerbaijan.

ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN AND PITER SEMNEBY ATTACH IMPORTANCE TO HOLDING UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH DEMOCRATIC STANDARDS
YEREVAN, APRIL 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A wide range of
issues regarding EU-Armenia relations, development of democracy and
assistance to civil society in Armenia, organization of preelection
and election processes, fighting corruption, legislative changes made
after amending the Constitution was discussed at RA NA Speaker Artur
Baghdasarian’s April 7 meeting with the delegation led by newly
appointed EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Piter
Semneby. Both sides attached importance to the holding of the upcoming
state elections in accordance with the democratic
standards. Ambassador P.Semneby presented NA Speaker his viewpoint
about interrelations with EU mentioning that EU pursues the goal to
develop relations with the South Caucasus and Armenia and to promote
deepening of democracy, which is the basis of progress. He also spoke
about the powers of his mandate, within the limits of which he will
carry on the mission of the Special Representative. RA NA Speaker
provided him thorough information about the above-mentioned issues
highlighting the importance of EU-Armenia relations in the respect of
deepening and development of democracy. Establishment of regional
security and peaceful settlement of conflicts, in which EU plays an
important role, was also mentioned as important. The reforming of the
Electoral Code was spoken about. It creates good grounds for holding
elections corresponding to the democratic standards, the importance of
which is great in the respect of Armenia’s future.

ALREADY 8 DEPARTMENT S OF THE NATIONAL EXPERTISE BUREAU FUNCTIONING
Yerevan, April 6. ArmInfo. Already 8 of the 17 departments of the
National Expertise Bureau are functioning. The deputy-director of
the Bureau Aram Gakhtnapetian 80 expertises were realized in the 5
moths of the departments’ functioning.
The independent expertise is needed for analyzing the quality
of computer equipment, cost of real estate and other property of
material or cultural value. The Bureau also works out new methods of
expertise, organizes trainings for experts. Thus, 600 employees of
the Prosecutor’s Office Service and of the Rescue Service took part in
trainings organized by the National Expertise Bureau. The Bureau also
published a catalogue of expert institutes of Armenia. The Government
of the USA will render technical assistance to the Bureau.
The Bureau has already received ballistic expertise equipment of
$300-500$ thousand.
The non-governmental National Expertise Bureau was founded with the
$1 million financial assistance of the USA. A similar program was
also run in Georgia, but there, unlike Armenia, the Police, Justice,
Military and Healthcare expertise centers were closed. Soon the
National Expertise Bureau of Armenia will move to a new building.

ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS GOVERNMENT TO COMPENSATE PEOPLE FOR GAS PRICE RISE
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Apr 06
[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today visited the
ArmRosGazprom company in Yerevan and held a working meeting with the
management of the company.
Kocharyan said that ArmRosGazprom was a large company and played a
significant role in developing the Armenian economy. He added that the
main goal of his visit was to summarize the results of the company’s
work in 2005 and outline the main tasks for 2006.
The head of ArmRosGazprom, Karen Karapetyan, said that 1.69bn cu.m.
of gas was delivered to the republic in 2005, which was 24.2 per cent
more than in 2004. He said that today ArmRosGazprom supplies gas to
360,634 customers. The company is planning to finish the intensive
stage of restoring gas supplies in 2007. In the future, ArmRosGazprom
is planning to increase the number of customers by 80,000.
The Armenian president said with confidence that the company would
keep up with the pace of development of recent years.
[Kocharyan] First, we should realize that from now on we will be
buying gas not at 54 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. Gas at this price can
be found nowhere. The tariff commission was to approve a new gas price.
We have carried out an intensive work with the Russian side over the
past three months in order to soften the negative impact of the gas
price rise on our people. We have found a way for solving this problem,
and the Armenian government will adopt a final decision related to
this issue in the near future.
We intend to implement a major investment programme with Russia
related to the fifth block of the Razdan power plant. As a result,
the Armenian government will have enough funds to compensate people
for the gas price rise within three years. At the same time, the
unfinished block of the Razdan power plant will be built, which will
make it possible to lower prices in the future.
People should not worry because the retail gas price will increase
only by 10-15 per cent.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER LEAVES FOR MOSCOW ON A WORKING VISIT
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On April 5, RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian left for Moscow on a working visit. He is
to meet with RF Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, RF Security Council
Secretary Sergei Ivanov, as well as OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-chair
Yuri Merzliakov in Moscow.
According to RA Foreign Ministry Press Service, within the framework of
his visit to Moscow RA Foreign Minister will take part in discussions
about numerous issues of Armenian-Russian relations agenda, including
bilateral cooperation in different spheres, within the framework
of a number of regional and international organizations, as well as
issues of providing security and stability in the South Caucasus. The
consultations on the Nagorno Karabakh settlement are of special
significance. The issues of energy security will be discussed not
only in the Armenian-Russian, but also in the regional context. The
issues of relaunching of the Abkhazian part of the Russian-Georgian
railway will be also discussed in the context of growth of bilateral
trade circulation volumes. During the 3-day visit Vartan Oskanian
will also visit the Carnegie Center of Moscow where he will give a
lecture under the title “South Caucasus: Cooperation and Security”. The
Armenian Foreign Minister will also meet with the students of Moscow
State Institute of International Relations. A separate meeting with
Russian Armenian businessmen is envisaged at the Armenian Embassy
in Russia. The “Program of Assistance to Armenian Villages” will be
discussed with them. Vartan Oskanian is to give interviews to the
“Rossiyskaya Gazeta” newspaper and the Russia Today TV company. RA
Foreign Minister will return to Armenia on April 7.

DMITRI HAROUTIUNIAN TO REPRESENT ARMENIA IN DOCTORS’ WORLD SPORTS GAMES TO BE HELD IN ITALY
Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. It is the first time that a
representative of Armenia will take part in the Doctors’ World Annual
Sports Games to be held in July 1-8 in Italy. A selection tournament
was held from March 27 to April 2 for the purpose of selecting the
representative of Armenia. As Parunak Zeylveyan, Chairman of the
Armenian Medical Association NGO, said at the April 5 press conference,
41 doctors from different medical institutions took part in the
tournament. Dmitri Haroutiunian, clinical house-surgeon of Infectious
Diseases Chair of Yerevan Medical University after M.Heratsi, became
the winner of the tournament and will leave for Italy.

IT IS YET UNCLEAR WHERE ARMENIAN AND AZERI FOOTBALL TEAMS WILL PLAY
Yerevan, April 5. ArmInfo. It is yet unclear where the Armenian and
Azeri national football teams will play in the framework of the World
Cup 2008 qualification round.
In a joint press-conference with President of the Football Federation
of Armenia Ruben Hayrapetyan Tuesday UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christen
Olsson said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan matches have a political
context and the sides can agree only through constructive dialogue
mediated by a special UEFA commission.
Olsson said that the Armenian and Azeri football federations and the
UEFA special commission will discuss this problem in Geneva May 11-12.
Hayrapetyan said that Armenia is ready to receive the Azeri team in
Yerevan but the Azeri side refuses to host matches with Armenia. He
noted that during the UEFA congress in Budapest the president of the
Football Federation of Azerbaijan Ramiz Mirzoyev confessed that the
Azeri side cannot guarantee security in Baku and does not rule out the
possibility of violence. Hayrapetyan once again confirmed Armenia’s
readiness to host the matches, while the inability of the Azeri side
to ensure security on their territory is their problem.
Olsson noted that if the sides fail to agree, the matches will be held
on neutral stadiums or will not be held at all, like was the case with
Israel. If a country says that it can’t ensure security, UEFA can’t
do anything – as violence may take place even on neutral territory.

AFFA LEADERSHIP AND ARMENIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION TO MEET IN GENEVA
Author: Z. Safarov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 5 2006
A special meeting between the AFFA leadership and Armenian Football
Federation, considering the place of the Europe-2008 championship
selective games will take place on May 11 in Geneva.
The UEFA executive director, Lars-Christer Olsson, who has paid a 2
day visit to Armenia, noted that the given dialog will be held with
the participation of the UEFA special commission that is to visit
Baku and Yerevan.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan can reach the consensus only the constructive
dialog with each other,” he said. At the same time, the UEFA executive
director stated that a difficult situation has been created around
the two teams “with a political pretext.”
Previously, Olsson has stated that UEFA would like to hold games both
in Baku and Yerevan.

KIDS LEARN ABOUT GENOCIDE
‘iWitness’ gives teachers sense of 1915 tragedy
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
April 4 2006
The Armenian Genocide – once observed primarily by Armenian-Americans
and marked by events in parochial schools and annual protests at
the Turkish Embassy – is taking on a greater role in the culture of
Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has launched a genocide
curriculum that more effectively teaches students about the killing
of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 – considered the first large-scale
genocide of the 20th century.
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo hosted the first in a series of
training workshops Monday, with more than 300 teachers reading witness
testimonials and looking at survivors’ photographs in the “iWitness”
exhibit on display at his office.
“I run an office where every day truth is powerful. It leads us to
justice, and I think the images out there speak truth and justice,”
Delgadillo said. “This isn’t a huge demonstration, but, hopefully,
it will inspire these kids and teachers to follow that same lead and
demonstrate courage at every turn.”
The Genocide Education Project developed the curriculum. It focuses on
the 1915 genocide by the Ottoman Empire against its Armenian citizens,
but it also includes materials on other genocides of the 20th century –
the Holocaust, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur.
California schools are required to discuss the Armenian Genocide in
their 10th-grade modern world history classes.
Two El Camino Real High School history teachers said “iWitness” –
with its stark portraits and poignant stories of victims – brought
to life for them horrors from nearly 100 years ago.
“We have a world history book – and it’s an excellent one – but it
only has two or three paragraphs devoted to this time,” said James
DeLarme, a 10th-grade teacher. “This really opens your eyes and makes
it real as to what happened. It will help when I teach students about
what happened.”
Teacher Devon Krodle said it was the emotion of the stories that
impressed him.
“When you hear these stories and see the pictures, it gives you a
better sense of the reality of that period,” he said.
The Turkish government blames the deaths of Armenians on civil war
rather than an orchestrated massacre, and the U.S. government has
not yet formally recognized the killings as a massacre.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, has been trying for years to push
through a bill officially recognizing the genocide, but has met with
resistance from Congress because of America’s relationship with Turkey.
“I think we need to do whatever we can do to help educate the public
by teaching its youngest members what genocide really means, to help
them understand their own history and what’s going on elsewhere in
the world like in Darfur,” Schiff said.
L.A. Unified’s goal is to expose its students to facts about human
rights violations in the world. In March, district teachers attended
training on a new Holocaust curriculum that helps them put the
topic in perspective and increases their sensitivity to the events,
officials said.
“As a people, if we’re not aware of how prevalent genocide has been
in (the last) century, then it will keep happening,” Clay said. “The
key point we want to make is that we want to impart to students the
factual material and let the students make up their own minds.”
The idea is to study the similarities and differences of all genocides,
because no genocide can be studied in isolation, said Raffi Momjian,
executive director of the Genocide Education Project.
“The key is training teachers on how to address human rights topics,
and our ultimate goal is to empower students to learn why and how
these things happen,” said Momjian, whose nonprofit group develops
instructional materials about human rights and genocide.
“As they grow up and hear about these things, hopefully they become
an informed and active citizenry.”