Author: Markos Nalchajian

ArmenPress
March 1 2005
BULGARIA’S RECORD OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION EXPERIENCE USEFUL FOR
ARMENIA, AMBASSADOR SAYS
YEREVAN , MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview with
Armenpress Bulgaria’s ambassador to Armenia, Stefan Dimitrov, said
there are more and more indications that Armenia and Bulgaria are
determined to intensify diverse bilateral ties, which received a
strong impetus following Armenian president Robert Kocharian’s visit
to Bulgaria in 2003 September, preceded by Bulgaria’s president
Georgy Pirvanov’s visit to Armenia in 2002. The ambassador said the
visits have put the Armenian-Bulgarian dialogue on the highest level.
He said the bilateral ties received another boost when Armenian
parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasarian visited Bulgaria last year,
which “showed that the parliamentary diplomacy occupies its specific
place in the modern world.”
The ambassador also stressed the four meetings between Armenian
and Bulgarian foreign ministers last year alone, both in Bulgaria and
Armeniaá which he said would promote further strengthening of ties
between the two countries’ foreign ministries.
Mr. Dimitrov also spoke about invigorating economic contacts
between Armenian and Bulgarian businessmen, which is taking place
concurrently with stepped up political contacts. He, particularly,
mentioned a 2004 business forum. He said the trade between the two
countries increased threefold in 2003 against the previous year, “an
evidence that bilateral high level meetings yield concrete and
tangible results.” According to ambassador’s calculation, trade
between the two countries increased 25-30 percent in 2004 against
2003.
According to Mr. Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s ten-year record of hard job
to meet EU membership criteria may be of great importance for
Armenia, which also wants to join it. “Being geographically part of
Europe, we worked to make practical steps to adapt our legislation to
that of EU rather than to adapt our mentality,” he said, adding that
European integration is a priority for both Bulgaria and Armenia.
He said both countries are working in this direction, fixed by a
document signed by Armenian and Bulgarian foreign ministers.
“Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004, April 2 and by 2007 January 1, we are
supposed to become a full member of the EU,” he said, adding that
legal grounds for membership are already prepared and that on April
17 Bulgaria and EU will sign a relevant agreement.
–Boundary_(ID_I/y5/Ha71sRqN/Hw6z6CGw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FRENCH MINISTER CALLS ON TURKEY TO ADMIT THE FACT OF GENOCIDE
Azg/arm
17 Feb 05
Claude Haignere, French minister for European Affairs, demanded
Turkey to put up with the fact of the Genocide. Participating in the
February 14 program of CNN-Turk, he answered questions concerning
the Armenian Genocide put by Mehmet Ali Birand, well-known Turkish
journalist. According to the Turkish Sansuruz Internet newspaper,
Haignere showed the possibility of reconciliation on the example of
France and Germany, the EU has a plan of reconciliation no matter
how deep the unsolved historic issues are. “Refreshing the memory is
an inevitable step in the process, as Europe was built on that very
principle,” he added.
Emphasizing the necessity of reconciliation, the French minister said
that Turkey is to take first steps in the Genocide issue. At the same
time, he reminded the law “On recognizing the Armenian genocide”
adopted in France in 2001. “We still have enough time. Refreshing
of the memory sometimes may last rather long. As you know, the
French-German reconciliation lasted 50 years. Progress is needed
for reconciliation. Though we don’t mean imposing deadlines, the
membership of the candidate states to the EU can be possible only
within the framework of reconciliation process,” he added.
It means that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be a
precondition for Turkey’s membership to EU.
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Village Voice (New York, NY)
February 8, 2005, Tuesday
ATROCITY EXHIBITION
by j. hoberman
Oh! Uomo
Directed by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
February 3 through 9
Anthology Film Archives
” The appetite for pictures showing bodies in pain is as keen,
almost, as the desire for ones that show bodies naked,” Susan Sontag
wrote in Regarding the Pain of Others. The success of The Passion of
the Christ notwithstanding, that sounds a bit hyperbolic–still, if
Sontag is correct, there should be a line around the block at
Anthology Film Archives this week for Oh! Uomo (Oh! Man).
The latest archival assemblage by Milan-based filmmakers Yervant
Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Oh! Uomo is the final panel in
their World War I triptych. The previous films dealt with the
massacre of civilian populations, but Oh! Uomo is more viscerally
horrifying, focusing largely on the effects of modern warfare on the
human body. The movie’s title is taken from Leonardo da Vinci and so
is its premise, namely that images of suffering will promote empathy.
Da Vincian too is the scientific interest in human anatomy.
War has no rationale here. Oh! Uomo naturalizes carnage in its first
shot with graceful biplanes wheeling through a bird-filled sky. (Even
before World War I broke out, Italy had used this new
invention–another da Vinci idea–as the means to bomb the restive
natives of their colony Libya.) The arrival of a military band cues
music: Ghosts already, soldiers on horseback are shown riding out of
the stables toward the battlefield, while priests make an offering.
The officers, shown in negative, include Mussolini (perhaps a
flash-forward). Then shells explode and the earth is consumed in the
conflagration. So much for combat.
Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi have been making archival films for nearly
20 years–the encyclopedic actualite compilation From the Pole to the
Equator remains their most widely seen work, but their style has been
widely imitated. The couple treats each scrap of unearthed footage as
though it were a holy relic. The original film is step-printed and
slowed down to reveal fleeting expressions and gestures, as well as
to emphasize the material nature of the scratched, blotchy, fragile
celluloid stuff itself. The preciousness of the preserved footage is
underscored by color tinting. But no matter how beautiful the ruddy
gold or electric chartreuse, the effect is not exactly distancing.
“The gruesome invites us to be spectators or cowards, unable to
look,” Sontag notes in apparent self-contradiction. So it is with Oh!
Uomo, once pain arrives in the form of maimed children and starving
war orphans. Unfortunately, the filmmakers feel the need to up the
sensory ante. The choral keening that accompanies the image of one
bedridden girl escalates into a rhythmic mock wailing that grows
increasingly abusive with footage of a dead child atop a mountain of
corpses. (The filmmakers have made this mistake before–accompanying
People, Years, Life, their account of the 1915 Armenian massacres,
with a discordantly cloying requiem.) Sound is intermittent
throughout Oh! Uomo, but the movie is almost always a stronger, more
awe-inspiring experience without the presence of an editorializing
musical counter-irritant.
The underlying question, of course, is, will these sights turn people
against war? The Bush administration must think so–at least to judge
from its news management style, blocking images of American
casualties, let alone those of civilians or enemies. “The Face of
War,” the most notorious section of Ernst Friedrich’s 1924
photography collection War Against War!, documented the hideously
blasted, melted, shattered features of World War I’s wounded
survivors. (These “broken mugs,” as the French called them, also
appeared in Abel Gance’s 1938 anti-war feature J’accuse.) A similar
gallery of destroyed and reconstructed faces is at the heart of Oh!
Uomo: Eyes are surgically removed, ears repaired, jaws refastened.
The filmmakers end their terrifying expose on a strangely positive
note with the production of heroic cyborgs. The wounded learn how to
screw on their new hands or fit into prosthetic legs. Many are
cheerful; they smile as they model their afflictions. Humanity has
successfully turned itself into an object.
GRAPHIC: The face of war: Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi’s Oh! Uomo
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News
Feb 1 2005
COMMITTEE ON MEETING PROVISIONS OF PACE REPORT ON NK TO BE FORMED
01.02.2005 18:38
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Bureau has passed a decision to form a special committee to realize
the provisions of the PACE report on Nagorno Karabakh. The committee
will be formed this March. It will be composed of heads of the
delegations of the three OSCE member countries, which are also part
of the OSCE Minsk Group. In January 2006 the PACE is going to address
the Karabakh settlement issue again.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 19 2005
INT’L `KARABAKH’ CHARITY FUND SET UP IN MOSCOW
[January 19, 2005, 19:01:50]
Recently, in Moscow, on the initiative of the Congress of World
Azerbaijanis (CWA), was held a constitutive assembly of the
International Charity Fund `Karabakh’. Representatives of the Federal
National Autonomy of the Russian Azerbaijanis «Azerros», the Moscow
Society «Azerbaijan», other Diaspora organizations, intelligentsia
and businessmen attended the gathering.
In the information received by AzerTAj, it is stated that goal of
creation of the Fund is to promote settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict, as well as help
refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan. The Fund will allow activation of
Azerbaijanis with great potential, and unification of all efforts in
settlement of the number problem of the country.
The compatriots attending the action spoke of importance of the
structure, stressed necessity of activation in the direction of
comprehensive informing the world community on the true reasons of
the conflict, its historical roots, attempts of the Armenians to
annex the indigenous lands of Azerbaijan, on the facts of
falsification which they use to achieve their goal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Vail Daily News, CO
Dec 30 2004
Soprano subdues, awes Beaver Creek audience

Isabel Bayrakdarian and her vocal intrument delivered a theater full
of resonating soprano Tuesday evening at the Vilar Center.
Special to the Daily

Shauna Farnell
BEAVER CREEK – The immediate surprise emanated from the entire
audience the minute Isabel Bayrakdarian took the stage.
Wow. She’s thin. She’s beautiful. She’s not really what I expected
… for an opera singer.
Don’t ask me why some of us have this image emblazoned in our mental
trivia that, when we think “soprano,” we think 300-pound, 60-year-old
woman with false eyelashes. Or, maybe it’s just me.
Surely that comment will elicit a slew of affronted feedback from
half the local and online opera community. I hope not.
Before Bayrakdarian’s performance Tuesday evening at the Vilar Center
in Beaver Creek, I already knew that she didn’t fit this prototype.
And maybe the surprise I sensed from the audience isn’t accurately
rendered by my explanation. Maybe everyone was gasping and twittering
because they too already knew that Bayrakdarian was young and
beautiful, they just hadn’t expected her to be this beautiful. I can
only speculate.
The first thing I noticed when I interviewed Bayrakdarian before
Tuesday’s performance was that her speaking voice alone was one of
the loveliest I’d ever heard. Not that I expected one of the world’s
most embraced sopranos to speak in a growl.
The second thing I noticed was that this global icon, born in Lebanon
and having relocated to Canada less than 15 years ago at the age of
15, had no arrogance or ego about her whatsoever. Somehow, she seemed
as excited to talk to me as I was to talk to her. She was articulate,
humble, witty and very friendly.
And when she told me how she’d gone through several minutes of sheer
panic when she thought her luggage containing her gowns was lost in
transit somewhere between the Toronto, Denver and Eagle County
airports, she said, “When you see the show, you’ll understand why I
was so worried.”
I did indeed understand.
She wore two different gowns during the course of Tuesday’s recital,
the first, a Victorian-style burgundy with a lavender shawl that
could have placed her in the center of the Metropolitan Opera (where
she’s already been highly acclaimed), in the middle of a royal
wedding or amidst somebody’s revered collection of valuable porcelain
dolls. The second gown was a black satin V-neck with sheer sleeves
and a half-tattered skirt, perfect for the “Cabaret” numbers which
marked the last segment of her highly diverse, multi-lingual
performance.
The first numbers she sang were by Giacchino Rossini, Italian songs
about a regatta race. She delivered them with such energy – her eyes
going wide and brow furrowing at the dramatic intervals whose
meanings only the Italian speakers of the audience were able to
comprehend. The second segment moved on to Spanish with a series of
numbers by Manuel de Falla.
The section of Armenian hymns, which Bayrakdarian said were
responsible for landing her the part on the “Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers” soundtrack, were ethereal and resonating. She held each
octave for several seconds without suffering a single heave of her
chest.
The second half of the performance featured a mix of French and
German numbers, the last three of which hit octaves of such quaking
power, they sent a ripple through the audience of uncomfortably
retained applause. The clapping etiquette proved uncertain throughout
the performance. When Bayrakdarian put a hand up to silence it early
on in the recital, the unrequited urge to applaud vigorously after
every piece, if not after every vocal burst in each number, lasted
until the final piece following the encore, where Bayrakdarian donned
castanets and her partner, pianist Serouj Kradjian, who had melted
his fingers into the ivory impeccably on each preceding piece,
stepped up the timing a few notches and both looked pleasantly
drained as they held hands to take their final bow amidst a standing
ovation.
The audience, which numbered less than 500 – possibly one of the most
intimate to which Bayrakdarian’s ever performed since winning the
Metropolitan Opera seven years ago while simultaneously completing
her honors degree in biomedical engineering from the University of
Toronto – hopefully felt as honored as I did to have witnessed such a
rare display. Bayrakdarian said herself that the repertoire was
custom-made for the small audience and this piece of history, exactly
as it elapsed on Tuesday, will never be repeated.
Staff Writer Shauna Farnell can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 610, or
[email protected].
Vail Colorado
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

La Prensa, Panamá
26 de diciembre de 2004
Armenia enviará tropas a Irak
ARMENIA (EFE). – El Parlamento de Armenia aprobó por mayoría el envío
de tropas no combatientes a Irak, a pesar de la férrea oposición de
la influyente diáspora, los intelectuales y su vecino del norte,
Rusia.
“Las tropas armenias serán de pacificación y partirán en el plazo de
un mes y medio, con la misión de permanecer en Irak durante un año”,
aseguró a EFE Artur Agabekian, viceministro de Defensa.
El contingente, cuyo grueso estará formado por las fuerzas de
pacificación armenias desplegadas en Kosovo, estará integrado por
diez zapadores, tres médicos y 30 conductores.
De esta forma, Armenia se suma a otros tres antiguos miembros de la
Unión Soviética que también tienen tropas en Irak supeditadas al
mando polaco y desplegadas al sur de Bagdad: Ucrania, Georgia y
Azerbaiyán.
El proyecto fue aprobado anoche por la Asamblea Nacional con 91 votos
a favor y 23 en contra en una sesión parlamentaria celebrada a puerta
cerrada y tras siete horas de acalorados debates.
Los miembros del bloque opositor “Justicia” y la fracción
parlamentaria del partido oficialista “Dashnaktsutiun”, que
representa a la diáspora tanto en el exilio como en Armenia, votaron
en contra del envío de las tropas.
A pesar de que el Gobierno reiteró en numerosas ocasiones que Ereván
nunca desplegaría tropas en otro país, el presidente armenio, Robert
Kocharian, justificó la decisión al asegurar que Armenia no puede
quedar al margen de los procesos que tienen lugar en el mundo.
El Tribunal Constitucional dictaminó que el plan de Kocharian de
enviar tropas a una zona en conflicto no infringía la Constitución a
pesar de las protestas de la oposición contra la firma en septiembre
pasado de un acuerdo entre el presidente armenio y el polaco,
Aleksander Kwasnievski.El ministro de Defensa, Serzh Sarkisyan,
matizó que Ereván impondrá como condiciones que el contingente
armenio tome parte únicamente en actividades defensivas y
humanitarias, y no participe en operaciones con fuerzas azerbaiyanas.
En concreto, agregó, el Ejército estadounidense debe proveer con
robots antiminas a los zapadores armenios que, en ningún momento,
entrarán en acciones de combate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anadolu Agency
Dec 17 2004
Turkish Historical Society Chairman Says He Can Provide Documents On
How Armenians Massacred More Than 519,000 Turks
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Chairman Prof. Dr.
Yusuf Halacoglu has stated that there is no document that could lead
to accusation of Turkey with the so-called Armenian genocide.
”However, I can easily provide documents how 519,000 Turks were
massacred by Armenians along with the names of villages these Turks
lived in,” said Halacoglu.
Halacoglu remarked that the issue of the so-called Armenian
genocide must be discussed extensively and in details by a committee
of scholars from Turkey, Armenia, Great Britain, France, Germany,
Austria, Russia and the United States who will convene to study
Russian, British, American, French and Armenian confidential and
classified documents. ”Those who continuously talk about genocide
should reveal what they had in their own archives. Lets see what they
have in Hinchak archives. We will possibly see in that archive how
the Armenians massacred Turks, and how they planned such brutal acts,
and why they massacred Turks,” told Halacoglu.
-OTTOMAN ARCHIVES-
Halacoglu said that they opened Ottoman archives and they even
put it into internet. Halacoglu further expressed that based on their
studies in the archives worldwide, they have not come across even
with a single document that may prove Armenian claims of a genocide.
”Did the Armenians suffer difficulty which could be termed as a
tragedy? Yes. Yet the Turks suffered more than the Armenians. The
Muslims suffered a true tragedy. Armenians constantly claim that
there was a genocide committed by Turks. We must note that the
Armenians can not refer to any document which may prove that there
was indeed a genocide. The bottom line is that the Armenians are
lying.”
-ATTITUDE OF FRANCE-
Halacoglu said France refers to the incidents about Armenians in
early 20th century as ”tragedy.” ”How were relations between
France and the Armenians at the time? How did France use and arm the
Armenians of the Ottoman Empire against the Ottoman army? How many
Armenian legionnaires were there in French Army? What was the birth
places of those legionnaires? Were those people from Ottoman Empire
or Armenia? What were French and Armenian ties during the Dardanelles
wars? Who were the Armenians died between 1914-1918 for France?” The
beginning of discussions of the issue with France will also reveal
the role France played in the ”tragedy” of Armenians. ”If they
trust themselves, they must speak about this issue as well.”
Halacoglu stated that, in historical discussions, the documents
submitted play a vital role in coming to conclusions. ”That’s why
they refrain from discussing it. The Armenians have no documents
proving the so-called genocide and they are reluctant to join
discussions on the so-called genocide of Armenians. The Armenians do
not want to abandon the current political benefits of claiming that
they suffered a genocide,” said Halacoglu. ”Armenians are afraid of
the consequences of a historical committee’s conclusions. Having no
document on a genocide, Armenians prefer to stay away from historical
discussions of historians.”
”Currently, France attempts to please its domestic Armenian
population by putting forward the issue continuously,” he said,
”France promised Armenians in 1918 that it would strongly support an
Armenian state in Cilicia and now it pays the price of this
promise.”
-ARMENIAN DOCTORS-
Halacoglu told that Armenian claims that assert the use of
Armenians as guinea-pigs in vaccination tests are also baseless.
”What will do Armenians do if I prove that half of the doctors
conducting tests were of Armenian origin? What will be the Armenian
reaction if I prove that Armenian doctors used Armenian patients as
guinea-pigs?”
Noting that there is no document that could lead Turkey’s being
accused with the so-called Armenian genocide, Halacoglu said:
”However, I can easily provide documents how 519,000 Turks were
massacred by Armenians along with the names of villages these Turks
lived in.”
Halacoglu said that he could also prove that the officials
claimed to misuse their authority were brought before Ottoman courts.
-”WE’LL MAKE PUBLIC THE DOCUMENTS WE HAVE”-
Halacoglu criticized the ”Armenian Genocide Museum” Director’s
comments about the Turkish Historical Society that this society can
not be trusted. ”It is not yet known whether the Armenian delegation
will attend an upcoming meeting in Vienna in 2005. We find it hard to
understand why the Armenians look at the TTK as untrustable. Of
course, they do not have to believe us. We are not establishing a
firm. We will just make a discussion with scientists. It is not so
important if the scientists trust each other in a discussion. We will
just speak on the documents that we put forward. Consequently,
neither do I nor does he have to trust each other. We have to discuss
this as scientists and civilized human beings without deviating from
humanely values. We are always ready for such a discussion.”
”The meeting between Turkish and Armenian delegations were
planned to be held in Vienna in 2005 after two processes of document
exchange. But this meeting seems not certain. If they do not show up
in this meeting, we will make public the documents we have.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Dec 14 2004
Turkish PM: EU Membership Would Link Islam and West
Turkey’s prime minister says allowing his country to join the
European Union would contribute to what he called the “harmony of
civilizations.”
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells Britain’s Independent
newspaper, in an interview published Monday, that giving membership
to the Muslim majority nation would help reconcile the Islamic and
Western worlds and prove the European Union is not what he calls a
“Christian club.”
E.U. ministers will decide whether to open formal membership talks
with Turkey at their summit this week in Brussels.
As a condition for those talks, France says it wants Turkey to
acknowledge the massacre of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 as
genocide.
Mr. Erdogan says Turkey has met all the E.U. membership requirements,
including eliminating torture and the death penalty.
But some European leaders have misgivings about Turkish membership,
citing its human rights record.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
Dec 11 2004
POPE JOHN PAUL II MIGHT HELP ARMENIAN PILOTS CONVICTED IN EQUATORIAL
GUINEA
EREVAN, December 11 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) – A human rights
representative in Armenia appealed to Pope John Paul II to help
Armenian pilots convicted in Equatorial Guinea.
According to Armenian Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan, 85% of the
population in Guinea are Catholics.
President of Guinea is supposed to meet with Pope John Paul II
shortly.
Ms. Alaverdyan told journalists that the international human rights
organization Amnesty International had also expressed concern about
the fate of Armenian pilots
We made an appeal to Amnesty International and received its consent
to provide assistance in organization of a visit to Equatorial Guinea
to conduct meetings with all authorized agencies that might influence
the situation,” Ms. Alaverdyan said.
On November 26, the court of the capital of Equatorial Guinea,
Malabu, brought in a verdict on a coup d’etat case involving 6
Armenian pilots. The court sentenced the crew captain to 24 years of
imprisonment, and the rest of the crew – to 14 years each.
A South African citizen, accused of organizing the coup d’etat
attempt was sentenced to 63 years of imprisonment. Three other South
Africans received sentences varying from 50 to 60 years. Local
residents involved in the attempt received a year sentence each.
The court ordered to confiscate the plane used by the Armenians and a
fishing boat used by South Africans.
Six Armenian pilots worked since January 2004 in Equatorial Guinea
flying the An-12 transport plane registered in Armenia. On March 7,
Armenian pilots were arrested in Malabu. Equatorial Guinea
authorities accused Armenian pilots of participation in a coup d’etat
attempt as mercenaries and of espionage.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress