PanARMENIAN.Net
U.S. General warns against `consequences’ of Armenian Genocide bill
26.03.2007 18:16 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speaking at a defense budget meeting of the
U.S. House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee,
U.S. Transportation Command head Gen. Norton Schwartz warned that the
Armenian Genocide bill may inflict great damage on the U.S. army in
Iraq by leading to the restricted use of the Incirlik airbase for
cargo flights, reports the Turkish Daily News.
International Herald Tribune
March 27 2007
Turkish court releases politician without charge in slain journalist
case
The Associated PressPublished: March 27, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: A right-wing politician detained for questioning in
connection with the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist was
released Tuesday without charge.
But police were still questioning three other members of the local
branch of the conservative and nationalist Great Unity Party over the
Jan. 19 murder of journalist Hrant Dink. The three were scheduled to
appear in court on Wednesday to face possible charges or be released
from custody.
Yasar Cihan, the head of Great Unity Party in the Black Sea port city
of Trabzon, was detained late Sunday and taken to Istanbul for
questioning. Authorities did not say on what grounds Cihan and the
three others were detained, but the politician had admitted giving
money to the family of one of the suspects charged in the killing.
Cihan had insisted the money was a charitable gift – he said he often
helps needy families.
Dink was shot dead outside the offices of his paper, Agos, in
Istanbul. Prosecutors have pressed charges against 10 suspects,
including some former members of the youth wing of Great Unity.
Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the bilingual Agos newspaper and an
outspoken activist for minority rights and free expression, had been
brought to trial several times for allegedly "insulting Turkishness,"
a crime under Turkey’s penal code.
Dink’s killing prompted international condemnation as well as debate
within Turkey about free speech, and whether state institutions
showed tolerance to militant nationalists.
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 24 2007
Chairman of Federation Council of Russia: Russia Stands Ready to
Adopt any Mutually Acceptable Settlement Variant of Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict
Russia, Moscow /corr. Trend R.Agayev/ ` Russia is interested in
friendly relations with its neighbors, in particular with those with
whom Russia has centurial friendly relations, good-neighborhood and
co-operation. In this regard, Russia has an interest towards
permanent interactions and constructive dialogue,’ said the Chairman
of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia, Sergey
Mironov, at the press-conference, commenting on the
Russian-Azerbaijani relations, Trend Special Correspondent reports.
Commenting on the termination of the gas delivery from Russia to
Azerbaijan, he said that Azerbaijan has its national interests in the
economy and policy and Russia respectfully approaches this position.
Russia also has its national interests in various spheres.
`I consider that we have own positions and economy arising from the
interests of our peoples and country. Everybody wants to get profits
in business and if there is an access to the energy resources,
everybody try to receive or deliver them with available prices. It is
a normal process and I do not see any tensions from the point of view
of assessment of our bilateral relations,’ he said.
According to him, there is a very large agreement-legal base between
Russia and Azerbaijan, more than 80 agreements have been signed at
inter-State level. `There are very good personal relations between
the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan and very respectful relations
between nations of the two countries,’ Mironov said.
According to him, Azerbaijan is the strategic partner of Russia in
Caucasus. `We have much common – we have Caspian Sea, which should be
agreed not only by Azerbaijan and Russia, but also by Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Iran. We have Caucasian problems. We have a common
wound – Nagorno-Karabakh because this wound is of concern not only
for Azeri people, but also Russia. We understand that as long as
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has not been settled, it will be a source
of destabilization of in Caucasus,’ Mironov stressed.
According to him, Russia is prepared to adopt any mutually acceptable
settlement variant of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. `If you want Russia
to act as a guarantee for these agreements, we may do it with
pleasure. We have a very open position in this regard,’ Chairman of
the Federation Council concluded.
Yury Luzhkov to Open House of Moscow in Yerevan Today
Arminfo
2007-03-23 15:33:00
The Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov will open the House of Moscow in
Yerevan today.
As it was told to ArmInfo, the House of Moscow, located by the Yerevan City
Hall and the Embassy of RF in Yerevan, is one of the largest projects of the
two capitals’ cooperation. The first stone in the House’s basement was laid
by the Mayor on October 8, 2005. The building has been designed by architects
from among the Moscow Armenians. The establishment of the House of Moscow is
purposed to develop the Yerevan-Moscow trade-economic and cultural relations.
Moreover, the Mayors of the two capitals Yervand Zakharyan and Yuri Luzhkov
will discuss the process of implementing the program of cooperation of the
two cities for 2005-2007. A meeting of the Moscow Mayor with RA President
Robert Kocharyan is also scheduled.
To remind, a solemn opening of the Trade Center of Yerevan will be held on
March 24 with participation of the Yerevan Mayor, after which Y. Zakharyan
will leave for Saint Petersburg.
AZERBAIJAN IS COUNT OF EU SUPPORT FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 22 2007
Belgium, Brussels / corr. Trend R.Emilli / The Deputy Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan, Araz Azimov, said at the press conference in Brussels
that Azerbaijan should become closer to a new stage of relations with
EU as partners and as partners integrated as a whole, Trend Special
Correspondent reports.
" Azerbaijan and other partner nations could build up mutually
effective and beneficial relations, probably serving the goal of
development and progress in the South Caucasus," he said. According to
him, within his visit to Brussels, he also reported on the policies
of Azerbaijan, regional concerns and risks. "We have concluded a
memorandum on energy partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan in
November last year. Today we are implementing this memorandum which
will take Azerbaijan to a better place in terms of development of
internal infrastructures as well as energy saving policies and the
search for alternative energy sources as well as to develop democratic
majors in energy market inside," Azimov said.
"Relations with neighboring countries and that is to be said that
we are concerned with the developments on the south. And we hope
that issues will be solved peacefully. We are concerned with the
situation in our conflict zone and we hope that we can count on the
support of the EU and for which I was pledged by the way, in terms
of political settlement. A settlement that will bring Azerbaijan and
Armenia together as one region of Karabakh within the territorially
integrally Azerbaijan provided with self rule states and making
outreach economically and culturally to international community.
Guarantees for that will be provided by international community jointly
including by EU. Azerbaijan is ready to contribute. There is no war
solution to the conflict. But probably Azerbaijan will continue to
stand of the principled position. Any territorial secession will
not be accepted. There is only one chance to build peace. That is
within the territorial framework of Azerbaijan. That should clearly be
explained and understood by the Armenian side. I hope that there shall
be pluralism in Armenia about solutions of the conflict and I hope
that at least a few people there will speak in favour of peace with
Azerbaijan and in favour of a settlement on the basis of principles,"
Azimov said.
PA BOAD MEMBER SAYS HIS PARTY DOES NOT USE COERCION FOR VOTES
Panorama.am
18:49 22/03/2007
"Prosperous Armenia has no problem of collecting passports or applying
to coercion," Vardan Bostanjyan, member of Prosperous Armenia (PA)
political board, told a news conference today, asked about the
incidences of collecting passports by the party members. He assured
that such incidences are impossible with PA.
>>From our side, we must say that we have witnessed cases when people
stand in queues with their passports in front of pre-election unit of
Araik Aghababyan, a PA candidate for the mayor of Armavir. Bostanjyan
believes both candidates for Armavir mayor have equal chances to win.
Reminder: Two candidates run for the post of Armavir mayor, one from
the Armenian Republican Party (HHK) and another from PA.
GENOCIDE MUSEUM IN YEREVAN TO HAVE NEW DISPLAY OF DOCUMENTS AND EVIDENCE
ARMENPRESS
Mar 20 2007
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS: The Genocide Museum in Yerevan, which
is run by the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, will have a
display of new documents and other evidence of the brutal murder of
1.5 million Armenians by the government of Turkey in the last years
of the Ottoman Empire.
The display will open on April 20, 4 days ahead of April 24, when
Armenians worldwide will mark the 92-nd anniversary of this crime.
Hayk Demoyan, a young historian, who was appointed the Museum’s
director recently, said they will be working in the next five years to
prepare what he called ‘ a super new exhibition of facts and evidence
of the first genocide in the past century."
Demoyan said all questionable documents of vague origin will be
removed from the current display, saying also the Museum will undergo a
sweeping interior remodeling and part of the new display will depict
the life of Armenians in their homeland in Western Armenia, which is
now in Turkey before Turkish rulers ordered the complete annihilation
of the Armenian race in 1915.
Demoyan said the Museum will also seek contacts with Diaspora-based
Armenian organizations which have many documents and evidence of the
genocide. He said an online bulletin in English and French will be
released beginning from Aril to present the Museum and its activities.
"The bulletin will be our voice and we shall be in permanent contact
with foreign organizations,’ Demoyan said. The Genocide Institute,
an affiliation of the Museum. will be releasing a journal called
Xenophobia and Genocidal Researches in English two issues a year.
Another direction of the activity, according to Demoyan, will be to
collect the evidence of survivors of the genocide, whose number is
dwindling with each passing year.
YEREVAN POLICE DOWNPLAY FIRST PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE
By Karine Kalantarian and Hovannes Shoghikian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 19 2007
Police in Yerevan on Monday confirmed reports about a violent dispute
between activists of Armenia’s two main establishment parties, but
claimed that none of their senior figures was involved in it.
Armenian newspapers reported over the weekend that the incident
occurred in the city’s southern Erebuni district on Thursday
and involved the local leaders of the governing Republican Party
(HHK) and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik
Tsarukian. Citing unnamed government sources, they said the district’s
Republican prefect, Mher Sedrakian, and a group of his loyalists
attacked and beat up the head of the local BHK chapter, Harutiun
Karapoghosian, after he refused to stop his party’s aggressive
campaigning in the blue-collar area.
The row reportedly degenerated into a mass fight between local HHK
and BHK activists and ended only after police intervention. President
Robert Kocharian, who is believed to control the BHK, was said to
have held an emergency meeting with the top HHK leader, Defense
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, and the chief of the Armenian police,
Hayk Harutiunian, later on Thursday.
But according to the chief of Yerevan’s police department,
Major-General Nerses Nazarian, what happened was a mere "dispute of
friendly character" in which neither Sedrakian nor Karapoghosian had
any role. "There was really a dispute between local young people,"
Nazarian told a news conference. "They have differing views on
elections and other minor differences, but they are neighbors and
friends."
"But we managed to settle that minor dispute. They were warned against
causing more such incidents," he said.
Nazarian added that four men were detained and taken to the local
police station for questioning. "They asked us not to turn their
friendly relationship into criminal prosecution," he said. "Their
parents were invited to the police station, and they also talked to
each other … In the end, they shook hands, hugged each other and
were allowed to go."
Launching criminal proceedings against them would therefore be a
"very bad thing," reasoned the police general.
Erebuni has for years been considered a de facto fiefdom of Sedrakian,
who has extensive business interests in the district and is regarded
as a crime figure by some media and opposition leaders.
Sedrakian, who is better known to locals as Tokhmakhi Mher, actively
campaigned for the HHK’s and Kocharian’s victory in the 2003
parliamentary and presidential elections.
Sedrakian narrowly survived an apparent assassination attempt in July
2003 when his car was rocked by a bomb. Nobody was ever prosecuted
in connection with the blast.
The latest Erebuni incident was the first reported instance of violence
between representatives of the HHK and the BHK. It will stoke lingering
speculation about a potentially bitter rivalry between the two parties
that are likely to grab the largest number of seats in Armenia’s
next parliament.
Neither party officially commented on the incident on Monday. But one
senior Republican described it as a "provocation against both parties"
which he said was organized by the opposition Orinats Yerkir Party
of former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian. Gagik Melikian did
not elaborate.
Mher Shahgeldian, Orinats Yerkir’s deputy chairman, laughed off the
allegation. "This is an absurd statement," he told RFE/RL. "What is
Orinats Yerkir to do with their relations?"
Many local commentators are convinced that the leaders of the HHK
and the BHK will agree on a mutually acceptable outcome of the May 12
parliamentary elections despite their somewhat frosty rapport. Some
suggest that such an agreement has already been reached.
"I don’t see a confrontation between us," noted Melikian. "What I
see is a honest and open competition."
Nazarian was also asked to comment on another brawl that reportedly
took place at a private Yerevan college last week between two groups
of young men led by sons of Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian and
Minister for Local Government Hovik Abrahamian. He insisted that none
of the participants of the "dispute over a girl" is related to either
influential official.
"Two guys were in love with the same girl," said the Yerevan police
chief. "A dispute broke out between them. The university management
tried to separate them, but they threw chairs at each other and one
accidentally hit the pro-rector."
A1+
ARONYAN AND KRAMNIK IN THE FIRST PLACE
[12:53 pm] 19 March, 2007
The 16th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Super Tournament has kicked off in
Monte Carlo, Monaco. Armenian GM Levon Aronyan participates in the
tournament. GMs Kramnik, Anand, Leko, Svidler, Morozevich, Ivanchuk,
Carlsen, Radjabov, Gelfand, Van Wely and Vallejo are Aronyan’s
opponents.
To note, the total prize-fund fund of the tournament is 216 000. Every
day there is one round consisting of four sessions; two blindfold
sessions (three encounters each) and next two rapid sessions.
It is noteworthy that Aronyan beat Vallejo 2:0 in the first round and
Leko 1.5:0.5 in the second round.
Kramnik and Aronyan currently top the meeting list with 3:5 points
each.
ARTUR GRIGORIAN WINS 3rd PLACE AT 4th STAGE OF MANY-DAY CYCLE RACE HELD IN IRAN
Noyan Tapan
Mar 15 2007
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The national team of highway cycle
race returned Armenia from Iran on March 14. The team participated
in the international many-day cycle race held by roads of the Iran
cities of Jahedan-Kash-Iranshar-Rak, on March 4-9. 69 sportsmen of
13 teams in general participated in the competitions.
The national team of Armenia took the 5th place in the team
struggle. Artur Grigorian was individually the best among the sportsmen
of Armenia. He won the 3rd place in Iranshar-Rak 170 km distance of
the 4th stage.
The Armenian team will again participate in the Kerman Tour
international tournament in Iran on April 13. The world B group
tournament will start in the city of Cape Town, the South Africa
Republic, on June 29. Cyclists of Armenia Tigran Korkotian,
Vazgen Ghulijanian and Sergey Sarkisov will also participate in the
tournament. Ones entering the 1st five will get permits for Peking
Olympic Games.