Author: Nahapetian Boris

Agence France Presse — English
April 26, 2006 Wednesday 10:59 PM GMT

Three Armenian soldiers wounded on Azerbaijani border: Armenian
ministry

Three Armenian soldiers have been wounded by shots coming from across
the border with Azerbaijan, in violation of the ceasefire observed by
the two estranged countries, Armenia’s defense ministry said in a
statement late Wednesday.

Two of the soldiers were wounded late Tuesday, and another one early
Wednesday on Armenia’s north-eastern border with Azerbaijan, the
ministry said.

“The defense ministry refutes declarations by the Azerbaijani side,
according to which the Armenian side started the shooting. In both
cases, the Armenian side refrained from shooting back,” the statement
said.

Armenian and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over the
Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, which seceded from
Azerbaijan in the early 1980s.

The conflict claimed 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands
of people, ending in a 1994 ceasefire. Since then, tensions have
remained high between the two countries and incidents occur
regularly, with each side blaming the other.

A LYON, LE MEMORIAL DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN INAUGURE DANS LE CALME
Yves Bordenave Article paru dans l’edition du 26.04.06

Le Monde, France
25 Avril 2006

Jules Mardirossian peut se rejouir. Cet homme, ne il y a 68 ans
a Lyon, president de l’association pour le memorial lyonnais du
genocide des Armeniens, a reussi son pari : depuis lundi 24 avril,
pour le 91e anniversaire du genocide perpetre par les Turcs entre
1915 et 1918, un memorial se dresse en plein coeur de Lyon, sur la
place Antonin-Poncet. Trente-six stèles, feuilles de pierres blanches,
emergent du bitume. S’elevant a 3,46 mètres du sol, l’oeuvre concue par
l’architecte Leonardo Basmadyian interpelle le regard des passants
afin qu’ils se souviennent “du genocide armenien et de tous les
autres genocides”.

Lundi en fin d’après-midi, environ deux mille personnes ont assiste a
la ceremonie d’inauguration. Elle s’est deroulee dans le calme et le
recueillement, en presence du maire de Lyon, Gerard Collomb, des elus
de l’agglomeration et de Dominique Perben, ministre des transports,
et candidat declare aux municipales de 2008 a Lyon, qui representait
le president de la Republique. Un important service de securite avait
ete deploye par la prefecture du Rhône qui redoutait des incidents.

Dans cette ville qui compte environ 40 000 personnes d’origine
armenienne et autant d’origine turque, la decision unanime, votee en
2004 au conseil municipal, d’edifier un lieu dedie a la memoire du
genocide armenien, a suscite de nombreuses reactions. Selon Jean-Yves
Secheresse, l’elu (PS) charge du dossier, des lettres d’indignation –
parfois d’insultes – et des petitions emanant le plus souvent, de la
communaute turque ont afflue a la mairie. Quatre recours en refere
ont ete deposes devant le tribunal administratif par une association
de riverains et une elue UMP qui voulaient conserver cette place
en l’etat.

Plus recemment, l’edification du monument a provoque des protestations
virulentes, et des manifestations, parfois violentes.

Les dernières datent du 17 avril : “Il n’y a pas eu de genocide”
proclamaient des inscriptions taguees sur le site.

Un mois auparavant, le 18 mars, une manifestation a l’appel de
plusieurs associations franco-turques, rassemblant des jeunes
Turcs venus de l’agglomeration lyonnaise et des regions voisines,
brandissant des pancartes negationnistes et faisant le signe des
Loups-Gris (mouvement turc d’extreme droite), avait degenere (Le
Monde du 21 mars). “On savait que ce memorial allait entraîner des
mouvements de rejet, mais pas a ce point-la”, deplore M.

Mardirossian, qui soupconne le consulat de Turquie a Lyon d’avoir
fomente ces debordements.

Le consulat rejette ces accusations, mais ne dissimule pas son
hostilite. “Nous sommes contre le memorial, car il n’y a pas eu de
genocide, plaide Derya Tutumel, de l’ambassade de Turquie en France.

Des deux côtes, les populations ont souffert des evenements tragiques
de cette epoque.” Et d’interroger : “A quoi sert ce genre de
monument, sinon a encourager la haine ?” Au cours des derniers mois,
le consul general de Turquie a Lyon, Ozer Aydan, s’est adresse a deux
reprises par courrier a M. Collomb pour le convaincre de surseoir a
la realisation du memorial. Ces requetes sont restees sans effet.

–Boundary_(ID_HSpqV6sZEbLrpTN2mQc6mw)–

ARMENIANS DEFEAT THE IRISHMEN IN HOCKEY

Panorama.am
17:27 26/04/06

The Armenian team of hockey won the first in history victory in the
official match under the aegis of International Hockey Federation. As
RIA News informs, the qualified tournament in the third division
of world hockey started in Reykjavik where the weakest teams are
gathered. The victory in that elimination tour means a rise in class
next year. In its first match the Armenian team yielded to the Turks
with the score 3:8, but on Tuesday the Armenians defeated the Irishmen
– 6:0. Goalkeeper Lavik Ghazaryan formed the first “dry” match in
the history of Armenian hockey and forward John Ghazanchyan made a
heat-trick and assisted his partners twice.

A year ago the Armenian team was defeated by the Irishmen with the
score 1:23 in the analogical tournament.

ARMENIANS REMEMBER GENOCIDE
by Arin Gencer, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times
April 25, 2006 Tuesday
Home Edition

About 2,500 join in annual protest held outside the Turkish Consulate
in L.A.

Waving Armenia’s flag of red, blue and orange, about 2,500 Armenian
Americans on Monday staged an annual protest of what they say was a
Turk-sanctioned genocide of their ancestors.

The rally, held in front of the Turkish Consulate in the 6300 block
of Wilshire Boulevard, was one of many events worldwide commemorating
April 24, 1915, the day Armenians say the mass deportations, arrests
and executions began.

Of the estimated 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the
time, Armenian Americans say, more than 1 million died between 1915
and 1923. The empire became the modern republic of Turkey.

In West Hollywood, city flags flew at half-staff. Last week, Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger declared April 23-29 “Days of Remembrance of
the Armenian Genocide.”

“We want all the world to know that this happened,” said Christine
Hovananian, 50, of Glendale.

“Turkey should say that ‘we have done this to Armenian people.’ ”

For her, that means acknowledging the 1915 murders of her aunts,
uncles and grandparents in the village of Van in eastern Turkey.

Hovananian’s father and mother escaped separately to Iraq, where they
eventually met and married.

For the three decades she has lived in Southern California, Hovananian
has protested every year in front of the consulate in her relatives’
memory.

“Their blood is asking us … get that ‘genocide’ name,” Hovananian
said.

The Turkish government does not recognize what occurred as genocide,
attributing the deaths to fighting between Turks and Armenians.

“Armenian allegations of genocide have never been historically or
legally substantiated,” Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said in a
statement in response to a PBS documentary aired last week. “Unlike
the Holocaust, the numbers, dates, facts and the context associated
with this period are all contested.”

More than 150,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles
County, according to the 2000 census.

The Armenian National Committee of America says there are as many as
60,000 in Los Angeles alone.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: OUTCRY: Protesters outside the consulate call on
Turkey to acknowledge the deaths of more than a million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. The Turkish government denies the
accusations. PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times.

AAA MOURNS LOSS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVOR

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 25 2006

WATERTOWN, MA, APRIL 25, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. As Armenians
everywhere mark the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
the Armenian Assembly of America was saddened to learn that Armine
Dedekian, a survivor of those horrific crimes, passed away April 19 in
her Watertown, Massachusetts home. Dedekian was 93 years old. “The
Armenian Assembly mourns the loss of Armine Dedekian and wishes
to express its sincere condolences to her family members and loved
ones,” said Assembly Board of Trustees Counselor and Vice Chair Robert
A. Kaloosdian. “In her memory, we reaffirm our commitment to educate
the world about the Armenian Genocide and help create a better future
for all humanity.” Armine Dedekian, nee Kailian, was born in Banderma,
in the province of Bursa, Western Turkey. That same year, her father
was murdered and Dedekian and her young mother fled to Tekirdagh,
near Constantinople. Unfortunately, the family was not safe there
as the Turks soon forced them from their homes and onto an arduous
journey through the Syrian Desert. Dedekian and her mother reached
Sham, Syria but were separated soon after and Dedekian was raised by
family members. In 1929, Dedekian, at the age of 14, reunited with her
mother in Ellis Island and later settled with her in Massachusetts. She
married Sarkis Dedekian and together they raised two children. During
her lifetime, Dedekian helped raise awareness of the attempted
annihilation of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government. She
discussed her family’s tragic experiences with the national media,
including the Boston Globe, in an effort to draw national attention to
the crimes. She was also actively involved with the Armenian Relief
Society, the Armenian Renaissance Association and Saint Stephen’s
Armenian Apostolic Church. Recently Dedekian became an amicus curiae
(“friend of the court”) along with the Armenian Assembly of America and
seven other individuals in the case of Griswold, et al., vs. Driscoll
et. al., filed in the United States District Court for the District of
Massachusetts. She participated in the amicus curiae brief for she felt
that the case was a denialist tactic by the plaintiffs which included
the Assembly of Turkish American Association and others who referred to
the Armenian Genocide as controversial in their Complaint. Kaloosdian
says that Dedekian was among the last remaining genocide survivors
in the greater Boston community. He recalled her excitement to take
part in the federal case and added that her passing, at this time,
has created renewed focus on her extraordinary life and memory.

LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT TSITSERNAKABERD

ArmRadio.am
26.04.2006 10:04

On the last day of his official visit to Armenia, Lithuanian
President Valdas Adamkus will have a meeting with the faculty and
students of Yerevan State University. He will attend Matenadaran and
Tsitsernakaberd to pay tribute to Genocide victims.

RETURN OF MESKHETIAN TURK FAMILIES TO GEORGIA BEGINS

Kavkas-Press, Tbilisi
24 Apr 06

Tbilisi, 24 April: The repatriation of people deported from southern
Georgia has practically started. Six Meskhetian Turk families will be
resettled from Azerbaijan in Georgia’s Gori District within a month
under the Georgian president’s order.

When Georgia joined the Council of Europe it assumed obligations to
repatriate Meskhetian Turks, deported from Georgia in 1944 by Stalin’s
regime, and to do this by 2011.

[Passage omitted: Georgia’s ethnic Armenians are said to be opposing
the return of Meskhetian Turks]

EVENTS TO MARK THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STARTED IN FRANCE LASE EVENING

ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 15:00

Events to mark the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide started in
France lase evening. Head of the European Armenian Federation Hilfda
Tchoboyan told “Radiolur” that the official ceremony of opening the
memorial to the victims of the Genocide will be held in a few hours,
which a few days was profaned by Turks. Currently the official ceremony
of opening another memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide is
being held in Marseilles.

15,000 attend Holy Saturday ceremony
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST STAFF

Jerusalem Post
April 22 2006

Some 15,000 people attended Holy Saturday ceremonies Jerusalem on
Saturday. Thousands of police were positioned around the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher in east Jerusalem, hoping to prevent confrontations
between various groups of worshippers expected to make their way to
the church.

Police were also patrolling streets and alleys adjacent to the church,
and closed the Old City to cars, requesting that visitors park outside
the walls, Israel Radio reported.

Holy Saturday, which falls between Good Friday and Easter Day, marks
the day on which Christ’s body lay in his tomb.

Easter rites at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher have been marked by
violence in the past. Since the Crusades, three major denominations
have controlled the church – Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and
(Latin) Roman Catholic – with the rights and privileges of all of
the communities protected by the Status Quo of the Holy Places set
up in 1852.

According to Dep.-Cmdr. Asher Ben- Atrzi, head of the Israel Police
Interpol and Foreign Liaison Section, almost every year a dispute
erupts between the Armenians and the Greeks over who enters the cave
where Jesus is believed to be buried first. The different denominations
also argue over prayer times. ‘The police really need to be hands
on at the churches,’ he explained, ‘to prevent them from arguing
and fighting.’

From: [email protected]
Subject: Tagizade: RA FM Statement Constructive, Evidence of Adherence to…

TAIR TAGIZADE: STATEMENT OF RA FOREIGN MINISTRY’S HEAD IS CONSTRUCTIVE
AND IS EVIDENCE OF ADHERENCE TO PEACEFUL NEGOTIATIONS

BAKU, APRIL 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The last statements of Armenian Foreign
Minister V.Oskanian are constructive and demonstrate adherence to the
process of peaceful negotiations. Tair Tagizade, Head of the
Information and Press Department of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry,
reported this to Trend. He meant V.Oskanian’s April 20 statement,
according to which “if Azerbaijan recognizes the Nagorno Karabakh
people’s right to determine its future status on its own, Armenia is
ready to seriously discuss issues connected with liquidation of the
consequences of the war”. “This statement is evidence of the fact that
the Armenian party intends to take an active part in the process of
peaceful negotiations on settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, T.Tagizade said. – De facto this statement
is the confirmation of the Armenian party’s adherence to the
“stage-by-stage” settlement. As it is known, according to the
“stage-by-stage” variant, at the first stage the issue of withdrawal
of the Armenian armed forces from the regions surrounding Nagorno
Karabakh is to be solved. There are also a lot of attendant elements
here, including mine-clearing, restoration of communications, return
of displaced people, provision of their security. And the second stage
is the determination of the Nagorno Karabakh status”. As for the
self-determination, according to T.Tagizade, it is quite possible
inside a state, too. “This is the very status of the highest autonomy
we are speaking about. Thus, this can be estimated as the Armenian
party’s confirmation of its adherence to the process of peaceful
negotiations and realization of the essence of the national interests
of Armenia,” he summed up. T.Tagizade also expressed an opinion in
connection with V.Oskanian’s statement that Armenia set itself a task
to join the Transcaspian gas pipeline and has already started serious
negotiations about this with U.S. “Armenia cannot carry on any
negotiations with U.S. for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is
that no regional projects are possible without Azerbaijan’s
participation, either as a starting-point as an exporter or as a
transit state. We will consider cooperation with Armenia possible only
after the settlement of the conflict and liquidation of its
consequences,” the representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
emphasized.