Author: Tadevosian Garnik

COMPANY OF AL. SPENDIARIAN OPERA AND BALLET NATIONAL ACADEMIC THEATER TO LEAVE FOR EGYPT ON APRIL 12

Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The company of the Al. Spendiarian
Opera and Ballet National Academic Theater will leave for Egypt on
tours on April 12.

As Kamo Hovhannisian, the theater Director informed the Noyan Tapan
correspondent, the company will perform Aram Khachaturian’s Gayane
ballet in Cairo on April 15, in Alexandria on April 18. K. Hovhannisian
stated that 145 members of the orchestra and ballet group will leave
for Egypt.

In the theater Director’s words, those tours are dedicated to the
15th anniversary of the Armenian-Egypt diplomatic relations.

REMOVAL OF BAN AGAINST DISCUSSIONS OF THE "ARMENIAN ISSUES" THREATENS THE AUTHORITY OF ATATURK
By H. Chaqrian

AZG Armenian Daily
04/04/2007

As it was said in an earlier "Azg" publication, dedicated to the
Turkish-Azerbaijani forum about the Armenians’ genocide against Azeris,
there are states in this world, where violence in society is a cult. It
was said that those states, when being unable to reach their vicious
aims through violence, are acting by intrigue and slander.

The "scientific" conference was succeeded by commemoration ceremony
of the "Genocide of Azerbaijani Turks Committed by Armenia in
1918". According to Turkish television, the genocide was unleashed
on March 30, and in two days the Armenians massacred 17 thousand
Turks. Thenceforth the genocide spread all across Azerbaijan and the
Armenians murdered up to 50 thousand Muslim Azerbaijani Turks.

Such prevocational statements are paid no attention by the
international public. Turkish television, naturally expressed
irritation about the fact.

Evidently, such lies are aimed rather at amplifying anti-Armenian
hatred of the population of Azerbaijan and Turkey, than confusing the
Western states. That is why events dedicated to the alleged massacres
are even held in various villages of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

We can suggest that there is some portion of sarcasm about it, but
the ceremony, dedicated to the massacres, was organized in Alican
village on April 1.

The initiative of the event belonged to the "Union of Victims of the
Massacres Perpetrated by Armenians".

Certain professors of the Nakhijevan State Universiy took part in
the event. The participants stated that the international public is
trying to neglect the massacres of thousands of Turks by heeding the
groundless claims of the Armenians. A banner with inscription "Armenian
Genocide is an International Lie" was raised. The population of the
village of Alican cursed the massacres committed by the Armenians.

One may wonder, why do the Turkish authorities increase the
anti-Armenian attitudes in the country, while attracting no attention
from the West. The answer is simple. The growing interest of the
Turkish society towards the "Armenian Issues" seems likely to break
the ban put on those questions.

As the founder of the modern Turkish statehood Ataturk relied upon
"ittihatists" and "Teskilat-I Mahsusa" members, many of which were
sentenced to death by eth military tribunal in 1919, removing the ban
from the Armenian Issues would also threaten the authority of Ataturk,
his life and activity.

MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS IS LIKELY TO TAKE PLACE IN JUNE

Noyan Tapan
Apr 03 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, NOYAN TAPAN. "The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan agree and wish their next meeting to take place as soon
as possible, in April." RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated
this at the joint press conference of Armenian and Russian Foreign
Ministers held on April 3. In his words, everything possible is being
done for organizing that meeting within the current month. And if the
sides do not fit into the terms of preparing the meeting, it will be
held in early May. Its goal is to prepare a meeting between Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is likely to take place in June.

PROFIT TAX GROWS BY 28.2%, INCOME TAX – BY 4.3% IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2007 ON SAME MONTHS OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 03 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-February 2007, 13.8% of tax
revenues of the RA state budget was ensured at the expense of profit
tax, which amounted to 8.4 bln drams (over 23 mln USD). According
to the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the tendency of a high
growth in collection of this tax continued in 2007: its collection
grew by 34.8% or about 2.2 bln drams on the same period of 2006. The
growth was mainly conditioned by a growth of payments of non-state
enterprises, as well as by an increase in profit tax paid in the
amount of 1% of turnover based on the requirement of the minimal
profit tax payment. In the period under review, the amount of income
tax collected into the RA state budget made over 5.3 bln drams, which
by 4.3% or 220.2 bln drams more that revenues of the same period of
last year. Most of income tax was received from revenues from execution
of labor and civil contracts which amounted to about 5 bln drams. In
January-February 2007, customs duty revenues made over 3 bln drams,
which exceeded by 23% or 563.9 mln drams the respective index of 2006.

MAYOR OF ARMENIA’S SECOND CITY SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Mediamax news agency
3 Apr 07

Yerevan, 3 April: An assassination attempt on the life of Gyumri mayor
Vardan Ghukasyan was made at about 2230 [1730 gmt] on 2 April on the
Ashtarak section of the Yerevan-Gyumri highway.

The mayor of Armenia’s second city received a bullet wound.

Ghukasyan underwent surgery in the Yerevan-based medical centre
Surb Grigor Lusavorich late at night on 2 April. His life is not in
danger now.

Three people died in the attack – the mayor’s two bodyguards and
his driver.

According to available information, Ghukasyan’s car came under fire
from a grey-coloured car without license plates. The car escaped from
the scene.

Criminal proceedings have been launched. An investigation is under way.

[Arminfo news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 0405 gmt 3 Apr 07 reported
that Ghukasyan came under attack when he was on his way to Gyumri from
Yerevan. He visited Yerevan to take part in the Republican Party’s
board session on 2 April that nominated acting Defence Minister Serzh
Sargsyan for prime minister.]

ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN: BLOW OF KARS-AKHAlKALAK RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IS AIMED AGAINST JAVAKHK’S HEART

Noyan Tapan
Apr 02 2007

AKHALKALAK, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The Javakhk-Info agency on April 2
spread the text of the open letter bearing the signature of Zhirayr
Sefilian and addressed to the Armenians of Javakhk. The full text
of the letter is given below: "The governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan
and Georgia plan to start the construction of Kars-Akhalkalak railway
this year. Armenians are against this project not because of the fact
that the railway communication by-passes the territory of Armenia but
because this is a very dangerous link of the Pan-Turanist programs
to blockade Armenia from the north. The blow of this anti-Armenian
project is aimed againt Javakhk’s heart. The purpose is to cleanse
it from Armenians and populate with strange elements which must
penetrate into the region as builders and workers servicing
the railway. Unfortunately, the Armenian government failed to
understand the essence of the problem. It speaks against the new
railway’s construction, but only for the reason that the Gyumri-Kars
railway will be put into operation instead of it and the Armenian
budget will receive a few cents’ profit from the Pan-Turkist
communication. Whereas, the problem is first of all political and
poses the threat that our region will be turkified completely in
economic, cultural, political and demographic sense. The revival of the
national movement in Javakhk in recent years inspires a hope that this
Turkish-Georgian project can be suspended with relative ease. Yet in
this case too, the Armenian ruling regime betraying national interests,
not only did not assist Armenians of Javakhk but also tried to impede
its struggle, disappoint it and deprive it of its support, arrested and
deported Vahagn Chakhalian who struggled against this anti-Armenian
project. Local officials serving the Georgian state behave in the
same way. However, I am convinced that our compatriots living in
Javakhk are fully aware of the threat facing not only this region but
also all the Armenians and will be able to hinder this anti-Armenian
project. I an sure that at the decisive moment they will have support
of Armenians of Homeland and Diaspora. Nobody and nothing can break
the freedom-loving will of the Armenian people. Let’s not despair
and defend our country from the growing threat of Turkish blockade."

EURASIA INSIGHT
TURKEY OPENS RESTORED ARMENIAN CHURCH
Nicholas Birch 3/29/07

Abandoned since the slaughter of Anatolia’s Armenians more than 90 years
ago, Turkey’s best-known Armenian Church was reopened March 29 after
undergoing a high-profile restoration. Ankara hopes the highly publicized
gesture will improve tense relations with Europe, the United States and
neighboring Armenia.
The restored church reopened as a museum. The midday ceremony on Akdamar, a
craggy island on eastern Anatolia’s vast Lake Van, came two months after
Turkey’s most outspoken Armenian, journalist Hrant Dink, was shot dead in
Istanbul. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
icles/eav020107.shtml The
event also occurred amid continuing European Union pressure on Turkey to
improve its civil rights climate, [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive] and as the US Congress prepares to consider a resolution to
recognize the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Heading a 20-strong delegation that arrived in Turkey via Georgia due to the
closure of the Turkish-Armenian border, Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Culture
Gagik Gyurjyan sounded a conciliatory note. "This is an important step for
our two countries", he told reporters on the island.
Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual head of Turkey’s dwindling Armenian
community, was the guest of honor at the high-security event, which included
a concert and a brief fireworks display. "It is a joy to see the church
restored to its original grandeur", he told approximately 200 dignitaries
seated in front of the 1,100-year old, octagonal structure. At a time of
high tension in Turkey, he congratulated the government for "courageously
completing the project." The restoration cost Turkey $1.9 million. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Despite the positive words, controversy seemed to hover over the
restoration/reopening event. It showed itself indirectly in the ceremony’s
patriotic undercurrent: speeches, for example, were preceded by a rendering
of the Turkish national anthem. And as they approached Akdamar Island on
boats, visitors – many of whom were foreign journalists invited by the
Turkish government – saw a huge Turkish flag draped along one of the island
spurs long before the church silhouette came into view.
Speaking against a backdrop of flags and a portrait of the founder of the
modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s Culture Minister
Atilla Koc called for the protection of "the cultural diversity and assets
of the different cultures and civilizations in our lands" without mentioning
Armenia or Armenians by name.
Patriarch Mesrob was more outspoken, chiding Turkey for turning Akdamar into
a museum. "We all know Aghtamar is a church", he said, using the Armenian
pronunciation of the island. "An annual Divine Liturgy that could be
celebrated in this church… would gather believers from the four corners of
the world."
The secular nature of today’s ceremony prompted Catholicos Karekin II, the
Yerevan-based Armenian supreme patriarch, to reject a Turkish invitation to
attend the ceremony. For several weeks prior to the opening, Turks had been
debating the lack of cross on the apex of the church’s octagonal dome.
"There’s no need for a cross on a museum," today’s Turkish newspapers quoted
Koc as saying. Critics, meanwhile, pointed to the church’s original name –
the Holy Cross.
There are indications that the Turkish government has not made a final
decision on whether to permit the installation of a cross atop the church.
Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has sought input from the Foreign
Ministry on the cross issue, Today’s Zaman, a Turkish news website, reported
March 29.
Religious leaders invited to the ceremony seemed inclined to let the
omission go. "Buildings are built stone by stone, and friendships too" said
George Marovitch, Papal Nuncio to Turkey. "But you cannot love what you do
not know, and Akdamar is an important start."
With the investigations into the Dink murder still continuing, it is far
less clear how the church’s restoration will influence opinion among Turkey’s
60,000 Armenians. "Only two things are keeping the Armenian community
going — this newspaper, and the hope that Hrant’s killers will be brought
to justice," said Etyen Mahcupyan, who took over as editor of the weekly
Agos after Dink’s death, said in a recent interview.
Sitting around a table in the Istanbul suburb of Yesilkoy a few days before
the Akdamar ceremony, a group of a dozen Armenian Turks of all ages largely
concurred. When they heard Dink had been murdered, they said, they feared it
might be the start of a pogrom like the one in 1955 that ended Greek
presence in Istanbul. "All the teachers at my school dropped what they were
doing and ran home", said one young woman who – like everybody else – spoke
on condition of anonymity. A middle-aged woman nodded in agreement – "I rang
my kids and told them to get off the street," she said.
Always close followers of the Turkish media, Armenians everywhere watched
with dismay the nationalist reaction to the huge crowd that turned out for
Dink’s funeral. "Am I living in the same country that I was born in",
Patriarch Mesrob II said in one of two uncharacteristically outspoken
interviews with Agos recently.
Following the arrest of two young men who fired shots into the air as
mourners congregated in a church to mark the 40th day of Dink’s death,
Armenians have been upping security around their community buildings. For
the Yesilkoy Armenians, Dink’s death and what followed signaled the end of
"the illusion" that outside pressure was transforming Turkey for the better.
"We have two choices," said one 52-year old woman; "Keep our heads down and
our mouths shut, or leave. I would leave tomorrow, but like everybody here I
have relatives who left Turkey, and none of them are happy."
"The first generation in exile is a lost generation."
In Yerevan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry applauded the Church restoration,
but indicated that the lack of a cross atop it diluted the impact of Turkey’s
goodwill gesture.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 31 2007

OSCE Chairman’s Special Envoy Expresses Hope for Continued Progress
in Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Talks

Josep Borrell, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman, Spanish Foreign
Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, expressed hope on 30 March that the
parties in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would sustain the momentum
reached so far in negotiations supported by the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs.

"The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs have contributed to reducing tensions
and bringing the positions of the parties to the conflict closer,"
Borell said after a meeting with the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri
Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and, representing Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza of the United States,
Elizabeth Rood, Director of the Office of Caucasus Affairs and
Regional Conflicts at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Borrell said he hoped that the parties would sustain the momentum
reached so far in the negotiations.

"I call on the parties involved to ensure that the situation along
the Line of Contact and the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan
continues to be calm and stable, as cease-fire violations can lead to
regretful loss of life," Borell added.

TURKEY "CONDEMNED" U.S. SENATE FOR ADOPTING RES. 65 THAT CONDEMNS HRANT DINK’S MURDER

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.03.2007 15:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey "condemned" the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee for adopting the resolution that condemns the murder of Agos
weekly editor-in-chief Hrant Dink. "It is quite clear the inclusion of
this resolution into the Senate agenda pursued the goal to speculate
this mean crime for political purposes touching upon the events of
1915," the statement of Turkish MFA says. The Foreign Affairs Ministry
of Turkey also reminds that the Turkish government sharply condemned
Dink’s assassination, RFE/RL reports.

Yesterday U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee adopted human rights
legislation, condemning the murder of journalist and human rights
activist Hrant Dink and calling on the Turkish government to repeal
the law, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The document noted
Dink’s persecution because of his speech on the Armenian Genocide. It
specifically notes that Dink was "subjected to legal action under
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for referring to the 1915
massacre of Armenians as genocide.

OPEN ROSTRUM: NOBODY SAID TO RUN IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

KarabakhOpen
31-03-2007 11:17:51

No political force has announced to name president for the upcoming
election yet. According to the law, nomination must begin in mid-April.

"Here is an interesting configuration – the situation in
the country is calm whereas there is a stir among the foreign
observers and analysts. It can have different explanations: first,
NKR is an established state, and the political sphere is stable
enough. Therefore, the atmosphere is calm in the country. However,
this stability in Karabakh, as well as the importance of the factor of
Karabakh in the pan-Armenian political sphere determined the strong
interest of the world towards the election in Karabakh," says Davit
Babayan, a political scientist from Karabakh.

He thinks this interest will increase the importance of the factor
of Karabakh for the international community. On the other hand,
there is a disadvantage: certain political forces are consistently
"producing" opposition candidates. "It is possible that one opposition
party will not accept the candidate of another opposition force. And
this course of developments will not favor the forces which uphold
democracy. Moreover, if at the last moment the candidate leaves the
race, the society of Karabakh and the part of the opposition which
hoped for the best will get disappointed and lose their political
strength, " says Davit Babayan. As a result, again democracy will
suffer in Karabakh, the political scientist says.