RUBEN KARAPETYAN APPOINTED ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATIVE IN THE ARAB LEAGUE
armradio.am
20.06.2008 17:26
RA President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on appointing the
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Armenia to the Arab Republic of Egypt Ruben Karapetyan Armenia’s
Plenipotentiary Representative in the League of Arab States,
President’s Press Office reported.
BIA Magazine, Turkey
June 19 2008
The Court Acquits The Agos Journalists
The new prosecutor in the Agos case says that the court verdicts can
be critiqued as well and both Agos journalists, Aris Nalcı and Sarkis
Seropyan, are acquitted.
Bia news center 19-06-2008 Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU
Today the Å~^iÅ~_li 2nd Court of First Instance acquitted
Sarkis Seropyan, the license holder for the Agos newspaper, an
Armenian/Turkish weekly, and Aris Nalcı, the editor of the same
newspaper, of the charge of "attempting to influence the judiciary."
Kemal Aytac, one of the defense lawyers, told the journalists in front
of Å~^iÅ~_li Justice Hall that "Actually, there should have not been
a case like this. How do we know this? The verdict says so. I hope
people will not have to go to the courts because of their ideas and
be acquitted. In past people died because of this."
The lawyers did not go in since they were protesting the court The
lawyers did not take part in today’s hearing since they were protesting
Metin Aydın and Hakkı Yalcınkaya for being biased.
Only some observers, Haluk Agabeyoglu, the human rights and labor
activists, among them, and the journalists were present at the final
hearing, as the accused journalists did not show up, either. The Human
Rights Watch Organization (HRW) representative Emma Sinclair-Webb
observed the hearing, too.
The court was in a more relaxed mood, the new prosecutor asked for
acquittal In the verdict hearing, the court was not as tense as it
was previously. Prosecutor Mucahit Ercan changed prosecutor Ä°sa
Dalgıc’s previous opinion demanding that the accused journalists be
sentenced under article 288 of the Penal Code.
Prosecutor Ercan pointed out that the accused journalist critiqued
in their editorial "Akıllı Tahta", written on November 9, 2007,
the law article under which they were sentenced, namely, article 301,
by the way of implication, that they were not trying to influence the
judiciary process, that considering the factors of the accusation,
the verdict of the court itself could be critiqued within the legal
framework as well, that the article, in its entirety, stayed within
the limits of the freedom of expression and critique. At the end,
he asked for the acquittal of the accused.
"The article was written for our Armenian citizens" Judge Yalcınkaya,
whose withdrawal from the trial process the defense lawyers had
demanded, decided, "The article should be defined as an editorial
piece written for our Armenian citizens rather than to influence the
judiciary process, since it could not have been written to influence
the judiciary, when viewed in its entirety, the accused should be
acquitted separately."
"They were tried, when the punishment was connected with the
"psychology of the people" They were sued for their article titled
"Akıllı Tahta" (The Smart Board), published on the November 9,
2007 issue of Agos, in which they critiqued the decision that was
reached regarding Hrant Dink’s Article 301 case.
The indictment had stated that the article itself was not criminal, but
it had become criminal because of the psychology of the Turkish people.
The lawyers had claimed that the judges Metin Aydın and Hakkı
Yalcınkaya could not be objective and brought a request of recusation
against them. (EO/EZO/TB)
–Boundary_(ID_qwTTBs6YMp+EF8dnTJ+AUA )–
NATIONAL MOVEMENT’S JUNE 20 RALLY TO TAKE PLACE NEAR MATENADARAN
Noyan Tapan
Ju ne 18, 2008
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The National Movement’s rally scheduled
for June 20 will take place near Matenadaran. Levon Zurabian, a
representative of the Movement, the former Spokesperson of the first
RA President, informed journalists about it on June 18.
He said that it had been announced about holding a rally on June 20
in Liberty Square with the agenda of discussion of the process of
fulfilment of the requirements of PACE Resolution N 1609 as far back
as on May 12. However, the Mayor’s Office rejected L. Ter-Petrosian’s
application with the motivation of holding an event under the title
Little Citizen of Yerevan in Liberty Square on that day.
In total, as L. Zurabian mentioned, after the March 1 events the
authorities have rejected 45 applications on holding a rally submitted
by the National Movement. L. Ter-Petrosian’s representative applied to
the court with the lawsuit of invalidating the rejection of the last
application, but, according to him, the court passed an "obviously
unfair" resolution.
L. Zurabian said that the Movement condemns the attempt to use children
for political purposes. "Keeping Liberty Square surrounded for more
than three months, the administration cowardly hid itself behind the
troops and police forces. Now it has gone further and has decided
to take an extremely immoral step, to hide itself behind children,"
the National Movement’s statement read.
As the Movement is not able to gather its supporters in
Liberty Square, the rally will take place in the territory near
Matenadaran. L. Zurabian said that the organizers have proposed the
authorities appointing official representatives of Mayor’s Office and
Police, who, constantly keeping in touch with the Movement leaders,
will ensure the natural course of the rally. Representatives of
foreign Embassies and international organizations have been invited
for participating in the rally and observing it.
Excluding a conflict between the authorities and the opposition,
L. Zurabian said that the Movement leaders will do their best to
control the process of the rally. "Unless we manage to control the
people, the responsibility cannot fall on us," he stated.
SEN. OBAMA REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO U.S. ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
armradio.am
18.06.2008 10:22
With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee set to consider
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie Yovanovitch at a confirmation
hearing on Thursday, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack
Obama restated his commitment to U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
In a June 16th letter to ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, Sen. Obama wrote
"I share your view that the United States must recognize the events of
1915 to 1923, carried out by the Ottoman Empire, as genocide. . . We
must recognize this tragic reality. The Bush Administration’s refusal
to do so is inexcusable, and I will continue to speak out in an effort
to move the Administration to change its position."
Sen. Obama went on to cite his concerns about the firing of former U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans in 2006 for speaking
truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. "I was deeply disturbed two
years ago when the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was fired after he used
the term "genocide" to describe the mass slaughter of Armenians. In
a letter to the Department of State, I called for Secretary Rice to
closely examine what I believe is an untenable position taken by the
U.S. government."
On March 28, 2008, Pres. Bush nominated Amb. Marie L. Yovanovitch
to serve as America’s next Ambassador to Armenia. The ANCA has
spoken to Committee members about the value of carefully questioning
Amb. Yovanovitch on the many issues she will face as the U.S. envoy
in Yerevan, among them the recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
Turkey and Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockades of Armenia, and the need
for a balanced U.S. role in helping forge a democratic and peaceful
resolution to the Nagorno Karabagh conflict. These efforts have
been supported by extensive on-line outreach and a national postcard
PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ms. Gloria Caudill, Administrator
Tel: (734) 763-0622
Email: [email protected]
The University of Michigan to hold an international conference on
"The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition"
The Armenian Studies Program at the University of
Michigan is pleased to announce an international conference on "The
Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective." The
conference will take place at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
October 16-19, 2008.
This is the second conference on the theme which the
Armenian Studies Programs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, had independently conceived but
jointly planned. The first conference was organized by the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and took place in Jerusalem in 2007.
The Ann Arbor conference will highlight the Armenian
Apocalyptic tradition in the broadest sense of the word, and in a
comparative context, in both literature and the arts. Scholars from
Armenia, Europe and the USA will discuss eschatological and millennial
themes, visions and prophecies, maledictions and revelations, origins
and apocrypha, and related topics in this important but inadequately
explored field. Within the larger comparative context, papers will
highlight apocalyptic themes common to the Syriac, Byzantine, Coptic,
Ethiopic, Slavonic, Georgian and Armenian traditions, or comparative
aspects of one or more of these traditions. Papers dealing with
visual representations of such elements in these traditions will
illustrate their reflection and interpretation in art.
It is hoped that the comparative approach adopted by the
conference will shed much new light on the prescience of seers and the
imaginary and imaginative ways in which they reflected the
religious-cultural concerns and social-political aspirations of their
respective traditions. The proceedings will be published as a volume
in English. Professor Kevork B. Bardakjian is the main convener of
the conference.
The conference is open to the public.
RA FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET EU LEADERS IN BRUSSELS
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.06.2008 13:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will
depart for Brussels on a 3-day visit on June 17.
The Minister is scheduled to meet with Mr Javier Solana, EU Secretary
General, Ms. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External
Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Mr Armand De Decker,
President of the Belgian Senate and Mr Karel de Gucht, Belgian Minister
of Foreign Affairs as well as with leaders of Armenian organizations
in Europe, the RA MFA press office reported.
CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF AARHUS CONVENTION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON JUNE 18
Noyan Tapan
Ju ne 16, 2008
YEREVAN, JUNE 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The conference "Implementation of the
Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
in Armenia. Mechanisms of Co-operation" will be held on June 18
in Yerevan.
The conference on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Aarhus
Convention signature will bring together a wide range of participants
from Governmental bodies and civil society both from regions and the
capital to assess the implementation of the Convention in Armenia
and discuss further co-operation and activities for its promotion.
According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the OSCE Office
in Yerevan, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Office
in Yerevan, Aram Harutyunyan, the Minister of Nature Protection,
Consuelo Vidal, the Resident Representative of UNDP Country Office
in Armenia, Vache Terteryan, the First Deputy Minister of Territorial
Administration, and representatives of the regional government bodies
and various NGOs from the regions will be present at the event.
ARMENIA HAS OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME REGIONAL CENTER OF RESCUE SERVICE
NOYAN TAPAN
June 11, 2008
Armenia has the opportunity of becoming a regional center of rescue
service. This statement was made by Mher Shahgeldian, the RA Minister
of Emergency Situations, at the press conference, which was held on
June 10. He also added that the rescue service created after the
Spitak earthquake with its accumulated experience is one of its
preconditions. The Minister mentioned that Armenian rescuers have
for many times taken part in the work directed at saving the life
of people, who had run the risk of danger and disaster, in other
countries, in particular, in Iran and Turkey.
Mher Shahgeldian stated that at present work is being conducted in
Armenia in the direction of the development of the National Service
of Seismic Protection, hydrometeorology, decrease in the infuence of
atmospheric exhaustion, and technical security.
The formation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Armenia,
according to Mher Shahgeldian, was a state approach, the objective of
which was to create a structure developing and implementing complex
policy in this sphere. It was also mentioned that the main functions
of the ministry are previsions and preventions, rescue activity and
elimination of disaster consequences. The modernization and conformity
of the laws regulating the sphere to the international standards is
one of the supremacies of the ministry. Mher Shahgeldian stated that
the strategy of the development of the sphere will be submitted for
the discussion of the RA government within the two coming months.
FM BABACAN MEETS OBAMA, MCCAIN ADVISERS
Turkish Daily News
June 11 2008
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan separately met with foreign policy
advisers of presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and
presumed Republican nominee John McCain Monday as part of efforts to
prepare for working with the next U.S. administration to be formed
after the Nov. 4 elections.
The Democratic team included Anthony Lake, Obama’s top foreign policy
adviser and a national security adviser during former President Bill
Clinton’s term, and Phil Gordon, a key National Security Council
official for Europe under Clinton. The Republican team included Randy
Scheunemann, a top adviser to McCain, sources said.
A contentious issue between Turkey and the Obama campaign is the
World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Obama has already pledged that if elected president he would
formally recognize the killings as genocide and support congressional
resolutions to that end, and his promise remains in place.
The Armenian National Committee of America, the largest U.S. Armenian
group, last week hailed Obama’s victory against Hillary Clinton to
effectively win the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidential
elections.
Babacan told Obama’s advisers that the issue of the Armenian killings
should be removed from the U.S.-Turkish agenda once and for all,
one source close to the meeting said.
More coming:
The U.S.-Turkish relationship came to the brink of collapse last year
when the U.S. House of Representatives reached a point to consider
a genocide resolution. But a strong effort by President George
W. Bush’s Republican administration, which opposes the measure,
caused the resolution to be shelved.
But many analysts warn that another genocide resolution would almost
certainly come to the House agenda next year at the latest, especially
if Obama becomes president.
McCain is not close to the Armenian cause, and if elected president,
he is expected to continue with Bush’s present policy on this matter.
Babacan and the Democratic and Republican teams also briefly discussed
the legal closure case against Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP, the source said.
Turkey’s chief prosecutor has been seeking the AKP’s closure on
grounds that it has undermined the secular regime. Party officials
deny the charges. The Constitutional Court is considering the case
and is expected to reach a verdict within the next few months.
Other top issues taken up during Babacan’s meetings included Iraq,
Iran and other Middle Eastern matters, the source said.
Babacan, who concluded his Washington visit with his talks with
the Obama and McCain teams, last week met with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney and some leading senators
and lawmakers.
CHESS GIANTS YEREVAN 2008 KICKS OFF TODAY
armradio.am
09.06.2008 10:44
The "Chess Giants Yerevan 2008" rapid tournament will be held in the A.
Spendiarian Opera and Ballet National Theatre in Yerevan from June 9
to 15, 2008. All participants of the tournament have already arrived
in Yerevan.
The tournament will feature Armenian Grand Masters Levon Aronayn,
Vladimir Hakobyan and Gabriel Sargsyan, as well as Alexander Morozevich
of Russia Peter Leco (Hungary), Michael Adams (England), Boris Gelfand
(Israel)and Xiangzhi Bu (China).
The chief arbiter of the event is IA Ashot Vardapetian (Yerevan).